Shall we call it the Gustavian Piano? ;-0 That’s what I’m calling it.
Yep, I did it. I painted the piano. The walnut burr 140 year old piano. Mmhm! Pale bluey-green. And I didn’t even flinch. Well, except for just then, when I downloaded the before photo and thought “Oh no! I seriously cannot show anybody this photo because they will be horrified that I painted it.” But in the spirit of honesty – here it is …
My grandmother almost had a stroke. After spluttering, choking and demanding that Mum swear that she will never ever ever ever paint Old Nana Lyons’ (my grandmother’s mother) piano for 20 minutes. she said “She really did it? Oh well, horses for courses.”
Julian (in transit) was bemused. Abby was alarmed and then pleasantly surprised. Hannah was all “Wow! But I like it!” And Mum – well, Abby sent her progress shots and at first Mum was convinced we had painted it avocado green – as Abby says, where does she get HER avocados – but now she loves it. Let’s face it, she painted a 150 year old French Oak dining suite white whilst recovering from her eye surgery. This defacing of beautiful timber is clearly in the blood.
And another horror – we painted it IN THE LIVING ROOM. Yep. ON THE CARPET. Yep. It was just tooooooooooooo heavy for us to budge any further than a couple of feet away from the wall. Which Sweetpea loved – she spent the rest of the weekend walking everywhere in the house via the new narrow passageway between the piano and the wall.
But I did flatten a heap of packing boxes and wodge them all around the base and underneath the piano. And not a drop or flick of paint was spilled. I was SUPER careful. And I opened all the windows – good thing it was a warm weekend.
The deed is done and I love it. Yes it was very pretty the other way but after living with a walnut burr piano all my life (first my Nana Lyons’ and then this one – that I bought for $200 and the first piano tuner I had visit to repair and tune it offered to turn into a mirrored bar, that’s how much HE thought of it – I sent him packing) I was ready for a pale and soft piano.
One that looks as if it could be sitting in a light filled Gustavian room, a tiled stove glowing gently in the corner, the garden outside budding with the pale pinks and vivid greens of spring, the sunlight sparkling across a reed fringed lake.
And when it has cured, I shall find a pair of brass piano sconces for it (the holes are already there – must have had them in its youth) and can you imagine it then, with rolled beeswax candles and pretty red Christmas decorations, whilst we play our favourite carols. Eeeeeee! I am sooooo looking forward to this.
Thank you Meg for the inspiration!
p.s. there was no sanding. I used a product called ESP (made from penetrol) which I rubbed in first with a rag, then you leave it for two hours, then you just paint straight over the top, one coat after the other. Then you must leave it for 30 days to cure and harden. Oh and the paint is called Otto Ice by Dulux.
p.p.s. in the time it takes to paint a piano in your sitting room, you can watch The Nanny Diaries, I Capture the Castle and all three Lord of the Rings films. Whilst your daughter stitches a new spring wardrobe for her felt Alice. There you go.
p.p.p.s. it is all the one colour – it’s just the different light makes it look different shades.
Today began sluggishly. I’ve had such hayfever all week – Wednesday my head swooned so, I didn’t think I would make it to pick up the little girlies from school. Melbourne’s infamous for inflicting hayfever upon its citizens at this time of year – I think my protagonists are the trees that line our street with their evil little mustard globes that have just burst forth. Not sure if they’re flowers or seedpods but I bet it’s them making me sneeze and sneeze and sneeze and sneeze and then when there’s a moments break from sneezing, frantically rub my itching eyes. Ugh!
There I sat, rather petulant, wondering whether I should go back to bed, read, embroider … so I did a little rearranging. I moved the bookcases in the sitting room 2 feet to the right. Such a small move, such a mammoth effort! That left me needing the green and pink quilt to drape over the dresser at the end of the sofa. That led me to pulling everything out of the linen cupboard, only to find the desired quilt lying over the back of the armchair in our bedroom. Hmph! But that led me to finding a tatty plastic bag from Spotlight, shoved in the back of the linen cupboard, behind the beach towels. And that led me to tipping its contents onto the hallway floor, all the better to check them out.
Oh my! There were metres of almost finished Christmas bunting. Over a dozen half done Christmas tomtems. Five wee Japanese dollies. The leftovers from :: the girl & her house :: Quilt. A little Dutch doll. Skeins of wool – claimed by Sweetpea as her favourites – countless little bibs and bobs. Intriguing. Delightful!
