V and Co: back to organizing 101

last snow day I spent separating, sorting and organizing a lot of pink stuff

 We here in the midwest have been having a doozy of a winter. With frigid cold days, icy roads, and blizzard like conditions due to windy stormy snowy days...there have been more snow days and late starts in january alone than what it seems we had all of last winter! Don't quote me on that I didn't do my fact check so I could be lying...but none the less, we've had our fare share of snow days.
I've been using said snow days to my advantage and been doing some organizing. This last snow day I tackled my daughter's toys with her help.
Remember waaaay long ago when I used to talk about organizing like every other week it seemed? Yeah, well I've been off my organizing game for what now seems like 3 years. (The 6 months where we moved 3 times and then moved across country, and the last 2 and half years we've been been in our house we live in now.)
I used to talk about daily tasks and chores and quick tips of what I would do to help keep the house somewhat organized. This last little bit I've been off kilter, not completely, but just enough that I've not been feeling like I've had my organizing game face on...and well, I think I'm finally getting back on track. At least it seems like these last few months I've found a home for everything and I've been reincorporating my little quick tricks every day.

here's a couple of things that I used to do daily...didn't do for the last while I've been feeling "off" my organizing game, and what I've started to do again...which has made me feel like I'm getting my organizing act together again.

first things first:
*I've gotten rid of unused, unworn, and extra "things" that didn't necessarily need to be clogging up space in my house. 
*I've found permanent homes for most things in the house (for the time being at least, because this house definitely needs more storage cabinet built ins, which will happen as the funds are saved up to have them installed)
*I've started the whole process with the closets and moved out. (if you start the purging with your dirty little stashing places like closets and drawers, then you can make closets and drawers permanent "homes" for things, which means easier times putting things away)

AFTER I did the three things above I now do these few little tricks every day/couple times a week to keep the organizing "going":
*Daily Make beds in mornings (I make my kids do their own beds...sometimes it's a stretch that they even tried and have walked away saying they did it, but because I know some mornings are more rushed than other's I don't really get super anal about it, I go behind them after they go to school and straighten it out...Summer time is completely different story I am a little more particular as there's ample amount of time.) There's something about having beds made that just makes the day seem better and almost puts you in a "jump start" to the rest of the day. I SWEAR BY THIS. 
*Daily Do one cleaning chore (i.e. mop floors, or dust all furniture upstairs. Write it out on a list if you need helping remember what day you are going to do what.)
*Weekly/Daily: Designate at least 10 minutes to empty out completely one or two drawers/cabinets...could be as small as a cosmetic or junk drawer,  or go bigger and devote even longer (45 minutes) and do a larger project like your pantry cabinet. (depending on how many drawers/cabinets you have, you'll start to see that the organizing gets easier to do and less time will be needed to do this task because most likely you'll repeat places after a few months)
If trying to do this daily is too much try designating one day a week you do this...that's how I started and now I'm back to being able to do it a few times a week...the goal is to do something once a day (like I used to.)
*Daily: At night have everyone put back things where they belong. That way you start your morning with a put away house, and all you have to do is the daily chore and the one organizing on your list.

Those are the just the few things I've incorporated back into my life that seems to be helping me get back on track.
Granted there are weeks where things just happen and the LAST thing I want to do is keep the routine going. But if you tackle it slowly...and steadily...bad weeks will not be huge starting points again...just a little extra help will be needed to get back on track.

Every day I work on the house right after the kids go to school and I go to work (um in my house, downstairs in my basement...but, yes, I "go to work"). Because I have to work on deadlines and such things I can't spend the whole day organizing..so I allot myself only an hour to hour and half in the mornings. I'm usually working on sewing/blogging/deadline related work by no later than 10 am...(unless kids or husband need me to do some kind of errand/or I have to take the dog to the vet, child to the ortho and all the other jazz I have to do because well...I'm MOM and that's what we do...). I don't spend all day doing this just like I didn't back when I had all my kids under my feet every waking moment of the day. I still want and need to do other things, and I don't want to burn out on organizing either. Although I do have to admit, it gets addicting and I've realized just how.much.I've.missed.it.

