Decoupage: Antique Oak Right Arm Student School Desk

Like I've said before, I've collected beautiful tissue paper, as well as wrapping paper. This one is quite a few years old—at least twenty years. Here, I've decoupaged an old oak right-arm student school desk. It's a little inconvenient to use, since I'm a lefty, and this chair was meant for right-handed pupils. Maybe one of these days, I'll get around to refinishing the rest of it.

60th Wedding Anniversary Small Art Quilt

A couple of weeks ago was my husband's parents 60th wedding anniversary. It wasn't until the day of their party that I came up with something to make to give them. I scanned their party invitation and cropped, then altered the pictures. I printed the picture from my laser printer on to transparency film that I've had for many years. I cut up a lot of different fabrics to see what would go with it, but I settled with the one below that is laced with tiny gold threads. (I know that it is supposed to be white diamonds for a 60-year, but I didn't have time to go shopping for white fabric, and didn't have any in my stash.) I used Peltex stiff interfacing and thin cotton batting sandwiched in between the front and backing. Since I didn't have much time, made the backing longer and wider, then  just folded up each corner, instead of the usual mitered binding. Here is the finished product.

Making Rosettes Out of Scraps!

From this...

...To this

 Oy Vey!  I save everything in my sewing room, including the thinnest of scraps. Luckily, so far, my hoarding is limited to only sewing stuff in my sewing room!

These "rosettes" started when I cut off the edges of a piece of muslin to square it off.  Making rosettes are my forte. I've been doing them for years. I would make them when we used to go on car trips, as a way to make the time go by. I also used to get car sick, so reading was out of the question. I now take motion sickness pills so I can read my iPad or iPhone while on the road.

Anyway, I as I said, I make many of these rosettes. I use a needle and thread to keep it together as I make it. I'm going to be using them for a very small art quilt that I'm working on. The muslin that I was squaring off is going to be  used for the front of the small art quilt.

Rosette #1

The only thing I've accomplished so far, is my sewing room being extremely messy, while trying to figure out how I want my small art quilt to look. I have muslin, and all kinds of different fabric scraps all over the place. I also have beautiful storage boxes strewn all over the floor because that's where I keep a lot of my ephemera to use for the little art quilt. I don't want to keep getting those boxes down from where they are at. So, at this time, it's easier to trip all over them, then to continue to take them down and put them back where they belong.

Rosette #2

I take one end and wrap a couple of inches on to itself; then twist for flip the "ribbon" under once as I continue to wrap.

As I continue to twist or flip the "ribbon," I sew the bottom sew that it stays wrapped.

"Voilá!"