Sewing Chair and an Update

 Tomorrow is my due date! Ahh! I can't believe it is here. And no baby yet...

But he could come at any time and I have an appointment tomorrow, so we shall see how soon my doc thinks it will be. 

I'm feeling pretty good overall! 

I've worked in the garden this week, cleaned a bunch of stuff (I've currently got the cleanest fridge in all of Colfax Land),  and worked on this chair!

K-man and I went to an estate sale and bought this chair for a measly $3! Nothing was wrong with it either, other than it was missing one screw to hold the seat on....

I was super pleased with this find! I LOVE the detail on the chair back. 

But this girl was in desperate need of a new cushion/fabric. It was so hard and lumpy and just plain ugly. 

So, I proceeded to sand and paint the chair white. It was such beautiful wood, but I knew for my purposes I wanted it white. So white it became. I had to do a good three coats of spray paint.

I then distressed the paint using a fine sanding block to give it some character and add some age back into it. 

Next came the recovering phase......

I stripped off the old fabric and found this lovely silk stripe underneath! I left it there just because I felt like it...=)

I wrapped the seat with four layers of batting (because it is what I had on hand...if I had foam, I totally would have used that instead).

I tightly stapled each side in place, then went back around and stapled until it was securely in place.

Next comes fabric.....

I thought I was going to use a french countryside toile in black and white, but then I remember this beautiful piece and everything made sense! I needed a new comfy chair for my sewing table....and this was PERFECT. 

I love it when things come together like this. 

So I laid out the fabric and laid the ugly old fabric on top so that I cut enough, but wasn't wasteful for the new top. I added a few inches on all sides because I knew that the batting would add some height. 

Yes, my belly is poking into this photo...haha! I thought I was being so careful! 

 Here is the lovely fabric up close:                            Here is the chair painted and ready for the next step

Onto covering! 

I start stapling on one side, pulling very tight and placing a staple (make sure if you have a directional fabric, it is running in the right direction...I actually had to redo this part because of that rookie mistake=)

I then pull from the opposite side, tightly and place a staple in the center.

Repeat with the other two sides. 

Then I went back around and placed staples along all edges, pulling tightly as I went.

Almost done! 

The last thing I had to do was screw the chair seat back onto the chair frame. Easy Peasy.

Check out the detail and distressing...

At my craft table...pardon the mess. I'm terrible about cleaning up after myself down here, but I did want to show how good it looked. Perfect height too. 

I tried to get some better lighting outside...here it is.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. 

In other news, I've been trying to spend as much quality time with K-man after school as possible. 

I know his world is about to turn upside down, going from only child to big brother. 

He is going to be so great at being a big brother, but I know parts of the transition are going to be hard for him. So, I want him to have some good memories of fun things to last him over the course of the next few weeks, when my attention is on baby. 

We caught a turtle.

Played some games...

And fed the ducks/geese. 

these guys were aggressive! It was slightly scary but humorous at the same time. 

We had a great walk the other day too! (Ok, so that served two purposes....moving baby down and bonding time=). 

Can't wait for baby to get here! We are so excited!

Ready!? Get Set?!?........

I am 39 weeks pregnant as of this Friday! Wowza. 

As ready as I am...I'm not ready. 

I know it is going to hurt....

I know I am going to be sooo very sleepy. 

I know that I will be a human feeder.

I know how much our lives are going to change.

And it is slightly scary. Did I say slightly? I mean just plain ole scary. 

Yes, I've done this before...kind of. 

This time is so different.

In so many ways, both good and bad. 

There are NUMEROUS things I am so excited for. Please don't misunderstand me.

I can't wait to hold this little man, whom I have felt growing in my belly for 9 months. 

I can't wait to NOT be pregnant anymore! No swollen/hurty feet, goodbye water weight and double chin (I hope), reclaiming my bladder, fitting through tight spaces, the aches and pains that come with being 30 and not 20 years old and preggo....,  etc. 

I will miss the movement. But that is about it=). 

Still, I'm nervous. 

Say a little prayer for us in the next few weeks. I know we will need it.

So here is what I've been up to today to occupy my mind.

I got my hair done! 

I even got my highlight touched up...don't judge. The cut is so perfect. And I freaking love the blonde. 

