"Binding" Day

Slow but Steady

I'm Doing It....But I Don't Like It

Those of you who follow my blog may remember I'm not much for/sold on Machine quilting.  I like all the ones I see in blogland.  Most I see turn out just beautiful.

I'm just a Hand Quilting type of gal. But as Mr. Browndirt reminds me quite often, "there comes a time when you are going to have to get some of them quilted."  He also insists I take some

out to a longarmer to get them done, but I want to do them all myself.

I guess that's why I have 18 quilt tops lounging upstairs across a bed.  Some have been sandwiched and basted for a while now, patiently waiting.....for me......to make a decision.

I'm going to get this one finished and I must say,  Mr. Browndirt is most excited!!!  He offered to fix me a sandwich.....to keep up my strength. Ha!

So........here goes!!!!

This is the quilt from my previous post.

Light White Fun In The Summertime Quilt

Bright sun...Warm breezes...Fragrant flowers...Blue skies...Sips of cool lemonade

Fire Flies at night...Marshmallows...Giggles...Rainy afternoons...Picnics on the 4th of July...Walks in the meadow......with Goober the dog! 

WHAT?  It all sounded so soft and dreamy until Goober the dog came into the picture!  HA!

This quilt was extremely hard to photograph.  It's very light/whitish in color and the details are hard to get focused, but maybe you can get the jest of it here. I have found if you CLICK on the photos to enlarge they look better!

I came across these blocks about a month or so ago, about 9 of them I had left over from this quilt here.   They are 11" in size and the 9 of them together would be the start of something good.  I got busy pulling out more white and light strips and strings and paper pieced and paper pieced until I just couldn't stand it anymore!!!  After all, I had just finished another strippy string paper pieced Victorian Spider Web here.

The 9 blocks I started with from the other quilt project had more dark creams and tans mixed in, but I wanted this Summertime quilt to be on the lighter whiter side.  I scattered the darker blocks in among my newer light blocks and I think the mixture turned out ok. 

It's scrappy strippy and Shabby but Chic!

It takes 2...8 1/2" paper pieced blocks to make 1 of these 11" blocks.

Finished quilt size is 75" x 65"

I plan on quilting it on both sides of the 'X' seams shown here and on both sides of the seams where I sewed the rows together.

OK....now where were we?  Oh yeah...........Poofy white Clouds exploding in the sky...Floating in the Boat across the still Lake...Butterflies bouncing from flower to flower.........

GOOBER!......leave the butterflies alone!!!!!!

Table Top Re-Do Part 2

Ok, on my previous post we left off with me removing the last of the stripped paint.  I'll continue with the next steps I took refinishing my table top.

After I stripped off the paint I sprayed more Bix stripper on the top the help remove any old varnish or finish under the old paint.  I let it sit on the top for at least 20-30 minutes.  It will not show to bubble up like the paint did.

Click on photo to get a closer look at the top with stripper after 15 minutes.

I used a VERY stiff brush to do swirling motions on the top to help remove any paint that may be embedded down in the grain of the oak top.

You can click on this photo to see a closer view of how I swirled with the brush.

Ok, time to get out the steel wool.  After I let the stripper sit for at least 20 minutes I start 'scrubbing' the top back and forth With the Grain.  As I 'scrub'/rub', the stripper will gradually start to disappear/evaporate and crumbs of old varnish will begin to appear.

 Click on photo to get a closer look at the old varnish trash/crumbs I mentioned above.  Just brush those away with a paper towel.

I then use a light grade/fine sandpaper to help smooth out any left over garnish pieces and just give it an overall smooth finish.  Always sanding WITH THE GRAIN of the wood. If your sandpaper seems to get 'Gummed Up' fairly easy that means there is still some varnish that has not been removed.  You might want to repeat the above steps to finish any varnish removal if your sandpaper is gummed up pretty bad.

After sanding,  I wipe good with a paper towel to remove any sandpaper/varnish residue.  I have a small vacuum with a brush attachment I used and just vacuumed away any sandpaper particles.  

Now is the time I added the wax.  This is my first time using wax.  I just followed the directions on the container.

  

I have always used Tung oil on all of my other pieces, but I hear a lot about the paste wax and wanted to try it.  I must say, I think the wax was a lot more trouble and TONS of ELBOW GREASE

was needed.  You must wait 24 hours to re-apply a second coat, which I did, I applied a second coat.

But as you can see, all is well and the wax I used turned out pretty good.  Just look at that nice shiny finish.  I must say I prefer/like Primitive antique pieces and this table top is a little more pristine than I wanted but I'm happy, it looks really nice in person!

Here is the buffet that goes with my table.  I bought them separate but painted them to go together.   I know I will strip the black top and make it match the table top, BUT, I can't decide if I want to paint over the WHOLE bottom beneath the top........I guess that will remain to be seen what I decide in a future post.

I DO KNOW something has to happen to this piece.  I am really tired of the black pieces in my room!  I will probable paint it!

What do you think about this piece????  I inherited it from my MUNNER.  I had ALWAYS loved it, but when she died everyone else began to say how much they DIDN'T like it and NEVER did.  I was like "WHAT".....I LOVE IT.   So, since I worked her whole Estate Sale for the inheritors they let me have this as part of my pay! ( well, actually, it was my ONLY pay for 6 weeks of work getting the sale ready!)   I didn't really mind, it was my Grandmother's estate sale and they knew I was the only one who could help them get the best and fairest prices and deem what was valuable and what was not, what to keep and what to sale.  I did get a few other things I hold Very dear.

Soooooo, I'm thinking I will paint this piece.......GASP!  I know some of you are choking on that comment.   No need to fuss at me too hard, after all, if I don't like it......there is ALWAYS my wonderful BIX stripper!!!

I hope this was helpful.  Feel free to ask me ANY questions NOW or in the FUTURE about any RE-DO project you may have.  I will be happy to help you!

You must always remain safe and free of any splatters of the stripper, so, ALWAYS follow safety instructions provided on the back of every BIX/stripper container!  Safety glasses and gloves for your hands would be highly recommended.

Table Top Re-do Part 1

When I told Julie over at Joe Tulips blog I spent the weekend outside working on giving my dining table top a new look she wanted to know if I was going to blog about it.  I first told her no because I'd already done the top, but there were the leaves to the table I forgot about, so, I can show you how I did them this morning.

Here is how it looked this morning after stripping the paint off yesterday.

As you can see, the top was black.  Underneath that was white.

Here are my basic tools for stripping my furniture pieces.  Believe me, being a previous antique shop owner and general all round junk hunter I have done my share of re-doing.  I have tried every stripper product out there and think this BIX brand is THE easiest and BEST there is.  Easy 'cause you pour in a sprayer bottle and spray it on.  Oh so fast and quick!

Aaaaahhh, look at my poor putty knife, it's just about on it's last leg. That putty knife and me have spent many an hour together.

Ok, here we are, just gotta wait a little bit.  No need to be impatient, it's not going to take that long for the BIX to do ALLLLL the work for you!

This is after only 5 minutes!

LOOK, in less than 30 minutes this table top is on it's way to being finished.  Two coats of enamel paint stripped off lickety split.

Those 2 coats of paint are now in a nice neat pile to easily scoop up with a paper towel and discard.  This pile of paint scrapings is dry to the touch.  No messy gooey gunk to scrape and rub off.  That's why I LOVE my BIX stripper!!!

Ok, this is as far as I have gotten with it today.  I'm off to see if I can get it finished.  More on my outdoor project in my next post.  

Bix is sold at most Lowe's, Home Depot and Ace hardware stores.