T-SHIRT MORPHED INTO A PILLOW

A couple of years ago while we were in Paris, we went to this department store called 'Galleries Lafayette'. The architecture was amazing.

While there I bought my granddaughter a sparkly, Paris t-shirt. She came bounding in the other day with this pink and bling t-shirt on. After I commented that she had just about out-grown the shirt; she said, "But, I love it sooooo much!"

So, it was decided that it would live on in a pillow. I found some fabric that coordinates with her shams and comforter and added them to the knit of the shirt. This is the result:

I cut out the label and put it on the back of the pillow.

She was excited today when she came after school to find her new pillow.

This is a good solution for those much-loved t-shirts that just won't disappear!

A couple of hints:

When combining knits with a woven fabric, it helps to stabilize the knit with an iron-on interfacing before sewing to your fabric. This eliminates any stretching that might occur.

If you don't want to spend the money for a down pillow insert, or even for a quality fiber-fill insert; check the pillow section at Wal-mart. I found this 14" x 20" travel pillow to use for the insert and it was just $2.00. You certainly can't make it for that money; and they are great for teen-age rough and tumble!

I'm linking to Donna's Saturday Night Special
on Funky Junk Interiors.

and

Susan's Metamorphosis Monday
on Between Naps on the Porch.

Check these two blogs out for inspiration beyond belief!!

MY BOYS OF SUMMER!

There has been considerable discussion at my house the last two years about the possibility of a treehouse. You are only eight years old once, so it was decided that this was the year to make it happen. When you combine an eight-year old dreamer (Wyatt) with a seventy-one-year old engineer (his papa), there is a lot of talk about possibilities versus structure/buildability/safety/etc.
And then the supplies had to be gathered - trips to yard sales for reclaimed lumber, to the lumber yard and to the Habitat for Humanity restore for bolts, etc., and to one of our own hidey-holes for necessary pieces!

Finally, they got started.

A left-handed hammer and a right-handed drill.

Learning a few skills along the way.

Safety first - a railing, gate, and a sturdy ladder so the old-folks can climb up there, too.

Every castle needs a shield and every pirate boat needs a flag.

You need a supply of rope because you might decide you want to surf under the treehouse. In arid Colorado, you have to pretend to surf on a rope and board.

Where will this happy boy's imagination take him next?

Hopefully, when he is seventy-one years old; he will remember the summer he and his papa built the treehouse.

I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday with Mary at
Little Red House

and

Outdoor Wednesday with Susan at
A Southern Daydreamer

Please stop by these two blogs as I'm sure you will enjoy your visit!

APOTHECARY LOVE!

It is time for Marty's annual Fall Cloche/Apothecary Jar party. I decided to join in this time not with a cloche vignette, but using my antique apothecary jars. I had my eye on these four jars at a local antique store for a couple of years; and finally around my birthday and Christmas last year, we bought them. I've sure enjoyed them as versatile containers for all kinds of stuff!

Today, they hold grocery store flowers in Fall colors.

Be sure to go by Marty's A Stroll Thru Life
where you will find a plethora of ideas for your cloches and jars.

LAST REPORT ON THE ESTATE SALE

I bet all of you are tired of hearing about the estate sale that I have been helping with the last two months. I promise this is the last post on the subject! We are ready to open the doors for the two-day sale this coming weekend. The ad in the paper says, "Treasures from 34 Countries; Tools to Tuxedos; The Elegant to the Ordinary!" That about sums it up.

And now, to finish up showing you the rest of the things I bought at the presale.

The deceased was a well-traveled, accomplished woman.
I bought these three watercolors that she had done as a teenager in the 1920s. They are inscribed on the back as gifts to her mother.

I've always been attracted to amateur paintings, plus these three have nice, old frames.

Then, from the $.50 - $1.00 table I bought the following:
An old red tea tin and a little Tum's container.

A small snuff bottle with the cork intact and a great label. The large brown jar used for canning was originally a cocoa jar.

Also, from the $.50 - $1.00 table a wooden hanger from the Grand Hotel in Paris. I love this as we have stayed by the St. Lazare Station in Paris (but not at the Grand Hotel)!

For $10, I bought this Irish wool throw.

AND NOW -------- my big purchase!

I bought 101 pieces of Johnson Bros. Friendly Village dishes. I had a few pieces of this pattern that I had picked up in the past, but now I have enough to feed an army. You can't have too many dishes, can you?

I really had to work at moving dishes around to find room for 101 more. But, like I told my husband -- you can always find room for more dishes.

