Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Home Repairs and Some Sewing

 

 

Flower basket from ftd

 
It has been busy around here. I live in an older home that is being replaced, section by section as things break down. If it is not plumbing, it is electric. Today a very interesting man came to replace several outlets and figure out why the electric does not work on some walls. I noticed he spoke with a slight accent. I was curious to know where he was from, but not clever enough to guess, so I asked him if he was from Texas. I figured that sounded kind and diplomatic.
 
He said was from Armenia and spoke 7 languages fluently: French, Spain-Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Turkish, Portuguese, to name a few. When I said it was a great talent, since he could fix electric things in all those countries, he replied quickly, "I have no desire to go anywhere else."
 
We all told him how glad we were that he was making things work in this house and apologized for the fact that he had to move the piano all by himself to get to the outlet behind it. "I do not mind," he said. "It is my job. It is what I get paid for." He joked a bit about how the electric was wired in this house in such an untypical way 50 years ago without following a code, and he called it a daisy chain.
 
Next week the window man comes to measure the broken window so that we can get it replaced. I wonder where he will be from, or where his grandparents came from.

I have been to the dollar store and found some black check towels for the kitchen, which look great with the black appliances, and they come in a package of two, for a dollar, all cotton.

I have finished a little accent cushion using a small piece of toile fabric with a scene of children fishing. It looks good with this old tea cup that has a similar picture.

 

Also at the Dollar Tree was a shipment of these taper led-lite candles. I had seen led-lite tapers in other stores but they were too expensive so it was nice to find them for a dollar each today.

I suppose many ladies are involved in spring cleaning and packing away winter things. Our houses are going from a cozy, warm look to a light, airy summer look as we put away the extra blankets and rugs and make things more spacious.

Living room suite from Magnolia Hall

 

Anonymous comments are enabled for the time being. I had previously prevented them because of an enormous amount of advertising spam.

Pro 3:5    Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.Pro 3:6    In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

 

9 comments:

Finding Joy said...

Interestedly, my friends and I don't change our living room between seasons, perhaps because it doesn't get as cold here in Australia. But we do start to close more of the windows and draw the heavy curtains when it starts to get cold. Tomorrow will be our first cold and wet day, I have just got out one of my heavier skirts to wear.

Your little pillow is very sweet.

Lydia said...

I had to turn off the anonymous comments,mad I was immediately inundated with spam ads. If you cannot post,just email me and I will post your comment

Lydia said...

Jo, your letter writing paintings on your blog are really nice. Correspondence must have been really something, for there to have been so many paintings depicting ladies doing it. Artists were inspired enough to capture it on canvas for all time.

living from glory to glory said...

Dear Lydia, So happy that you are getting some home things repaired!
We are doing some proactive things to help stop the dust from getting into our home. Today we are getting some snow! We need a ton of it, but I will praise the Lord for any amount! Drinking coffee and plan on a bit of reading today.
I have also been thinking about maybe sewing some new bright and cherry drapes for my living room!
Wishing you a great day!
Blessings, Roxy

Katrinka said...

That pillow and tea cup is absolutely gorgeous. What a great accent.

Our home is very old also, and we do what I call 'nibble' at repairs. A little bit here and there whenever we can. It's such a nice feeling when another project gets done.

Unknown said...

Dear Lydia,
We are in the process of lengthy repairs at our home, too. Multiple leaks from both upstairs bathrooms have left ugly marks on the kitchen ceiling and we have had 3 different plumbers in to solve the problems. We are finally allowed to use the sink in one bathroom that was not able to be used for nearly 6 months. I celebrated by making a new flower arrangement for the vanity and putting a bar of handmade scented soap in the soap dish. It feels so luxurious to be able to suds up without visiting another bathroom. It is indeed the small things in life that make ones day!
The toile pillow and cup and saucer were really pretty. I like ironstone tea cups and saucers as well as bone china ones. There are so many pretty patterns to choose from.
It is still chilly in Central PA with stiff winds and my crocus can't decide whether they want to open up or not. If the weather improves I would like to get some pretty pansies for a pot on the front porch this weekend.
Blessings Lady Lydia and friends!

Susan said...

I am in Pennsylvania too and still cannot put away the winter blankets and throws. I am trying to make our home Springy by putting out colorful Easter decorations and silk flowers. I visited a local thrift store today that had an Easter 10 cent sale and came away with pretty baskets and silk flowers. There was also a lovely tin with Victorian ladies on the top holding daffodils and bunnies. The dollar store has pretty black and white decorations for the bathroom too. I just got a wall picture with a claw foot tub in black and white for the bathroom that says "RELAX". It looks pretty with my black and white shower curtain. I am looking forward to the first peek of flowers here and a long walk in the local park.

Finding Joy said...

Lady Lydia - Glad you like the collection of paintings about letter writing and the receiving of letters. There were many paintings I looked at about receiving letters, they were so important to both men and women and many wrote daily to their sisters, friends or other family so they could stay in touch. Sadly another one of those past treasures soon to be lost.

Unknown said...

Just noted the temperatures will be in the twenties tonight. I, too, am adding spring touches to all the rooms in my house. I went to the storage boxes and pulled out all the old greeting cards with lovely pictures on them that I had gathered over the years and divided them into seasons. Some belonged to my parents and I couldn't bear to part with them. Some were 70 years old, including homemade cards to each other when they were first married and couldn't afford to buy cards. I used a tape called, Mauvelous tape which is available at a local school supply store. It will not damage any surface or the cards. I have used them to frame plain doorways and openings and they look beautiful and add color and cheer to each room. The old cards sometimes had ruffled edges, and little touches like umbrellas. The umbrella shape was padded and covered in pale satin, lots of pretty embellished edges, gold, glitter, and ladies and men dressed in beautiful clothing. The verses were sweet and gentle. These remind me of gentler times and encourage me to make my simple and humble home a place of beauty.

Another simple decoration I learned to make from my homemaker mother was and Easter Egg tree. We would save our broken egg halves from cooking. I would carefully wash and let them dry on a dishtowel and lay them in a paper bag until we were ready to make our tree.

We would gather tree or bush branches and cut them to fit in a large vase, putting some stones or you could use some of the glass pebbles from the Dollar Tree.

We also used narrow ribbon. Sometimes we saved the white curling ribbon from Christmas.

When we were ready to make our tree we dyed the half egg shells with food coloring, Used tape or later hot glue to add handles of the ribbon and put them all over the little "tree". We filled the baskets with Easter grass or shredded paper and Mom put tiny jelly beans or little pom-pom chicks or rabbits in some of them.

It made a pretty centerpiece for the table or sideboard at very little cost and was pretty.