A Stitching Post!

As promised earlier a mostly stitching post. I was surprised at the number of comments at the previous post. I hope I replied to all, but I have been a bit busy lately. I think it is the problem of many who are similarly aged. We have not only our too much buying but now those behind us too. A problem of prosperity which is not a bad thing. Much to be grateful for!!!

Mother finally got into the doctor yesterday. We tried immediate care last weekend with no help. Yesterday's appointment was a brand new doctor. I will not fill you in with all the drama, but she has a double ear infection. She is down and out! She has a horrible time taking antibiotics so she didn't do what I told her this morning which was take nausea medicine PRIOR to taking it so she has been in a throw up festival today. Sigh!
Call has been made to doctor for maybe another one or some other form, but in the meantime....
she is resting and
and
and Sandy is trying to stay calm:)

So...let's talk stitching.

I got on a roll with the family registry sampler and completed it.

I personalized it with mine and Jeff's settlement place and marriage date. It has our initials and birth years in the main circle. I added our children on either side and a tiny little cross between them for our miscarriage.

I added both mine and Jeff's parents' initials and birth years and called it a day.

The good thing about this is I think it will fit in a store bought frame which means I can frame it myself for less. I really like it and think it is prettier in person than I able to photograph. I will share again when I get it framed but that may be a while.

I am now going to get after Tucker's name.

I am pretty excited to get going on this one! Maybe between each letter I will do an Advent calendar number.


Now, for a #ThrowBackThursday before Thursday is over.

The following are two stitches that Mother had in my bedroom after I married and moved out. I know one of them I did in college and maybe the other right after college. Anyway, she has both in her guest bedroom now.

This one has always been a favorite of mine!!!

I made those pillows in high school.

I actually wish I had kept this pattern book. It was a great one with many verses.

I think the next one I sort of designed myself. That is why I like blogging my stitching so that I can remember that stuff.

I may have put out some Valentine's stuff this morning starting with pink table linens. I would like some pink candles but they aren't easy to find cheaply. I may have to order which means I may put them off until next year which is what happened last year:) I may be saying the same thing next year!
I just love Valentine's Day. It was always so much fun picking out each card for classmates way back when. I think the holiday has waned a wee bit with today's kids. It didn't seem to be nearly as much fun to them as it did when I was a kid.
Or course, Hubby and I will be eating at Whataburger! It is now a tradition.

Until later,
Sandy

Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25

A Throwback Thursday

I came across this picture the other day and since it is Thursday; it seems like a good day to share.

This is me in 1989 just a few nights before my first child was born. I am stitching on a blanket.

The next photo is the center square.

Here it is today.

When Lindsay was really little up to about 4th grade, it hung in her room,

Lindsay would want me to tell you that I, not her decorated this room, because she is not pink girl. How I raised a girl who is not into pink I will never know. It is her act of rebellion I suppose.

We still have the bookcases. You may remember I painted them about a year ago.

A while back I mentioned to Lindsay that we should take the blanket apart and make individual pieces to frame to give to all grandchildren WHEN AND IF I ever have any. 

She was not impressed with my idea at all. She is not typically the sentimental one. That is reserved for my son. 

I still think it is a good idea, but I won't do it without permission.

Here are the other blocks up close.

Remembering,

Sandy

Throwback Thursday #2 - Dining Room and Family Room

I really thought this little project of sharing our house way back would be so easy, but it's turning out to not be so easy. 

What started this little idea? I was searching through a tub of pictures trying to find out how the side of the house looked in order to fix a drainage problem I was having. I found a whole bunch of pictures of the house as it was being built and then quite a few of the outside. It is simply amazing to see how much things have grown in 32 years. I will share that next week.

As I discovered this week while sorting through albums is that my mother-in-law took lots of videos. The kind where are talking lots and the camera is on a tripod and recording us eating our meals around events. They are something else ---just imagine listening to your family conversations. I am not sure if they are boring or downright hilarious.

She stopped taking still pictures unless they were on vacation.

It has been really hard to find still photos of the house, but I managed to find a few of the dining and what we call the living room, but I guess it would be the family room on a house plan.

First up the dining room,

I know y'all are dying for me to share the video of this meal. I am sure you can tell from the picture how much fun that conversation was. 

Behind Jeff's dad, you can see the built in china cabinet. For me, it is way too stuffed. Although, one might say that of my version as well. On the right, you can see the Kent "Silver Pine."

Mrs. Palmer had made a set of dishes with decoupage that we ate off of each year, but Jeff says he remembers eating on the "Silver Pine." as a kid, so we have used them every year since 2002.

Current day china cabinet.

In this one, I blanked out Jeff's face for his sake. IT was not meant to be photographed at this minute, but I needed the photo to show you the wallpaper and buffet.

I gave the buffet to Kristan who is the little girl in the photo, our niece. Y'all have seen her twins on the blog before. They were in Lindsay's wedding, and I had quite a few photos of them back at Thanksgiving.

The buffet matches the table and chairs which I kept and the desk that sits in our pool table room. I think she will get that down the road as well. I am kind of holding it for her.

Now.

