White Linen Slipcovers

I posted last week that I had tons to do in a short 7 days. I did accomplish a lot, pat on the back! Since that post I got these 5 finished, only 1 left to go…

CLEANED up after tropical storm IDA. We were not in direct path but still had strong winds that left us with a huge mess....28 leaf and lawn bags of green leaves, 4 trash cans of sticks, and husband cleaning off the roof with a blower for 35 minutes.

said goodbye to the baby and brought him over to David's family, his other grandparents & aunt

got some new “cascading swags” and put them in place

got some old swags down from the attic

decided where I want swags this year

doing up the kid’s rooms to celebrate their arrival

when I get back, the decorations will go on the swags

Polished some silver and got table ready for “A WHITE THANKSGIVING” post to follow this week….I've auto posted it! MOM....see the sterling silver soup spoons that you and Dad found for me to match our silver....that was a few years ago. Here they are, in all their silver-polished glory!

BEST NEWS OF THE MONTH……sold this today for Liz & David….got the check, had to make a second trip down to the Bay to deposit it

and now I’m packing this for trip to Boston

I really kicked butt this past week!

Harvest time

It’s what’s for dinner!

Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

LOVE LETTERS, RIPPED BOOKS, OLD BEACH SCENE, and WEST ELM

What do all these things have in common? They are my inspirations for doing over son’s old bedroom. I’ve been poking around in my attic, looking at all the things that were never brought downstairs since Katrina.

I found this lovely stack of old love letters, kept by Mrs. James H. Wahl, (Helen to her friends) or Great Grammie to her family. Great Grammie was a fascinating woman, a “Flapper” in her teens in the 1920’s, white water rafting in Colorado at age 85, and going around the world on the Queen Elizabeth II at 87. She loved life and lived to be 104 years young.

This one, written by her dad is to her future husband, is so fascinating. It’s dated July 31 ‘23.

Ward Bryant Hoag responds to James H Wahl giving his blessing and Helen’s hand in marriage. His reply was so gracious and etiquettely correct as those times were.

I found this old beach scene that we inherited from Great Grammie – I love the soft muted colors!

Can’t figure out who this artist is, but on the back of the painting is this…

“Bought at Columbian Exhibition in Philadelphia about 1890 – famous artist”

Jen at Sanctuary Arts at Home always inspires me….I bought these ripped, “coverless books” from her Etsy shop.

And last, West Elms Organic cotton pin tuck duvet and pillow shams…

very inviting and dreamy….

Little by little, this simple redo is coming together. It is chock full of family treasures and memories. I’ve got to get it finished before son comes home for Thanksgiving, which includes cleaning out the closet where I’ve been hiding all my unfinished projects. Uggh! So much to do.

Many thanks and blessings to all our brave men and women as we celebrate this Veteran’s Day!

I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday! Go check it out!

MORE WHITE LINEN SLIPCOVERS

Are you sick of these yet? I am about to be. This is prototype # 1 for the 6 dinning room chairs that I’ve been working on for, hhmmm….2 years maybe?

Maybe I should change my blog to SELF CONFESSED PROCRASTINATOR!

I’m on a roll, since I’m under a huge deadline….

I always get more accomplished on deadlines….

This is a tissue linen, very whispery! But ugh, I can see the tweaks I need to make. Nothing like a close-up pic to help me see mistakes!

Light weight linen makes it so easy to do these tiny pleats. I do these by hand, I’m about to buy a RUFFLER for my new sewing machine. Should make ruffles a breeze!

The monogram…..

The mess on the dinning room table….

One just about complete, minus some tweaks, 5 more to go of these…

the state of my dinning room…. a huge mess!

My deadline is a week, I’ve got to go on a trip, coming home just before Thanksgiving, when son and big black dog roll into town for the week. And I’ve got all those Christmas decorations to throw into place. Daughter, son-in-law get to leave Walter Reed for an extended Christmas break. This fact has me so motivated! I’m so thrilled that all my children will be home for Christmas, THAT IS ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

WHITE LINEN CHAIR SLPCOVERS

slipcovers!

My Heroes

These two wonderful children of mine are my heroes!

David has been working so hard to be able to use crutches. He is able to walk for short periods of time with crutches. Since he has mastered this balance skill, they were able to get a long weekend pass to leave Walter Reed and have a mini vacation any where they wanted. And they chose to drive 7 hours north on I-95 to visit my Mother. She has not been well, David has never met her. David was in Iraq 2 years ago during Liz’s last visit. My Mother was unable to travel South for their wedding a year and a half ago. They will spend time with my Mother. They have lifted her spirits tremendously, she has been devastated since the news of Dave's accident this past May. Liz is named after my Mother, using her first name, Elizabeth, and my maiden name as Liz’s middle name. Liz inherited all my Mother’s drive, determination, and spunk.

I am so proud of them both for packing up their Land Rover, wheel chair, crutches, and all, and making this drive. While Liz has made trips to Boston/Falmouth almost every year of her life, she has only flown this distance from Mississippi to Boston. She truly has drive, determination, and spunk! And we all know that David has these qualities, just witness his life these past 7 months!

Last night they enjoyed Lobster rolls at Liam Maguire’s on Main St Falmouth

On Sunday, they will do Sunday Brunch at the Coonamessett Inn meeting Capt Tom Bushy, MMA, and his wife, dear friends of ours and the best man at our wedding.

and I know a trip to Falmouth won't be complete for Liz unless she eats here

The Casino Wharf looking out on Vineyard Sound.

They have lots of cousins waiting to meet them, lots of treasured childhood spots that Liz can’t wait to show David.

May you have the most enjoyable weekend ever filled with glorious sunsets, tender moments, and treasured memories.

You both deserve all this and more!

WINTER LETTUCE

For the last year I’ve been so disappointed with the supply of lettuces at my 2 local grocery stores. They look good in the bag, the date seems fine, but when I go to serve them up….YUCK. They are starting to wilt and go bad. Such a waste of money especially when I buy the organic lettuces.

So I’m attempting, for the first time, to grow winter lettuce in pots on my patio table. I can’t put them in them ground unless I build a fence around the perfect little plot of land for growing vegetables…HINT HINT! We have tons of deer roaming day and night eating whatever they please.

My ROMAINE & RED SAILS lettuces…..

So far, they are looking good and the deer have not ventured onto the patio.

DOING THE DISHES

Returning from an extended break in blogging. Had a couple of trips, some soul searching, and trying to decide what we are all doing for the holidays.

Months ago, actually  weeks ago I started this project. I literally have been doing these dishes all these weeks.

I got more Hagerty storage containers from Amazon.com.  And I’m washing all these sets of dishes in the dishwasher to ensure they are clean before packing them away.

My gold banded  China dinner plate for 12, 6 Biltmore gold dinner  plates, 6 Biltmore desert plates and matching ^ Biltmore Christmas salad plates.

Set of  hand painted “Dine on the Bayou” for 12 by artist Susan Lumpkin of Charleston, SC.

Some of the American Atelier Baroque set for 8.

Set of China, Ireland by Nortake, for 10

 

a Christmas set for 12

 

 

Took me forever to wash all these sets, get them bagged up and put away.

 

Glad I did this, now dishes are all clean and ready to be used.

 

The everyday dishes, not boxed up….

 

in the cabinet…. have been collecting these Portmerion Botanic Garden for over 7 years.

 

I must have really confused my husband by having all the sets of dishes hanging around for so long. The other night I served soup in a bowl and salad on salad dish. Only the little green leaf band was visible. My husband asked “New dishes?”  I was shocked and he insisted he had never seen them before. I think maybe it was the 2 martinis before the soup and salad!