I found another treasure trove of free redwork/embroidery patterns!  This blog is full of her vintage finds. Check it out stitching fans!

Can it be?? Rumor has it Victoria Magazine is to be relaunched this year!  Check it out here and here. 

Stay tuned for the wild Starry Sky update.  I am being paged to check a doe in labor….

I snagged some fun things while thrift shopping this past month and meant to share some pics:

I could not pass this one up! It was tucked down on a bottom shelf in between pots and such. I wasn’t at all sure what to do with him but my mother suggested soaps and that turned out to be perfect. He is living in my bathroom now. : )

Then I saw this frame:

One should never pass up a scrollwork frame. Even if said frame must live in your hallway while you decide what to do with it. <g> So here is it while I toss around the options: white distressed finish? black? mirror? padded fabric ala bulletin board……  Time will tell.

Some virtual window shopping fun here

"I can truly say I live from the crumbs of the rich man’s table and have for almost all of my life." So writes Emma Byler in Plain and Happy Living, one of a couple books I am devouring this month. Emma writes about growing up Amish in the Depression and about how they not only survived by thrived with very little. About that table she says, "Bones others would throw away can be cooked and bits of meat taken off. the gristle, fat, and skin can be fed to the cats or dogs. The broth makes a wonderful stock for soup."  When she talks about waste it reminds me of my mother in law who wastes nothing. Cotton from the inside of medicine bottles is tucked into a glass jar at her home. Dishes are scraped into a bowl for the compost heap or the barn animals or the dogs.

My own grandmother placed teensy portions of food on the plates with the promise that there was always more where that came from. A child of the depression herself, she could not tolerate waste either. We follow a similar practice here. Not having a garbage disposal means you are confronted immediately with how much is consumed and how much is discarded. It convicts a person!

The Thrifty Homeschooler, Maureen Wittman, describes her leftover soup process. She puts the last bits of leftover veggies in freezer bags and when there is enough she makes soup. Emily Barnes also suggests saving cookie crumbs in those bags and freezing for ice cream topping. Bread crumbs can be gathered similarly for casserole topping. My friend Mary has a different system – she keeps pigs <g> Whatever your method is, take a look at what is landing in your trash can this week. Is it’s life span truly over? Could it be an ingredient in a future dish? Could it feed the compost pile? Were the eyes of the person’s dish it came from bigger than his stomach? Are your portions appropriate for your diners?

You can’t go far these days without running across the oft-repeated advice to pare down, scale back, declutter. You’ve likely found that advice at one time or another on these pages as well. But I have been thinking about the flip side lately, about the way ‘things’ touch our hearts and trigger deep emotions. A few weeks ago a reader noticed a transferware plate in my blog post and recognized it as the pattern her mother had. She had lost her mom and had few treasures to remember her by. She said it may sound silly but that plate took her back. We surfed to track down some more.

And fwiw, it didn’t sound one bit silly to me. Of course, I am the woman who has about 30 years of selected home decor magazine back issues in crates under my bed too. Why? They break all the declutter rules of modern efficiency experts. Is this pack ratting to a fault? Maybe. It seemed to me      though,that nostalgia is not a luxury but a connection to an essential part of my psyche. In our attempts to ruthlessly cull and pitch sometimes we sever from ourselves from the very things that bind together our pasts and our futures. I am not willing to do that.

It occurred to me that these volumes serve as a journal of sorts. They preserve my past the way other people’s diaries do for them. The old Country Living’s  don’t necessarily hang around because the room styles are likely to grace my own at some point. They are reminders of the birth of the ‘back to the land’ and ‘simplifying’ movements of the 70s. The homeowners featured within those covers were responding to a void they felt coming out of the atomic age, a void I felt beginning my family in suburbia. They planted the seeds of earthy honesty in me and nurtured a desire to connect to something substantial before I could even articulate what that might be. The Victoria back issues speak to all that is innocent and lovely in the world and in my heart. They inspire me to step it up, to reach for excellence, to remember that presentation is important, to recall an era when form trumped function and beauty was its own excuse.

These magazines also remind me of where I was when I first read them. Generally, in the living room of my mother’s 1917 home. When we moved from Milwaukee to a small central Wisconsin town we bought our one and only house. It was a tall, narrow post-Victorian with original oak woodwork and pocket doors. The crowning glory was a turret on the second floor bedroom. That room I claimed before the papers were even signed. The house was ooooold. Musty. Cracked plaster walls. Decrepit outbuildings posing as a garage and garden shed. I loved every inch of it. It had  permanence and  heritage, things I still value.

That house was, and is, my mother’s passion. She stencilled the walls, crocheted lacey window coverings, planted perennials. Always we scoured the pages of those magazines for ideas and inspiration. Sometimes it came together well. Other times the limitations of two small-ish women pulled us up short. But always we had a vision.

When I married and criss crossed the globe I returned again again to that old house and those old magazines called to me like family photo albums. My mother made scrapbooks out of some of them. The rest she eventually gave to me. I couldn’t part with them any more than I could part with my wedding pics or my baby books, half finished though they may be. The images all take me to other times and places, to thoughts I used to think, and dreams I used to entertain.

The same could be said for my blue willow tea cups or any number of odds and ends I have carried with me across the country. I have a blue delft plate the brings to mind the most grueling summer of my life when I lived in Europe as an exchange student. Some kids brought home designer clothes, I brought home dishes. I also have a fragile Christmas ornament – disintegrating contact paper housing a bicentennial quarter from my beloved 5th grade teacher. She was the daughter of a family friends who became an unwed mother. When I see that quarter I think of the apartment she and her new husband lived in – a second story Milwaukee bungalow where I visited on snow days. I think of the smell of her new baby’s head.  I think of the little drops of chicken fat floating on the surface of her mother’s soup.  And I think of the people who loved me and helped me navigate the difficult waters of latchkey living.

