Thoroughly Modern Gillie has moved!

Come and visit me at my new domain
http://www.moderngillie.com

Furniture disasters and repair. Mission Oak furniture

When we bought this house it was perfect for the simple oak mission style furniture. I was lucky enough to find all the pieces I wanted including bar chairs and coffee table with matching end tables.

This end table suffered a spill of something that removed the finish! This something was the liquid from a plug-in air freshener. Needless to stay they are no longer in use. What was I evaporating into the air and breathing that would remove polyurethane?  The bar chair has accumulated some scratches that need a little TLC.

After lugging them into the garage the first step is sanding. I love sanding! I use my trusty Black and Decker orbital sander with coarse grit sandpaper to start and then 180 grit after  I have removed the finish. The larger the number on the paper the finer the grit. The number reflects the number of particles per inch. 

On the chair I left most of the finish and just took off the shine. I put a bit more effort into the scratched area.

For the table I took off all the finish because I didn't want to risk the spill outline showing.

I used Minwax Polyshades in Royal Walnut. I was tempted to use their Mission stain but in the hardware store it looked very red. There is always the option to sand it off and try a different color if Royal Walnut is not the right color.

STIR WELL!!!

 The stain/finish goes on very thin. I use a foam "brush" but I have no problem using a regular brush either. I like the foam one because they are disposable. Patience is a virtue as the wait between coats is at least 8 hours. I sand well with 300 grit paper between each coat and wipe off all the dust. This is what gives a professional finish.

2 coats. Nearly the right color.
It needs to be a bit darker.

The scratches are barely visible. There is some mottling which I was tempted to sand down but people will be sitting on this so I'm not going to worry.

 I did three coats on the table top. I bought the glossy version of the Royal Walnut because the satin finish looked very matte in the store. Over the years the furniture has developed a patina that is not really satin anymore. However, the gloss is very glossy so I did one more light sanding and finished the pieces with a Varethane satin finish that I like.

I am very happy with both of these. In the lower light of the house the mottling on the chair is not noticeable and the two end table are identical. No more plug in air fresheners for us!!

more machine embroidery on handmade sweaters

The Last Sweater..
I am on the last sweater. I chose an Urban Threads ( www.urbanthreads.com) design from their Painterly collection. It is a loosely stitched design which will be nice on the knitted sweater.

I have trimmed the stabilizer on the back close to the edge of the designs. I also trim the water soluble stabilizer on the front to limit the potential for goo in my washing machine.

These sweaters get washed on the gentle cycle in warm with regular detergent. I splash some cleaning strength white vinegar into the rinse slot as knits like the low pH.

Here are the sweaters. Ready to have the sides joined up. All different colors and sizes. What a fun project!  I hope the kids like them.

Handmade Sweaters with Machine Embroidery for Donation

My mother is a knitter. For years she was a hand knitter but graduated or switched to machine knitting. Unlike hand knitting this is not a transportable hobby but turns ot some beautiful items. My personal favorites are the baby blankets where she has the machine stiches spell out the word "baby". The best part is the blankets look like heirlooms but are hard wearing and can be washed in a regular wash. Mine were repeatedly exposed to food, in various stages of digestion,  and a variety of bodily fluids and always came out of the wash looking like new. They make great gifts!

Recently she and members of her knit club started making sweaters for the underprivileged children in Vancouver. The ladies donate yarn from their stashes and their time and skill and turn out dozens of sweaters in various colors and sizes. To make these sweaters extra special Christmas gifts one of these talented ladies does machine embroidered designs on the fronts.
I don't knit....well I can but its a clown show.
I do machine embroider so I volunteered to do some of the sweaters.

Here are a few from the bag. As you can see the ladies, intelligently, leave the sides open which makes hooping much easier.

I use this SMB Always thread and it is excellent!
I like designs from emblibrary.com, urbanthreads.com and a few of the built in ones from my Brother PE-780D.

The Disney designs included with the machine are particularly good and stitch out beautifully. Here is a really cute one I did today.