I just love the fabric I used in :: the girl & her house :: Unfolding each piece reminded me of how I used to adore walking into Karen’s patchwork store – as both a customer and employee. Without a shadow of a doubt, she has amassed the most extraordinary collection of fabric, embroidery and haberdashery supplies I have seen on the east coast of Australia. Everyday, the delivery truck would arrive with boxes and boxes of fabric. It was like Christmas every week. Gosh I do miss it. Amitie is lovely – and there are a few other local stores that are nice. But they are all very small and focus on one particular style of fabric. Karen’s store is HUGE and she cheerfully stocks everything! I miss that – that fabulous variety : sigh : Being able to wander up and down the aisles and put together a marvellously eclectic selection. When I go to Brisbane at the end of the year to help mum move, I shall indulge myself – one last trip :-)
Anyways – reminiscing aside – I took my sneezes and shivery, achy body out into the garden, plonked a chair squarely in the sun, positioned so that I could press my cold, socked feet into the warmth of the concrete path, hung my fabric (with some Amitie additions!) over an old chair, flipped through a pair of favourite quilt books, and thought.
A quick quilt? Yes, too many other complicated things on the go. Little blocks or something central? Something central. Square or on point? Both! Pencil hit paper and by mid afternoon I had my plan.
You know, I honestly thought I didn’t have any sewing in me today. But it’s amazing how much loved fabric and a pretty and satisfying design can perk one up. That and a sweet daughter, my constant furry companion, and funny little mice. (Oonagh has settled in well and all are happy).
I sewed until it was done! Done! A finished quilt top! Goodness, it’s been a while. Tomorrow I shall pin it out onto a lovely vintage woolen blanket. Not sure whether to hand or machine quilt it? What do you think?
:: even the rabbit’s surprised to see a finished quilt top! ::
:: the ribbon border is made from the scraps left over from the girl & her house ::
Whichever – this very pleasing quilt top is the first of this year’s Christmas presents. This must surely be a good sign!
Bit of this, bit of that. Lots of dusting. Strenuous vacuuming. A quick shuffling of chairs. Some rearranging of clutter.
Breakfast baking for the school lunch – thanks so much Fiona!
Some border work on an ancient project (what a good lily :-)
Reproducing favourite parts of ancient project with scraps from current projects
Building of wee houses …
And – very excitingly – the welcoming of some more rodents – mini ones – who have taken up residence on the girly’s desk. The new Mouselles are named Hebe, Mizuna and Patty (no mum, she’s not named after the person you instantly thought of :-). We have discovered, however, that three is not a friendly number when it comes to Mouselles. So tomorrow we will be welcoming Ooonagh – who will hopefully take up with Patty the lonesome.
Poignant moment really – the Sylvanian folk and their marvellous homes and clutter were bumped from my almost fourteen year old’s desk – replaced by a scanner/printer. I couldn’t bear to put the animal folk in a box, so they’re hanging out in the hallway – and looking mighty sweet. : sigh :
It’s about time! This has been loitering in the “I’m-still-working-on-it-pile” for over a year. Every few months, it’s been dragged out and there’s been a hunting down of leaves (they are scattered throughout the house and I even pulled one out of my pocket with a hankie in a tutorial on Monday), a burst of stitching, and then a passing over for something new. I’m so fickle.
Yesterday – in an attempt to create more clear space in the sewing shed, I pulled it out for the LAST time. All the applique was finished. Some of the quilting needed repairing (yeah, left that bit ’til one of those afternoons when everything else on the to-finish list has been finished). I trimmed the edges, cut the binding and sewed it on.
I cut extra wide binding for the top, so that it could serve as both binding and hanging pocket. It worked so well and looks so natty, I’ve pulled another long-hibernating wall hanging out of the stack and will do a tutorial for you in case you’re stuck for a trick that lets you hang a small quilt without any hassle.
And that quilting – I do so love the flowery quilting – I’m amazed I did it. I have such a love -hate relationship with quilting and spend months on end thinking I’m utterly incapable of finishing something off because my quilting is so cruddy. And then I look at something like this and it’s a big “phew! that’s not so bad (for me at least). Maybe I should give it another go!”
Ahhhhh … looking at this quilt hanging on the design wall – I mean clothesline – fills me with warm and sunny good cheer. I know the original poster – which has reached icon status over the last few years – was supposed to inspire stoicism in a time of great frugality and fear, and as such, flowers may seem a little frivolous. But the English do so love their flowers – I’m sure they would have whacked whatever colour they could have found in the gardens, hedgerows or fields into a bottle or vase to bring a little cheer to their days during the long years of war.
