Magpie Ethel

Saving a Bit of the Past

Yesterday I posted about how I enjoyed hearing the story of the person who lived at the estate sale I shop at.  I like to know a little bit about the treasures I find.  It got me thinking how I make a point of saving or adding to pieces, so I know a bit more about them.  Like this cup.

The label that is peeking out of the child's cup reads "This cup was my son, William O. Miller's, first baby cup...December 1936.  Given to him by Grandma Quinn."  I will keep this label intact with this cup....I like the connection to the past.

Or this cup that reads "For Gilbert's Birthday 1941 from Mother and Daddy" If the sentiment has survived since 1941, I will do my darndest to save it too!

I also document on my end too.  I bought this amazing floral hand-stitched picture at an estate sale a number of years ago.  My memory is fading as the years pass and I go to SO many estate sales that on the back of this picture I clipped the estate sale ad from the newspaper and taped it to the back.  I also added the date when I purchased it. (8/2000).  It is my way of preserving a little story.

FABRIC FIND!

Part of the thrill of an estate sale for me is the story behind what I find.  I was at an estate sale recently and they had BOXES and BOXES of fabric.  Evidently the woman that lived in the house used to work at JC Penney's in the fabric dept.  She definitely had caught the fabric bug.  I usually don't do fabric.  I may pick some up here and there. I have passable sewing skills.  But as I was standing in the driveway waiting for the sale to start there was a whole sea of boxes full of fabric at $10 per box.  I resisted their pull at first, but then watched as another woman opened box after box and pulled out SOME REALLY COOL stuff.  The family running the estate sale said we could pick and choose and fill a box for $10.  The hunt was on!

I got about 15 pieces of barkcloth.  Not alot of yardage, but have thought about trimming some simple curtains in a patchwork of these yummy patterns.

The green fabrics are mostly upholstery fabric and the bottom cream colored floral has at least 10 yards.  The funky 70's fabric with the strawberries was just too wild to pass up.  I also got a bunch of sheeting.  Some has been made into pillow cases and some is just flat.  These are some of my favorite fabrics and I love the old patterns (I have a whole drawer full of past finds).  There was alot of yardage with these!

The woman also had bolts of fabric and fabric trim....it was quite the world of fabric!  Great fun sale to shop.  Now to get busy with some projects.

I Got a New Toy

My daughter and I had the same cell phone - a pink razer phone. I liked it fine, but then my daughter went and broke hers.  She has carried around an old style "brick" phone for a couple of weeks until we decided what to do.  Our contract wasn't up for a couple of months (and THEN we were eligible for a free phone) but  I decided to give her mine and buy a new Cath Kidston Nokia.  IT IS SO CUTE.  I love the floral Cath Kidston print on the side...totally a phone that looks like me.  Give me a call...can't wait to try it out!

How to Make My Day

I often come home from errands and find some treasure left for me by a friend who know what I like.  Often it is old Christmas balls that some relative wanted to get rid of.  I am more than happy to have them for my Christmas Wreaths that I make.  Today I came home and this little troop greeted me.   My friend Sally left them.  Her mother-in-law is downsizing and gave them to Sally who knew they would find the perfect home with me.  They are all the old "Gurley" candles, with original labels on the bottom.  10 pilgrims, 5 turkeys and one bent acorn candle (and tips to bend it back up straight?)  I of course have a collection of them that I display at Thanksgiving...so these little beauties will have tons of friends to join them!  Thanks for thinking of me Sally...you're the best!

College Weekend

This past weekend I had so much fun.  I went down to Eugene, Oregon home of the University of Oregon.   It was my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta's 100th anniversary on campus.  There was a wonderful weekend planned with campus tours, a banquet and just catching up with old friends.  I graduated in 1986 and there were about 25 gals from that era that came.  The U of O duck mascot was even at the banquet handing out pink carnations.  The girls and I ate pizza from our old haunt (Track Town), danced late into the night at Taylor's and just had a grand time.  We did have one male college student come up to us at the bar tho and ask if it was "Mom's weekend".  I guess we do look our age!

Isn't my sorority an awesome building?  It was built in 1925 and is on the Historical Register.  I lived in the house for two of my four years at U of O.  Such fond memories!

Craft Supplies

I love to use vintage finds when I craft.  It has gotten to the point with my collecting, that my craft supply is really quite amazing.  Take a look.

A box of vintage playing cards that I collect to use because of the darling illustrations.   I have more than can fit in this box!  I usually color copy the cards and use them in decoupaging.

A happy, colorful bin of thread covered balls.  Is there an official name for these little gems?  Again, I have more than can fit in this bin (and they are smaller)  I use them for bodies,  birthday hats, etc.

Two jars of vintage fruit that I use in my Carmen Miranda ornaments.  I especially love the turquoise blue ones.

An amazing assortment of old wrapping paper...again not the tip of the iceberg.  I have paper for all occasion, but especially Christmas.  Some has never been opened.  I swoon over the old graphics.

Scrabble letters....I can't pass up an old game.

And even tho I have so much stuff, it is pretty organized.  The lovely plastic bins hold vintage Christmas corsages, misc vintage Christmas, light reflectors, old millinery, etc.  The list goes on and on.

You can never have enough crafting supplies...or can you?

Vintage Birthday Candles

I have a problem with collections.  I have a lot of them.  They are all very well organized, but I collect a lot of different things.  One of the things I collect is vintage birthday candles.  I have a large jar of them in my kitchen. I am drawn to them for two reasons.  One, because I love the graphics on the boxes. Two, I am always amazed that they have survived in someones kitchen cabinets for forty or fify years without being thrown out. I probably have at least 50 boxes of these wonderful old candles (and NO, I do not use them...have never been in a birthday candle pinch). A lot of them I could not use anyhow as they have melted together over the years.

I do color copy the boxes and use them in some of my crafting projects, like my birthday hats. I like how they add that vintage feel.

How can a box of birthday candles not bring a smile to you face?

The Farm Chicks

I am on the mailing list for The Farm Chicks which is an awesome antique show coming up this spring.  So today in the mail they sent this cute window decal.  (ignore the black stripes those are part of my car window).  My mom and I went to this show two years ago and it was wonderful.  We road tripped up to the Spokane, Washington area stopping at all the little antique shops along the way.  We are doing it again this year and am excited to see so many of the blogs that I visit participating in the sale.  If you live nearby this is a GREAT SHOW!   Country Living Magazine will also be there and they often feature the show in their magazine.  Mark your calendars for June 7 and 8th!

Pink Transformation

This is one of the free "flesh" colored urns that I got from my pal Pam (previous post).  I cleaned them up with a wire brush and then painted the pair my favorite color - PINK.

They look really bright and happy next to the newly painted picket fence to my backyard.  They are pretty bright pink, but I am going to apply the concoction that is supposed to help moss grow and dull them a bit.  I really like how they turned out tho.

Spring has official sprung in my yard!

Repurposed Iron

I really like to use display and use things in an unconventional manner in my house.  I needed towel racks for the kitchen.  Currently we used magnets with a hook attached to hang dishtowels on the side of the fridge.  Unfortunately, the magnets scratched up the side of the fridge and, well, they weren't really a very CUTE way to hang the towels. VOILA...the solution!

As mentioned in previous posts about my kitchen I have alot of vintage green tin. (trays, recipe boxes, shelves etc.) I found this vintage child's iron at an antique shop.  I had been searching awhile for a companion in a similar color, but ended up with the fun turquoise blue one instead.   I had my hubby mount them to the wall and used a couple clips from IKEA to put thru the handles and clip the towels.

Totally fun and unique.