I honestly feel like it's taken me a long time to get back to this. Like I had to make that choice to start the process all over again because it's been years...(and YES, it's daunting to start again...let alone start all together!) Now that I've been doing it for a couple of months, and not talking about it because I wanted to see if this was just a fluke and it wasn't who I was anymore...or maybe I just wasn't ready to do it like I used to just yet. But I feel like I'm seeing a moderately organized home again. I feel like it's not so scary to finally finish the process of settling in this house...and finally getting it organized. Is it  Perfect? Am I going for perfect?  Oh swear word no...that's not who I am and remember WE LIVE HERE...so yeah it's gonna be lived in...
But yeah.
It's coming along.
And I feel like I've come back to a step closer to what I used to think was just part of me...after it not being a part of me for a few years...
It feels good.

just one disclaimer:
Don't go look in my sewing room just yet (or try like ever). That's on a completely different black hole agenda...kind of like my email inbox...(personally I'd like to set fire to my email inbox)

On another note... I've managed to bypass and trick the Overlord by setting out decoy fabric so that I could work on some stuff...and well look for a Valentine How To come this monday. (Yay! It turned out cute and it's super easy and I'm making a few kits to sell if anyone is interested, so come back Monday.)
Have a great weekend. And I hope you get some organizing done in the near future...and if you have an Overlord at your house...may you decoy your way back into some work...
We'll talk soon. 

Becoming a Midwesterner

 Well, I don't know about you, but I'm a little over winter. This winter has been the coldest I've ever experienced no seriously...like...EVER...
I've experienced negative degrees before...but this winter we've  experienced negative degrees that made my past experiences childs play. We've been been in the negatives with -45 windchills. It's insane. You would think that at a certain point it's just cold and you don't feel the difference but yeah...there's a difference when you try to breathe in when it's that cold.  Especially if you think you're not going to be out there for too long and you don't have anything covering your face when you try to breathe in. One time I walked outside when a friend texted that she was waiting in her car in my driveway.(cause duh it's freezing why would she get out of the car?!) I walked out to get whatever it was that we felt so important that needed to be swapped during this polar vortex ordeal and I swear to you my whole body sphinctered up inside and out. It was like I walked out and every part of my body wanted to be inside of some other part of my body...including my lungs. I lost my breath when the wind hit my face and when I did finally take a breath I started to cough. Man, LUNGS BURN WHEN THEY'RE COLD!! I quickly learned my lesson that day.
I am never leaving my house every again in the winter months. period. End of story.  Okay so that's not  totally true. I have gone out since that one day.
As a matter of fact a few days later...it was 0 degrees with windchill of -8 and I litterally walked to my mailbox in a long sleeve shirt and jeans, and actually looked up to the sky and thought to myself "Wow, it's really kind of nice today."
Did you see what happned there? Yeah, I think that's what's called "Becoming a midwesterner."
I did get some virtual high fives "you've become one of us finally!" on Facebook...but somehow I am not as excited about it as they were. I'll be excited to thaw out in June.

The good thing about it being this cold, is that A) we all have enough quilts to be under and we are truly feeling blessed for all the basics of shelter, heat, and blankets and B) I don't want to go anywhere so when we don't have snow days I'm spending a lot of time sewing and working on all the various projects I have going on all at once (and trust me it seems like theres like a bazillion at the moment)
One of the things I got to cross off my list of need to do's was making my mom an extra large Hampton weekend Bag with a zipper instead of a snap closure. She wanted in my Simply Color eggplant fabric, and she specifically asked for a zippered top. I got that sent out to her and she happily says it's perfect. PHEW!

