Richly Repurposed

I’ve been cleaning up my sewing room, you know how it is after a big project!  I had stuff everywhere and couldn’t find anything anywhere!  As I was getting re-organized, I realized how many things I’ve repurposed in my sewing space.

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The blue organizer above was made by my uncle many years ago.  He and my aunt loved to camp and he made this to use as a tote for napkins and silverware.  I put magazines where the napkins would go and the all important TV remote in one of the silverware slots.  He painted this a lovely shade of blue and I’ll keep it the same color in his memory.

The above flower vase was a left over from our son’s wedding last month.  I liked the shape and it had a shabby chic look so I added a few silk flowers for some bold color.  There’s Norma, my Bearded Collie sewing buddy!  She was napping and then had to see what I was up to.  She’s kind of a nib nose, which is why I love her!

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Another item I’ve repurposed is an old rug beater.  I was at a tag sale with mom (who is a pro at tag sales, by the way) and we saw this in the rafters of the garage.  This cost me a grand total of $2.00 and serves as a mini inspiration board.  I use clothespins to attach thing to the wires.  My son made the clothespin with the two hearts on it…I think he was in first grade when he made it for a Mother’s Day gift!

 

 

 

I’m a big copy cat of Sandy even though she is my little sister!  She has a big white bowl in her sewing room where she keeps all her pins.  I thought her idea was clever and was looking for a bowl like hers.  Guess what she found for me at a tag sale?  This bowl has a worn blue edge that adds charm and I use it on my sewing table for leaders and enders.

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I was antiquing with a friend and happened upon the sugar mold pictured below.  I liked the green color and I liked how some of the paint was worn. There were four sugar slots and I originally planned to use it as a candle holder.

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BUT, you guessed it!  I decided it was the perfect organizer for pens, pencils, bias bars, chop sticks and all the other miscellaneous tools a quilter needs.  I keep it on a shelf near my cutting table and it’s so handy to have everything at my fingertips!

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I’ve got more repurposed items in my sewing room to write about and can’t wait to show you!  Let us know what you’ve repurposed in your sewing space!

Left Over Monday Yellow Brick Road Pillow

I made my husband’s Aunt Candy a quilt using the Yellow Brick Road Pattern from Atkinson Designs.  I found four leftover blocks and some extra backing fabric (oops…3 years later!) and decided to make a throw pillow for her.

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I sewed the four blocks together into a large square, added a two inch blue border to all sides and pinned up a quilt sandwich!

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Deep breath, time to machine quilt!  I always start with a straight stitch because it’s easy and builds up my confidence.

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With my confidence soaring, I quilted some loops and flowers to highlight the fabrics.

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Some of my stitches didn’t quite turn out as I wanted them to!  Oops!  This section didn’t feed through my machine smoothly and I have a big jumble of crooked somethings!  Oh well, I chalked this up to a learning experience and kept quilting!

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I changed thread color to yellow and made a plaid pattern on this white fabric to help disguise the thread glob.  Not too bad if I do say so myself!

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I like this loopy stitch and plan to use it in other projects!

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Once I finished quilting, I trimmed my blue borders to 1 inch and used a 1/2 inch seam allowance to attach an envelope back to the pillow.  As you can see, I had a lot of extra backing fabric on hand! This pillow measures 18 inches square.

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Here’s a side view.

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This looked great on our sofa, but I mailed it off to Aunt Candy.  She called to say she loved it!  Yet another set of leftover blocks put to good use!

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Misc. Monday Bunny Pin Cushion

It’s been a crazy busy week. You see, I have a full time job.  I run a real estate company. I’m raising a 15-year-old. I keep watch for my elderly parents. I’m trying to log my 12,000 steps per day. And it’s cold outside. I know we all are wearing multiple hats and truth be told all of those “things” I have to do bring my joy in many, many ways.

But sometimes, my energy stores are low and whipping up a leftover or two gives me a little breather. Tonight I transformed frozen Christmas ham into potato ham and cheese soup for dinner. I also transformed a mini ceramic bunny into a pin cushion. I bought the bunny last summer at a garage sale after I saw this idea all over Pinterest. A snowy evening, a scrap of fabric and some stuffing transform this 25 cent find into an adorable sewing companion.

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This little guy was freed during a garage sale raid in the heat of the summer. Who knows how long he had been in storage? He seems content to hang around my sewing room.

The soup was awesome too!