And despite it’s over-exposure, it’s still a damn fine adage to live by. Trust me, there are many times throughout a week in Bootville, when keeping calm and carrying on is the wisest – and only! – thing to do :-)
p.s. in case you’re curious – it was a tea towel giveaway with the Australian Country Style last year. I have another red version – I’m going to make it into a Christmas Keep Calm – very apt for that time of year, don’t you think! :-)
(that’s the name of the quilt – “Mathilde & Cecille”)
Oh so much colour! Yes, I confess, I am addicted to colour. Ah, but you already knew that, didn’t you :-)
And there are so many of my old favourites in here …
Oooh – see that rosy pink with the red cherries – I’m down to my last 30 cm – it’s been in my stash, oft-used for over 3 years. And soon it will be gone. :sigh: It’s almost a bit sad, except then I get a good grip and remember that I only have to look around me and there it is – in quilts and cushions and runners and wall-hangings. Phew!
And there lined up with all that colour is grey. Hmmmm … grey. First time I’ve used grey – does this make it “modern”? hee! hee! But I must admit – it is a truly lovely colour for making others pop. I find black a bit harsh. And navy is an amazing colour killer. Brown’s not to bad, but you can’t crisp it up. No, I now understand why grey is the colour of the moment.
It also has sooooo many points to match. Soooooooooooo many. And finally, I have found out why it IS important to start putting your quilt blocks together before you have finished them. Because, when you start putting them together, you realise that meticulously ironing all the seams the same way on each block is a mistake. Mmm … so, after putting them together, I had to flick open very second seam, sew them back up the other way and then press it over the other way. Yay.
Yet, it wasn’t really such a drag ’cause every seam I flicked and stitched, was a reminder of how much effort and time I have put into these blocks. It’s so lovely to really devote myself to stitching something a little more complicated. Makes me want to pull the 11 year old pickle dish out of whatever box it has retired to and finish it off! btw, have you noticed the setting triangles – the yummiest Kokka fabric ever - and the inspiration for the quilt’s name.
And the obligatory stained glass photo … I do love quilt tops with the sun shining through, don’t you!
… and I’m in my holey nightie, with no pretty photos to share of quilty goodness …
The pot plants are having intensive therapy in the shower – they hate the heating …
We’ve brushed the dog with a new slicker brush and declared it more fun than scraping old paint off furniture or running a skewer along the grooves of Nan’s decking – we’re weird like that … (the dog only sheds once a year and Abby plans on making a commemorative appliqued cushion – stuffed with the dog’s fluff)
I’ve gone to bed with my laptop … in it’s newly sewn case that I’m a bit chuffed with …
my Michaelmas to-do list and favourite go-to book …
and my almost done needlepoint …
And whilst it may be the beginning of another quiet week (he’s still away) and my only bedtime companion has a tail and a ridiculous amount of fluff …
… I am listening to Nicholas Bell reading 1984 each afternoon on the radio.
… I now know that when food leaves our stomach it’s called chyme. And when bacteria synthesise the contents of our lower intestine, their waste is called “flatus”.
… on my way home from uni I discovered a quaint little street of shops near the Toorak train station (I was checking out the hard rubbish after spying a Sanderson linen covered armchair in a side street) where I met a lovely woman in a children’s store and ended up visiting for an hour as we vented our dismay over this – we were true kindred spirits.
… my afternoon was spent with a wee girl with a twisted ankle – we turned out all the lights, closed the curtains, made hot milo with bloomers and watched Harry Potter – who told me Wednesdays were her favourite days ever.
… my dear girlie is in bed embroidering a felt organic milk carton for art class and working on her design for the Michaelmas candle.
… and we are safe and healthy and loved.
For all this I am so very thankful.
Well we have sunshine aplenty – but by golly it’s come with a fierce helping of wind!
I hung out my weekend’s projects, all the better for you to see the lovely colours – vivid and wild on one side, gentle and cheerful on the other – but alas, these quilts they cannot keep from dancing.
This wee quilt is the beginning of something very exciting! I found the dear doggie fabric at Amitie – it’s a Anna Griffin – and the rest of the fabric comes from the stash. I love the soft sweetness of the colours and the simple design. Just another border of red and white triangles at the bottom and then the quilt top’s finished.
It’s for a baby so I’m not going to use a blanket for the backing – a nice soft but warm organic bamboo and a soft soft cotton for the back – we don’t want any chafed cheeks do we :-)
What do you do when your girlie’s arriving home from camp and you have no idea what time the bus is pulling in?
When you’ve pulled apart every receptacle containing random papers looking for that one piece with the magical time …
When you’ve skimmed through every online newsletter, rung the campground (message bank), the school (message bank) and searched every page of the school’s website and online calendar.
