Burlap Bag to Doorstop

Remember when my friend Christina gave me this awesome gift basket full of antiques for my bridal shower?

Well, I have been pondering about what I should do with that snazzy feed sack, and I finally figured it out.  Doorstops!  I have been thinking a lot about how we needed doorstops for our back french doors that lead out to our patio.  And, we needed them A.S.A.P., since the weather is about to get cool enough to turn off the AC and leave the doors open! Woo to the hoo!

So, I grabbed my feed sack and did some more pondering about how I can make this work.  I had previously made a pretty nifty doorstop for our bedroom, so I figured I would do something pretty similar this time around.

First, let me show you this feed sack…One thing that I love about it is that it has something printed on both the front and the back.

The front says Hoffman’s Farm Seeds.  I dig it.And the back….Funk’s Hybrid?  I mean, come on, you had me at Funk’s!

My first step was to cut the bag so that it laid flat.  This way, I had one long piece of fabric.  I did this by cutting across one side and along the bottom. Voila!!!

Then, I gave the whole thing a good ironing.  From there, it was time to do some cutting.  I wanted the doorstops to be a bit taller this time around, because there is actually a step up into the house making the doors a bit higher.  Since they needed to be taller, I cut the fabric longer vertically. This worked out well, since the printing on the bag is more vertical.

I also made sure to cut both pieces the same size.  I did this by cutting one piece to the size I wanted, then laying that piece directly onto the center of the uncut piece.  I cut the uncut fabric directly around the edge of the top pre-cut fabric, basically tracing the exact size.   Hope that makes sense!  Probably not, but that’s as good as it gets for my explanation.

Anywho, those two pieces were to be the front of my new doorstops.  That means I needed two more pieces that are the exact same size.  I just so happened to have some tan fabric that matched pretty well with the fabric from the feed sack.  So, I cut two more pieces of that fabric the same way.I needed two more pieces, because I was making two doorstops.  Which both have a front and a back, just in case you’re not following where I am going with this.  Now, that I had all of the pieces cut to the same size, it was time to get sewing.

I took the tan fabric, “good” side facing up, and laid it down first.  I, then, placed my feed sack piece, “good” side facing down, on top of the tan fabric, making a fabric sandwich. This way both “good” sides are facing inward.  And when I say “good” side, I mean the side that I want to be seen when I am done sewing, so for the feed sack it would be the side with the printing.  Here is a peek at the inside of my fabric sandwich…Get it?

Then, I just sewed up all sides of each, leaving only a small opening on one side. The opening was about 3 inches wide. I left an opening, so I was able to turn the soon-to-be doorstop inside out. Once, I had turned each doorstop inside out I was left with this…I didn’t sew those openings up just yet.  I first used them to fill the doorstops with rice. I just poured the rice right in, totally expecting to make a mess, but it was pretty easy and mess-free.  However, if you have a funnel, you might want to break it out for this step.It took about 7 lbs. of dry rice to fill each doorstop. I didn’t want them to be so stuffed they looked like they were going to burst, but I did wanted them to be heavy enough to prop each door open.  So, 7 lbs. seemed like a happy medium.Once, they were both full, I sewed up the opening and then took them for a test run.        Check out that door propping action! Wanna get closer? Okay!…Closer still? Fine!…I totally dig them, and they serve their purpose!  Just in time for some nice fall weather. And, when they are not keeping those pesky doors open, they hang out here…Right next to the fireplace.I think I did a bang up job.  Don’t you?

Antique Goodies

I thought I would share some great antique I have accumulated lately, I know you all love antiques as much as I do right?  Of course you do!  Remember back when I went to Renninger’s in Mt. Dora?  Forever ago?  Well I got a few things that I never made an appearance here on this blog…

Got these two for $4 a pop.  One is now living with me and one went to live with my sister.

Then I found one more that I had to have, also $4…

They currently live on my sewing table.  Sewing table?  What sewing table you ask?  Well…

I just so happened to pick up this guy while at Renninger’s as well.  Wait, it gets better…

It has a yard stick carved right into the top!  Are you blown away?  I know! I was too.  And it was only $80! Boom!

It also can conveniently collapse and be stored flat.  Why don’t people make stuff like this anymore?

Look how happy my sewing machine is to now have a home.  You’re welcome little sewing machine.  On the right side of my sewing table you might notice these…

Sandy gave me these little antique spools.  I love them!

And see that yard stick right in front of the spools?  That’s also a find from Renninger’s.

This guy caught my eye because it just so happens to be from NY.

