Deployment Project #4

I'm linking up!

This chair entered our house via - Salvation Army.  Sturdy and classic - - a great candidate for a makeover!

A closeup of the fabric - I'm sure it was beautiful once upon a time...

Here is is finished.  I love the black and white damask.  Love It!!

Obviously I love it since it is covering the walls in my workroom - - so much so that you can almost lose it in that room!

Here it is moved into another room so that you can really see the pattern

Here is a close up of the bolster pillow that I made - I think it is a great addition to the chair and....

it's even cute from the back!!!

Oh, and the best part... this chair is actually for sale!  Sharing the love here folks!!

Deployment Project #3

I'm linking up!

Ok, this one technically doesn't count as a deployment project because I started it before hubby left, but I did put the knobs back on tonight, and I haven't shared the pictures with you yet, so I am going to count it!! 

My mother-in-law had an amazing set of red glass dishes that I have loved ever since I first saw them in her hutch.  When they came to visit right after we moved here, she brought the entire set for me.  I was estatic!!!  But we needed a place to keep them safe and also to display some of the massive collection.  So my search began.

This Credenza was a free on Craigslist!  Oh Craigslist, how I could go on and on about how much I love you!  This is the first place that we have lived that we actually live close enough to partake of the great deals that can be found on Craiglist and I am loving it!!

I realized that usually when I am talking about a piece of furniture that I have redone, I call it "her" or "she".  There is no way I can call this piece a she.  It is a beast.  A BEAST!!!!  It is so heavy, it really needs more than two people to move it -- good thing handsome hubby is so strong (and handsome!!).  I thought I was going to die moving it into the house.  But with some grunting, some sliding on an old blanket to protect the floor, and finally muscle failure (on my part) we got it in here.  Not sure that this piece is going to move with us - - it might just put us over our weight limit.  But it is amazingly built.  No particle board or MDF in this piece.

At first, I felt a little guilty about painting a great wood piece, but then I remembered that it was free - - they were going to put it in the trash - - so I got over it!!  I replaced the nasty rotting burlap and replaced it with a very neutral off-white and tan toile to put behind the fretwork.  I am really pleased with how this piece turned out.  Not bad for FREE!!!

If your wondering why the picture is at such a funny angle it's becuase this is in our dining room and our massive table is going down the center of the room and I just couldn't get it out of the way for the picture.

Deployment Project #2

When people find out that I sew, one of the first questions out of their mouth is, "Do you do clothes?" 
My answer every time -
"No."

When I was 10ish my Mom attempted to teach me how to sew. 
It was a very simple pattern - a pair of shorts. 
Four pieces of fabric simply sewn together - - shouldn't be a big deal. 
Oh but it was. 
I think she gave up on my sewing skills after that summer.  I just didn't have the patience to carefully cut out my pattern, match everything up, pin it and then iron all those seams after sewing each one.  There had to be a simpler way. 
There isn't!

Now I have a buisness sewing for other people - - but not clothes.  I have attempted to make some skirts and dresses for Charise and I have even been a little successful with it.   This past summer I started working with Amy Butler clothing patterns.  I had already used her some of her bag patterns and loved how they were very easy to follow and understand and my projects came out looking like they were supposed to!  I made myself a couple of her tunics and a couple of weeks ago I made  the "Liverpool" tunic.  It turned out fabulous and I love it!!  I wanted to make Charise a dress similar to it, but I couldn't find a pattern even remotely similar.  So I decided that I would make my own version. 

I have had this great Amy Butler fabric sitting on my shelf since we moved here and I have just been waiting for the perfect project to use it.  I am really pleased with how well it turned out and I cannot wait until Charise is able to wear it this summer!!

here's a picture of the "liverpool" tunic that was my inspiration

Deployment Project #1

Well, the best way for me to deal with handsome hubby being deployed is to keep busy.  The best thing I can think of to keep me busy, beside taking care of the home and kids, homeschooling, getting the oil changed on the truck, grocery shopping, laundry etc, etc, etc... is to be creative!

Introducing, DP #1 (Deployment Project)

Today my focus was on some of my clients orders.  I have still been taking orders, but I haven't touched any of my work since the middle of November, so I have a little bit piled up.  I had good reason for doing this.  1.   I thought it was way more important to spend time as a family and

2.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty of projects for me to focus on once handsome hubby left.

