Author Archives: Beth

How to Sew Piping in 6 Easy Steps

If you have a project in mind that involves cushions or reupholstery with piping (aka cording or welting), I’ll finally show you how easy it is to do it yourself.

I have posted in the past about my adventures in recovering cushions and in completely making new box cushions from scratch. I won’t lie, it takes a lot of time to make your own cushions. I think it’s worth trying once, though, just for the satisfaction of accomplishing the project.

1. Find your piping or cord

I realize that this seems obvious but I wanted you to know that this part of your project or cushion can be recycled. I recycled the piping from my friend’s cushions when I redid hers last spring. Not only did it save her money, it was made of a sort of plastic material which was more suitable for outdoors. Also, I didn’t have to measure it. Yay!

remember these? I’m still proud of this project.

If you can’t recycle, you can buy your cord at JoAnn Fabric, Amazon or at other online suppliers. It’s not too expensive but if you plan, you can use a 40% or 50% off coupon. (Keep in mind that a coupon at JoAnn is only good toward one package, but they also sell it by the yard). I ordered some in bulk from fabric.com for my box cushion project in the mountains. If you’re doing this, make sure you know which thickness you want.

You can see 2 different thicknesses here.

2. Measure your piping

If you’re not recycling, roughly measure how much cording you’ll need. Just take your cording and run it along your cushions and/or the outline of your upholstery project. You don’t really need to be exact in most cases. Longer is better than too short but there’s an easy fix for that.

3. Cut fabric strips for casing

Cut your fabric into strips between 2″ and 2 1/2″ wide. Again, you don’t really need to be exact. If you’re going to be sewing the piping into box cushions or pillows, just make sure you have enough of a flange or fabric overhanging away from your piping for the machine to hold onto.

If you’ll be using your piping on an upholstered chair, one option is to cut this as close to the sewn edge (next to piping) as possible because you’ll be gluing it to cover your staples.

Otherwise, you’ll need the flange to staple the piping to your edge or piece of furniture (or sew into your cushion covers. The piping sticks out along the edge and the flange is covered by a finished fabric edge…but that’s another post.

4. Sewing strips together

Almost any amount of piping you’ll need will require very long strips of fabric. You can make the casing as long as you need it by sewing them together using this method:

a. Place strips right sides together at a 90 degree angle, pin and sew a line to form a triangle. See below.

See how this forms a triangle? Next, you’ll cut this triangle off.

Open up your strip…

then press the seam open.

5. Encase your piping in the fabric strip and pin

Be sure to leave some room on either end of the cording.

6. Sew

OK, so I used a photo twice….not like you’re paying by the photo!

The most important thing here is to use your machine’s zipper foot. It allows you to tuck the stitch right up against that cording. (I had no idea mine up there was so rusty. I don’t think it looks that gross in real life).

Just sew a straight stitch right along the cording, backstitch at the beginning and end if you want but since the piping will likely be sewn or glued to the final product, it’s no big deal if you forget to do this.

You are finished!

There are other great tutorials out there which is how I was inspired and learned to tackle this easy but initially intimidating task. It does add an element of tediousness to your project…..you have to take the time to make it, then you have the added pain of including it in your cushions or upholstery project. I think it’s worth it, though. It gives any project that tailored look.

If you’re like me and need to see a few examples before diving in….these other tutorials might help…

1. Ashley’s post at “make it and love it”. I agree. Though my blog would be called “make it and be totally ok with the result”

2. Sarai’s

3. Design Sponge (what a hot looking blog, makes you want to make something!)

Editing to add this post to Elizabeth Foss’ weekly sewing/reading wrap-up: Go get inspired!

In keeping with the theme of Needle and Thread, I’ll share that I’ve just finished 2 books that are completely different but equally enjoyable to me.

