My sewing half-bath

Yes girls, it was hard to decide whether to leave the spools in the lamp or take them out.  I knew I wanted the spools to go in my half-bath that is on the main level of our home.  But it is a tiny room and not much space for a lamp.  I laugh because I know some of you have tried this before... it's so hard to get pictures of a little bathroom!  Sorry for the lighting and the blurriness.  I did the best I could.

When we moved into this house, the first thing I said was this wallpaper border has to go!  I'm not into floral print at all.  Give me a bouquet of daises and I'll be a happy girl, but I don't do floral in my home.  I painted the walls and decided to keep the border because it resembles an antique border.  Plus, I decided the roses would go well with this room being full of things that belonged to my grandmas, great-grandma and great-aunt.  The soaps in the metal container are hand made with flowers embossed on them.  I received these on Mother's Day when I went to my parent's old country church last year.  They gave each mother a plate of them.  What a nice surprise it was!  The soaps get changed out with the seasons.

If you are an old Home Interior lover, you might recall this picture from many, many years ago.  I believe it is one the first prints I ever bought from them.  I've had a hard time letting go of it over the years.  Some things you just can't let go of, right?  The black metal sewing box belonged to my great-aunt Neta.  The sewing notions you see displayed here were in this box.  The gloves belonged to my mom.  She actually wore these to her prom back in 1953!  If any of my three sisters knew I had these, they would throw a fit.  Hehe!

A close up of the sewing notions I feel so blessed to own now.

One of my favorite pieces in this room is the needle book.

When you open it up, this is what you see inside.  It is almost fully intact!  Only missing a couple of needles.

This old sewing drawer came from my great-grandma's sewing cabinet.  I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the cabinet.  The little lamp with purple flowers was a Christmas present from my grandma many, many years ago.  All of us cousins received one with different flowers.  The old sewing tin was from Neta and was full of old sewing notions also.  Now don't freak out when I say this, but it is dear to my heart.  The dried flowers in the little tin came from flower arrangements that were put on the caskets of my two grandmas, and my great-aunt Neta.  There are dried red roses, yellow roses and daises.  The silver candlesticks are patiently waiting for me to grubby up some candles.  I am slowly gaining a stash of them to grubby.  I would just like to do it all at once and make one big mess instead of lots of big messes.  Know what I mean?

Okay, here is where I put all those spools.  I think Karen might be right; some might be from the 50's.  I'm so thrilled to have so many old ones!

A close-up of the spools.  I even had a couple that said 15 cents!

This shadowbox shelf is on the other wall of the bathroom.  The rabbit angel figurine was a gift from my mother-in-law quite a few years ago.  The jar on the top shelf in the middle was an old coffee jar that I painted the lid green, added homespun and filled with miniature spools and bobbins.  I just love these little minis!

This old falling apart pin cushion belonged to my grandma.  I just love it in all its rustiness!

I saw this at a garage sale years ago and scooped it up in a hurry!  I don't think anyone would have tried to take it from me.  As a matter of fact, my sisters laughed at me for buying such a rusty, dirty piece but I fell in love with it at first glance.  For a moment I thought about finishing it but I decided it better to keep it like it is.  When I look at it, I am taken back to the creator's hands and love of her project.  I wish she could have seen it through to the end.  I'm sure it would have been so lovely in a beautiful frame.

The rest of the pieces in this shadowbox are notions that came from Neta's other tin.  I love old sewing notions and have thought about buying more as I see them but I'm afraid of them getting mixed up with those that belong in my family.  So I am going to take pictures of what notions came from whom.  That way as these things hopefully get passed down to generations, the girls in the family will appreciate the things that once belonged to women that they are related to.  I love old pin cushions and have passed them up in the past.  I recently saw a post from Alma over at Blackbird Designs, one stitch at a time.  I love what I saw and now I'm on a hunt with something new to add to my treasure list!  =]

Well, there is my half-bath.  Thank you for sticking with me through my travel down memory lane.  I really enjoyed sharing pieces of the women of my family with you!  I wish for you a wonderful and sunshiny weekend!