Under Construction

Lampshade beautification effort

 Before:

After:

The talented and generous Missy Ballance of Mohair Circus gave me a basket full of "cutter quilt" scraps (several months ago). Even though they were already cut, I had the HARDEST time cutting them again and spent ages trying to decide on the "perfect" project. (these quilt scraps are HAND pieces and HAND quilted with the most meticulous little stitches you can imagine)

Last weekend I took the plunge and cut into several of the smallest and most worn out pieces to make over a cheap-o lamp that has been sitting, unplugged in our bedroom for MONTHS while I used an ugly, plastic clip lamp for bedtime reading.

I must say, I am pleased with the results, rustic, unfinished edges and all. Biscuit immediately declared it "pretty" so we'll call it a success.

On the off chance you have an ugly lampshade and a cutter quilt (or other fabric) here's a quick'n'dirty tutorial (if you can even call it that). Let's call it "a few tips to make your own."

Make a pattern piece out of fabric by using a pen to trace the ridges of one section of the lampshade. You can pin through the lampshade to hold things in place.

Cut out your pattern and use it to cut out the relevant number of pieces of quilt--add about a quarter inch when you cut out the pieces, it's easier to trim than to make your fabric larger later! I also found that the sections of el cheapo lampshade were not entirely even.

Also note, my lamp is six-sided (I think this technique might be hard with a square shade but very easy with a circle if you have enough fabric).

Almost time to start sewing! Pin your quilt piece in place lining up one side along the center ridge of the boning that attaches the adjoining lamp panels.  Like this: (see how the edge of the quilt falls in the center of the boning?)

Ok, now that one edge is trimmed and the piece is pinned in place, start sewing.  I used hand quilting thread (a little thicker than all purpose but, whatever). Tie a knot in your thread and start inside the shade. Stitch as close to the edge of the boning as possible. You want to take long (almost 1 inch) stitches on the inside and very, very short stitches on the outside. Here's a view of the inside of the stitched shade. See the long stitches?:

Once I had one side of the first piece in place I stitched the two adjoining pieces at the same time making sure they were butting right up against one another and trimming as needed for fit.

Be sure the stitch the top and bottom edges as well and, that's it! If you were feeling all fancy like, you could stitch on some bias tape or hem tape to cover the raw edges but I thought the raw edges were part of the charm (and I'm lazy).

Here's to warm lampshades! Oh, one last note, the thick, quilt fabric does block most of the light from going through the shade so this is not a great option if you want the lamp to illuminate a whole room. In my case I wanted the light mostly going downward (so Mr. H can sleep while I read) so this was a perfect solution.

Hooray for cutter quilts and instant gratification projects!

For the birds

Mr. H and Biscuit whipped up these two birdhouses in about an hour after I lamented that that Mrs. Robin had abandoned her task after her nest materials blew out of the crook of the tree one too many times.  The "nest platform" on the left is for the robin.  See? Hopefully she's a literate robin.

Biscuit decorated the roof with chalk after we decided the paint job she did on the nuthatch home didn't exactly enhance the rustic beauty of the birdhouse.

With help from daddy, Biscuit glued and nailed the birdhouse pieces together

It took her a minute to warm up but she got really into the hammering. (BTW, do you like how this post is going in reverse chronological order?)

A few days ago, having had the idea of building a birdhouse in my head for a while but not yet having seen the plight of the robin, I was flipping through a book I bought to cut up for a project (appears I should be trying to sell it online--I have volume N through O--home of "nature projects") where I happened upon a page of detailed info on bird house construction and the appropriate house size, hole size, hole height and house height for various species.  Then, today, I found this site (via google) that lists common backyard birds in my county so we settled on nuthatch and robin. The two species that are common in my county year around that were also listed in the book.

Having a woodworker for a husband is very handy at times like these. He cut the pieces (beveled and everything) out of redwood scrap from our garden planter boxes. I was thinking this would be a fun thing to sell online as a kit--you could order for whatever bird (that is in the Audobon book).  I'll have to think on that one...

Anyway, hope your weekend was spectacular! I had such a busy time I'll have posts all week.
 

Menagerie

Biscuit has been absolutely hilarious lately.  Really, really charming. And SO opinionated. I pretty much go with the flow when it comes to wardrobe and other non-essential, non-health and safety issues.  And at bedtime I throw up my hands.

You need MORE animals? Sure. AND a ballet skirt? Okay. You want to WEAR your monkey backpack to bed? Whatever.

Which is exactly why I found her sound asleep like this last night. I covered her up and went to bed. In the morning she woke me up with an armload of animals and brought the menagerie to my bed.

So, separate topic. Remind me to blog about how CUTE she is about the garden we planted. The row of beans she planted is a row of 'babies' and she is very, adorably concerned about their growth and well being.

And this little guy is growing well (the zucchini, not the spider). He gets daily visits.