New look of an old benches

Two benches on my terrace realy needed a 'facelifting'. I planned for  months this renovation but there are always something else to be done. Benches were in good condition but shabby (not shabby shic, unfortunatelly).

Short tutorial how I renovated benches

This is small bench 'before' - you can see that the surface isn't very nice.

Even just sanding improved the image of the bench and gave it better look. I used wood stain (acrylic, of course) for painting - two coats were enough. And one coat of varnish (satin) for the protection at the end.

Now it looks much better, doesn't it?

Similar process was done with the bigger bench.

First step -  sanding.

Second step - applying wood stain.

Third step: painting metal parts. I protected the wood with the tape and then painted the metal parts with silver Hammerite (oil) paint. Why this paint? Because I alredy had it and because it has three effects: rust protection, primer and coloring.

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Controlling (or not) your garden

Are you very strict when planning and monitoring the plants in your garden? I am not. First, I prefer the 'English' type of garden - to look naturally, as much as possible. And I like to leave the unknown or unplanned plant to see how it will look like before I eventually pull it out.  Rather often I get so interesting and colorful  scene I could never make myself. This year I left pumpkin to grow in unusual part of the garden and in gratitude it climbed the tree and made a lace.  Nasturtium and the four o'clock flowers (Mirabilis jalapa) spred over the garden every year and I just love them. So, leave the plant to  grow, and you may be  pleasantly surprised.

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Pincushion in no time

For a long time I thought pincushions are just for decoration. I sew as a hobby, from time to time and found out that I am frequently loosing my needles, or can't find then when I need them - and pincushion is a great place to put them. 

Tutorial how to make pincushion

It is really easy, it took me more time to take photos and make this tut than to sew the pincushion.

First, cut four pieces 10 x 5 cm (or some other size) from the chosen fabric. 

Sew two and two pieces together.

Pin two sides together and sew the edges leaving one half of a side.

Reverse on the right side through the opening, stuff with filling and hand stitch the opening.

Sew the button (for decoration) and elastic band on the other side to put the cushion on the wrist, if you need.

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How to remove white stains on furniture

I am in the 'cleaning' mood these days - it is warm but not hot here, no raining and just perfect weather to bring some order in the house. So, I moved all things from the big round table we have in the dining room and saw these nasty white stains. How to clean them?  - asked Google, of course. And found some interesting tips. First, tried with a mix of olive oil and vinegar - no result. Then tried with mayonnaise - no result again.

The third attempt was bingo - took travel iron (because it is small and has no steam), old cotton rug and 'ironed' over the stain for a few minute. The result was amazing - stain was merely visible. Repeated with another one and now my table looks  almost as good as new.

Anyway,  If you decide to do the same, be careful and try first on a small spot. I am not sure why this worked for me and would it be as good on some other type of the furniture.

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How to clean and preserve brushes

When I began to refurbish furniture, read tons of material about paint, wood preparations, primer, fillers. I took brushes 'for granted', thought I knew enough about them. But after some bad experience figured out I have to improve my knowledge with this topic as well. First, learned which brushes to use with acrylic paint and which with oil one (see my post How to choose paint brushes). Cleaning and preserving brushes is important task, particularly if you buy better (and more expensive) ones, which I prefer. I usually use acrylic paint, cleaning tool is one of the reason - running water is the easiest way for that. With the solvent for oil based paint I can never achieve the same result. Be aware that tips below are just for the acrylic paint brushes.

Anyway, use cold running water to clean brushes immediately after the painting. Warm water will fix the acrylic resin (paint component) and paint will be sealed up for the metal part of the brush. After the washing, use paper towel or cotton rag to absorb the excess water and leave it to dry.

Keep brushes with the hair up.

From time to time it is good to make a bath for your brushes you are using the most: mix one tea spoon of sodium bicarbonate (or just one package of baking powder) with two dcl of water and put yout brushes in this solution, leave them over night. In the morning, rinse them thoroughly in cold water, use paper towel to absorb the excess water and leave them to dry. Soda releases oxigen which is very strong cleanser.

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Magnetic Flying Insect Door Screen

Every summer during our holidays at the seaside  we are fighting against mosquitoes - I've tried so far various sprays, tablets, ultrasound devices, screens, candles ... This year we accidentally found magnetic door screen - actually first saw short video in the mall (like TV sales). My opinion about such videos is very bad. But, as we tried everything else, decided to buy the screen. And we were thrilled. It was easy to put the screen on the door and it really functioned as declared - even our dog could walk through, no flies, no mosquitoes.
It is certainly not some paid advertisement but just the recommendation - sometimes, TV sales video could be true.

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Play with cushions

Back from holidays, spent two weeks on the Adriatic seaside. It was good to get away from high temperature to the coast and enjoy swimming in the warm sea water. I love to craft something even when I am out of the town. This year I was refurbishing some furniture in our summer house and making plans to decorate the apartment - cushions are so great to add sent of romance or create certain filling. I made this one and other two few month ago, put them on (refurbished) sofa and  enjoy them during this vacations. And this is tutorial how to make such cushions - very easy and very quick, no buttons or zip.

Tutorial how to sew cushion or pillow case 

Size of the cushion: 40 x 40 cm

Material:

- cotton fabric
- strip fabric leftovers

You can see the scheme of the cushion - cut off three parts (because of the diagonal ribbons; otherwise, you don't need to cut the parts).  Be aware that seam allowances are NOT included in the scheme. Mark diagonal on the one 40x40 cm part. Cut on diagonal.

Cut off two ribbons out of different fabric (3 cm wide, add seam allowances). Sew the first ribbon on the cut off parts and the second one above (on the right side).

Sew another  40x40 cm part on one side and 40x18 cm on the other side of the ribbon part.

Make borders and turn a shorter part inside as on the photo and sew 'left' and 'right' sides together.

Cuchion case is finished - just put the pillow insert inside. On the photo you can see the backside of the cushion.

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Apricot jam with lavender

Apricot jam is my favourite and every year I make some for my family and friends, love to give them as a gift for Christmas, birthday or just for love. This year I decided to try something different. I still have some jars left from last year ( my son spent one semester on KTH Uni in Sweden and he is the biggest consumer of the jam), so I decided to add lavender flavour to jam. It turned out delicious, apricot and lavender go really well with each other. And next year I'll try to add rosemary, not to the whole quantity. Original taste is still something I love.

Recipe: Apricot jam with lavender

Ingredients:

- apricots (I bought organic from a local farmer) - 4  kg (cca 2,8 kg after seeds are removed)
- 3 lemons
- 800g of sugar
- lavender flowers - about 8 flowers (be careful with lavender, the taste is strong)


Recipe:

Remove seeds, dice apricots (and put them in pot), add sugar and leave over night.

Decant juice in a separate pot and boil it for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, peel the lemon (rub it if it is organic and save the peel), squeeze juice but save the rest and the seeds. Put this white part of lemon together with seeds in the gauze and add lavender flowers. Make a bundle (small bag) using cotton (kitchen) thread. 

Add apricots, bundle and lemon juice to pot with juice. Boil together for another about 15 minutes, then take the bag out. Chop up apricots with hand blender (mixing stick) and boil another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, clean jars put in oven on 110° C to sterilize them. Remove jam from heat and fill jars, put them back in oven. At this point I turn off the oven and leave jars until the oven is cold. After that, cut  cellophane pieces, 'wash' them using vinegar, put on jars and put the lids.

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