Quilt my Chairs

Pinterest convinced me I could do this. Time to refinish ye 'ol dinning room chairs.

Yes, this is my dining room chair. I know, yikes, right?

"Chair, meet Drill."

This soft sanding attachment was less than a $1 at the hardware store.

[Why aren't quilty tools always that cheap? Just sayin'.]

You could use sandpaper instead. But, hey, if you have a drill...

 

You'll also need:

screwdriver (ask your chair what kind)

mallet (optional)

old towel

old quilt :)

staple gun

3 spraypaints: primer, dark blue, black

 



Looks better already right? Here's how it goes:

• take seat off chair w/ screwdriver.
• sand chair (but don't sand cane back - I learned)
• dust with old dishtowel
• spray with primer
• spray with blue spraypaint
• spray with black spraypaint

It's VERY dry here, so I only waited 15 minutes between spray coats.

You may want to let them dry longer. 

• Wrap quilt remnant right over old seat cover (pretend you're wrapping a present) and staple in place.

• Fit chair onto seat. Mallet is handy for making alignments.
• Screw chair to seat. [I found screws went right through old quilt, no need to pre-drill holes.]

 

Seat is covered with more of the old Northern Star remnant.

I takes two coats of spraypaint to cover primer. Blue undercoat gives a nice glow and keeps new black paint from being too stark with old quilt, don't you think?

 

But wait there's more -

I painted blue roses on top of chair back.

{Did I ever tell you how I learned to paint? Didn't think I would survive Alex's first day of kindergarten, so I invited all the Mom's on the street for a Donna Dewberry painting party to keep me busy until school was out. Hired a craft teacher for the party and we all learned to paint.}

 

 



Those Surprises

You know kids have that little fascination for bikes. They love it and treat their bike like family. They care for it, fix it, ride it, make the little bike happy. I am one of those kids. I love my Quilt Market Meet-Up bike with it's sky blue color, shimmering in the sun. It even has a basket to carry everything that I need in it. You wouldn't believe the look on my face when Mom had created the cutest creation for my bike. --Alex

up-cycle bike basket liner

 

I made Alex's basket liner from an old work shirt and bunting flags leftover from other (apron) projects. A double recycle project!

 

Shirt placket is the casing, with shirt front still attached for liner sides. Liner bottom was cut from one of the shirt sleeves. Sides (shirt front) were gathered around oval (sleeve) bottom. The big design challenges were:

 

 

1. Deciding to put the exposed seams on the outside. They really are well hidden by the basket and the bunting.
2. Giant snaps instead of drawstring casing.[ It is so hot here that sticky Velcro melts off in the garage, so although an obvious choice, that wasn't a real option.]
   

   
3. Shirt pocket section was pieced in center front of basket liner. Gathering made the pocket gap, so skip that step on the front edge if you use a pocket.

 

Well, all that is left of Uncle Dennis' denim work shirt is the collar, cuffs, and one sleeve. Can you think of another upcycle project that would finish it off?

  Time to go outside for a summertime bike ride :)

 





Sewing for Music

This was Bill from Canada's idea. Bill is tenor in our community choir. Alex and I both sing in the choir. Well, Alex sings, and I am learning :)
Choirs don't use music stands like other musicians. Sometimes it can be challenging to hold all your music. Bill made a super sewing project that solves all that. Really!
Are you ready to see it?

 

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Ta-Da!

Bills genius idea is to sew an elastic handle on your music binder!

 

 

• I used 7" of one-inch-wide plain old braided elastic. I'm wishing I would have used 9".
• Tape elastic in place 1/3 of the way from top of binder. Make sure you can close the binder without stretching the elastic.
• Machine tack ends of elastic in place. Use any old needle that you are ready to throw out. I used darning foot and covered feed dogs.
• Bill was right, you must hand turn your machine. Not that it's not strong enough to sew on the binder, but the thread keeps breaking unless you hand turn.

You never know where you'll meet new sewing friends! And I'm always pleasantly surprised when the defi de jour is solved with stitches:)  ---Mom

Scrappy Summertime Shoes

Now I know why I keep that big basket of strips; perfect stash for
 Rag Garland flip-flops upcycle, plus an ideal birthday present for our 9 year old neighbor, Kala.

The unique feature in our flip-flop creation are these butterfly button/charms by Jennifer Heymen (from the bead section in Micahels). Here's how easy it all was:

shoes + charms + strips (3/4" thru 1-1/2" wide) = FUN!

1. Loop strips around flip-flop straps (just like a rag garland), then tie in a not for added wearability. Easiest to work from center outward.
2. Trim ends of strips to 2" long or less (so you can't trip on them).
3. Hand-tack charm at center.
4. Ta-Done! Go outside and enjoy:)