table cloth

I have a nice shiny white table I got from Ikea years ago for my kitchen. But, it's nice shiny white finish has been scuffed and rubbed away in places. So I use a tablecloth. It's easier to wash down a plastic cloth with a washcloth, than it is to clean off a pock-marked table that has leaves and crevices to clean out.

My last tablecloth got stained by too much tomato sauce. I know you're thinking. Hey, Vinyl is awsome. It won't stain. And it wont, except for tomato sauce. Seriously. Polyvinyl chloride is pretty resilient stuff, but when it comes to the acidic oil of tomato, it's toast. So my white lacy vinyl table cloth is covered in orange stains even after washing in the washer.

My husband asked me to get another one because the one I had, had fake lace embossed on it and it ruined his writing.

Sarge: "Hey, can you get another table cloth that's not all 'bumpy'? This one is hard to write on."

I had been thinking about it for awhile and didn't see any cool ones. There was the american flag vinyl, there was the red check vinyl, there was even red check vinyl with little ants. I looked into oil cloth but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. I thought about just a basic fabric tablecloth covered with a clear vinyl layer. But it would slip around too much. So I had a moment of genius.

Contact paper. There's not always a huge selection of contact paper. But I found some through  decor8.
It noted a website called Aubuchon Hardware.

Here were the two that I decided on.

I hadn't gotten around to ordering them yet and when one late evening trip to the Dollar Store to get chili and brownie mix (I have exciting tastes eh?) I found the polka dot one for just a dollar a roll.

Ha! I am so cool!

I quickly got two and then waited for about 15 minutes while the cashier had an issue with pricing on another customers slippers. That's a whole other story.

When I got home I tried to put it on the table but contact paper is sticky and my son likes to help with my "projects".

So when he went to bed I put it on the table taking care to match up the patterns. Which was hard and impossible so I just cut off the edges until half dots were gone and said to hell with registering the pattern because there wasn't an easily discernible repeat.

Here is my rewarded efforts.

Pretty polka dot table.

The only problem with contact paper is that it's made out of vinyl. Which means it will stain with tomato sauce. And the edges peel up when they come in contact with my son's prying fingernails. So, to protect the contact paper I was using to protect my pock-marked table I added a clear vinyl plastic tablecloth. To protect my tablecloth. I know, it will stain too and I'm just this* close to crazy. But at least my table looks cool right?

Ruth

Pinwheel Pillow

I have been using the same old pillows for my couch for about seven years. The couch has changed but I haven't changed the pillows. You may think that it's absurd to only have two pillows on my two couches. (one per couch) but that's where my hubbie and I compromised on. I was one of those girls who had two or three throw pillows on her bed with two regular pillows and a Sham pillow. So 5 pillows, on a twin bed. And on my couch? Maybe 4 to 6 per couch. He's a minimalist, like he wishes he could live in a log cabin with a sleeping bag and a pot bellied stove. And I'm not so much a minimalist. I have tried to de-clutter our house due to his wishes, and he has tried very  hard not to mention the posters, pictures and knick knacks I have around the house. So, in our seven years of marriage we have evolved into a nice clean style, with important, useful and beautiful things only. Well, we try at least. He loves getting rid of stuff, and I am trying to do it more.  But I also insist on stuff that I like or find useful. So, now I have two pillows. If I ever try to put more out, I find that whenever I leave and come back one is missing. I have to search forever to find it and sometimes can't without getting his help. So, two pillows it is.

I made the one on the left, and the one on the right I think I got from World Market. I loved the design of those graphs you had to draw in 6th grade math and replicated it on my pillow. But it's very lumpy now, and quite a bit worn. It doesn't quite fit with what I'm trying to do. Note: What I'm trying to do is add some color to my very beige house.

I had really wanted to get these pillows for my couch from West Elm but they are made of silk charmeuse. And I have a two year old. It just doesn't make sense.

So, maybe....I will make some. Something that fits with the general beigy/blue-y color scheme of my living room.

Probably not this one tho.

My husbands retina's might explode.

I have made one pinwheel pillow before and plan on making the "arms" thinner and making the pillow large to simulate the one from west elm.

This is the first pinwheel I made. I don't think my husband likes it because I found it hidden under the bed.

