Saturday, April 10, 2010

Old Sheets

Today, we were up visiting my Mom [still a bit blog shy] and she said it would be fine to show you what I made up for her bedroom a few years ago.

She had told me she was going to shop around for a new bed ensemble for her room and asked if I wanted to go with her. That's about the time I spotted a couple sheet sets in her linen closet and asked her if she wanted me to sew up a duvet cover and some accessories with them. She kind of looked at me funny and said "You mean with those old sheets?" "Yes, Mom. They're beautiful. Don't you like them?" Long story short, she had no problem with me ripping them apart and so I did and she still is using them in her bedroom during the spring/summer season.

So here goes. I didn't have to do anything with the pillow cases, but I took two of the flat sheets and sewed up a duvet cover for her down comforter. I used ribbon in a matching shade of blue to tie the top together. I also made a pillow and monogrammed it with her first initial (same as mine).



I just free formed the "L" on a block of white fabric I made and hand stitched it with embroidery floss. Then I hand sewed the white block onto the sheet fabric. {This is the part I will ask you to pretend to not see the black ink peeking out from under the embroidery floss.}


I had found some pretty sheer white ribbon that had a strand of faux pearls running down the center and criss crossed it with some ribbon I found with a special message written in gold.


Here you can see a closeup of the "old sheeets" which have a linen-like print, as a background to the flowers.



I even had enough fabric to make up a French message board. It looks great with some of our old sepia family photos tucked into the ribbon. (She had just changed back to this set today and had not yet put the photos back up though).



I found some very inexpensive flowers and made up this arrangement to go with her new "old" set. {Yes, I know there's no such thing as blue roses, so don't look too close at that either.} The wicker vase is one that I had from back in the 80s that I was happy to find a good use for.





And I had just enough fabric to make a quick set of toppers for both of her plain white curtained windows. I lined the toppers with the white fabric I already had.





And then today, she reminded me that I had also made her a button box back then too.







It was just a little round cardboard covered box that I painted in a Tiffany blue shade, and then had glued overlapping white buttons all over the lid.






But this is the part I had all but forgotten. She told me to look inside at what I had put into the box for her. There were a couple pieces of heart shaped sea glass in there.







I had added a heart shaped rock in there too.




So there you have it, pictures of my Mom's room done up with a few old sheets.

8 comments:

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

What a lucky mom - what a delightful daughter.

Sandy, Sisters of Season said...

Nothing but love for your Mom . . truly a labor of love. That's a good daughter. Your work is beautiful. I like the pattern on the sheets. My Mom and I hit some garage sales this morning, she found alot of pretty glass pieces and I found a few clothing items, we had lots of fun. Mom's are special, aren't they? Have a beautiful Sunday Lili!

jennyfreckles said...

Your mom obviously didn't appreciate the old sheets but she must treasure them now. You did a beautiful make-over - love in every stitch.

seanymph said...

I love this and if I had those sheets I would have done it too. I have a cal. king size bed so pretty sheets are so hard to find. Those are gorgeous! How sweet that you did all that for mom, I hope she loves it.

Privet and Holly said...

Lili ~ You are my artistic heroine! I love what you did for your mom. There is love in every stitch, too. I bought a new sewing machine last year (a gift from my mom) and it has a lot of pretty quilting stitches. I think I have a hankering to pull it out and create something, after seeing what you've done here. Some of the machines that I looked at could do monogramming, but they were over my budget. Imagine how much fun that would be, though? The little pearl box with the hearts was just precious. Happy Sunday! xx P&H

Low Tide High Style said...

Oh Lili the bedding you made is lovely! And of course you know I love the heart shaped stone and sea glass! It's clear that you love your mother very much!

Kat :)

Barry said...

Lili, you beautify the world!

Ange said...

Where do I start? I've been away for too long. Your duvet set it TOOOOOOO wonderful. I wish I could sew! I wish you were here, lobster pots, paint, sewing machine and all. Mind you ....Not to much lobster fishing in Toulouse these days ;-) Lili, your work is just lovely and your Mum must be soooo proud.

Have a great trip with Henri and birdie! That too is just too cool! Will be back next week to check in on you and make sure you haven't lost your night owl skills ;-)