Union Jack Chair - sponsored by the UK Shoppe

Check out this before & after! 

She's a beauty!  This year's YMCA Chairs for Charity event is keeping me extra busy.  I love all the chairs, but gosh, they take a lot of time!  Hug an upholsterer today - they deserve it! 

My Union Jack chair is made from an old shower curtain (the black & blue stripe fabric), an old velvet shirt (red stripe) and some damask print white fabric.  The black fabric is left over from last year's event and is a lovely, thick and heavy, black fabric. 

Hours of sewing at my vintage Singer (oh yeah, I finally got a sewing machine that [mostly] works), lots of staples, and all new foam padding inside. 

Jolly good!

Oh, and the cute little pillow I also made myself using my trusty Mac-Tac paper-and-paint technique. 

Ta-ta for now!

Pillows Galore!

I've been sewing and printint up a storm (albeit a mini-storm) for the Peterborough Handmade fair - good news, I have been accepted as a vendor! 

I'm selling pillows as I make them for now...the fair is still a while away.  So, these could be yours for $15 each!  I can also do custom pillows for between $15-$25 depending on fabric and graphic.

Huzzah!

Want to hear a little trivia about me, and the time I was a real, live elf in the North Pole?  Unlike 'Law & Order', this story totally depicts a real, live person.  Me!

My middle name is Fay (as in the 'Fay' from 'Fay Grayson Home.'  Yeah, that's me).  According to the irrefutable website The Free Dictionary, 'Fay' or 'Fey' means the following:
 

Word History: The history of the words fey and fay illustrates a rather fey coincidence. Our word fay, "fairy, elf," the descendant of Middle English faie, "a person or place possessed of magical properties," and first recorded around 1390, goes back to Old French fae, "fairy," the same word that has given us fairy.

 

So 'Fay' means elf, obviously.

 

Then you've got the 'Emily' part.  Would you believe that the Latin, French, America, German, and Teutonic (basically Germanic peoples) meaning of the name 'Emily' is 'industrious' or 'hard-working?'  No?  Check it out:

 

Teutonic Meaning: The name Emily is a Teutonic baby name. In Teutonic the meaning of the name Emily is: From the Roman family name Aemilius, meaning 'industrious.' Also a From the Old German Amalburga, meaning labour and the Latin Aemilia.

 

American Meaning:
The name Emily is an American baby name. In American the meaning of the name Emily is: Hard working.

 

French Meaning:
The name Emily is a French baby name. In French the meaning of the name Emily is: Hard working.

 

German Meaning:
The name Emily is a German baby name. In German the meaning of the name Emily is: Industrious. From the Roman family name Aemilius. Famous bearer: French writer Emile Zola.

 

Latin Meaning:
The name Emily is a Latin baby name. In Latin the meaning of the name Emily is: Industrious; striving. From the name Aemilia, the feminine form of the Roman family name Aemilius. 

 

So...let's see....

 

Emily + Fay = Industrious, hardworking elf.  
(FYI: this is the limit to which my math skills can be stretched)

 

Have I told you about the time I lived in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut...which is, basically, to round up, the North Pole of Canada?

  

Oh! Oh! And check out this extra little chestnut which I have no idea how they could come up with, because it doesn't describe me at all.  Pffft.  Pop-sci (or whatever).

 

"People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive. As unique, creative individuals, they tend to resent authority, and are sometimes stubborn, proud, and impatient."

Honestly, people, I can't make this stuff up.

True story.

Burlap Pillows

It's official: I am currently having a love affair with burlap. 

It's not that I don't see Burlap's flaws, I *do* (it's scratchy, it sheds, it doesn't clean up after itself, it hangs around even when I don't want it to, it's hard to handle and can be unpredictable)...it's just that I don't *care*. 

True love, fo sho.

I also really love NOT using a Silhouette machine to create stencils (because I can't afford one...so it's not so much a choice as a necessity) .  I can do whatever I want and make it as big (or small), as I want. 

I'm trying to put together a collection of 'smalls' for a craft show in the Spring.  Believe it or not, people, I'm a craft show virgin.  I've been waiting for just the right craft show, and I think I've found it.  Check it out: Peterborough Handmade.

I worked on these ad-or-able pillows over the weekend.  Now, I'm worried that I'm two-timing because I love pillows.  It's tough around here.

First, I measured the throw pillow I needed to cover, then I ironed and cut the burlap to size - with about an inch of seam allowance (like how I use that term, as if I really know what I'm talking about when it comes to sewing?  Yeah, me too). 

Then, I sewed the burlap together using some acrylic wool.  BY HAND.  Why?  You guessed it!  Because I don't have a sewing machine.  Yes, I need to get a sewing machine.  Anyone want to donate?

I found an image I liked and thought would be ad-or-able on a rustic looking pillow, printed it out, and cut it out of some contact paper with sewing scissors.  This is my go-to way of creating my own stencils.  Works like a charm.  They're even reuseable if you're careful! 

 

A little black latex paint, a little white-ish latex paint...et voila! 

PS: Homemade chalk paint doesn't work as well for stencil-painting.  I prefer pure latex; it creates a cleaner line and deeper pigmentation on the fabric. 

 

Cute, right? I'm planning on selling these for about $15 each. Would you buy one?
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