Family Heirlooms

We have some treasured family heirlooms so I’m joining Julia’s Hooked on Fridays and Marie’s Heirloom Party.

Grandparents’ beautiful mahogany highboy. They lived in Longmeadow, MA. What a beautiful small town Longmeadow is.

The lowboy that matches highboy. Both these pieces had to be refinished after Katrina.

All the silver came from different family members.

More silver, we also have a complete set of flatware and tons of silver serving pieces. Always need polishing!

The E.N. Welch clock made in Connecticut dated 1854.

The fob from the gold watch that was given to great-great Grandfather by the Dutchess County Society of New York. I think it is a medical award, as he was a physician. The watch is in a safety deposit box.

The document that shows Great-Grandfather took possession of “different pieces of Spanish coins from the Spanish S.S. Piscaya". It’s dated 1898, before the rules about taking sunken treasures were implemented. Coins are in safety box also.

The AMAZING Family Bible. Thank God this was up high in a cabinet so it did not flood.

The illustrations are beautiful and a wealth of information.

The births start in the year in the year 1734, someone has kept amazing records through all these years. Since I’ve inherited this, it’s up to me to update it.

The marriage certificate of countless grandparents ago, Jean George Wahl and Elisabethe Burg. They were married by Louis Philippe, Roi des Francais in the year 1832. This is only a copy of the original. Maybe we’ll get the original certificate someday.

There are many other little things, scattered about, but I fear I might be boring! Yawn.

Check out both parties today.

A little RUFFLE love

Isn’t this beautiful? It’s not mine but I wish it was!

This was my inspiration from SEW THAT’S IT. Check her out, she does beautiful slipcovers. She has a ruffler attachment, I do not, sniff! sniff! I could buy one, but I would have to buy a whole new machine, it could become costly. I’m still thinking about it, I would get a machine that monograms also.

I LOVE the RUFFLES in place of welting. It really gives the slipcover a unique look.

Today I’m working on this chair. It belongs to daughter and SIL. I promised her I’d make a slipcover for it. And I get to use it temporarily. Miller remembers this chair.

I’m using unbleached muslin from Wal Mart, $2.00 a yard.

The muslin is soft and lightweight, so making the ruffles by hand is easy. This would not work well with a heavier weight material. Miller loves the softness. I go through lint rollers like crazy but they work, picking up Miller hair everywhere. Later if daughter likes this look, I can use this muslin slipcover as a pattern to make a new one for her. Some day, she and husband will be back living in a house again. Hopefully near the beach. Some lovely linen, perhaps?

I think I need to rip some seams out and cut down the cushion band a little. Too much extra material there!

The travels and metamorphosis of a Trumeau mirror

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting a thrifty party.

Today I decided to take a break from sewing slipcovers and look at some other projects. It seems every room in my home is undergoing some degree of metamorphosis. So I joined the Metamorphosis Monday Party a Susan's Between Naps on the Porch.

I actually found the disc of pictures that I managed to snap before we evacuated for Katrina. It is amazing to look back at these. Here is a picture, circa August 2005 of 2 of my favorite pieces. This is a Trumeau mirror over the Drexel Heritage chest that held all my undies. The chest flooded and swelled, the drawers could not be opened. Consequently I lost all my underwear and my favorite chest. The mirror was fine. I have no clue what happened to the swags and jabots. They were lovely, the front was a silk.... tiny peach and white check, lined with a soft grey damask the matched the grey on the walls. We likely threw them out in the trash pile. Yes, I have ALWAYS sewn for my home. I actually made my first all white sofa slipcover 26 years ago.

When daughter moved to Shreveport in 2007, I gave her the mirror. As many of you know, she and husband are now living at Walter Reed indefinitely. I packed up all their belongs in Shreveport, moved them back here to store. I decided to repurpose my old mirror to a guest bedroom that I’m in the process of metamorphasizing. Is this a word?

A little worn for all it’s travels and trauma….

But still lovely with lots of relief details…

the beginning of whitewashing…

I have a great project planned to make a table to go underneath it…hope to get working on it soon

Be sure to check out Susan’s party.

Anichini thing becomes a pillow

I’ve had these 2 Anichini linen things for years, never really sure what to do with them. They were put away in a drawer, and I got an idea to use the smaller one.

This is a table runner, I think…

Here is the little creamy one

Cut a piece of canvas duck to match, stitched it up and…

a new pillow!

Sofa is done, moving on to more slipcovers

“Honey, It’s All in the Shoes”

Look what I won! Thank you so much ~SOUTHERN LADY~. By chance if you haven't checked out her blog, go now. Read all about Miss Phyllis, …Phyllis Hoffman is the president and chief executive officer of Hoffman Media, LLC. What is Hoffman Media, You ask???? It’s the magazine publishing company for Southern Lady, Cooking with Paula Deen, Victoria, Tea Time, Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, Taste of the South, Just Cross Stitch, and Sew Beautiful!!! Can’t wait to read this book!

~SOUTHERN LADY~ is hosting a shoe party this Friday. What fun….check it out here and here for some divine shoe inspiration.

