Brown Gingham Goes Back in Time

Have a Happy Memorial  Weekend........................................
And, remember those who gave us the right to enjoy every day in this beautiful land!

Hi Everybody!
By now you all know how much I love all vintage.....everything from textiles to architecture. Recently I was asked to partner with Historic Southwest Ohio at the Heritage Village Museum and place several of my creations in thier gift shop. I was very excited by the invitation....vintage textiles in a vintage setting! If you recall last year I had a booth at their 1st craft show that took place during the Gas engine, Tractor, and Blacksmith Show.

The quaint 19th century village is situated on quite a few acres nestled in a small valley banked by high hills and woods on one side and a large rolling creek and waterfall on the other. LOL... this place is worth just sitting under a caopy in the sun with a gentle breeze, songbirds trilling, the creek babbling by, and the aroma of a roast on the spit and pies baking in the oven.... not selling a thing wouldn't seem too terrible.

From this pic you can see what I mean. There is an Antebellum home named the Haynor House (where the gift shop is located) with it's collection of outbuildings and the Gatch Barn,  a victorian gingerbread beauty called the Elk Lich House with its chicken coop, grape arbor, and double seater outhouse, and a 19th century train station..the Chester Station.  A clapboard workman's cottage called the Benedict Cottage, the federal style Vorhis House where they do all the cooking in the hearth fireplace, and the Kemper House which is a large log home with a seperate stone kitchen. There is also a printer shop, mercantile, church, and the new 'old' schoolhouse which is almost complete.

Elk Lick House                                                            Chester Station

Vorhis House

                                                                                                                    Merchantile

( Hope to have more pics of other buildings soon)

This is a living museum. The buildings are all decorated in period...right down to the fresh produce in the kitchens to farm yard animals. No detail is missed and the interpreters are in full period dress. It's like a mini Colonial Williamsburg setting for the 19th century instead of 17 and 18th.

That's why I couldn't pass up this opportunity. ...my 1930's-60's designs don't seem too out of place. I will be keeping my eye out for more colonial inspired textile patterns and embroidery transfers to add to my designs to display here.

These are a few pics of my display in the Haynor House Gift Shop.........

These totes, tabletopper, and runners were done exclusively for the gift shop. I was so happy they let me utilize the old timey sewing machine. They placed it in front of the fireplace letting me place a couple of pillows over the top on the mantle.................

I also took a couple of vintage inspired aprons..........................

They don't have a lot of display space yet. They aren't allowed to hang things on nails from the walls, so display space is at a minimum. When in doubt use those 3M stickum hangy things. They work great and do not leave a mark. That is what I did with these 2 aprons. They hang nicely on the wall with no worry.

Luckily this weekend that kick's off my participation is a Civil War Weekend. These are pics from last year..................

Encampments                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                       

Battle Re-enactments                                                                                        

          

Cottillions                                                                                                      

and, interpreters showing life back home in Ohio while the war raged on.                                       

 If you're in the Cincy area tomorrow between 10a and 4p stop by for an educational few hours and little slower pace, at the Heritage Village in Sharon Woods. For more info about the Village, Events and Dates, or Directions go Here

Hope to see you sometime this Summer!

A few of my favorite things........

Some of you already know I have a penchant for vintage Hand-wrought Aluminum of the 1940's and 50's and Glassware. I cannot help myself...it seems, like soooo many of you I am a Serial Collector (we know who we are don't we Martha) of serivng pieces. The picture above are a few of my 75+ collection displayed throughout the house. This is a shelf Jim created over our dining room window to hold a few pieces of the collection (if you enlarge any of these pictures..ignore the dust...hehe).

This photo shows my favorite piece in my collection....a Coffee Urn, creamer, and sugar in the Mum pattern with Lucite handles made by the Continental Co. Yes, it's missing it's little Lucite thingy for pour handle, but it does still heat and work! Someday I'll find the missing thingy tho.

The next photos show some of my most used pieces.......................................................

This is a dresser box, probably part of a set, made by the Everlast Aluminum Co.

These two boxes are both the Continental Mum pattern. In the top photo the heavy glass is quite simple compaired to the second with its pressed glass patterned dish. Quite fancy.

These two condiment servers are pieces from  Rodney Kent. They are part of his popular tulip pattern set.

They still sport thier original tags!

These electroplated silver and Glass serving pieces are reserved for special occassions.