But you'd better believe it will be some crazy color before the summer is out=). I will take into consideration any and all suggestions on color. Last summer it was hot pink. I dig hot pink. 

Here are a few shots at (almost) 39 weeks. 

 I even included a bare belly shot! Soak it in, folks. This ain't ever happening again.

Our bags are packed! One for me, one for K-man (overnight for the g-parents). My dear hubby doesn't believe he will need anything except contact stuff. We shall see. 

The nursery is complete! Kind of.

Here is the nursery as you walk in the door. The lighting was kinda harsh, so forgive the next several pics.

Details! Z's co-worker gave us this yoda hat. The monkey gets it for now. 

I do have one other quilt to finish, but here is the first one that I finished! It is hanging over the crib. 

This is another angle of the room. The dresser was painted navy by K-man and myself. He even helped me pick out new knobs! The rocking chair was a gift from my g-ma 10 years ago when I had K-man. I recently made the pillow on the rocking chair and have another pillow in the works downstairs. See! The decorating is never REALLY complete. 

 The Changing Table

Baskets from joanns, boppy ready to go for nursing, box shelves spray painted white (got from goodwill), and yoda at the ready. If you look closely, you can see a little pink bunny car perched on top of the box shelf on the right. The was a childhood toy of Z's. And on top of the box on the left, is the most perfectly made eggplant hat from my fav sister-in-law. She's such a talent. I want to be her when I grow up. 

Here is another angle. The blue and green onesies were made by my MIL for the shower. They look so cute hung here too! 

The only thing I am missing is a fantastic rug. But I can't make myself pay an arm and a leg for one. I wanted a big, fluffery, white shag rug. But, alas, it's not going to happen.

And I'm ok with that. 

Sometimes, you just gotta let go. 

=). 

Wish me luck!

Nursery Part 2: Polka dot walls and crib skirt

Today, I've been busily getting some things ready for baby. I'm pretty sure the nesting has officially kicked in. 

I have a list of to-do (both baby related, and everything else related=) that I have been trying to cross things off of. The nursery is almost complete!! I'm just waiting on a few key pieces to finish it off. 

I saw this tutorial on pinterest, went to the blog, and follow this girls instructions for a Polka dot fabric wall treatment.  I had to change some things around for it to work for me, and I wanted to share what I did! 

BEFORE:

AFTER!! 

It turned out awesome! 

 Here is the process that worked for me. 

I chose my fabrics based on what I already had for the room. I needed something to make circles with, so I grab some various embroidery hoops I had stashed away and used those.

I used flannel, home decor weight fabric, and quilters cotton.

I traced around the inner part of the circles, varying sizes and fabrics. 

Then, I cut everything out. 

Well, almost everything. I ended up going back and cutting out more pieces to fill in places...

Next, I blared some John Prine. Quite important to the overall success of this project.

I painted the nursery a while back, and was lazy and didn't patch some random holes that were left by the previous owners of the house (yes, 5 years ago.)

So I knew I wanted to use this particular part of the wall to cover most of those holes. 

I randomly started laying out my circles and rearranging them in a way that looked good on the floor....

And then I promptly discarded that and just started sticking things wherever....it worked for me=)

In the tutorial I was following, she says to drench each fabric circle with spray starch and then it will just stick to the wall like a sticker....

Well....it didn't work. I don't know if it was the fabric or the slightly textured walls, but this is what was happening with the Home Dec. weight fabric (that I also used here for the curtains). 

Bummer. 

Good thing I have a large stash of random craft supplies in the craft room! 

I ran downstairs (ok, totally lying....I waddled), and grabbed my craft spray adhesive. 

To the rescue! 

I can't speak for long term use, as I just did this project this morning, but I did pull off and re-adhere some circles as I went and they still stuck. But perhaps after drying for a whole day it wouldn't work. 

Either way, I was pleased with the results. I used to spray starch on the front side of each circle, and spray adhesive on the back side of each. 

The spray starch helped to smooth things down evenly. 

Here are some more shots of the finished wall!! 

I'm so very pleased. 

See the tiny viking hat?! 

In love with this treatment! It was pretty easy once I got the hang of it.

Now, this next part isn't a full tutorial, since I didn't take many pictures. 

But I wanted to show off the bed skirt that I made! 

I love the look of the ruffled skirts, but felt they were too girly for a boys nursery. 

So I ended up make just a simple straight skirt.

