Just in case you’ve started to think it’s all self-reflection and deep thoughts over here, I figured I should let you in on the truth. With some extra time on my hands, I’ve made a lot of things. Call it nervous energy or call it creativity (let’s go with the latter), but my roommates are on alert to expect changes when they come home from work each day.
I thought about giving you tutorials on how to make each of these, but then I realized a few things.
1. That would mean having and documenting my process. I’m more of a “make it up as you go” kind of girl.
2. I should probably take lots of pictures and I barely had enough hands to work on the project itself, much less hold a camera! What’s that, why didn’t I ask for help? Well, you clearly don’t know me very well then.
3. I’d need to have suggestions that you might actually want to repeat…and when I tell you my ottoman is hot glued together, well, you might not want to go that route.
So then I decided this could be more of an “inspiration” blog than a “how-to” blog. It will be better for everybody that way. So here are three things I made in the last couple of weeks…and how they turned out.
1. The tufted ottoman. It’s chevron. It’s grey. It has fabric covered buttons. What more could you ask for? I’m completely smitten. It started out as a regular old pallet that we stole reclaimed from the back of a grocery store. Add a layer of foam, some batting, cover it with fabric and staple it to the bottom. Screw on some legs and sew the buttons through, and there you have it.
Ok, I left out a couple of details. Like the 3-inch foam that ended up being too thick because I failed to account for those inches when I ordered the fabric and batting. So I made an extra trip to Hobby Lobby for the 1-inch kind and all was well. Ok, and the buttons maybe required a little more planning than I could muster, so I had to reach behind the pallet slats to sew them in the right place. And then I couldn’t figure out how to tie them tight enough, so I wrapped them around the slats and hot glued the thread in place. Ghetto? A little. But I prefer to think of it as inventive.
Just in case you want to try this yourself, it actually is super easy. The key is to factor in the thickness of what you’re covering (including foam) before purchasing fabric, and to pull the fabric super tight before stapling it. Here’s a similar tutorial if you’re looking for something more detailed.
2. The strip quilt. I’m smitten with this guy too. I remember my mom and grandmother making quilts when I was growing up and love the idea of passing down something handmade and cozy. Since I didn’t even know enough about sewing to know to put the foot down on the machine, it took me a little while to get the hang of it. But the best thing about these kind of quilts is that the irregularities are what make them special. The fact that my binding around the edges is fraying a little because I didn’t know how to sew it in one continuous strip? That just gives it character!
IF you’re interested in making this one yourself, I think it’s a great beginner one. Here’s the quilt I used for inspiration.
3. I was inspired on pinterest to make a detox bath mix because I was feeling a little under the weather. It combined salts, baking soda, and ginger and promised it would remove the toxins and I’d wake up feeling like a new woman! Who could resist? Well, let’s just say that despite drinking lots of water, my body did not respond well. I couldn’t even keep water down, so I got a trip to the ER to get an IV and anti-nausea meds. I’m feeling much better now thank you.
The moral of that story is that a. sometimes my creations are royal failures, and b. detox baths are a terrible idea. Thank you, pinterest.
Hopefully you’re still creating and hopefully some of them are going better than mine. What have you been making these days?
