Vintage Hoops

I took these supplies which I have been collecting over the last couple of months...

and I made these. I'm calling them Vintage Hoops. It's my first effort at using vintage linens and mixing them with new materials to create something for which they were not originally intended.

 

They have been fun to do, and they will be included in our new space at The Vintage Market, opening in downtown Beresford on Friday. I hope you will stop by if you are in the area. You'll recognize the beautiful antique furniture that we are known for, as well as an assortment of other antique and vintage items in our Cottage Antiques area.

 

The Vintage Market will be open Fridays 9am - 6pm, Saturdays 9am - 4 pm and Sundays Noon - 4pm.

 

Tell Tessa I sent you!

 

Till next time...

Blessings,

 

Gail



A Finished Shelf Project

Last Monday this was my project...

 

Several months ago I found this shelf at the I-29 Antique Mall, and knew it was perfect for a blank wall in one of the bedrooms. However it was a dingy yellowish-ivory color, and needed to be cleaned up and brightened up, so I finally got around to giving it a coat of off-white paint. I'm really liking it!

And this how it looks this Monday. It's hanging on the wall and decorated...

 

I scrounged around and found an assortment of things to fill the little boxes. There are a couple of little teddy bears, a pitcher with pink tulips, and wine glasses & my ticket from the Quilts and Vines at the Strawbale Winery last summer. There is also a tiny silver pig sitting by the glasses - a gift from a friend that knows how much I dislike pigs. :-)

 

The right side holds one of my Woof 'n Poof dolls (she makes me smile), a thank-you note that my mom wrote to me several years ago along with a lacy umbrella. Down below is a 'G' plate and a tiny clock, and finally a glass pitcher that belonged to my great grandmother filled with spools of thread.

 

I didn't forget this little box. It holds a blue Ball jar with a zinc lid, and I use it as a memory jar for the bus trip that I took last summer to Galena, IL with my girls. It holds my name tag, tickets, a wine cork and a couple of pictures. And lastly I wanted to make note of the garland that I have swooping across the whole thing. The darling little dresses caught my eye in the Etsy shop "Raising Up Rubies" a while back. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I think it's a perfect finishing touch.

 

I'm lovin' it!

 

Till next time...

Blessings,

 

Gail



 

 

Ironing Hankies

I recently ironed about a hundred vintage hankies...

 

...and it reminded me of when I learned to iron - something I was anxious to do because it meant I was growing up! I was first allowed to iron my mother's hankies and dad's handkerchiefs, and then moved on to pillowcases which had to be folded just so.

Obviously ironing was a very different process in the mid 1900's. First of all, everything was ironed. Fabrics were most often cotton, and clothes dried on clotheslines. If there was a good wind you might not have quite as many wrinkles, but they still needed to meet up with an iron. And we're not talking a steam iron, so clothes needed to be damp to provide the steam that removed all those wrinkles. So, grab the sprinkler bottle...

 

Ours looked very much like this except it was a 7-up bottle. I see on eBay that there are all kinds of fancy vintage sprinkler bottles, but we used a 7-up bottle with a sprinkler cap stuck in the top. Clothes were laid out on the table, sprinkled well, rolled up individually and put in a large bag to sit for a couple of hours so that the pieces were evenly damp. If you weren't going to iron right away they could be put in the refrigerator, but beware!, they can mildew if left too long - not that I would know about that, I've just heard tell!

 

Ah, memories... housework was a lot more WORK back in the "good old days."

 

And what am I going to do with 100 hankies? Well, that's a story for another day, but I am open to suggestions.

 



Till next time...
Blessings,

Gail

Attitude...

Attitude... it makes all the difference! We have all heard this or something similar over and over again. I've heard it - I've said it - I've experienced it, but I also forget it. So it was a good reminder when my friend Chris posted the following to her Facebook page on her birthday, and she generously allowed me to share it with you.

