Stenciled Cork Placemats

Thursday is typically DIY-day over on the Alabama Chanin Journal so today I'm posting one of my own DIY projects, AC style. 

A while back I was tempted by some wool felt placemats on the AC site but waited too long and they were soon sold out.

And in the way my brain usually works I started thinking, "Hey, I could make my own".  About this time I also took a trip to Ikea and found packs of cork placemats which I thought would be perfect for stenciling.

Here are two of the placemats all laid out on my drop cloth-covered table

and here they are with the stencil I used.

I was able to stencil two mats at a time with the large stencil.  I used a spray adhesive on the back of the stencil to minimize the bleeding around the stencil shapes and pressed the stencil securely onto the two cork mats.

Last week my friend Jane came to visit, and we played with my stencils and air brush.  We encountered several equipment failures during the course of the day but by the end we'd figured out the best method for spraying.  Here's my mini air compressor and air brush all ready to go.

Trust me, once you experience the ease of painting with a small airbrush you will never go back.

It took me less than 5 minutes to paint both placemats.  Ready for the reveal?

Once these two were set aside to dry I hosed off my stencil, let it dry and repeated the process on the remaining two placemats.

Here they are, gracing my dining room table.

I'm super happy with how these turned out.  I've got four more mats that I am planning to stencil with a different design and in a different color.  I'm also considering stenciling the back side of all of the mats so I can have four different mix/match options.

My gardening tasks are slowing down as the weather gets warmer.  I've actually had the chance to venture into my studio a few times in the last week.  School will be out for my kids in about 3 weeks which will make time to myself a lot more scarce but I'm hoping to get a few projects checked off the list this summer.

If you like this project, click on the Alabama Chanin option in the Category listing along the righthand side of this page.

New Space

Contrary to all appearances, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I have, in fact, managed a sewing project or two in the last couple of weeks (though no pictures to prove it).  However, I don't think I will be getting much done in the next couple of weeks.  Well, I'll be getting a lot done (hopefully) but not much sewing.

Some of you who know me personally know that my family will be moving this summer.  I am very excited about this big change in our lives.  We have purchased a beautiful property near Charlottesville, Virginia and have been working on some improvements before we move.  The biggest project, and the one that will certainly have the most impact on me, is the second story addition we have built over our garage.  That space will house my sewing studio and an office for my husband with workshop space below in the garage.  It has been very exciting to design and build a studio from the ground up.  The final work is being done this week, and we will have the chance to see it in two weeks.  Also at that time we will be moving a portion of our furniture and lots of possessions to prepare our current house for sale.  So, I will be spending the next two weeks packing up most of my sewing room along with other areas of the house in anticipation of this move.

My new studio is large and airy with lots of windows for natural light and good storage.  My hope is that I can use this new space for classes or workshops once I am settled in my new location.

Here are some of the pictures of the place during the construction phase.

Toward the beginning of the process.  These south-facing windows open into my studio.

Siding complete.

The same windows from inside the space.  The studio will have a partially vaulted ceiling.

The interior wall.  From left to right, a large storage closet, hallway, hanging closet and stairs to the attic.

Paint and wainscoting.

Cork flooring.

This is part of the workshop area in the garage.  A sink will be installed in the white cabinets.

This is the back of the building in its woodland setting.

I am hopeful that once this transition is over, this new space will inspire me to spend more time sewing and creating.  And blogging.  It should help that my youngest child will start kindergarten in the fall, leaving me with (theoretically) more free time.  I am pretty excited about this new chapter in our lives.

Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas: Medicine Cup Kissing Ball

I can't decide which side of the divide this post will fall, retro cool or super square.  Regardless, I decided to recreate a favorite Christmas decoration from my childhood, the medicine cup kissing ball.  I'll be curious to see how many of my readers remember these.  The one my mother unwrapped from tissue paper every December and hung in our front hallway had Christmas-green glitter and plastic mistletoe.  I've changed a few things on mine to update an old classic just a bit.

One of the reasons I love reading craft blog DIY posts is that someone else has gone through all of the trial and error for me.  This project had quite a bit of both trial and error.  I hope you will take advantage of my experience if you decide to make one of these for yourself.  You aren't likely to find any help elsewhere.  A thorough internet search turned up essentially nothing on the subject of medicine cup kissing balls with the exception of one or two posts asking if anyone remembered them.  As I have noted before, when I run across a topic that seems to be missing from the interwebs I like to cover it, since I know I am not the only person out there looking for information.

You can find the instructions over in my Tutorial section or by clicking here.  I hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.  I would love to hear if any of you remember these icons or perhaps still own one.  I hope you are busy making your own memories this holiday season.

