Janet of All Trades

I feel as though I am bombarded with images of lovely fabric. They seek me out and lure me in with their interesting patterns and colors. And once again I am being beguiled by one of my favorite colors, lime green. I have used it in three rooms in my home and have yet to tire of it. I guess that is why I am always drawn to fabrics that use the color. I am in love with these textiles from Lee Jofa called Seacloth.  The combinations and colors make me swoon and I love the somewhat abstract palm frond fabric, which I was searching for last year. They remind me a bit of Lily Pulizter dresses and clothing sans the bright pink and orange. Bright and cheery they are and so suitable if you live in a warm or island climate year round. And then there is this image from Country Living Fabrics available at Calico Corners. Now the combination of green and blue flowered fabric almost makes me ill I love it so much. My second favorite color is blue and the two colors together, well I just can'...

I finished many projects over the weekend and can't wait to share all of them. The first one completed is a tote bag that a work colleague wanted me to create for her. She had seen mine that I had created from some fabric samples and wanted one too. I didn't have any of this left but my work colleague said that she had some fabric leftover from a small reupholstery that she had completed. A Shabby Chic rose pattern with a coordinating red and white ticking. Just by looking at it, I knew that there was plenty for a very nice tote bag,although I needed a pattern to follow.So I found an old dusty and dirty tote bag in my closet and pulled it apart. It was very easy to take apart only two seams on both sides and top. It became the perfect template for my new tote bag. With a little dressmakers chalk I marked 3" in from both sides. This would be the pattern for striped fabric. Next I cut the rose and striped fabric just over (1/2") the sizes above to accommodate for sea...

We discovered what we thought were aphids in our garden, But after some research the appear to be spider mites. They had multiplied pretty fast and had covered all of the stems and leaves. The mites are pretty damaging as the seem to suck life right out of my False Sunflower plants. The are tiny and red and covered numerous stems of the plant. So we decided to order 1500 Ladybugs from Amazon.com. They came in about 2 days from a farm in Ohio and were shipped in a perforated plastic container with wood chips and protein. Per the instructions, we released them in the evening on a water garden. They are less likely to fly in the evening and the water is for their thirst. We did as instructed and let them lose. We sprinkled them just on the False Sunflower since this is the only plant that has the spider mites. We stood there and watched our 1500 new neighbors begin to accumulate to their new home. I mean 1499, 1498, 1497 as a few flew away probably looking for not so crowded homes. But m...

Wimbledon started this week and I could not be be anymore excited. I think I love this tournament more than the others just for the traditions and the history. After the three day match between Isner and Mahut I wonder what other excitement is in the waiting. I love Tennis but don't have any Tennis inspired decor in my home. I never was quite sure how to incorporate my love for the game, until I saw this bedroom in Country Living June 2010. The rackets are used as art! A very subtle way to salute my favorite sport. I love the color combinations  of Olive green and Grey which add to the overall peaceful feeling of the room. I think this would be a great idea for a guest bedroom in a cottage. The next image is also from Country Living 2010 and for some reason reminds me of Wimbledon as well I think the colors remind me of the green grass, strawberries cream,tennis whites and tan arms and legs. This is the perfect porch to relax on after a long match of tennis. Possibly watching a li...

Mother Nature caused a bit of excitement here yesterday. We had an earthquake,well not exactly here, it was 378 miles away just outside Ottawa,Ontario,Canada and was a 5.0. It happened at about 1:41 pm Est and was felt as far away as West Virginia and New York City. There has been no damage reported but caused quite a buzz of excitement.  I was at my desk at work and occasionally a large truck driving by or the operation of a piece of equipment in our warehouse will make the floors or walls rattle for a few seconds and at first this is what I thought it was. But when I looked up, we have a high industrial like ceiling with air ducts and pipes exposed, I could see the air ducts and roof rattling. This was a little scary since I thought it was going to shake lose, So I headed towards to the door. I was thinking that maybe something had hit the building. Then it it stopped, but the funny thing was the air ducts kept vibrating for at least 10-20 seconds after it hit. Scary and exciti...

