A piece of vintage blue luggage as the centerpiece, on a table decked out in old tablecloths.
Old dishes (garage sale find), with the perfect chippy edges.
Brown paper packages, with vintage pattern front embellishments.
And fluffy pink strawberry dessert. A successful party for a special girl!
love from here~
the Long ladies
... and pepper.
When we went on our annual Muskogee trip, you'll never guess what I found! These lovely salt and pepper shakers in jadite have the exact same design as my beautiful primrose dishes! I really can't take all the credit for finding them. Mom and Apphia were a few booths ahead of me, so they spied them first. "Achaia, you HAVE to get these!!" So, with a little pushing (it didn't take much) I left the flea market with these darling little shakers. They just make me smile! And, actually, I'm really fond of the jadite color of these too. Who said every dish had to be plain white??
Ah, I wish I were eating something that needed salt! Pepper would do too. Any good ideas?
Much love~Achaia
With fall comes our annual flea marketing trip to Muskogee, Oklahoma! It's a very fun day.
We dig through a whole bunch of old linens...
Eat pizza till we think we'll bust (then walk it all off)...
Admire pretty dishes (we have a thing for dishes round here)...
Wonder how many glass knobs we'd have to buy if we wanted to replace the doorknobs on every interior door in our home...
Rest for a minute, in the big rocking chairs...
And take pictures of ourselves in huge old mirrors...
We didn't photograph the back of the Suburban at the end of our trip, though. Mostly because Mom found a really great old ladder with chippy paint to hang quilts on. We found some dishes too, and an old wooden crate for Achaia's closet! A happy day indeed.
What do you flea-market for?
xxx, the Long ladies
The dishes were so beautiful. And I couldn't say no.
It all started on Monday. I was out flea marketing with my sweet mom and sisters, along with two good friends. We were in a store I'd never been in before. I turned around to walk in one of the booths, and guess what caught my eye? These lovely dishes! I had to get down close to them, pick them up, run my fingers over the pretty floral design. Sigh. Perfection. It took some refraining on my part, but I didn't come home with all the dishes the store had.
After getting home and looking in one of our Fire King books from our dearest Nanny, I found the pattern is called Primrose. It was made in the late 50s to the early 60s. What could make me happier except the fact that they match with some of my all-time favorite fabric?
It just caught her eye, and she couldn't say no. Now Abigail has a vintage dress. From the 50s. Covered in bright flowers and fruit.
So very Abigail... don't you think?
And just think... all this cuteness for only $8!
I love, love, love my bedroom-- it is so Apphia, as Mom would say. Pink and gold and black and white, with punches of turquoise to keep it interesting.
First of all, my new addition... a gorgeous pink mirror! I found the old window at a flea market for $8. And it was just so perfect for my room that we couldn't pass it up. Dad (who can do everything, by the way) fixed it up for me. Nan helped me add the finishing touches when she was here!
I'm really not sure how I came up with the idea to use the widow as a mirror. But the mirrors cost way more than the window. Gulp. The brass sconces were flea market finds, with candles from Hobby Lobby (at half price, of course... you see how I'm making up for the $$ of the mirrors by purchasing everything else at bottom dollar? Good girl.)... Nan found the fabulous tray at a garage sale.
The pillows~
The matching valance above the closet door (we made curtains when Nan was here!)~
Nick-nacks~
My flea-market-find-magazine-rack and dresser~
My nightstand (thanks, Paps- I love you!) and little gold chair~
Other pretties (the lovely lamps belonged to Nan & Paps years and years ago... they are some of my favorite things!)~
Here we are, back again! We have had some busy, fun, full days. Sorry we couldn't keep all of you posted through the whole thing, but we were too busy! We'll have to split this up into a few posts...
Achaia's Dresser... Reorginazation and POP! We didn't buy one new thing. Just moved things around the room. The canisters are a flea market find and the letters are from her graduation party.
Abigail and Abiah's Dresser... Full and fun! We did buy the boxes at the left end of the dresser (Hobby Lobby 25% off coupons!). The doll was Nanny's when she was a little girl. Abiah's been making lots of crocheted washcloths...
Of course, we had to make some flea market stops, plus Mexican food.
We did quite a bit of this, too!
It was one wonderful time. More pictures on the way!
Dishes are one of those things with us Long ladies. We all collect them! Oh the days, spent scouring flea markets for the perfect dish. We each have a favorite pattern, a favorite color(s), and a favorite style. Here are our recent (gorgeous) findings... now tucked safely away, until we have the pleasure of using them in our own homes, Lord willing!
for Achaia~ a fabulous floral 70s-style pitcher--
for Apphia~ perfectly elegant turquoise (!) "bubble" cups and saucers--
fabrics: farmers market and pop garden
Alright... this may sound a little funny, but I like army sacks. The shape, size, and feel of them just seem perfect. Except for one thing: they're a bit "boyish" looking for a girl. So, I got the idea that if I ever found a cheap army sack I would buy it and line it with a fabric, using the same techniques we use to put lining into our bags. Hadn't seen one. Then one day...
We went to a flea market in Fairland, Oklahoma. (If you're ever down that way look up Fran's Flea Market!) Can you imagine what was there for $8? You guessed it: my army sack! I was so excited!! Home I came with the army sack in tow. Next on the list was to wash it.
At first it was a little blah (inside and out!)::
Now I made a plan of attack::
Cutting out (I made a rough pattern using freezer paper, as you can see). I chose an Amy Butler fabric from her new Midwest Modern line. There's a bit of green in it that's the perfect shade of army green!::
While putting the lining together I decided to add a pocket to help keep my extra little goodies "organized"::
Hand stitching the lining in around the top was the hardest part! (with the help of my wonderful partners I decided stitching around the top with the sewing machine was out of the question! I just set the lining in and hand stitched around it.) I ended up with a purple thumb from poking myself (and used up 2 needles in the process)::
Mission Complete! My army sack is ready for duty and officially done. Well almost. Now I plan to embellish the flap with a 1970's applique from Mom's cute collection::
posted by Achaia
We are SO sorry.... we've not posted about our progress for so many days! Nanny, Mom, and us girls have been extremely busy working on the Roman Shades. Lord willing we'll be able to finish them all today, because Nanny has to go home tomorrow. We're all really going to miss her!
Our Roman Shades have turned out very well so far. We used plain sheeting to make them with and Mini Blinds without the slats. Lord willing you'll get to see pictures of the finished product later on today, but for now, here's some pictures working on them. We had a total of 10 to do!
Took some cutting, measuring, and ripping!
Not to mention pressing and sewing!
Then yesterday afternoon, we decided to drive over to a town about 20 miles from us to do a little looking around. We felt like we could take a small break anyway! We visited a couple flea markets and throughly enjoyed ourselves. We brought along a digital camera so we could snap a few pictures to show you all.
Aunt Amy, your sister bought these for you!