The first was “First Service” by Andrea Jaeger:

At 14 years old, Jaeger was ranked #2 in the world on the women’s tennis tour behind Chrissy Evert. In spite of a non-religious upbringing, she clearly heard God’s voice and direction in her life from a very early age and followed that to fulfill God’s will for her. When her shoulder was injured early in her career, she took that as a clear sign that her life was supposed to take another direction. She chronicles her efforts to build a ranch in Colorado for children battling cancer. It’s an inspiring and easy read. I always enjoy stories about people who are confident and unapologetic about their faith. I believe she recently joined an order of nuns and is still involved in the foundation which runs the ranch and other programs to help suffering children around the world.

The second book I’m currently reading is one I mentioned in this post. It’s “Start” by Jon Acuff.

Acuff is a clear thinker and effective communicator. Start is inspiring, entertaining and full of motivating examples to help a person discern the inner voices and other obstacles that keep them from pursuing their dreams and fulfilling their life’s purpose. The book also has practical exercises to help you Start working on your dream. I’m not reading this as much for myself (though I do have some projects and ideas on the back-burner but my vocation for the moment is pretty clear) as for Mark and the kids. While Mark is working in a career in which he’s passionate, as he gets older, his chosen profession is beating him up. Now is a perfect time to begin to explore how else he might use his expertise in the event that he isn’t able to teach in the future.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Revisiting a Quick Outdoor Project

Leave a reply

“Quick” is relative. In terms of hours, this project didn’t take long but let me confess, it actually took about 15 years to complete. Let me ‘splain. This homemade (not by me) workbench sat in our garage for about 5 years after we moved in. We did not use it as a workbench, rather, it was a catch-all for junk. The first time I ever cleaned out the garage, I decided to take it out to free up some space. I sort of crab walked this table one end at a time, by myself, to the side of my house, thinking I’d use it for a potting bench. The sucker is HEAVY and it was UGLY!. Picture legs made out of pressure treated posts, scrap wood made up the apron and lower shelf. Finally, the top is a piece of sheet metal that had splotches of paint on it. I seriously think the inept contractor who owned the house before us found the sheet metal first and decided to build a table around and under it. Here she is before…..without the sheet metal top.

Folks, this was not rocket science. It definitely was put together with scraps. This view shows the basic design. I think the end piece on the top at the far end of the photo was a scrap of tongue and groove flooring. Goes to show you, you can make useful furniture out of any wood.

So, it’s been a useful potting bench and beverage and serving table in our yard for about 6 or 7 years. Ugly, though. I always covered it with a tablecloth but the bottom still showed. Let’s just say, it was completely utilitarian. I have admitted before that I have NO imagination or vision. But the creative, DIY blogs have made me look at everything with different-colored glasses. So, last fall, I decided I should paint the darn thing. But I only got around to primering it. This spring, the the girls had a neighbor friend over and were bored and I had some leftover light green sample paint, so I let them have at it.

The bottom was painted and has been sitting for a month. What to do about the metal top? The girls wanted to do a mural. Good idea considering they and the neighbor girl are extremely artistic. Then I decided to paint the top black and decide later what kind of design on top-even if they designed it. Then I discovered some left over chalkboard paint in the basement-SHAZAM! It’s perfect. The kids have been having a field day with the sidewalk chalk on it but when I have a party, I can label what I’m putting on it or just write a message. I like it so much better. What I love about this DIY stuff is that even a small change to something makes a big difference in how I feel about any space.

One person who came across this post commented that she wanted to make her own. It looks very simple, doesn’t it? I would not recommend the steel top as it makes it even heavier than it already is. By now, this table needs freshened up a bit. I’ll get to that.

Here’s the “after” picture of the table.

Last spring, we had a new stone patio put in….I have before and after photos of that (I think). Promise, I’ll post about that project, soon.Linking to these parties:

Don’t miss Gina’s giveaway!

Downton Abbey……

Leave a reply

OK, so I’m late to the party. I binge-watched this show. First on Netflix streaming, (I swear Season 1 and 2 were available, then all of a sudden, season 2 disappeared). My neighbor had Season 2. Finally, I ordered season 3 disc by disc and had a marathon. I loved the show so much after season 1 that when my friends in the know mumbled under their breath about the happenings in season 3, I truly thought it wouldn’t have affected my enjoyment of it one bit. I was wrong.

