A Change Would Do You Good

     I have had Sheryl Crow's song A Change Would Do You Good, in my head for weeks now. I finally decided to act on it. You may have thought that I had disappeared for good from the Blogosphere, but I haven't. As you all know, life has been very hectic around our house for months and we still have another hurdle to get past in a little over a week. It has been really difficult for my husband to lose both parents so close together and the unfortunate thing about men is that they don't show how they are feeling. I cried daily after my mom died and I think that was a good thing. He has just been very quiet. So, we packed up the car last Monday and headed to Michigan to climb the dunes, stroll through the galleries and just get away from it all for a few days. We got home yesterday and somehow, by last night I had the flu. So, my plan to jump back into blogging today isn't going the way I thought it would. I did take my camera, so eventually there will be lots of pictures to share.

Our Next Project

PUBLIC AUCTION

REAL ESTATE & ANTIQUES

Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 9 a.m.

Savoy United Methodist Church - 3002 West Old Church Rd. From US Route 45,

go south of Champaign, IL to Old Church Road

(1/2 mile north of Wal-Mart), go west 2 miles from I-57, take Curtis Road exit east 1/2 mile

to Duncan Road stop light, turn south 1 mile to church.

Furniture sells at Noon - Home sells at 1 p.m.

HOME LOCATED AT 203 ELLEN AVE., SAVOY, IL

Ranch home 1306 sq. ft. w/attached 2 car garage and detached 2 1/2 car garage, 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath, carpet in living room & bedrooms, kitchen & dining have hardwood floors, wood burning fireplace, laundry room. Kitchen includes Maytag dishwasher. Master has 1/2 bath. Home sets on corner lot. Savoy is installing new storm sewer drainage & asphalt streets. Nice quite area with good neighbors, just minutes from downtown Champaign-Urbana. TERMS: 10% down, close in 30 days.


FURNITURE: 3 large walnut cabinets; walnut china cabinet; Globe-Wernicke double sectional bookcase; walnut wardrobe; walnut dresser & mirror; marble top dresser; oak jewelry cabinet; 2 walnut 3 drawer cabinets; marble top coffee table; round oak table w/3 leaves & six oak chairs; wooden kitchen cabinet; wicker tea cart.
GLASS: 2 German canister/spice set; German coffee grinder; 4 Flow Blue plates; 50+ pieces of Carnival ; lots of Fostoria; Pearl pottery dresser set; Nippon; Occupied Japan; candy containers; Clark Teaberry Vasoline glass; Sleepy eye pitcher; Brush-McCoy pottery salt crock; crocks; Meadow Gold crock.
JEWELRY: Drawers & drawers of jewelry, many items being unique & many are seasonal & holiday.
COLLECTIBLES: old Swiss music box by Thorens (sold at Roman Fisher Watches, Luzern, Switzerland); 6 wall telephone; miniature 1¢ Bally Baby cigarette slot machine; 3 headed dog cigarette box; 2 chalk bulldogs; 2 cast iron frog door stops; cast iron elephant & Victorian door stops; cast iron Rowe scale w/brass; hanky boxes; game plates; baby plates; black memorabilia; “A Walk Over Girl” print 1910, 1 yard long; many beautiful prints; old Effingham, IL post cards & advertising; Ingram mantle clock; Gilbert wall clock; Old Crow whiskey lamp; miniature kerosene lamps; copper kettles, 1 w/bail; lighted Pepsi-Cola clock (works); tins; 2 CIPS “Redi Electrode” man signs; “SANDY” 5¢ electric rocking horse; childs pony saddle; many picture frames; collectible rare coins.
OLD TOYS: Ferris wheel; tractors; trucks; wooden toys; 2 wooden Popeye & Olive Oil; 2 pedal cars; 2 IH pedal tractors.

NOTE: Glen and Lillie were collectors of fine antiques for well over 50 years, the last 25 years Glen sold 1000’s of pieces to Cracker Barrell restaurant chain. We have many items unique to the antique business, please come & judge for yourself!

