I made a seat from two bed ends

And I am so stoked with it!! It took me about 2.5 hours. I had been putting it off for ages and the bed ends had just ended up in the garage taking room. But with University study looming I am frantically trying to get stuff done, as I will not have any time now for ages.

At the moment it has a pile of cushions on it, but I will make a squab to fit. I wanted to paint it but Aaron decided he liked the wood look, so he will do a test sand. If the colours are not going to match then I will paint it. If the wood all matches then I will just polyurethane it all. 

I started with these two Pine single bed ends. Obtained from the Salvation Army Op Shop for a few dollars.

I measure through the centre of the bed end and cut it in two. This was for the arms. I used a hand saw as our skill saw is old and goes wonky. So all the cutting took forever!! and my arms got tired.

I attached the two halves to the headboard and started to feel confident of my design. I had to go to Mitre 10 to get beading and wood for the seat. But they had a scrap bin and all I ended up requiring to pay for was the beading and front board.

I was so absorbed in my project that I missed a few stages with the making. But you can see the beading and strutting I did underneath.

I was really thrilled that everything matched up. My front was flush with the seat. To be honest I was surprised and when I put it on the garage floor and it did not wobble, I was ecstatic.

Finished in the garage, so proud of myself.

At the end of our bed. I think it is too high sitting there but Aaron likes it. Long term I might chop the top down. But at the moment the building is finished. Making it look pretty now has to start.

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Making a homework station

We are slowly settling into our new house. The last box was unpacked in the weekend. Now I am starting to look at how the house is organised.

We had a lovely piece of Rimu which had been taken out of a house being renovated. Then I bought two old pot plant stands which (for some odd reason) had the top pieces taken off. I found them at our local second hand barn. Haggled a great price as they were in the corner covered in dust.

Aaron was dubious about my plan so I set it up to show him how wonderful it would be.

A few days later the skillsaw came out and the wood was cut to the correct size - Yes in the middle of the dining room just after I had vacuumed - need I say anymore?

Then instead of using dowel etc I used heaps of L brackets to screw the legs onto the Rimu shelf.

 And voila we have a very handy homework station. Still a bit of work to do to get it how I want it exactly. But in working order with a laptop, monitor and keyboard as well as all the essential pens, rulers etc.

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Turning bottles into glasses

So it is school holidays and the boys are older. Now we can try some of the more dangerous activities.

Get some beer and wine bottles and try a bit of upcycling or recycling. I remembered doing this when I was a child. First we tied string which had been dipped in methylated spirits around the bottles and set it alight. Once it burnt then the bottle went under cold water. It definitely broke but it was very jagged and will take a lot of grinding.
So then we did a bit of research. Green science were great. A good explanation and Utube video and we started again. Using a glass cutter we scratched around the bottle and then poured boiling water onto the scratch only. Then under the cold tap and the crack would appear. Then one more time and boof - off comes the top of the bottle. A much smoother cut and easier to grind down.

This was all completed over a couple of days as we had to walk the dogs into town to get a glass cutter, do research, try and try again.

Great fun
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Whipping up some Merino Kids trousers

My brother in law and all the family came over on Saturday. After a bit of discussion about how difficult it was to find trousers that fit wee Alex, I decided to jump on the sewing machine.

Only 15 minutes later he had a new pair of Merino trousers. Get an adults jersey - this was a old fashioned cardigan. Cut the arms into leg patter shape at the top. Do not cut down any other seams and make sure the cut leaves enough leg that it becomes the hemmed bottom of the trousers.

Cut a waistband and sew it on with the appropriate length of elastic. Voila. A very happy three year old.
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Upcycling - Gorgeous 100% Cotton Duvet Cover

 Eli has a new bed (our old Queen bed) and I found a feather duvet at a Thrift Shop for just $10. It is a good brand but looked yucky and I knew it would wash up well. The duvet is just a king single so sits nicely on top of the bed.
Then there was the problem of a duvet cover. So I rummaged through my stuff and found two 100% cotton single sheets. With a bit of trimming in length these were perfect. Sewn together and then domes put on. I like a crisp finish to things so I completed the edges as French seams.

One of the sheets was $4 from a Thrift Shop and one was given to me by my sister. An old (1950's) sheet set that had never been opened. So gorgeous feather duvet and cotton cover for just $14.


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How to make a cutting table - a bit of upcycling

Take one really manky Rimu set of drawers that were cut off a wardrobe and good for nothing. Ask the second hand dealers to screw a top on that is 1/2 inch bigger than my cutting board. $60 later and we are ready to get started.

Get stuck in with the sander, make sure you get dust all through the garage, all outside and over everything. Remove the handles of the drawers before you do the draw fronts. Grunty 60grit sandpaper is the way to get the varnish off. Then go down to smooth as a baby's bottom 180 or 200grit.

Use plain vegetable or canola oil and oil all sanded areas really well. Clean out all drawers etc.