I am staying away from all chit-chat, preview speculation and teasers for season 4.

Let me just say………..

Source: PBS.org

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!

If you have an opportunity to watch this show…it is excellent. It lives up to every bit of hype. It will not disappoint.

Our Adventures in Real Estate!

Leave a reply

I have alluded to a big investment that Mark and I made in October. We purchased a duplex in our neighborhood and my mom and her roommate are our first tenants!

My mom finally decided last spring to begin the process of downsizing, simplifying and unloading the house where she had lived for the past 30+ years. There are so many elements to this major move that I literally could do a series (“How to Help a Parent Simplify and Move”, “How To Purge 35 Years of Stuff “, “How to Gently Encourage Your Parents That If They Don’t Decide Now Where It’s Going, It’ll Likely End Up in a Dumpster”, “Over My Dead Body, Literally”….and so on) and I may eventually get to that because I think those topics would be useful. For now, though, I’ll just tell you about how things fell into place to purchase a duplex with a first floor apartment for my mom that turns out to be perfect in so many ways.

Her old house is about 3 blocks away and it’s been great having her so close. When she and her roommate committed to leaving it, they looked in our town for something suitable to rent or something low maintenance to buy. The problem with renting is the risk of being booted for a landlord’s cousin or friend and unpredictable rent increases. Single level made sense but there aren’t a lot of them for sale here and they go quickly. They also weren’t enthusiastic about maintaining another house. They both really loved a “house” in a retirement community about 15 minutes away. “House” is in quotes because it’s an upscale trailer park community. Fifteen minutes away doesn’t sound far but when your spoiled by being a few blocks away, it’s huge.

I admit, I was slightly panicked at the thought of her being so far away but it was outweighed considerably by my relief of her finally getting out from under her huge house. It needed a lot of work, it was filled with stuff and frankly, as the only girl in a family of 5 children, I feared having to deal with it after they died. I’m not a worrier by nature but I lost sleep some nights worrying about one of them falling down the steps. That old house had lots of them, inside and out.

In March 2012, they put a deposit down on a pretty nice trailer up in the senior community. It was big, clean and had a beautiful view. It felt like a vacation home but the community seemed lifeless to me. Also, I thought the price was way too high. I just couldn’t picture them there. Another huge factor was a high lease fee for the land which did not include basic maintenance (yard, snow-removal) and this option still left them maintaining the “house”. But again, I was resigned to it. Luckily, they signed a contingent that they would get their deposit back if the house didn’t sell within 3 months. They began the process of decluttering in order to list it. The agent refused to put photos on the internet before a big purge. We got to that and they were able to list it before the 3 month contingent ran out. I think if they would have failed to make a good faith effort to list the house, they would have lost the deposit.

Then, one Saturday in May, I noticed my neighbor who owned and lived in the duplex, was having a yard sale. I walked over and asked why. He’s in the military and was transferred to Georgia and was selling. The building was built in the 40s by the mother of a couple who also lives in the neighborhood who are now in their 90s. The building has a history of conscientious-even OCD-owners and responsible tenants. Mark and I had been interested in buying it when it went on the market in 2001 if his parents would have considered living there. They weren’t so we didn’t look into it further. At the time we were in no position to invest in real estate, with 3 small kids and still in debt with student loans and not much savings but I always regretted not owning the building.

When I found out it was going on the market again I called my mom and asked whether it might appeal to her. I wasn’t sure what Mark would say but I told her I’d love to invest in it. She and her roommate came right over and we asked the owner if we could see it some time. Understandably, he didn’t want us to see it until things were more organized and cleared out. That day, I really felt that if it was meant to be, it would. From that point on, I resisted my urge to pray for what I wanted and instead totally trusted God and the intercession of a few other saints.

Very long story short, my mom’s house sold within 3 weeks of being on the market by a couple who didn’t want to close until September. On our end, the seller accepted our offer in the beginning of September and we were scheduled to close October 11. In spite of every big bank claiming closing within 30 days was impossible, it happened with the expertise of a friend who handles mortgages at a small local bank. My mom arranged to rent her house for a month until we closed (avoiding 2 moves) and we were able to finish painting her apartment the week she moved in at the end of October.