I often see old doors and windows at the street on garbage day. Luckily there are people who snap them up before the end up in a garbage truck and then in a landfill. I have only garbage picked a few times but  never know what to do with things like windows and doors. I have seen old windows used as room dividers or just interesting piece of art,But in the recent issue of This Old House JulyAugust  2010 is project I think I can tackle. The idea was to use a window as a photo frame, nothing new but a slight upgrade on the idea. A set of double hung windows that display old family photos that are mounted right behind the glass. The photos look as if they are floating since they are all the same size and color. A lovely display of old family photos that compliment each other.Another idea that the Magazine came up with was to mount the photos behind mats to give them a little more depth. I think this is a great idea as well to make the photos all work together with the same colo...

I have made some progress on a few projects this past weekend. It's difficult to finish a single project when I have three or four in the works and about ten rolling around in my head. But here is what I have finished so far: 1. Stenciled three panels that will soon become pillow covers. This is a time consuming process since once they have been stenciled, they need to cure for 1 week and then can be made in to pillow covers. 2. A new project request from a coworker after she saw my scrap tote bag, asked if I could make her one. She provided the fabric and all I have to do is sew it together. This will have to wait for next weekend since I didn't even look at it until this morning. 3. Cutting of about 20-30 circles in felt for an attempt of the Zinnia pillow from last week. I am going to practice with the light blue felt left over from a previous project first to get my feet wet. Then I will try to put my own twist using the dark blue circles in the photo. I will let you kno...

I love to follow a map on a trip, although a GPS is great since it tells you exactly where to go, but it doesn't tell you where you are like a paper map does. Whenever I travel I like to pick a local map and possibly use it later if not to find my way around. So over the years I have accumulated a few maps and I am always looking for a way to use them. About a year ago I frames numerous photos from our travels and used maps for the mats. I tried to select the maps where close to the actual location of the photo. It took some time but I was able to locate each one in my stash of travel maps and use them for mats behind the photos. Another idea for maps I discovered in Martha Stewart Living July 2010. Maps were used as photo corners and scrapbook pages to document a vacation. The also suggest that you keep the free maps that you are given at rental car offices and tourist destinations to make it more unique. And lastly ( I don't have a photo of this) I have used cut up old maps...

Yesterday I had two surprises come my way. One was this lovely double rainbow that occurred just before sunset. It was quite vibrant and the colors where stunning. I had forgotten how amazing they really are and what a surprise to see another one form right before my eyes. The other surprise came as a little package from UPS. I had totally forgot that I requested some samples from a fabric company Link Design (linkoutdoor.com) after I had seen their fabric in Martha Stewart Living July 2010. The arrived in such a pretty package that I had to snap a photo of it. Inside were two gorgeous 10" x 10" pieces of Zinnia (yes, I know) fabric in Stone and Pumpkin. The photo does not do the fabric justice since the colors are beautiful and the fabric feels durable yet soft at the same time. It is intended for out door use but I could see it as curtains,pillows and maybe a beach tote. I am sure I will find some use for it since it is my flower of obsession. 

A month ago or so I purchased two wicker ottomans for our patio at Pier One. They were a steal at $29.95 each,marked down from $99. The are the perfect companion to our two wicker lounge chairs. They are perfect for resting your feet or they can be used as an extra seat. They have one tiny flaw although, the top is slightly concave and makes the ottoman just a little to low and hard on your feet. I went to Pier One and bought a cushion that I thought would fit, but it was too large. So next idea was to make one of course. First I started with some white foam, which is recycled packaging material and cut it into a circle. The perfect circle traced from the bottom of a trash can (Thanks, David). Next was the fabric selection. I have about 6 yards of this palm tree fabric and little by little I am using it. I bought on Ebay last year and have made Pillows and tablecloth (that I have used once, time to repurpose that) from it. I cut a circle about two sizes bigger than the foam and then ...

