Poufs

Trendy or timeless?  We shall see, but for now, I am totally in love with my pouf from the Zazzle website!

Its an exra seat, a footstool, a side table for a tray with tea.  
So many possibilities!!
Use at a wedding shoot for a lovely bridal perch, or in photo shoots to display product, or a very comfy seat at your craft and sewing room work table.   (my current use)
Also would make a fabulous, durable seat for a children's play room.

I am creating several versions for my LilyOake shop on the Zazzle website.
Click here for the direct link to this one.
Jane's Rose Bouquet POUF
The pattern is Jane's Rose Bouquet in sorbet pink.
The top is solid pink with a lovely English rose bouquet.
The sides are pink and white wide stripes with the same rose bouquet while the base is faded basil green gingham.

Best yet, the polyester canvas cover is removable and washable!

New Beginnings

I guess I had known for awhile that I had felt dead in the water in Seattle.  What kept me there was a great paying job (although I was bored to death with it), and of course my house, many wonderful friends and familiarity.
I had been in Seattle 33 years - my entire adult life.
The only memories I had of living anywhere else were childhood memories of growing up in rural Wisconsin.

But I decided at one point in the past two years that I needed something new, something challenging.
After my last relationship ended, it became clear I didn't have the heart to continue to do what needed to be done to make ends meet in the expensive housing market Seattle had become.
I had tried hosting students, roommates, working 2 or 3 jobs at the same time - all had benefits but also major drawbacks.

Then I realized it wasn't just the high cost of living in Seattle that was making my eye wander, but the fact that I was actually bored there too.

I know, its still a beautiful landscape nestled between 2 stunning mountain ranges, on the Puget Sound.  And the city, growing in leaps and bounds,  has become way more exciting.
But I never was a coniferous tree person, I rarely took the ferries or hiked the deep wood. The ocean was a long ways away, it rains all the time (the grey drizzle does get to you!) and I rarely got downtown where the excitement was happening.

I seemed to have either outgrown the city or it grew away from me.

My romantic, floral art seemed to be passed over for industrial, retro coldness and lack of soft colors.
I enjoyed participating in art studio tours in my neighborhood and developed friendships within the art community I really cherish.  But my style was more traditional, southern and romantic.

So the day came when I decided to be brave, courageous and adventuress and take that leap - sell my cottage and move on to new experiences.
Leaving behind friends (whom I still text/chat with frequently, as I did when still there), and a job that was not always comfortable or guaranteed, but had become boring an tedious.
And leaving behind familiarity of how the PNW worked, the people interacted and the weather patterns.
But also leaving behind a dull pattern of living my days had fallen into.

Time for a change before I got too old.  Time to sell before the housing market bubble burst!
After considerable looking, reading and exploring online, I decided Richmond, VA was my target.
Its central to so many cool places on the east coast, has a ton of historical sites to explore, and is still a very affordable place to live.  The housing market is just taking off (so perhaps within 5-7 years I can again sell my house for a good profit).
But buying a house outright would give me stability and ease of mind, too.  No longer would I need to entertain foreign students who take 2 hour showers and belch at the dinner table,  or roommates who treat my expensive antique china like paper plates, or work 2 to 3 jobs to make ends meet with a burdensome high mortgage and property taxes.

So, long story short, a 3000 mile road trip, a great experience with PODS, and a tiny cottage all my own in a soon-to-be, up-and-coming neighborhood in Richmond, I have made the change I so needed to make, to try and spark some new enthusiasm in my life and art.

Of course my first thought was to decorate!  LOL

So here are choices I have made thus far, regarding wallpapering my new cottage.
All blue & white, but faded and soft colors that won't overpower the small rooms.
There's a bit of work needed to the house - the yard needs to be fenced and landscaped and the majority of my boxes still need to be unpacked and put away into IKEA furniture I have been busy building. (woe to my right hand's palm, with the hole worn in the skin from using a  screw driver, lol)

I took screenshots of the papers I will use for each room.
They are all available in my LilyOake shop on the Spoonflower website.
(Fabrics, wallpapers and gift wrap!)

As I decorate, I will be posting more images but first the house needs to be unpacked, furniture built and my studio set up - its always the last thing to be completed, for some reason, even though its first on my mind every day when I wake up!

The same lovely print i used in my last bedroom will now grace the walls and windows of my new compact living/dining room 

A fun way to bring some color and brightness to a small kitchen.

