Major Cleanout!

My mother-in-law has come to the decision that she cannot take care of her 5 bedroom house which sets on several acres and listed it with a realtor and sold it.  She is moving into our basement.  So, our fully furnished two bedroom, 1 bath, kitchen, den, and storage area with lots of items stored in it basement has been getting lots of attention lately.  

It was being used as a canning space in the summer and a sausage making space in the  winter.  Did I mention that it is fully furnished?  Did I mention that we have stored lots in it?

So, during the last week of March - my spring break - I spent the days cleaning out and tagging items for a yard sale.  Bridgette and Luci came and helped me out on Wednesday for a while.  Then, on Thursday evening they returned to spend the night and had Lillie along as well.  We did a wee bit of gathering and organizing before trouping off to bed.  

Then, we rose bright and early on Good Friday and hauled all our wares out onto the concrete pad outside the basement door.  We had linens, infant swings, pillows, baskets, pots and pans, chairs, stools, lamps, and LOADS more!  Did I mention that our basement is fully furnished?  Did I mention that we have stored lots in it?

It was a cold, misty, messy morning but by about noon we had sunshine and several shoppers.  I posted ads on the local Facebook info and want ads page.  Some of the treasures left with our shoppers.  Generally, if a shopper bought something, they took a load.  The armoire, the exercise bicycle, both recliners, the stroller, a few sheet sets, some kitchen wares, a baby swing, and more found new homes.

At the end of the day, there was still a trailer load.  I know because Mike, Bridgette, Lillie, and I loaded it all onto the trailer.  Did I mention that our basement is fully furnished?  Did I mention that we have stored lots in it?  Bridgette, Lillie, and I pulled the trailer down to the local Goodwill donation center and helped them to unload it before they loaded their duds and headed back home.

I was glad to go back to work on Monday so that I could get a break from so much hard manual labor that I've grown unaccustomed to doing!  I am still weary but am working through the rest of the stuff down there bit by bit.  Today I tackled a corner of my sewing room.  Tomorrow will find me tackling another one - if I am able!  

That Was Then/This Is Now

I remember when I was young and folks would talk about having to make adjustments because they were getting older.

I remember my reaction to such tales.

I would roll my eyes.

I might not roll my eyes where everybody could see me doing so but believe me, I rolled my eyes.

Now, things are a little different.

Now, I am the one making adjustments because I'm getting older.

One way I seem to be adjusting is by making everything lighter in my house.

The darkest room in the house is the den. (Well, unless you are in the basement with the lights off,)

One reason is because it faces the front porch and there are two huge oak trees providing shade on that side of the house.

Another reason is because I hung some beautiful Merlot-colored, silk, drapes with soutache braid and coordinating sheers as window treatment.  

Those drapes made the room cozy feeling.

They added a rich pop of color to the otherwise neutral room.

They also made the room sort of dark.

So, I decided to do a bit of lightening up.

I also decided I wanted to do it on a budget.

I think I succeeded.

Two canvas drop cloths for $10 each...

A couple of lines of stitching to create a rod pocket...

A couple of hours of ironing...

Voila!

A lightened up den!

I kept the same tie-backs and the same style.  Only the lighter, more casual fabric made lots of difference in the room.

I'm telling myself this adjustment had nothing to do with me getting older and wanting the room to be lighter for my old eyes.

I'm telling myself I was just freshening things up a bit!

Stars and Stripes Decor

The den is decked out in the stars and stripes!

Den

I was inspired by Kim at Savvy Southern Style's Stars and Stripes in the Sun Room.  Particularly inspired by the blue striped pillow shown in the photo below:

via

A couple of weeks ago Bridgette, her girls, and I went out shopping for a few specific items and some fabrics.  Bridgette was planning to revamp her outdoor cushions and I was hoping to find fabric to coordinate with the quilt for which I still need suggestions, incorporating another fabric for a bed skirt and window treatments.

Bridgette was partly successful.  She found her fabric choices and got her cushions covered and even made artwork - but that is another story for another day.  Once again, I was not successful in finding something to coordinate with my Granny's quilt.  However, I did find a couple of bargain pieces of striped fabric that spoke to me.  At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with either of them. Yet, I have learned that when something speaks to me, I need to listen - and take it home with me!

Next, on a trip to our local Goodwill, while in search of another item, I stumbled across a Euro-pillow form for $4.  Again, it was speaking to me - probably saying, "Bargain!  Score!"  Still, I had no idea how I was going to use these items.

Then, along comes the post by Kim showing off her sun room stars and stripes.  That style pillow has stood out to me before and I would make myself a mental note to remember it when I was fabric browsing and to give it a try.

