Decorating

We went to help a lady who is selling her home and moving to another town. She needed some help with a leak in the roof and some general cleanup. We had decided on the way to her house that we were not going to charge her for our time because she had lost her husband and the whole move was emotional for her.  We came home with a treasure I have wanted for some time, an old milk can.  In addition she gave us some other items, including a Victorian bird cage. I immediately began envisioning these things on the sun porch at our old house. I already have my umbrellas living in the milk can and the birdcage will house my fern as in the Victorian style, or maybe a real bird. In the meantime I'm wondering if I have a stuffed bird.  In exchange for a few hours of our time my home is enriched. I like that. 

I found some mushroom birds that I bought years ago to use in my vine wreaths. I also found a little birdhouse I was going to paint and some miniature grapevine wreaths I made when we first pruned the grapes. I now have a little vignette I made from pear tree cuttings. I'm happy.
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Auntie Peg is my quilting buddy and she has lived in Corvallis for basically 86 years and she knows nearly everyone. One of her resources is the local drapery store and she gets boxes of old sample fabrics as well as ends and pieces of fabrics. I was looking for something for a curtain for our bathroom and found a beautiful piece of antique gold drapery fabric just the right size. I had made my own color for the walls by adding a little pink to a buttery yellow so the fabric was just perfect. In the past I have made curtains just by ironing the edges and putting drapery clips on but this time I had a working sewing machine so I actually hemmed the curtains before clipping. I had found the clips at Ross's for a fraction of the new price. I like the clips over tabbed curtains because they close so much easier but I have made tabbed curtains when I didn't have the clips. Just make your tabs larger so they slide easily. Now I have books of fabric samples for sewing lessons for the grand kids to make wall hangings, pillow covers, or pet blankets, whatever comes up