A large family to move!

Our new house is still upside down, but I can surely see progress.  Jack and our son in law Gary worked today to convert a large closet which was intended to hold a washer and dryer, and made a doll closet of it. It is wide and deep and has one shelf now in the center, The plumbing is gone, and there is a new switch to turn on planned lighting in both the upper and lower chambers of the space.  Doors are planned, of either Plexiglas or perhaps French doors.   But I do not need to wait on doors to house some of the dolls , they are presently standing and sitting all over my bedroom.  They are very pampered dolls.  Perhaps most major doll collections are aided and supported by caring husbands, I know my collection is. The washer and dryer will have to find a home in the garage.   Pictures will come by and by as we settle in here. 

  At the same time that Jack and I have been moving,  my Colorado daughter has moved home to Texas, and is now living in a house in this same block!   She is alone now, her husband of 31 years having passed away in early April.  So it is good to have her here nearby.  I am greatly involved in both households, so am much stretched these days. We both are "housey" and have very different styles of nesting. Her rustic western decorating reflects her ranch upbringing, and her many years in the Colorado mountains.  Aside from my affection for the old dolls which are later and mostly German, Jack and I remain dedicated collectors of early New England Americana.  e

Rufus Porter Museum this summer

Last week The mail brought me a brochure listing classes in the 2012 Cultural Heritage series at this delightful small museum in Maine. Floor cloth painting looks like something I would enjoy, and there is a nice rug hooking class with Jacqueline Hansen, a top teacher. But it is the class on Rufus Porter Style wall murals I would love to take!  Not much chance I will get to Maine this July, but my heart will be there.  Check out the opportunities , I do not see 2012 events on the web yet, (they may well be there) email is rufusportermuseum@myfairpoint.net  .

There are lovely small museums all over New England.. another favorite of ours is the one in Lebanon Connecticut.  So much to enjoy for us who love art and antiques and New England's history.   Edyth

Texas Hill Country House

 On Monday and Tuesday of this week  a group of antique collectors I have enjoyed being part of for a number of years toured six hill country homes.  This is one of them, a lovely large log home in a beautiful rural setting.  The pictures here do not begin to do justice to the gardens.  The house itself has a number of furniture pieces made by my husband Jack, as well as many pieces purchased from O'Neill's Antiques in former years. So we are humbled and honored to have had our part in making this the jewel it is.  This house will be featured in the magazine "A Simple Life" next spring or summer.  Click on the pictures to see them larger.  E

Have a sweet Easter

Happy Easter to each of you. Thank you for the many
offers of assistance, we are not close enough to it to know what we need yet.
The task seems so great that we may be beyond help. I am going through
different things and organizing and labeling and packing them, also throwing
away a tiny bit here and there. Do I really need those old art supply
catalogs? Am I ever going to wear such and such again? This is the right time
to thin some, we know we cannot fit everything here in the next place.

And really we do not need to. Or do we? The problem with craft supplies
is you don't know which ones you will want next. Today I was finishing mending a
ragged edge on an old oriental rug, and used needles and threads of course, but
also a piece of beige hooking wool and some crewel embroidery yarn. What do
people do who do not have the right crewel embroidery yarn? I mend sweaters with
it, fix steiff animals with it and mend lovely old coverlets with it. and use it
a dozen other ways. I have 2 tall rubbermade tubs of gorgeous paternayan wool
yarn and am afraid to part with any of it! As long as I am into various
projects I will always want tons of craft supplies. I part with any of my stash
with screams and sobs. Today I went through many containers of little nails,
the kind I hold art work in frames with. And picture frame wire and saw tooth
hangers and drapery hardware and on and on. No wonder we have always needed a
barn besides a house.

No one on earth can help us with this kind of stuff. The actual hauling of
it will be simple, if we can get Affordable Movers to come when we need them.
We have used them several times. Tomorrow I will fix three large pots of white
geraniums. e

Downsizing and moving

Jack and I are not looking forward to our coming move, but will make the
best of it, and after we complete it, Jack won't have stairs to climb or a big
yard to keep. This might be about June.

I think we will move over about 6 weeks time, starting when we
have the renovations completed. Maybe first will be my art supplies. Then
large cupboards here can be pictured before their contents are emptied and packed. These can be
unpacked into the new place. I am moving 5 or possibly 6 large antique
cupboards and their contents, so that is a huge task to pack and unpack and get back in place in the new house. I will get movers to handle them. A lot can be
moved piece meal that way. On the day our bedroom contents and kitchen are moved, then we will start to sleep in the new house. Last can be garage
contents and Christmas décor. What can not move will be sold from the
present home after we are out with all we can carry to the new one. Our new house is 1000 sq feet smaller than our present home. This tells you something.

In the midst of practical considerations, I am thinking also of happy things, and have spotted a short wall by the front door in the next house that will be perfect to paint with a Rufus Porter style mural. A year back, friend Rose Ellen took me to the Rufus Porter Museum in Maine and I got to see so much of his work in person, after loving it in pictures for half a lifetime. I have some nice clippings to inspire a mural for our house.

I went to Walmart on Wednesday to buy plastic bins and boxes to pack and organize my art supplies and sewing supplies. This includes everything from calligraphy to clay modeling and knitting wool. And all crafts in between! So my purchase was a large one and I needed help in the store to get more from a top shelf high above my head or reach. I asked and two workers promised to return but did not. The P A system called out my position and it was over 15 minutes before I got response.

When I told daughter Beth about this, she said "mama, one sure way to get assistance is to find an unattended ladder used for restocking somewhere nearby, and start off with it as though to use it yourself. She has done that twice and says it brings people quickly! The cameras in the office must cause panic there. Beth is a woman of size, and she says she can just imagine the camera watcher saying " Isle 7! OMG Isle 7! " My Beth is great help in all my endeavors. She brings humor and creative solutions to every task. E

Old Chalk Deer on hooked rug

Laurie Lausen hooked this one, what a dear face ! Thanks for sharing! Edyth

A stitch in Time

Our white Lady Bank's Rose is a glory this week! I have never seen one fuller. They are more often seen in yellow, but I collect white flowers and have many times had a white banks through the years, Once Penny gave us a white rose when we first moved to the country. It was a fierce climber, with huge single blossoms and called Cherokee. It put out agressive branches 20 feet long in a season and had unbelievable thorns. Living with that over an entry to our back yard was like living with a shark! It surely was beautiful when in bloom. We finally took it down.

By contrast the Bank's are close to thornless. This one is medium in that respect.

How does it happen that I spend so much time making and mending rugs? A few weeks ago we had an opportunity to choose from a nice batch of orientals and came home with four medium sized ones. My artist daughter, Cheryl and her husband Glen, love the rugs, and as they are in the process of moving from their rustic high mountain home of the last 21 years, to a house in Denver, we are shipping a nice batch of rugs to them. So I am taking a few remedial stitches to help the rugs stay together a while longer.

As with any textiles, glues or tapes are a no no as those are not reversible when further work may be needed. I patch small holes in these soft old worn rugs, by putting a pice of heavy rug hooking wool under the missing spot, as I have every color in that. Then I stitch back and forth with Paternayan crewel yard in a near shade. This yarn is also good to overcast ravely edges on the rugs. Orientals are woven with generally two strong cords on each selvage edge. When these become separated from the sides of the rug through wear, the rug is close to gone. Best not to buy them in that shape. It pays to overcast this selvage or have it professionally serged when the rugs have this kind of wear. Less serious is the loss of fringe on the ends of the weaving. They may look ratty to some people. I told one of my daughters that a love of these rugs even when quite worn is like the affection for a worn pair of jeans which makes them more attractive to some of us. E