I found the new /old buffet at an antique show and it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture I own.

And I don't miss that wallpaper not one bit. 

Everybody can go goo goo over the new wallpaper all they want and tell me how easy it is to remove...not having it.

Now, onto the a few of the living room.

The TV is currently where that lamp is. It actually was there for them as well shortly after this picture. They bought this huge freestanding one that fit there.

For less than a year it was on the bookcase by the kitchen wall.

Now.

We added the cabinet piece under out TV. You can not tell it wasn't there all along. Previously, it had been just a stained piece of wood and the TV sat on the floor.

Gone are the brass doors on the fireplace as well. The mantle went through tons of changes. Mrs. Palmer never liked that. The last mantle was marble and I actually still have it downstairs in a closet. Her last thing was to take it down all the way, and she had a really ornate wooden thing with a mirror and shelf.

The above picture was taken in June of 1985 and the mirrors went up shortly after this picture was taken.  The glass sliding doors as well as many of the windows had the pop in grids. I took them out and really liked it better without them. I still have them downstairs in case they come back in style.

Now.

Then.

I think that was the biggest sofa ever. It was pieces that she changed on a regular basis. 

Oh and by Christmas 1985 the mirrors were in place.

Constantly changing with the styles, 

Sandy

Throw Back Thursday - Front of the House and Formal Living Room

You may remember the closet at the bottom of the stairs post I did. It is a closet full of photos that stayed there for literally years after we moved into my hubby's home. My mother-in-law took lots of photos, but was more a scrapbooker type of photo organizer. She has any vacation or topic neatly arranged in albums, but the regular day to day pictures were mostly in boxes. 

Anyway a while back I was looking through the pictures trying to figure out how the side area looked and why there was no drainage problem then...blah, blah, blah...

I thought y'all might like to see the differences from when Hubby's parents lived here and now us. 

Warning...It will be very different. Don't judge me, but we all have different tastes and honestly I wasn't even sure I wanted to move here even though it was big, spacious, lots of storage, and ON the WATER! The reason was that it was so different from my tastes.

However waterfront changes minds, and with time I made it more my style.

The first pictures I will share this Thursday are the front of the house and the formal living room.

This was the front back in the mid-eighties. They moved in December 1984 and that was the first Christmas after Jeff and I married. All but two Christmas Eves have been in this house. One was the last Christmas my mother-in-law was still able to be sitting up and the next was the year she passed away. Those two the family met at our home around the corner.

So without further explanation here goes the front of the house.

The next two pictures are probably taken in 1985.

This was my mother-in-law out front. 

The biggest differences are the door and the garage door. The garage door was way too busy for me. Jeff didn't like the blue door, but at one point there was some blue tile in the walk up to the door.

We painted the house and toned down the brown all around and changed the gutters to a tan color.

My father-in-law out front.

That grass was so green. There trees are all different. The ones in the front are all maples and none made it through Hurricane Opal. A new one was planted and didn't make it through Ivan. We now have a Natchez crepe myrtle and a Japanese maple in the front.

The picture below is now.

Oh one more oldie...probably early 90's... rare snow dusting at Christmas. Garage is open. Oh and you can see the blue tile leading to door. I don't remember why, but that got damaged and had to be changed.

The rather dull door now, but more me. I am not crazy about the tile now, but I have to live with it.

Now for the side yard entering our circle. I don't remember this version. Tulips are planted there. What I do remember was literally the most amazing red and white impatiens beds you have ever seen. Everyone stopped to look at them.

You should always take pictures so you can remember.

now... 

I can't get over the trees and how much larger they are now. There is one that leans way across the driveway now.

Now for the Formal Living Room...

I can actually find only one picture of it. That is another reason why you should always take pictures of you house. You will want to remember things. 

It was basically the forbidden room!

My kids, Lindsay and Paul Allen remember it as the room they always wanted to go in, but Nana was very protective of it. 

In other words, they could only walk past it. 

She was very proud of it...having grown up in the depression, this was her dream room. In April of 1986, the home was on the tour of homes in FWB.

This was the picture for the newspaper.

My sister-in-law, Donna kept the tables, but we sold the sofa and chairs. The rug I kept for years, but after two teenagers, dogs and so forth and it being white and not really matching anything, I finally let it go. It was hard because I knew it was the real stuff and quite expensive. The price tag had still been on the bottom.

Now, for what I did to this room. I knew we would never ever walk in here. With a family room with a water view and the downstairs big room, it seemed pretty pointless to add more sitting room furniture, so I actually went with Hubby's idea. My only stipulation was it had to look nice.

Pretty different huh?!

I wish I could find  a picture with the chandelier that was hanging where the light is now above the pool table. It was gold and very ornate. I have kept it though... I think Lindsay might want it one day. I think it will come back in style. 

Well, there you have it for a Throw Back Thursday. 

More of these to come without so many words, since now I have set the stage for it.

Blessed to live in a home with history,

Sandy

Sharing today with Thoughts of Home on Thursday and Stacey at Poofing the Pillows...

http://www.poofingthepillows.com/2016/06/thoughts-of-home-on-thursday-17.html