I love my job!

I've always been jealous of the people who could truly say "I love my job!".  To be very honest, I'm not a very good employee and I get bored really quickly.  So, to be able to be creative, not answer to anyone and make other people happy with my work feels kindof like heaven.  I can truly say "I love my job!".  This week I finished a beautiful buffet for a friend at church.  This piece has been around a while and has been used for many, many things.  When she dropped it off, it looked like this.

She picked out a beautiful bright red and wanted me to add a little something on the two doors.  The red didn't cover as well as I had hoped even after I had converted it to chalk paint.  Four or five coats, some distressing, and a little colored wax later, this is what we got.

I love how this turned out!  I love the shape of the buffet, the color, the hardware, everything!

I projected the tree limbs onto the cabinet doors to trace and then went back and painted them.  They got some distressing too.

I thought about trying to keep this for myself, but I figured Helen might notice if I didn't return it!

Quilt for a baby girl? Yes please!

Having a son for an only child, I don't get to play with pink and fun girly things very often.  So I jump at an excuse to use pink in a project, especially if it involves fabric or paper!!  My sweet neighbor Missy just adopted a baby girl and she needed a quilt!  I probably would have been overwhelmed at the sheer possibilities of girly sweetness when it comes to fabric.  Luckily Missy had already picked out fabric for baby Joon's room.  Agonizing fabric choice already made, I got to just enjoy the creative process.  I usually hand piece my quilts but I wanted to actually finish this quilt before Joon went to college so.....I decided to make a truce with the sewing machine and got after it.

I did hand quilt it as usual.  I LOVE how it turned out and I'm happy to say that my sewing machine and I are getting along great!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the back because it is this beautiful dark pink chenille type fabric with rosette swirls.  So super soft!  I had to get this one out of my house quick before I was tempted to keep it!

A girl never tells her real age.....

I haven't posted in quite a while.  The flu tends to put a screeching halt to fun things like refinishing furniture and quilting.  I've also been very busy with some custom work so I haven't had much time to work on cleaning out the projects from the garage.  I finally finished a work in progress a few days ago and had time to photograph it.  I found this beauty on craigslist along with two other tables.  I have no idea of its age, but a true lady never tells her real age, right??  Let's just say she is mature and was a little, ahem, worldly....

There was some very chipped veneer on the scroll detail and the cross piece at the bottom that presented a slight problem.  There was no way to repair it, so I decided just to peel it all off.  It turns out that was a very ambitious decision.

 

I thought that the veneer would come off very easily since it was already coming off on its own.  Turns out some of it was glued on very well!

But those legs were definitely worth the effort!

After sanding it down and coaxing off the veneer, I painted it black and distressed.

I had to take it completely apart because of loose joints and shifting parts (that happens as we age you know).  But now it has been tightened up and lifted and looks, well, refreshed...

I think she hides her age well, whatever it may be!!

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http://www.atthepicketfence.com/2011/12/welcome-to-inspiration-friday-no-43.html