Don't Let the Doorknob

Yes, I waffle a lot.  I was originally looking for a door with glass panes, but then I came across this wonderful piece.  It is solid oak from the 1890's.  It was taken from a house in a town that exists no longer.  The wood is beautiful and I could not pass it up.  I threw in that garbage can to add a little extra style to the photo.

Look at that doorknob!

I was also able to get the original hinges with it.  Now to just get it hung.

Recycle Again

Today I found another building recycling place.  This one is close to me and it is actually cheaper than the other recycling place in Chicago I posted about earlier.  They do not have as much inventory, but there is more than enough to pick through.  Lighting.

  I thought this door was really neat, but I have no use for it.  There was a pair of them and they had that interesting slanted curve to their shape.  Also love the metal grating in the bottom panels.

Old stained glass church windows.

Pews.  Oh, if I only lived in a loft.  I think these were free.

I loved this piece, but I could not figure out how I would transport it and then take it up the many flights of stairs.  I am pondering yet another door.  This one is solid oak and has no windows, but it is a beautiful old patina with great hardware.  I will have to decide in the next week.

These are what I left with today.  Tiles to re-do my kitchen back splash. A mixture of glass and stone.  I bought them for a steal.  Do you think they are too trendy?  Maybe so.

Abandoned

So I have this "alley" problem. If I see something that has potential I rescue it for myself or a friend I know would like it. Don't judge. A few years ago I found an Eames ottoman in the exact same alley. Besides, I figure that I can always place it right back in the alley if I change my mind, right? I had to act fast because there is a snowstorm on its way her tonight. Behold, yesterday's pillage. Cute? I am not sure what I will do with it, but it will not be messed with until the weather is spring-like again.



1970's Thomasville.


The top has some issues.


I cannot resist a piece of furniture on wheels. Any transformation suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Stay with me now...

I need you to put on your non-judgemental hat and creative vision goggles. You need to see beyond what this lamp appears to be and envision what it can be. Just stay with me for a minute now. I found this BIG lamp for $6. I am thinking of painting the curvy part of the body and the edge of wood base a solid white. That would leave the little bit of neck, the metal rod in the center and the metal part of the base natural.

Are you with me so far?

Does this naked picture help you out? I then want to keep the HUGE shade the same size, but make one with a large graphic print on a white background. My mother is old school and thinks I should refinish the base and not paint it. She also thinks I should go with a smaller shade which I completely disagree with.

Opinions anyone?

Nowhere to Land

For quite some time I have been looking for a good place to keep my keys. Most people have a landing strip, but that doesn't work for me because I rarely use my front door and there is no good place in my kitchen. I cannot hang them near the door for security reasons. I usually toss them on the table where they eventually fall to the floor and I grope around in the morning darkness searching for them. I finally decided I needed some type of storage box.

I had some of these cigar boxes laying around.

The problem was that I thought the back was far more interesting than the front. This made for a very shallow back to the box. It was not ideal.

As luck would have it I was out running one morning and this was sitting on top of a dumpster. It was meant to be.

It was much deeper and could store more stuff.

It had a nice clasp for closure and for some reason the word "Dreams" was printed on all sides.

I just added some cup hooks and a picture hanger on the back and it was ready to be hung on the

wall.

Pity Party

The other day I threw myself a pity party. Boo hoo. I am such a baby. I was having a root canal so I decided to milk it and wallow in pity. There was not a lot of pain. There was a lot of time waiting for the feeling to come back to my face which meant no eating...and it was hot and humid outside as well. So, I decided to work on these two guys. They helped raise my spirits.

My sister had asked if I made baby stuff. I guess so. She needed me to make some gifts for a baby shower she will be attending. That was it. No guidance. No suggestions. So, I made the two softies above and what you see below.

Some tie dye onesies.

A musubi shirt.

In case you are wondering, this baby will be arriving in Hawaii.

Apple Pie Recipe

I found this at the thrift last week.

It is a single panel from curtains that have a recipe for homemade apple pie.

I was thinking I could make a couple of aprons out of it. Good idea?

