New Patio Umbrella

This weekend my son pressure washed my deck and I am getting the itch to get my plants outside and do some digging in the dirt.  I have a little “sitting room” on my deck and always have an umbrella out there to keep the spot cool and shady.  This is what my umbrella looked like this spring!

I bought this umbrella for $2 at an auction last spring.  My previous umbrella had been the victim of high winds, so I found this one cheap…I disliked like the green but at that price, I could live with it!  So…anyway it sat out all winter and the fabric was falling apart, but the frame is still great! I thought it might be worth replacing the fabric, but I couldn’t decide what kind of fabric to use.  I priced fabric and found it would take too many yards to make this a reasonably priced redo. 

Well, I was at Home Depot and saw a drop cloth! I don’t know why I had not thought of a drop cloth before.  I cut apart the old umbrella and used it as a pattern to make the new one.  I measured, cut and sewed.  I even brought the umbrella base in because it was raining and I wanted to work on it at night.  The first time I sewed it all together, I realized it was too loose at the top, so…off it came and I drug it back to the sewing machine and adjusted the top portion. 

Much better!  I was satisfied!  Now I wanted it to be waterproof, so I used two cans of Scotchguard fabric protector to waterproof the fabric.

So yep, I spent the weekend with a patio umbrella open in my living room!  Just keeping it real…

 

This whole project cost me $21 for the 9 X 12 drop cloth and the Scotchguard was $7 for the two cans.  Everything else I had.  I used quilting thread for the seams and serged every seam.  Hopefully it will hold up to the weather and sunshine!

I am linking to these great parties!

Rachel Manatee

I know this post is much different than I usually post, and you might need a Kleenex or two…but it is good therapy for me.

I am sitting here in the middle of the night watching Rachel Manatee sleep. She is sleeping restlessly, with her right eye moving almost constantly.  I just gave her some doggie pain medicine…hopefully she will get some good sleep. 

A few evenings ago we took her on a car ride out in the country, which she loves…she stuck her long nose out the window and barked at everything we passed.  She loves cows and we drove until we found some for her to talk to.  She would only look out the right side of the car, must have hurt to have her right eye to look the other way with the wind.  When we got home, she had a dose of her pain medicine and ice cream for dinner and we all tried to go about our routines.  She seemed really sad like she knows her life on this earth may be close to done, maybe it is pain, maybe she does know that her favorite vet, Dr. Frank, has been out to see her too many times in the last two weeks. 

Rachel is my son’s first love, other than me of course.  She was named by a 7 year old Veggie Tales fan…thus her name Rachel Manatee (like Barbara Manatee). These two were inseparable from the beginning.  From the time she was a fuzzy little fur ball and he spent every waking moment with her, until now when he is grown up and sometimes doesn’t give her the time of day, he has been her boy.

Rachel always knew at 3:35 pm she need to go to the top of the driveway and wait for the bus, she would run and jump in excitement waiting for Sam to come home and then she would hop around (all 75 pounds of her!) and tackle him when he stepped off the bus.  She would lick his face and he would push her away and laugh.  She followed him into the house that way, bumping into him and licking, tail wagging all the way.  Her boy was home again! Later she waited for his car to come down the driveway, always meeting him in the yard.  She met me at the car every night too, but not tonight. 

Sam and I looked at pictures last night, as a sweet fuzzy black puppy with a red bandana tied around her neck, as a sweet puppy chasing Mr. Sweets, the cantankerous cat, as a happy pooch napping with her boy on the couch.  We talked about every picture, funny things that Rachel had done through the years. 

When she was about a year old she chewed the molding completely off the bottom of the staircase.  She got sprayed by a skunk and the groomer used peroxide on her to get rid of the smell, we laughed about her dyed hair.  We talked about Rachel walking off the deck into a giant snowdrift and falling deep into the drift.  We laughed about the way Rachel talks; sometimes she sounds like Scooby Doo.  About how she loves blackberries, but won’t eat them off the bush, she tried that and got her nose poked, so we would have to pick them for her.

