My washer/dryer pedestal

Our new house came with some interesting challenges in the laundry room. First off, we couldn't bring our set because our dryer was gas, so we had to sell it. Secondly, if we had brought it, it wouldn't have fit in the space with the pedestals on. We decided to save money the second time around and bought a washer/dryer set without the pedestals with the idea that we would make our own. Here is my inspiration:

source:theidearoom.net
However, I decided I didn't need a beautiful piece of furniture, I just needed a sturdy platform so I didn't have to bend in half to get my clothes out. This is starting to get in the way:

Not to mention that most of our tools and equipment got left behind when we moved. So I set my expectations low and we headed to Lowes. My husband was not excited about this project, but Lowes helped out by cutting all the wood to our exact specifications. All we had to do was put the thing together. I hadn't even planned on painting it, but our handy helper at the store made me realize it would need to be protected from water. Luckily, I had this beautiful orange paint on hand (I ordered it free from Glidden about 3 years ago and never used it. It is a little bright for most projects). For a boring laundry room it is the perfect color and it makes me happy. The walls look a little green in this picture, but they are just cream.

TA-DA! This raises the washer and dryer up about 12 inches and now they are the perfect height. You can see I didn't add any decorative trim/molding-I didn't even try to hide the screws. Other than that we followed the tutorial on how to put this together and I am super happy with the result!

A lunch sack for Logan

 My son is starting a new preschool tomorrow and it goes through lunch time. (11-1:) So, he has to take a lunch. Being the budget savvy mom that I am (read: always looking for a project) I decided he needed a lunch bag instead of buying paper bags. Luckily I had everything on hand. I loosely used this tutorial, except I made it 13x10, added stabilizer and a lining, and a Velcro closure. I cut his name using my Silhouette. It was my first time cutting fabric and it worked perfectly! I ironed fusible webbing on first, then set the machine to cut fabric and two minutes later, perfect letters!

If I did it again, I would sew the velcro tab into the seam between the lining and outside, as well as adding the velcro on the outside before sewing it together.

A quilt

 I went shopping with my sister one day and we found these cute jelly rolls. She bought one and I suggested a few ideas for her to make a quilt. But then I got the itch and decided I had to have the same jelly roll so I could make a quilt. I went back to Joann's and begged a poor lady to look in the back to find me a second roll (Joann's are only half of a "real" jelly roll). Luckily she found one and I went home happy. For a while. Before I could come up with an idea for my find my sewing machine went into the shop (AGAIN!) and of course inspiration struck when I was machine-less. I remembered this quilt and decided to figure it out with my mother-in-laws trusty machine. I tried to go slow, but I had about half the squares done before my machine was finished. Actually that took 4 months so my timeline could be off, but I did get it back in time to finish this beauty. I found the border at a local quilt shop and the backing at another. I decided to bind it with the leftover strips.

For some reason I had trouble with the border stretching when I sewed it on. It was a pain and I can't remember how to make sure it doesn't happen next time, but it was worth it. I love this quilt so much! I am not sure what to do with it, it is baby quilt sized, but I love it. I have already used the leftovers to make a table runner and two hot pads ( I just decided to decorate my  kitchen in these colors-I am loving aqua lately). It is machine quilted on a diagonal next to the middle strips.

Tee shirt refashions

 I accidentally got some fusible webbing on the shirt :( otherwise it would have been really fun

 I sent this one to Theron's sister for her new baby last August

 Look closely at the next one-I wrote on Logan's shirt with washable markers. It was really cute for 1 day.

Swimsuit Re-fashion

Can I call it that? I don't know what else to call it. I bought this swim top last year when ShadeClothing was clearing out all of its inventory. It was the only size they had left, but at $8, I thought it would be worth a shot. Sadly, the bottoms were out of stock by the time I finally ordered (I kept putting off to get the LOWest price). So this year I have been on the hunt for some swim bottoms that would work. You would think black would be easy to work with, but every brand's black is different and some are shinier than others. I thought black and white would work, but it proved harder to find. By the time I went looking my LimeRicki supplier was out of black and white bottoms and I wasn't feeling like paying $7 for shipping $26 bottoms that I wasn't sure would look great. Anyhow, long story short I bought these bottoms and Wal-Mart ($15)that have black in the print.

Then I decided the top was too black and it needed some brightening up. I went to JoAnns, bought some swim fabric ($1.87) and added the ruffle to my swim top. It took FOREVER, but I love how it turned out. While I was at it, I took apart the straps and criss-crossed them in the back because I felt it would stay on better.

Chair Makeover + Craft room accessories

pRemember the chair from this post? Well, I finally decided what to do with it. We donated some wooden chairs to my brother-in-law and so my husband stole my office chair. Out of neccessity I grabbed this one for my craft room and wa-la inspiration! I kind of wanted to paint it green, but I didn't have enough of the floral print to cover the cushion. (I used it all on the curtain)

So I stuck with white.
This chair is not in great shape, so I decided to rough it up with sand paper and clear coat the finished product with spray paint.

I had some purple fabric in my stash that goes with the floral print and it adds some femininity to my blue craft room.

Last but not least, my ironing board. The original cover got destroyed (it was white) so I decided to make a new one. I used the old one as a pattern, cut it out, sewed a casing, and used the original string. It looks like its coming loose, but it stays on just fine.

I suggest measuring your ironing board before buying fabric as one yard was obviously not long enough to cover the whole thing. It was a happy accident though since I got to use some leftover floral to finish it up.

Lydia's Room

 I just made this cute tree out of fabrics left over from Lydia's quilt. I got the idea from trendypeas.com. I bought this frame a long time ago to use the glass for something else. When I got it home the glass was hot-glued into the frame and I broke it trying to get it out. I painted it pink and made a canvas using cardboard, posterboard, spray adhesive, and fabric. Then I attached all of the pieces using fusible webbing.

 Don't mind the black-out curtain-I'll do anything for a few extra minutes of sleep. I made the curtain using a tutorial from makeit-loveit.com, but you won't find it as a curtain, the tutorial is for a shower curtain. I think it could be longer, but I don't have any other coordinating fabrics.

 I found this blue rocking chair and a garage sale a few years ago. Someday I'll refinish it, but it works for now. The dresser I refinished here. The lamp was stolen out of Logan's room and I recovered the lamp shade with coordinating fabrics. (I bought the quilt fabric in 2007? and didn't buy any extra. I had to comb through the fat quarters at Porters to find a few that matched and then do an extensive online search to find a couple yards for the curtain and crib bumber (not shown)). I found the sweet birdcage at DI last week. It had nasty Christmas foliage in and I almost didn't see it. It is a creamy color, so I might spray paint it, but it is a nice contrast to the white dresser so it might stay creamy. I found the green clock and the bird in the cage at Real Deals.

This wall is still a little boring, but I still like it. This is the dress she wore at her baby blessing, it also happens to be the dress I wore when I was a baby. The shelf I already had, I think it's from Target, and the vases were found at DI. On the last wall next to her closet is the changing table and a bow holder that I made. I didn't take a picture of it because, well, that's where I put all the junk that was in the room before I took these pictures.
I don't think this room and 100% yet, but I am loving it. I was really nervous after I painted the walls that I wouldn't like the color, but it has grown on me and is a nice backdrop for the white furniture. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.