Tuesday, January 10, 2012

For a Few Dollars and a Trip to the Attic...


 I am not a stitcher:
no cross-stitching,


quilting,



embroidery.

I tried
and failed.

It's one of those things that I just made such a complete mess of it,
I never got the motivation to try again.


Am I a failure?

I think it's painting's fault.
If you mess up with painting,
you take a slap of color on your brush,
splash it across,
and return the piece to a form you can work with.

Stitching requires tedious ripping out.

I am a huge admirer of stitchers
and stitchery.
Maybe this is because my sister cross-stitched
and I saw the long hours and precision
it took to create such grand masterpieces.

The beauty of stitchery awes me.




In a funny reversal to this mentality,
I love crocheting.

And I have had many crochet disasters that I have had to rip out.
But if you crochet,
you know ripping out is fast and easy,
for the most part.

No tedium involved.

Tears, sure, but no tedium.

I bought a new love seat cover with part of my craft sale money.

I decided to go cranberry red.
I love it.

Wanting something to dress it up a little,
I did a little dance when I found this embroidered pillow cover
at a second hand store for not much more than a dollar.

 I loved the colors and design
and instantly thought of my living room.

I set it aside till after Christmas.
I love winter projects.
Farm life takes up so much time during the summer.



 
 It was completely sewn up on three sides,
and the bottom was open with this writing on it.



 I'm not sure what any of it means,
being dumb that way;
but I knew what I wanted to do with it.
I laundered it on gentle cycle
and made sure it was sturdy enough to handle my hopes.
I ironed the printed bottom hem in,
and sewed a blanket stitch around the whole thing.


I then dug up some yarn from the attic.
People know I crochet and give me their old yarn.
I love old yarn.
I have a terrible addiction to it.
Any yarn is gold to me, really.
I found some last month for $.50 a skein and filled my cart with it;
well, slight exaggeration.
I spent about $15, $13, $11 on yarn.

(That was for my Farmer's sake;
he has plans to clean the attic in the near future,
and I didn't want to put him into a sweat if he actually reads this.

I think I'm okay with this blog post though;
as soon as he sees it is about crochet and the living room,
I think he'll give up and pass.
I hope his yawn doesn't scare anybody.)


Anyhow,
using yarn I had and that people have given to me,
I did a double crocheted edge,
making sure to do 3 double crochets in each of the corners.
I continued this pattern as long as I liked.


I also occasionally added a row of shells (3 double crochet in one,)
skip a space,
double crochet in next two,
skip a space
throughout a row all the way around.
(When I got to the end of a row near a corner,
I filled in any extra spaces that could not complete the pattern with double crochets).

Next row I did the same, except in the tops of the three double crochet shells,
I did a decrease double crochet shell.

Then I did some more rows of just double crochets.

For the ending,
I did the reverse single crochet edging.


 This fits just right on the love seat,
as long as I can keep the kids from pulling it off.

Why do they do that?




I'm so excited at how it's all coming together with the walls in the living room, too.
I wasn't sure about the green, but I love it with the cranberry.


So for a few dollars,
three or four movie's time in the evening,
I have exactly what I wanted for the back of the love seat.

Now the question is,
what material do I use for the curtains?



Linking up to some of these places:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays 
Hip Homeschool Moms
Betweennapsontheporch 
Gnowfglins.com
wearethatfamily.com
No minimalist here: open-house-party
A Bowl Full of Lemons
The Trendy Treehouse.blogspot.com
Women Living Well
Frugally Sustainable
DIYbydesign.blogspot
We Are That Family
DIYshowoff.com:pinterest-pinfest 
The Thrifty Home
Wicked Awesome Wednesday
Someday Crafts
LiLLuna
Sew Much a Do
Ginger Snap Crafts 


10 comments:

  1. That turned out beautiful! I really love the stripe material. So I vote you use that for your curtains!

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  2. Never thought of crocheting around an old embroidered print. Great idea, lots of work, looks beautiful! Oh, and I would use the deep cranberry with vines for my curtains, but think if you want sun, maybe you should go with the blue floral. Can't wait to see what you choose.

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  3. what a creative idea! I really like your style.

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  4. Beautiful items! Great photos. I love the crochet items with the yarn pile :)
    ~B
    http://bclskeystrokes.blogspot.com

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  5. Nice work as always!! I'd go with the stripes....but then I don't really like curtains and try not to use them at all!!

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  6. I really like your accent wall!! It looks great with your floor. I love all you plants too-- it looks so cozy!

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  7. This is a good post. This post give truly quality information.I’m definitely going to look into it.Really very useful tips are provided here.thank you so much.Keep up the good works. house painter phoenix

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's funny! If it involves a needle and thread...I can make those do anything I want, from shoes to quilts. Machine sewing, embroidery, knitting, whatever. If it is a stick that makes marks on paper, forget about it, canNOT make it do what I want!
    I would go with the green and gold for curtains.

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