August 2015 – Page 2 – q is for quandie

smokey ash sewing machine table.

Published on August 7, 2015August 6, 2015 by Quandie12 Comments

You’ve all seen them. Old sewing machine tables. They once had a sewing machine tucked inside and you could flip open the top and pop up the machine. I bet these things were considered the height of innovation and so very convenient when they first came out. No more having to drag the heavy sewing machine out of the closet and set it up on the kitchen table.

And now of course they are obsolete, and the carcasses are a dime a dozen. Somehow I managed to accumulate two of them and both were free. And missing their machines.

Unfortunately I neglected to take ‘before’ photos of this piece, and I also didn’t get ‘fail’ photos of this one. What do I mean? Well, the first time I painted this I did an undercoat of MMS Flow Blue with a top coat of Linen. Problem was, it was a bleeder. And you couldn’t see it with the Flow Blue. It wasn’t until I added the Linen (which is a warm white) that I saw the pink stain coming through. Since I didn’t really love this piece in the Linen anyway, I decided to just go back to the drawing board and paint it a darker color.

First I slapped on a quick coat of MMS Tough Coat Sealer, just to be sure that bleeding stain wouldn’t continue to plague me. Then I painted it with Urban Rooster’s Smokey Ash. Of course, the distressing brought out the Linen color underneath.

I’m not usually a fan of seeing a white base coat under something, but I was kind of stuck with it on this table so I made the best of it by adding a white stencil to the top.

grey table 2

I painted the little flip down compartment (where you kept your bobbins and needles) in Urban Rooster’s Cotton Candy.

grey table inside

I tried six ways from Sunday to get good photos of this table, but it just wasn’t cooperating. First I staged it in the photo cottage …

grey table in photo cottage

I didn’t love these photos though. I couldn’t get the angle quite right.

I tried adding the suggestion of some French flair with this book on the chair.

french flair

But it wasn’t helping. This is a great book, by the way. Lots of fantastic pictures of French interiors.

I then moved the table to the front porch and placed my French cane back chair next to it. I’m really not any happier with these photos, but I had to call it good because I took this table over to Eye Candy REfind for the grand opening last weekend.

grey table title 2

I don’t think a chair has enough bulk to balance the table, but next to a bed or sofa it would be perfect. Since the inside is basically hollow with just that little hinged bobbin drawer, it doesn’t provide much storage. But you can add your own with some vintage suitcases stacked underneath.

grey table 1

I had Ken permanently attach the hinged top on this table, but I am thinking about creating a drinks station with the second one. You’ve probably seen them on pinterest, where you flip open the top and there is space for an ice bucket where the sewing machine once was. But that project is for another day!

where am I, and why am I in this hand basket?

Published on August 5, 2015August 4, 2015 by Quandie30 Comments

I’m sorry to say it, but my garden has gone to hell in a hand basket this year.

handbasket title 2

I usually get tired of gardening around mid-August. I figure a frost is coming soon (that is a ridiculous exaggeration, FYI) so why bother to continue weeding, etc. But this year I have been motivated to give up weeding much earlier than usual because I have an unwelcome visitor! A snake!

He appeared in my neighbor Arlene’s yard first, but he moved over to mine just hours later. I think it’s a bull snake. I’m no snake expert, but I did a little google research and that looks like the likeliest culprit. When I saw him he was sunning himself under my clothes line. I came around the corner and he freaked and ran (well, slithered) under the photo cottage!

garden photo cottage

Good gracious! Why did he have to pick there? He’s probably under that hosta right now!

He looked to be at least 4′ long. OK, that’s another exaggeration, but he was pretty big. Even nnK didn’t want to get near him, and she doesn’t mind snakes.

So the garden is getting a little scruffy. It still has some bright spots though. The hydrangeas are going gang busters this year.

garden

garden 2

And the lemon slice million bells are taking over the boiler pot window boxes.

window box

The fairy garden is looking lush, but then again, I don’t really have to worry about finding a snake in there so it gets more attention!

fairy garden

Cossetta is looking a little worse for the wear with a spider webbed face and her wonky crown. She’s trying to cloak herself in ferns out of embarrassment.

cossetta

Can you blame her?

I have a Tiger Eye Sumac that has totally engulfed my arbor. The clematis is tangled up with it, but still blooming away happily.

tiger eye and clematis

You’ll notice that I have skillfully avoided showing you the weeds. I’m also not taking pictures of the plants that have been totally decimated by the dreaded Asian Beetle, but trust me, they are there! But nobody wants to see photos of that stuff, right?

If you stand back and squint your eyes a bit, the garden still looks pretty good.

arbor

Just don’t get too close, and beware of snakes!

lunchtime junkin’

Published on August 3, 2015August 2, 2015 by Quandie20 Comments

First of all, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who showed up for the Eye Candy opening yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, the wine kept flowing, the band was awesome and the shop is really darling. And another big thanks to those of you who supported me in spirit even though you live too far away to show up in person!

Meanwhile, last week one of my regular sale customers emailed me at work to let me know about an estate sale taking place not far from my office. Close enough for a lunchtime jaunt anyway. So I invited my co-worker Cathy to join me and we hopped in the convertible and headed over. I drive a baby blue convertible VW bug, by the way. Not totally conducive to bringing home furniture, but if conditions are right and the top can be down, you’d be surprised what I can fit in there.

In this case, it was a gloriously sunny day. Perfect convertible weather. So off we went.

And I came back with this …

lunchtime junk

This was another dirty, junky sale. No dirty Balls (jars, that is) this time though.

What I did find that really made me happy was a pile of crusty old paint brushes. And actually, they weren’t in a pile, they were scattered about. It was a lot like an Easter egg hunt. Here’s one! Oh, and here’s another one over here! Here’s a big one! And here’s a yellow one!

crusty brushes 1

crusty brushes 2

I have a plan for these crusty brushes, you’ll just have to wait and see.

In addition to the paint brushes, there were a couple of shop brushes (at least that’s what I call them) that I couldn’t resist.

shop brush

Am I nuts for thinking these are kind of cool? I have a plan in my head for these too, so we’ll see how they turn out.

I bought the green ammo box strictly because of its color.

green box

I mean seriously, wouldn’t you have too? The bottom was partially rotted away though, I’ve already had Ken make a new bottom using some old wood I had. Personally, my goal is to make my vintage pieces functional. So in this case, I wanted the box to provide storage for someone.

I originally planned to paint both of the toolboxes.

lunchtime tool box

But this one has a rather nice patina except for that darn swath of white spray paint down the right side. So I decided to try sanding that down. It helped tone it down a bit. I added a couple of stencils, and I think it turned out rather fab.

stenciled toolbox

stenciled toolbox 2

This was a fun sale to dig around in. There was so much stuff! Unfortunately, we had a limited amount of time. I’m sure if I’d kept digging I could have found more diamonds in the rough. Although I was out of cash in addition to time. So we piled everything into the bug and headed back to work.

Another lunch hour well spent! Thanks for the heads up on this one Jenny!