Old Timey

My sister Shelby and I met in Wake Forest on Friday...First, she had three heaping grocery bags of freshly cut okra to give me...three heaping grocery bags!! My friend Nellie was tickled to death to get two of the bags. 

Secondly, Cousin Patty had sent more boxes of stuff for Shelby to go through, keep what she wanted, then deliver the rest to lucky me. :)

Think I've mentioned before that Cousin Patty and her husband Mike sold their beautiful home on the lake and have down-sized since moving into a smaller place. That's why Patty gave me the beautiful old pie safe and the old cupboard.

This time items were smaller, but special...

This is not just an old worn out apron with a hole in the center; probably from drying her hands, this apron was worn by our Aunt Berlie. 

Some of my first blogging posts were written about Aunt Berlie. I adored her.  I looked forward to the weekends that mama could drive me to her house to spend a couple of nights. (This was in the early 1950's)

Aunt Berlie would say to me, "Melby, I bought us a new puzzle to put together". Oh, we would get to working on a puzzle and stay up way too late. Why, I remember it being 11:00 one Saturday night when Aunt Berlie looked up at the clock. We had to hurry and get to bed. We were going to Sunday School the next morning. 

Mama had packed my Sunday dress, my Gigi Perreau hat with the ribbon in the back, my black patent leather shoes, and little white gloves even. I can just see Aunt Berlie smiling as we walked in the the church door. She was glad to show me off, and I loved every minute of it. Of course, Aunt Berlie didn't drive, so she called on a neighbor to take us to the church.

Back to the apron. Patty had attached this note...

which I plan to keep on the apron. I want to make a pattern from this old apron and make some like it. The old aprons looked comfortable, didn't they?

This old oblong tablecloth didn't fit our new round table, so I cut it down and made a square cloth, with enough left over for a dish towel. And just look at this old tablecloth...

it doesn't fit our table either but I would never cut it.

and this picture is perfect for the small space over the ironing board in the teeny tiny sewing room...

this too from Patty......

There used to be kittens around the old barn and outhouses at Aunt Berlie's. She would say, "you can have them all if you can catch them, but be careful, they will scratch you".

Back when I was collecting old granite ware...never mind the dust on the pantry shelves...

I could not resist bringing home old 'slop jars' (top shelf far left), also a reminder of nights with Aunt Berlie. 

Aunt Berlie lived alone in a big house. There was an outside toilet, but we dared not go out after dark. A slop jar was kept just under the bed, in case we had to go during the night. 

Why, folks had been known to disappear going to the toilet late at night. There was an old tale back then in that part of the country of a woman who's husband went to the outhouse during the night and never returned. Scary stuff. 

No doubt, my love of old fashioned things came from Aunt Berlie. Things like a little fenced-in garden with a gate that hooked. Aunt Berlie had one. I remember going inside with her, to pick a few green beans, and closing the gate behind me. 

Aunt Berlie reminds me of the English Fairy Tale, "The Teeny Tiny Woman".

I've surely talked your ears off, but posting this has made me want to get back in the sewing room. It's been  months now since I finished the new sewing table skirt and chair seat cover...have I even shown you?

Green is not a favorite color of mine but there was enough pink in this that I kinda like it.

Thank you friends, well if you're still around. :) Hope I haven't frightened you away.

Love,
Henny