Sunday, January 30, 2011

A Cabin Of My Own a Memory Forever

I am a collector of little houses, most of which are really little houses and fit snuggly tucked on a shelf somewhere and I'm fond of them because it was a treat to search for them and so they bring about a nice memory.


 This is a huge cabin with a huge, warm, bittersweet memory that I will treasure as long as I live as will my daughter when it is passed to her. One of my child hood friends lived next door to me here. We played together when we were kids and when we were in our 20's we dated for quite awhile. We always remained friends and we always loved each other.  George was my friend, my love, many, times my protector and always he could make me smile. He was a carpenter and a cabinet maker by trade and he made this cabin. 
In the last few years George developed some health issues but always he would have a smile on his face and a spring in his step. He was going to spend Thanksgiving with us but sadly and too too suddenly he passed from us early in November 2010. His father still lives in the house next door and he was ever so kind as to gift me with this precious cabin. He told me that George would want only me to have it and I cannot tell you how precious this is to me. I am so honored to have this and to have always the memory of a friend for life and a love that began in childhood and will live long after we are both gone. 

Bright Blessings,

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Book Keeping



 Happy weekend everyone. This is my sweet beautiful Halo; he's book keeping today. I found this stack of old ledgers at a local flea market a couple of weeks ago and had to have them. They are from an old, long gone department store from Weldon in Halifax county N C. My old house wasn't too far away from Weldon and I just had to have these. 
I also found two of these lovely glass, vintage bowls. I just love these. My Aunt had bowls like these and I am already dreaming of the potato salad and chicken salad that will fill these when the weather gets warmer.
Last Saturday I was sure that I heard a Robin sing and guess what; just a few days later there was a sweet Robin foraging in the back yard. I also heard the enchanting sound of the Tundra Swans flying over last week. They always flew over the old house in large singing flocks in mid to late February about the same time the Robins returned. They are arriving early this year----do they know something that we do not? Could it mean that spring will arrive earlier this year. Wild creatures have a wisdom that is far beyond our comprehension and I'm betting they do know.  


 Another find was this set of  dainty white Pyrex bread plates. I love vintage Pyrex and use it daily.  


 I fell in love with this old white butter dish, It has a tiny crack and it's got to be cleaned up but I just love the way it is designed and it will fit right in with my slowly growing collection of white ironstone. 
 I can never turn down anything that is vintage and red for my kitchen and this set of salt and pepper shakers just fit the ticket.

 This little box has a punched tin heart on top, I'm going to paint and prim it up.

More pictures of the ledgers, the oldest is from 1935 and I love reading the entries. You could buy a suit, a skirt, pay your insurance payment or purchase bloomers, girdles and stockings here. Who says Wal Mart has it all.
                                       
 I have five of these all from the same store. I'm going to photo copy the pages and use them for some craft projects. I'm sure just yet if I will keep all five but I really would like to keep them.
 I'm going to be listing the coverlet below on Etsy. It is so beautiful but I am running out of space.  There may be a new job and a place in the country coming up. That's a may-be I'll keep you posted, I hadn't planned on moving so soon but starting spring nestled deep in the woods sure sounds like a plan. Anyway there is much to be considered before making that decision.
Be Blessed,
Sallie

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Warm Wednesday

 It's been another beautiful, mild, sunny day here.It's really been a long, cold dark winter so far so I try to enjoy the few mild days that we have had. I have more laundry on the line so I can smell the sunshine and fresh air long after I bring them in.  These pictures are of some chalkware that I found quite a while ago. They are very old and so prim.  I'm trying to find a place to display them but  I'm not quite sure if I should keep them or put them in my Etsy shop. I do have the shop open now and I'll add a link to my sidebar as soon as I can figure it out.

I'm busy trying to find a place to store all of the Christmas decorations, I have every little storage space here and I'm really needing to get the boxes out of my way so I can think about spring decorating. Spring, there I said it! Yes I am ready for spring.

Stay Warm!
Sallie

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Oh What a Beautiful Day

 

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It has been such a beautiful, sunny day! It’s still a bit cool but much better than some of the bitter cold days we have had.  I will be opening my vintage Etsy Shop tomorrow and I’m really excited. This will be a new adventure for me and I hope to follow the vintage shop shortly by adding some of my hand made items.  This is also my first blog post using windows live writer. Well we’ll see how that goes. 007

This old quilt top with several others will be listed on Etsy tomorrow. I love old textiles and I have so loved watching them dance in the fresh air and sunlight today.010 

The last two of the trees will be down today; this is my kitchen tree. It’s the only one that I use colored lights on. It holds some of my slowly growing collection of vintage ornaments including a few Shiney Brights.

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This house tends to be way too dark for me, since it’s a rental I can only paint the kitchen. It’s cozy and warm and quite here and I do love that but I’m still searching for that country place and the Christmas trees this year surely brightened up the place.

