Days Gone By

Sometimes, I am certain I was born in the wrong era.  

Although, truth be told, I don't like to sweat, so air conditioning is a must.  

I don't like to be cold, so central heating is a must.

I don't like to wash dishes, so a dishwasher is a must. 

I like clean clothes and wouldn't like washing EVERYTHING by hand so a washer and dryer are a must.

I don't generally like cleaning, but I do like a clean house, so vacuum cleaners and other tools to make household chores easier are a must. 

I'm not high maintenance though.  Really.  I'm not.

Okay.... maybe a little.

Anyway, I do love old fashioned things which is probably why I (we all) love samplers so much.

Speaking of samplers:

This is my progress to date on Mary Gibson:

I can't wait to get to the Adam & Eve under that tree. 

Now that I've moved passed those alphabets where every letter required a change in thread, I'm making a bit faster progress.

Would you like to see some of the treasures I've found?

Keep in mind, these have all been found over time, I just took forever to take pictures.

(There's more too, but I'll show you a few today).

Ready?  Let's go!

Here's a pretty, old fashioned thing, don't you think?  

My dear friend Sheila and I saw it at an estate sale during one of our lunchtime forays.

I was too cheap to buy it.  

She bought it and surprised me with it!

Thank you, Sheila!!!

Normallly, if I see something I like, and it's not cost prohibitive, I buy it.

I saw this sweet wedding sampler yesterday at an antique store.  

Took the pic with my iphone - sorry it's not better.

I loved it, but I didn't buy it (and it wasn't expensive).

I must have had an aneurism.

At any rate, now I'm kind of regretting not getting it.    

Isn't it pretty and sweet?  

It makes me sad to think that this once belonged to someone, that it was stitched with love and that now, nobody in the family wants it.

How can that be?  

click on the picture to (hopefully) see it in bigger detail.  

The stitches are really pretty.

Darn it.

Things don't have to be 100's of years old for me to love them.

I found this table cloth at an estate sale for $4.  

I'm sure it's not terribly old.

But that doesn't matter.

I love all the embroidered flowers and the time it took to embroider.

I think it would make a lovely bed coverlet.

I have an antique, white iron bed that I think it'll be beautiful on.

Of course, the bed is disassembled and stored away.  

But one day.... when I have a cottage with a sweet, little guest room; this 

will go on the bed.

This is a child's desk I found at an estate sale, this past summer.

I think I paid $40 for it (a lot for me to spend at an estate sale) but it was in perfect condition and I thought it was worth every penny.

I usually have a doll sitting on the bench - not sure where she ran off to.

A lot of the things I love would be considered more "vintage" than antiques but I love them, just the same.

I am, as I'm sure you've figured out, always on the hunt for sewing related items.

I don't really sew.  My mom is a great sewer.  Me, not so much.

But, I appreciate the art of the needle and all things related.

Here are a couple of tiny things I've found recently:

The felted, pale green thimble "box" and the thimble hat pinkeep were tucked into the heart shaped sewing box, all for $4.

Eagle eye Sheila spotted these.

I think I showed you a couple of the crochet pot holders I found this past summer but I've since added to my collection.  

What is it about these?

I would never have made these and then used them to hold pots.  

My pot holders get really gross in no time at all.

I found a couple of them and Deb gave me the three red and white ones on the left side, plus the round one in the center.

Don't you love them?  

I've got them lining the top wall of my craft room.

I think they're adorable.

Check out the cotton slips on the blue dresses.

This is a pretty, old Whitman's tin that used to belong to my Aunt.

She was moving to a new place and my mom knew I would love it.

When she asked her if I could have it, she said yes!

It is, for me, a treasure.

I love the soft worn colors of it.  She used it to store sewing items and so do I.

These thread winders are actually hand made, mother of pearl, fishing lures.

I spotted them at an antique market.  They were on the proprietor's head.

On his fishing hat. 

 I had to have them and was not to be denied.  

Finally, he agreed to sell them to me but I insisted he keep the hat!  

I was lucky enough to get quite a few of these beauties and they are all different. 

Some are quite small and some, like these, are a bit bigger.

I love them! 

I think that's about enough for today but I'll show you one more thing before I sign off.

I spotted this last object in an ad for an estate sale in Virginia, not far from where my mom and dad live.

I sent Mom the link and told her she should go to the sale because it looked like it might be a good one and I thought there might be some antiques SHE would like.

Wink. Wink.

When she got to the sale, she looked but couldn't find the object I had told her about.

Thankfully, she asked someone and they found it.

I have never seen one like it.

And, even though I'm more of a dog gal than a cat gal,

I loved it!

See how shiny the drawers are on the side?

The whole thing is tarnished but I can't decide whether to polish it or not.

So far, not polishing it has won.

It's not a big thing.  It is about 3" tall and 3" deep and I love it!

Finally, I'll leave you with a pic of Rob and me at a birthday party for a great niece we went to last week.

As you may notice, I have grown my hair out quite a bit since I first started blogging.

I've also changed the color.  

I have hair ADD.

I've been a blonde, a brunette, an auburn and now a red head.  

I initially started growing it so I could pull it back when I run.  

It is now long enough to do that and is probably long enough for a 50+ year old broad.

Not the best pic in the world (taken with my sister in laws phone) but you get the idea.

Have a great week and thanks so much for the warm welcome back.

You all make me so happy to be a part of this blogging/stitching community and I truly appreciate each and every comment that you leave me!

Speaking of which - WHY oh WHY did blogger go to the new, two word format?

I HATE IT.

BLECH!

If you don't want to leave a comment, I'll be sad but will understand!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my finds  and I hope that you'll come back soon.  

Next post, I should have Ann Sandles back from the framer.  I can't wait to get her home!!

Peace!

Terri