Beautiful Legs

A favorite image revisited from my very first post.  I spent some time revisiting a few projects this week that were left mid project for what ever reason.  I found this butterfly jointed table a few years ago and have always had plans to refinish it once time permitted.  It had a horrible red toned stain on it that would wipe of if you rubbed up against it.

Some of you might remember the before picture.  It acts as our kitchen island.  This small kitchen table has beautiful lines and details on the legs.  Not to mention porcelain wheels.  On the opposite end I attached an old metal towel rod for hand towels. (why didn't I take pictures?)  

Earlier in the summer before the heat I refinished the top with a dark walnut and paste wax.  I was a bit disappointed that the butterfly hinges didn't stand out anymore but lesson learned.  Two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Old White gave it a nice compliment to the dark top.

This a picture to show how the table looks without being distressed.  I fully believe distressing makes the piece shine.  All of the turns and creases will be highlighted.  Just like putting blush on.

Lightly sanded.  This paint is a dream to sand.  Powder puddles filled the floor below.  I ran the sandpaper over the parts that would get the normal wear and tear as well as the ones I want to show off.

It is anchored now instead of flowing into the floor.  It really does have beautiful legs.  Nice to mark another project off the list...that means I have room to add a few more!

This and That

 I knew I had some vintage toys tucked in a bin in the basement.  I had forgotten what I had them labeled under.  That must be a sign of dementia!  Forgetting your OCD labeling system?  Next thing I will be doing is labeling my label system...I digress.  Filed under "Baby Memories"...go figure...I found the lost toy train that my husbands oldest brother played with and the lost vintage apron my daughter played in.  Senile ward here I come.

This tootsie toy train is a dream.  Mother goose leads the way and as she does her goose's neck turns.

Cinderella sits safely in her pumpkin coach.  How on earth did this not get broken?

Pulling up the rear is the old woman and her shoe...tie included and intact.  

I can only imagine how many pretend meals were cooked in this.  Claire loved it.  Who knows how much it was loved before her.  My mother found this years ago and was quick to place it on my daughter as soon as she was big enough. 

This was Claire at 15 months.

What happen to my baby...she's ten now but loves this just the same.

 I did some painting on the sewing cabinet.  Painted in slate blue and highlighted trims in creamy yellow.  Insets are scrapbook paper from October Afternoon.  I couldn't find any wall paper I liked.  

This picture is not true to color but great for detail.  I ended up waxing the piece with dark brown Briwax and distressed it heavily.  I wanted it to look well loved.  More of an artisan piece.  

Looks just perfect in its place. All in all it was a nice twenty dollars spent.  Now if I can just remember where I put my labeler I will be set...

Sewing Station

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments about my chair.  It was a labor of love and a favorite project so far.  Your support and well wishes are very endearing.
We are in the mad dash to end the baseball and softball season over he next two to three weeks with at least one game a night.  My boys are leaving for scout camp on Monday and I am running around collecting their necessities.  You know in all my spare time.  We are supposed to hit 100'F on Friday!  Which coincidentally is the day that we have two baseball tournament games that should take up my day from 9am to 5pm.  Seems some genius man decided it was a fantastic time to have boys play forgetting that it was a work day for the husband/dad.  Please think of me while you are enjoying your air conditioning.  I hope to park it somewhere under a tree and stitch as long as I can.
Enough with the whining...I will be back to my comfortable mending in due time.
Until then I have cleaned up a new sewing station that I found at the thrift store recently.

I have had a sewing table before, but this one has such cute lines.  I hope to paint it a cute cherry red and put some vintage wall paper in the insets on the door.  I am still hunting that down.  

It has this extended leaf top that is amazing for large fabric and pinning but it was a huge expanse.  I quickly fixed that with a linen and lecien fabric top.  I added piping and rick rack, some crochet trim and hand made bias tape.  Some thing similar appeared in Australia Homespun magazine last month.  Theirs went under the machine and had pockets for scissors and such.  I wanted that would slow fabric down from sliding off the surface.   I have it held in place with 2 strips of elastic that I sewed on each end.  It slides over the end like sock.

The patchwork at the end gave me fits.  I worked terrible hard to make all the seams match and in the end I had to just let it go.  This is why I stay away from quilting...

How can you not love Tanya Whelan and her Delilah fabrics?

This cute little box sits on top of the two inside drawers.  I made a rectangular pin cushion that is removable yet fits perfectly inside.  It just makes things so much easier to do when you have a clean and efficient work space.  

I have already been cutting up another tablecloth for another project...this time it is pink and green!

Chair of Roses

Every time I open the doors in my mending studio it is going to be coming up roses.  It has turned out just like I imagined.  Vintage, colorful, curvy and comfortable.  My fingers are numb from ruching and sewing but I am not complaining because I am going to be sitting in a garden whenever I want!  This is my garden of Wilunder roses in the French countryside.

The paint does so much for the lines of the chair. You can see every bend and turn.  It doesn't hurt that there are miles of that red gingham ruching to show them off.  Who knew it would take that much?  