And that is it -- I have pretty well shot my wad, for a while anyways!

I'm joining in with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality
for the Thrifty Treasures party

and

Linda at Coastal Charm
for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.

Please check out these two wonderful blogs for more thrifty treasures.

IN WITH THE OLD, OUT WITH THE OLDER!

I have a new-to-me china cupboard. It fits the space perfectly, and holds almost all of my hand-painted china collection.

It has pretty details, all original. I've seen similar china cupboards around the blog world painted white and distressed, which I loved; but somehow this natural finish just seems to suit our personal aesthetic better.

The new cupboard replaced this older, Victorian era curved-glass cupboard which we have had for almost 20 years. Whereas it served us well, it had some unpleasant memories attached. It was time to replace it, so I could walk past it without bringing up those memories every time.

Sometimes, you just have to move on!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch
for Metamorphosis Monday

and

Marian at Miss Mustard Seed
for Furniture Feature Friday.

Check these two popular blogs out for lots of inspiration.

MORE TREASURES

Continuing with a few more treasures I purchased from the endless estate sale, the plate below is a souvenir plate from Boston. The plate is from an English Staffordshire pottery and shows the Boston Library. It was right in my budget for transferware souvenir plates of $3.00.

I've been attracted for several months now with Victorian era quadruple-plate silver serving pieces. These two are my first purchases, however, both for $10 a piece. The spooner on the left holds some of my collection of Victorian sugar spoons and the cream pitcher on the right has an attached lid. I'm smitten with both pieces!!

In front of the spooner and creamer are three sugar spoons that I bought at the estate sale for $3 a piece.

More treasures to come on future posts.

Marty-- does a shelf in my china cupboard count as a tabletop? Hope so as I'm linking to your Table Top Tuesday event. Be sure to check out
A Stroll Thru Life
for more table top inspiration.


I'm also linking to the following parties:

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Treasures

and

Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

Be sure to check them out for other thrifty finds.

IS THIS A TREASURE OR NOT?

Here is one of the things I bought from the endless estate sale. It is a huge pot measuring 12" wide by 10" high. It has the feel and look of art pottery from the 1920s and 1930s.

It has pretty molded leaves on all sides. There are no maker marks on the bottom.

What do you think? Do any of you have any idea of its age or maker?

I figured that for $5; at the very least, it would look pretty with a poinsettia in it for Christmas!

STILL AT IT!

Tomorrow, I start my 6th week working on this gigantic estate sale with my friend and her husband, who is the administrator of this estate with no heirs. Since there is no family and before the estate can be disbursed to the designated charities, the state mandates that every thing be sold at the optimum price. Yesterday, there were seven of us working at organizing and pricing the things that had found their way to the garage and the family room. The whole process has been tedious work, as every piece of paper, etc. must be gone through. For instance, we have discovered valuable jewelry among tools and junk in the outside shed.

We have found such diverse items as an invitation to a White House garden party given by Mrs. Roosevelt to souvenirs from 32 countries to 7 irons (all in working order!)

There are lots of treasured items from several generations, jewelry, old pictures and postcards.

For sale are ethnic clothing items from her travels and lots of vintage clothing with pictures of her wearing the dresses, etc. including her 1942 satin, beaded wedding dress.

There is a whole room of lovely linens with about 30 sets of embroidered and lace pillow cases. We found some nice quilts in the shed outside, plus there are antique baby clothes.

And, of course, there are dishes and silver. A few pieces have found their way to my house. More on that in a later post!

It has been a real learning experience for all of us working on this project. We come home at night thinking about our own stuff; and what a burden it can be when disbursement of belongings is left for family or, in this case, friends.


I had an aunt, who in her later years, was always working on getting things in "dying order". She was a wise and considerate woman!

JUST CHECKING IN

I'm still busy working six days a week getting ready for the humungous estate sale. And when you are over 70, working like that is much harder than when you are 20!! But, this type of work sure has its benefits when you are an antiquer (junker) like me. The workers have first crack at the goodies. The only rule is that someone else must do the pricing of the item you have your eye on. I've brought home quite a few wonderful things so far. Here are a couple of them.

The plate is Bavarian, the colors are luscious, and the bird is a delight - and only $3.00. Again for $3.00, this tiny (2 1/4") transferware pitcher is marked 'Rural England'.

I have lots more to show you on future posts. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, our garden did not get the message that I'm busy. Must do something about all of these tomatoes soon.

Enjoy a new week!

I'm linking up with the following parties:

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality
for Thrifty Treasures

and

Linda at Coastal Charm
for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

Check out these blogs for a plethora of thrifty finds.

