Some art work

I am working on recovering the couches for The Good Room. And it certainly is a challenge...and not a pleasant one! I have given up for the day as it just was not happ'nin'! But I do have some "art" work to show. I bought a blank canvas from Lincraft and a metre of fabric from Spotlight. Both items were on sale for 25% off - I like that! Sofie and I simply stapled the fabric (after much debate on which way the fabric should go etc etc) onto the frame and here is the result:

And the back...not so neat, but what a big effect for so little effort!

Oh, and we have ordered the carpet - a 100% solution dyed nylon that has a 15 year guarantee against stains!! Even against the husband "resting the eyes" while holding a full glass of red wine..........

Update on the good room

I wish I could say I haven't posted because I have been so busy making curtains and recovering couches, but alas that is not the case! I have been busy at work - end of financial year here on June 30, and cleaning up/out the study. Belinda has made her curtains and they look fantastic!

I have been looking for carpet as well, and have decided I may as well get new carpet for the lounge room, study and sewing room at the same time. We currently have 20 year old moth eaten, stained wool Berber. And you know what that means? Moving all the furniture. So I have started on a clean out program. The study has been done and this morning I have found the sewing room again!! DH will be painting the sewing room for me before the carpet gets laid.

Here he is painting The Good Room. The colour looks pretty good. You can see the couches in the middle. I have pulled them apart, removed some of the framing, and measured up for fabric. I have bought the fabric - chocolate micro suede from Spotlight (25% off!). I won't start until the paint has dried. So I will have a go at the bedroom roman blinds.

I also purchased this gorgeous throw and cushions from Spotlight in anticipation of the renovations. Sofie has already named the throw Guy Sebastian as it is so cuddly! And we have the DVD we are going to watch once we have the new TV - so lots of excitement and anticipation here......

Curtains...the bane of my existence.....

Did a quick calculation on how much fabric I would need to do the two windows and I came up with 22.5 metres. Spotlight came up with 24.5. Either way it is way expensive at $22.95 a metre! $500 +. And they don't have enough in stock so I would need to order it is. So I had a quick look at the ready mades - not the right size (or colour), but a lot cheaper. Next to the cheaper fabric - none there - all a bit yellow and not latte. Next to have a bit of a chat to the lady in made to measure - approx $1,000 per window...ick!!!! So to sum up - no curtains and no fabric!

Then later I am thinking - what about roman blinds? Less fabric, and more of a clean look. Maybe I should practice on the bedroom ones that have been sitting and waiting for 7 years....maybe.

On a more fun note, I bought myself an Ott-lite. Punchwithjudy had them on special last month where if you bought a floor lamp you received a desk one as well and the price was reduced to $229. I know it is a lot and that is why I hadn't bought one before but I had spent the prior night trying to unpick in a very bad light. I am very happy with my purchase as now I can see - what a difference that makes. Here was my first sewing project with the light - sewing on ribbons to Ellen's pointe shoes - nearly as bad a curtain making....lol

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This bag did not want to be made. After firstly cutting the fabric upside down, I needed 3 attempts to get the straps on correctly! Well it is done now and I have to say it was not really an enjoyable experience. The canvas fabric with interfacing was hard to move around the sewing machine and awkward to get at.

The pattern calls for buckles for the straps to be attached to. I just sewed them directly to the bag and attached buttons (with a cute bag on them) to the front straps. The pattern also says that "All bags have inside pocket" but there is no pattern piece for one or instructions to add one?? Anyway, I added 3. Here is an inside photo:

More photos of the pockets and details of the lining and stramps can be seen in my previous post.

Sofie and I also went shopping today to Spotlight and Bunnings in Bayswater. Pretty handy as one is across the road from the other. We got some swatches for fabric and for paint for the makeover of The Good Room.

I really like the fabric on the left - chocolate, brown and blue/teal. The second fabric is a microsuede and would be a better choice for the couches as it can co ordinate with more colours. The Fabric on the right is a kind of latte colour and is for curtains. We like the two colours in the middle of the paint card for the walls. We will probably go for the lighter of the two as the room is not large. So it is to be brown, cream and touches of teal. If all goes to plan I will go back to Spotlight on Wednesday to buy the curtain fabric and start those. Next will be to paint on the weekend. Lets hope it is not too cold and wet!