Next on the chopping block is another how to for the Bernina Blog We All Sew. Its almost done and heading over that way soon. :)

And well because a few of you requested I show off some of the decorating I've been doing in my home, here's a picture of our living room. This house hasn't really gotten completely decorated because I feel like we've been in limbo trying to save money from when the husband's company he worked for closed it's doors, and we were without a job for 6 months and had to use every single penny we had saved for instances like that...And now we have a new predicament...our house in middle of nowhere is back on the market. (paying two mortgages is not something we were foreseeing last year...but things happen, and well...yeah things happen.)

I still feel like we were sort of prepared for this financial issue...we have been trying really hard to save up again...just like we did the last time...and even though we're not where we were a few years ago with our emergency funds...we have been able to get the ball rolling in the right direction. So, yes, we feel a little prepared...We at least have some funds saved that we are able to have the house be put on the market for a little bit without renters. That house was a great house...if I could transport it here I would in a heart beat. But unfortunately, I couldn't bring the house or the people from there here. (Even though we have met so many new wonderful people here in the last 2 1/2 years and this new house is pretty sweet too) 

We feel very blessed to have been able to be in that house for the small amount of time we were in it...and we are very grateful for the home we are in now...but seriously...I kind of only want to have one mortgage and only one house to worry about. 

SO. With that word vomit out in the open...that's all I've got for the day. I have to start baking like a madwoman...because we have a birthday this weekend. :) 

We'll talk soon.

V and Co: i miss my sewing machine...but...

 i haven't touched my sewing machine for over a week. maybe it's been almost two.
sigh.
i really miss it.
i have been thinking of a butt load of fun things to make...and yet...no sewing and no crafting has happened.

no, instead i find myself traveling in the car to and from concert band, jazz band, orchestra, gymnastics, reading camp, and scouts. phew!
every morning we are up and at em.
man, i spend a lot of time in the car.
but it's okay, my kids are happy and active in things they like. and it gets us up and moving as a family early in the am.
i can't complain, i also enjoy the time i have in the car with each individual child to each individual activity we are heading to or from.

this year we have our summer schedule again (but this time i laminated it, thank you very much! oh and i spelled vacuum right this time!)

every day they are responsible for things that aren't on the list (i.e., pick up room, make bed, take laundry up to the laundry room)
i put pick up rooms on wednesday as a more "deep clean" pick up room, as in check the closet for all the stuff that was stuffed in there to hide it, remove all excess toys on top of dressers and so forth.

and this year we added a fun little experiment to our chore list

this year we have added timed increments to each chore, and a small allowance to be earned for each chore completed either by or before the time is up.
for example for bathrooms they each have 10 minutes of hard work (each child doing something different) and when the time is up they get either 25 to 50 cents depending on the chore (bathrooms are 50 cents, dusting is 25 cents).

what?
too cheap you say?
nope.
not when you go to the pool everyday and their snack bar consists of items from 25 cents to 4 dollars.
my kids love to earn their day's snack junk at the pool by finishing up small increments of chore times.

oh go ahead say it "but vanessa you have a teenager! wont he totally say "whatever, don't care, i have money from my birthday anyways.""

yeah, well here's my answer: no work= no pool or video game time or friend time. so you can either work and get paid enough for the snack bar or you can get nothing and the whole family suffers that day.

it's never come to that thankfully. because my kids know i'll do it. i don't threaten, i follow through.

i also have decided that 5 to 10 minute increments of time is a huge amount of time when there is motivation to get the chore done.
every day we have finished most of our chores by 10 even in between all the traveling we have been doing for the summer activities.

my minions are doing awesome, and i love that this experiment of small timed increments has worked out so well.
we go to bed with a relatively put away, clean house, and wake up having to just hit the scheduled chores to keep it up.

i think i may try this on just me when they go back to school. because let me tell you when you only have 5 minutes to pick up the master bedroom and you don't want to be the only one that didn't do it in the allotted time, you'd be amazed at just how darn fast your butt can get in gear. i think i'm going to give myself 10 minuted every day to tackle the storage room that houses all my fabric scraps. perhaps a scraps giveaway and listing some fabric in the shop? hmmmm. we'll think about that later on.

