updated an older chair

It seems to be happening to a lot of things in our house, playing musical chairs with furniture and accessories! I guess quarantine is giving a desire to change  without the access to anything.... And it happened again with this chair, with a little makeover added!

I went with a more simplified look!  A few years ago, I redid the master bedroom during the ORC, and makeover this little corner:

I reupholstered the wooden chair with a nice blue fabric, much better than the original ivory fabric. (there were 2 identical chairs, one in the bedroom, one in the living room) All was good, until I repainted the library blue, and updated the curtains there....

The other chair was just next to the window, and it was looking just average.....

but switching to the blue chair was just right!

So of course I decided to redo the other chair,

I had just enough blue fabric to recover the base and back.

After removing all the previous fabric

and the hundreds of staples,

I realized the "skeleton" was looking a little rough:

So I decided to paint it white.

I started with some primer, and then some white paint,

using the paint I had one hand,

like I did when I painted the island blue.

Well it did not turn out as good,

as my white paint was too old!

So I did not finish painting the chair,

I will get more paint in a few months and repaint it again after sanding it....

But I was able to recover the base of the chair,

just like I did for the original chair.

Because the chair still needs to be repainted, I did not staple the back,

but I decided to start using it right away:

I added a pillow (made a few years ago!) to cover the back,

making pretty and functional.

I also removed the valence I made during the first makeover of this corner,

as it doesn't match the curtains anymore.

I have since changed to white curtains.

I set it up all pretty,

but on a daily basis,

it looks more like this:

As Bosco loves to look of the window!

Happy day!

 

repainting the island

With a fair amount of free time on my hands,

but very limited access to supply,

in other words Quarantine,

I have been working on a couple home projects,

like painting the kitchen island!

Isn't just a lovely blue?!

It is the same blue (in the midnight hour by Benjamin Moore)

that I used on the library (leftover paints are the best!)

And since the kitchen is on the opposite to this wall,

I thought it would be a great accent!

I was also inspired by Cristina of Remodelando La Casa

where she painted her island blue!

My island already underwent a lot of transformations

over the years, from plain stained plywood, to "station wagon"

to white to finally blue

As I previously mentioned I had already repainted the kitchen blue, palladian blue by Benjamin Moore

My sister thinks I am going through my Blue period! It has always been one of my favorite colors...

the kitchen is a little bit messy, we do live here and it is quarantine time, so not too bad.
One thing I would like to update is the countertop of the island, I thought about it during the ORC baking corner (more than 3 years ago!) I would like a lighter countertop and reuse the black granite for the baking corner that still has its temporary butcher block... but that will have to wait longer!
In the meantime, here is a picture of my first Lily of the Valley:

(and Bosco)
After years of tries and failures, they are in bloom, last year, there were only leaves....

bunny goody bags

This year I made some sweet little bunny bags for treats:

and they turned up super cute!

The pattern is  floppy ears bunny bag. I made them out of different colored linen, with different faces:

Miss C. chose the natural linen, and Brick Master the blue one. The white linen bunny is for my niece Toddler E.

They are perfect with the couple chocolates I was able to find.

and even better with my little bunny bunting.

last year goody bags:

some older Easter basket:

Happy sewing!

a little bunny bunting

Because reality is a little too much, I keep sewing bunny theme things, and this little bunting was the perfect distraction.

It started about 6 years ago when I embroidered these little bunnies:

And then, they waited for me to remember to do something with them... well this year was the year:
I cut a simple bunting shape, and sewed it to another fabric, right side together,

and flipped them right side out:

they looked good, but 3 was not quite enough... I had no desire to embroider more bunny, so I looked in my stash for the perfect bunny fabric: some Peter Rabbit fabric left from a previous project
I was able to cut out a few different scenes from the fabric, making 4 more.

With all 7 of them, I debated how best to display them and to which support to stitch them...

In the end I chose a sturdy white "ribbon" without adding any other ribbon or color.

I added a faux eucalyptus garland (IKEA from Christmas), it was what the little bunting needed:

Now the area above the buffet in the living room is ready for spring, with lots of bunnies!

I will share more about these bunnies next time...

Happy sewing!

bunny love pillow

Sewing is usual a way for me to destress,

but right now I do not seem to have enough bandwidth

to deal with anything complicated,

so I am sewing bunnies!

Like this cute bunny love pillow:

The pattern is from Bustle and Sew magazine (issue 85, February 2018)

It is quite simple and doesn't need a pattern,

just 9 little felt bunnies and a little heart!

The background is some blue linen acquired many years ago.

Because the fabric is so soft 

I fused it to some iron fleece,

it made stable enough to machine stitched around all the bunnies.

Previous bunny pillow:
another cute "pillow"

Luckily I have my "sewing buddy" with me

to relax....

Happy sewing!