Trolls and Summer

Dear recent visitor to my blog:  while you were busy leaving your comment, the Billy Goats Gruff snuck across your bridge. 

I guess I should be grateful that in the almost-three-years since I started my blog, this is the first time I’ve had to deal with a troll.  An internet troll is someone who posts inflammatory or mean-spirited messages on a public forum with the intent of causing harm.  This morning I awoke to a comment posted on my blog that was a very unkind commentary on my work.  Very unkind.  I’ve had to deal with my share of spam comments on my site, the sort that invite me to purchase handbags or watches, but this was new to me.  This was from a real live person who, it turns out, I know (isn’t that friendly?).  Not that they left their name for me (trolls typically like to remain anonymous) but in today’s world I’m just two clicks away on the internet from identifying someone’s email address. 

I try to keep the mood on my blog upbeat and positive, to use this space as inspiration for others and to uplift and support everyone who loves to create things with their hands.  So, dear readers, you’ve been given notice:  if you post mean comments on my blog they will be removed.  And, unless you are willing to pose naked, so to speak, and share your own work for the internet world to see, you have no right to criticize my work.  This doesn’t mean you cannot disagree with me; but please do it in a way that is true to the spirit of this space.

Well, now that I’ve gotten THAT off my chest, let’s move on to the last day of summer.  Which it is.  Tomorrow my oldest starts kindergarten, and one week from today my youngest goes back to preschool.  And I can’t wait for the extra time I will have to put my hands to work.  But, the summer had some lovely moments.

We spent a wonderful week with family on our little island in Maine where I managed to get some stitching done

and other family members got in on the craft action, too.

We swam

boated

climbed and skipped rocks

played board games

and ate good food.

Mostly we unplugged and relaxed.  It was great.

I also took my boys on some local-to-home adventures where we experienced nature up close and personal.

Now the days are getting shorter and it’s time to refocus our attention a little closer to the hearth and home.  I’m looking forward to sharing some of the things coming out of my sewing studio with you soon.

Use What You Have

Recently, I was working on some plans for a project, writing down my ideas in a notebook.  I was getting a little carried away, listing all sorts of possibilities.  Then I had an epiphany:  I wrote in large capital letters at the top of the page USE WHAT YOU HAVE.  This has become a sort of mantra for me in the last few weeks, one I find applies to so many aspects of my life.

Take the meatballs, for instance.  I needed to take a batch to an event at my church and had planned to use that old faithful recipe that combines grape jelly with chili sauce.  I had neither, but I did have a jar of apricot preserves and a bottle of barbeque sauce.  Those meatballs turned out better than the originals.  I plan to make this my go-to recipe from now on, unless, of course, I am out of apricot preserves and then I might use the orange marmalade in my pantry.

My sewing space has been undergoing a serious overhaul in the last few weeks (which is why I don’t have a lot of pictures to share today).  I am almost finished (thank goodness for Space Bags).  Only the truly hard part remains (sorting through and finding a home for a big box of cotton quilting fabric inherited when my mom downsized.)  I found that I was able to apply the USE WHAT YOU HAVE philosophy during this project, too, repurposing many items and storage containers for better use.  I’ve lived in my current house for almost 6 years now and have been meaning to do something about the window in my sewing room closet for all that time.  (Why do builders put windows in closets?  The sun is not kind to textiles).  While packing away some fabric I had hanging in the closet I noticed some sun fading and decided it was (finally!) time to put a covering on the window.  I contemplated finding some fabric in my stash and making a curtain but then I remembered UWYH!  A brief look around the house turned up a Roman shade that I had used in my boys’ nursery (rolled up and languishing under the dresser in my bedroom).  It took me less than five minutes to remove the slats in the shade and hang it on a tension rod in the closet.

You see, UWYH also applies to time.  Maybe you don’t have time to start a major sewing project tonight but I bet you do have a few minutes to straighten up your space so it’s ready when you are, or to make that small improvement you’ve been meaning to accomplish, like my curtain.  Or how about trading in some of that surfing (dare I say “blog reading”) time and do a little hand work or mending.  This is an area where I need to practice my UWYH mentality a lot more.

Of course, UWYH can, and should, also be applied to your talents.  Find ways to share your talents with others.  Find a community service event and volunteer your time (my Sewing Guild is sponsoring one on June 2 in the DC area if you are interested).  There is no shortage of organizations looking for help.

These are just a few examples of how this apparently random thought has really started to change the way I think.  It fits in with my goal of living a more sustainable life and will help me to stop contributing to the clutter that is weighing me down and draining some of my creativity.  I think my pocketbook will like it, too.  I’d love to hear ways you are incorporating UWYH into your life.

We’ll be celebrating Memorial Day here in the States this weekend, the official beginning of summer.  Happy holiday and safe travels to all.