i've said it before, and i'll say it again. one of my favorite things about the midwest is the fireflies, and the clouds.

 this looks like it's some kind of smoke billowing from some far away fire...but they aren't they are clouds. this was the scene when i looked east from my back yard.

and this is what i saw when i looked west later on that evening on my husband and my walk. 

i love the midwest clouds. my husband is like "why are you so weird about the clouds?" and i'm like "they totally look like "Toy Story" clouds and then at other times they do weird things like...blah de be blah blah blah." yes, by that time he tunes me out. what can i say i like them. it makes me happy. happy makers they are.

so yes, i've been feeling like i really would love to put in some sewing time. and i will here and there. (there has to be a rainy day in there again sometime right?) or perhaps one day the kids just decide they want to stay home and make quilts one day instead of going to pool. no? well maybe. you never know.

but for now, i'll enjoy the things that are making me happy till i can get back to the other thing that makes me happy...sewing.

:) we'll talk soon.

V and Co: my new sewing space

 as i have mentioned before.
i went from not having a sewing room to having a sewing room to not having a sewing room all within years time. our first home didn't have an extra room for me to have so i sewed in my kitchen area. i also kept my fabric in my kitchen as well. it was cramped but it worked for what i needed at the time.
then we moved into a bigger house (when we decided we were going to stay in our little town for the long haul) and i got my own glorious little office sewing room, wrote a book in that room, and well i created a mess that was never really organized because after 6 months of living there we found out my husband's company closing it's doors. we moved...blah de be blah you know the story and we had to find a house in two days in our current state of iowa.
i love my neighborhood, i love my neighbors, and i love our schools. we got super lucky with all of our choices, except for the fact that most homes in our price range only have 4 bedrooms. sooooo we again find me not having a room to call my own as a sewing room.

BUT all that has changed. well not really. i still don't have an actual room, but i do have a corner in my basement where the kids' playroom/play video games/watch movies is located.
so now i can totally be in their faces whenever i need to be.
kidding but not really :)

it's still in it's beginning phase. i found that bookcase at a garage sale (WHOOT!) for $10 painted it white, and bought some cute storage bins from target. i still need to go through all of my fabric bins...and probably try to pare down some (so look for some fabric sales coming your way perhaps?)
i also found that white rolling shelf tray thing that holds "sergio" the serger at a garage sale. it reminds me of the one the husband's grandmother had in her kitchen.
anywho, it's not all that glamorous, or fancy, but come on, seriously would you expect that from me anyways? yeah didn't think so. i'm still in search of some more garage sale finds to place in my corner for storage. ah the hunt never ends.  :)
okay off to continue the cleaning and organizing.
we'll talk soon!

V and Co: easter egg craft

so this last week in-between climbing mount laundry and wading through the sludge of things not done ie scheduling doc appointments and car appointments, grocery shopping and all that other normal every day stuff that seemed to pile up just a little bit larger than usual because i was gone for a week (and had 3 prior weeks of chaotic-ness)... katie ended up having a pretty bad reaction to the routine vaccinations where her legs got super swollen and super sore. so sore that she, as the day progressed, became less willing to walk anywhere, and to where she basically just stayed put and didn't move till someone could pick her up and take her where she needed to go. (read between lines, she didn't ask to be moved till she absolutely had to go to the bathroom).

well, the next day one leg had gone down to normal size and didn't hurt as much, but the other still super sore and swollen. she wouldn't walk on her own...and well we basically stayed put, her and i. and while she drew pictures on my bed i brought in something i could do next to her. we just hung out most of the day on my bed.
i didn't get too much done...but i did get a few of these little eggs done so we could start decorating our home a little for the upcoming season.