So, with some $4 fabric, I did just that this week!  It took a bit of geometry thinking - thank you Diane Myers for my favorite high school math class of all time!  (It was the only one I really ever understood.)

Even with the geometric thinking, I still had to take some time to lay out the fabric squares in order to make the design work.

It was really fun to make and I got more and more excited as I continued in creating it.  Now, I just love it!

I paired it with a couple of pillows made from fabric scraps left from other projects and yard-sale pillows as inserts.  We got the printed flags at Sir's Fabrics in Fayetteville, TN.  They were another score on our fabric shopping trip where I got nothing that I really needed!  There were all sizes of flags and I think these were only a dollar.

I moved outside to get a bit more light on a cloudy day - and I like them there, too!

For one of them, I used some navy pin dot fabric left in my stash from ages and ages ago - maybe 15-20 years.  I strip patched it around a white rectangle to back the flag.

Looks good on my basement sectional, too!

Then, because there was no extra space for a seam allowance, I appliqued the flag over the white fabric (former pillow case) with a zig-zag stitch.

For the back, I used a couple pieces of an old chenille bedspread.

For the other, I used some sort of khaki scrap that I have had for about 20 years, too.  I think it was originally bought to make Bryan some shorts when he was about the age of our grands.

Again, I stripped around a lighter cream fabric to back the flag (preventing the backing color/design from bleeding through on the white stripes) and appliqued the flag over the center piece.

The back of this one is a piece of tan and white ticking stripe fabric that was a cast-off from Aunt Mary.

These are all envelope-style covers so I can switch out the covers anytime I get a whim to redecorate!

I book-ended these new pillows with a couple of blue pillows I already had on the sofa and now the den looks quite patriotic!

I spent a grand total of $10 to get a festive holiday look refreshing my den (or almost any room in the house)!

Remnants, Scraps, and a sore toe

If you see me hobbling a little bit, it isn't all because I'm old and decrepit.  It might be because I was hanging my new project.

I researched and studied and thought and planned.  Then, I sketched and pondered.  Finally, I jumped in and tackled it.

I had a remnant of fabric that I'd picked up a couple of years while back and was hoarding it had it tucked away till I decided upon just the right project.  It is a beautiful linen piece with soft greys, tans, and blues - my favorite combination.

One day when my daughter-in-law, Jessica, and I were on a quest to find fabric for their nursery, I saw the same print is shades of brown and cream.  I was inspired to finally use this tucked away fabric to create a Roman Shade for our guest bathroom window.

As soon as I got home, I dug out my treasure and set to work.  It was almost too short for the project I envisioned but I made it work out.  I think the price tag said I'd paid almost four dollars for it!

While in the midst of crafting the shade using a couple of the tutorials I'd found online, I stumbled across discovered a unique shade which looked like it had a contrasting valence incorporated.  Again, I was inspired and took a scrap of fabric I had left over from a pillow project.

Using my serger, I roll-hemmed the edges of the scrap and stitched it to the remnant.  Then, I used a piece of the Goodwill-purchased bargain time-softened, inexpensive, second-hand sheet I had left over from crafting curtains for my grandson's new bedroom to line my shade.

Stephen was persuaded to cut the ends off some quarter-inch dowel rods I'd picked up at Hobby Lobby.  So, I slid them into the channels I created in the lining fabric.  Because I wasn't able to find any white cording to use for raising and lowering the Roman shade and because I am impatient and wanted to get done, I found a pair of white shoe-strings that would work.  Voila!

I hinted and waited and asked and waited until finally I decided to tackle hanging the curtain rod and the shade myself.  So, with my little step-ladder perched in the tub, screws, anchors, and a drill set on the window sill, I climbed and grunted and stretched to get it hung.

At one point I decided that I needed a hammer to bang gently tap the anchor into the hole I'd drilled.  So, off to my supply closet I trekked.  (Why is it that I seem to think I need a hammer for most every project I take on?)  I whacked and banged gently tapped the plastic anchor till it was wedged into the hole and attached the bracket with the screw.

Yes, there was some mumbling involved as well.

Then, I carefully leaned the hammer onto the window sill and scooted my ladder just a wee bit...

...just enough to bump the hammer and send it crashing down to land right in the middle of my shiny, red-lacquered, left big toe.

Yes, there was a shout, some loud mumbling, and a couple of tears shed.

It will take a bit of tweaking and I'm still in search of some white cording to replace the shoe strings but all-in-all, I'm satisfied with my creation from a remnant and a scrap.