I have been blogging about this obsession with Zinnias for a few weeks and didn't realize how far it had gone. A few weeks back I decided to make an Apron for a retiring colleague at work. I wanted to make something since I wanted my gift to be personal. I first bought and downloaded the pattern from You Can Make This. The instructions are for two different styles but the body of the apron is the same. I selected the one on the right in red since it looked and seemed simpler to make. I selected a beautiful multi colored flower fabric with a brown background. At this time my Zinnia obsession had not started and I just noticed over the weekend that the fabric has them in it! Subconscious telling me something! I was worried that my sewing skills would not be up to the task, but I took my time and was very pleased and proud of the results. I changed the pattern slightly on the bottom since I didn't care for the scalloped edge for two reasons. It looked to cutesy for the person wh...

Today is Flag Day. It is the day that commemorates the adoption of the United States flag. A day to celebrate a symbol of our country. When I was younger, I thought it was a different symbol. I thought it meant it was someones birthday. I can still remember asking my mother who's birthday it was since the flag was being flown. I think she laughed and said that it was flown on holiday's and my birthday was on one such holiday. I always had a cake with a flag on it and some sort of flag ribbon in my hair on my birthday. Happy Flag Day!

I sometimes feel like I get going on a project and I get half way thru and give up or I get distracted and start something new. This week has been all about that. I keep finding projects I would like to work on and let those that need to be finished sit in a pile. This Zinnia obsession needs to end and if I just would stop finding ideas like this from Cluckclucksew.com There is a 24 page tutorial on this lovely pillow and I intend to try it sometime. I fear that I think,blog and talk to much about a project and get half way there then never really get much done. Same with this blog, I really don't show too many completed projects.So in this Friday June 11th I vow to finish more projects and show the results and not just take you half way there.

Some years ago I visited Nashville and fell in love with the city for it's people and it's history. I especially love the Hatch Show prints and how they are made by hand. A lovely shop where you could pick up a past concert poster for as little as $10. I know this well after the fact but Nashville still needs help in recovering from the devastating flood in May. You can donate money at www.unitedwaynashville.org/nashvilleflood/ and you can own your very own Hatch Show print. There are also many other very creative posters that you can buy that will help support the cause as well. Please give if you can and help a wonderful city recover from this disaster.

I seem to be noticing Zinnias everywhere now since I blogged about it last week. It must be the flower of the summer. I came across this Zinnia pillow in Ready Made April/May and almost missed it. I love the use of color and this could be a good use of fabric scraps. My brain is working on figuring out how to make it as well as some other possible configurations. I will let you know what it comes back with. In the meantime, I also found these cushions in Martha Stewart Living July 2010. The are custom cushions from linkoutdoor.com but you can buy the fabric a well. The Zinnia fabric is available in two tone combinations that are very subtle and pleasing. I am particularly fond of the pumpkin and stone colors,but I really like all of them.I know they would be perfect somewhere. Lastly is my attempt at the Zinnia stencil from Readymade. I think it looks great but this was just a test piece. I had the orange paint (which I tweaked a bit with brown paint) and textile medium already s...

A friend is participating on the Relay for Life in a few weeks and to support her efforts I purchased a luminaire. They are to decorated for the event and can be lit in the memory of someone. I have had mine for a few weeks and have been trying to figure out what do with it and then finally an idea came to me. I few weeks ago I picked up these paper stencils for .97 each at Joann's in the clearance section. They each have six stencils that can be used layered together or alone. I wasn't sure at the time that I bought them what I would do with them, but I they were to good of a bargain to pass up. So first I took the Luminaire and opened it up along the seam of the bag. Pretty easy if you just take your time or you can use an exacto knife to help it along if the glue is strong. Then I laid it out flat on my work space and started to stencil. I used the flower stencil twice, once in one color and then rotated it about 45 degrees and then stenciled another color. Then I used an...