Friday, November 18

round and round...

'tis no secret, i am partial to a stool or two in our mossy shed. i appear unable to say no to little waifs and strays of stools i come across in my daily travels. however there is one stool i hold dear, above all the other little stools within our nest. now of course i know it is terribly wrong to have favorites but i cannot help myself. for the stool in question has been there all my life...


(i am quite sure i have told this story before but as it is buried deep with in the rambling archives of this here blog, i'm just going to repeat myself rather than try to find it as i fear it could take all day to unearth it)

 as a small child i would sit on a stool at my mother's dressing table every sunday evening. where upon i would don what can only be described as a shower cap attached to a long flexible tube which in turn was attached to a box which was attached by a cord to a plug in the wall. 


my mother would switch it on, the cap would inflate and hot air would start to dry my tresses. after half an hour, my mother would remove my head from the hairdryer of sorts and say "voila", where upon i would sit there silently praying that this time my hair would come out poker straight and gloriously shiny. upon opening my eyes, every sunday the vision reflected in the mirror, told me once again, my prayer had not been answered and thus a week of going to school with kinked, fuzzy, cow licky hair proceeded until the following sunday when i started praying again...


despite the horrors of my childhood hair-do i still look back fondly on those moments, and i am quite sure that is mainly to do with the stool upon which my derriere sat. for it was a glorious tulip stool and its fine form, is to me, one of the best a stool can have.

nearly 14 years ago, my mother kindly entrusted the tulip stool to me. in the years that followed it has had many little coats of various grandness, some quite dubious, like fake fur, or lilac sateen, but still it never felt unloved. recently, (and when i say recently i mean the past 10 days), i got itching to be stitching it a new little jacket.


inspired by lovely folksy round cushions, i took one large doily and started going 'round and round' with strips of lace, fabric and one embroidered vintage doily for the middle.


i spent many many happy moments with embroidery floss in hand. i then went a little nutso on the french knots which are my fabby fav thing to do. they are so peachy, you do one and it looks just right, and so you do another and before you know it, there are many little knots doing a brilliant job of looking spiffy.


after which i took my large decorated folksy doily and appliqued it like a cap 'on top' my stool.
i am most happy with my lovely folksy stool


however i must confess, i was not happy with my man when he came in from running around a soccer pitch for 2 hours in the rain last night and promptly sat his derriere down upon my fine and roundy stool! it took all my willpower to remain quiet, i took deep breathes followed by recalling my 'labouring' breathing exercises, for fear of what was happening to my french knots under the soggy soccer gear. i thought i had it under control, i really did, i channeled my inner kindness with all my might, thinking of the long day at the office he had had, and how i needed him to fix a lamp for me and all those other good things he does for me daily but alas, no! my french knots and their fate was too much to bear. i could not get past 2 minutes before i burst and had to ask him to find another stool to plonk down on... any stool, any dumptie just get off my french knots hoppity quick 'pretty please'

she has 3 lads haircuts and one 'constant canine companion' bath lined up for her thrilling saturday morning ~ Tif 
footynote: a little message for Katie (Bob) i have tried to send you several emails today, alas they keep on bouncing back to me, not sure why. could you please email me again with your email address so i can respond to you. many thanks :)

44 comments:

Kate said...

You are so inspirational! I have only recently started following you and reading your blog etc. and whenever Im having a bad day, I know I can always come and read your blog and it'll make me smile again (and usually gets me in the mood for being crafty too!) I LOVE this stool, and I wish I had one to cover myself!

Jelly Jam said...

The hairdo story made me chuckle and the stool looks great. I don't think I'd dare sit on it!!
Ellie
x

greenrabbitdesigns said...

I think it was very restrained of you to wait 2 minutes! ;)
And so many years ago I met you at your barrow and didn't know I had! :)
Happy weekend,
Vivienne x

vesna said...

simply perfect..
love it

Greenmare said...

J'adore your petite little stool. If it was in my messy den I would address it as "mon petit chou" my little cabbage. because such an edearment is tres speciale when emitted with beaucoup amour.