My art studio needs to be beautiful and inspiring and I can't think of a better way to do that then wallpaper in Olivia in faded blueberry.  Flowers are the essence of my design and train of thought.

The north facing bathroom needs some life and light so Aylen in faded blueberry is a newer pattern I designed.  I thought it needed showcasing so my own bathroom will be papered in this soft but lively pattern.

Even the hallway is getting wallpapered!  A hallway in a small house can seem like an entire room on its own.  Its an important pass through between 4 rooms and has high ceilings, so I felt it deserved a fun pattern.  I chose Stockholm Gingham in a faded back blueberry and white.

My dining room in the last house I owned was papered in Jane's Rose Bouquet with matching curtains in a stripe.  Being one of my favorite patterns and having already invested in money and time, the making of the fabulous linen curtains to match, I decided to re-use this pattern in my own bedroom.  It will be a soft, lovely, romantic hide away with all white furniture, an electric fireplace, tons of bookcases with decorating and art books and a relaxing corner to read in.

Experimenting with Pillows

Pillows seem to be the perfect way to change out the look of a room instantly without spending too much money or too much effort.

You can use the same filler but change out the covers by season (or not - mine are year-round!).

Its also a great way to live with a new look for awhile before plunging headlong into a decor flip.

For instance, I am experimenting adding some pale pink to my all pale blue and white interiors, to add color and warmth.
So far its working really well and I achieved the look just by using pink floral pillows from my own line of fabrics,available on Spoonflower:  LilyOake on Spoonflower

With the studio tour a few weeks away, I have had to make some realistically-based decisions on which projects I can get done and which will have to be in the fall tour.
I'm not going to kill myself to get most of the painted furniture done - if I was at home everyday, that wouldn't be a problem.  But I work outside my home for someone else, 40 hours a week, which leaves creative time limited, on top of housework, kitty care, a large yard, significant other care, laundry, cooking....and freelance design work too, besides sewing.

One thing I will try to get done is the dollhouse donated to me by a neighborhood family who were cleaning out their garage and decided it needed to go!  It sat for years, unloved and ignored and I seemed the best person who could bring it to life again.
Its getting a new paint job on the outside, with blue and pink WP inside, in every room!
(I'll blog about that later)

Meantime, pillows have dominated my world these past 2 weeks.  I completed the six heart-shaped pillows and do they look CUTE!
With Mother's Day the weekend after my art studio tour, I do hope they sell out (what a spectacular gift for Mom!!).
But I also did some larger throw pillows for sofas and chairs.
I added two more 20" square pillows and three 16" x 26" rectangle pillows.
All in cotton linen canvas, which is my favorite Spoonflower fabric!

So here they are, in all their glory!
I have more yardage on order so I can take commissioned orders and also to stock my ETSY shop.

Rosewitha Stripe on aqua linen cotton canvas

May Day Summer Roses on basil stripe linen cotton canvas

Rosewitha on peony stripe linen cotton canvas

16" x 26" linen cotton canvas pillows

Picnic at St Hubert Priory Gardens in sorbet pink

Cathleen's Heart in blueberry blue, on linen cotton canvas 20" pillow

Picnic at St Hubert Priory Gardens and Cathleen's Heart

Tea Towels!

I love pretty linens and have collected pieces here and there over 25 years now.

But the prettiest printed pieces are hard to find, usually expensive and not always in the colors that match my decor.

That's one of the reasons I got involved in designing my own fabrics, through Spoonflower.

here

I am slowly decorating my way through my own home, sewing slip covers for furniture; pillows and curtains for every room.

I also love to make simple tea towels in delicious

florals and patterns.

I sell them through my ETSY shop, here

I will also offer them for sale during the Arts North Studio Tour

I am participating in, in September.

here

As a fabric and wallpaper designer, I am going to have slip covered furniture, decoupage storage boxes, throw pillows, lavender-filled sachets, fabric baskets and tea towels for sale,

in a myriad of patterns I designed.

If you live in Seattle, I'd love to meet you!

I will also be hosting 3 local artists who

are all talented painters!

And of course, the other neighborhood artists will have their studios open to the public as well.

Come see how we Seattle artists live and work in our home studios!

Back to the tea towels - they are roughly 18" x 27",

55% linen and 45% cotton.

They are SO absorbent, you will be amazed!

No lint or wipe marks left behind!

And they look so pretty hanging on your rack.

Some people use just for display!

Up-cycled Chair #2

   With the Arts North Studio Tour date approaching fast, I am back working on the soft furnishings projects after taking a break for a few weeks and doing some decoupage and yard work!

    I have 8 total chairs planned for the studio tour.  They will all be for sale during the tour and hopefully they'll all sell/find new homes with fellow blue & white lovers!

   Each chair is carefully chosen for its style, condition and sturdiness.  I give them a much needed makeover with paint and gold leaf, and then reupholster the seat AND sew a washable slip cover to go over the seat!  I also coat each frame with at least 2 layers of "Crystalfin" poly acrylic, to protect the paint finish and whatever gold leaf I might have applied.

   This way, the person who buys the chair has 2 options for using their new piece of furniture - and can wash the slip cover if someone gets messy during a holiday meal!

   Chair #2 has a fairly deep seat so I also sewed a small lumbar pillow for support, out of the same slipcover fabric.

   Since all my fabrics are in the same blueberry blue color way, the different patterns coordinate well together!

 I decided, after painting the frame and reupholstering the seat, that the chair needed more detail.

Sometimes you have to stand back and give the piece a good look over, halfway through the project, to make sure its

turning out as imagined.

No big deal making a few changes here and there, as long as it turns out like you wanted, in the end!

Since the seat was so deep, I added a lumbar pillow in the same fabric as the slip cover.  Its washable linen-cotton canvas.

 I thought you'd all appreciate a "during" photo of its paint make over.  I use chalk paint as a primer now!

And since I prefer to use my own durable acrylic paints in my own colors, I then paint the rest of the chair the old fashioned way.  

The final finish is then coated with 2 coats of poly acrylic.

 Sewing wavy scallops with piping was hard - not sure

I'll do them again! ha!!

 Adding the gold leaf...really added character and

a bit of cottage bling!

 Slipcovering the seat.

I removed all old upholstery and changed out the padding to new/fresh stuff.  

I abhor stapled upholstery and only use upholstery tacks.

I then cover the bottoms with a layer of white muslin, also tacked in place, with my logo sewn into the center.

The original with seat upholstered and frame painted, before I added a white accent and gold leaf

Slipcovered Thriftshop Chairs

      As usual, I blog sporadically!  But I did want to show you both my new slipcovers in one go.
I have been quite busy sewing and planning out new projects.

      This newest slipcover I completed 2 days ago, using my pattern "Theodora" in white.
The floral pattern is a soft blueberry blue and easy on the eye.  Again, I used the linen-cotton canvas fabric available from Spoonflower.
      Here is a link to  Theodora  in my shop, Lilyoake.  Its available in 17 different fabrics, 2 types wallpaper, and gift wrap!

      I am participating in the Arts North Studio Tours in September and need to have things to sell to the public, who might be touring my studio and looking for items I design and make.
I decided slipcovered chairs were a great thing to offer and began scouring Goodwill stores for sturdy, undamaged one of a kind dining chairs which I could paint, upholster and make slipcovers for.
       Every chair I offer will come with new upholstered seat PLUS a removable/washable slipcover, giving the chair more versatility!

     The easy part was painting the frame and sewing the slipcover - the hard part will be pricing them to sell, without cheating myself out of my time, supplies and hard work.  Isn't that always the case for an artist? 

The chair with the upholstered seat, in Caroline blueberry

Dreaming of Spring

Some poetic musings, on a dreary winter's day in Seattle.

In preparation for my participation in an up coming artist studio tour for North Seattle, I am washing and drying fabrics before sewing them up into pillows, scarves, aprons and napkins!

The public will be touring my studio, and subsequently my dining room too, which one must pass through in order to reach the studio.
They get to see my master bedroom along the way.
So all 3 rooms will be getting make over.

I can't help photographing a few of my fabrics with the bouquet of tulips I brought home yesterday.

Oh, and here's the link to my artist studio tour, scheduled for September:

Arts North Studio Tour

"Caroline" in blueberry blue, on heavy weight cotton canvas

"Lake Maria Summer Roses" in peony pink, on cotton poplin

"Summer Garden" in peony pink, on cotton poplin

"Watercolor Roses" in blueberry blue, on linen cotton canvas