Summer Projects Upholstered Chair

Dear Readers,

Another project I did this summer was to reupholster a chair.  I had been working on it off and on for quite some time.  Well just before summer started  my son Will, my dad and his wife Nancy came to visit for my dad's birthday.  So they asked about the chair and next thing I knew, I had help on getting the old upholstery off.

I didn't make them work the whole visit.  We took time to have brunch and Jeff and Anne's and watch Jeff shoot across the pond at some turtles.

We also took some time to get together with some cousins from Grenada...

Frances talking to Duncan

Aunt Maria, Lamar Pitcock, Uncle Bobby, Frances

Emma Kate and me

Will, Duncan and Emma

After school got out, I got brave enough to to try to put the chair back together again.

It is not perfect, but it will do for my bedroom.

Soccer Stars

Dear Readers,

One quilt that I made this summer was called Soccer Stars.  My son called me one day and told me a coworker's son had cancer and he was a big soccer player.  I decided to make him quilt for when he was doing treatments.  I found a soccer panel on Missouri Star's web site.  So I ordered it.  I looked around at several quilt shops and found fabric for the background and inner borders.  I decided to make stars from 5 inch blocks and 2.5 inch squares to snowball the corners.  I chose the colors for the stars from the colors of the backing.  

Once I made the stars I sat down with some graph paper and figured out how to put them on as a border, I had to work out how big the inner borders going around the soccer field would be so that the stars would fit.

I took it to Bernina Sewing Center in Jackson to quilt it.  I decided to use a pantograph to quilt it and it went OK, till I was almost done and realized I had put the backing on 90 degrees different from what I should have...so I bought a piece of fabric and we sewed it on while it was on the long armer and finished up!!

Never heard back from the boy on whether he liked it or not.  I know that is not why we do things but I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

Summer Projects - Headboard bench

Dear Readers,

In April I bought a new mattress and box springs.  It sat entirely too tall on my bed.  So I decided to make a new headboard out of an old door from from my Grandmother's home and use the old headboard and footboard to make a bench.

First I bought some 1x 6's and made a box to support some boards for the bench.  Then I cut the footboard down so it would be the right height for the bench, and cut the posts off to the height for the arm rests.

Next I attached the box to the headboard and footboard.  Then I painted everything with chalk paint.  I am planning for the bench to be exterior, although under an awning, so I wanted all the surfaces painted to help preserve the wood.  I also painted the slats at this time so it would be easy to get the parts between the slats.  Last I attached the slats and added wheels.  I am obsessed with having wheels on my furniture as I live alone, and sometimes I need to move things and it is really nice if you don't have to call someone to help you.

The last step was to add the arm rests and paint them.  Finally, I put a coat of wax on it to give it a little character.

Summer Projects - DVD Shelf

Hey all,

I did a lot of summer projects this year.  The first project I completed was a shelf for my DVD player and electronic stuff.

The cords were coming out of a hole in the wall so first I found this cool cord guide at the hardware store and I put it in.

As you can see it had been sitting on the edge of the hearth with cords going everywhere.  I planned the shelf to sit out from the chimney a little as the outlet to plug the electronics into was in the corner and there are gas lines running along he edge of the chimney.  I made the top so it would lift off so if you have to work on changing hook ups it is easier to get in there.  I also found a wooden box at JoAnn's and cut holes in it for cords to go in so the cord "nest" would be would hidden.