Non-Traditional Christmas Decor

Normally I go all out for Christmas. Back in 2004, I think we had a total of 13 trees around the house-big and small. Every room was decorated to the hilt and it took 2 weeks to put up and 2 weeks to take down and clean.

That was the end of that.

Since then, some years were more festive than others, but still the house looked Christmasy and all was well.  This year, however, I didn't do much.  No full-size tree and no santa collection on display.  There's just too much swirling around keeping my attention and Christmas decorating kept being put on the back burner.

But finally I decided to throw a few things together and I couldn't be happier.

I adore the fireplace this year:

Since it doesn't scream, "Christmas", the design can be left up through the end of January.

My favorite antique mannequin is decked out in a festive vintage apron and I placed a cow muzzle on her head to look like a hat.  :)

The awesome cow sign was picked up in Springfield, Missouri this Spring for a whopping $5!  I hung a pair of vintage denim overalls that is sized to fit a doll next to the cow sign.

It's sort of a farmhouse-themed mantle this year with greenery intertwined with snowflake fabric.  A wooden barn stands at one end of the mantle and a house is at the other end with the vintage farm auction sign in the middle.

I stuck an old flower frog in the bottom of the white milk glass bowl to hold the candy cane and then I filled with colored lights.  It's really pretty at night!

The last card my mother sent to me before she had a stroke is always displayed prominently each Christmas since 2005.  Christmas was her favorite holiday and I like to think she decorates the heavens each year for the birthday of Jesus.  :)

Not photographed are two tabletop fiber optic trees.  They may be cheesy, but I enjoy them.

A simple Christmas.  I like it.

A Thimble For Your Thoughts

I was going through jars and jars of vintage buttons today to get ready for listing on Etsy when I came across this battered thimble.  It's so tiny I can barely fit it over my finger.

Imagine the beautiful quilts and clothing it helped to sew by aiding a pioneering woman back in the early 1900's in the central Kansas prairie.

Perhaps she created a couple of the hand-sewn quilts I will be listing on eBay this weekend.

It's just a tiny piece of history, but one in which imaginations start to run wild while trying piece together a life lived so long ago.

Turkey Coma

(Taken from a distance, so as not to wake sleeping beauty, by my iPhone)

Helen was in the midst of a turkey coma.

We had a lovely, yet quiet Thanksgiving yesterday.  My husband worked for most of the day, so we fixed a simple dinner and ate around 11 a.m.  I used our Nesco Roaster and placed a 6 lb. turkey inside. I then poured orange juice, cranberry sauce and one packet of onion soup mix over the top of the turkey and slow-cooked it from 4 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

At around 7, I put an entire bag of stuffing inside the roaster and added more orange juice.  The result was a deliciously tender turkey with very minimal work involved.  I doubt I will ever bake a turkey again, unless I have one too large to fit in the roaster oven.

Here's a link to a roaster similar to ours.  My parents gave us one for Christmas back in 2004, which is the one I used.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we thank you for your continued patronage!

Rocky Mountain Livery Barn, Canon City, Colorado

In a way, you can see by the lines of the architecture that this building was most likely the Rocky Mountain Livery Barn in the early 1900's:

View Larger Map

According to this old business / trade card, Stockton and Wood were the proprietors.  I wonder if any of their offspring still call Canon City, Colorado their home?

Are you interested?  Click here.

Early Sheriff Trade / Business Card Warren Pennsylvania

From the early 1900's.

Feedsack Child's Dress, Charm Packs, Buttons and Patterns!

My first discovered feedsack piece of clothing was discussed here.  It was a tank top made from a cheater-quilt feedsack pattern.  Just recently, I came across this child's dress, also made from feedsack material.

I am certain this dress was worn during playtime because the back seam was repaired using black thread-not ideal by any stretch of the imagination, but it worked.  I'm sure it was the only thread available at the time since this was most likely made and worn during The Great Depression, or shortly thereafter.

The dress was found at the very bottom of a garbage bag purchased at a northern Missouri farm auction earlier this Fall.  I love finds like this!  I currently have the dress listed in my Etsy shop.  The link is here.

If you haven't visited my shop recently, take a look around.  I'm in the midst of listing feedsack quilt square charm packs like this set:

Click this link to be taken directly to the listing.

At a recent central Kansas auction, I purchased 2 large flats of old buttons like these:

And, of course, vintage sewing patterns are being listed as time permits:

Look at the sidebar to your right for a link to my Etsy shop!  See you there!