We buried Rachel on Sunday surrounded by the blackberry bushes she loved so much.  She died quietly with my hands on her and my voice in the air and with her boy by her side, she didn’t even move when the vet’s needle stuck her.  She had cancer growing behind one eye and we chose to not have it investigated or treated.  We kept her comfy and happy and she loved us to the end. 

I know I will miss you so much…rest in peace Rachel Manatee, you have been the best dog ever! 

Flower Wall Art

I have been having physical therapy for tendonitis in my shoulder…last week my therapist was talking about a craft party she had been to and she showed me a really cute wall hanging that one of her friends made. I hadn’t seen this project before, but I found this on Pinterest which led me here and I made my own version!

I added lots of shades of blues, some green and a splash of pink all on a brown background. I used scrapbook paper, but I think it would look great too with fabric (great destashing project!).   I tried to Mod Podge the petals onto the canvas but it didn’t stick too well, so I used craft glue.  I did use the Mod Podge to coat it all when I was done...there were spots of craft glue which were obvious.

Anyway, I only have one problem now…where to hang it!

I am linking to these great parties!

Baby shower gifts

I made my niece Jess a quilt (well almost…didn’t quite get it done in time!) for her baby shower. I had seen something she had pinned on Pinterest and thought it was especially cute! 

I just used a bleached muslin for the background and I think I will use it for the backing as well…

Sam was my reluctant assistant!

I used bias tape to link the triangles.

I think Jess liked it!  And she said…I pinned a baby quilt like this!!  I said I know!!

I took fabric scraps and made the card to coordinate…

I used some glitter and glue to write Baby on the pennants and took some bakers twine to make the hanger for the banner.  I braided it and cut the ends so they could “blow” in the wind!

I also made the banner to decorate the gift table at the shower…Jess can also use that in her nursery.

One of the fun things at the shower was that each attendee was asked to bring a onesie that reflected something about them.

 

I made a tie applique on this one and also made one for my mom to bring that had rick rack.  We have a joke about how much rick rack my mom used on our clothes growing up!

We did have a lot of fun watching Jess guess who brought each onesie! 

I am linking to these great parties!

Dress from a toddler t-shirt

This cute little girl is  my great niece Audrey…she just turned two a few weeks ago, so I made her a few dresses. 

This one I made with a plain white t-shirt from Wal-Mart ($2.94) and a piece of knit fabric from the thrift store ($2).  I cut 1.5 inch wide strips of the blue fabric, cut the bottom off the t-shirt about 2 inches below the armpits.

I also cut another strip for the skirt, just guessing how long to make it…

I ruffled the skirt top and sewed it onto the cut off t-shirt. I made the ruffles around the bottom of the hem and around the neckline by sewing down the middle of the strips with a long basting stitch (it sort of gathers itself some and then you can gather it as much as you want to). Then I just sewed the gathered strips around the neck and around the hem.  And that was it! 

The little drama queen tried it on, fell out of the chair and then fussed the rest of the time we tried to take the pictures.

It fit her perfectly!  Such a cutie pie!

I am linking to these great parties!

Sewing a layered fabric banner

You may have noticed that I like banners, buntings, garlands…whatever you call them, I like them. 

I cut a pattern from a piece of paper and played with it until it was the size that I wanted.

I sewed around the two long sides and then turned them right side out.

I press up the side seams as far as I can reach with the iron and then flatten the triangles out.

Then I arrange them flat on the ironing board and arrange the pieces as I want them. 

I pin the pieces together just as I want to sew them.

I bind them together with a piece of extra wide double fold bias tape, leaving about 8 inches on either end for hanging or tying them up.

Then I hung it up and admired it! 

Looks pretty hanging in the tree!

I made this one for my niece’s baby shower today…

Very cute!  And it matches her nursery so she can hang it there!

I am linking to these great parties!