Kleas

recovered-week 4

It's still slow going on the basement project.  I can only really work on it when the boys are asleep, or when I bring the boxes upstairs to sort through.  This week I made it through a forgotten area of the basement where I have been storing some of my childhood toys/dolls/books that my mom asked me to relieve her of when I first bought my house.  They haven't been looked through in about ten years.  To my surprise I found two barbie wardrobe cases.

 
They were full of a weird assortment of barbie outfits.

And one shoebox that had six dolls plus one head. (?)

What is so strange about this (besides Ken's fiery red wig), is the eclectic mix of older and newer dolls and clothes here.  Stranger still is I have absolutley no memories of playing with these.  According to my mom, at twelve my sister packed up her Barbie's for good and even though I was only five at the time, I always followed her lead and put mine away for good too.

Still it was fun to look through the clothes...my favorites being the rustic handmade ones probably made by my sister or mom.  From these simple ones...

...to the more fancy party dresses.

Again, the question of what to do with all this...maybe I need to open an ebay shop...somebody might have a use for this stuff.  Do kids today even play with Barbie dolls anymore?  

recovered-week 3

Well, once again my basement saw little progress...but little by little I open a box here and a box there and eventually I will get organized.  This weeks recovered find is this sweet vintage paper doll/paper toy book.

(Julen helped me take pictures this morning...I just love those little toes)

As some of you know, before I had children and before I opened a preschool, I used to travel all over the world for work.  This sweet little book was something I picked up in San Telmo, a little antique market in Buenos Aires, Argentina while I was there for a meeting.  I had completely forgotten about it.  What a treasure.  It has some of the cutest illustrations. 

 
They'd make cute little dolls, don't you think?

Happy Friday!!

another great art party

Saturday night was the first of three summer scheduled art parties hosted by the wonderful Jen.  She really puts together the most thought-out and creative themes for these craft nights.  This time we painted ceramic tiles and white pottery with special paint and pens.  You really should see Jen's post on it...she has all the details there.  I love that Jen even put together an inspiration board to help get us started with some great visual ideas.  I was not feeling particularly creative so just copied what I liked and made the same birds Jenn did...I did use a different color though.

And i made one crazy colorful trivet...such fun to make this...reminded me of spin-art for some reason.

While at Jen's house I did a little shopping because when I heard she was making prints of some of her polaroids, I literally held my breath hoping I would see my favorite one in her shop.  And sure enough...

...it was.  And now it's just waiting for a frame before it goes on my wall.  You'd be missing out if you didn't stop by her shop to see her wonderful prints. 

Just a couple of random things...

...I was thrilled to learn that this post inspired two friends to do the same...Michelle and her daughters and Jenn and her co-workers have been busy cutting up old towels, t-shirts and sheets to do their part to help in the clean-up

...childhood friend Polly Letofsky who walked around the world to raise awareness for breast cancer has just published a book.  For anyone in the neighborhood, she will be at Stella's Fish Cafe tomorrow to do a book signing...please come and show your support!!   

recovered-week two

Week two of my recovered project saw very little progress.  It was a busy week with the winding down of Peanuts' first year of school and all the activities that go with it.  And now, since Wednesday, we've been trying to find our new summer rhythm...not an easy task when my newly graduated kindergartner is used to constant stimulation and spending so many hours with his friends.

To stay true to my commitment of my project, I went through two boxes around midnight last night.  One was a cardboard box filled with old college papers...a no-brain-er, straight to the trash...the papers had gotten wet, were soon to mold and WHY am I still hanging on to college papers anyway???

The second box, luckily a large plastic (and waterproof) tub, was full of vintage fabrics my mom had passed on to me some years ago.  Among the beautiful prints was this unfinished quilt top. 

I thought it was something my grandmother had made, but Mom laughed saying it was not possibly her mother's...the seamstress, the perfectionist...she always completed her projects.  Mom believes this to be my great-grandmother's although I guess we'll never know for sure.

One thing I do know for sure, is I will never be able to finish it.  Matching the pink fabric would be the first impossible task.  Also, for those of you who know me...I never did learn how to use a sewing machine.

There are many possible ways to re-purpose such a beautiful piece.  Of course I went straight to Flickr looking for ideas and just had to create another gallery of inspiration.
 
Some close-ups of the blocks show how very pretty the fabric is...however, it also brought to my attention how the points don't match up in the middle...my guess is they should?  Further proving it could not be my grandma's.

I have read that when tackling a huge purge project like this one it's best to follow these rules...try to touch the item only once and make an immediate decision about it....either put it where it belongs, give it away, or throw it away.  I think I'll need to add to that list and just start a box of "treasures I'm not yet ready to part with".  Being a rule-breaker is sure to have it's consequences, but this is how I'll have to deal with it for now. 

Happy Friday!

THIS, I can do

It's on all of our minds.  And I imagine that like many of you, I feel helpless and want to do something.  Anything.  This is something I can do.  The boys and I have been busy all morning cutting up old 100% cotton sheets into washcloth sized squares.  We'll be sending them off to Florida later today with a bottle of Dawn dish soap.  Whatever helps, right?  It's something.  Thanks to Cathy for directing me to Craft Hope's Project 8.  And thanks to Tonya for putting into words some of my frustrations over the devastation. 