i still have a few more to make. i think in twine...
katie is feeling better  both legs down to normal and just normal soreness. :D
 i have a few things i need to take care of and today is going to be spent cleaning and having all the kiddos clean out closets and under beds. oh i know it's friday, but we're on spring break. which should be AWESOME next week because we have a couple of days in the forecast that say 70 degrees! i am soooooo ready to have time outside bike riding and going on the trails again. can.not.wait. my kids are already chomping at the bit to play outside games with friends. sigh. yes our first winter in the midwest and we hardly felt it. well i know the weather's been weird and i've had my few run  ins with the snow...but all in all nice introduction to the midwest winter weather. thank you! :)

the twine egg was made just like i made my potterybarn inspired decor balls
just different twine, and no spray paint...oooh maybe i'll do a couple with spray paint too. hmmm (mental note go buy pastel looking spray paint)

the fabric eggs were created just like i made these balls.
the eggs were found at micheals and were a little (in my eyes) pricey. they were $2.42 for 6 or wait were they $4.24? sheesh...don't know. BUT you could do the twine and fabric thing we did here with those plastic eggs i used in that fabric covered egg how to. those are super cheap and you can get them just about anywhere. for way cheaper. :) just make sure you put your hot glue gun to lower temp if you have the option...as the eggs (either one the Styrofoam and the plastic one) can melt if the glue is too hot.

so whether you place it tall grass.

or do the classy pottery barn look...

or heck throw caution into the wind (walk a little on the wild side if you will) and throw them together. i know.
oooh you notice my newest "find"?
well it's not new NEW. i mean i found it in december...well no it was more like i saw it in september.
yes, a story in order.

i'm talking about that mirror you sort of see in that last picture.
here's a better picture:

yup, that mirror is huge. and it was perfect for my GINORMOUS wall, or so i've been known to call this wall.
and well said mirror was first seen and coveted last september, at hobby lobby. and the price tag was ridiculous to my pocket...for a mirror. it was $289.99 (which i know is still considered a good price in some circles but not in my own little personal circle).
well, i stared and stared at it, i may have even petted it. and it was put aside in my brain of things to buy when i see a 50% off coupon for hobby lobby. and well that day came people. 3 months and i don't know how many people i annoyed talking about it to later....the coupon came. and i was ready.
got my friend with a gps so i wouldn't get lost again...and we headed on down there with her big huge suv that is worthy of carrying said huge mirror. and when i got there. there she was in all her glory.

when i got up and close to it i saw a chip on the side of the mirror on the frame. crap. well maybe they will have another one.
so the manager of the store came with me and we looked at the mirror.
i said "i want to use my 50% off coupon for this mirror but can you get me one without a chip?"
she looked at me and said "what if i give you 60% off on it?"
i sat and stared at her then i stared at the mirror. then i stared at her...then at the mirror.
in my head all i could think was "dang it i don't want to look like a total moron, because i can't figure out how much off that would be just off the top of my head and if that is even worth it..."

she took my silence as trying to drive a hard bargain because she then said:

"okay i can only go up to 80% off i can't do any better for you."
that's when i stared at her and i didn't care if i looked like an idiot and said "so like how much would that come out to be?"
she took out her calculator and said "around $60 with tax."
i calmly looked at her and said "okay i'll take it. but can i lick it to make sure no one else takes it?"
she didn't like my humor.

so my super great deal of a mirror is sitting in the same room as my super great deal of a hexagon table i got for $3 dollars at a garage sale. both won by my internal conversation while others thought i was steping up the game and trying to drive a hard bargain. booooyaaaaa for talking and having an argument with yourself in your head or do some call that having voices in your head?
hmmm.
till we talk again.