Apparently, the one throw pillow a bed rule was breached when I added another one. I use them both when I sleep, one to hold between my arm and one between my knees. So when I couldn't find this one I had to pull out the old pregnancy comma pillow. Which is ugly to me and to my hubs. He calls it the "comma pillow" and the first time I showed it to him he laughed.....too much.

Ruth

Turtle-neck into blouse project

I one day tried on a shirt I hadn't worn in awhile. I loved the color  but the size was too big and the fit was just too.....floopy. That's my description. I cannot come up with a work that correctly fits the fit of the shirt so I made one up.

Here it is on my lovely assistant (dress-form) Seawolf.

See what I mean. Floopy.

It had some sort of oil stain on it, even after several washes. And I just didn't have enough hangers. So I opted to donate it. But, I had an idea and decided before I gave it away, I would experiment and see if I could turn my ugly turtleneck into a cute blouse. It's always a toss-up to take a ready made shirt and make it into something else. Especially if that shirt is made from a fine jersey. Knits are hard to work with if you're out of practice.

So I drew out a few designs and here they are.

These are some rough sketches I jotted own in my sketchbook. 

I decided to go with option B. It's the one in the middle.

So, I started to mark out what I wanted with some ribbon. I also cut off the sleeves. 

I marked where I wanted my neckline with tailors chalk.

I then started cutting and pinning to match my sketch.

I had in my sketch cap sleeves and a waist sash. I changed these a bit in the end.

I marked out where I wanted my drawstring waist.

Then I added a drawstring casing and pulled some elastic through it. Then I took my sleeves and folden them twice and stitched them on the arm seam to stay folded. 

I think it turned out pretty well, The only change I plan to make is to cut off the elastic ends and add a self drawstring so It doesn't shout at you so much. 

Here's the sketch I started with....they aren't exact but are similar enough.

But I like both of them and aren't unhappy with starting with one and ending with another. That's one of the hallmark tendencies of mine. I start on one path and work until I'm at a different destination. But hey, that's creativity for you. You have to be flexible sometimes.

Another thing I learned while doing this project. You must be careful and respectful of knits. Especially the fine gauge modal ones. They are a bear to work with. Especially if you don't work with them often. Remember serger's are your friend, and check your feed dogs, tension and stitch so that they are correct for your project.

Ruth

Aw. Lego's

Look what I found via Swiss Miss.

Lego Art by ilovedoodle

Property of  I love doodle

I do love Lego's.

Ruth

Paint Chip Art-Pinterest

We've all established that I needed to paint a wall in my living room, behind the starburst mirror I made. But I could never decide on a color.

Well, I finally decided,  all of them.

My starburst wall with all the color behind it.

I found some great stuff on Pinterest as inspiration.

I had wanted to avoid painting the wall altogether when I decided I didn't like any of my ideas that I mentioned earlier in my blog. So, I dragged myself to Home Depot, took as many paint chips as I could. I felt strange as though I shouldn't, even though they are free. One of the paint guys came up to me and showed me that they had a little folder with 1/2"x1/2 swatches. And I told him I needed something bigger. I then asked if that was alright. He said that was what they were there for. So I felt better taking so many. I left many as well so it's not that they were out of paint chips after I left.

The paint swatches I took were from Behr. I loved them because they were 3" x7" and that's just perfect. The bigger the swatches the more color on my wall.

I brought them all home and tried to keep them in the same order they were in on the paint swatch wall.

Laying out the order

final panel of greys

After I figured out the size of my wall panel I cut out some contact paper and peeled it back one line of swatches at a time and stuck them on. I then followed the same procedure with the rest of the colors . I had originally thought I would use all the colors, red, oranges blue, green, the whole rainbow. But I began to have more swatches than I could carry so I kept it in the cool spectrum.

I had originally thought to put it vertically behind the starburst, but changed my mind after laying it out on the floor.

After that, I just pinned up the contact paper/paint chip panels on the wall with thumb tacks.

My only regret is that I didn't center it evenly on the wall.  It's off  by a few inches, but, I just don't feel like taking it down yet.

I'm pretty pleased with it. My husband even told me that it "looked cool". Of course, from him he could be pulling my leg.

Ruth