This is someting I can do.  Maybe you can too?

recovered

Summer is here and I've got one big project on my to do list...organize the horrible mess in my basement.  I realize this is no small task, so I'm going to go at it little by little.  To help keep me focused, I'm adding a new category here.  Recovered will highlight my findings as I slowly get through and organize every box and bag that has piled up.  My hope is, by the end of summer, I will have my own space where I can create.

A little history on the origins of this chaos...

I bought my house fourteen years ago and over that time I've had quite a few different roommates.  There was a time, though of about four years when I lived by myself.  I easily filled every space and dedicated the second floor to all my art and craft supplies.  Then, we were two.  To make room for my sweetheart, I moved my things out of closets and packed others away.  Years later we became three...then four.  The second floor remained mine, but things were getting a little crowded in the main living space, so we decided on a redo of the upstairs.  Thats when we got this amazing floor.  We were given about 24 hours notice that our friends were coming to help install it...EVERYTHING had to go, and fast.  So into bags and boxes and cabinets and trunks the contents of the entire second floor went and was moved to the basement.  Where it has remained ever since.  Until last month when I got a wake up call when the water heater burst.  Yipes.  Water saturated boxes and their contents had to go, yet I was quite lucky no major treasure was lost.  But it's time.  Time to liberate myself from the confusion it has become.  (Maybe if I feel brave enough, I will post a before picture). 

My first recovered treasure:

I came across this sweet dress that was buried in a disintegrating brown paper bag.  My mom had packed up some of my baby clothes for me when I was soon to be a mom,  which means I probably had not looked in the bag for over six years now.

It's really the sweetest dress, but terribly stained.  It's a Polly Flinders and while they don't appear to be in production today, there's still plenty of interest in them.

I remember this dress very well.  It was a gift from my god-parents and I recall wearing it ALOT.  I even found a photo of myself in it at three.

 
  
I gave the dress a good soak in some Oxy clean and while not all the stains came out, it looks so much better.  Here's a before/after shot.

Now I just need to find it a good home.

Also in that decrepit bag were lots of ballet slippers, baby socks, moccasins and baby shoes.

Don't you just love the bell?  I guess this was a common thing to do back then.

 

I don't know much about these shoes but am guessing my sister, brother AND I all had a turn wearing them at some point.

Two pairs were in their original boxes.

Both have such sweet details.

 
   
So wish me luck on this summer challenge...if anyone has any brilliant ideas to share on organizing one great big mess, I'd sure love to hear it.

Happy Friday!

a first for me

With all the thrifting and garage sale hopping I do, it may be surprising to hear that I just recently went to my very first estate sale...ever.  I think I always felt intimidated by all the advertising and assumed there would be masses of cut-throat antique dealers going wild.  That was SO not my experience.  It was lovely.  Three children were helping their elderly parents clear the house of years and years of stuff after leaving their home for an apartment.  It was personal, it was nice.  The "kids" (all in their late sixties/early seventies) shared stories and history about a lot of the items for sale. 

Here are some of the things I bought

 
Vintage needlework (of course), feed sack aprons ("made by mom") a paintless paint book from 1938, french workbook from the 50's, Vera napkins and my very favorite find...the green box.

Because while digging through piles of linens and dozens of pillbox hats, I came across this mysterious men's shirt box.  What a wonderful find.  I savored every moment of lifting each layer off and discovering all the beautiful treasures there.

I was told by one of the kids that the colorful pieces in the middle are cup cozies that were crocheted to fit over colorful aluminum tin cups that yogurt used to be sold in.  I imagine them to look something like this.  They remind me of tulips...or maybe future doll skirts.

I think I actually held my breath when I got to this layer.  All the small lace pieces and sweet bumpy trim.  I couldn't help but think of the woman who made all these delicate pieces and bought all this trim that never was used.  I think she and I would have gotten along very well.

I tried to lay all the pieces out collection style ala Camilla Engman.

I think I could have fun with these.

While this may have been my first estate sale, it certainly will not be my last.

i was feeling stitchy

the moment I read about Feeling Stitchy's Rainbow of Stitches contest.  In fact, almost immediately I stitched up this violet sachet.  It got me thinking about trying to do one stitchery for each color category...there are nine...ROYGBV + white and pink and black.  Hot off my little sachet making frenzy, and with birds on the brain, I got the idea in my head that I would stitch nine bird theme sachets.  With a month in front of me it seemed fun and doable.

I searched the internet and found some free patterns and got busy.

red

pattern found here

blue

pattern found here

green

A failed attempt to stitch with white floss on white wool (the stitching was barely visible) led me to experiment with this next piece.  I just gave it a bath of green food coloring mixed with water.  I was surprised the thread didn't hold the color.

pattern found here

then...whoops...red again?

pattern found here

Then...that was it.  May got extremely busy.  And now the contest is over and these were all I had time for.  And I've yet to make them into sachets.   

But since I have all these patterns, I'll probably stitch some more of these in the near future.

 

Happy June!!!