(Bed)Skirt-ing the Challenge of Cording

With the new headboard, and having our bed elevated on risers, there was no question that we needed a bed skirt. The idea of a traditional 'frilly' bed skirt disgusted me....Think baby girl pink, and with the smell of grandmas house. Ew.

Finding the best fabric actually took the longest! I think I spent weeks hunting around town at many of the local fabric stores and could not come up with anything! 

I purchased this gem at fabric.com. This was my first online fabric purchase and as I always do, I measured, measured again, and remeasured before buying the fabric. (If you sew you know that's one thing you can't mess up!-- I purchased 4 yards for my queen size bed, with a 20" height)

My mother has been sewing for many years and played the role of my assistant and teacher. First, we did a little online research on making a custom skirt sans pattern. This tutorial was really helpful!

After we decided that the geometric pattern looked better when the lines were vertical, we had to piece the fabric evenly so that the pattern matched up. I left the master seamstress take over on this one...

I had a little navy linen left over from the headboard project, and thought it might be nice to incorporate that into the bedskirt. Hence, the pleats were born!

(I thought this really raised the 'fancy factor' on my homemade bedskirt!)

After the skirt was finished, I had enough fabric leftover to make pillows. (See what leftover fabric will get you?-more projects.)

I had made many a pillow in the past, but wanted to try something different. I found some cording that I like – navy, matching the headboard color - and made my first attempt at finishing a pillow with cording. This tutorial was greatly beneficial.

You can see how much my technique improved from my first to the third and final pillow – you can hardly see the connection!

Here is a final view of my bedroom oasis completely made, all prim and proper! 

I think you can successfully say my sewing machine (last year's Christmas) has been put to good use.

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Keep Calm and Sip On

I wanted to share with you all what a hit this Christmas gift was!  This was one of those gifts that made his jaw drop.

My boyfriend is a big fan of the website "theCHIVE".

If You are, like him, a fan of scotch, I have the perfect gift for you.

I purchased these in a set of 4 from One King's Lane, but I'm sure you could find them elsewhere.  He was, like I said, completetly ecstatic to receive these! 

Whether you're a fan of the site or just an enthusiast of British Culture, these are some pretty cool glasses that would be a great addition to your bar!

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Chickpea Tortellini Soup

(Is this really my first food post?! On a Blog called 'Whining and Dining' this is an issue.... I always have good intentions to do food blogs, but get so distracted by my own hunger that I forget to take pictures!! I'll try to be better! Scout's honor.)

Anywho!... a warm bowl of soup is just what I love on those 'chill you to the bone' cold wintry days.

I had a version of this soup once during a hospital rotation and it was unforgettable.  Chickpea Tortellini. And it was delicious. Those were 2 ingredients I had never had together! 

After surfing the internet for a few days I found a couple of interesting recipes that I used for inspiration for my own version. 

Chickpea Tortellini Soup
(Vegetarian Friendly!)

Serves: 10 to 12, 1 cup servings
Garnish (optional): Sprinkle Cheese, Green Onion or complimentary herbs

Ingredients:

- 1 box dry cheese tortellini

- 4 cups vegetable broth

- 2 cups water

- about 1 tbsp olive oil

- 3 carrots, chopped

- 3 celery stalks, chopped

- 1 small onion

- 1 med zucchini

- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed & drained (used about 1/3 of a bag dried that I keep ready to go in the freezer) 

- salt & pepper to taste

1. Chop all vegetables and sautéed until nearly soft in the soup pot. 

2. Add vegetable broth & water and bring to a boil

3. Add tortellini and cook for about 10 minutes or about 2/3 of the cooking time (the cooking time on mine was 15 min)

4. Add chickpeas

5. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 min until tortellini is cooked through. 

* I chose to garnish with green onion, which I had readily available in my fridge. :) 

Possible add-ons, add-ins & Afterthoughts ...

- Next time I may add some more seasonings, I'm thinking basil or oregano for a little extra flavor

- Use low sodium products to make this soup more heart healthy. Although, I like to use the regular broth and do not add any extra salty seasonings. 

- Throw in any veggies you like. The more the merrier! 

- add in any "delicate" vegetables closer to the end of the cooking time (with the chickpeas) to prevent any color distortion or nutrient breakdown from over cooking (My zucchini looked like pickles when I was done...whoops!)

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The Headboard Project

I'm not much of a writer, but my passion for sharing my DIY Projects has inspired me.  We just moved downtown, very urban, contemporary, young, and I decided that our headboard needed an update.

This was my 'pin-spiration' and I followed her instructions almost step by step!

(Thanks, Sarah!) You can find her detailed instructions here.  I did use her plans when I was doing my project, frankly, because she made it easy, and luckily for me, my bed is almost exactly the same size.

