Nostalgia at its best...Chair Accents

It's Wednesday already, what can I blog about? I   walked through my house this morning looking for inspiration.  I noticed an old crocheted pillowcase that I was using on a guest bed as a sham had a rip about halfway up. I did not want to discard the crocheted end as it is so pretty. I cut the end off so that  it fits on the back of a sewing chair I had in the corner. I will hem it later but you get the idea. The Green Awning Gallery has some pretty cases for sale.

Years ago, I found this piece at a garage sale.  When I went to pay for it the lady asked me if I knew what it was. I told her it was for a chair back. She informed me that I was the first person to know what it was. I put it on the rocking chair that my Mom used to rock her nine children. The chair was from her Mother so it has a lot of sentimental value to me, especially as I was named after my Grandmother Kathryn.

One more chair back covering that I have enjoyed is a small pink "dickey" that I found at another garage sale. It is just a fun addition to a small desk chair. I am always looking for more as I have a sister who wants them for her home.

You can make a chair back adornment from an old runner that isn't perfect.   Many have beautiful embroidery, tatting and crocheting on the ends. Cut off the end that is good,fold it in half, sew right sides together and turn it right side out and you have a beautiful chair accent.  The Green Awning Gallery has some beautiful linens you could adapt to fit a chair. I love when you stop in and show me things you have made.  Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Peaches

There is nothing more delicious than a juicy peach on a hot summer day.  When I was young I would eat the skin and all of a peach but I have lost the taste for that!  The juice still runs down my arm sometimes as I eat one and I feel like a kid again.  Tom has had a good crop this year.  Here's  picture of  his prize winning peaches.

My friend gave me a recipe that makes it easy to freeze peaches and they are so tasty mid winter.  I think you will want to try this!

Freezing Fresh Fruits                    
6 cups water
4 cups sugar
1  box  (6 oz.) peach Jello
Scald jello and add sugar.  Let cool and pour over fresh fruit in freezer boxes. Fill boxes with syrup 1" below top of fruit to allow for freezing. One batch does about 9 pints.
When it is strawberry season, use the above recipe and substitute strawberry jello to freeze strawberries.

I have never mastered the art of pie baking.  My Mom was renown for her pies and tried to teach me.  She could stand beside me and I would do what she did step by step and her dough would be perfect and mine had issues!  But I do love a good peach pie.  That is a hint to one of you pie bakers. You know where the Green Awning is located. Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Plates and Hammocks

I like old plates and platters and when I get them from an estate for The Green Awning Gallery, they are not always perfect.  Some are cracked or chipped and it is hard for me to dispose of them as I think they are still lovely. One way I have found to use them is to hang them on my fence. I grouped some on an outer panel  and I hope those passing by  are enjoying my display.  

  As I look out my kitchen window, I see two arrangements in the corner of my fence.  Even though the plates are not so perfect, they are beautiful to me.  Tom laid a square of bricks for me and on a lazy Sunday afternoon I hang my hammock and snooze and read.

I remember walking up the hill to my Aunt Annie's and Uncle Ray's and playing in their hammock, a novelty for my siblings and me. How we loved climbing in and out of it. There were frequent tumbles but   that was all part of the fun. To be honest, I still have not mastered the art of mounting a hammock. I am thankful that mine is hung in a secluded corner so no one can see me when I take a tumble.  Due to the fact there is more "meat" on my bones than there was when I was young, all that is hurt is my pride!

The Green Awning Gallery has a lot of pretty plates, bowls and platters among all our merchandise, so come in and get 25% off any that you buy the week of July 17th - July 21st.  Just mention that you read my blog.  Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Handkerchiefs

When I see an old cloth hankie I am immediately transported back to my childhood.  Who doesn't remember their Mother  getting the hankie out of her Sunday purse to give you a "spit bath" on the way to church?  One not so fond memory is  returning a hankie to my pocket or purse once it was used! I don't remember using paper tissues until maybe Jr. High age.

I have just acquired around 175 hankies from two estates. My first lesson in ironing was on cloth hankies and I still enjoy  seeing how crisp and pristine they look after they are washed, starched and ironed.  Add these hankies to the approximately 250   I already have in The Green Awning Gallery and that makes for a lot of hankies!  I have a few sets that are still  in the original gift boxes. 

