Tuesday, March 29, 2011

White Wednesday

Aunt Maggie's Room

Previously, I had shown you Aunt Sarah's room. I thought you might like a visit to Aunt Maggie's room.
The view from the door.

Flowers on the mantle


The window from the east


The wash stand.


Sweet flowers say welcome!


The dresser




The bed has a sweet Battenburg lace coverlet and pillow shams.
My grandaughter Chelsie has adopted this room as her own.
She calls it her "apartment".


I did the painting on the walls.
The wooden strips are actually wood.
Years ago, instead of plaster to cover the sheet rock seams they used wood strips.
Since the wood strips were real, I thought I would paint them to look like a garden trellis.


My dad made the pie safe.  I use it to store my garden books.


He also made this piece.  I am so blessed to have things he made to remember him by.



This piece was made years ago for my great aunts.  They used it to display the  handmade quilts, dolls, baskets and tatting that they made. My great aunts were very industrious and hard working.


This is one of the dolls that Aunt Maggie made.  They have hand sewn faces and hair and jointed legs and arms. They wore red, pink, yellow and turquoise checked dresses.  Aunt Maggie never married, never had any children of her own.  She probably made hundreds of these.  I guess they were her babies.


Here is a collection of some of my family pictures.
They picture lying down on the chest was my Aunt Flossie.
She had placed a caption at the top of the picture.  It reads,  "Do you ever get the feeling no one really loves and misses you?"


My great aunts, Flossie, Sarah and Maggie  when they were young.


Here they are when they were older.
From left to right.  Flossie, Sarah, my great grandmother Buena and Aunt Maggie.
Aunt Maggie was the dearest, sweetest, little lady.
My great grandmother was blind when this picture was taken.
My only memory of her is of her touching my face to "see" what I looked like.


This was my grandfather, H. T.  The H stood for Hiram, I not sure what the T stood for, but every body called him "Tot".  He was a very handsome man wasn't he?


The high chair was mine when I was a baby.
My dad also made the little wooden cabinet.


All the rooms have these wonderful shutters on the doors for privacy.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour.  I apologize for the quality of the pictures.  I have a new computer and I have not figured out how to edit my pictures.  Everything I know about computers I have learned from one of my three children.  Guess I need to call one!

See you soon,
Tommye

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A Spring birthday!


My daughter Angie celebrated a birthday recently!
In years past we always went out to eat, but we decided that since we have this wonderful old home we should make some new memories here.


When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said buttercups, forsythia, tulips and pansies.
She and her husband have recently bought a new home and it is lacking all the plants that shout spring.
She received numerous bunches of buttercups, two flats of pansies, two flats of tulips, several hyacinths and two forsythia bushes.  Angie is making a birthday bed.  Each year when spring comes she will be reminded of this birthday.


Everybody gets two desserts.  I made Angie a birthday cake that is white cake inside and a chocolate ganache cake.


We had the party on our back porch.  It is a transition area between shop and house.
There is Plexiglas over the screen so that we can enjoy the porch even on cool days.
But as luck would have it, we had a beautiful day.


I used some of the plants I gave her to decorate the tables.  You could smell the daffodils all through the room.  It was wonderful and we had a perfect day!


We had chicken salad on croissants, potato soup, pasta salad, fruit salad, an assortment of sandwiches for those who didn't like chicken salad and a wonderful strawberry fruit drink.
My grandson Scottie and my granddaughter Chelsie are getting ready to dig in!


It was a wonderful party!!!!!


Strawberry fruit drink

7 cups white grape juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of strawberry puree
4 cups sliced strawberries

Combine first three ingredients and chill.  Add fresh sliced strawberries one hour or so before serving.

There was a little white grape juice left from the half gallon that I had purchased. 
I made ice cubes from grape juice and additional strawberry puree.  I placed a strawberry half in each section.  I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of this.  It really made the drink.  So very pretty!


It's always fun to celebrate!  Happy birthday "Ruby Jean"!!!
(Her name is Angie Marisa, but for some reason I have nicknamed her Ruby Jean.  Why?  You got me.)


See you soon,
Tommye


Take time for family.  They are really what life is all about!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Sweet, Sweet Spring!

More new wreaths and arrangements.


Here is a sweet wreath made with white dogwood and a handmade pillow by my mom.  She makes her pillows entirely by hand.  Mom can never be still for long.  She always wants to be doing something.  She first started making these a few years ago when dad was in the hospital.  Now she does them at night when she's resting or during bad weather.


Peach poppies and blue lilacs in a grey planter resting on a precious green child's chair.


Pink tulips and blue larkspur with white lily of the valley.
Blue  pansies in white milk glass.


A sweet small wreath with forsythia and a birds nest.


Pink and white tulips in a basket.
One of two chocolate bunnies that I "HAD".  There is now only one.  It's twin met it's accidental death at the hands of my husband.

Oh well, it is what it is.
Husbands, what would we do without them?
I know my life would surely be dull!

Well, I've got to get back outside.  This is our last day in the 70's for a while.
See you soon,
Tommye

Sunday, March 20, 2011

"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring." - Gerard Manley Hopkins



I know, I  have been absent far too long!



I've been busy working on new Spring items for the shop.
Just trying to "fluff" the place up and make it look like Spring.


What's more spring-like than apple blossoms, dogwood blossoms and roses I ask you?


I've also been very busy outside trying to rid the yard of last year's "faded glory".



I promise to post more regularly.
Really, I promise.

See you soon,
Tommye