Seashore Pillows Made up

Here they are!

Trimming A Floorcloth

Here are some more pictures of the floorcloths I used semi gloss to finish them with. I felt the duller sheen added to the low key, slightly vintage feel I was aiming to acheive.
I trim my floorcloths. Some people turn the edges over and glue a hem, but that tends to make a bump along the edge which also wears; eventually a line appears.
I trim using a VERY sharp utility knfe and a metal straight edge.
I then paint an appropriate colour, or colours, into the raw selvedge, and seal it with flexible acrylic medium (PVA, basically). The acrylic medium is also mixed into my paints, so that the whole floorcloth is very flexible and very crack resistant.


This work was completed and delivered back in Janaury, (!) But I wanted to finish telling the story.

Fabric Washed

After heat setting the fabric in the very hot dryer for half an hour or so, its time to wash it. Washing is not that crucial. I sometimes feel the fabric seems softer, but I think its more imagination. However in this case, since I used a lot of chalk to draw with, the washing will certainly get rid of any chalk residue in the fabric.It was very heavy all wet! And when the fabric is wet, it becomes delicate. The paint can soften after a while when wet, and its VERY IMPORTANT not to scrape, twist or otherwise disturb the paint on the surface of the fabric when its wet. When its dry its almost indestructible, and holds up to pretty rough use. Crazy. It was a cloudy stormy looking day. I was eager to get the fabric finished off and delivered the next day, the day before it had rained a lot....argh. What to do?? Nothing dries when its rainy in the summer here....and this piece was too big to try to dry indoors...I watched the weather radar on the computer for a couple of hours, and there was no rain anywhere...
I was a nervous wreck when the fabric was almost dry, and it still looked like the sky would rain a downpour....

I laid it on the picnic table when it was just damp,and the sun came out for a while and really toasted it nicely!

A minute later, I looked out the window and it was raining! With the sun out! Argh! I rushed out and got the fabric inside , before any of the rain had a chance to stick.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures in the future of this piece made up into the lightweight quilt that's planned for it.

Swivel Chairs Completed

These three stools are now finished and all together in a happy little group... Here is the latest one....


This is the second one:

Here they are all together, the first one in the foreground.




These three swivel stools are available for purchase, separately or as a group.

You can click on the ETSY.com link bar on the left hand side of this blog to see more about these stools, and other items I have painted that are available for sale.

P.S. - Pillows Delivered

Here are the ''seaside pillows'' in the living room of their new home... they will go out on the porch later, after remodeling is complete.
more pictures then!!!

They certainly look very nice in this living room, anyhow!

And look at this beautiful dog lying on the pillows!!!! What a great model!

Deco Style Curio Cabinet Completed

Here is the finished piece...it will eventually be placed in the very pretty Master Bedroom; I will be able to take a picture of it in its correct location and context, to post here later.

Pillow Backs

Here are the backs for the group of pillows depicting shells and underwater shore life. (See previous post!)

Tile Project Revisited

As promised, Kitchen Backsplash Continued , Tile Backsplash Project , here are some pictures of that tile project, with the rest of the kitchen completed.
What a great kitchen!

Bird Pillows Made Up

Twentyone pillows all sewn up and ready for delivery! A satisfying accomplishment.Well, there they all are, lots of them!

Click on this, and the pictures below, to see larger.



Many of the geometric patterns I had intended for backs of bird pillows turned out so well, I made them into fronts too, and painted subsequent simpler backs for them. These geometric pillows make very good complimentary, or accessory pillows for the more elaborate feature pillows. (ie: birds, in this case.)


For now......Bye Bye Birdie. Next project? A few pieces of fabric yardage to replenish my inventory.....