Perfect staple placement and very particular trim glue make this worth every ache and pain.  I have estimated about 21 hours from start to finish.  I would do it again in a minute.  Can you just imagine a table with different chairs around it all covered in tablecloths?

You have to smile when you see this!  

It is just unexpected...

Happily placed under a tray of roses in the mending studio.  I wish you all could see how sweet it turned out.  It is comfortable too.  I had such a tiny pile of scraps left over probably less than a cup full.  Not enough for a pillow. That will have to come from something else.  

What can I get my needle in now?

   Linking up to

     Miss Mustard Seed

     Furniture Friday

         It's a Very Cherry World

get your craft on...

Wilendur Work

Wilendur tablecloths are like the Saks 5th Ave of tablecloths.  Bright with color.  Crisp with detail.  Rarely found at sales and hardly ever in my budget.  Sometimes I cling to them without knowing what to do except store them.  And then...this gorgeous curvy chair came along and I realize I could enjoy the best of both worlds so to speak.   

I have had this stainless beauty for so long I cannot even place it.  The fact that it is so large leads me to believe that it saved for special occasions and large family gatherings.   Gorgeous red roses in full bloom all year round on a french chair...oh I am not done yet!

 Trim!  Savory gingham red and green just enough to make the chair beyond charming...

I would love to tell you that I finished but I didn't...I ran out of staples...right as the hardware stores closed. Gingham piping.  These are few peeks of what is to come.

A view from the back.  I painted the chair in a grey milk paint and followed it with a dark stained briwax.  The shadowed leaves in the tablecloth are grey and I tried to capture that shade.

It is worth every minute of this hand ruched trim.  I will be putting this on everything I am so smitten.

Just a hint of the distressing on the edges of the wood.

I didn't do my sewing alone.  Phog, (our bull mastiff), joined me along with his beloved Pooh bear.  I love how he laid his head on the pillow/bulldog's bed and made sure to keep Pooh close.  That bear goes every where and he waits by the washer until it is clean.

I am headed out in the morning to grab staples.  Finishing touches tomorrow.  I cannot wait to show the whole piece.  

Beautiful Curves...

  My style has evolved over the years.  Sure, there are somethings that have remained the same but as I have aged I have definitely stopped listening to others and started listening more to myself.  

I suppose being able to purchase what I want is part of that.  One thing that has always remained are the graceful lines of french Provencal furniture.  In listening to myself when I saw this lovely chair last week at the market I jumped at the chance to turn an badly aged chair into a vintage beauty.

Legs that curve and swerve into shapely commas.

Arms that dart and turn.  Already worn with age.

Carvings long lost in wood glue...will soon be on parade in milky white paint.

Double welting that follows the curve all the way around the back.

The seat cushion is filled to the brim with goose feathers.  All she needs is reupholstering and a coat of chalk paint.  I think the tablecloths will look divine on her.  She looks like a chair I could stitch in for hours.  It is all about the curves....

Duck Egg Blue

Miss Mustard Seed was one of the first blogs I started reading.  I never grow tired of her fantastic thrifty transformation.  She is incredibly talented behind the brush or the sewing machine.  However, it is her generosity in sharing her wealth of information that is so infectious.  I  have learned so much from her blog posts about photography, blogging, thrifting, painting and so much more.  A few months ago she spotlighted chalk paint by Annie Sloan.  If Marian is so sold on something it must be good.  Having tried chalk paint in the past I was sure of its wonders, but I did not realize you could use it right over a finished piece.  Oh, now this I had to try!

My curio cabinet/secretary was given to me by my dad a few years back.  He won it from an auction and said he thought of me.  Thanks dad!  It has seen better days, but I wasn't ready to tackle the spindly legs and all the swirls.  Chalk paint in duck egg blue and old white were ordered from  Classic Wall Finishes and shipped.

(this is the only pic I have of it before it was painted)

Painted in duck egg blue with 2 coats and trimmed in old white on just a few spindles of the legs, drawer trim, pulls, and around the top it turned out more Swedish looking than french?

I gave it a nice sanding in standard wear and tear places.

Followed it up with my walnut stained Briwax that I painted on and then wiped off.  Let it cure and then steel wooled to a luster.  

The old white looks like it was made for these cut outs.   The inside I left original because it houses old books and seasonal items  it will be easier to maintain.  The door trim was removed to open up the inside and give a much cleaner look.

Always questioning myself when I sand...did I sand too much?  Does it look too intentional?  Too worn?  I had to step away and let it go for a few days.  It is miles better than it was.  

After a few days, I loaded it back with the vintage books and enjoyed my hard work.  Its like having a new piece of furniture.

Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint are just as Marian professes.  Wonderful, bright and easy to work with.  Almost zero drying time and goes over most surfaces without prework (sanding or stripping) with no smell.  It is on the higher end of paint and the shipping is high, but it is heavy and you will use very little.  It will last a long time.  Think of it as an investment and pick a color that you can use over and over.  The colors can be mixed to make new ones too.  Just in case you take the plunge and pick up your paint brush too.