Monday, August 22, 2011

First Day of School



We have been super busy the last two weeks getting ready for school.  My heart hurt today as I dropped BB off for his first day of middle school.  I could tell he was so nervous which is not like him.  I wanted to go in and help him get all of his stuff organized but it was one of those times that I just had to let him do it all on his own. I thought about him all day and was so relieved to hear that it had been much better than he thought it was going to be.

Lulu has been back at school for a week and can't wait to go everyday.  I am so grateful that she has had some very sweet and caring teachers so far.

My classes were great today!  I can tell that I'm going to have some really fun kids this year.

So far it's looks like it is going to be a pretty good year! 


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Great Weekend and First Woodworking Lesson

School starts for me on Friday so this is really my last weekend of the summer.  It has been a great weekend!  Yesterday was a perfect.  I started off the day with a run at the park - I hadn't run in almost a week because of this terrible heat.  We spent the rest of the day in the pool and taking a long afternoon nap.  We finished off the day by going out to dinner with a friend of mine and her new fiance.  Today we dropped lil' Lulu off with the inlaws for the week.  Can you say quiet house!  I plan to get a ton down in the next four days.

The most exciting thing that I did however, was learn to use my husband's nail gun.  I know I really need to get a life!  I don't know if you have ever watched Rehab Addict, but I so want to be Nicole Curtis.  I have this crazy vision that one day I am going to have all of these power tools and actually know how to use them.  Being a good husband, D is going along this fantasy and trying to teach me how to use some of the tools that we have.  I am currently working on a project that requires some nailing, so I got my first lesson today with the nail gun.  Let me tell you, that thing is scary.  I think I did ok, no visits to the emergency room.  I'm almost finished and I can't wait to share my project soon!




Hope you had a good weekend!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Grain Sack Chair Covers

As we are counting down the days until school starts I keep thinking of new projects that I want to get finished before next week.  I've been wanting to spruce up my very boring breakfast area.  I love all of the things that you see in blogland made of antique grain sacks.  I decided that I wanted to make some chair covers for my breakfast table chairs out of grain sacks.  I went onto Ebay to see if I could find some.  WHOA, those things are expensive.  I could buy new chairs for the price of a grain sack.  So I chose to make my own version.  You are going to love what I used:


I found both of these at my local Walmart.  And let me tell you, if you have never made anything out of a canvas dropcloth (I hadn't) you have no idea what you are missing.  You get a buttload (in case you don't know, that means alot!) of fabric for less than $10.00! 

I found out that a standard pillowcase fits perfectly over my chairs so that is what I used for my pattern.  I cut the front and back.  Another great thing about the dropcloth is that it is hemmed all the way around.  I used this as my hem for the inside of the covers.  I knew I wanted to add a ruffle to the back.  Once I had my pieces cut out, I went out to my new favorite site, The Graphics Fairy, and found four french designs.  I printed them out onto the transfer paper (don't forget to reverse your image) and ironed them onto the back pieces.



Next, I cut out an eight inch strip of fabric and folded it in half for my ruffle.  Because the fabric was so fabric I couldn't use gather them using a stitched thread.  I had to gather them by hand.  Never did that before, but it turn out great!




I sewed on the ruffle, then topstitched to make it look nice.  Last I pieced it together like a pillowcase and VOILA...



my version of a grain sack chair cover (I have no idea where that stripe of sunlight is coming from).

I used a different graphic on all four because I didn't want them so matchy, matchy.  Here is picture of all four.


I'm linking up to: