adding some colour

Last night I didn't have any plans so I decided to add a bit colour to the main floor using fabric I had on hand.

First up, a new table runner.

Don't mind my dying hydrangea, poor thing

I used fabric I had leftover from the ottoman I made for Mila's room. It's a bit wonky, but already I feel like it's a bit closer to actual spring than the dreary weather we've been having (although it's quite nice today!).

Next up I made a pillow cover for my chair in the office using some old Heather Bailey fabric I had from way back when I used to make stuff more often.

Just a bit of colour to brighten things up around here!

Have a great weekend! Mila and I are off on an adventure of our own for the weekend. Hopefully she cooperates!

sunroom revamp: the little birdie bench pillow

Here's my little birdie bench pillow. I finally got around to making it which makes me laugh because things that used to take 1/2 an hour to make, now take me 5 days with children. Go figure.

I'd like to put another pillow with it... maybe a small rectangular one. We'll see - for now this bench is done!

Just for fun here's the before again:

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pillow search - skinny laminx orla love

I've been on the lookout for pillows for my living room for some time. Yes I can make my own, but I've always been a Skinny LaMinx fan, so why not get some pillows from Heather? I already have the Leaves pillow in autumn and recently moved it to the couch craving some yellows in the living room. I'd love to pair it with the Orla pillow in Lemon.

What colours are you craving right now?

nursery update: pillows!

I'm going a bit pillow crazy in this room, but it's only because I already had two pillow covers made and I had two mini inserts that were taking up room in my spare room so I thought ahh why the heck not? I'll make more pillows! So last night I made a couple small pillows for the glider. They're so cute and small! Then I fixed up this second pillow above (it had a little tear) and just threw that on the pouf.

I think I'm taking all my colour cravings and throwing them into this one room....

This week I also picked up a shower curtain from West Elm to use as curtains for the room. I'm going to slice them in half and add some detailing to them. Still need a curtain rod and a dresser! I wanted the Edland from Ikea but they don't sell it anymore the bums.

Well that's it for now! Not much on the baby update - well actually this week the midwife thought the baby might be breech, so I went in for an ultrasound this morning and she's all good. Head down thankfully. 

Oh and I got a ticket outside of the hospital because I have baby brain and parked in the wrong spot. Thankfully the parking guy let me off - even after he wrote the ticket (unimaginable!). What am I going to do when I don't have this belly to help me out anymore! ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!

porch props

Happy Monday! (I figure if you say Happy along with Monday it will make me feel better that it's Monday...).

This weekend when I was doing groceries at Loblaws I found some cute lanterns in the I want everything here section. I picked one up for the front porch (only $9!) to put on my little side table. The table is pretty scratched up and doesn't really match out here so my plan is to paint it a light grey to match the grey in the pillows.

what a cutie!

And just in case you care, here's a view of one end of the porch - we moved the couch that was in the back. Now I can take little naps out here and I've worked out here from time-to-time too.

Here's the other end by the front door. Starting to take shape!

Hope you have a great week!

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PS - Have you entered the giveaway yet?Contest ends this Wednesday!

porch pillows part deux

Last night while the hubs was out for a bike ride, I set up my sewing machine on the dining room table, flipped on the computer to watch a few episodes of Glee and got started on my new porch pillows. 

A couple years ago I made pillows using some Ikea fabric I found for $4.99 a yard (so cheap!), but I left them out at night and some rascals got their nails into them. Plus they faded (the pillows, not the rascals).

I ordered the fabric from Tonic Living on Tuesday and got it in the mail yesterday - amazing. I love ordering from local companies!

Just realized this pic is a bit wacky - I feel like I'm a bit lopsided when looking at it!

I wanted something a bit brighter for summer so I thought I'd have some fun with the porch. I'm really craving colour around this house since everything is grey! The fabric is rated for the outdoors so they shouldn't fade and hopefully the little rascals will stay away. 

I've been keeping my eyes open for a little table to fit between the chairs for awhile now but haven't seen one I quite like yet.

Speaking of rascals... this is what I found in the kitchen when I came in from taking my photos. 

The little bum.

pillow swap

Hope you all had a nice long weekend! We did a ton of driving and I'm paying for it today I think - I'm super tired (that passenger sitting is tough work! ;)). Leo slept for four hours at daycare - we're all out of it!

To add some brightness to my day, I thought I'd share a little pillow swap I did last week. We got a new rug for the living room (more on that in a later post!) and my pretty orange pillows just didn't look right in the room anymore unfortunately.

I decided to swap them out for the pillows we had in the mudroom. Here is what was there before:

And the bright after!

Wow I really need to clean those windows! ;)

ps- find me on facebook and twitter too!

new pillows.

Before I took off for vacation, I made six pillows (made from two different fabrics) to put up in my shop.

I had fun working with the fabrics I got from Spoonflower although I'm still pretty disappointed with the way the darker colours I ordered came out in the wash (which is why you don't see any dark colours here!). I'll have to figure out what to do with those.

Until then, you can get more info on these pillows on my FB page; I've decided to offer them over there first before I put them up on etsy.

Have a great day!
Steph

orange you glad I made this pillow?

har har

So I took advantage of naptime and made a pillow out of my new fabric. But guess what? I didn't get enough for two pillows, which is so strange for me because I always buy way too much fabric...waaah waaah.

I ended up getting a yard only which didn't take into account the fact that I wanted the circles to be in the middle of the pillow. I played around with the idea of cutting out a circle and sewing it on some other fabric, but I really wanted a fully-orange pillow. So I went ahead and made one with a beige backing and I'll just order more fabric for the other pillow later.

I quite like it! It adds a punch of much-needed colour to the room. I still need to make the pillow with the shells, so that will be next up.

pillow fabric is in!

The fabric I ordered from Spoonflower for the livingroom pillows came in and way sooner than I expected. I got a note late last week saying it was going to be another three weeks, so I'm pretty happy.

I chose the tribal orange fabric along with a fun nautilus orange and grey fabric. I'll be honest, the orange on the first fabric is a bit too bright for me, but I think I'm getting used to it.

Stay tuned for the pillow project to be completed next week!

Have a great weekend!

ps - I just realized there is some nice cat hair on the couch already -- I love that my cat chooses the new furniture for his naps...

porch pillow

I finally finished a big-ish sewing project recently -- well not really THAT big. I've just been procrastinating because the weather has been so unbelievably amazing here that all I wanted to do was sit on my back deck and veg. But alas I got my project done and will share pics later!

This morning I was able to pop out a punchy pillow for the front porch. I still have to do another one for the other chair, but I love this fabric so much that I wanted to share. I got it at Ikea for $4.99! Insanity. (I just realized the pillow looks like it has a little person on it :)).

We've been doing a lot of work on the front and back yards so I should have some befores and afters for you soon!

Have a great Thursday!

a little holiday cheer

The dinner table at my Mom's -- I love her red wine glasses!

We're off to a friend's house tonight to celebrate the big '09 but I wanted to share a few pics of my handmade gifts. This year I made the same thing for everyone -- pillows! My little sister gave me the idea -- she's moving into a new apartment in a couple of days and wanted some new pillows for her new place. The pics I took of her pillows didn't turn out for some reason but you can kind of see what I made through the fuzz.


The second set is for my other sister -- I wanted to give her something fun to brighten up her living room.


And finally -- a set of pillows I made for my Mom. I think they look perfect with her couch!


That's it for now! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year celebration. See you in 2009!

~lealou

welcome to lealou's house

Well it's up! I spent the past month or so sewing, taking photos and writing descriptions for each item and had lots of fun doing it. Even if no one buys anything I had so much fun getting back into sewing I can't wait to get back to the sewing machine to make more.

I have to say I had the most fun writing the descriptions... people might think I'm a bit crazy naming my pillows and totes after parts of East York where I live but that's ok... I like it here and why not promote it?

For this first batch of sewing I used a lot of Anna Maria Horner fabrics... her new Garden Party line is so bright and vibrant and really I can't stop looking at them. I just LOVE her Drawing room volumes print which I used for my tote. I also used a couple of Amy Butler's print's although they're a bit springy! It's so dreary here today that a little punch of pink is just what I need to tell you the truth.

Thanks again to my sister for creating my very cool banner and to my cat for staying away from all the stuff I sew... also thanks to M for vacuuming up the little threads he finds all over the house every week...

So here we go! here's a little taste of what you can find in the shop:

The Taylor Creek Cushion
Named after the little creek near my house - this pillow reminds me of the crispness of fall...

The Relish Cushion

Named after one of my favourite places to eat in East York, Relish Bar & Grill... it gives people in the area something different than the every-day mundane.

The East Lynn Cushion

This cushion reminds me of a park with it's bright colours so I named it after East Lynn Park down the street from me...

Springtime in the City Cushion

Sure it's not springtime, but I know I will be wishing for it once the first snowflake hits the ground, so I made this bright pink pillow to add a touch of spring to those cold winter months.

The Stacks Tote

This was my favourite project -- I LOVE this fabric and want to keep the tote for myself... I made the handles a bit too long but I tied them up and think they look kinda cute now...

I'll be updating the shop as I figure out what to up up there next so keep a look out... also I have a cute baby project I made for C and Rowan a couple weeks ago... I have to get C to take some pics when she gets it set up...

Happy weekend! I'm off to the in-laws and then to visit some good friends tomorrow north of the city.

~lealou