Lasso The Moon

The Rest of the Seal Grey Paint

It didn't take us long to start up another project.

Donnie has built me the most gorgeous raised vegetable bed.

The entire thing is 8'x10', but it has nice, wide pathways, big enough to fit a lawn mower.  Or a tea party.

The entire thing is situated on a hill, but he managed to make the beds perfectly level.  That's how he does things.

He let everyone chip in. That's also how he does things.

Next step, paint it with the left over paint from the shutters, fill with healthy, living dirt, and pick out our crops!

Each side bed is 2'x6', and the one along the back is 1.5'x8'.  Perfect for a square-foot-garden style venture.  I have a habit of killing plants--especially vegetables--but this is just so pretty I want to come out and look at it all day long.  I hope I still feel like this when the sun starts raging with it's Texas summer attitude.  But, Donnie built this garden for me as an anniversary gift, so I'm pretty sure that means he's willing to take up the slack on the watering duties when the heat gets severe. 

What a great guy!

Oops...how did that get in there?

Follow you? Anywhere.

Giving Back

I buy Donnie tools for birthdays and such.

He makes me awesome stuff for the house.

Like these new DIY shutters he designed.

Here's the before:

And the after:

Aren't they darling!  He made them out of 1x8 rough cedar with a cross piece on the front and back.

The color is "seal" from Martha Stewart Living.  I can't tell you how much I love this color.  It's a dark grey, but it also has a hint of brown and green.  A gorgeous neutral.  {Did you know Home Depot doesn't sell MS paint anymore? I had no idea. They are still mixing the colors into other paint brands, though.  We used a sturdy outdoor Glidden paint in satin.}

Anyway, I'm horrible at estimating how much paint I'll need, and we only used 1/4 of the two gallons I bought.  Now we need another project to use it on.  I love this color!

And I love these shutters.  I didn't even think we needed them, and now I don't know how we went without them for so long.  They make the perfect backdrop for watching thunderstorms on the front porch.

We love thunderstorms, too.

Scuff Marks - a quick home keeping tip

My mom and I have a little joke between us.  We say, "there's a time for vinegar, and there's a time for bleach."  We both love to use natural cleaning products around the house, but there are some germy messes that can't be fixed with anything less than good old-fashioned bleach. 

But sometimes a natural choice actually works better than a more expensive un-natural choice.  And there is one natural product that works better than anything on the market for getting out scuff marks.

In our kitchen, we have what Donnie calls the "school cafeteria floor."  It's a 60s-era light-colored vinyl tile designed to hide dirt--but instead it just never quite looks clean.  Of course, the kitchen floor is on the list of things to upgrade around here, but it's a long list, and we're going to be living with it for a while. If you've ever had vinyl tiles in your home, you know that they pick up scuff marks like nothing else. 

Here's a shot of the floor under the kitchen table, right after it was mopped.

Yikes.  No amount of mopping, bleach, or magic erasing will get those out.  The only thing I've found to work on plastic or rubbery surfaces like this...is baking soda.

Get your rag really wet.  The water will work with the baking soda to get into all the little crevices and grab the dirt.  Next, sprinkle a little baking soda directly onto the floor, and lightly rub it in with your wet cloth.

You will be amazed at how quickly those scuff start un-gunking.  It forms a paste that gets darker and dirtier as it works.  It takes very little elbow grease.  Actually, repetition is more effective than force.

After about 30 seconds of gently scrubbing the spot I showed above, it looked like this:

Amazing how little effort that took. Keep wetting your wash cloth and adding more baking soda until you are satisfied.  If your floor feels gritty when you're done, drizzle some vinegar over it and mop that up.  This is a time for vinegar.  It dissolves the baking soda just like it did in your science fair volcano.

This is one of the household chores that I actually look forward to.  It's like magic!  Used in the exact same way, I've gotten rid of soap scum in the tub, a rust stain in the kitchen sink, unbleachable stains in the plastic part of my fridge shelves, dirt stains on Little Tykes plastic toys, scuff marks on patent leather, and more.  Don't you love when a natural solution actually out-performs a chemical one? And baking soda is a fraction of the price.  What have you used it for--other than baking?

Custom Sized Canvas Bins :: a tutorial

Take your shelves from this:

To this:

With some home-sewn canvas boxes.  You can make them in any size.  And they are way easier than they look.  Canvas boxes can cost a lot of money, but these literally cost me about $10 for the whole set!

The secret to these is the frame.  It's made from plastic canvas!  This inexpensive material can be found at any craft store.  Mine was $.99 for a 10x13 inch sturdy sheet, and $.49 for a slightly more flimsy piece.  I used the regular for the sides, and the sturdy for the bottom.

My tutorial will take you through the process for making one smaller bin, like those on the top shelf in the picture above. (The dimensions are 6"w x 9"h x 9 1/2"d.)