 

To get a good quality result I have found that using a cut away stabilizer on the back and wash away stabilizer on the front is the way to go. I have found medium strength for both works well. The area of the sweater is not too firm to wear comfortably, but the knit is supported so there is no stretching of the embroidered design. In this picture the wash away stabilizer is still in place. The stitches don't get lost on the depth of the yarn and are nice and crisp. All the sweaters are washable and once I have them done I will run them through the gentle cycle.

10 1/2 weeks - Bitchin' workout on the stationary bike

First, a shout out to Zija for their Ignite pre workout support. I chug it about 20 mins before I hit the bike and wow!  ( I'm not crazy about the taste but once it hits my system I don't care) It's not just an energy boost. I feel like I'm performing better and riding for fitness not just physio. It's not just caffeine and sugar. There is science behind the ingredients for better performance.  #ignitemezija 

I spun for 35 minutes. I did a three very short hill climbs out of the saddle in big gears. The knee is only now able to tolerate standing in the pedals, so I am not pushing the time out of the saddle. 

The last 10 minutes I dropped to lower gears, to protect the knee, but kept the revolutions high. 

So why 35 minutes? That's the length of time it takes to deplete your blood sugar and cause the body to start gluconeogenisis. That would be turning glycogen stored in your liver and muscles back into glucose. I'm sorry I do not have a citation on hand for this. 

I'm not ready to ride outside because the pivot motion necessary to release my foot from the clip is still very difficult on the right side. 

Pedal clip. 

There is still swelling in the knee but it looks very good. It's much smaller than the pre-surgery knee. It's such a pleasure to be able to ride again. It's great cardio and can develop good leg strength and is easy on the joint. When the knee got so tight from the arthritis that I could not ride it was a huge fitness setback. 

After the ride.... Stretch!! And Ice!!

#naturalhealthrevolution

#zijanation

#totalkneereplacement

8 weeks post op. Better everyday!

This week I am 8 weeks post new knee.  Physio is going well.  Strength is coming.  The hamstring is the weakest.  I have 119 degrees of bend and a couple degrees short of perfectly straight.  I have some bad habits to break so that I walk with a full stride and not the foreshortened one I had for years due to the inability of the leg to straighten. 

I saw my surgeon this week. He was very pleased with my progress.  There were patients there that were 4 months out from surgery who did not show the progress I have.  It's all about being committed to the physio.  He said that I was probably still at the point of not being happy with him.  I guess it because there is swelling, some pain, the knee is hot and has a click.  All these things are normal.  I told the surgeon that I was happy from the first week. I had already noticed how smooth the joint moved at that point.  He was really happy to hear that.  

Full recovery with 100% muscle strength will take a year.  I'm good with that.  Yesterday I rode my stationary bike for 10 minutes then hit the heavy bag for 10.  The knee was WOW. even though the knee is not 100% it responded completely differently than before the surgery.  I am pumped.  Today walked the dogs at the creek. 

5 1/2 weeks of the new knee

The knee is coming along well. There is still pain and a lot of work to maximize the bend and have a straight knee with a complete stride, but progress is made every day. 

I did have a bought of depression. This is not surprising. Chronic pain, enforced lack of activity and, I think, the crummy weather all combined for a few really low days. My advice. Own it. Examine the things that are coming up during this period and look at their true value. You can't change other people and sometimes they hurt you. You can look at yourself and make certain your center is strong and you are not hurting yourself by listening to your negative voice. 

The day before yesterday I did 10 minutes on my bike, on its stationary trainer, in the garage. I had to raise the saddle an inch and kept the gear ratio very easy. Huge progress! 

Today was the first dog walk. I went to one of the off leash trails. Hennessy was very considerate in the places where he had to be leashed. What a good boy. 

I managed the trails down to the water with my trusty adjustable hiking stick. 

I worked hard to step up and down with both legs and it went really well. The sun and the heat were the icing on the cake. A gorgeous day!!