And here is how mine turned out: 

My Project breakdown in photography:

I first made 28 buttons with  the matching Navy Linen fabric (that I got on a Labor Day sale-50% off).  I followed the instructions on the box, since I had never made my own buttons before, and it turned out to be a really easy first step.  

This took me about an hour in front of the TV, and I did finish each with a dab of Gorilla Glue to keep them from popping off...pretty simple, but monotonous!

Step one in the actual 'wood-working' involved lots of measuring and re-measuring where to drill the button holes.  After this, I drilled the holes in the plywood that I would later thread the buttons through.

After the holes were drilled for the buttons, I screwed together the 1x4s into the edges of the plywood for extra support and stability. (This turned out to be pretty important because that large of a piece of plywood turned out to be pretty floppy.)

Next step was adding the foam, that you can see sticking out from underneath the edges. I used a queen size mattress pad that turned out to be about the same cost as buying it elsewhere.  I cut mine by hand with a pair of scissors, it turned out to be no problem that it wasn't exact, because you'll pull the edges taut next.

Following this came the batting- and then the fabric! It was finally starting to come together!

To prevent any slipping, I safety pinned the fabric to the foam while I was stapling it to the wood frame.

This step I did by myself in my apartment, but it would be helpful with a buddy! And ta-da! I was thrilled once the buttons were in! The project was coming together!  We were moving during this project, and I decided- fearing risk of a wood fracture or split- that we would wait to attach the legs until we had moved.  

A Tip on threading the buttons: It would be much easier with two people, and I finished the tufting by stapling the thread down and knotting it to prevent it slipping.  Once I had a few staples in place, I hot glued over each end to really make sure none of those come loose!

My handyman helped me to drill pilot holes for the 4" screws that secured each of the 3" arms to the plywood tufted piece.  I didn't cut holes for these screws in the fabric, and there was some pulling, but I was able to straighten these out with some more stapling and tugging on the back of the tufted piece.

I'm all about being frugal with these DIY projects--since I wouldn't splurge for the $400 headboard!   Here's the cost breakdown:

5 yards of Linen Fabric - $24.95 - purchased at Hancock Fabrics, 50% off
Button Covers (2 packs, 14 each)- $10.98 - purchased at Hancock Fabrics, 50% off
Upholstery Needles - $3.29 - purchased from Hobby Lobby using 40% off coupon
Queen Size Mattress Pad, 1.5 inch thickness- $34.98- Purchased from Wal-Mart & cut to size
Quilt Batting - $9.97 - purchased from Wal-Mart - 84.17
500 Upholstery Tacks- $18.90 (including shipping) Purchased on Ebay

Hardware- Purchased at Lowe's Hardware
- 1/2 inch Plywood
- One 2 x 6 (12 ft)
- Two 1 x 6s (6 ft ea)
- 16, 1.25 inch screws
- 8, 4 inch screws      - $53.91
                                                                                                                                   

Total Cost: $ 156.98

(60% cheaper than buying one!)

TIP!: Have all your boards cut at the hardware store, especially if you're in a tight space or don't own all the tools. The nice people at Lowe's were very helpful, and then they're already cut to size when you get them home!
- To save a little extra money, I ordered a  $50 Lowe's gift card with my credit card reward points! and used coupons wherever I could.

It took me about three weeks to nail in all the upholstery tacks....because I would get so bored just hammering, and hammering. It was never ending.  I was so antsy to use the headboard I did this after we had it placed behind the bed.  

This piece was so heavy I didn't need to attach it to the wall, or the bed frame the arms helped to hold it steady. --this was a perk for me, since apartments don't like large anchors in the wall...

Voila! The finished product! 

Yes, the bedroom's still coming together, but now that all the upholstery tacks are neatly in place, I am one step closer. :)

 Next I'm due for a bed skirt and coordinating pillow shams. Lots of projects in the works at our place!

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Kickstarter and Food Huggers

These are Food Huggers.  The day these arrived in the mail, I was one happy girl!  I have to say, this is, perhaps one of the best products available for eco-friendly, environmentally conscious, amateur chefs that hate using plastic wrap and ziplock baggies to store the half of an onion you didn't need for tonight's dinner recipe!

 

 Set of 4 ($19.00), available in 4 colors

  

 They even have Avocado Huggers, if you're so inclined! ($14.00 for the set)

 

As you can see, these are pretty amazing kitchen gadgets. I was thrilled to find them on kickstarter.com!

Kickstarter helps up-and-coming entrepreneurs raise money to reach their business goals...which is just an awesome concept, so I donated to this project and received my Food Huggers in the mail  after production about 4 months later! 

Check out Kickstarter, it's a cool way to help out a new creative, project come to fruition!  So excited to use my new kitchen toys! 

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