Crafts

String lights illuminate a ceiling, with two sparkling red ornaments hanging below.
1 Jan 2019

Power LED Lights via USB

Description

I was really tired of the rat's nest of extension cord, wall warts and multiple cables feeding the three 30ft LED strings in our living room. Then a couple of weeks before Christmas it hit me: LEDs consume 5V DC, USB supplies 5V DC, newer wall receptacles with USB can supply enough current. Put them all together and this just might work.

Burlap coffee sack cushion with red "ROYAL SELECT" crown logo and "WATER PROCESSED DECAF".
6 Mar 2013

Coffee Bag Seat Cushion

Description

The secret here is how to achieve a snug fit of the coffee bag around the foam without rubbing your knuckles raw as you pull the bag over the foam. We have made mattresses and seat cushions before, and while the results were great, it took a week or longer for our fingers and knuckles to recover from the ordeal. As Pia was discussing our plans for the coffee bags with friends, they sagely nodded and said they'd been do this road before and had to pay with blood. We were not looking forward to that!

Light dress on a hanger over a wooden chair with a metal scrollwork back.
2 Oct 2011

Antique Finds

Description

Casual browsing at Wynola Junction Antiques and Wynola Farms Marketplace turned into a very productive shopping trip. Here's what we found and where it is going in our home:

Breakfast table with two mugs of drinks, cookies, and small bowls of red and orange jam.
20 Mar 2011

Canary Wood Table

Description

Pia and I had spotted canary wood at Cut & Dried Hardwood (now sadly gone) a few years back, fell in love with its crazy colored stripes, and wanted to create a furniture piece with it. However, for lack of time and energy nothing ever happened. Then, two months ago, our need for another small table became urgent, and the plans finally coalesced.

Green bike with black studded seat and purple handlebars on red patio.
24 Jan 2011

Refurbishing a Brooks Leather Saddle

Description

First off I have to say that the only reason one should want to restore a Brooks saddle is if the leather is in usable condition. If the leather is too worn to recondition there is no point in keeping the old rails and mounting new leather, just go buy a new saddle from Brooks (they are not that expensive). The only reason I say this is because in my quest to refurbishing my saddle I did lots of research and found many people were trying to restore old seats with new leather, which makes no sense because the worn in leather is the only part that makes the seat worth restoring.