Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Shabby Chic

Roses, clematis, hydrangea.  Distressed white wood.  Wired cages. Gilded frames.   Comfy, overstuffed cushions.  Shabby and chic. Vintage and new.  Fresh and old.  


More popular in Europe (I think) shabby chic decor still has a following in the United States.  The decor and clothing are romantic, charming and poetic in nature. It's especially popular among DIY'ers because the natural distressed look of vintage, worn items fit easily into the design.

It's easy to see how these translate into quilts.  Here are a few...

My Toes Have Proven Something to Me

I am old.  Yes, I have to admit it: I. AM. OLD.

How do toes speak to you?  Well, it only happens when you listen. I decided to save the expected $25 for a pedicure. That's $2.50 per toe. I'd do it myself. My knees, hips, ankles bend fairly well. Removing the old polish was a breeze: dab on the remover and rub. Then really get into the corners and side of each nail. Voila! Done.


Now do not get the idea that any of the toes in these pictures are mine.  I could not have toes this loud. They would distract me from anything I might be trying to do.  Besides they look bruised and painful.  But I do like my toes to look neat and clean and well-pedicured. My feet may think I am old, but they appreciate sandals and flip flops, and those require a little adornment.  That's a young thing, you know.

I have one of those sticks with four different grits of sandpaper or whatever. It has numbers, so I figured that it was sort of an unpaint by number for your nails. Easy enough.  In no time they were looking clean, smooth and shiny.  Ha! Not old at all.


Then came the old part. Old. Apparently I can do all the prep work without actually seeing the nails. Well, I could see them in the sense that I could tell where they were, and I could feel when the unpaint by number stick was not on the nail, so it was relatively easy to figure out what and how and (most importantly) where.  Not very old.

Putting on polish, however, requires seeing the edges of the nails well enough that you don't actually go off the nail.  Not happening.  I can bend knees and hips and ankles just so much.  I am getting older.

Stretching and bending brings my feet and nails only so close to my face.  My eyes needed to be closer.  I hunched over and strained my back and neck.  That helped.  I sat on the bed instead of a chair.  That did not help as all the rolling up caused a body roll that could have been dangerous had I shifted enough to go in the other direction. Maybe I am old.


Back in the chair, I discovered the issue--my feet get close enough to my face to reach the line in my bi-focals.  No closer.  No hunching, rolling, stretching, bending, would bring toes to the oh-so-important bottom half of the lens.  Honestly, I tried.  I moved to the floor so I could already be where a fall would take me.  It was hard, the floor and the trying, and the trying got old quick.  I guess I. am. old.  

A deep breath and few words later, I tried a different tactic.  What if I stopped straining to get closer and worked on the top half of my bi-focals?  Firstly, it turns out, I couldn't see the edges of the nails.  I guess they were too far away. The bigger problem was that my arms are only so long.  I couldn't reach all of my toes. I. AM. OLD. my toes and eyes and even my glasses said it over and over. I finally believed them.

How do you paint something you can't reach?  You don't.  You pay someone else.  They all expect about $25.

Across America....Finished!

This little quilt is made from a cheater cloth that I bought about 15-20 years ago.  We were supposed to use it as the board for a game board.  Two things happened that ruined those plans: 1) we were enjoying our games too much to switch to a new game, and  2) the game I created was too difficult. 


Oh well, I just folded the fabric and put it aside.  What else to do with unused fabric?  And it sat and sat and sat.

Then we bought a camper and began making plans to travel for a bit.  We've been keeping track of the states we've visited in our heads, but I had the idea to use the game map fabric to make a quilt that would do the remembering for us.  To mark the states we've visited, I'd add a button.  And I new use for the fabric was born.....to find the fabric was another deal, but eventually I did.

I decided to use black thread and follow the drawn lines to mark the borders of each state.  Easy in some places, not easy in other places.  Because I also like the playful pictures, I decided to outline some of those as well.  There's no rhyme or reason for the ones I chose.  I just did some.  The quilt is more stable having more stitching.  

Canada and Mexico are pretty big and there really wasn't much to quilt, so I followed the little bit there and added a little more as I saw fit--lots of trees in Canada and a few hills in Mexico.

Then I started adding buttons.  The thing I realized though is that I'd need to bring buttons and stuff with me when we do travel.  So instead of a regular label, I made a pocket label with a recycled zipper to keep the stuff from falling out.  I took a couple of minutes to add the pocket and finished the buttons.  Now we have a small sofa quilt for the camper that hold memories of where we've been and has the potential to "button up" the places we'll visit in the future.

Finally, to stabilize the quilt more, I added some waves in the oceans. Ready for some surfing?  These waves are pretty big.

Pin It Weekly #116

Pretty ways to say "WELCOME."