M sent me these fabulous fabrics to make into pillows and two little cushions for her daughters little work table chairs. 

M also sent me two skirts that she had worn when she was younger.  She wanted them made into a doll quilt for her little cutie-pa-tootie to play and pretend with.  It was a fun challenge to work with these skirts.  They were reversable skirts so there were 4 different fabrics to work with, but not much of either.  I made a scrappy quilt trying to highlight some of the details that were on the skirts (the lace edging and button holes).  I also snuck in an embroidered "E" on one of the patches.  I think it turned out really cute and I am sure that little "E" will have lots and lots of hours of enjoyment swaddling her little baby dolls in it!!

Here's a quick peek at the back of the quilt - - I used a super soft backing and put a strip of pieced togeher fabric strips down one side - - it is so cute!

Project #2 is coming tomorrow - - I'm really excited about this one!!!!

Snow!

These pictures are actually about a week late, but we've been a little busy!  Right before Christmas we got a huge snow storm here - - It snowed for 2 days straight and was coming down fast and hard.  It actually was really fun to watch everything pile up.  In the end we had over 2 feet of snow in 24 hours. 

Remember, we moved here from CA so we had no snow shovels (had to borrow those from the neighbor), no snow clothes (ventured out to the mall - dumb idea) to go out and play in the snow with, and no sleds (tried but all the stores were sold out) to enjoy the snow with - - but we made the best of it!

We all went outside and worked together to clear the driveway and sidewalks of snow.  The kids built a fort in the backyard, and we all worked together to make a great snowman!!  They were so cute to watch - - Charise could barely stay on her feet, she just kept falling face first into the snow.  They loved every minute of it.

If you know me at all, you know that I hate, hate, hate being cold and I really dont' like snow, but I really did enjoy it.  It forced us to just stay home and enjoy each other - -which was perfect timing for us.  The best part is that three days ago it rained for the entire day and melted all the snow away, so yeah!! no more snow!

I've started my deployment projects and will be posting pictures of the first one tomorrow. 

Game On!

(the kiddos took this picture with their camera this summer, thus the HIGH quality!!)

Well, today was the big day.  Handsome hubby left for his deployment today.  If you've been wondering why there hasn't been any new post lately, that is just the reason why.  Family time was much more important than decorating or sewing, so everything has been put on hold lately.  We have had a wonderful last couple of weeks just spending time as a family.  We took a few trips, went to New York, Tennessee, and Indiana to see family and friends.  This last week we spent at home, just the four of us.  It was fabulous!  You know how when you go on a really great vacation, then the first day you are home and have to get back to reality it is kinda depressing - - well, add on top of that the emotions that go with your husband deploying.  All in all though, I would say we did an exceptionally good job.  There were a few tears shed when he left early this morning, but since then we have done really well.  I'm so proud of my kids.  They have shown so much maturity for their 9 and 6 years.

There is a lot of emotion that goes with a deployment.  Sadness, fear, anger, self-determination, pride...you get the idea.  I supposed emotions change each day depending on what has happened that day.  Today I am mostly full of pride for my husband and children (after all it isn't just the soldier who sacarifices for our freedoms), and a bit of sadness at having to say goodbye to my best friend.  But mostly it is determination that we will get through this.  Every person is different and each family deals with things differently.  But we will figure it out as we go through and adjust as needed.   We've done it before and we will do it again - no pity needed!!

One of my biggest way of dealing is projects.  I have so many good projects lined up - - spray paint stocked up in the garage, fabric waiting on the shelf, and a sewing machine that is just begging to be used again.  Hopefully I will do better at posting pictures of my projects but I'm not going to make any promises!!

Here's my bright idea to share with you today...the kids really love to write daddy letters and send him pictures, but it is kinda hard for them to wait 2 plus weeks for a response.  My idea -- a blog for the kids!  I set up a blog (private) so the kids can write daddy letters on the blog and he will  be able to check it whenever he has an internet connection :)  That means they can also post pictures and show him what they are up to.  So, starting in January - - the kids will begin typing lesson as part of their school day and their writing time will be their "posts" to daddy.  Gotta love homeschooling!!!