"My birthday is almost over and yet, I don't feel older. I feel happier, more secure, more fulfilled, and more blessed than I ever have. Why would I wish for anything other than to be where I am at right now? I feel like a twelve-year-old who is about to become a teenager: on the verge of something amazing and scary and wonderful!"

This is the attitude I would like to carry into each year, month, day! I want to wrap it around me like a beautiful quilt. Are you with me? I believe we could change our world!

 Till next time...

Blessings,

Gail

Two Little Sewing Projects

It doesn't seem that I've accomplished much at my sewing machine lately. I do really well when it comes to planning and starting projects, however I seem to have trouble finishing them. But here are a couple of small projects that I have finished. The first is a kitchen towel - it's a really easy little item - starting with a purchased towel, I just add a border and a little medallion. This was a gift for a friend that recently shared some produce with me.

 

 

Since we have been making several road trips lately I thought I should have a cute bag to carry all my "stuff" in. I used a fabric that I purchased a while back at Heirloom Creations because I loved the theme of it.

 

Paper dolls were something I really enjoyed as a little girl! It's just a simple bag with a pocket on the inside.

 

As my granddaughter says "Ready to Rock!" (Actually she says, "Weady to Wock!")

 

Till next time...
Blessings,

Gail

 

 

 

 

A Walnut Weekend

Over Father's Day weekend each year, the village of Walnut, IA throws a big party. For three days hundreds of antique vendors set up along the streets and in any empty spaces and thousands of people parade through finding treasures from the past.


Iowa's Antique City

We hadn't been there for a few years, but made the trek this year to this community of just over 800 people. I counted six churches in our walk around  the town and took note that most all of the homes along their main street had huge front yards and porches, and garages were in the back (we seem to have turned that around).

 

Here's a taste of just a few of the items that caught my eye... This was fairly early in the day and the crowd wasn't too bad. See the fella in the middle of the picture in the blue shirt? That's my Vintage Boy dawdling behind me as usual. Actually, I sought out shade whenever possible - the sun and I don't have a very good relationship.

 

This is half of a Red Owl sign, but I thought my son-in-law would like the first half as a birthday gift - "Go Big Red!"  However there were two problems - I didn't have room to bring it home, and I wasn't willing to part with $1,000 for it. Sorry Jeff!

 

There was an abundance of beautiful furniture to look at. I liked the simplicity of this bookcase with a unique top. The couple that had this spot had come from Texas for the Walnut show.

 

Look at all the names embroidered on this quilt! I wondered if they represented a community, a church, a family, an organization? And why wouldn't one of those people have kept this treasure.

 

What a delightful kitchen cupboard with the rounded top.

 

Well, that's what I have for this trip - should have taken more  pictures as we saw some amazing things. This weekend we are going on a Scavenger's Journey which goes across South Dakota from Plankinton to Presho. I know we'll get as far as Chamberlain/Oacoma  (I've been promised a piece of coconut cream pie at Al's Oasis), but probably no farther west. Check out the link - perhaps you'll want to Journey this weekend.

 

Till next time...

Blessings,

 

Gail





 

 



Seventy-two Years Ago

On June 12, 1941 my parents, Leonard J. Larson and Katherine Marie Anderson were married at the First Lutheran Church in South Sioux City, NE. Each of them had a cousin stand as witness to the ceremony, otherwise there was no family in attendance. There was no money for a pretty wedding dress or a reception for friends and family, so they drove south to the church where Kathy's cousin was a member and there they began their life together.

I've been thinking of them today - not only as I've known them, but trying to imagine them as they were in 1941. What were their dreams? What plans were taking root in their minds? Because of a heart murmur Len wouldn't be a part of the war that was waging during that time, so they could work together towards their future. And I know how that story went - not all the details of course, but the general path that they travelled together. I just wish I could know them as they were then - young, optimistic, in love and excited for the future.

Till next time...
Blessings

Gail