Details

One thing you quickly learn about photographing abandonment is that we're all pretty much the same.  It doesn't matter if you grew up in the early 1900's or are growing up now; we like to deck the halls of our abodes; be they humble or opulent.

Finding these relics of happiness left behind make my work all the more enjoyable because I can start to picture life in some capacity as it was before the house sat empty.

Here, someone's handiwork is still tacked to the window frame.  The linen-like material has faded with time, dirt and spider webs have worked their way in, but it's still a stark reminder of the who in the who, what, where and why questions I continually ask as I peruse through a home left to deteriorate.

This particular home had no doors or glass panes left in the windows, a piece of furniture or two, a rotting roof and this curtain tie-back with a matching one on the other side of the frame.

To the individual who made these:  I want you to know your work is still being appreciated by the explorers out there who happen to stumble upon your once-beautiful home.

You are not yet forgotten.

- - -
Abandoned
Greenwood County, Kansas

Here is a LINK to my abandonment photographs on flickr.  If you are interested in printing a photograph, or having me print one for you, please don't hesitate to e-mail me and we can certainly come to an agreement.

I currently have a few listed on Etsy HERE.

Coming up in the next couple of days I will be showcasing a new project involving fabric and my abandonment photography, so please check back!

Feedsack Uses

You know the saying, "No matter where I roam; there is no place like home."

My mantra is slightly similar, though it doesn't rhyme, "No matter what I sell; there's still nothing like feedsacks."

It's no secret that I love feedsacks.  I adore their history.

I love the variety of feedsacks/flour sacks still in the vintage marketplace such as these that are in my personal collection:

The colors are still vibrant on this Beauty Bake Flour sack.

Once a flour sack, it now can turn into a pillow case!

This particular piece has the design for someone to finish by cross-stitching and then sewing up the case. The next one in my collection already has the design printed in color:

Just soak off the product sticker and you have a pillow case just ready to be sewn!

The two sacks above are a bit more commonplace, so you can only imagine my thrill when I found remnants of an old stamped feedsack at the bottom of a box full of quilting material.

It's rare for the stamping to have survived all these years since any contact with fluid will erase the stamp.

The sack has been cut all around the stamped design with the owner perhaps sewing up a baby's dress or even blocks for a quilt.  The ingenuity of the women continues to impress me.

In the same box, I found these two quilt blocks with the quilt pieces still pinned to each block.  The woman cut out the pieces in whatever was closest to her at the time; Sunday comics and lined stationary.

She used a delightful feedsack fabric for the butterfly quilt block.

This quilt block is just so sweet.

I listed the quilt blocks in my Etsy shop, if you are interested.  Please click HERE.              


There are so many things to love about collecting vintage items whether they are housewares, clothing or primitives.  But time and again, I find myself most enthralled with vintage fabric, especially feedsacks. I hope my love of feedsacks is passed along to you, as well.

Victorian Era Lace Sash

While in Emma, Missouri, I picked up a storage container full of odds and ends including antique lace still on the bolt, as well as vintage baby clothes and such.  Near the bottom of the box, I noticed an antique lace sash.

 It is in beautiful condition with rolls of exquisite cream-colored lace and pink ribbon.  The sash comes from a time of beautiful Edwardian fashion:

The auction listing for the sash is here.

If you enjoy that period of time, you will probably find this video to be most pleasing (turn up your speakers):

Just One More Sale. I Promise.

I said to myself and others that last weekend would be my last weekend of sales so that I could take the time to really concentrate on listing items for the upcoming holiday gift-giving season.  It was a fantastic plan until the auctioneer on Sunday told me about his auction this upcoming Sunday that is full of primitives and unusual antiques, soooooooo, I am eating my words and will allocate Sunday as the LAST sale this season because one look at the calendar, and I have a lot of work to do if I want to list auctions and add to my shop on Etsy.

So with that explanation behind me, I will leave you with some photographs taken on my recent auction excursions.

Please excuse the small lapse of new blog posts while I concentrate on preparing for the Christmas season!

Windmill on Main

Shouldn't every town have a windmill in the center of Main Street?

And if every town had a windmill in the center of Main Street with 3 levels of flower boxes including blooming seasonal plantings, wouldn't that be even better?

And if every town had a windmill on Main Street with 3 levels of flower boxes, then a brisk wind should also be included so that every single person visiting would be visually awed by the twirling of the windmill and leaves flying through the air.

It's the simple things in life, really.

- - -

Blackwater, Missouri

By the way, if you happen to love windmills like I do, have you checked out a few of my windmill photographs on Etsy?

Here's One.

And the other.