V and Co: sneak peak into our world

 have i said happy new year yet? HAPPY NEW YEARS! i know that was like so last weekend ago, but our week has been one big mess with jake's back going out. he is doing SO much better. each day getting a little better, he even showed off to the kids and i yesterday night by saying "hey look at what i can do!" and proceeding to do a hip swivel to which i yelled at him because i didn't want to have to try to pick him up off the ground if it went bad. the kids cheered, and i couldn't stay mad for long because it was great to see him laugh. :)

soooooooo, something i've not done too much with this house that i've done with the houses in the past is show you what i've done decorating wise or fixing up. um well, here's the deal. its still really plain and in the beginning of things.

 but our main goal when we moved 3 times this summer was to eliminate extras and eliminate stuff.
we wanted to fit in ONE UHAUL TRUCK everything we were going to move on our last move across the plains to our final resting grounds.
i am slowly, almost painstakingly slow, deciding on decor and how and what and where things will go. we really are starting all over except for a few core things.  

most rooms, like katie's featured here, still need night stands and some kind of shelving. i know what i want, but well, it takes money and planning and finding. i would love built in shelves in all the bedrooms, as this house HAS NO SHELVES ANYWHERE. arrg. <--pirate alert. our bathrooms are the only places where they installed shelves in the closets. if i had unlimited funds i would of already of bought and installed and been done. oh who am i kidding no they wouldn't because i would still be trying to find a better deal somewhere cause that's how i roll. :/ but even without unlimited funds available, i want to find good quality, and if it takes a long time...it takes a long time.

for now i am having fun just finding a few core BIG decor things for our walls. our ceilings are really tall and make our walls go on forever.
another thing i'm trying to decide on is paint colors. hate our living room color. i know everyone here and their horse loves it. but i'm def a west coast off the beach kind of gal and it is so dark to me that i can't do it. the bedroom will stay this color as it is fine and i don't need to spend the whole day in it. but my living room needs to be lighter. any paint suggestions would be great. i have some set aside on pinterest
so far my favorite for the main room/dining room/kitchen are:
classic gray
savory beige
sea salt but only if it looks blue and not green.
relaxed khaki
and my personal favorite just because of the name
pudding mold  oh and okay i like the little bit of gray blue in the tint. :)
honestly it will probably not be classic gray. i want that for the boys rooms again.

so any suggestions of good grayish blue or beigey gray?

also:
here is where i got my lala love you print.
here is where i made the gathered heart pillow.
green shag pillow can be found here
and ikea is where i bought the large round decor thingys hanging in my room
i did buy them before we left utah so i don't know if they still have them.
and katie's dresser was ikea as well.
the quilt i made, no pattern and yes it still not bound even though i made it like 4 years ago. 


okay so have at it. tell me paint colors and if you have links i would love them too. i'm leaning towards sherwin williams paints
i'm probably painting this month. probably cause you know life happens.

V and Co: before and after: the mantle

 last week i sort of hinted that i was painting again on facebook. 
this has been an ongoing "discussion" (aka me bringing up something over and over and OVER again and jake sidestepping and dismissing and changing the subject, in hopes that i would just.give.it.up. yeah, ahem, i didn't.)

okay so since moving into our home...i've struggled to decorate it. first off i've not had that much time in the house, and second, i've not had enough extra down time to well...do too much in the decorating side of things.
and to tell you the truth my biggest road block: our current living room.
i didn't like it.
aside from the two big windows...it doesn't have a ton of light coming in. 
and well on top of not getting a ton of light:
the color on the walls. eh.
the mantle wood. eh.
basically there's is soooo much brown and eh.
oh i know "boohoo, you have a new house your husband found a job he loves, and you are complaining about the living room having too much brown?"
i know i felt ungrateful too.
trust me.
and i tried and tried to let it go.
but when you are in a house all day long. somethings that start out as "eh's" turn into "oh my gosh i HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!"
and well jake said: "will it make you shut up happy to paint the fireplace?"
he didn't have to say it twice i was out like flash and i bought the supplies i needed.

first i called my next door neighbor and enlisted her help, you know the one that already thinks i'm crazy for taking her out on a hot humid summer's day to take pictures in front of a bale of hay. yeah her. she's real nice and keeps saying yes to my "adventures" so i figured lets give her another try.
she said yes. :)
second, i taped off around the fireplace.
then i lightly sanded the whole thing down.