 I measures the crib length and width and cut my pieces about an inch larger on all sides to account for hemming. 

I had three sides One for the front and two for the sides. (I didn't make one for the back, as it is up against the wall, no one will see it, and it seemed like a waste of time/fabric). 

I ironed each edge 1/4 in then 1/4 an inch under again to hem.

Then, I attached some ribbon along the top edges of all three pieces. 

This way, I can adjust the skirt as I adjust the height of the crib bed. When the bed lowers, the skirt won't drag the floor, because I will just re-tie the skirt higher up! Genius! 

I then decided the front needed a little something......

 ....and I found some rick rack and ribbon. 

I sewed both of those on just the front. 

It kinda wrinkled up a bit at the bottom...maybe my tension was off on my machine or something. I dunno. Either way, its not perfect, but I still love it!!!

I'm currently washing baby clothes as well today! 

Nesting away. 

I just hope I get it all done before he gets here=).

Nursery Part 1: Mobile and Curtains

Hello! Guess what friends?!?! I worked my last day on Friday this past week!

WOOT WOOT! 

I'm officially on maternity leave. Thank goodness. It was getting overly exhausting and there are just so many things to get ready for Baby Brown! 

I can't wait to spend the next couple weeks finishing the nursery, washing tons of clothes, and perhaps a little organizing of K-mans room too! Oh yea, and resting. Let us not forget that part=). 

Yesterday was my shower and let me tell you, it was so special and amazing! 

My family and friends are so cool. My BIL planned most of everything and he did an amazing job (so did everyone else who pitched in to help things run smoothly!!). 

I was so busy with visiting and such that I didn't take hardly any pictures! My mom and some others did though, so as soon as I get my hands on them, I will post them here. 

On to the nursery! 

I'm going to try to post several times this week, with updates on the DIY (or not so) projects in the nursery. 

Remember these? 

My crafty friend, Jay, custom made these houndstooth circles for this mobile project! 

He does such amazing work. I keep telling him he needs to expand and get on Etsy! The man does a bunch of craft shows, though, with his It's Saw Good business, and that keeps him busy. 

Thanks Jay! These were so perfect!

I started a month or two later assembling the mobile...procrastinate much?!?

First, I cut a 1 inch strip of fabric from the nursery colors/theme I had purchased for the quilt, crib skirt, pillows, etc. 

Then, I used a glue gun to wrap/attach the fabric to the inner part of an embroidery hoop. I used a medium sized hoop, but I'm sure any old hoop would work for this. I tried to smooth down the frayed parts...although fray check would probably have worked better...I'm just always in a rush=)

I assembled my parts next. 

 Here is the finished hoop in the navy houndstooth fabric, with the houndstooth circles. 

 These are my supplies.....kind of. I told my husband what to get at the hardware store....and it wasn't exactly perfect. I tried to use it (honest!) but the gold just wasn't cutting it, and the invisible cording was too large. I ended up using silver screw eyes and super strong fishing line instead. But thanks anyways Honey!!

 This next photo is terrible. Sorry. 

But I (and Willie Nelson, the cat) wanted to show you how I attached each circle. 

I just eye balled how much fishing line to use...yea no exact measurements here. Jay so sweetly put a tiny hole in the top of each circle, so I threaded the fishing line through that and tied it off with a super good knot. Don't want this falling on baby's head in the middle of the night. 

I then attached the top of the line to the hoop by again, tying a good knot. I cut off excess and voile! 

Repeat with the other 2! 

I just eye balled where to attach them on the hoop by splitting it (in my head) into thirds. Luckily, the fishing line, once tied, still fairly easily slide around the fabric so I could position it better. 

I also left varying lengths for each circle, so they would hang and you can see them all at once. 

Here it is!

here is a better shot...

there we go!

I also made the curtains here! I used the old curtains for a template, added a hem allowance to all edges, and made the casing for the curtain rod. I used home dec. weight fabric, which is thicker and more substantial than a regular old quilting cotton.  Sorry, I didn't take any pics! I was on a roll. 

I simply tied them back with some white ribbon and hung on a nail on each side that was there previously. 

Turned out pretty nice eh? 

 Just wanted to include this sweet action shot of my K-man assembling a vibrating/rocking seat for Baby Brown. He is going to be such a great big brother. 

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