And still no time …
Well, you cast your mind back to your past life. How easy is it to get 100 13 year old girls on a bus? Damn hard. Earliest you could get them all on – 8am. Time from camp to school – 4 hours. Earliest you need to be at school – midday. So you pack up your needlepoint and trundle off to school where you get the best park and stitch away while you wait for the beloved girlie to arrive.
That she does – almost two hours later. Quite a long sit in the car on a cold, blustery and wet day. But it was lovely, uninterrupted needlepoint time :-)
It is so good to have her home. So good. The moment we were home, she marched into the kitchen, dumped her bag at the stove and made us a cup of tea – that, she said, is what she missed most of all. After sharing the stories and the giggles and the scandal, she plonked herself on her bed, set out her drawing things and plugged in her headphones – she is a teenager after all. Oh what’s a mummy to do but sew?
And then, when the backgarden was thick with night and rain, look who wound up marooned in the cosy shed with me!
I sewed, she talked, and talked, and talked some more. Isn’t it wonderful when they do that! Sweetpea, unused to being shut into the shed, got very overexcited and chewed on us.
Finally, the rain let up and we dashed back to the house for supper. My four days at home alone were fine – I kept myself busy and cheerful – but it sure is lovely to have my girlie home.
At the risk of sounding big headed, I am absolutely thrilled with how the mermaid’s autumn garden quilt is coming along. Bit of a relief really. I had border colours floating around my head so this morning, headed back down to Amitie. As I stood there clutching my brown, orange and aqua quilt, holding it up against one bolt of fabric after the next, I felt terribly self conscious. It looked so odd – verging on ugly – compared to all the prettiness draped around Amitie’s walls and tables. Doubt was setting in. Perhaps the whole quilt was a BIG mistake. Until I found the dark brown spot and hot, hot pink. Gulp!
Then, late this afternoon, after adding another row of blocks, I was able to add the top half of the side borders (I’m dreadfully impatient) and the top three borders … and prairie points. Woohoo!
I adore the hot pink and those prairie points. Eeek! They turn the quilt into a marvellous circus like creation. There was a lot of daggy dancing and strange chuckles as I stitched and pressed the next two borders. Oh, very much in love with this quilt. Very much. Yum! Yum!
I’m afraid the photos don’t do the radiant colours any justice at all- the light is appalling and everything looks drab. Really, they’re only here so you know I did indeed make headway with this quilt :-) Tomorrow – collect my sweet girlie from camp, finish the quilt top and hang it out in the sun for some better shots. Hopefully there’ll be some sun. Supposedly, there’s an antarctic change coming through – fingers crossed.
Ahhh! The sun was shining, all essays are finished and handed in, the chores were finished lickety-split – the sewing machine beckoned.
But it wasn’t Tuesday’s crosses that were calling sweetly to me from across the garden. Eeek! See, I was at Amitie on Tuesday, stocking up on the grey floral fabric for the crosses, and I spied an awfully pretty orange and aqua floral that would look just dandy with a piece of Heather Ross mermaid fabric I bought years ago at Material Obsession. A piece of fabric I was clueless as to what to do with it. Hmmm … I managed to find a couple more pieces of fabric from the stash that I like with it – and the floral provided a lovely burst of sunlight. More hmmm … I wanted to try making a quilt where there were no defined blocks but quite a complex overall pattern with a strong weaving effect …
I pottered and pinned and turned and pondered … and finally came up with this … the mermaid’s autumn garden :-)
Some of the design was more serendipity than intent! My block focused on the brown mermaid “windmill” arms with a wee pinwheel in the middle. But a larger “block” has formed with the orange and aqua half square triangles forming the middle and the mermaid fabric forming a ribbon like frame. I like it! Funny how things turn out sometimes. After getting the first four blocks done and the design established, it was onto more production line sewing rather than dreamy pottering. With my furry companion close by …
All done to the delightful soundtrack of Barbara Trapido’s latest novel, Sex and Stravinsky, as an audio book. Even if you don’t finish the novel, you simply must read the opening description of one of the main characters, Caroline – it was enchanting! The zeal and resourcefulness she threw at life was held to be the result of being ignored as a little girl – maybe so, but I found her enthusiasm for tackling anything - all with supplies coming from skips, hard rubbish and op shops – truly inspiring! Wedding dresses, dinner suits, upholstered chairs, baby’s basket, dandelion salads … she is a girl after my own heart!
