Tuesday, January 29, 2013

It is Truly a Flu Season

This is unbelievable! Last week Mr. TRH posted that I was sick, and I got better. Then, on Sunday, I started feeling like I was coming down with something and by last night; I had a fever over 104. The symptoms are totally different, than last week's; cough, stuffiness, body aches and fever.

Seriously... I guess people don’t say "flu season" for no reason.

I am going to head to bed and sleep. Hopefully I will get better soon and start working on more projects.

One funny thing is, right now I am craving chocolate cake. Though, that is my homemade cake, and I am too sick to make it so I won't have it until I get better. :( Maybe that is a good thing hahaha.

I will see you at the next post. :)

Sachiko

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chair Makeover Reveal

Before I begin this post, let me say thank you to those of you who sent me well wishes though comments and emails. I appreciate your kind words! I think I am better now, and my little girl is getting better as well. It started from one of my boys, well, three down out of five and I hope it stops now... (Knock on wood). Everybody stay healthy ;)

I am so excited to reveal this chair makeover to you today... I found this chair at a thrift store a while ago. I didn't like the colors on the chair, but it had great structure. When I was inspecting it, I found a sticker with the engraving "Ethan Allen". (When I got home I googled it and found out that same type of chair cost about $400 to $500) Wow, there was an invisible red light flashing above my head, I had to get it! It was marked $9.99, but I had 20% off coupon. That's right, a coupon for a thrift store! This thrift store gives you coupons when you donate a bag of items; isn't it great? Anyways, I purchased the chair for about $8.00!

Here is the before photo...

Now the after... (I LOVE IT!!... Squealing with delight!)

I really wanted to create a unique, one of a kind chair for myself. After much back and forth, I decided what to do.

I painted the chair with "Reflecting Pool" from BEHR. It might look like white at first glance, but it is actually, blue-ish gray. I wanted to do something different than my normal white. To re-upholster the cushion and to create the new pillow for the back, I basically pieced my favorite fabrics from Amy Butler’s collections and hand quilted them.

I decided to pay attention to detail by adding piping and fabric covered buttons.

The top portion has ties on the four corners.

As I mentioned I just love the beautiful curves this chair has.

The colors on the pom-pom pillow I whipped up a while ago, actually goes with the chair!

I hope my excitement shows through from the loads of pictures and my writing. There are a couple things that I would have done differently, but I still really love the result. It's still freezing cold outside, but I feel like early spring has arrived just around this chair in my house. :)

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Just Checking in...

Hello Readers,

This is Mr. TRH. Sachiko has been busy working on her projects. She has some that she is getting ready to show soon, however, she has come down with the flu. I told her that I would just let you guys know what's going on and why she is late with today's post.

She is getting plenty of rest and fluids. Hopefully she'll be back on her feet in a day or two. This seems to be going around, one of our sons' had it last week, Sachiko got it last night, and our daughter just got it this morning. Next time, it will either be Sachiko with a new post, or I with another update.

Later,

Mr. TRH

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Happy Feet and Busy Hands

It has been SO cold where I live the past few days. There is laminated floor throughout the first floor in our house, and the floor gets very cold! I have been wanting to buy room shoes. One day I was at Target and I noticed that room shoes were all 50% off, and so I picked out a pair.

The color combinations and style are not really what I would normally choose, but out of desperation I decided to just get it. But as I am wearing it every day it grew on me, I actually LOVE it! It not only keeps my feet warm, I like that fact that I tried something new and different and liked it. I feel like it is, in a way, a small adventure in everyday life.

Have you done anything new to get out of your comfort zone recently? For example, ordering new food at a restaurant instead of the usual? Or picked out a new color of clothing that you thought wouldn’t look good on you but actually does? Or you said "hi" first instead of hoping that someone would say it you at the party?

I think small adventures like that are so fun and rejuvenating. I can discover the new potential in me. If you had moments like that please do tell! I would love to hear it. :)

Also, let me tell you about my busy hands a little, but not whole a lot...
I have been working on several projects that I can't share for a while and also trying to refinish this chair I found at a thrift store. I really don't care for the color of the chair, and the old upholstery must go... here is the before photo.

This weather has been a challenge but I am really excited about the progress so far. I can't wait to share the after photos.