Syracuse, NY.  Gotta have upstate NY love!

I also picked up a pretty sweet antique iron.

I have always thought these were really cool.  I love that they are cast iron.

This one even had a little piece of masking tape on the bottom that has a name and a date of 1960.  Pretty interesting.  It is now the doorstop in my laundry room and I have yet to stub my toe on it, which makes me proud.

Lastly, Sandy bought me one of my christmas gifts while we were at Renninger’s…

An English antique bellow.  Do you know why I love it oh so much?  Yup, because it has a girl and a dog on it!

Justin added a hook under our mantel on our fire place and it now hangs there…

That photo was taken when it was still appropriate to have reindeer on your mantel.  Here it is now…

So, there are some goodies I had yet to share with you.  I do have some more Christmas presents that you will hear about real soon.  Promise.

The Antique Market

Sorry for the delay in posting lately!  Our wedding is approaching fast and I have been busy working on getting everything ready!  I wish I could share all of my wedding projects, but it has to stay under wraps until our big day!  But I will be sure to make you sick to your stomach with all of my wedding ventures once we are married.  Ah Married!  That’s crazy!  Now on to the Antique Market…

If you live in Jacksonville and you enjoy antiques you probably already know about The Antique Market, if you don’t you will now and you’re welcome.  I finally made my way out to The Antique Market and fell head over heals in love with this place!  I was basically Ariel seeing the human world for the first time and I think we all now how enthusiastic she was.

And now I am going to show you this whole new world, get it?  Sorry I’m lame.

This place will try to trick you by looking all cute and quaint, but it is ginormous inside.  It goes on and on with booth after booth of antiques of all different kinds.   I love the idea of having many different vendors in one building.  I find that most antique collectors have certain things that catch their eye, and the pieces they sell usually show it.  I love to see the different style of each vendor and also can usually find at least one thing I fancy in each booth.

Here is one of the first booths that caught my eye.  In particular that rolling teal table.

How cute is that? I could see this as a short little coffee table or I would personally use it in my art room, it would be perfect to transport supplies around the room.

These trunks were something that I saw as soon as I walked in.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I can never get enough storage in my house and why not let it be an awesome antique, amiright?  I would throw either of these guys in the corner of a bedroom or even at the foot of the bed and use it to store extra sheets, pillows, you know all that good stuff.

I am really digging little antique medicine bottles at the moment, here are a couple that I spotted on my way in.

How about this cute little guy?  You know I found him right away.  He was was heavy and if he came home with me he would be a doorstop.

They also have some great furniture at some really great prices, loved this one above and the one below… hubba hubba.

This booth you could smell from a mile away, look at all of those homemade candles.  And I’m talking good smells.

Here is a view of the rest of her booth and you now know how long it has taken me to write this post, with all of the halloween decor around.

This bench was almost mine.  I would love to have a bench like this by our front door, gotta have somewhere to put your shoes on.

This booth was amazing, it was sort of music inspired with some other goodies throughout.  My favorites were the mandolins hanging around…

I will learn to play you someday mandolin!

Did I mention I loved the furniture?  This booth was also pretty sweet.  I especially loved this old wheel…

How awesome would that be hung on a wall?

This guy also wanted to come home with me to be another form of storage, probably for magazines exactly as it was being used there.

Are you in the market for a squirrel nut cracker?  Well, theh you’re in luck… because The Antique Market has one!  Oh no?  You need a dog nut cracker? Okay…

Boom! Got that too.

This booth was one of my favorites.  It just had so many unique antique finds.  I love this desk/table on the bottom and also those wooden cube boxes on the very top.

This awesome dough bowl and copper bin were in the same booth.  And one more because this booth was so bad ass…

It had a moose!  Say what?  Yes, a moose.  Love it!

This booth was also pretty killer.  It had some great signs and bottles. Want a closer look?

The booth above had some pretty great chalkboards.

 I love me some crates and they have plenty…

The above booth was full of fishing, outdoor, and men type antiques.  I pretty much wanted to take everything home to give to Justin.

This industrial looking chair was amazing.

If you take a walk outside and around the corner you’ll find chickens!  CHICKENS!  I mean I thought this place couldn’t get cooler, then it had pet chickens!

And after you pass the chicken coop you’ll come across the Consignment Barn which is a little bonus that is right next door.

Here’s what you’ll see there…

But that is a different story for a different day.  For today I’ll let you just bask in the glory of the Antique Market! Oh and PS they have awesome employees/vendors.  They are super helpful fabulous people!  Go see for yourself.