Jaclyn Trecartin said...

LOVELY! Your stuff is gorgeous!

--Jaclyn T
TrickArt Jewellery: Nature Inspired
http://www.etsy.com/shop/trickartjewellery
(Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale 20% off with Code: SALES20)
http://www.positiveponderings.blogspot.com

wood & wool stool said...

I love every single round of it!

Claudia Horner said...

I think two minutes was positively saintly, and truly meriting a gold star. Some of my things at our house are described by my husband as "sacred," meaning he NOW knows he ought to treat them with the respect normally only reserved for things such as his tool box and his favorite old tee-shirt with the holes under the arms. One must establish these little understandings in marriage! I must say I love the stool cap. Happy weekend!

Carol said...

That is the prettiest made-over stool I have ever seen. At least 'your man' didn' bring any mud in, on his derriere, from the soccer pitch, a few squashed french knots can be excused but mud........ oh no.
Have a lovely weekend, Carol xx

Teresa Kasner said...

You have done a wondrous job of covering that tulip stool.. all hand-made and chic looking. I would have done the same thing if a muddy soccer player sat on it!
Teresa :-)

kathleen said...

What a beautiful cover! I too would be mortified if a soggy bottomed fella sat upon my artwork, functional or not! :)

Unknown said...

Wow, that stool is stunning! I love it. So beautiful. I don't blame you for not wanting your husband to sit on it! Beautiful work as usual!

kathleen said...

What a lovely lovely cover! The french knots are fabu!

Paula-Jo said...

WOW! This is soooo lovely!

Angela said...

Your stool cover is absolutely lovely! I had to laugh at your inner struggle at asking your husband to find another place to sit. I do the same exact thing when my hubby wants to eat in bed on top of my handmade quilt. I try to resist saying anything, because he is a terrific guy, but the thought of barbecue sauce on the quilt is too much to bear!

Stine Hoelgaard Johansen said...

Very, very, very lovely

Stine

Anonymous said...

Lovely post! I, too, have a soccer husband and get quite nervous about his soggy soccer bottom as well!

Bella said...

Oh I love your stool! And I would do the same, although I would do it to my father not my husband, as I have no husband yet! (only 16 :)
I love your blog so much! And I have never heard anyone but my dear mother call a bottom "derriere"!

Anonymous said...

I came across a large bag stuffed full of hand crocheted doilies in a charity shop and paid a whole £4 for it! They are all different sizes and all different pastel colours - I was so excited! I tried to channel Dotty Angel when deciding what to do with them, and 'granify' was the word that came to mind. So I decided to granify that least grannyish item, a laptop bag. I made it from vintage barkcloth, lined with soft tweedy stuff, and embellished it with scraps of old embroideries, braid and, of course, a doily or two. I shall be making lots more of these for Christmas presents and still have plenty of doilies left for more granification later x

Donna -Little Tiny Stitches said...

You so 'say it like it is' my dear Tif.
Some of your stories hit home so much that I want to cuddle you and say "fear not, we are grown up's now, and our childhood hair do's and mean children who make us not want to wear our clogs any more are gone for good".

Sometimes you make me cry (in the nicest way :o) but most the time you make me laugh :o)

Thankyou kindly for being you.

Your stool looks fabulous, and it shows that surely it was a labour of love. Those french knots must have taken an age! But so worth it :o)

Have the peachiest of weekends Tif, and keep warm my dear.
Love n hugs,
Donna xx

Donna -Little Tiny Stitches said...

P.s. I just keep forgetting to say!! I love my bunny with his crochet cape that appeared a while ago in my 'favourites bar' next to Dottie Angel :o)

He brightens it up no end...Trouble is, I keep thinking he needs a friend there....:o)

sue said...

I love your pretty stool, I'm a french knot lover too, oh and lazy daisy stitch!

jennifer said...

Beeeeee-autiful stool!!! i don't blame you at all for your anxiety re: husband's derriere...i wouldn't have lasted the 2 minutes :)

Debby said...