now the paint.
the husband said to look for trim and door paint.
and so i found it.
(okay so before i go any further i have to say this: this is in no way shape or form a paid post. it is me all me and just my experience and opinion of this paint. okay moving on...)
glidden extra high gloss for trim and door promises no drips and no brush marks.
they are true on that. in the end there are no drips and no brush marks.

with one coat of paint

at the store their little display said "our one coat vs their one coat" and it looked like it would totally cover my mantle in one coat.
verdict: uh no, if i left it at the first coat it would of looked like a 3 year old tried to paint my fire place with Elmer's glue.
but the second coat went on better.
here's the deal though. it's an oil base paint, and its super tacky to paint with.
we waited 24 hours before painting a second coat.

the second coat went on super smooth and easy.
but i had to put a third coat on a few little tricky places.
for this project i used only one quart of paint (and i still have some left over)

all in all the experience was a good one with the paint. totally worth it (it's kind of expensive) and i think it helped with the room. i know it did with my spirits.

and yeah i know i have no "fluff" yet in this room.
it's all kind of boring.
but it's a step in the right direction.

i took care of one my "eh's"

next on the table:
wall paint.
don't know when but i'm thinking soon, as the hours in the day get shorter and shorter and i NEED "lighter". yeah i think i'm going with a lighter tint. :)
thoughts?

V and Co: make your house pretty: affordable pillow covers

making this house pretty has been kind of a challenge to me.
first off, we have a super tight budget. i mean who wouldn't be after not having a job for 4 months and living off of what you have right? so when we sold most of our stuff to move across country on the lighter (cheaper) side...well, you end up getting in a house with a lot of empty space.
but because we sold a lot of our stuff, we were able to hold onto that money and once settled for a little bit of time, we used that money to semi furnish the house. oh no, it's still empty, but at least now we have a place to gather that's not on the floor.

our new couch came with these ugly striped pillows. i mean they might be cool for someone else, but for me not so much.
i kind of wanted something happy and colorful, but affordable. so i waited till all the boys went to school and then i piled up katie and we went to our hancock fabrics store and started to search. i found the "outdoor" fabric to be on sale for 40% off. love that. and well if it's suppose to withstand harsh conditions of mother nature...i figured that it would have a good chance of withstanding the harsh conditions of the 4 hooligans i call my kids.

so i bought with the 40% off deal at that moment 1 yard of this fabric originally priced $17.99 yard(i think it's full price again) for $10 something plus tax...lets just call it $12.
the measurement of the width of the bolt is 54" so i was able to make three pillows (2 at the 21" and one smaller one for the chair across the way.
i also used fabric i had for the back. yay for using up some of the stuff you already have!

this is how i made my covers:

first i measured my pillows i wanted to cover. these turned out to be 21" by 21"

-so from my patterned fabric and my back fabric i cut out two squares each measuring at 21" by 21" (yes i know i didn't add seam allowance, but you want your pillow to fully fill out the cover you are making. trust me it looks and fits better.)
-then i placed the right sides together and pinned in place.
-next i sewed around all three sides of the pillow cover

-on the 4th side i sewed only about 3" in from each side (back stitching at the start and stop of the stitch)
-this will make stuffing and closing your pillow easier.

-next i sewed diagonal about 1/4" to 1/2" in so your "ears" aren't so pointy when you turn it inside out.
this is what you end up having.


-turn inside out.
-now take your pillow and fold it in half. (squish it down good)
-and insert your pillow through the opening.
-make sure you adjust the pillow while you are placing it inside. try to put the corners with the corners and flatten out and adjust your pillow once you get it in there.
hand stitch or machine close the bottom opening.

three pillows for $12 bucks...uh $4 bucks a pillow aint bad considering most pottery barn pillows cost at least $36 each. and that my friends is making my house pretty on a budget.


i like the color it gives and i love that i can easily change them out when i tire of them, because they only cost me $4 each to make.

one thing down...a bazillion more to go...
have a great weekend. i have more sewing i've been doing to show you monday. :)