Pride Cometh Before the Fall - - or HUGE Crash....

So as most of you know, Christmas is big for us.  I love decorating for Christmas.  Every year at the after Christmas sales, I stock up buying lights, greenery, ornaments, you name it, I love it!!!  I even have it all organized (or at least I did)  Until we moved here, it was all clearly labeled in totes on shelves in the garage.  Here, it is all still clearly labeled and in totes, but just in a huge stack in the corner of the basement :)  You can see my storage system here and look at past pictures of Christmas here and here.

This year has been harder for me.  We have been traveling a lot and very busy getting ready for hubby's deployment.  He leaves the day after Christmas, so it is kinda hard to get in the Christmas spirit, just for the fact that once we actually acknowledge that it is the Christmas season, then we also have to face the reality that he is leaving :(   And by the way, I think every store has a countdown for how many days until Christmas.  I never noticed that before, but when you only have to add one and you get the number of days until hubby deploys, you really start to notice!

But, Christmas is all around us, and it is my favorite holiday, so this week I finally gave in and started decorating.  I was insistant that this year we would not begin decorating or listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving - - we were successful with that!  But, in keeping with my "lighter and brighter" theme and knowing that what goes up, must come down.... I have only put up a tree, set out a few things on shelves and tables, and decorated the fireplace mantle.

I was quite proud of myselft for putting up any Chirstmas at all, and then on top of that getting it all done in one day!  It usually takes me at least two weeks to get it all up!  Here-in lies the pride from the title....  As I went to bed last night, I was composing the perfect blog post in my head (do you all do that?).  I was showing beautiful pictures of the tree, with perfect closeups of the ornaments; georgeous pictures of the mantle with all the lovely delicate mercury glass trees and ornaments.  I was working on all the wording, making sure that you could experience it all, as if you were right here at home with me.  I slowly drifted off into beautiful sleep dreaming of the perfect reveal I would have for you all in the morning.  ENTER THE FALL - - yes, at almost precisely midnight my beautiful dream was brought back to reality with a massive crash that I have never in my life heard before.  Hubby and I jumped out of bed and went running - - he to the kids rooms to make sure they were fine (he had no clue what the noise was) and I went running downstairs knowing for certain what that noise was.....can you guess?  The tree?  No, it was standing tall and proud.  The mantle?  yes...  What a sad, sad day to wake up to a massive crash and find that all the pretties you had so carefully placed there just hours before were now shattered into millions of smitherines and coating the carpet like mercury glass fairy dust.

You see, our house doesn't have a mantle, we have a fireplace with nothing over it, just a flat wall of drywall.  Blah!  So when we moved in, I decided to hang a shelf that I had that perfectly fit the space and to anyone looking at it, you would think that we had a very modern mantle.  It was so convincing, that I forgot it was just a shelf and it could not support everything that I had put up there.  Everytime I put something up, I thought, well, this is really light, so it should be fine.  When I cleaned up the class this morning and put it all in a box, I realized that I probably had almost 10lbs of glass up there.  OOPS!  Lesson learned!

So, there aren't many pictures of Christmas decorating for you to see because I hadn't taken any pictures of it yet, I was waiting until this morning to do that.  I guess you will just have to try to imagine what this huge pile of broken glass looked like when it was all nicely displayed on the mantle!!

Charise put it all into perspective for me this morning as she was watching me clean up the glass she said, "Aww, Mommy, that makes me sad because it was beautiful.  BUT (said in her charming optimistic way) at least we still have the tree and baby Jesus didn't get hurt."  She's right, focusing on the real reason for Christmas always helps put things back into perspective.  Christmas isn't about trees and decorating or pretty mantles for that matter, it isn't about presents, and ultimately it isn't even about family - -- - - all those things are great and good and we should enjoy them, but Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus our Savior.  If we use decorating, and gifts, and family to help us celebrate, then even better as long as our focus remains not on material things, but on Jesus Christ who was born on Christmas to save the world!

The nativity scene that we always put under our tree to remind us of our greatest gift.  Charise loves to set it up and play with it all season, this is currently how she has it places, but I guarentee that it will change at least 15 times today!

Enjoy the rest of the pictures of the tree and details!!