Weekend turned Week Long Project

This weekend I finally started painting my thrift store table.  I should probably start by telling you the whole saga of the purchase of the table....but you will have to tune in later for that because that story is really about chairs.  For now, just know that I bought a table and chair set, the chairs were for my kitchen table.  This table is not exactly what I had in mind for our dining room but it was cheap and non formal.  I bought the whole table set for $250 (chairs pictured are from Target, $79.99 for a set of 2).  I like the rustic farm house feel of this table, but not loving the original color. The plan is white legs and a dark walnut stain for the top.  I hit a little bump in the road today.......

Here is the table before painting....(ignore the jungle in my dining room...Hello my name is April, I'm a plant hoarder)

Here is the table during painting....

I stripped the table top and sanded like crazy the and last night I put two coats of dark stain on the top....it looked gorgeous!  I was so happy with the color of the stain.  As I was leaving for work I noticed the stain still looked wet in places and it is all splotchy all over the top.  The stain still feels tacky to the touch.  I have never had this issue before and I am not sure what happened.  I am going to let it dry for 48 hours before I try anything else.  I am hoping I can sand it a little or apply the shiny clear top coat to reduce the effect that is happening.  I will be doing some research so stay tuned for the final product.  I hope it is back in the dining room by Friday!!

Why can't just one project go smoothly ?!?