'Lady, You've Got Too Much Stuff!'

The above quote was spoken to me from a frustrated, overworked, underpaid professional mover/packer eleven years ago.  Apparently, her 'estimator' ran through my house a bit too quickly and grossly underestimated the amount of 'stuff' I was capable of hiding.. By the time another truck had to be arranged (and filled to the brim), she was about ready to bean me.

To my credit, I had warned the hurried estimator, that all 45 of my kitchen cabinets were full.  That my buffet, china cabinet, garage and most nooks and dang near all of the crannies were artfully filled to the brims. She offhandedly waved off my concerns with a 'Yes, dear, we are quite used to this kind of move..We do it all the time.'  Warned her.

I can fill a semi in nothin flat.

Now the down side to My Ever Increasing Collection.

Updating.

When Bob, the counter installer, called me yesterday to arrange a time for the install of my fetchingly beautiful Tur Quazzie counter, I thought to myself: preparing for this shouldn't be a big deal.  Just clear out those things that could in the way or broken by those that do not take my things seriously. Once I started, the refrain of the poor young packer of years ago, kept playing in my brain...'Lady, you've got too much stuff!!!' I do believe the chorus was even played in a minor key, just to add to the solemnity of it all.

I covered my rather large dining room table.  And the chairs.  And I went out to the garage/storage to bring in a folding table to make more table space. (You did know that I have five card tables, right?)  That filled, I started placing things in my laundry room and library.  Things started spreading out like slow moving lava and seeing it all out like that I gotta admit, I kinda got a little scared like it was the red hot stuff....Maybe the thought of Hubby seeing some of my well hidden treasures all exposed, might

jeopardize any future foray into Yard Sale Land. So I was a little anxious.

Daunting, isn't it?  Laden Counters, well packed cabinets, top of microwave, any horizontal  space is fair game for my 'collections'....Doesn't even Marjorie, my cookie jar, look a bit claustrophobic?  I reassured her that her New Happy Place would be forthcoming, that this temporary discomfort shall last but an evening....

By the end of the afternoon, Bob the Counter Man and his assistant Ryan, had completed their task and brought my kitchen into the 1950's...Retro Update; a bit of a contradiction, eh?

In all my appreciation for this most generous gift, I am vowing to be selective when returning things to their place.  I am proud to report that I have a box (albeit 'small') of things that will need to find another home. Maybe. 

Simple Sewing Saturdays: Volume Six: The Useful Curtain

Today on Simple Sewing Saturdays, we are going to explore the very simple yet useful skill of The Basic Cafe Curtain. With all the '50's Turquoise Themey thing going on around here, it is just expected that my New Kitchen Curtain should be in that genre.  I was contemplating the style of the window treatments (never called that by the way, then) that graced the kitchens of yesteryear.  And truthfully, I could only come up with the Cafe Curtain, my mom's personal favorite.  Of course, in the pre-polyester blend days, I spent quite a few of my Saturdays ironing the blessed things, ruffly and pure cotton and abundant.  So not to drift to far from The Original, I shall utilize the style and even the fabric of the day, to decorate my very 21rst Century Dandy Window.  So your thinking, 'Deb!  Where did you get such wonderful fabric?!' In honor of my New Counter tops, new window and dare I say it, my new kitchen floor, I found myself cutting into one of my precious Vintage Tablecloths, which whittles down my collection to a mere 20....or so.....I had used this beauty outside one summer, so it has battle scars: a bit of rust from a pot, grayish hem for being outside with it's skirts dipping into rain...It has seen better days. This table cloth was a smallish one and cutting it in half was going to give me enough fullness for my window.  If you're starting with fabric from the bolt, you just need to measure the window's width and double the amount for the width of curtain for fullness.  I'll cover this mystical feature on another SSS.