MET MONDAY

Do you remember this chair? Probably not, as I introduced it in my second post two years ago. If you are interested, you may check out that post by clicking here.

I've been waiting and waiting until the time was right to have it reupholstered to rid it of it's ugly green vinyl. We have done some reupholstering in the past; but with its great channel back and sides, I figured it was beyond our capabilities and deserved a professional job.

I took several pictures under different circumstances and still couldn't capture the true color. It really is a wonderful, red tweed fabric. I'm in love all over again with this chair!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch
for Met Monday

and

Marian at Miss Mustard Seed
for Furniture Feature Friday.

Be sure to check these parties out for lots of inspiration.

My posts and visiting have been sporadic, at best, recently. I've been involved in an interesting project for the last three weeks. A friend of mine is the administrator of an estate with no heirs; therefore, everything must be sold. The deceased was a traveler and literally shopped the world, plus was the caretaker of lots of old family belongings. I was asked to help with the organization, pricing, etc. for the estate sale. My computer time has been spent doing research on different items and prices, plus I've been spending full time working at the site. We have about three more weeks of work before the sale can be held. Hopefully, I'll have a lot to blog about when my time is free again. I'll try to pop in once in awhile until then.

Enjoy the remainder of the summer.

KITCHEN ISLAND

The theme this week at Funky Junk Interior's
Saturday Nite Special is Kitchen Islands. I'm joining Donna and other kitchen island enthusiasts with pictures of our island. Be sure to go by Donna's to check the others out.

Our island happens to be an old meat block from a grocery store. Bob grew up working and cutting meat in his Dad's grocery store; so when we had an opportunity to buy a meat block, we jumped on it. This particular block came from the country store that was close to my family farm. They sold it to us for $50 when they went out of business in 1969.

The block part measures 24" x 30" x 13" high. It is made of solid maple. It was assembled with 1 1/2" strips of the maple, and is held together with bolts and pins that run through the entire block. Then it has these wonderful maple curved legs.

This island is so much a part of our daily lives, and our kids remember it as always residing in our kitchen. One of our criteria in buying a house has always been, "Is there a place for the meat block?"

It is lower than regular kitchen counters, so it is perfect for us 'shorties' to roll pie crust or knead bread. I'm always amused when there is a group in the kitchen, you will always find Bob and I and our two kids crowded around and jockeying for position around the meat block to make our lunch sandwiches. The grandkids and others are always relegated to the regular kitchen counters.

A SIDE NOTE OF NOSTALGIA:
When we first acquired the meat block, our first born was still sleeping in a crib. His crib had these sturdy casters on it; and he soon learned that if he jumped up and down in the crib, he could move it across the hardwood floor all around his room. After a couple of near-miss accidents, he, at the age of one, lost the privilege of wheels. We took the wheels off of the crib and put them on the meat block to give this 300 pound hunk of wood more mobility. Even today after 41 years, I always think of my bouncing baby boy when I'm able to move the meat block to clean under it!

By the way, he is a very good driver today; but at the age of one - not so good.

COMMONPLACE BOOKS

There is an Altered Art Party going on at the
French Cupboard.
I thought I would join in even though I am not very creative when attempting altered art, but I happen to have my step-great-grandmother's commonplace book from the 1890s to show off.

Are you familiar with Commonplace Books? They are the predecessor of what today we know as altered art. Essentially they are scrapbooks filled with every kind of written word: quotes, letters, poems, tables, obituaries, drawings, etc. Readers, students, etc. used them as an aid for remembering things they had learned. Below is my step-great-grandmother's commonplace book from the 1890s. Always using what she had on hand, she took a previously read book and pasted her notes and clippings on the pages. She then embroidered a new cover for her scrapbook.

Tucked inside the front cover are some clippings that she never found time to glue in, including a news article about some one's suicide.

Tables of Weights and Measures and Marriage Anniversaries

Obituaries and Poems

Cute drawings for inspiration, as she was an artist.

Programs

Going through this book has given me a glimpse of a woman I barely knew. My great-grandfather, after being widowed with two young boys, came to Colorado from Maine in the 1880s to start a new life. After his boys were raised, he sent for 'Auntie Evelyn' to come west to be his new wife in 1897. She was considered a spinster at the age of 29 when she was dispatched to Colorado! We have the train ticket that he sent her for her journey. They were married for 41 years until his death in 1938; she lived until 1950 in the West, far from her family and in a place that must have felt so foreign to her.

Just a look into another time and era.