Sewing Sally

Trying to take my last week of radiology VERY seriously, I am trying to make the most of my creative drive because it is about to END!

so sad. Don't worry because I've pre-done some posts that I can put up even when I'm busy! I'm such a nerd. Anyway.

Mom lent me her old sewing machine that her grandmother gave her back in the 70's or 60's... The Singer Featherweight (model 221) - which has quite the cult following!!

http://singerfeatherweight221.blogspot.com/

http://www.april1930s.com/html/how_to_thread_a_singer_feather.html

Thank goodness it does. Because this old beaut was a bit dusty and very complicated to thread! The belt had melted onto the power cord and subsequently cracked and fell apart!

Also thanks to the SINGER repair shop being 2 blocks from Trinity Hospital, (where I've been working this month), I got it all polished up and started to sew!

Front

Back (hard to see the envelope and also I'm way too lazy to take a picture

now that it is filled with a pillow-filling!)

I've done two pillowcases so far (the other one with Walmart fabric that I only spent $2 on), and I love it! Tomorrow I am going to get the material to make my version of a $500 pillow from ThreeSheets & AtHome that I'm in love with! yay! I'll start taking custom orders to supplement my meager resident income in a few weeks!

Shower Curtain part deux

I've grabbed this curtain on approval from At Home... Very good point (and an obvious one that I obviously didn't make!) from Holland that silk may not make the best shower curtain! hehe, that's exactly why I need this blog! This is a bit darker than the silk but I might just stick with it because it is in the same family and I'm pooped of figuring all this out!

Shower Curtain fabrics

Despite the idea of doing entirely black or white or cream - I decided to stop by some fabric stores on my way home from work. I am still entertaining the idea of getting shower curtain panels made for this bathroom (I think I just have this craving to do this). Though I am definitely still up to doing the curtains I found at BB&B, I am posting these prints which I love and I thought I could get feedback. I am trying to tie in the greyish color of the walls with these. While I was waiting for them to download (it is taking forever today), I decided that 3 of the 5 I picked out I don't think would look good in that room! So here are the two finalists:

#1: $15/yd from M's Fabric's downtown, matches walls (upper painted part) - the only solid I have, and it is silk I think - something like a non-shiny silk dupioni. Very Restoration Hardware. #2: $24/yd from King Cotton, it was the last sample so they had to cut it for me, can't see the whole pattern but it is good looking and subtle. The dark color in the print matches the above fabric swatch almost exactly - and both match the wall color. As I was looking through some pictures online - and mom found some for me - I came across this bathroom from "Rate my Space" - and it reminded me of a direction that black and white bathrooms can take, not really something I want for mine. This bathroom's B&W is a bit too stark, and though I like damask, this is a bit too much for me. It is very scary how similar this bathroom's layout and hardware is to ours!!!! This is one I do love! I will never have toile in my house, though, now that KD ruined it for me by making us wear it as homemade dresses and skirts for a Rush round one year!

Bathroom help needed

Here is our master bath! You can't tell from this picture, but there is still NO shower curtain! For my b-day I was thinking about asking for one from mom... but I am still stuck on what to do - a white curtain? a linen off-white one? a neutral green one (from AtHome)? or should I go get a fabulous piece of fabric and get one made? Below is one from BB&B, a textured white/black that ends up looking ivory. Can I do Ivory/cream in a bathroom with such stark white?