The Good Room

The most sewing I got done today was to recut the bag - hopefully the right way up this time!!


We have a French exchange student coming to stay with us in early July for a couple of weeks. So, we had a look around and decided the house could do with a bit of a spruce up. We started this morning in the kitchen. DH got the job of taking the venetians out to wash while DDs and I scrubbed polished and generally tidied up. It took about and hour and a half and then we went to lunch :)


This after noon we decided to once and for all fix up the playroom. This is a room outside the girls bedrooms. When they were young they played Bratz dolls and blocks there. Hence the name of the room. Now that they are teenagers they have renamed the space "The Good Room" - after Kath & Kim (Aussie TV show). DD no 2 Sofie said I never follow through (we had planned to redo the room on several previous occasions) and I hate to admit that she is right 'cos I do get the "can't be bothereds". Well to make sure I do follow through this time, I hereby declare the makeover of the "Good Room. The to do list is:


1. clean up - done

2. clear out old toys - done

3. rearrange tv to see if we like new location - done

4. get swatches for fabric and paint (see it will be sewing related)

5. paint the room

6. recover couches (sofas)

7. make curtains (this one may be difficult - I still haven't made the bedroom curtains, that I bought fabric for back in 2000!!)

8. buy carpet

9. new tv

10. arrange for digital antenna




Before:









The door on the left is to Ellen's bedroom. Sofie's room is next to hers. Sofie is in the picture on the right - my little helper. Ellen was busy cleaning out her room - a well overdue task. We should have exchange students come more often :))

Ellen is in the photo below. She is on the staircase that leads to the rest of the house.







And here is after shots. We have moved the couch and TV. The plan is to put a small flat screen tv on the wall above the cupboards.

If you look closely you can see the rubbish outside! At the front door there is an even bigger pile to go to St Vinnies!



As a side note - there were curtains for both ends of the room but alas they did not work properly! Curtains are definitely not my strong point!!

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I am making the large tote on the upper left hand corner. I got this pattern at a closing down sale (Remnant Warehouse in Prahran) for 50 cents. This is my first attempt at making a bag and it was the fabric in the last post that motivated me to "'ave a go".

I lined the bag from some poly cotton I found lurking in the stash and decided to make some pockets from some old sheeting. I had a bit left over from some other project - actually I don't remember why I have it at all but it was there so I used it...

I decided to keep the top of the sheet as the top of my pockets (saves on stitching ) and did a decorative stitch to pretty it up a bit.

I made two pockets for one side - a phone pocket and a keys pocket. I put tucks into the pockets to give them some depth. On the other side I just did one pocket to keep my PDA in.

For the straps I used some green grosgrain ribbon which I stitched on top as seen in this picture:

Here is a photo with the ribbon sewn on.

So, everything was going along nicely. Had a bit of trouble getting the sides stitched to the bottom but with lots of clipping I managed to get it attached without any ripples. Mmmmm, I think something is wrong.........

Lucky I have enough fabric to recut - oh darn!!!!!!!!!!!

Red Jacket on me

I wore my new red jacket to Shepparton on Thursday and found it very comfy! Here is a picture of me in it before we left...

I found that making the jacket in a knit brought about a few problems. It stretches! I had to take the sides in a good inch each. Also the shoulders are a bit sloppy and would benefit from a small shoulder pad. And the empire line is a bit lower, but that is ok. On the very plus side...it is sooo comfy. The pink jacket I made in this pattern is very restricting but the red one is just like a cardie! While in Shepp, I bought a long sleeve black top for $9.95 on special, which will look great with the jacket. The top I have on in the photo is just a sleeveless knit.

Also while in Shepparton I just happened to drop into the local Spotlight and found some cute canvas fabric in the remnant bin - it cost all of $1.96! Obviously it wants to be a handbag!

So that is the plan for today. My first handbag/tote. My Marfy can continue to wait.....