These last three photos have the most stories........................

This fruit basket motif glass bottle is from the 1950's-60's. They came in various colors, but in the 1970's these decorative bottles were used as lampbases and the stopper for the finial by very industrious husbands.

 

These three lovely and detailed pressed glass candy dishes were wedding presents to my husbands parents. Each one is unique.

And, lastly this petite Glass Liquer Set is from the 1940's-50's. It is Amber Glass. My Grandma had the bottle forver. My MIL was going thru some boxes one day and I saw the familiar amber color and asked if  could look thru her throw-aways. Low and behold there was an Amber Glass stopper and four little liquer glasses. I asked if I could take them. Here is my completed set! Imagine her surprise when she saw it.

Do you have any special serving peices or sets that have come together in round about ways? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear the story.

Now this post is also brought to you by the letter G and H  of the Vintage Alphabet over at the Etsy Cottage Style Blog. I'm linking to the Vintage Alphabet Party.

We can go over thru here to see the other party-goers

It's Wednes..er..Rednesday. Welcome to my kitchen collection

Yes folks, once again we look in on Susan and her friends, who join her in her Very Cherry World, and proudly display thier love of any and everything red. I too must admit I am drawn to anything red, but  my true weakness is strawberries and anything vintage and kitchy. With this in mind I thought I'd begin a series to show my collections.

My kitchen is all strawberry and vintage inspired. This vintage crate lable inspired the color scheme,

red, black, white and green.

This plate is a Corelle pattern from 1978 called Strawberry Sundae. They are still in use today, yes over 20 years, and I can attest that Corelle is breakproof.

When collecting for decor in my kitchen the first thing I do is consider it's, useability...is that a word...well it is for my decorating needs. Whether a new vintage bowl or an old bottle can it be repurposed for other needs.

When baking I love to use either of these baking powders. The vintage graphics are great. They are displayed prominently on my spice cabinet when not in use to add touches of red on my pine spice shelf.

Jim and I both love vintage signs,even if they're reproductions. These two

remind us of our first soda pops in the early 60's.

And, they make wonderful hot plates on the dining room table or outside on the picnic table

This sign is my favorite because it reminds me of lunches at my Great-Grandfathers farm when I was little.

It also makes a great bread tray for a sandwich buffet.

When I show the entire series of pieces for Rednesday used to decorate the kitchen, I'll show how I use them to complete decor of my kitchen. I hope you'll join me for the next few weeks.

We can pop on over to Susan's thru HERE to visit other red hot collectors!

Happy Mother's Day

This post is dedicated to my Mom. Who without her advise, example, teaching, patience, and love...I wouldn't be able to do what I do today.
I love you Mom.
This post is a Mother's Day wish for all the bloglandia Moms who are blessed with Children.  And, yes, even to those who have Furkids, like me.
I don't think I've introduced you to Shadow or the Kittencaboodle.
This Shadow...................................................

Our Norwegian Elkhound he's 5.

And, these are some of the Kittencaboodle

 

This is Monkey on the left and Sammy on the right

This is Happy

And this is Gizmo. There is also Lea and Leo, but they are camera shy and run far away when they hear the camera turn on. Yes. You read correctly...there are 6 to this Kittenkaboodle!

The story of how we got our 7 little angels,  I don't mean they are perfect...LOL...far from it, is for another post.

So, these are my Furkids.

Again, Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Mother's Day

Well today kick's off Mother's Day week and I've put some new items on both my etsy sites
BrownGinghamCreation and Apronation. This is one of the newest......................................

This is Sunny. She was a childs nightlight from the 60's. Her skirt is created by a 1940's hankie that I hand-embroidered. You may recognize the pattern from another design I did.......................

I created an applique out of the daisy pattern for this hotplate. Her waist skirt, decalatauge on her bodice, wings , and accents on her hat and parasol were created from a 1940's hand-crocheted doily.

She is guarenteed to brighten any room! You can find her at BrownGinghamCreastion.etsy.com

At Apronation.etsy.com  I have 2 apron's created just for a new Mom.........................

And, for Grandma...............

This sweet vintage apron is a reminder of 'Grandma's Kitchen'.

Please visit any of my sites

http://www.brownginghamcreations.com/

http://www.brownginghamcreation.etsy.com/

http://www.apronation.etsy.com/

For gifts for Mom.