Andrea Radio

The story of how I purchased a non-functional, 1930's tube radio as a decoy at an antique store and am now selling my soul to have it refurbished.

Sit down with your favorite hot beverage and I'll tell you the tale. Perhaps you can learn from my misfortune.

It began a few weeks ago when my husband (from hereon referred to as 'Hubby') and I took a trip out to a small town in rural Ontario known for its farmers market and antique store.

We were cruising an antique mall when Hubby spotted a cheap plastic radio/mini jukebox that we suspect would have sat on a table at a retro diner. "That's pretty cool," he said. "Should I get it?"

We live in a small apartment and I'm already fighting a collection of tacky travel souvenirs and Dr. Who VHS tapes.

We're saving up to buy a house, so theoretically we will have space for some nice statement pieces in the near future. I had spotted an old tombstone desktop radio in another booth and as a last ditch attempt at a diversion I yelled, "No, if you want to get an old radio, get a cool old one like this!" Long story short, I won and the $30 plastic piece of junk lost. Or so I thought.

The gloriously dusty innards of our tube radio. It appears the electronics had been updated several times already.

Upon getting the radio home and doing some research, it turns out it a) doesn't work b) weighs a ton and c) only a few aged and highly skilled gentlemen tinkerers can fix it, the nearest one living over an hour away. Yaaaaay.

And that is how we wound up spending last Saturday driving 130 km north to a town of 1,500 to have the radio assessed. Here's a few fun facts we learned about antique radios:

• You can't run them for more than 30 to 45 minutes at a time because they can heat up to 70 degrees inside. Huzzah, overheating and fire hazard!
• They're not grounded, so the are a shock risk. Yay, electrocution!
• That's also why they don't have backs on them, for cooling airflow.
• For fire protection, many old radios have asbestos in them. Yay, cancer causing agents!
• Back during the WW era, you needed a license to operate a radio, as the government wanted to know who was listening to sensitive news and information. Our radio can only pick up shortwave and AM stations, but we were assured that we could pick up stations from England in central Canada.

To be fair, after the radio is refurbished, it will be safe to operate. But it can still only be used for short periods.

And for the love of all things chocolate, if you ever see an old radio, don't plug it in unless you know its safe!!

I'm excited to see this beauty when she's all ship shape. We'll be listening to Zoomer radio and the oldies. :P

Applewood ladder

If there are people out there who neatly hang their clothes back in their closets at the end of every day, this post is not for you.

I believe I have found a classy solution for being too lazy to put away once-worn, still-clean clothing - which doesn't involve dumping it on the floor. To fully appreciate the genius of this idea, I take you back to my childhood.

My father had an old wooden chair in his room where he would neatly drape his clothing for a day or so before he would hang it back up in my parent's shared walk-in closet. I was always jealous of his chair and my father's right to leave clothes lying around. Why wasn't I allowed to have a one?

I had to settle for dumping my school uniform in a corner and hiding the clothes every night by burying them under the plethora of throw cushions from my bed. My parents got wise to that pretty quick.

And theoretically as an adult I could leave my clothes on the floor if I wanted. But the reasons against stack up quickly. The clothing gets wrinkled and who gets to iron them again? Me! Clothing is very good for attracting dust bunnies. It also provides a nice habitat for bed bugs.

So when I was shopping at an antique market a few weeks back and saw a beautiful old applewood ladder, I had a eureka moment. I've seen these rustic ladders used in magazines to display towels, magazines and quilts. But my ladder is destined for a less dignified function.

It's beautiful though. The wood smells dark and fruity. It has square rungs and the frame is gently tapered at the top. The seller re-varnished it, but kept all of the original tool marks and wear. Totally worth the investment.

And thank you for joining me in a psycho-analysis session about laundry routines and clothes folding.

Mama and baby bunny plushies

A bit time consuming, but these little cotton tails turned out well. I'm in love with their puffy, lace tails and floppy ears.

Family shot

At the thrift store, I found some scraps with thick floral patterns that I used for these two rabbits. The instructions said to use thick, tightly woven fabric. I think it might have been leftover upholstery fabric? I've got a nagging fear that the seams may fray as the fabric wasn't double stitched or zig-zagged. I clipped the hems with pinking shears to minimize the risk of fraying though.

The mother bunny measures 9 inches long, while the completed baby bunny measures 6 inches long.

Upon seeing the half completed bunny, he uttered his fateful denial - "I didn't do that to him!"

The most awkward step was attaching the finished head to the stuffed body. The instructions required stay stitching a hem by hand around the open neck hole on the body and around the joining portion of the head. I didn't do this for the baby bunny at first, but it proved too difficult to attach the head as there was no stiffness or strength in body. The fraying was also excessive. Stay stitching solved both these problems. And then I had to hand-sew the raw edges under and then whipstitch the head to the body. That's a lot of work just to stick a head on a body!

Mama rabbit

And of course, I didn't consider until now that the tails and eyes can be pulled off easily by an inquisitive toddler. They're presents for a young child, so I suppose they'll be sitting on a shelf for a few years until the "it's such fun to chomp on baby bunny's easily-swallowed button eyeballs" phase has passed.

Leaf-patterned baby bunny.

And one last photo of gratuitous frilly bunny derrieres.

Bunny butts. 

Orvus quilt soap review

I was given some old lace to use in a craft project, but it was yellowed with age. It was wound on a piece of cardboard, the culprit in the discoloration mishap. Wood/wood pulp products in contact with fabric can cause the material to turn yellow or brown due to acid-burn.

100-year old lace, original packaging

I tried two methods to lighten the lace, with similar results.

The first method was a destructive method. I soaked the lace for 48 hours in a salt water bath. It did lighten the material by a shade or so and erased some dark brown spots. However, the results were almost identical to the Orvus soap and soaking the lace in a salt solution probably weakened the fibers.

Orvus Quilt Soap

I ordered the Orvus soap online from Amazon for about $12. I checked on several blogs and it was strongly recommended as the safest way to clean delicate fabric or lace for conservation. It doesn't eat away at the cloth fibers like lemon juice, bleach or vinegar does. I cringe at how many people posted that they had soaked family heirlooms in a bleach-based cleaning solution. Sure, it might come out white, but it most certainly won't last for another generation.

I filled a large bowl with lukewarm water, added a teaspoon of Orvus (probably too much soap, based on further Grandma advice) and let the lace soak for a few hours. It came out a shade lighter and the material felt strong.

Lace soaking in Orvus bath

Bunny tails, washed in Orvus on the left and soaked in salt solution for 48 hours on the right.

As I now have a bottle of super concentrated soap, I thought I might try some hand washing. I soaked my bras in Orvus and they came out like new. Because there are no additives in the soap, the laundry doesn't smell fragrant, but that's a small sacrifice to make.

Overall, I would highly recommend Orvus quilt soap for hand-washing lingerie, blankets and restoring old lace. Soaking it in the salt for two days versus soaking it in an Orvus bath had no noticeable differences - both solutions lightened the lace by a full shade, but the Orvus is more gentle on the fabric.

I will try a double Orvus soak on more discolored lace and see if it can tackle heavier discoloration.