The Weekend

Not only did I actually leave the dry warmth of my house in this weather, but I pulled myself away from the basketball tournament in order to spend the weekend here:

Yes, I took my virgin tour of Swap-o-rama-rama and it was well worth the sacrifice. It all began on Friday night with the Re:Make fashion show which was really good. Each of the designers created their collection from re-used and vintage fabric and recycled material. I will send a link once the pictures are posted.
The rest of the weekend was spent at the actual Swap-o-rama-rama event. I was there on Saturday from about 9 until 2. This is what it looked like when I arrived. Other than the volunteers there were only a handful of people in the morning. It was pretty quiet until around 1 p.m. I attribute this to the horrible weather and the fact that some people might not like to get out of bed on a Saturday morning.

Don't you love this old school gymnasium? These are the beginning stacks of clothing, accessories and fabric to dive into. I brought 2 garbage bags full of fabric and some clothing as well. There were more tables with notions of every kind. It was a dream come true. You could take as much as you wanted.

This is half of the auditorium. I am seated at a sewing machine. As you can see, there are stations for silkscreen and fabric dyeing. Behind me were stations for embroidery, legwarmers, pet toys, bags, jewelry and fabric necklaces. That balcony above is where the live bands played while you were sewing, crafting or digging. They also had a really good DJ in between band sets.

As I was getting acclimated I started small with these yoyos I made from a silk tie and some vintage buttons.

After that I began to let go and just try experimenting with all of the stuff I had in front of me. Some worked out, others did not. It was a great opportunity to just sit and have a good time while making things. For me, that turned out to be 4 hours on day one of sitting and making. There were volunteers in every area to help you out if you needed anything. I was having a good old time with my Janome sewing machine which ran a lot smoother than my old workhorse at home. The picture above was an experiment with 2 t-shirts I found in the pile. I would have preferred to use t-shirts that were the the same color, but I worked with what I had in order to see how the fabric would work with the idea in my head. It was a good laboratory for my thoughts.

This was something I made toward the end of the day. I figured I should also be making gifts while I was there. They had a few of these new eco totes for us to use. I added the front of this t-shirt. I will give it to someone who likes yoga.

Day 2: Yes, I dragged myself away from the tournament and headed back for another day. As you can see above, the crowd was a little bigger and the clothing piles just kept growing. I ended up grabbing some more clothes from the swap (including several pairs of nice pants) and made this shirt out of two from the pile. It is a combination of a vintage polyester shirt and a black cotton long-sleeved t that I modified.

So, yes, it was worth missing all of that basketball for. If Swap-o-rama-rama is coming to your town I wholeheartedly encourage you to try it out. You will have a good time and walk away with a pretty good (and cheap) wardrobe update as well.

Recycle

I found this thick hand knit sweater at the thrift. It is made of 100 percent wool. I wanted to try and recycle the yarn and make it into another piece of clothing.

Once I got the seams removed it did not take too long to unravel. I did this while watching TV. It was just a little annoying when the yarn would break. This stuff is so natural that I still found the little pieces of wood in the wool.

After washing and hanging the yarn to dry, I wound it into these balls. This yarn is just one sleeve. I could not believe how much yarn I was getting from this single sweater. Hopefully, soon it will be transformed into something altogether different.

Ideas?

I found this (heavy) glass pendant light shade at the thrift store for 60 cents. I am not sure that I want to use it as a pendant. I suppose I could try and use it as a pendant light in my bathroom, but this thing is so heavy. I was thinking of trying to make it into a tabletop lamp. Any ideas out there?

Recycling...the horror of it all

I am going to start off easy with this story because I do not want to jump right into the horror of it all. I found this very cute bird lamp several weeks ago and have not been able to list it for sale because I cannot find the right sized box to fit the lamp as well as the shade. The other morning I was walking the beast and I noticed a box that would be the perfect size. It was in a recycling pile in an alley across the street. I grabbed the box and brought it home. I only quickly glanced inside to see one of those domed display stands. NO problem. I would just dispose of it when I got home, or perhaps use it in another project.

It is once I brought it home and opened the box to display the contents that the horror began.

Are you feeling a bit queasy yet?

This is what the completely bubbled item looked like.

Are you ready?

Yes, it was a very detailed bridal Barbie wedding cake topper. That is hardened frosting you are looking at above.

If that were not horrific enough, she is also topless...and SMILING!!!

Please excuse me while I go and self-medicate.