. First things first:  I trimmed off some of the Nasty Bits, taking with it, it's own nice little hem, so the first thing we'll have to do is make new hems.  Top Photo: Press under 1/2 inch.  Then do it again  Stitch close to the folded edge. Do this to all four sidesOn the top of the curtain, you will then fold down, again, approximately 2 inches, depending on how much you want to ruffle at the top of the rod.  Again, you stitch about an inch (I wanted a more subdued 'ruffle' above the rod.)  Then, stitch again another 1 1/2 from that stitching to make the pocket for your rod.Lookit here!  I'm using a measuring tool!!  Okay, it was just for you guys.   I have uncanny ability to 'guess' at measurements.  But I'm usually off a teensy bit. .  For a bit of flourish, I decided to place some of my vintage bias tapes and ricky rack to complete The Look.And as it goes with using rare, older materials, you sometimes run out.  See how close I came to reaching the end?  See the rusty pin holes in my tape?  The rusty holes in the tablecloth/curtain?  Doesn't bother me a bit.  85 % of it is gold so who am I, one who is less than 85% good, to criticize or throw out that lovely 85%?  Nope.  Comes with the Vintage Territory. As you can see, I just folded under the end of the tape and inserted another piece to reach the end.  So you ask, 'But Deb, what if you didn't have anymore of the 19 cent Turquoise Bias Tape from some unknown decade?  No Prob.  I would have just used another color.  That's right.  Tis how I roll.I always like to check on my closeness of hem and in this case, the run of the rick rack and bias tape.  Once the curtain is hanging, it's nice to have a good flow of closeness.Here we are, all pressed and practicing how to hang the finished product.Of course, they won't actually get hung until the Turquoise Counter top is in.  This is just for you. 

What have we learned?  Do not dismiss those lovely vintage things just because they have bad spots.  Work around them, use them in another manner (i.e. place mats, tote bags, etc...) and use their beauty...They won't come around again.......Enjoy!

Turquoise Love

Doesn't the word 'turquoise' just thrill you? A Mid Century Antique myself, I can appreciate the word and the color. It hearkens me back to my childhood and images of my neighbors copper gelatin molds, gleaming on the ocean blue of their kitchen walls.  The preferred color at the time was either the turquoise, (sometimes pronounced tur QUAZ by the more dramatic) or pink with gray accents.  I do remember this. So when the current infatuation with all things Mid Century began, I was there.  I believe it probably is some unconscious effort on my part to take a piece of childhood and reconstruct it for good.  To take the essence of the 50's and 60's, recapture it, and bend it to make better memories than perhaps I was endowed with.

Whatever.

    Truth is, I love the color.  Even in 1992 when I bought this dandy Branchell Melamine vegetable bowl (which is  handily holding fresh black raspberries from Gardening Church Friend's abundant fields), at an Estate Sale for a quarter, I knew it's time would soon be coming back. Even though the trend at the time was the Victorian Look Revisited, I knew that the sweet little bowl would just have to start something in my collection.  Ever since that day, bits of kitchen turquoise has been happily appearing.  And thus shall it ever be, that when the time came to replace my elder counter tops, my full commitment to the Beloved Color waved it's flag.  In keeping with my mid century love affair/psychiatric upheaval with the color, the Turquoise Boomerang pattern of long ago shall be my cooking companion  till I am called elsewhere on this sod or the next. So I am busily preparing for the day when The Big Turquoise Commitment arrives.  This would involve a fresh coat of paint to my 70's all maple cabinets.  I know, I know.  My realtor of long ago, who just so happened to be the man that remodeled the kitchen in the 70's, was quite protective of the quality of the all wood construction.  He warned me rather sternly, 'Now don't you go paint those cabinets; those are solid maple!'.  To wit, I nodded in agreement, thinking that maybe a nod would be less of a lie than a verbal acknowledgement.  The smallish kitchen was a little too closed in  to handle all the darkness of the wood's color.  Before the year was out, the first coat of paint had appeared and I prayed that the gentleman would never visit.  I knew the possibility of replacing these gems was slim to none, so I have adapted in the way that one does when one is on a budget: Paint.  In the first redo 10 years ago, I did replace the knobs with the shiny brassy thingys that were ever so popular then.  Twenty seven of them.  Time has passed and the knobs that appeal to me now are way too far out of my Kitchen Update Budget, so again, Paint.  I've spray painted all the knobs my Psychiatric Treatment Turquoise. And the brassy grids of the lighted display cabinet.  And to balance it with the Turquoise, orange , yellow scheme, I've outlined the Former Maple Cabinets with a jaunty yellow stripe. Please do not tell my elderly realtor, if he's still alive.  I think he would ground me.  I had just enough paint left over to cast a dubious eye to my phone stand, that before Saturday,  had managed to escape any paint since the 60's.  It's durable and safe finish has stood guard over my phone and all the area's books for quite awhile now and he just looked a bit sad in all the 50's hoopla and jazziness, so it got sprayed as well.  It is very happy.

You must stay tuned as more of the Tur QUAZZIE goodness spreads throughout my kitchen.  Pardon me while I go and visit my therapist.......