jcaroline

New Website Design

Okay, I only planned to have this done by the end of the year (2007 that is) and we still haven't upgraded to the newest version of the shopping cart as planned, but I couldn't stand it anymore and made the cosmetic changes to the old site.  I was tired of looking at it's tired old home spun design (yes, I did it) and I know Miss How About Orange was probably about to have a stroke every time she looked at it.  She designed the lovely banner and left-side menu.  She has made some other suggestions that we'll implement slowly but surely.  And if you come to the blog and see crazy things like this, you'll know I was experimenting with colors again.  So enjoy the new design and test it out by spending some money!

Fellow Clutterers

Photo of William Buckley's home office from Newsweek (March 10, 2008).

Yes, my sister sent me the picture she referred to in an earlier comment.  Apparently, William F. Buckley, Jr. (who died earlier this month) was a clutterer as well.  So I'll consider him a kindred spirit, even though I am not a conservative and I am certainly not intellectual enough to hang out in his circles.  Unless his circles happened to spend some time discussing fabric, ribbon and sewing techniques.  Too bad they didn't- I would love to hear William Buckley's voice discuss the virtues of interfacing.

Where to begin (sewing)

Congratulations to Erika and Joyce, who are both getting a $25 gift certificate for submitting questions to "What do you want to know?"  Joyce wanted to know how to start sewing with an old machine and Erika asked about buying a new one.  So I gave my two bits here.  I tried to cover how you would start sewing if you never have and that includes using an old hand-me-down machine or buying a new one.  Hopefully, it answers your burning questions as a beginning sewer.  If not, submit your own question.

And my apologies.  I said I would cover two WDYWTK's (What do you want to know?) a month, but I've covered two in two months.  I am starting to draft a couple of others and I will do better.  What have I been doing?  Not cleaning, clearly.

Black Bags

I found these bags in the Modern Flora Flickr Group and knew I had to have them.  They are made by Leslie Ann at Black Bags and she uses some darling fabrics.  Of course, I think the Modern Flora fabric is the cutest, but I don't see any more in her shop at the moment (probably because I bought them).  Anyway, I love the shape of the bags, the mix of the solids and prints, and her topstitching is absolutely meticulous.

Speaking of Flickr, I've set up two new project galleries.  Furniture DIY is for all you people that have been commenting that you are now going to attempt some re-upholstery or other fabric re-dos.  The second is Inspired by jcaroline for you to share the projects you made from our how-tos.  Share in the description what inspired you, if you made any changes, and (GASP) where you had trouble.  Create and share!

Just Going Through Some Mail (the printed kind)

First, I must apologize.  I have made nothing in the last two days.  I promise to do better next week.  So today, I am totally relying on other people's work.  I get a ton of catalogs, but I do enjoy looking through them.  You never know where that next little bit of inspiration will come from.  I was flipping through Talbots and look what I found:

That second sandal is Michael Miller's Turquoise Gabriella and the bottom one is Brown Carnival Bloom.  You can purchase the sandals here, if you are so inclined.  I think they are really cute, but I can't stand to have that piece between my toes.

Yesterday, a Target catalog came.  Yes, Target, the marketing genuises that they are, now also send out a catalog.  This is the second one I've received.  The catalog focuses on their apparel and home furnishings, with a small insert on their bath, body and cosmetics lines.  Anyway,  I loved their side tables.

The little black bentwood table in the front is $14.99.  The black round pedestal table is $79.99.  The inlaid table in the back right is $99.99.  It's no Goodwill, but its certainly cheaper than another home catalog I receive with the initials P.B.

And look at this cute lamp and pillows:

The lampshade is $12.99, the base is $24.99.  The pillows are $19.99.  It makes me want to enter a blue and white phase.  In fact, that just gave me a brilliant idea (thank you, Caroline).  I'll compile a collection of items that are blue and white all in one place, so you can be inspired too.  And I'll call it Inspirations.   Wow, this post was productive.

My $3 Chair

I bought this chair a couple of weeks ago at Goodwill for $3.  But, when I stripped it down I found $1.40 in the cushions, along with two ink pens, a pencil and several pieces of children's toys. So I would say I'm even.  Okay, maybe I'm more than even...

I covered this chair in Alexander Henry Home's Black Veronique, which I liked on the bolt, but I LOVE on this chair.  This chair was very different than the Blue Leaflet chair I did- much less sewing, much more stapling and using special upholstery supplies.  I also didn't attempt to match anything on this chair, because I just couldn't figure out the repeat.  But, I don't think it matters.  I did match the covered buttons I put on the back, but you wouldn't know that because they blend in so well, you can't see them!  And I made a couple of boo boos on this chair, but a little Fray Check prevented further disaster.

I'll write up a pictorial essay this afternoon or evening.  I'll even point out my boo boos.

(Update 3/13/2008:  My write-up is done.)

Project Finished, Office Not Cleaned

Okay, so I decided to sew on Friday instead of clean up my office.  But I think you'll be pleased with the results. I finally finished the hobo bag that a certain How About Orange person had been bugging me to finish.  She had sent me pictures of the hobo bags from Target, so I improved on those with some Modern Flora fabric and some interfacing.  I had finished one bag, but realized that my pattern was pretty poor.  So, I cleaned up the pattern and made another one.  I especially like my piece de resistance, the little knot I added on the strap.  Oh, you'd like to see that a little closer?  Well, then..

And I've already written up the tutorial here.

I have another furniture re-do in the works that I think is coming along quite well.  Hopefully, I'll have that to share on Wednesday or Thursday.

Okay, so NOW it's out of control

Okay, so I'll admit it.  My office has reached "critical mass" and I do need to spend some time today picking up before I can achieve any real work.  (If you are new to how I keep my workspaces, you can catch up here.)  It seems the books did leap off the bookshelf and have some sort of party of the floor- I can't imagine what they got at Office Depot that they found so much fun.  (Oh goodness, it looks like it might be materials for filing!)  And the couch is no longer interactive- it is just acting as an upholstered work table.  Apparently, my idea of adding the shelf right next to it has not turned out to be the neatening trick I thought it might.  But that clutter isn't on the couch too, right?

I do have a sewing project I want to finish today too that I hope to get on the web this weekend.  So one or the other will get done today-- maybe both.

And again, let me remind you, my mother did not make me this way.  This is in no way a reflection on her or her parenting skills.

Now that I study the pictures and compare them to last fall's, it's not that bad.  I'll pick it up tomorrow.

Furniture Redos/ Curbly

Hard as it may be to believe, I did not invent the furniture redo.   People have been doing this for quite some time and doing a great job at it.  I just became obsessed recently.  Check out Shelly of FliptStudio's upholstered bench made from an old coffee table.

She documents this bench re-do and others on her blog Flipt.  She is also writing a column for Curbly called "Goodwill Hunting".  Pretty clever, eh?  She also did a nightstand re-do.  Somehow she copied my idea before I even had it!  She won runner-up in the Apartment Therapy January Jumpstart competition.

Thanks, Shelley, for sharing your cleverness and turning me on to Curbly.  It is DIY heaven.  The originator of the blog, Bruno Bornzstein,  says " I wanted to create a place online where people can celebrate all the hard work they put into their homes."  The great thing is they cover projects large and small.  I myself am oddly intrigued by the homemade Swiffer covers.  Perhaps I have some scrap fabric somewhere to make some...