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Tuesday 28 January 2014

A WIP and a Finish

Hello?
 It feels like its been a long time since I've put anything on this blog. Okay so maybe like a week or something. Still, are days in the blogging world measured in years?! Probably, the Internet feels like a different dimension some days, but the general lag in me not posting is because I've been busy working like a busy little bee! Just buzzing around busy! Just doing busy things! Like a bee..you know..
But somehow still working on the Feathers quilt. I feel like this has been dragging along, although I'm getting close to being done the top.
And then someone learned to crawl this week. You forget all the things that someone at crawling level can get into. Like chewing on mom's finished paper pieced blocks.



And I finished something! Hurray! (um... but it's not a fabric thing, so if that offends you, then look away my friends...but come back later)

I finally forced myself to put the last coat of sealant on the logs I made into coffee tables. I saw the idea at a home decorating place. It was a table made out of a large stump painted gold. I loved the look, but not the price tag. Especially when I knew where I could get some stumps. (I'm working on getting the crocodile skull hehe).


So thanks to my sister and me, and our non-tree hugging sentiments, we had stumps (that's a lie, I am a tree hugger at heart, but the tree had to go my friends. I was afraid it was going to fall on my house. People just planted trees willy-nilly in this neighbourhood 30 years ago, so now we have huge poplars growing five feet away from another ginormous tree and they are all half dead...I could go on...)


Anyway, yeah, sorry the tree thing gets me going a little bit. Anyway, my sister also had a towering poplar that got cut down recently so I had the stumps. All it took was a little polycrylic and sanding.
At first I thought I might paint the stumps all gold, but then for variety I decided to keep two of them natural since they still had their bark on. Of course by the time I figured out I wanted two of them natural my second son had already painted them. So then I had to sand them, like a lot. Yay for power sanders!


I finished them with a polycrylic, which doesn't yellow like a polyurethane and can be cleaned up with water (hurray for no turpentine). The gold is a Martha Stewart paint. I wish the stumps were longer, but the guys who cut down the tree didn't realize that I would be wanting the stumps in the future and so they cut the trunk into small segments. So I had to add legs. The legs are from Ikea.The legs weren't my first choice, but were okay given what I wanted to spend on them.


The dark marks on the wood are from Roundup that was poured into the tree to kill it before they cut it down (I know, I know, her arbourist was autrocious. And to go off on yet another tangent, like I always do, I have sworn off of Roudnup altogether since I  heard about it and other GMOs on this conspiracy/doomsday radio show my husband always listens to. I make fun of him for listening to it, but that's yet another tangent). Anyway, crazy what a herbicide can do! I kept sanding them thinking the marks would go away, but they are throughout the whole trunk of the tree.



Then there was a very intent conversation had with the boys about not jumping on or off of the new living room additions. So far they have avoided using the tables as personal launch pads, although the eldest asked if he could practise dribbling his basketball on them (...like really, REALLY, you have to ask?!). They seem more interested on the space underneath, which they use as a car port and a place to habour superheroes- picture taken by request with Aquaman safely protected underneath.


Linking up:
Right Click to Save ImageWIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced


9 comments:

  1. Loving your feathers, can't wait to see the finished top. I finally just started cutting into my Dowry.
    Your logs look awesome! And of course they're going to become a carport and superhero hideout!
    Come on, you totally need that crocodile head, in a house with three boys, why, what ever could go wrong ;)

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  2. If I were a little boy there's no way you'd keep me off those stumps! They remind me of the stumps around our pond that have always served as seats when we have bonfires.

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  3. Can't wait to see your finished feather quilt, I have not seen this one before. Neat coffee tables!

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  4. the stumps look good! I need some stumps too...for mushroom footstools!

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  5. I understand someone learning to crawl and having to check everything at crawling level. Little man still loves to crawl over and help me with everything when sewing. Love the feathers.

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  6. Oh I am loving the way your feathers are coming together! Hahaha little boys...my son (4) would indeed use those are personal launch pads.

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  7. Love your feathers! What did you choose for the background, or did you prewash? My oldest daughter learned to crawl and she was super good about not getting into things. My second daughter is now crawling and is super bad about getting into things. Now I understand what mom's mean when they say they just want their babies to stay still ;)

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  8. I like your feathers and the tables are cool!

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  9. Your post brought back memories, fantastic that you manage to sew such intricate quilts with young kids underfoot. They must be good kids, I mostly remember getting rid of many things they could climb on and jump off (or throw at their siblings as marks of their affection).....

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