The babies leave the nest.

Our middle daughter has been away at school for two years now.  I like to send her little things in the mail so she can feel a little bit of home, in her home.

Recently she asked me to make her a new duvet cover from some fabric that she selected.  I added some pillows to match and plan to mail them off tomorrow.

I also thought I should add a surprise that she is unaware of.  So I had some flour sack towels that I have been wanting to do something with so I took something that she finds funny, and put them on the towels.

I hope she finds them useful and fun.

A little bit of home

Our second daughter is in her third year of university.  She chose a school that is about 8 hours away from home.  We wanted her to live out her dream, but also feel at home.  While decorating her room she asked me to make her a quilt.  Since i have limited sewing knowledge I was hesitant.  However, she fanned  a flame inside of me, to keep trying and making more things.  

On the quilt I hand embroidered the lyrics to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" since this is our family anthem.  I penned them on the squares in my hand writing, and she  will always have a piece of her mama no matter where she goes.

We created all the pillows, and most of the things in her room are items she bought at yard sales, or were donated.  She loves the vintage feel to her space.  While most of her friends have typical Ikea rooms, hers in unique and homely.  The rug on the floor again was our creation from some fabric that she selected.

And one lonely piece of Ikea furniture to have a place to house her growing collection of books.

I also made this little garden bench into a couch for her room, we covered it with canvas purchased from the local bag maker.  

And I printed from my bubble jet, a excerpt from Winnie the Pooh, and an Eiffel Tower because this girl is in love with all things French since she went to Europe in grade 11.  The bench itself was in major need of a make over, it was so ugly, but I have to say it is now in its third year of school and still looks good lol.

As you can see from this picture we attempted to make the Anthropology duvet cover.  And for the most part it was good, if you didn't look too closely at it. However, the sheets I used were not a good enough quality and one of her roommates ripped it to shreds, thus I have been commissioned to make a new one.  It's in the works right now. 

$25

A few weeks ago my husband went past a really cool yard sale.  When he got home he told me I should go check it out.  I did and this is what I ended up with.

It was a steal at only $25 dollars, or so I thought at the time.  I had no idea how much work it was going to be to reupholster it.  I thought it was a simple unscrew, cover seat, and staple into place.  After careful selection of fabric, courtesy of our daughter away at school, she spent an afternoon shopping with me on a visit to her.  She also selected some lovely fabric that her mama was sent home with to make her a new duvet cover.  She likes to keep me busy since we are soon to be empty nesters.  So I began on the chair

My husband came home one day to find me on the kitchen floor, in a pile of dust on an extremely hot day, surrounded by tools.  He asked me how it was going and when I answered him, he just picked it all up and took it into the spare room.  It would have to wait for another day.

And eventually I went back to it, with a plan, and some patience, and the end result was lovely.  My seat fabric is a little off center, but by the time I realized this, there was no going back.  I think the neighbor kids learned a few bad words that morning as I sat on my back deck with the tools and the chair.

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I will say though the next time I see a chair that needs a little repair I will definitely look it over a little bit more, before I get so excited I hand over my cash and stuff it in my trunk