Before:

Cheap tension rod and a vintage Battenburg trimmed valence

After:

Roman shade crafted from linen with love

So, don't judge when you see me wearing flip-flops in October and hobbling along like a little old granny-woman.  There is more to that vision than appears at first glance.

New Love

I must confess.

I have fallen in love.

I was surprised...

...just as surprised as you probably are to hear me say such a thing.

Oh, I did my research.

I interviewed lots of folks before making my choice.

Then...one fateful day I was checking out the new setup at my local Kroger grocery store...

...and there it was!

On sale, even!

I couldn't embrace it quickly enough.

Not wasting a minute, I added it to my cart.

It is clean and tidy without making a drippy mess.

It is programmable and I wake up to its freshness every morning.

It is so smart that it shuts off automatically without my even having to remind it.

And every time I look at it, I get a smile on my face.

But, the best part is...

...the delicious coffee in my cup!

So, Mama's Pumpin' Iron

Yep, you read it correctly.

My Mama is pumpin' iron!

I just learned about it yesterday and I am not in the least bit surprised.  After all, this is the woman who raised me.  The woman who used to milk cows and rake hay and cut tobacco and haul silage and drag furniture out of a burning house and shoot buzzards and threaten-me-to-within-an-inch-of-my-life...

So, why would anybody be surprised that this woman is pumpin' iron?

Well, Mike was.

(The photo above is one where she had just threatened my sister and me 

and forced us to stand beside her in a pose for the camera and smile.  

Can't you see all that?)

See, this is really how the conversation came about.  I stumbled across astutely discovered a bargain at our local Goodwill the other day that was something he needed - a cell phone clip.  (Why he needed it is a story for another day.)  So, he asked me why I was in the Goodwill in the first place.  (He's not so fond of my Goodwill treasure hunting but that is a story for another day.)  So, I just explained that my Mama mentioned that she needed some dumb-bells.

I couldn't even continue with my explanation.  When I said that, he gave me the most incredulous, shocked look and kind of went into a rant.  "What in the WORLD does your mother need dumb-bells for?  She has suffered with knee trouble, had knee surgery.  Then, suffered with hip/back trouble, had back surgery.  Recently suffered with hip trouble on her other side and has been undergoing physical therapy and steroid treatments.  Why on EARTH would she need dumb-bells?"  And then he grunted that exasperated grunt.

So, after a brief pause to let him catch his breath and recompose himself to a state of listening, I proceeded to explain that she had been using these dumb-bells in her therapy and mentioned that she needed to get her some weights to continue her work-outs at home.  Since I was going to be right across the street at the Walgreen's getting medication for our old, decrepit bodies, I volunteered to look for her some weights and that is how I came to be in the local Goodwill.

It was my lucky day!  First, I found these cute little weights:

(No, those specks around them are not dirt on my floor.  

I am a tidy housekeeper and would never have dirt and such on my floors!  

Well, maybe just a little speck or two...)

They were ninety-nine cents each and went into my cart.  The thing is, Mama had said she needs three-pound weights and these didn't have any designation to tell me how heavy they were.  Since I am not experienced with pumpin' iron, I couldn't really heft them around and determine how heavy they were.  So, I kept digging and looking.  Then, I found this pair of weights:

I didn't have my reading glasses with me.  So, I couldn't see what the little inscription on the side said and didn't know if it was a three or a five or an eight and there was no young whipper-snapper lolling around to read that for me.  So, they went into the cart and I kept digging and looking.  Then, I found this pair of weights:

(No, that is not a grass clipping or a piece of mulch lying on my floor beside them.

I am a tidy housekeeper and would never have grass clippings or pieces of mulch and such on my floors!  

Well, maybe just a little clipping or piece or two...)

So, I came home with three sets of dumb-bells for my Mama and spent only about $15 which is less than half what they would be at retail price.  Score!  (That is supposed to be a metaphor but do you score in pumpin' iron?  Maybe not.  It was a score at getting a bargain, though!)

When I got to my glasses, I learned that I had come home with a pair of three-pound weights (on the far left), a pair of eight-pound weights (in the middle) and who knows what those cute ones on the right weigh but I think they are two or three pounds.

Mike was still shaking his head at the thought of my Mama pumpin' iron and mentioned that Mama had only expressed a need for three-pound weights and wondered what I was going to do with the others.  I suggested that she might begin training the two of us in pumpin' iron and he could use those manly eight-pounders and got another one of those incredulous, shocked looks and a grunt.  I can see that happening, though, can't you see her doing that?

(Doesn't this look like a woman who is one of those hard-pushing trainers?)