     I don't really know what it is going to be like for any of us to watch this auction. The sale bill above barely touches on the amount of "stuff" my in-laws had collected. My sister-in-law and my husband have taken the few items that they wanted and the items that my mother-in-law had labeled as old family pieces. The 3 grandchildren have also taken a few things but there is still a lifetime of collecting being sold. I wish some of you lived close enough to come because if you like antiques...this will be a great sale. I think it will be really difficult for my husband and his sister, but I also know that they will both feel better once this part is over.

     So, between stress, travel, flu and a big auction coming in a few days...getting back to "normal" just isn't on the list yet. Soon...I hope, really soon.



Waterford and Quilts...A Unlikely Pairing

     I had every intention of creating a tablescape this week, but when my husband warned me "don't go to the basement" I decided to listen to him. My dish room is down there and this week, he is sorting through the many boxes of paperwork and photos that he brought in from his parent's house. After 36 years, he knows what will stress me out and piles of papers, pictures and trash...not great for me. So, I am sharing a bit of "show and tell" with you today. 

     June 7th was my husband's 35th anniversary at his job. He was given a catalog to pick an award gift. They were all wonderful choices. I encouraged him to go for the custom made golf clubs or the man's diamond ring. He said he didn't get to golf often enough and that he had just gotten his dad's ring. Personally, I would have chosen the iPod Touch with the Bose speakers, but I'm the techie in this house and he isn't. I didn't know what he had chosen until after the fact...and look what he got.

  

A Waterford Lismore ice bucket and

6 goblets recently took up residence in our china cabinet.

     It is a beautiful set although I'm still a bit shocked this is what he selected. He said he wanted something that would last for generations and this will if I don't break it first! We've decided after finding all the things his parents didn't use, that we are going to enjoy what we have rather than "save" it for some time in the future that never comes. So, if you come to my house...you may just have your Coke in Waterford while you eat your pizza!

Now for the quilts...

  

     My husband's grandmother made beautiful quilts. His mother made me promise when she got sick that I would make my husband and his sister split the quilts and not sell them. Of course, they never would have sold them anyway. They split them last week and I thought I'd share the ones that came to our house. The last two pictured we already had. I could really use some help with these pattern names if you know them. The above blue and white is going to live with my daughter.

I love how she must have run out of material and just "made do" with what she had.

I always love a basic old-fashioned quilt.

     This one was my husband's first choice. It is well loved and well worn. This was on his bed as he grew up. He had forgotten all about it and it brought back great memories for him. His bedroom had red shag carpet (ugh). Pattern???

This one is smaller than the rest and is going to my son

 because of the browns and darker colors.

We've had this yellow one a few years.

It lives at the foot of my guestroom bed.

     This one is my favorite. My husband's grandmother made it specifically for him. His mother finally let him take it home about 15 years ago. I remember at the time she told me that if we split up, he got the quilt. Uh...we had already been married 20 years. If we split up, the least of my worries would have been the quilt. It has a square for each of the 48 states (a clue to the age of the quilt). The name of the state and the state flower are shown in each square. I think of how much work must have gone into this beautiful piece.

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

for Tablescape Thursday.

I know this isn't a tablescape,

but won't they make wonderful table coverings?

Please take a moment to visit Susan!

Spring in the Heartland

     It isn't often that we find something that our little grands haven't already done. They live with the other grandparents and they keep them very busy with zoos, orchards, movies and events. When they were here recently, we took them strawberry picking. They were so excited and while we didn't stay very long, they said it was their favorite thing they did while they were here.

The lack of spring sunshine made the berries

very small and they were few and far between.

Great-grandpa had as much fun as the little guys.

     Yesterday, after a day of rain, I took a few pictures of my large tropical planter on the deck. Some of the plants were added this season, but the banana plant and the jasmine we planted in it last year. Imagine our surprise that they are so beautiful this year after spending an Illinois winter in the garage. We were amazed that they came back from the shock of the cold.

I am joining Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday.

Please take time to visit her today.