It’s cold outside, but it is the perfect time to stay in and organize my house and work on projects. Having warm happy feet and being busy with my hands really puts me in a great mood.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Tutorial ~ Mini Spool Necklace

I found this bag of wooden mini spools at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 (comes with 16pcs). They had several different sizes, but I chose the 1/2" x 5/8" one. As I was looking at them, several design ideas started to pop into my head...

Here are the things you will need...

4 mini wooden spools
DMC floss of your choice (I used 322, 597, 598, 775)
Leather string
5 beads (3 big, 2 small)
Multi Media Glue

*How to

1. Put glue on the spool. I spread the glue over the entire mid-section with the tip of the glue gun. Start wrapping the spool with DMC floss and do 2 layers. Put a dub of glue close to the edge of the spool, and glue the end of the floss.

2. Start threading the beads and spool to the leather string. You can use the finished picture as a guide as well, but basically, big beads go between the spools, and 2 small ones will go on both ends.

3. Make sure that spool and beads are in the center of the string. Then tie both ends of the beads, so they don't move around.

4. I left the ends of the string as is instead of adding parts. That way I can change the length of the necklace by where I tie.

This is such an easy (not to mention inexpensive!) project that it will be fun to do it with young girls too. I love how it turned out; I am going to make more in a different color scheme. Since I am always around sewing materials and notions, I feel like this necklace suits me well. :)

Friday, January 11, 2013

Ruby Jean's Closet PDF Pattern Giveaway Winners!

I was so happy to read everyone's comments about the patterns by Ruby Jean's Closet. Seriously, they are such cute patterns! Now, I get to announce two lucky winners who would get to choose five patterns of their choice. :)

Are you all ready?

The winners are....


Elisabeth Rose

Cherry Heart

Congratulations you two! Please contact me with your favorite 5 sewing patterns from her shop and your email address. If I don't hear from you within 72 hours, I am going to pick different winners, so other people can have chance too. :)

Note: One of the winners didn't contact me in time, and I feel really bad doing this, but I want to give a chance for other people to win the fabulous patterns from Ruby's Closet, so I am going to pick a new winner...she is...

Little Ella Lu

Congratulations! Please let me know your email and the five patterns of your choice. :)

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Guest Post ~ Wall Decorating

How New Walls Can Give Your Home a New Look

Whether we live in a rented place, our own newly bought home or a house we’ve lived in since childhood, we want that space to feel like home: comforting, warm and stylish. We also want it to bear witness to our decorative skills.

Sometimes, though, our budget or some other obstacle does not allow us to completely remodel our home the way we want it. But we still need some change and acquiring new walls is exactly what can solve the problem of low budget and wanting to give our apartment a new look.

How to choose among countless wall ideas?

It seems that the biggest problem of getting new walls is choosing what they’ll be. You have an option of:

  • Painting your walls any colour you want
  • Putting up wallpaper
  • Decorating your walls with graphics, stickers or posters
  • Decorating your walls with modern looking patterned designs, mirrors, etc
  • Using walls as canvas to paint your own drawings
Choose the colours wisely

If you decide to paint your house, you can either pay a professional to do it, or save that money and have fun with your partner painting the walls yourself. A lot of people choose the second option, because painting walls is not such a difficult task. All you need is the right tools, quality brushes and a paint colour you’ll be happy with.

Think about whether you want to have different coloured rooms (for example: blue for the bedroom, green for the study, yellow for kitchen, etc.), or you want to go with one colour throughout the house. You can also have different coloured walls in the same room, but don’t get carried away, because you’ll be living in that house – don’t go with anything that will eventually give you a headache.

Modern vs. traditional

Don’t mix styles. If your furniture is classic, it might look strange to have extravagant looking walls, like this, for example:

You might want to go with stylish wallpaper or peaceful paint tones that are a perfect background for serious paintings. More modern apartments will liven up again with a new, surprising and fun decoration:

You don’t have to try too hard, or to burden your walls with a lot of stuff. You can leave your walls plain white, and have only one unique decoration that will surely be the center of everyone’s attention:

Get wild in your children’s play room:

Your kids’ room is the best place to get creative. You can use posters, wall stickers or just wall paint to let your kids express themselves through drawings.

Your children’s drawings would look very stylish if you framed them just as they are, painted on walls. Another cool idea is to spread a piece of string across the wall and put interesting photos or smaller drawings up, attached to the string with clothespins.
Children’s room is usually a place of the liveliest colours. Paint the walls yellow, bright green, sky blue and feel how your energy refills simply by being in such a vibrant looking space.
When you’re done decorating and you are happy with how the new walls look, you’ll feel like you moved into a completely new, yet same old warm and cozy home.

