BEES!

I have been sewing--mostly doll clothes for a big trade (and I still need to do more of that), and a start at a purse that I allowed myself to put aside for a while (but I am happy with how it's going so far!  I just...kinda got tired of working on it.)

And I had a vague notion that I would like to replace the thing I keep my sewing machine feet in for easy access.  It was fine for years, but then it got to this point

which felt too crowded.  So I decided to add "slightly less small divided plastic (or maybe even wood/bamboo) tray" to my thrift wish list.

Which is why I almost didn't get this

because it was not until after I had sadly decided that I didn't need a lovely glass candy dish that my brain said, "well, unless it could hold the presser feet?"  (And that was a while after I said "Bees!" out loud--although quietly--when I first picked it up.)

So I bought it and took it home and cleaned it up (it was very dusty and did indeed appear to have little bits of hard candy stuck inside.)  Finding information about it was really easy, even with the lack of maker marks--it was made by Indiana Glass for direct sales through Tiara home parties between 1970 and 1999 in 29 different colors, inspired by a candy dish they had made in the early 1900s (the originals had flared feet.)   And it was roomy enough for my presser foot jumble.

But...I didn't relish the idea of the steel feet sliding around on the smooth glass, so I decided I should make an insert.  At first I had a plan for something divided, like the small tray I was growing out of, but I eventually settled on making a small pad instead.

And making it from velvet.

And quilting it.

Now, me being me, I did it as slapdash as possible--a scrap of very rumpled velvet, generously gifted by a friend (along with about...ah...ten 18 gallon tubs of other textiles, including many amazing vintage pieces) was chosen and not in any way pressed, and neither did I think about the fact that the thread in my machine was purple so I probably should have used some of the purple velvet or velveteen instead, and, mark the center lines?  Why?

So I ended up with this

which I trimmed to this

 (my still life lies, I trimmed the edges with a rotary cutter and rounded the corners with shears)

I stitched it to a piece of something medium-weight and synthetic, with a tiny B&W check, that I forgot to photograph

 Oh!  And, I haven't mentioned, I used some polar fleece instead of batting, because I couldn't remember where I had put my bag of batting scraps.  (My sewing space needs a serious re-arranging right now--did I mention the ±180 gallons of textiles?  Which the piece of fleece was also part of.  Many thanks!)

I placed everything inside, and I'm sure they will eventually find their Appropriate Spots

Bees!

I have not yet sewn with a need to use anything from this, so I haven't had a chance to find out whether or not it was an actually good idea.  But, it makes me happy to look at!

...as does the top of this table, which was another recent thrift find.

I had, for a while, not been happy with the cheap laminate wood grain print on the computer desk I had been using as my sewing desk.  I thought about covering it with something, but, honestly, I wasn't really happy with the Very Early 2000s Aesthetic of it overall, either.

And then Husband got interested in building computers again, and got to a point where he was committed to having a good computer on the main floor (instead of just the basement), which meant that the small folding table he had been using as his "temporary" computer desk was starting to feel a bit too unstable (especially when the Kiddo was near.)

Nowwww, a while ago, I had happened upon a table in a thrift store--a table that looked and felt like it had escaped a restaurant, with a heavy laminated top and two sturdy legs with broad T bases, all in black, and I snapped it up and (politely) made somebody find a screwdriver so I could take it apart and get it into my car.  The sole goal for that table was to replace the little cheap computer desk the Kiddo's computer had been on, and it's still doing that, holding everything wonderfully solidly.  (We have had to ask him not to sit on the desktop, though, because we don't want to take any chances.  Not that the table seemed to notice the extra weight of a whole ¾-size human on it.)

So, when Husband started expressing interest in getting a proper desk for his new computer, I said I'd keep an eye out in thrift stores (while he looked at new options.)  We didn't expect I'd find another escaped restaurant table, but I did have the idea that, if I found any table that I liked, I could put my sewing machines on that and then he could use the computer desk that had been in here.

Obviously, that's what happened...eventually.  I had dashed into the thrift store and there was a really dubious looking old table, with a metal-edged laminate top supported by Queen Anne-style cabriole legs.  It was beat up, it was wobbly, and it was $15.

I didn't get it.

But I thought about it all week, and I decided I'd go back to see if it was still there, and I'd take a pair of pliers with me to take off the legs so I could get it into my car.  It was indeed still there!  And the price was half off!  I had it purchased, disassembled, and in my car as fast as I could.

When I put it back together, I realized that it was not, as it had first appeared, an ill-advised merging of the remains of two different, stylistically discordant tables, but instead was one complete (well, minus the leaf) original table, and it was very probably a decade older than I had thought.

Which made it all the better.

(and it was considerably less wobbly after I re-attached the legs.)

This was taken before I managed to mount the power strip on the inside of the table apron--I used the screws that had been partly holding the very broken support for the missing leaf, so it was really nice knowing I wouldn't accidentally go all the way through the wood, because they were of course just the right length.

Yes, the sewing machine and the serger are closer together now, but I'm pretty sure they've been that close before with no problems.  The overall surface area is a bit larger now, and, who knows, maybe I'll rig up a leaf for it someday--this laminate pattern is available again in several Retro collections, but, also, the idea of a strip of something completely different is appealing...like...really really appealing...hmm...

Anyway!  I am indeed very happy with this table.  (And Husband is very happy with the computer desk he got out of it, too.)