Put a Scotty Dog oil cloth that you bought from HERE onto the top with a staple gun. Tuck it under well so that no one sees the work.

Put some gorgeous paper in each drawer to line it and then stand back and congratulate yourself. I am so thrilled with this it is not funny. Now it is time to sort out the mess that is my craft room to be.

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I have to pack my stash

Well we move in two weeks. I am meant to be packing the house up. So that means I have to pack my stash. Now my stash is not quite the ordinary crafter's stash. It is piles and piles of clothing from the second hand store.

All the seams cut, just a few to go

The problem with packing it is that I get inspired and as I have packed all my current projects I just had to start another. My thought was that if it was started it would be far less bulky to pack. I decided to sew another "fluffy"quilt. Out came all the old pyjamas and the cutting began. I took off the buttons (very useful for other projects) and took off all tags(as I have yet another idea re what to do about them) and cut all seams off.

The tags and buttons - oooh another project to start!

So with Aaron away the boys and I were to have a quiet weekend. 1.30pm in the afternoon and I was on the sofa (yes for those who know me that means I am still in my nightie), Jakob in his dressing gown and only Eli dressed.

The rolls of material ready to go, with a bit of supervision from Morris.

Then we get a call "I am parked outside your house can I come in and look at it please?" Oh my stars. I had to confess to being in my nightie and asked for five minutes. They pottered off to an open home and we got 20 minutes. My goodness the boys have the routine of getting the house ready and then skedadaling really well. In 20 minutes I had a shower and got dressed, loaded the dishdrawer, sorted the garage, folded washing. The boys vacuumed, made beds, pulled curtains, opened window and then were off on their scooters.

Now I am ready to start cutting and sewing I think I may have seriously run out of time.!!
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It's not just me!!

When I was away on my yearly quilting retreat I sat by Colleen. Now that it not unusual in itself but it was really funny that we were in the same seating this year and we were the only two people using recycled fabric. I wished I had a photo of what Colleen made. She had all her husbands old business shirts that had worn through at the collar and cuffs and had cut them into rectangles and made it into the most gorgeous summer beachy look quilt. 

Colleen and I upcycling a storm

I was also using business shirts big time. My nightie had ripped as the back was just so worn. But the bottom material was still really good (it also had been a refashion). So I still needed a nightie as I was short. Add one blue and white pinstripped business shirt and voila, a new nightie. All the binding ws made by me too. The blue binding at the bust and sleeve was another cotton shirt and the neck binding was a stripe business shirt.

So for those who know the band "Flight of the Concords", due to the material this nightie is made from I have named it "business time"!
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A Refashion - was two shirts, now a skirt

It started with two shirts at a total cost of $2.50. The stripe being 100% linen man's XL and the white top being cotton/elastic woman's M.

I chopped off the sleeves and took off pockets and the gorgeous labels. 

Unpicked the pockets and cut some more pockets from the sleeves.

Then I sewed new pockets onto the old back of the shirt and added back the details from the labels.

Used the white T-Shirt by cutting it just under the arms, doubling it over and stretching it to the top of the new skirt. It makes a lovely big easy to wear waistband. 

Voila a new skirt 

This is the fit on me (with my T-Shirt up a bit to show the waistband etc.

I finished this at 10pm last night and went to show Aaron. He then commented that it was not "quite right" and did not suit me. I had used a linen skirt with this type of waistband as the pattern but was a bit worried about it being to tight on me. 

So I went back to the mirror and I have to say - He is right - (he asked if I would confess on my blog). This skirt is OK. I can muck around in it at home etc but it is not flattering like the other skirt is. Tow reasons I think - 1. It is a stripe and the other is plain and I mainly wear plain - so something we are not used to 2. I have been trying to loose weight and am so far at 9kg loss BUT I still find myself looking at clothes thinking I am too big to fit the. This would have been a perfect fit if I was my 9kg heavier. So I might wear it for a while and then pass it on. But I will keep experimenting!!!

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I declared today a sewing day

And then I promptly did everything but sew.

I changed the beds, did four loads of washing and hung it out, checked the chickens, gardened for an hour, did some grocery shopping, baked a cake, heated leftovers for dinner...... and then finally I sewed.

I did not attack any of my many many uncompleted projects. But I did start and FINISH a project. I made a pile of pillowcases for the pillows in the caravan.

Now this might seem like a daft sewing project but I like 100% cotton, crisp and cool pillowcase to lay my cheek on at night. The caravan gets the rejects - the old towels, the grotty old pillowcases etc and I was sick of yucky polycotton that does not stay cool at night.

I had a fat quarter of the cool retro car and caravan material, the boys immediately tried to commandeer those ones. Then I used another camping themed material.

The main body of the pillowcase was a queen sized valance I purchased from the Op Shop (Charity Shop) for $3. It is a really good brand and 100% cotton.
The total cost of each pillowcase ending out to be about $2.00 each. My kind of price!!

The retro car and caravan material

The other camping themed material

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