  

As a rule, I do not carry a cloth hankie but I have discovered some other uses.  I have tacked a couple of hankies on the fronts of pillows on my spare bed. 

                                     
 

    

I have an apron at The Green Awning Gallery made out of cloth hankies and an apron that the seamstress added a hankie  for rhe pocket.








Hankies can be arranged in a shadow box with some other beloved treasures or framed by themselves.  I have some beautiful crocheted edged ones with crocheted butterflies in one corner that would be ideal for framing.

A hankie that is extra lovely is a thoughtful and meaningful gift to slip to a friend who is grieving the loss of someone dear to them,  when you attend the visitation or funeral.

 


I've packaged the hankies in cellophane bags with old sheet music  labels so they are ready to give as gifts. Come to The Green Awning Gallery July 10th - 14th and get a free hankie of equal or lesser value if you buy two.  Until then....  

Nostalgia at its best...Bottles

Old bottles have always fascinated me. As a child, I remember walking back the dirt lane to the woods  where an old gravel pit held decades of unwanted items. Although things were thrown there as trash, to a child they were treasures. I searched for old bottles, carried them home and washed them outside in an old galvanized tub.

I still search for bottles and have some special ones. My kitchen window sill is home to 3 old blue Geritol bottles and all summer long they are filled with single stems of flowers from my perennial bed.

A clean clear bottle is great for displaying old photos. My Grandparents, Parents, and my Grandmother as a young girl all reside in a bottle. You can easily do this yourself by making a copy of a photo and rolling it up as tight as you can to get it into the bottle. Use a pencil to help unroll and   position the photo so it fits to the contours of the bottle. The Green Awning Gallery has bottles that will work for this project.

I made a bottle chandelier to hang by my front door. I found a light fixture I liked at a Thrift Store, took out the inserts that held the bulbs, turned it upside down and stuck the bottles in with silicone. After it set, it was easy to hang as it already had a chain. 

I copied an idea from my friend Jodi Repp.  You can display bottles in your flower beds by sticking dowel rods or metal rods in the ground at the angle you prefer and putting a bottle on them. Jody is the owner of   Exotic Scents Flowers and Gifts in Montpelier. Find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Exotic-Scents-Flowers-Gifts/190831752096

Bottles look great displayed on a shelf, used as a container by your sink for your liquid soap or filled with marbles or other collectibles. Of course there are many bottle trees out there for purchase or you can make your own. The list goes on and on as far as uses for bottles.

The Green Awning Gallery recently purchased hundreds of bottles of all sizes and colors. All bottles will be 25% off the first week of July if you mention our blog! We also are busy pricing items purchased from two more estates. 

I enjoyed my time in Texas and now that I am home, I plan to add a new post each week, probably on Wednesdays. Until then....

Nostalgia at its best...Feed Sacks

My first post from The Green Awning Gallery features printed cloth feed sacks.  I remember going with my Dad to the hatchery to buy feed and seeing the colorful feed sacks stacked in rows. And I can almost smell the chickens and feed and  feel the dust up my nose!  

These sacks were used by thrifty farm wives during the depression and the war years. If they needed more material to finish a project, they would give their husband a scrap with instructions to get another bag of feed with the same print. The owner of the hatchery was used to a farmer sheepishly pulling a scrap from his pocket and asking for feed in a bag with that print.

Some prints had borders and were ideal for making curtains, tablecloths and dish towels. Other prints made lovely dresses and mens shirts. The not so pretty prints sometimes ended up as boxer shorts for the husband since he chose a print his wife did not like!

I have about 100 feed sacks with 28-30 different prints. All are approximately 36" x 22" or 27" inches so when the stitches are removed they would be a yard long and 44" to 54" wide. If you remember these as a child, you will enjoy the childhood memories they invoke. If you are too young to remember, you will be amazed at the resourcefulness of our parents and grandparents.

Of course this is just one category of the hundreds of items at The Green Awning Gallery. I plan to feature items periodically that inspire nostalgia, but you will want to come in frequently to see the "new" estate items that we continue to purchase and display in our store. 

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