Well I’m off to work on my Etsy pictures and get out in the fresh air at least one more time before it gets to dark. I’m also anxious to see how this post turns out. Enjoy the weekend!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Winter White

Hello,
This is an old post that I wanted to publish again. With all of the unpacking and chaos of the last few months the one thing that I have loved most is going through my linen collection. I'll be posting regularly again in few weeks with pictures of the new old house and my sunny white vintage linens.    
 As I remember it was New Years Day when I was about seven years old; that would have been in 1959. Mother and I were still living with Aunt and Uncle and my aunt Mable and her daughter Francis had come to share the standard black eyed peas with country ham and collard greens; always served to celebrate the New Year. After we enjoyed the noon meal the women all went to the parlor while Uncle George and Uncle Paul stayed in the sitting room to watch TV and discuss whatever it was the men-folk discussed at that time. Now the ladies were laying out a plan; you see it was January and they were planning the Saturday that they would have Uncle Paul drive them to the January white sale. My there was some excitement in that room. My mother would be getting married again in just over a year and my cousin 11 years older than I was filling the cedar chest that she had gotten on her 16th birthday; she would be getting married in the next year or so as well and this white sale had them all in such an excited state that I thought that Santa might be coming again!  When Aunt Estelle stopped talking long enough to catch  her breath I asked WHAT IS A WHITE SALE??? She explained that all the best department stores would have a January white sale which meant that all of the bed and bath linens would be half priced. A white sale I thought??? No one in our family had white bed and bath linens except Granny Selma. Everyone one had sheets with pink roses or blue roses and matching pillowcases and the towels were blue or green or yellow. I just didn't understand this white sale business but what I did know was that Granny Selma had the best sheets. They were heavier than the floral sheets and so much softer and they were trimmed with white crochet lace. They always smelled like sunshine and falling into her feather mattress between two of these soft cotton sheets was like crawling into a cloud. Granny had taught me to crochet and embroider and when she passed away from us some years later I would inherit most of her linens as the Aunts were now using striped sheets and blue sheets and thought that the ironing and washing white sheets with all of that trim was just too much trouble. Well I still have those linens and I still remember Granny explaining that the cedar chest that Francis was filling was her hope chest and some day I would have one too. She went on to tell me how she had filled a blanket chest before she was sixteen and how every young woman had learned when they were very young to weave and trim linen and pure white cotton with beautiful lace and embroidery so they would have the necessary linens to begin house keeping. My hope chest was filled with Grannies white linens that she had made for her wedding, and with white pillowcases that I had trimmed with white crochet lace. To this day I only buy white sheets; I do find the floral sheets to be quite pretty but somehow I just love the white. The kitties get pink and blue for their cribs but me I'll always use white. I'm looking forward to spring, when the days are longer and all of my vintage linens will get laundered and I will lay them on the fresh, new green grass and watch as they gleam in the sun. I will then iron them and tie them in bundles with ribbon. And guess what; as I was pulling a few things from the shelf this afternoon to take pictures I realized I still have a spool of old chintz binding.    


Blessings Sallie                                                                                     





































































Sunday, January 2, 2011

Bows


When  I was very young my Aunt used to make all of the bows that we used for Christmas. She never taught me to make bows but I remember sitting at her feet and watching the way she moved her fingers and her wrists. No matter what size bow she was making her hands moved in a rhythm like music. I watched amazed at how the yards of silk or satin ribbon would be transformed into the most enchanting bows. I remember one year she was going to surprise some of her coworkers at the textile factory where she worked. She bought rolls of left over chintz binding and left over fabric from the resale store at the factory and at Christmas she made  each of her friends an apron. The packages were all wrapped in plain white paper but they were adorned with the most beautiful, huge bow made from binding that matched the apron inside.  



As the years past the hand made bows went out of fashion; it was easier and way less expensive to purchase the ready made bows that just snapped into the box or were stuck on with tape. I hated those bows and when I grew up I searched for old spools of vintage velvet, organza and satin to make my own bows. I even loved to use the rolls of curling ribbon since it was getting very hard to find the beautiful vintage ones. 
It would be many years later when my youngest daughter would come to me and ask me to make a bow for her. I was surprised ! Shocked ! But she said that no one in the family could make a bow like I could. Now ribbons are available in so many patterns and the sides are wired so it is quite easy to make a pretty bow; why just days ago I stood at Michael's ribbon display and thought that I might buy dozens of the lovely ribbons on the after Christmas sale. But then I remembered and I thought and I smiled because this year I will be scouting high and low for more vintage ribbons and if I am very lucky....I'm might find a roll or two of old  chintz binding.

Bright Blessings,
Sallie
 

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year


Hello Everyone; I hope you are having a beautiful and pleasant New Years Day.  The picture above is the scene that I awoke to find last Sunday morning. We almost had a white Christmas but it was beautiful to have it the day after and since we never have a white Christmas here I was so excited to see it!      



Today it has been in the low 60's and I have to admit I was very happy to enjoy the warm up. We took a little drive up to Weldon NC to visit the Riverside Mill antique mall. It is just amazing and so great to have such a shop just a short drive away. The mall is inside a restored mill; I can't think of a better way to bring life back to our local economy than by bringing back to life the old buildings that have so much character and history. The mall features arts and crafts as well as antiques and they are also going to have antiques auctions as well. I forgot to take my camera but I'll be sure to take it on my next visit and you can be sure there will be many more visits to come.





So now it's time to put away the glitz and glitter and focus on the new year and get back to my primitive side. I do afford myself the beautiful sparkling decorations at Christmas but mostly I prefer the handmade, make-do primitive style for the rest of the year and while I am looking forward to spring and summer I'm already thinking about autumn, my favorite season. I've been trying to change the look of my blog, a while back I changed to the new template designer and tried to change back but when I did I could no longer get a layout tab. I lost everything in my sidebar except my profile. Well tonight I went back to the new template designer and thankfully I was able to get my sidebar back but I'm not happy with this design. Anyway; I'll be working on this and also I will be adding some new things soon.

If you get the chance visit the website for the Riverside Mill at www.riversidemill.net and better yet if you are in the area stop in you won't be disappointed.

Happy New Year
















 

Blessed Soltice

As we welcome the coming of new light let us spend time reflecting on the days and loved ones past. Remember that we are a part of what life...