Window Seat Love & Pillows in the Kitchen

 Window seats are always a great spot to showcase interesting textiles
and I now have one in my new kitchen!

 Always on the lookout for wonderful things, I often will buy a textile
with no idea
as to what I will do with it.

This was a textile I just couldn't pass up!

 I purchased it about 6 months ago from my wonderful friend Wendy Lewis.

When she described it a something she has never come across before...I knew it was going to be really special

and it really is

 It was originally a very large "drop cloth" of pieced together burlap sacks.

And to make it more wonderful, the entire outside edge was finished off
in a bright red cotton bias tape.

We think it was used by olive farmers to collect their ripe olives
after they are shaken from the tree.

 Even if it was used for something else
the story sounds like a good one
and the cloth showed all the signs of being used that way.

All of the tatters and worn areas are what I love about it...and there is no way you can reproduce the vintage faded look of a fabric like this.

So Pottery Barn...don't even try guys!

 Running throughout  the various sacks used to make up this large cloth,
 are beautiful faded stripes of ecru, purple and red.

I did wash this cloth about 3 times on the gentle cycle,
with lots of fabric softener
to clean it up.

 The cloth has beautiful faded lettering and I designed the cushions to take advantage of the graphics, the stripe and the red bias tape

 We cut off the tape and re-worked it into a flanged welting...but there wasn't quite enough to do the bottom, so we used left over burlap for that.

 And now for pillows!

I collect old small vintage, children's ticking feather pillows...

they look cute!

 How about some French striped ticking?

 What about some blue with the red?

 Lets try out antique black floral and some really old 

graphic grain sack pillows...

 And finally I tried out these bright turquoise floral pillows
 made from 

French curtain panels....love these!

 Wow...everything just looked so fun with the new window seat cushions....

I really doubt I will ever keep it the same for more than a week.

 Any favorites?

I took a little time off to catch my breath 

and enjoy Mothers Day with my family

But thank you for stopping by
and
I will have more great ideas to share soon!

best, Kelley

Cutter Quilt Cushions and Kubu Rattan

 For those of you who have followed The Polished Pebble for a while,

 you know that I am a serious vintage fabric junkie

 I love old quilts too and found this great looking "cutter" on eBay

Thought I might use it for some pillows...
but then....the plan  changed

 I have two of these really huge Kubu rattan chairs on a back porch
and the cushions were plain beige sunbrella...

BOOORE---IINNGG!

 The old quilt top has tons and tons of character and dozens
 of small little patches and stitches of hand sewn love!

 It looks like Grandpa's shirts were the main ingredient,
mixed in with some really old homespun and small little checks

It is really more of a patchwork with very little quilting...
which made this so much easier to cut up

All of the different colors of faded fabric and a really soft feel from all the years of use make this wonderful to sit on...
just ask my napping Husband...
oh and my dog Millie approves too!

 I paired the cushions with some vintage striped grain sacks
purchased from my wonderful friend Wendy Lewis

 The back cushions sport the same red stripe
as does the ottoman

 We made a  few new pillows from "left overs" to add to the mix...everything being reversible to a different look

 The seat and ottoman are backed with new cotton/linen heavy weight fabric with a very simple cream stripe....I can flip them over in case I get tired of the quilt

 But that may be a while....

the upholsterer really stuffed the seats at my request....

lots of extra fill and poofy crowned centers

 Kubu rattan has been all over the design blog world for quite some time and I have to say I love it too!

These chairs came from Halo Styles and are really like a chair-and-a-half...
super wide and deep

 It's fun to think of new ways to use vintage fabric and really mix it up...
my poor upholsterer usually calls me at least three times
 during one of these crazy projects

 The chairs sit under a covered porch most of the time...
but I love the look of really faded fabric too, so no worries here

 By the way "cutter" quilts are those that have problems
like tears, stains and holes

they are great for craft projects
and things like this,
because you don't feel bad when you cut them up
and usually they are really well priced

 

one final note:

A big shout out to Wendy from Textile Trunk

She was featured in an article in the LA Daily news and asked me to send them a  few photos of the many projects I have done using her fabric

You can read the article here

Hope you are enjoying the end of summer...and did you notice how the ice tea got lower and lower as the I wrote this

I must have been thirsty

; 0 )

Ambers Pillow Project: Beauty and the Beast

My friend and fellow blogger Amber

 AKA "The Girl is Craftee"

 asked if I could help her with some pillows

 for her living room sectional

We started off with this really wonderful linen floral drapery panel that Amber found on Ebay...I don't recall what she paid, but I don't think they were very expensive. 

