Keepsakes and Tablescapes

All the patriotic red white and blue has been boxed up and stored in the shed attic! I used to do a little decorating for August using shells, sand and a beach theme. My youngest daughter LOVES the beach and has her guest room done up in all things beachy so I gave her my collection. Seems out of place here anyway with these 100+ degree days. I am really yearning to decorate for FALL!!! On August 31st I plan on hauling all that stuff down and turning everything around here into lovely golden colors and making warm and cozy tablescapes and putting up my beautiful Autumnal Tree......but until then......

I am using some of Louis Dean's keepsakes in a vintage Dr Pepper box.

The antique quilt piece is one I have kept for years and years.

This is Ruby Nell......Louis Dean's beloved mother in law.

They were very close and he speaks of her nearly every single day.

A closer look at some of the keepsakes......

Ruby Nell's report cards from 1932

Confederate Twenty Dollars

Ellen's High School Diploma

Ellen was Louis Dean's wife of 41 years.

He and Ruby Nell used to sit at her kitchen table and drink coffee together.

She would show him all these keepsakes and talk fondly of the years past.

He takes great pleasure in seeing these and remembering those times.

Across from the Memory Box I have a 1957 edition of the Newberry Medal award winning book-

'Miracles on Maple Hill' by Virginia Sorensen. Louis Dean and Ellen were both school teachers and they were friends with Ms. Sorensen. I purchased this copy on eBay for us to read aloud together.

The photos are old ones.....some of my ancestor's....and some of his.

The vintage Duncan Phyfe table was given to us by my son and daughter in law.

I use it as a work table for sorting into a design the denim squares for the quilts I make.

A 1929 Vogue's Book of Etiquette stands behind a picture of my Mother.

This was taken before she had a stroke in the fall of 2005.

The dining table is ready for place settings!

Just add food and guests and pour the wine!

 

Love the different wine lights! The blue glass looks especially nice.

If tea cups could talk - what would mine say?

My daughters have given me cups and saucers through the years.

Some are from England and France. Others I have picked up at resale shops.

All have stories they could tell of the tables they have graced

and the hands that have held them over the years.

This is my newest addition and is from Amber.

 It came filled with an assortment of teas and coffees she had collected in her travels in Europe.

Meet Emily.......a doll I made for Amber's third birthday.

She is sitting next to the vintage hat box I have filled with the tea cups and saucers.

The ceramic tea set I made for her one year birthday sits on an antique school desk in the foyer.

I shall give these things to Amber some day......since I DID make them for her!

I love making little groupings of the things I love.

It gives me pleasure to look at them.....

and the opportunity to take precious memories and enjoy them once again!