While I fully anticipated loving having my mom close, I didn’t anticipate how utterly convenient it has been owning rental property in my own neighborhood. It’s naive but I just never thought of it. One factor is just learning about the history of the building. My own plumber who also lives in the neighborhood, has been taking care of the building for 40 years. Meeting contractors, getting bids, meeting painters, storing things, cleaning, painting, everything was made easier by the building being a few houses down. If you’re considering investing, I highly recommend buying something close. It makes jumping into the landlord business so much easier. On top of all that it is so great that we can all walk over and pop in. My brothers also visit more because it’s now on the way to my house instead of a turn in the other direction.

A view from the 2nd floor balcony

The place truly is perfect for my mom. It’s all one level since we were able to squeeze a stackable apartment sized laundry unit in the first floor. The rooms are big which allowed her to bring a lot of her furniture. She hosted dessert for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I really think the size of the rooms and the layout accommodates our whole family better than my house. Also, she loves not having the maintenance worry and I actually don’t mind. The best part of all, the 2nd floor tenant is a relative who was also downsizing! I can’t tell you how stressful it was fielding calls from potential tenants. If Joe Schmo lived in the first floor (I loved the original show on Spike), I wouldn’t have cared as much who lived upstairs. But this worked out perfectly for everyone involved.

I’ll save the more fun parts of this story for later….(before and after painting and a new IKEA kitchen!)

So, anyone out there have rental properties? Any nightmares? Anyone else invest in property to accommodate a parent or other relative? Let’s hear it!

Selling Used Homeschool Books-(Another Update to encourage you)

Leave a reply

I did not sell these….they were donated to the library years ago

I thought I’d give you another update on my efforts to unload homeschool books that we no longer need. If you’re like me, you want to know what your efforts might be worth. If you’ll remember, the last 2 weeks in March, I earned about $80.00. Last week, I sold a couple of books on Amazon and earned about $38.00 after postage. I also sold a few things on Cathswap for a total of about $90 after postage. Not too bad. The one item I sold on Cathswap was brand new, still in the shrinkwrap and I actually took about a $20 loss on it. But I purchased it 2 years ago at a conference and was having no luck selling it locally or for more, so I’m fine with it.

The other sale was a bundle of books that I didn’t think would be very valuable individually and would have been a pain to mail separately, so that worked out. They’re all good resources but I doubted I’d be reading them again.

By the way, I am keeping good records of everything I sell. I don’t expect to earn enough to owe taxes but just in case, I don’t want to be scrambling to recreate the information. If you’ll be selling lots of books, you might consider doing the same and keeping the receipts from the books you purchase. I did that for a long time then quit but I’ve purchased a lot of books on Amazon and it has a record.

So, have you tried it yet? I’d love to hear your best tips for selling used homeschool books (or anything).

*DISCLOSURE: The Amazon link in the post takes you to my Amazon store. If you purchase any of the books in my store, I receive the proceeds of the sale less any commissions collected by Amazon. If you click the sidebar and purchase any of the books through those links, you will not pay extra and I’ll receive a small commission from Amazon. No worries, I’m not expecting to get rich this way. I just love books and love to share my favorites.

Junior Tennis

Leave a reply

Frick Park Tournament

I haven’t written about our family’s experience (or lack thereof) with organized sports. As a former athlete who’s married to a former athlete (and Hall of Famer at his alma mater), expectations are high that our children will play SOMETHING, right?

Since Mark teaches tennis for a living, all of the kids had a racket in their hand at a very early age.

Luke and Hannah began playing on a more regular, predictable, scheduled basis at the respective ages of 4 and 5. I thought it was too early then and I still think it’s too early for any organized activity.

To be fair, Mark organized a clinic once a week with their cousins. That was fun and they did that for about a year, then started playing with other kids at the club.

