The new Mario Bros room!

Now for pictures of the new room:-) (Click on any image to see a larger version of it.) This was actually a much bigger project than just painting the murals, I made a quilt (my very first attempt at free motion machine quilting!), two piranha lamps and one bob-omb lamp, two curtains and a topper, pillowcases, a brick block seat for sitting on while playing video games, I painted bricks on the side of the tv stand, and I turned all of the knobs in his room into mushrooms. I started on the quilt right after Christmas, that was certainly the most time consuming. I just finished reloading the room with all of his stuff yesterday!

As soon as you walk in the room, Bullet Bill is coming for you!

A purple pipe, a save point, and a green pipe grace this wall. The cafe curtain covers a circular window, and it made up of fabric left overs;-) The super stars in the bottom border match the super stars in the quilt.

A better shot of the right side of the wall...

I really like the eyes on the smash blocks, I dunno why...

And finally, the goal! His bed was in the middle of the room while I painted (it took two full weeks, averaging 8-10 hours a day. A few days I painted for 12 hours!) It would have gone faster on smooth walls, but our plaster is textured, and I need very clean edges, because I'm too particular in that way.

Here are some shots of his room once I reloaded it with all of his stuff. I rearranged his room, too, so it looks completely different! I also took the opportunity to shampoo his carpet. It needed it;-)

His video game playing nook;-)

His bed:-) I made the eyes on the super star plush too large. Oh well:-P

His drum set, (he likes to make noise, just like his daddy!)

His Lego table and shelves. I actually lowered them so he could reach the stuff on them himself. Because he's a big seven year old, now;-)

One of the piranha plant lamps. I made the other one to be a floor lamp, but it's tucked behind the tv stand.

The cafe curtain with the super stars. (The pic of the other curtain didn't turn out well, I need to reshoot it.)

I made a square brick block cushion for him to sit on when he plays video games. I also bought canvas baskets to stash the games and controllers in;-) Hopefully that means they won't be spilled all over his floor any more!

I painted the sides of the tv stand to look like bricks. This took an awful long time because I really wanted them to be mathematically perfect and symmetrical. I also wanted to color and texture them to look like the fabric I used to make the bricks on the cushion and the quilt. I was happy with the way it turned out:-)

The Bob-omb lamp was a last minute addition. I always wanted to add a second lamp to his room, because it never felt bright enough to me, but after making two Piranha lamps, I found that the red in the lamp shades absorbed a lot of light, and it was still a bit dim. I ran out to Wal*Mart and bought the cheapest lamp they had, and while walking around with it in my cart, in my mind it changed from a royal blue lamp to a Bob-omb, and I knew what he was destined to become;-) This was a really quick project, I wish I had thought of it before I spent hours and hours and hours making piranha plant lamps!!!

This dresser is more than 20 years old! When I was 16, my step dad found it at the dump and brought it home for me to use (I didn't have anything at the time.) I nailed and glued and sanded and stained and sealed, and was so proud of myself;-) Since then, it has been passed down to each of our children in turn, and has been painted, glued, clamped, and nailed a dozen times or so. It really needs to be retired, it's just cheap pine and particle board, but until we can afford to buy him a new dresser, or I can't fix it with paint and glue, it remains in faithful service;-) This time I painted it white and turned the knobs into mushrooms;-)

The mushroom quilt! Two solid months of my life went into this project! Not so much the piecing, but the cutting, assembling, and top stitching, mostly. I made my own stencils for a Bob-omb, Fireflower, Goomba border, and another for a Piranha Plant border (see below.) I then filled the applique mushrooms with a large meandering jigsaw stitch pattern, and the rest of the quilt with a small meandering quilt pattern. I just love the texture it created, and I like to look at the backside, where you can really see the stitching! I made a bunch of mistakes, it was my first free-motion machine stitching project after all, but once I figured out how to clamp and bind the rolled up bulk of the fabric, it was a lot of fun! I can see why a recessed machine, level with table, would be preferable. Maybe someday...

Here you can see the quilt border, which is the same brick pattern in the block cushion I made. You can also see the mushroom knobs on his bed drawers.

Click the image to make it larger, and look carefully. You might be able to see the Bob-omb, Fireflower, and Goomba stitching. I did this on every horizontal border rectangle!

Again, click to enlarge, and you may be able to see the Piranha Plant stitching. I did this on every vertical border rectangle! I went through three water soluble quilting pens!

Anyway, that's the big room project that I have been working on for the past three months;-) I knew it was time to update the nursery to something a little older for our son, and with his birthday coming up, I decided I would do it as his birthday present. It might not be as exciting as a bunch of new toys in the short run, but it's something I think he will enjoy for years to come, long after this year's video games and toys are conquered and forgotten. He will get to see it on Sunday, so I'm hopeful he will be thrilled! I'm also planning a Mario Bros theme cake, and have been making gumpaste decorations for it. I have never used gum paste before, and I'm going to attempt homemade fondant, also something I have never used before. Hopefully it will turn out alright!!