Oh I remember those hair dryers. They had a smell that I also remember. How funny.
Also funny about your HUbby's fanny on the french knots. Love reading your posts.

dottie angel said...

oh gosh, what a peachy lot your are! i feel so much better now about my outburst in wishing to save the life of my little french knots :)

well let me see, i think i would have been loitering around that barrow somewhere between 1988 and 1990, do you think it was me? i wore only black, crimped red hair and doctor martens upon my feet. my black clothing due to owning a twin tub washing machine where your clothing just swilled around in the grimy water and that was it. i decided if my man and i only wore black it would not show the grime still left on our clothes from swilling around in dodgy water with no rinsing :)

many thank yous, 'hello hello' to those who are new and 'hello hello' to those who are old. not like as in old, old, but just happen to have been around for a while :)

delighted a bag of doilies inspired such a brilliant creation! hurrah hooray for the ever wonder that is a doily. where would the granny chic movement be without doilies!

happy weekend my dearest readers
Tif x

dottie angel said...

ps. my mother has written to say, if she was just around the corner she would be coming around to reclaim her stool now she has seen this peachy jacket.
funny, she never said that when it had a faux fur or lilac sateen cover on :)

Cassandra said...

Hi! I would just like to tell you that I LOVE your blog. Everything that you create is sooo quirky and FUN. LOVE it. Keep up all the cute and pretty crafting. You inspire me!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love your stool! If you ever carried them in your shoppy shop, I would surely snatch it up quite quickly.

Miss Claire said...

What a gorgeous story and the stool is looking fiiiine! I love your handywork :) Xx

naughty shorts! said...

This is the prettiest one yet tif! I love it. So inspired! Bec x

Unknown said...

aahh what a beautiful little post bought a lump to my throat about your hair i know just how you felt i to had frizzy hair back then. I love what you have done to the stool its truely beautiful and i wouldn't have been able to cope with a wet husband sitting on it either. Enjoy your weekend, dee x

Greenorchid said...

OOO I remember those hairdriers and yes I remember they smelt of softening rubber... my mum's was pink and noisy!

I love your stools topnot really pretty, well done you...

Anonymous said...

You should read 'The Help', it's a great book and I think you'll relate to her hair. Beautiful stitching to btw.

Anonymous said...

Tif,

I love, love the folksy cover! Such good work and layering. Have a great day!

Jolana said...

Hello, I´m sorry, I don´t know English very well. Maybe a little bit. But... your picture are articulate - a cap of your stool is so lovely! Jolana

morikomidori said...

you have injected a heap of smiles into my saturday :) and i don't think i've ever seen a prettier stool.

warmest hugs x

Shannon said...

Gorgeous work! I absolutely love the stool.

Anonymous said...

Stunning work! Uber jealous, I have stool envy for sure!!!!

Love Lou x

Ticking stripes said...

Oh Tif - you were sitting under the Ronson 2000! We had one too. Cream hood with little brown daisy - ish flowers all over! I'm embarrassed to say my mother still uses hers one and when her old one died last year we had to find her a replacement as she won't use anything else. I have severe stool envy...

Andria said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous stool! How wonderful to have this from your childhood.

Anonymous said...

Beautifully balanced design on the stool. Fits it perfectly. I can see my DH doing same deed; he needs a suitcase of his own to sit in, or on, with blanket. Do you worry about cats sitting on it?

dottie angel said...

oh many thank yous for the stool liking! and indeed the fond memories we all appear to have of those hairdryers.
ticking stripes, your little tale has cheered me greatly this morning :)

you have been most kind in your comments and i really do appreciate it, thank you dearest readers, thank you kindly
Tif x

betty prins said...

Ohh, how I love the things you make, all the inspiration, a hole new idea how to use old fabrics, thank you so much,

Anna Bruun said...

This is amzing! Tour blog is so inspiring!!!! I'm in love..
Have a lovely weekn!
Love