 

A Tale of Two Tables

     I love library tables. They don't take up much space and they often are able to finish the look in a place where nothing else fits. The above picture you have seen before, it is an antique library table that has been sitting in our entry (at the top of the open staircase to the basement) since we moved into this house 8 years ago. The table belonged to my paternal grandparents. It didn't come to me directly from them. It actually was purchased by my in-laws (who collected and sold antiques for many years) at best guess, back in the 70's.

     The table below, is leftover from the "Cottage Look" furniture that I bought for the living room when we moved in. That was a big mistake for me and that furniture lives in the basement now. Did you ever decorate an entire room and while it looked great, it just "wasn't you" and made you uncomfortable? Well, that was my cottage phase for me. Anyway, the table has always been a too light for the furniture we have now, but I worked around it. It is now in the garage and will be in the fall garage sale.

     As of last week, I've made a slight change. At the top of the stairs now sits a different antique library table. You can follow along by looking at the base of the tables in order to see the difference. The table below has been in my in-law's living room for decades. It was purchased by them back in the 70's as well. It belonged to my maternal grandparents! When my in-laws retired over 20 years ago, they told me they wanted me to take one of the tables. I still remember my mom telling me to pick the paternal table, "it is a better table, with a prettier base". I had actually forgotten that the other table was also from our family, but my husband remembered. We have been spending many hours going through my in-laws home. We are having an auction on July 9th and you can't imagine the antiques that are being sold. My grandmother's table is now living at our house, very near the table of my other grandmother.

These tables have both lived long lives and

they have come home to rest. How cool is that?

     We have been so busy that my blogging is still at a slower pace than usual. My dad and my son arrived safely in Florida yesterday. I hope to catch up around here this week. If I've missed something you think I need/want to see, tell me in the comments please.

I'm joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday.

Take a moment to stop by and say hello to her!

Red Berries and Sunflowers

     It is easy to set a table when you have beautiful flowers as your inspiration. Some good friends sent us this gorgeous bouquet for my father-in-law's services last week. As soon as we brought them home, I took them out of the florist's foam and put them in water. Flowers in foam don't last nearly as long as those in water.

I always think of Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life when I see sunflowers!

  

I've had this table runner for years.

I thought it was a fun choice to use with the colorful flowers.

I found the Mikasa Red Berries salad

 plates at TJMaxx a few months ago.

I paired them with Crate and Barrel red dinner plates and

my frequently used American Atelier white

plates along with round red placemats.

My every day stainless, garage sale wine glasses and

napkins of my mother's finish the table setting.  

The vintage cream and sugar set are

Occupied Japan. My father-in-law gave them

 to me the last time we took him to his home.

The quartz fruit my parents bought for me on a trip to Mexico.

Simple votives are the only candles on the table.

 

I am joining Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

for Tablescape Thursday.

Please stop in to say hello to our hostess!

Blessings

     It has been a stressful time around our house the past weeks. I'm sure that most of you know what has been going on and I really appreciate the fact that I haven't lost any followers during my time away. I hope I can gradually get back to blogging next week. Along with all the sadness, I wanted to share with you some of the good things that have been going on. My dad is still here visiting and as you can see, our little grands just love their great-grandpa. He has always been wonderful with little ones and didn't even mind getting wet from the sprinkler, sticky from cotton candy and kisses laced with fruit punch. 

     I also had this wonderful surprise from Flo @ Butterfly Quilting. She is a wonderful blog friend, who was recently participating in a "Pay It Forward" blog event featuring a handmade item. She knows that I don't exactly have the ability to make anything and she paid it forward to me anyway. She told me I could bake cookies for my neighbors! Do you see the darling bag she created? She also sent a wonderful notebook, some yummy candy and some jam from Canada. Her gift arrived just as we were leaving for my father-in-law's service and it was such a sweet surprise. Please go visit Flo, you will love her.

     So yes, things have been a bit difficult for our family the past weeks and months, but our blessings are many. Thank you all once again for the messages, comments, support and prayers. You have no idea how much they help.