I was determined to finish another five blocks before the sun set so as to show you and have a greater sense myself of how the design was working. I only just managed …
I love it! The blocks are 12 inches finished and I would like to use this quilt on one of the spare ‘oom beds – so 21 more blocks to go – gosh, that seems like such a lot. Five x six blocks. That’s 60 inches by 72 inches. With a nice deep border at top and bottom and some prairie points and then binding. Yep, I think that’s probably right. ::sigh::
But I am very keen to finish it quickly – it’s so very different – both in colour and layout – from anything else I’m doing – or have done! – that I might just :-)
p.s. clearly Miss Caramel is computer literate and found her way to block-a-day, where she read yesterday’s post and was immensely peeved to see her fetish described for the whole world to see. So, using some kind of doggy telepathic power, she has paid me back. Sometime today in the back garden, I stood in a small animal’s poo (Sweetpea’s or possum’s, I’m not sure) and tracked it through the house WITHOUT NOTICING until I came in from the sewing shed this evening and saw little round mustard coloured patches walking down the hallway’s cream carpet to my bedroom – via the spare room. AAAAAARGH!
Two afternoons a week, I head to a nearby school and collect two little girls who I look after for the afternoon. We do homework, go to after school sports, they have their baths, I cook their dinner. Its a job – their parents pay me. I found it on a noticeboard at uni. But really, I enjoy it so much that it just feels like an extension of my family life. They are right little sweeties. But Wednesdays are especially fun – we go to the park for an after school picnic and play.
This afternoon we had duck shaped cookies and chocolate milk …
and stories …
which inspired wonderfully imaginative play – the girlies leapt aboard their own green ship and sailed across the grass, island (garden bed) hopping and having grand adventures amongst the majestic trees, delicate spring flowers and a beautiful fountain that could be straight out of a grand Italian villa. Then it was time for their favourite part of the week … checking out the dogs in the off leash park.
little miss caramel above loves to eat her doggy friends’ … you know what … she runs for it! which has my girlies clutching their sides with laughter and her embarrassed owner hot-footing it across the grass trying to snatch up the fresh, steaming deposit before little miss caramel can wolf down the lot!
this is miss lucy – she’s just a pup but has amazing confidence and is a right little sweetie. She is, however, besotted with mr hugo’s squeaky ball so the girlies have to quickly stomp on the ball when mr hugo brings it back and drops it, soggy with drool, at our feet so that miss lucy doesn’t run off with it. Here, she’s looking longingly at mr hugo’s mouth – yup! he has the ball.
in the bottom corner is mr rupert – he’s a bit cranky lately – he’s having to put a lot of effort into proving he’s top dog to his new sister miss lola …
… who’s just such a funny bunny and adores all of us. Now she has mr hugo’s ball but she’s much easier to catch then miss lucy.
and here’s marvellous mr hugo himself – he’s an enormously tall irish wolfhound cross, utterly wonderful, should probably be fielding for the Australian cricket team – a complete boofhead. we plot how to sneak him home.
I must say, I was mighty hesitant about this, given our first trip to the park came just days after this poor wee child lost her life, but the dogs are all very well supervised by their owners, they are the same dogs week in week out, and I’m insistent that we are careful – no running, shrieking, grabbing, or teasing. And we only pat a couple of dogs – usually small ones – who we’ve met several times already and their owners are right there.
Despite all of this, the girls are enchanted … as are some of the owners, who cheerfully make sure they are at the park each Wednesday just so the girlies can catch up with Hugo, Lucy, Lola and co.
We arrive home with sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks. And to think they pay me for it!
thanks to some sneaky cutting on Sunday morn when the family thought I was at my desk reflecting on global-service-learning and its application to Australian Indigenous communities … who am I kidding! … this morning there were 11 lovely cross blocks awaiting me in the sewing shed.
Out I ventured, coffee in hand, camera under arm, iron trailing (yeeeess – think we need a second iron – one for the shed, one for the house), assuring myself I would only sew whilst I sipped my coffee. You know that’s not true don’t you :-)
I am a weak woman when faced with readied tools, scrappy piles and a sewing machine.
Four blocks later, the coffee was most certainly drunk, a fierce wind was throwing rain at the shed, the dog’s feet were putrid, and sadly, it was time to return to the real work of the day.
But I do have 6 divine blocks of 33 finished. I now know I am certainly putting them on point, with this awesome red fabric for the background and there’ll be plenty of quilting that will hopefully look as ravishing as this.
I also know that these wee half square triangles that I cannot throw away (so carefully add two lines to sew along when constructing my squares) will marry this fabric (ah! more dala horses) and live happily ever after atop my piano which will very soon look like this!
I’ll be back soon pretty bits!
Did I mention Julian is away for two weeks – conference in Italy, workshop in Dubai? Of course he is! That’s the essential ingredient of the Lily recipe for painting furniture. It’s called “fait accompli”
