By Lisa Gutierrez on 09/21/2010 
I’ve spent the past few weeks knitting a bunch. I do a lot of my knitting at the extremes of my day–late night after the littlest finally goes down or early morning, after a coffee and a kiss goodbye from both Jason and Nathan.
I’m working on berets. Actually, I’m working on a beret pattern. Because of this, I’ve frogged a few hats. I’m working in worsted weight yarn on about 120 stitches after the beret increase, sooo it’s pretty heartbreaking when I realize I’m headed in the wrong direction, design-wise. I’m hoping to have two different beret patterns done by the end of the month and a little handful of berets to put in my shop.
Because I cannot knit all the time–forcing the craft brings about feelings of loathing and I don’t want that–I tend to pick up little projects between knitting marathons. I finished this pillow on Saturday evening.
I found this pillow case at the thrift store for a quarter and have had it sitting on my desk for a while. I had a body pillow that I no longer needed (hello, if you’ve been pregnant, you know the absolute NECESSITY of a body pillow or two), so I decided to combine them.
I folded up the body pillow and strapped it with some elastic–just tie the ends–squeezed it into the case, chopped off the excess fabric, folded the ends inward, pinned, and hand-sewed it shut, pulling out the elastic before I finished. I did this late at night on Friday (the night I took my littlest to spend the weekend with grandma) and tufted the center on Saturday. Et voila! It’s thick enough to work as a floor cushion when one of the kiddos wants to draw at the coffee table.
It’s the fourth pillow I’ve made for my living room. I should probably line them all up on my little loveseat and take a group photo.
p.s. thursday posted about bloglovin the other day and it reminded me of my account! I signed up a while back, but soon forgot about it and hadn’t even linked my blog. Now that’s taken care of and, if you use bloglovin, you should click the banner on my left sidebar -or here- and follow goodknits! Thanks a bunch, lovelies!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/29/2010 Inspired by the doily pillow tutorial on Smile and Wave, I started scouring thrift stores and craigslist for any little sets of doilies I could find. I HAD to make one. My couch NEEDED it!
One of the thrift stores close to our new house had some and I was SO excited! Until I saw the price tag. GAH! Them ladies knew how long and tedious doily making was and priced them accordingly. Unfortunately, doilies aren’t in the family budget, so I had to pass those up.
A week later, we headed back to our old stomping grounds in South Houston and hit up our old favorite thrift stores, including SeAM. I’m happy to say SeAM did not disappoint. I found a bunch of doilies for about two bucks. I used all the large ones, a medium one, and a few small ones to fill in open spaces. I still have a medium sized one and two little baby doilies left. I’m in LOVE!
I did this a little differently than the tutorial. After figuring out the configuration (most exciting craft-related puzzle!), I pinned the doilies to some yellow fabric, about 17.5″ square. I then hand-sewed them down, overlapping where necessary. I didn’t want to cut any and there wasn’t much overhang, so I didn’t. Most of the doilies were bright white and one was a lovely light brown, so I whipped up a pot of super strong tea and let the pillow top soak for about 10 minutes. I washed it with some dish soap and tossed it in my dryer for a bit. Tea staining for the win!
I used a vintage pillow case for the back. Again, i can’t stress enough how much I love reusing pillowcases like this. The hem is already there, so I don’t need to do any extra sewing! I cut out a piece about half the width of the pillow and one that was two thirds. I pinned it down and sewed it up. My 18″ pillow form makes it a little over-stuffed, but that’s how I like ’em.
If you have any doilies you don’t want (psssssh!), please do let me know.
By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/19/2010 
My mom had this plastic milk crate sitting outside and I asked if I could keep it. She said yes, of course, and so I decided to turn it into an awesome ottoman. Really, it’s just a foot stool, but I like saying “ottoawesome.” I simply crocheted a cozy for it. Started with a large square that covered the base of the crate (top of the stool) and then crocheted–in the round–down the sides. I sewed a few layers of batting under the top for a tiny bit of cushion. It’s pretty lovely, don’t you think? I’m scouring craigslist for more crates!
Now, I need to find an area rug for this living room. One day, we’ll redo the flooring (previous owner put in new carpet, but it’s pretty darn unattractive, I think), but for now a rug will do. Are there any that have caught your eye recently?
P.S.! Isn’t it also awesome that the yarn color pretty much matches my loveseat EXACTLY?! It’s Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn in Old Leaf and I used about a skein and a half (J-hook).
By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/16/2010 
Look at what I finished up, today! I crocheted the front on Friday and it sat on my loveseat all weekend. I kept throwing ideas around about completing the pillow. They’d land on uninterested ears (my husband, my kids, etc) but it wasn’t until last night that I decided to use one of my favorite vintage pillow cases as the back.
I liked this idea because I could use the pillow’s natural hem as the envelope-back hem. Less sewing! I used a brown paper bag to cut a circle pattern. I marked off half the circle and two thirds of it. I cut out my pieces, pinned them to the crocheted circle and hand-sewed it together. The seam isn’t perfect and my [foam] pillow form is kind of hard, but I really like the end result!
This orange packs a punch and the flowered back is just lovely! It’s the same fabric I used to make my last camera strap cover.
 
I dig this fabric so much, I couldn’t just toss the scraps. Instead, I made more buttons:
  
If you love them, you could buy them from my Etsy shop, here. They would qualify for my BOGO 50% off sale!
By Lisa Gutierrez on 08/11/2010 I call it the breakfast room, but no one eats breakfast in there. I use the table to fold laundry since our laundry room (through the door straight ahead) is so tiny.
notice my tiny helper?:)
I was folding the millionth load of laundry on that table there and was SO fed up with the wall paper I had to stop. every time I passed the room, my hatred for it grew. I actually liked the wallpaper when we first saw the house. now? I’m quickly stripping it off. I got the first layer off easily and will be spritzing the walls with vinegar to get the rest of it off.
I’m still uncertain what color to paint this room. I’m thinking I should paint the wood paneling white, though. Maybe a nice blue or green for the top? advice?
should I paint the doors, too?! the one on the right is a closet and the one straight ahead leads to the laundry room. I want to use chalkboard paint somewhere, too. Perhaps on the wall by the light switches? It could be used as a bulletin board for the kitchen (to the right)–for lists, menus, notes, etc.
I definitely want to move the microwave out.
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