Darn TV table

Jimmy was so excited to get the opportunity to buy another plasma that now we have one that we basically don't use! It is in our bedroom on a too-deep piece of wood furniture, sitting too low for us to actually watch TV in bed (bad habit I know). We probably should mount this TV up on the wall, because the room is small and already has a lot of furniture in it (big bed and big dresser, all dark wood). However - I'm having a tough time justifying spending the $200-$300 it would take to mount this huge TV and speakers on the wall, when in reality it is a guest bedroom and I don't think future prospective buyers will appreciate! Here is the room and the space - I wasn't kidding!! So I'm debating adding a taller table in here to hold up the TV, since the same amount of mula can then manifest into a piece of furniture that we can take with us and have forever. Problem: not much space and lots of wood in this room already! I've been looking for a table that is either: 1) dark wood because I know I'll use it in a future house and this room will just remain cluttered 2) wood, but painted a lighter color so it is different (think shabby chic) 3) iron with either marble/granite/glass on top I'll be honest and say that #3 is my ideal option. I've been wanting an iron table for a while, it would go anywhere in the future, yada yada. However, they tend to be pricey when nice ($1800 for my favorite one) , and I didn't have too much success finding one in the lesser-expensive antique stores downtown. So here are my options that I found lately. I'll put the price and where they are from, and I'll mention anything that stood out to me about them. Please respond if one stands out to you as one that you would be jealous of if you saw it in a friend's house! I apologize for the blurry vision - Iphones aren't exactly the best cameras, but are much more discreet! The TV stand needs to sit on a table that is at least 14" deep and 30" wide. All these tables would work. 1. I can't remember actually how much$ this one is. 18'' deep, 36'' high. From Hannah's antiques. 2. Uh, not doing so well, this one I can't remember how much either, also Hannah's antiques. The knobs match the knobs on an old dresser I have. Good dimensions. 3. $190, At Home, this one is a shabby chic greyish color, about 16" deep. 4. $400, Hannah's Antiques. kindof swirly, marble top and iron base, if you can't see. 5. $360, Nadeau's. Less wide than the others, but still would fit the TV. 6. $327, Nadeau's, sliding front in wood, more of a solid piece vs a spindly table. 7. $350, Hannah's Antiques. I talked this booth-owner down from $525, this one is 18"x48", and is 40" tall (a smidgen taller than a standard console table). 8. $347, Hannah's Antiques, green marble on top with grey iron base, cut in a trapezoid shape, width at front is 3 ft and at back is 4 ft. 9. $218, Nadeau's, traditional but very solid and good-looking. 10. $80 with the sale they are having now, Hannah's Antiques, this one is shabby chic as well and is one of the smallest, (right height though), at about 16''x 32''. Which one?!?!

Windows I Love!!

A little dream for a future home of ours. This window and the two pictures below it are from our hotel in Florence, Italy, at the Hotel Monna Lisa. They were just gorgeous and I hope to have them in a sun room one day.

With our friends Durham and Nazy, who we met up with in Florence and did a lot of shopping, drinking, and eating with! They are in NY now and he is also doing an orthopaedic residency. A very similar window I saw on a blog recently. And here is my favorite window in our house and the beautiful view into the backyard! Some more fun ones - not mine though!!

The door to our backyard. Not exactly a window I guess.

Headboards

Yay!! I've finally done it! I have created my first headboard. And I should say, to be honest, that I did not think that it was super easy (hmmm Cover and Holland....)! My thumbs are all sore from pushing together those dumb buttons and desperately trying to get the really long needle through the plywood and multiple layers of foam/batting! But, multiple trips to Hobby Lobby and Walmart later, I have successfully saved myself lots of mula as well as fixed a craving I have had for a while!

pre-headboard, with the fabric I picked out a long time ago!

you can barely see those darn buttons after all my hard work, and the second layer is hidden by the pillows!

This happens to be in the ONLY room in the house I didn't paint!! I loved the white brightness that this room has, especially since the front of our house tends to be on the darker side with the plantation shutters and the trees. I just love the pop of coral, and my next project will be to make some pillows to replace the gold ones in the picture! Here is the cute cubby in the corner, which I love because there is no real purpose (I stash purses in the cabinets below.)

My elephant is courtesy of Etsy, the shell is from Anne Donnell, my dad's first cousin, and the butterfly prints are my version of something I saw in an adorable Atlanta antique store. Here is my fine-view vanity! I would love to one day have this painting, of some coral goldfish on a celedon-blue background, from At Home in Homewood down the street from us!

Here are some other fabulous pictures for inspiration, courtesy of the blog pink wallpaper! And if you feel so inspired, try out this website, though I used Cover's help and a little pamphlet from JoAnn's fabric! http://www.bejane.com/headboard