Step 1: Gather Supplies

*Plastic canvas - 1 sturdy sheet, 3 regular sheets (Buy extra if you tend to make measuring mistakes.)

*A roll of paper for making the pattern

*Transparent grid ruler

*Paper Weights or clean stones for holding down the pattern

*Binder Clips

*Needles and straight pins

*Pin

*Scissors

*Yarn or string for lashing together the plastic frame

*Fabric: 3/4 yards each of canvas and lining. Coordinating fabric for binding (1 1/2" wide x about 36 inches long)  I used an old canvas drop cloth for the outer fabric, and for the prints, thrifted sheets.  Cheap!

Step 2: Prepare the plastic canvas

From the sturdy piece cut 1 - 6"x9 1/2" for the bottom.

For the sides, 2 - 9"x9 1/2" and 2 6"x9" pieces

Lash the sides to the base with yarn.  Tie really good knots.  Leave flat for the next part. (Should be in the shape of a wide cross.)

Lay out the flat frame on your pattern paper, and carefully trace around the entire perimeter. Be careful not to shift the plastic canvas while you are tracing.

Put the paper aside until the next step, and sew up the sides of your box frame.  Tie really good knots.

Step 3: Make the pattern

With your ruler, add a 1/2" seam allowance to the inner corners of your pattern.  Do not add seam allowance to the top edges of the box pattern. 

Cut out your pattern.

Step 4: Cut fabric

Lay out your pattern on top of the fabric, and use weights to keep it from rolling or shifting.  You can use anything as a weight.  Here's my rag-tag assemblage:

Trace around the pattern in a pen or pencil--directly onto the fabric.  This will give you the most accurate sizing, and you want your fabric to fit the box frame very closely.

Cut one from canvas and one from the lining fabric.

Cut out one rectangle for the handle from canvas--3"x6".

Step 5: Sew it together

Stitch up your pieces in this order.  First, sew the box lining.  Remember to use a 1/2" seam allowance! Start at the top edge (rim) of the lining, and sew toward the corner.  Continue with each side until it forms a box shape.

Next, make your handles. Sew into a tube, lengthwise. Turn inside out and press flat.  Turn the ends under.

Pin handles to your canvas before sewing up the edges.  This makes for easier placement.

For added strength, sew a square with an "x" inside on each side of the handle.

After your handle is attached, sew up the sides of the canvas.

Attach the binding to the top edge of the canvas layer.  Start by folding over the binding about 1" and sew all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance.  Overlap the binding a little at the end for a clean finish.

Step 6: Finish

Turn the canvas layer right-side-out and place your plastic frame inside.  It should be snug.  Carefully line up the seams with the corners of the frame.

Slip the lining inside, with the right side of the fabric showing.  Line up the top edge of both fabrics with the top edge of the frame.  Hold in place with binder clips.

With needle and thread, slip stitch binding in place. 

And there you have it.  You made a box!

Now make a few more, and clean your place up!

I hope you have fun using this tutorial to help organize your own space.  I'd love to see how you make the project your own.  I've always been a little prejudiced against plastic canvas as a craft supply, because everything I'd seen done with it seemed so dated.  (You know what I mean...) But now I have seen the light, and I'm thinking up many more project ideas to use the stuff.  It may just be a new favorite.\

Linked to:

TDC

 

Organize Some Stuff

My aforementioned project isn't quite finished, but here's what's going on.

A fully-lined canvas bin, custom-sized to fit any shelving system.

You're going to want to come back soon and find out how to make them for yourself.

Now I'm going back to the sewing machine...

 

 

Paint Chippin

I just realized that in the last three days, I've talked about sewing, knitting, and painting.  It's spring break and projects are all vying for my attention.

Anyway, I'm not painting yet--just dreaming.

Now if I could just focus on one thing long enough to cross something off my list!

Leaves

She begged to rake these today.

I told her of course she could.

As long as her room was clean, her bed made, and she was sweet to Ethan all day.

Being a mom is so fun.

 

And another thing

Here's the other reason I haven't been blogging much this week.

When we moved Esther into her room a couple months ago, some of my stuff got displaced.  To the garage.  Figuring out where to put things so that they are accessible will be (and has already been) a huge ugly job, but it has to be done.

This week:

Going through my personal fabric collection.  I'm showing this picture, even though I'm embarrassed by it, because I'm hoping it will make a fun "before" shot.  And so you people will hold me accountable.  This cannot stay this way.   I have a feeling the local thrift store is going to get an sudden influx of donated sewing supplies pretty soon!

Evidence

Clearly, something creative has happened here.

Come back tomorrow to see what it was!

Rain

This has been the hottest summer in Texas since 1980.

It rained last week.

We were pretty excited.