In a recent Better Homes and Gardens issue there were two military families who have large collections of Thanksgiving tableware and candles. It may seem counter intuitive to haul large collections of ANYthing from base to base. For their families, however, the familiar plates that grace their tables year after year help provide the stability that is threatened by transient living. I realized that my things have worked the same way for my family. Houses change, zipcodes change. These old things are tangible bits of continuity in our life.

Should you live in squalor? No. I believe you should be ruthless with your junk mail, your ratty towels, your tupperware with the missing lids. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If your heart is calling you, listen.

Awhile back I shared a link about illustrated journals. I was thinking of these again last night. When I get too busy I start dreaming of creating things. : )  I started here. Then stumbled upon the 1000 Journals project. The person who hatched the idea sent 1000 blank bks out into the world. Similar to circle journals the recipients complete a page or two and send it on its way. In the 1000 Journals project however they pass the journal to anyone – friend, stranger, you name it. There are no rules attached. The journalists can doodle or write from the heart or chronicle a day.

I was thinking about how much fun it would be to send a blank book out among friends and see how it returns to me.  I am fascinated by the things people put down on paper, the slant of their signature, the bits and pieces of other people’s lives. Hmmmm, I feel a project being born…..

A few people have asked about our black and white photos. Well, Creating Keepsakes typed up all the explanation for me looks like. This article at their site gives you the info you need to begin playing around with in-home portraits. Twopeas has another tutorial. And more portrait tips. Point and shoot tips explain why you don’t need an expensive camera.

The best advice remains the same:

Light.  Turn off the automatic flash. A caveat there would be if you have a deflector. They bounce the flash away from the subject and don’t leave those cheesey shadows. Otherwise, turn it off. ; )  Find strong natural light. Remember the quality of the light differs based on the time of day and the weather. For black and white portraits I prefer an overcast day and a bright window. Late afternoon sun will give a golden glow to the subject whereas earlier in the day it will be whiter. Light coming from the side is best.

Steady yourself. Most bad shots are the result of poor light and too much ‘shake’. Modern cameras often compensate for shake but it still pays to get as still as possible. A tripod is worth its weight in gold if you are trying to get a professional looking shot. It keeps the camera very still thus minimizing blur. Keeping the children still is another story….

Frame your shot. Closer is better. (You can see the difference in the two pics at left.) Use that zoom but if you have both digital and optical zoom on your camera stick to the optical. The digital zoom feature doesn’t bring the subject closer it just magnifies the image digitally. Remember you don’t need to see the whole outline of your subject. Parts of the head are often nicer than a mug shot.

On that note, try different angles – standing on a chair and pointing down or getting down to eye level with the baby on the floor. Turn your subject so they are facing your shoulder rather than your face.

Play around with the settings. Try the same shot in automatic, closeup, portrait, and so on making notes as you go. Then review the images and see which you like best. This really helps you get to know your camera.

Finally, if you have a digital camera, play around with your photo-editing software. I am techno-challenged but I figured out a few critical functions from even the most basic programs. Cropping your pics can save a poorly positioned shot. The ‘saturate’ function makes your pics either black and white or super richly colored depending upon which way you move the cursor. And, bless him, Asher taught me how to use the lasso tool to outline the subject and then black (or white) out the background(below). This gives the same effect as a studio background. Think DK books. : )

"There is nothing like a well-ordered home to put one in tune with the world. The aspect of such a place where day to day thoughtful care adds to its attraction, its comfort, and individuality, becomes to the lover of home as dear as a loved familiar face and imparts the same sense of rest and peace."   -Marion Harland, The Housekeeper’s Week 1908

I am sure my house is not as well-ordered as I would like it to be but I did find that ‘sense of peace’ Saturday. We moved the decrepit old piano out along with some file cabinets on their last legs as part of the ongoing purging and reorganization project. Every bit of less-than-lovely that moves out the door brings me a sigh of relief. While Allen and the children worked outside I tackled the hardwood floors downstairs. At the end of the afternoon I turned the corner into the hallway and this sight caught my eye.  Yes, rest and peace. : )

I ran across this lovely redwork blog and wanted to share.  The crafter’s Flickr page is very nice! Shayne, are you out there?  You’re gonna love this one! : )

Tara, your question is so good its answer is getting a post of its own. How do you store clothing for 11 people? 

Answer: not the way I would like to and I hope to do something about that. 

My very best answer is to do it like the Duggar’s – create a family closet, or at least a children’s closet, in or near the laundry room.  The idea is you eliminate LOTS of potential problems caused by toting clothes from one end of the house to another and then cramming them into often too small dressers.

The sad truth is my kids never did discover a burning need within themselves to fold their clothing with smart creases like their grandmother does. I tend to wash and dry (because I LOVE my machines lol!) and fold and then send the snappy piles to their destiny, which is usually to be stashed into or under various pieces of furniture ’til we meet again.

The family closet would have communal sorting baskets for dirty clothes. Then each member would have a bucket (dishpan, milk crate etc) for their personal items. In my house we would likely have a couple community sock bins as well. I believe I saw that the Duggar’s have dark socks for boys and white socks for girls.  A large hanging rack would house dresses and church clothes.

Think of it – all hangers in one room. No more renegade socks! Imagine all the available space where rickety dressers once stood. All the closet room could be used for games, toys, books, crafts.  I am sorely tempted to turn the smallest bedroom into said family closet. I will keep you posted. Meantime if you find any pictures of a family closet please share the inspiration! I could find NONE on the net.