RED ROOM MAKEOVER, PART II

My little red room is slowly getting a total makeover. I actually started redoing this room last July, with paint. I decided a year ago that I needed to lighten everything in the house. I’m still working on it!

This room has always been an “EVERYTHING” room. I know, I know rooms should only have one purpose according to lots of HGTV shows. But in the real world, we have to MUTI-PURPOSE our rooms.

My last post showed some slipcover work, here’s a preview of other spots in this little room. I’ve taken a break from sewing to do some creative and fun projects…

My redone office space. Made the Memo Board from a mirror, hunted done some more of hubby’s cigar boxes to store stuff. So glad hubby keeps me supplied with these little boxes, despite his nasty habit!

Always wanted to make one, love how it turned out.

There are a few more pieces of furniture that intend to paint in this room. Other then the material for the slipcovers, my only other expense might be a rug to go over the 8 X 10 red Chobi rug. Wish I could PAINT IT!

Hopefully red room makeover, part III will be soon, I have to clean up by this Friday when hubby comes home. He would be in shock if he saw what a mess the rest of the house is!

Hooked on SEWING SLIPCOVERS

Thanks Julia for another HOOKED ON FRIDAY’S PARTY.

I’m finally motivated to finish some of my sewing projects. I have a huge block of time (2 weeks) to be home and undisturbed. I don’t have a sewing room, sniff, sniff, so I make use of the dining room table for cutting and pinning. And what a mess it all makes. I started these projects months ago, had to put everything away due to company and all the traveling that I had to do.

So the mess starts here then travels to the laundry room where sewing machine is set up and of course the ironing board lives.

I’m working on the canvas duck slipcover for this red sofa in a small room. Yes, threads are everywhere, as I walk back and forth through rooms. This is a very simple slipcover, intended to be loose and IMPERFECT! HA…. that is quite easy to achieve!

It worked out that one whole piece covers the back and the front, so I didn’t make extra work cutting and stitching where these 2 pieces would normally be stitched together with cording. The back cushions are so big and comfy that they hid this, so why make extra work?

This is the bottom where bottom cushions sit being pinned to the front where top cushions sit. The bottom panel is not the duck canvas, I want to save any extra duck in case I need to make a new cushion cover or two. So I used a cotton $1.00 yard from Wal-Mart, it does not show.

Pinning the panels for the side arms, this took many trips to the sewing room and back to get them as tight as possible.

See how loose this one is below, fixed it a few times to make it snugger.

I still have 2 bottom cushions left to cut and sew, and the skirt needs to designed and attached. I’m debating to go ruffle, tailored, or the easy way out….heavy off-white cotton bullion fringe. Here’s how it looks, I should finish cushions today, hopefully.

Love the difference, good bye red, hello white!

Made these pillows earlier in the week. The natural flax linen look material came from Wal-Mart, it’s cotton and was CHEAP. I stenciled on the white design with fabric paint.

Very happy with these…material for 2 pillows…$4.00, stencil was $4.99 from Michael’s.

Still got to finish the white linen slips, back to work.

I’ll be sewing for at least another week if I can stand the threads and mess!

Pricing MY $pace

Make sure to check out the party here

I’m a little late to the party, but decided to try some pricing Nester style. This is is sure a lesson in reminiscing the years! Lots of things were brought many years ago,

survived Katrina, and are still well loved. The newer items cost a little more then the items they replaced. We felt fortunate just to be able to find furniture, had to go to Mobile for most of it.

A Bought the entertainment online, $1200 plus shipping. It was a hubby compromise, as he wanted that way too big TV. I figured if I had to have it in living room, it needed to sit in something pleasing to me.

That sweet little table was a $10 flea find many years ago. Had it refinished after Katrina. Leather Louis chair I got for $150 on sale at Bronstein’s in Mobile

C My favorite chair, Drexel Heritage, $600….when Bronstein’s had a tent sale

Letter D here if for the table, there’s a similar one on other side of sofa. These were steals at Hudson's salvage center about 24 years ago, both for $100. They are slightly Chippendale style, they need to be refinished as they have Katrina water damage on legs.

E Hubby’s leather sofa came from Bronstein’s also, $1500.

My favorite tufted chair. I paid $50 for it from a neighbor that was moving about 22 years ago. It is made by Drexel so it was a steal. I had it recovered before Katrina, then when all my 7 wing chairs were stolen, I pulled this back into house much to hubby’s dismay. It dried out fine, had it reupholstered, and looks great. Wished I had pulled all those other chairs in.

G Had this chair made custom at a North Carolina factory that has since shut down, Hunt Galleries. I bought the silk material on sale for 3 chairs for about $100, this chair and the other 2, letter I, below, ran around $700 with freight.

H little table was $50

My favorite chest, J, was $200 from a antique store many years ago. It wears the years well.

Sorry for these 2 fuzzy pictures, all items on mantel were gifts.

My Chinese rug was purchased 25 years ago, $1000, it too bears the scars of the years, coffee table was $200

I didn’t price the lamps, pictures, etc. No way can I remember what most of them cost. And I still need to do my Lampapalooza post!