For some reason, Mike didn't seem to think that would be happening.  Then, I suggested that perhaps Mama would work up to the eight-pound weights as her therapy progressed.  After all, she had already advanced from two-and-a-half-pound weights to three-pound weights

At that I got a true guffaw!  After he had wiped the tears and caught his breath from laughing so hard, Mike informed me, "If your Mama moves up to working out with a pair of eight-pound weights, she might get mad at your Daddy and whip his butt!"

(Only he didn't say butt.  The word he used begins with an A.)

I can see that, too, though.  Can't you?  I mean, look at her...  all five-foot-four of her...

Iron-Pumpin' Machine that she is...

Recent Project

I have a To-Do List this summer.

(Did you notice the capital letters?  That means it is important to me and I REALLY intend to get those things on that List done!  See...capital letter again.)

The first thing on the list has been for me to recoup from the sinus/ear infection and rest up.  I know I am getting really old to lead a fast-paced life, but, still, this school-year really sapped my energy.

One of the things on my list was to spruce up the sofa on our back porch.  The cushions were originally bought as a make-do sort of fix.  You see, this sofa frame is one of those things which belonged to some dead relative of Mike's.  So, even if we didn't like it and even if it didn't sit well and even if it was hideous and horrible, we would have to keep it because SOMEBODY is very sentimental and leans toward being a hoarder.  And the good news is that the sofa is not any of those things - well, except it did belong to the dead relative and Mike inherited it.  It is really a comfortable sitter and I like it and it is nice and wonderful.  Only...

It didn't have any cushions when I first met it.  It was just a bare, sad, lonely frame crying out for some cushy goodness.

So, I went to places like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Trees-N-Trends, Lowe's, and Home Depot looking for cushions for that bare, sad, lonely, crying out for some cushy goodness sofa frame.  I had in mind something Martha-ish.  (Now that she is out of the Big House she is in almost every store imaginable, isn't she?)  The least expensive thing I could find was about $100 for one set of cushions...and it would need three cushions...and even then those cushions would not fit precisely...and I could buy a whole new sofa, cushions, and companion chair for about $400.

***Sigh***

So, I tried to figure out a way to make-do.  I stumbled upon a sale and bought several chair seat cushions.  I think I got about eight of them for less than $40.  We made that work for a while but, honestly, nobody wanted to sit there because those loose cushions just kept falling over and tumbling around and attacking whoever was sitting on it and it just wasn't very comfortable.  So, I wound up giving the cushions to my daughter, Bridgette, who turned them into something wonderful at her house on a Craft Day.  So, it was back to the drawing board for me and our sofa.

First, I thought I would just buy a couple of long foam cushions and cover them.  Then, I remembered my Bay Window Seat project.  The one piece of foam for that was about $100.  Then, there would be fabric.  Then, there would be sewing.  Then, there would be wrestling the alligator-like piece of foam into the cover.  And...I decided buying the pre-made cushions might be a better option.  So, I began pinching my pennies and planning my budget to include this luxury...

Then, one day while I was at Old Time Pottery looking for an outdoor umbrella after a spring storm had destroyed ours and... there was my solution... a chaise cushion.  It was exactly the correct length and the price was only about $25!  Deal!  I decided that these were a bit thin and wrangled three of them into my cart - two for the sitter and one for the back.  I chose this cute, snappy, red, geometric print that looked so cheerful and I thought it would provide a wonderful contrast to our green and white house.  Then, when SOMEBODY came home from work, the cute, snappy, red, geometric print that looked so cheerful and contrasty to me...did not look so to SOMEBODY.  So, I was back to the store with that set in a couple of days and got a bright-but-conventional-striped set of cushions that my daughter-in-law, Jessica, helped me select.

Those have served us well but the stripey colors were looking rather tired, sad, and faded. Plus, they had been subject to abuse from the cats and Scientific Trials.

So...I began looking for something to update them last fall when there was a wonderful sale on outdoor fabrics at Sir's Fabrics.  The table with odd pieces of outdoor fabric was labeled $4.99 per yard.  Deal!

I found a print that is all scrolly and geometric and modern and traditional all at the same time.  The colors are black, cream, and an olivey-hunter green.  It is perfect to coordinate with everything out there.  Plus, it is fresh and up-to-date.  If you don't believe me about this being something that is new and fresh, just look at THIS PIN of mine on one of my Pinterest Boards.

So, last week I set to it and stitched up some simple covers.

I'm not sure if I like the looseness of the fit of the covers and I may go back and do a bit more stitching to make them fit more crisply and snugly.  For now, though, I like the freshness and trendiness and cushy comfort of the sofa on the porch!

Plus, the bonus is, I have about a yard left and, when I can think of what I want to do with it, I will have a whole new project for free.  Deal!