Wanderlust & Pixie Dust

Yesterday

I spent the afternoon at Heritage House.

 

My husband thought it was funny that I got so worked up about my hair.  I had cut it into a 20's type bob earlier in the week.  I explained that the blouse I was wearing (with white on white embroidery) had late 1890's leg-o-mutton sleeves that clashed with my head.  Two entirely different time periods.  I've been meaning to create a hat and now I really have to get to it soon.  

I wore the little birdy brooch up above on my shirt.  To avoid any damage to the shirt I just pinned it through two eyelets.  I found this brooch on Ebay some time ago.  I won it for close to nothing and felt dreadfully guilty about it.  I think that it's just darling.

It was pretty slow at the house yesterday so I wandered about and took a few pictures.

You can glimpse book from the gift shop that I staff, propped up on the other side of this beautiful beveled glass window.

Love this little paperweight.  I actually have been lucky to own several of these of my own.  Sometimes they have a sturdy wire on the back to allow them to stand up on your desk or mantle.

I attempted to photograph myself in this huge mirror.   As you can see it came out all blurry but I kind of like the effect.  It looks nice and spooky.  

This one came out blurry too but you can still get an idea of how large the poof is on these sleeves.

Below is my favorite room in the house, the linen closet oh my.  Oh how I wish I had a space like this in my house.  I would love to have a small room or a huge walk in closet devoted to linens, textiles and fabric.   

I always tread carefully when in  this house and refrain from man handling anything but let me tell you how tempting it is to want to unfold every last thing in this room, one by one.

This particular photo is pretty high up on the wall.  I'm not sure what the flowers are made up but I love the effect.  I'm guessing that they were created fro

m some sort of shell?

Here is a pix of the gathering on the backside of the shirt that I wore.  My modern hands are not used to ironing such things.

Not used to ironing huge mutton sleeves either.   Luckily the cotton in this shirt appears to be strong and sturdy.  There are a few areas of thinning (that were not mentioned in auction I might add!)  but the fact that it was large enough to wear comfortably made up for it.   I own several vintage or antique tops that are suitable and sturdy enough to wear.  I'm trying to carefully rotate them to keep stress on the old delicate threads to a minimum.

Amazing how ornate everything had to be back then.   So pretty.

I just love all of these critters.  Look!  See that cute little bunny in the center? 

I just love all this shelf full of doggies.  Wish that I could bring them all home with me!

Last Weekend at Heritage House

Last Sunday I held down the fort in the gift shop at Heritage House.  I snapped a few photos and thought that I would share.  I'm not in any of the pictures because I had a big breakfast that morn and I was busting out of my clothes. Egads.

Our shop has plenty of books about to tempt me.  You'd think that I didn't have enough books of my own or something.

One enters the gift shop from inside the home via this odd window/door.

Below is a view of the shop from the opposite end.  Fans or no fans, the house is shut down over the summer.  Rumor has it that it positively unbearable come August and July.  I am confident that it is not  just a rumor.  Amazing to think that women had to deal with all that fabric along with the heat.  No wonder they were always getting the vapors.

I was happy to discover that a tea party was being held on the grounds that very afternoon.   A harpist had been situated between me and the tea, much to my glee.   The air was filled with beautiful music all afternoon.  What a nice surprise.

Following are several more photos of the garden.  Why oh why am I unable to get my yard to look like this?

Lo and behold! The best part of the day came when we were invited to partake of tea party leftovers.   Happily, the husband and I feasted on fresh baked scones and lemon cookies on the way home.

And then Mr. Nibbles climbed up on the table when I wasn't looking and finished everything off.  Bad boy. Little white doggies do not eat scones!

Yay, Heritage House and Random Stuff That I Love

I'm a tad bit excited.  Tomorrow I do my first stint volunteering in the gift shop at Heritage House.  We first moved to Riverside, an hour away from friends and family when I was a flight attendant and based out of state.  It's been a bit of a trial meeting like minded people.  Especially when you like the sort of things that I do. 

I'm certainly looking forward to just being in this beautiful, historical atmosphere, if only for a few hours a month.  A chance to chit chat with others and a an opportunity to dress up in a get-up!  I was asked to wear a long black skirt and a white blouse.

While I do have several wearable vintage and antique blouses, I don't have a wearable black skirt.  The one long skirt I do have will no longer meet where it should at my waist.  What I mean is that I've put on weight around the middle and it NO LONGER FITS.  There.  I said it.
I'm not sure exactly which top I'll be wearing but I am preparing myself just in case I turn out to be the volunteer with her shirt half unbuttoned under her jacket. 

I made a last minute visit to the local thrift store and was able to find a workable white skirt and black velvet jacket.  To my horror the skirt was in a size that I have never had to fit into before sigh...at least it's a wee bit large.  I should put this skirt on every morning.  I imagine that it would be a surefire way to motivate me to move my behind and get to the gym.

I'm listening to Ruth Etting and Josephine Baker on my beloved Pandora to put myself in a very vintage mood.  Who am I trying to kid?  I'm always in a vintage state of mind.

Photos above were all taken at Heritage House at Christmas time. 

Now for the random stuff that I love.  Whilst poking about attempting to decide how I was going to embellish myself in the morning, I dug up some fun stuff.

First off is lovely vintage (Edwardian?) belt that I can only dream of fitting around my waist.

It features red leather and embossed brass stampings.   With all the stuff I have in my craft room I should be able to figure out a way to elongated it sooner or later.

Next I pulled out a beautiful pair of leather gloves I discovered in an antique mall in Bartlett, TN. 

 

They still have their original price tag.

 

Love all the markings on the inside.  Reminds me of how every once in awhile you can just barely still see old painted words on the side of an ancient brick building.

 

 

Darn it.  I should have photographed them next to something so that you can get a better idea of their size.  They're much too small for any grown female that I know, to wear.  Still soft and buttery after all this time.  I'm very much a city girl so I don't know these things but are these "kid gloves" that  I was always reading about?  Didn't quite know what that meant as a young girl reading about Annie Oakley and the like but the struggling vegetarian in me shudders now.

Sorry kids but I still love them.   Now look at this next picture closely.

Do they looked hand stitched to you?  These stitches are sooooo tiny in person that it's very hard to imagine such a thing.

 

And see these tiny little bows?

 

They're not really bows.  They're tiny wisps of twisted tissue meant to protect the buttons. 

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Time out for a cheap date with the husband.  We had the Subway "2 Meals After 4 for $8.95" special.  We then spent the next two hours hours chasing one another around Barnes & Noble sharing various books.  Eventually we wound up on the floor in the religious section as he perused a bog about doggies and I swooned over a delectable 10 lb book (it felt like it!) on the history of fashion.

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This last item is interesting.  I found this brooch in a sea of nothingness, the Roadium Swap Meet in Torrance, CA.  I hadn't been there is years and one day we decided to check it out.  Everything seemed to be either new or used but not much in the way of collectible or antique. Something made me do a double take at a pile of costume jewelry and bam!  I spotted this.  

I'm not quite sure what is made out of.  I guess it wouldn't be too hard to figure out.  Jet?  I don't think so.  Maybe gutta percha?  Oh my goodness.  I just double checked it out on Google and I actually spelled it correctly!  Can't believe that I remembered how. 

I'm assuming that it was meant to be worn as a mourning piece because it is do decidedly black and matte in appearance.   When I flipped it over I could see that it had an old simple c-clasp.

Reminds me of an ant.