My dear, sweet friend Vicki (who lives entirely too far away from me) asked me a question recently.  Here is an excerpt of that question:

"I'm redoing my curtains in my living and dining room - taking down the old chunky lace tablecloths I had swagged and gathered and tied and draped and replacing them with bleached drop cloths hung over old hangars ala Funky Junk Interiors (I'm a huge fan too, Vicki!) ...anyway, do you have any ideas about what I could do with all these old tablecloths. They're not in great shape - some holes, some rust stains and a bit misshapen now that they've been hung in weird ways over the years. Any ideas at all - of course, I'll have to check pinterest, but you came to mind and I thought you'd be the perfect person to ask."

Well Vicki, since reading your note to me, I just can't get your question out of my mind.  "What to do with old lace table cloths that are in "less-than-perfect" shape?  Well, I came up with a few ideas.  I hope you enjoy and get inspired!
                        (WARNING:  photo-heavy!)

Old, ripped, stained, lace tablecloth that I had just washed.

IDEA#1

What about using that old tablecloth as a table runner?  Here, I went for a mono-chromatic look.  I felt the tablecloth added softness and texture.

 IDEA #2

 How about taking an old suitcase (notice the rips and stains - ewwww.....)
and turning it into:

 A drink station!  For the holidays, it's a pretty simple thing to pull together.

 

 IDEA#3

What about a simple, romantic bunting on the banister?

 or a simple cover up for a chair
 (that-I-got-at-a garage-sale-with-dreams-of-recovering-some-day-soon)

 IDEA#4

A tree skirt?

 Or filler for a vase.
  I think the tablecloth gives this display a lot more presence.  A few twigs, Christmas balls and an old tablecloth in a (chipped) vase!  Not bad....

 Well, there are just a few ideas I had.  Some of them might be new ideas, some you may have already done yourself.  However, I have to say, it was a lot of fun to play!  Thank you Vicki, for the great question you asked me.  I sure would love to see what you ended up doing with your old, lace tablecloths.

Oh, and I do have one more idea.  I'm not sure Frodo likes it though.  He says it's for girls.

Please don't mind the stained carpet.  It's getting cleaned next week.

A New Lease on Life (part 2)

My little chair

All she needed was to have the old stripped away so we could see her true beauty.  Simple evergreen, a handmade flour-sack pillow, and a small star pillow.  This little chair sure looks beautiful to me. 

Isn't this what we are all kind of going through as women?  Call it finding yourself, finding your passion, stripping away the inhibitions, becoming a woman of God....

Sometimes, it's painful.  Sometimes we can wonder why.  We wonder why it has to be this way.  Why is this the thing I need to do?

Because He is the Master Artist.  We can trust his chisel, paintbrush and even the sandpaper.  We don't see the vision He does.

He sees our beauty.

Our usefulness. 

 

A New Lease on Life

It's been quite a while since I shared my thoughts, ideas and projects with you.  

  Would you agree with me that sometimes life has to turn our head to get our heart in the right place?  These past months have been a time of taking a step back.  To weed out what is unnecessary, what encumbers.  But instead, cling to what is good, true and lovely.  

Find what is beautiful and gaze at it.  

Sometimes beauty can be difficult to find.  When life is relentless with it's demands and unfairness, we can feel like this:

             Worn down.  Ripped up.  Stained (did someone have an accident?) and just...... OLD.

              But wait!  We must remember that we ARE beautiful.  That we DO have a purpose.  

               Sometimes, we can feel hidden, and not appreciated and we wonder why we are here. 

                If we can just allow this sometimes cruel life to shape us:

Tear away the ugly stuff

Clean out our nasty old stuff (see how old this stuff is? That's actually Straw!) and allow HIM to adorn us and make us beautiful.

(And ask your beagle to help hold down the fabric while you cut out the pieces.)

Then I think that we would find our intrinsic value.  Our inexpressible beauty.  Our worth that cannot be compared.   

Or at the very least, a new lease on life!
(stay tuned for part 2...)