Capuchio Designs

About ten years ago (give or take a few years), I purchased a vintage wing chair from a local estate sale. I bought the chair because it had nice lines and was built just right for a person of my exquisite stature of 5’2″.
She’s lived in the unfinished basement and garage the past ten years, so she was quite dusty, and needed another good cleaning.

Next, I placed pieces of muslin over each and every area of the chair so that I could trace, and make pattern pieces. The photo above shows how imprecise the fabric is at this time, before sewing them all together and checking for a tight and perfect fit (see photo below).

I just couldn’t get a good fit in the “crotch” (keep it clean folks), area of the chair. This is the place where three different planes of fabric meet, which creates a “bunch in her panties” so to speak. I proceeded with cutting out the decorator fabric using the muslin pattern pieces, which of course is a painter’s drop cloth. This fabric is CHEAP and comes in huge sections, just perfect for slipcovers and curtains. It also looks a lot like expensive linen. Win-win!

I sewed together all the pieces, adding a ton of welting on all of her curves. This added a new level of frustration, but anyone who knows me can understand my fierceness when taking on challenges. The tuck in fabric was WAY to bunchy and I stewed over this for at least a month.

Finally, I bit the bullet and spent the entire day resewing the tuck in areas to reduce the bulk. I’m sure I did this process at least 4-5 times, trimming and replacing the slipcover on Marilyn each time, until the fit was nice and tight and sleek.

Now Marilyn (Monroe), who got her name because of her curvy silhouette, is in the house … the office. She’s updated and marvelous, and displays all her curves with a fit-like-a-glove slipcover. No sloppy, loose, tent dress for her! All I have to do now is add a little bling by way of pillows in dreamy blue/green/gray fabrics.

I guess that diamonds (in the rough) are really a girl’s best friend after all! I love my shapey wing chair!

Yesterday we had a picnic and spent the day in Rocky Mountain National Park.  The weather was cool and crisp … just perfect for enjoying a waterfall at Alluvial Fan, and hiking around four different lakes.

Our first lake was Bear Lake which included an easy 3/4 mile walk around the entire lake. The photo on the right was taken at Dream Lake, which was one of the most gorgeous settings I’ve ever seen. It was a mile or so beyond Bear Lake and we were able to enjoy the lily padded Nymph Lake along the way. The hike to Dream Lake was moderately challenging, but very much worth the effort. There is another lake 3/4 of a mile beyond Dream which we hope to hike to in the next few weeks.

foot bridge close to Dream Lake

Unfortunately there were hundreds and hundreds of other people who were up in the Park enjoying the last part of summer too. Our final stop of the day was at Sprague Lake, where it was a leisurely walk around a crystal clear lake. There was a wedding taking place on the the dock, and of course I just had to take a photo of the ceremony. I just love candid photos of weddings, as evidenced by all my Italian wedding photos last year.

As you can see, some of the aspen trees are starting to change color, as evidenced in the warm, yellow glow, as the sun started to go down.

Nymph Lake ~ Rocky Mountain National Park

My favorite season is almost upon us. Until then, happy dreamin’!

I woke up on my birthday morning thinking that I’d spoil myself with a gift of a mani-pedi.  I picked this cheerful, pretty, pink polish, that had little iridescent flecks in it.

pretty in pink

Mani-Pedi … priceless

Having to do it myself … also priceless!

My first birthday celebration was glorious, and was spent with my wonderful family.  We spent part of the day in the mountains on a picnic and a four mile hike.  We then had a delicious lasagna dinner that my husband made.

Now, I’m so happy that I get to celebrate my birthday again with some amazing women tomorrow.  My long time friend, my aunt and my future daughter-in-law are all coming over for a pot-luck dinner and then…

Thanks to my son, who always seems to come through with great ideas, we all get to go to the Indigo Girls concert!

I couldn’t think of a better way of celebrating my birthday again, than with people who are so special to me.

I’ll miss having my daughter with us for this night of fun!

use your imagination here

For Mother’s Day, my lovely daughter gave me a wonderful gift.  We spent an  evening  together at a studio painting  a picture of the flatirons.  Now, I’ve never painted anything on canvas before, so this was a brand new experience for me.

As a child, I loved those paint-by-number paint sets I seemed to get at Christmas time.  I painted plenty of horses in a meadow and other things I can’t remember,  on velvet … but never on canvas.

The owner of the studio’s daughter, was a girl I recognized as one of my kindergarten students more than twenty years ago.  She immediately recognized me as her kindergarten teacher and was amazed that I remembered her and her name.  It would of been fun if she was the instructor for the evening, but she wasn’t.

I consider myself to be a very creative person … you know, the artsy/craftsy kind.  The other thing about me is that I’m a perfectionist, so I knew this may pose a bit of a challenge in the two hour period.

Everything was going smoothly until the teacher shouted out that it was time for us to finish up and go, since he was closing.  I still had to finish my path, more green shrubs, and all of the flowers!  This is when I went from “Oh, this is so cool, working at my turtle pace,” to …  “Oh my god!  I need to rush and splat down the paint so I can walk out with a finished product!”

My daughter’s painting was gorgeous!  It showed the carved edge of the flatiron mountains, and the delicate petals of all her dainty meadow flowers.   None of which I was able to achieve.  As a matter of fact, I admire these very mountains right outside my window every day, and yet I completely froze and forgot what they actually looked like!

My painting is more like a Monet, meant to be admired from afar.  It’s grown on me, and I actually love it!

All in all, it was a very good experience for me since it took me out of my comfort zone.  Best of all, was the time I was able to spend with my amazing daughter.

My painting will be proudly hung in my sewing/craft studio at home.  A reminder that everything doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be enjoyed.

Thanks, and I love you Diane!

Yup … this is just one example of the crafts I indulge in when I should be finishing the million other, half-started projects I have going.

I absolutely love this scrappy USA map! I’ve been wanting to do something with a map of America that shows all the states we have traveled. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to make my very own version for my office that has way more character than a plain old printed map.  The process was tedious, but it was a blast finding just the right fabric for each state.  Of course, I love the CU buffalo.

I’m so scrappy-happy with the fantastic result!

Now it’s back to the challenging slip cover I’m working on for a wing chair that is going into the office as well. Aaarggh! I’m so close to having the perfect pattern made, but I’m sure I’ll distract myself with yet another “quick” project instead. The unfinished wing chair has been sitting smack dab in the middle of my sewing room since February … yes, I said February!

happy crafting everyone