 The down side was that they were not all that large either. 

 We needed to do some creative thinking to make good use of the fabric.

I played around with a few ideas and sent the rendering above off to her, for review.

Amber really wanted to incorporate some graphic old grain sacks into the mix. 

 She purchased these from Wendy at Textile Trunk and Wendy shipped them directly to me.

The only fabric Amber actually saw before we finished was the drapery!

 The dark orange graphic mixed with the green corn stalk was perfect with the drapery colors.

I originally thought I would used just solid linen for the rear of the pillows and the trim, but as luck would have it...I found 3 yards of this beautiful Benison stripe at my upholsterer. 

 This fabric normally would retail for around $200 per yard but I got it for $25!!!!!!

 I used the flanged welt on these that I love 

and mixed and matched with extra left over fabric.

So here is what we started with:

2 small linen drapery panels (approx. 2 yds)

2.5 yards of Bennison linen floral

3 grain sacks

And here is what we got:

4  22x22 Vintage floral with the Bennison stripe on the rear and a floral welt

2  22x22 Striped pillows in the Bennison stripe with a vintage floral welt

2  18x24 Grain sack pillows with the orange graphic

1 24x24 Grain sack pillow with the corn stalk

We got 9 pillows total,

 in various sizes, but all very large

We needed large pillows because this sectional is HUGE!

Amber affectionately refers to it as, 

the "Beast"

Now we have some beauty with our beast,

don't ya think!

Thanks so much Amber 

for sharing your wonderful home with us!

If you would like some help with a pillow project similar to this;

Just zip me off an email and I will send you a price list.

And thanks so much for stopping by too!

~kelley~

Guest Room: soft and subtle

Just off the kitchen and nestled in a nice corner of our home near the beach, is this pretty and shaded guest room

My inspiration for this room again came from the fabric choices.  I started with this older pattern from Ralph Lauren that has a coordinating stripe.  The colors are soft yellows, a touch of mint green and orange

I used the stripe on the horizontal for this simple headboard.  The monogrammed sheet is a vintage find from my friend and "textile queen" Wendy Lewis at Textile trunk.  I had my upholsterer drape the sheet over the headboard and secure the sides with ties.  The sheet and ties are actually secured to the back and only look draped.  We used up all different parts of the sheet for this project...no fabric was wasted!

Lots of pillows:  more vintage linen feed sack fabric and sweater weave

On either side of the bed are very small spool tables from Mitchell Gold.  The lamps are a dark brown wicker and I used the Ralph Lauren floral on the lamps shades as well.  An interesting note about fabric lampshades is that they diffuse light differently than traditional lampshade fabric.  Its alot more soft and warm feeling.

The Audrey Pendant is a wonderful ceiling fixture and the shade is a plain white linen.  Lots of vintage baskets and a teal chinoise screen pull the colors together.

The Ralph Lauren stripe was also used in the bedskirt and the corners pleated with left over linen from the vintage sheet used for the headboard

The bed linens are from L'erbe in silk and are really soft and scruptious.

The curtains came from Smith and Noble, which most everyone is familiar with.  I had the pin-tuck stripe sewn on the horizontal for some added interest and the rod is a big 3" inch chunky wood, stained dark to match the lamps.  The curtain rings are bamboo.

Opposite the bed is a really large cabinet.  I should probably put a TV in here but I'm not too crazy about too much technology in the bedroom  The cabinet is full of books and a fun collection of white matte glazed vintage pottery.  Nothing very expensive but when grouped together it makes a nice collection.

The wall covering is from Phillip Jeffries and is a natural grass cloth.  A great idea is to use wall paper on the back of a cabinet so it disappears into the wall.  That is what I have done here and you can always  peel it  off when you move the piece to a new location

Vintage seaside photos over the bed add a nice finish

All of my guests seem to really like this room because it is very calm and the light is really soft and cozy.

Just waiting for my next visitor!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to click on the photos if you want to see them full screen.

Have a great day

kelley