They both played tournaments when they were 8 and 9 for a few years. They also played baseball and basketball (Luke played basketball for 2 years, Hannah just tried a summer league once). Hannah played tennis competitively until she was about 13 then lost interest for a while but since she played #1 for our local high school team, she has taken it up again. Kate and Mark have always enjoyed hitting with Mark but have not played competitively.

Luke plays at a fairly high level of tennis. He’s enjoying it and has a great temperament for it right now. (He put a little too much pressure on himself when he was younger and had to take a break). Hannah has ALWAYS had a perfect temperament for tennis. Once after a match where she was playing off for 3rd and 4th, she came home and I asked how she did. With a spring in her step and a huge smile on her face she said, “I came in 4th!” and she was truly happy about it. Yay her!

I’ve noticed some things about tennis that don’t happen in my experience with other sports.

1. Since kids tend to play the same tournaments, all the kids get to know each other, as well as the parents. This is more of a positive thing than a negative. Luke’s playing more regional tournaments now so he usually plays different kids. When they were younger, they tended to play the same kids over and over. Imagine a baseball or basketball team playing the same 2 teams week after week. All of the kids they’ve met have been really great, for the most part.

2. Tennis can be superficially polite and proper. Spectators rarely cheer for one side or another and in most settings, excessive cheering is prohibited. This is fine by me as I usually like to watch most sports without cheering. I’ll say something occasionally, but you won’t hear a play-by-play from me. So, generally, I like this rule. Sometimes, though, people feel compelled-especially when their kid is beating the tar out of your kid to over-do the compliments. Sometimes this happens throughout the match and I think it’s a little fake. It’s like people want to be known as exceptionally gracious when it’s not necessary. It’s a game, people.

3. There is a BIZARRE ritual unique to tennis in which I refuse to participate. After the match, the entourage of both kids hovers around the exit point from the courts and barrages both players with compliments. For a long time, I just did it because everyone else did it. I realized right away how awkward it is for the LOSER and finally decided to opt out. I know when Luke loses a close match or a total blowout, the last thing he wants to do is look his opponent’s parent in the face and hear what a nice match it was….(yeah, nice for you). Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone means well. I never get nervous or anxious or even really care who wins or loses. I do try to congratulate the winner-even if he did beat the tar out of my kid but when someone else’s kid lost a painfully close or not close match, I say something nice to the parents and give the kid some space. Trust me, that boy (or girl) is not going to lose any sleep because I didn’t rush over and pat him on the back.

4. In case you don’t already know this, tennis is EXPENSIVE and we don’t even pay for equipment, lessons, clinics or most court time. I know other sports at high levels are expensive and honestly, I don’t know how most people do it. Even for families in which money is not an issue, I don’t know how they make it work logistically. I am constantly trying to balance privilege with responsibility but this is hard to do even in our family where resources are limited. Just sayin’.

5. Tennis is such a fun sport to watch and play. It’s amazing how good really young kids can be even if they aren’t headed for the pro tour. It takes so much more skill than people realize and it’s so impressive to watch the better players. It is athleticism in its most challenging form. Tennis takes skill, precision, endurance, strategy, more mental and emotional toughness than any sport I’ve played and excellent sportsmanship at its best. As Mark always says, there are no clocks, scorekeepers, coaches or referees at the lower level.

What are your experiences with competitive sports. Anyone involved in junior tennis?

Selling Used Homeschool Books…An Update

Leave a reply

Just to give you a little encouragement, I decided to report my earnings from selling used homeschool books. In the last 2 weeks of March, I earned almost $80.00. That’s after shipping and paypal fees. Not too bad, right?

If you are going to list on Cathswap (yahoo group), I have since realized there are a few guidelines including a list of publishers and titles which are prohibited because they are notoriously anti-Catholic. Also, there is a limit of 3 posts per day. I didn’t realize this and probably violated that rule but I’ll respect it next time I post.

People also post “Wanted to Buy” messages. This can be a good way to unload materials if you don’t feel like posting or just want to get your feet wet.

If you’re determined to sell anything in particular, I think it makes sense to post on Thursday or Friday. Also, you might want to repost to keep it high on the list. Posts get buried quickly.