This is a guest post written by Stacy Watts. She loves to write about home styling, family and children and she frequently writes on these subjects. She thinks that writing is the most enjoyable activity out there. Don’t forget to stop by her website.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Ruby Jean's Closet PDF Patterns Giveaway!

All the excitement and fun of the holiday season is over. Are you having a little post-holiday blues? There are several ways to spend the cold winter days at home and be happy, and for me (of course) is to sew. :)

Today, I have the perfect giveaway for you!


Mary from Ruby Jean’s Closet is giving away 5 PDF patterns ($29.50 value) each to 2 lucky winners! The great thing is that you can pick and choose the ones that you desire; isn't that so awesome?

Her designs use modern sewing methods but have a vintage appeal. They are beginner friendly and come with very thorough instructions including tons of detailed pictures. I love her vintage inspired design and how she pays attention to detail. Here are a couple of my favorite patterns:

Sweet Cheeks - peasant top pattern

Lexi - Applique Skirt pattern

Aren't they so lovely? She has lots more cute patterns at her shop to look at as well! You can also read about her and her work on her blog or visit her on Facebook.

Here are the rules for the giveaway;

1. Head over to her etsy shop. Come back here and let me know which one is your favorite pattern by leaving a comment. (1st entry)

2. Blog or tweet about the giveaway and give me the link to the comment section. (2nd entry)

I will pick 2 winners on the 11th. Contact me with your favorite 5 sewing patterns from her shop and your email address. If I don't hear from you within 72 hours, I will pick a different winner. :) Good luck everyone!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Shirt Makeover

I do not know why I didn't take the before picture for this project but I thought I did. I blame all the busy-ness and craziness of the holidays... So, I will just give a description of the before shirt, I hope you will get a better idea of what I did.

I found the shirt at a thrift store for $5. The pretty floral print caught my eye; it reminded me of Liberty of London’s style. A while ago, JCrew had a shirt that Liberty of London designed just for them. I loooved the shirt but it had a pretty hefty price tag of $150.00... I have absolutely no plans to pay $150.00 for a shirt in the near future (or never). This will be the closest I can get to a Liberty of London-ish shirt. :)

The shirt was sized XL. I usually wear XS or S, depends on the brand or style of the clothes. I have done alterations from Medium to Small, or Small to X-small, but never from XL to Small. I hesitated a little, because I didn't want to make a mess and waste the shirt, but I decided to give it a try.

This shirt was from Nautica, it had a collar and was a button down shirt. There were pleats below and above the bust line.

1. I cut off the collar; I always wanted a pretty floral shirt with an open round neck. I added bias tape, and put elastic.

2. I created an additional button hole and sewed on a button.

3. I sewed both sides of the shirt and sleeves to make it smaller.

4. I then cut off the wide cuff, and created thin bias. Then, I gathered the fabric and added the bias tape.

5. I tried the shirt on, but it was still too big around the chest and back area. So I created four pleats each on the front and back, by mimicking the pleats that already existed.

6. I am ready to enjoy my refashioned shirt!


I love love the shirt. The round neck and the sleeves are exactly how I wanted them to be. Now that I have worn it a couple times since, I feel like I need to make some adjustments around the midsection, but I am not intimidated by it anymore.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Jewelry Affaire and More

The first great news of the year came in the mail today...

The newest issue of Jewelry Affaire arrived and the necklace I made a while ago, made it into this issue (page 58)!

If you happen to be at a book store and see this issue of this magazine, it is worth looking through and taking home. Many beautiful jewelry pieces are featured in it (I found some that I would love to have for myself!) they are such beautiful eye candy.

To be honest with you, I have been lacking a drive to create lately. It's not that I don't have any ideas (trust me, I have tons of ideas in my head and a secret black notebook...), it's just that self-doubt appears from nowhere and tells me things like "why do you keep creating?", "It's not going to take you anywhere, you are wasting your time" or "you are not talented enough, just stop the whole thing".

I know those types of thoughts are silly. I create because I love it. I love to come up with ideas, design, and I also enjoy the whole process of bringing my ideas to life. I am never gonna stop.

The magazine I received today not only made my day, it sort of help me to shake the mean "self-doubts" off of me. So thank you Beth and Christine for all the hard work you did!
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