refinishing the patio table and some new candles

Summer is well on its way here in the DC suburbs,

and since we are not going anywhere,

it is nice to eat/drink on the patio.

But some of the furniture I made for the patio in 2015/2016

were starting to look a little tired.

Too many long winters!

Earlier, I refinished the couch, staining it blue:

and that brought back that little corner to its former glory.

So I decided to tackle that huge table I built in 2016 for the ORC

from our old deck.

(the house was repainted last year!)

I never updated it on the blog, but I added some wood all around it for a more finish look.

I spent hours sanded it, bring it back to the light wood:

I liked the look of "naked" wood but it needed some protection for the elements,

so I tried teak oil on the bench like in the past, but that has a country look.

so I went with this oil instead :

it is darker than "naked" but the wood doesn't have that yellow color,

so I am happy with it!

With the table looking so nice,

I wanted to add some candles to the tabletop.

A while back I had seen this cool tutorial at Remodelando La Casa

and decided to make one too,

and it turned out perfect:

I followed the tutorial Cristina wrote, just changing the color of the spray paint to sea foam  instead of aqua. And I do not have any sand or seashells, so I used stone dust and flat rocks. I even had the same little glass containers,  I guess we like the same desserts!
So now we are ready to enjoy some nice meals on the patio:

Happy Day!

sewing card

This Sunday is Mother's day in France,
so I sewed this sweet little letter for my Maman:

I really enjoy these little projects from Minki Kim,

previously, I made this sew illustrated card

and this mini quilt:

from her second book.

Here it is before I added the little bobbin of thread:

sticking to my design board,

and before attaching it to the card.

I used a watercolor card, so a pretty heavy card stock

 to handle the weight of the fabric.

It makes it a very personal card

(we both like sewing so it is a current theme between us!)

for a very special lady!

Happy sewing!