A friend once gave me a good tip: books can be packaged in used paper grocery bags. It’s a good way to save on shipping cost and recycle. Unless the cost of standard shipping is within a few cents, I almost always ship items (permanently bound books, CDs and DVDs)”media mail”.

Hackschooling with Logan LaPlante: Another Inspiring TED Talk

Leave a reply

I could click around TED all day. Watch this Tedx University of Nevada talk given by 13 yo Logan LaPlante about his unique and innovative version of education with one simple goal in mind: happiness.I will definitely be showing the kids this video. Just when I thought our homeschooling was phasing out….this boy makes me want to reevaluate, bring them all home and continue learning together.

He even gives a s/o to my favorite talk of all time by Sir Ken Robinson.

Do you agree with this notion of education? Do you agree that happiness is a legitimate goal? Do you think traditional schools should or could spend more time focusing on these “TLCs” that Logan mentions? Leave a comment.

"Semi-Homeschooling"

Leave a reply

I thought I’d explain my characterization over there on my side bar about “semi-homeschooling”.

I have been homeschooling my 4 children for more than 10 years. I consider myself a “semi-homeschooling mom” now since 3 of the children are enrolled in charter schools. My 15 year-old daughter has been attending a performing arts charter school since 8th grade. My middle children wanted to try cyberschool for different reasons. That leaves me “driving the bus” for my youngest, who is 10 and considered in the 5th grade.

A lot of people are curious about our experience with public school and cyber school. Overall, it has been positive. Hannah loves her high school. I wouldn’t say it is academically challenging. She’s smart and I know she could be challenged more. But she went there to pursue art and she’s getting that. To a certain extent, her art classes aren’t challenging her but she’s had to suffer through some intro classes. I’m hoping that next year the art will be more challenging, otherwise, her investment in time just isn’t worth it. True that there are influences there that aren’t the greatest but Hannah has a pretty mature perspective. Being home for so many years has contributed to that.

I enrolled Luke and Kate in 2 different cyber schools. Kate would like to go to Hannah’s school eventually which is a satellite of her cyber school. Kate’s school offeres virtual classes, self-paced classes and a mix. She has science and math virtual classes and English, Social Studies and Art self-paced. The biggest challenge has been organizing her time. The school is flexible so I could switch her to all virtual at any time or all self-paced, but I’m not sure that would be advisable.

I chose Luke’s based on the description of various levels within each subject area to accommodate different strengths and weaknesses. I’m not sure the content is different but the level of support is. He can work ahead in his classes and is not required to attend chats (think facetime or skype where the teacher, a board or slide and a list of students and their comments are all visible on the screen) but they are available if he has specific questions about the lesson or assignments.

Overall, both cyber schools have a lot of support, both virtual (videos, websites, slides) and in person (phone, email or chat). In my opinion, both present a lot of busywork and don’t foster innovation and creativity but I think this is true of any conventional school. Luke appreciates the accountability more than Kate. She would rather not be bothered with work that she doesn’t think is interesting or relevant.

Being an artist, I thought Kate would struggle a little in math and science but she has really responded to the challenge that the virtual classes present.

For the most part, I have been able to help them when needed with math but they are quickly approaching topics that I either don’t remember or never had. Sometimes I’m willing to refresh my memory but if I have to learn a thing from scratch, I generally tell them to work harder or watch the lesson again. Both have access to recorded chats and classes.

What about Mark? Since he’s the only one who really needs my attention, he completes his work fairly quickly. Luke’s not readily available to play with him. He’s considering attending the local elementary school or trying one of the cyber schools next year. I think he’s adjust fine to either but I’m here if he wants to stay home, too.

Triduum

1 Reply

The Last Supper by Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli

I’ve been quiet here during Holy Week. I’ve been trying to post more regularly just to get myself to write, not this week, though.

Holy Thursday will always be different than it used to be. Last year, my dad had a stroke on the Saturday before Holy Week and passed away on Thursday. I was so comforted that he died during the holiest of times. We were grateful for the break before the funeral busyness. So today I’ll be thinking about him more than usual I guess. I miss him.