Bench Class at Spruce

Today my friend Megan and I took a class at a great little upholstery store called Spruce.  I actually used Spruce to upholster my gray and white accent chairs a few years back.  They have an amazing selection of fabrics and now offer classes - make your own bench, lampshade, headboard, etc.  The class was from 10-4, and I left at 4:30 with a bench and a much deeper appreciation for upholstered furniture!

The base of the bench.  Basically a wood platform.

Drilling holes after calculating where I wanted to place my buttons.

Next we added 2" pink foam with a spray adhesive and then stapled Dacron over the foam.

Laying the fabric over the bench before cutting.

Pulling fabric very tight and half-stapling before going back, pulling out half-staples, and stapling for real.

A view of the bottom of the bench after stapling but before cord was added.  No pics of the buttons but this is when we attached them.

Last, the dust cover is attached to the bottom, and the legs are screwed on.  

The final product!  I am really pleased.  I plan to stain the legs or look on ebay for some vintage legs, and then put the bench in the guest room.

And here is a photo of Megan's finished bench.

Charm Squares Baby Quilt

In my last post, I mentioned that M is now in a toddler bed.  We are still working on that transition ;), but the crib is officially put away, as well as her crib bedding.  This past weekend I finally finished a quilt for her new "big girl" bed.  I followed the same pattern that I used for my first quilt (from Oh, Fransson) and my friend Megan and I had fun selecting the combination of fabrics at Stitch Lab for the quilt top.

Butterfly Art

I am slowly trying to transform Maddie's room from a nursery to a little girl's room.  I love bold colors and wanted to tie in her new bedding with some art on the walls.  I found 3 canvas - 20 x 20, and created 3 different butterfly stencils by just folding a large piece of freezer paper in half, and tracing one side of a butterfly image, and then cutting it out and tracing.  I then painted the canvas with pink, orange, and yellow acrylic paint, and finished by painting the butterfly silhouette a white/cream color.

Mini Zipper Pouches

I haven't posted in forever, but not because I haven't been sewing.  I am currently working on 4 projects at one time - one project being a quilt for Maddie's new bed, and it is taking so much longer that I thought it would.

These mini zipper pouches are for the 6th grade girls in my ACF small group.  My good friend Sharon and I have been leading a 6th grade girls small group since September and tomorrow is the last Sunday of the year for groups.  I don't have a tutorial for the pouches, but I made them a size that easily holds an id and some cash (3.5" x 5") and a coordinating little tag that can be used to attach a key ring.  The tag fabric is repeated in the lining of the pouch.  An easy and fun project!

I hope to be posting a photo of Maddie's quilt very soon...   :)

quilted sunglasses cases

Quilted sunglasses cases - a great gift this spring, and a perfect nap time project.  I found the tutorial on the blog Sweet Verbena via Pinterest.

A Summer Dress for Maddie

I made my first dress this weekend.  And Maddie didn't throw a fit when I put it on her this morning, so double success!! 

It was fairly easy to make - I followed the tutorial from LBG Studio and tweaked it a little after studying a Kit and Lili dress that Maddie has from last summer.  I have so many projects on my list, but now I'm thinking about attempting to sew a dress for myself.

Baylor Onesie

I love having personalized stuff (luggage, note cards, towels, etc) and I would really like to be able to personalize my bags.  Unfortunately, the price tag on a monogram machine is quite steep.  :-(  But I have been playing around with different types of applique in the hopes of finding a different way to "monogram" my handmades.  Here I used fabric applique to make a Baylor onesie for one of my sweet friends.  What are your thoughts on monograms?

a few new details

I have been sewing tons of zipper bags lately and have started "tweaking" my original design.  I added topstitching to the lining for a more finished look and boxing the bottom corners so that the bag will stand on its own - making it a perfect makeup bag you can leave on your bathroom counter top.