Friday, September 9, 2016

Old Things Gathered: Yellow For Fall




Hanging on to old things is what I do. For this week's Five on Friday link party at Love Made My Home, I'm sharing five old things around our house connected by the color yellow for Fall.

Many of the old things I have were bestowed on me from older family members. Bestow is the right word...I looked it up. It is an honor to receive beloved family items and I appreciate them very much. 

be·stow
bəˈstō/
verb
past tense: bestowed; past participle: bestowed
  1. confer or present (an honor, right, or gift).


One...Vintage Coffee Pot. This pot came from a collectibles store in Albuquerque and has been with me since 2002, but it's way older than that. Cowboys use to hang them over open fires to brew coffee for the guys. That's one of the reasons why the old coffee pots had a metal handle on top. 
Can you imagine taking the time to start a fire and brew up a pot so everyone can gather 'round and warm up before starting the day? 

Think about that the next time you are in the drive-thru line at Starbucks and it takes a few minutes longer than you think it should!
I have to wonder who had the better life? Those who gathered together first thing in the morning with warmth and companionship, or us hurrying off to work by ourselves with an ugly paper cup?
I use the old coffeepot for holding flowers, both real and faux. The real ones, like the sunflowers in the first pictures, require putting a mason jar inside the coffeepot to hold the water just in case it leaks.

Two...Vintage cabinet. It's still yellow, but I'm planning on painting it some shade of white. For now it's holding some Fall decor on top and dishes inside. 
I bought the little cabinet from a consignment shop 2 or 3 years ago. I always planned to paint it, just can't settle on a color.

Three...My great-grandmother's dresser and mirror from when she was a little girl. It has a crazy family history I'll get to some other time.
I know you're thinking "it's not yellow", but look inside the drawer with me. 
When I got the dresser from my father back in 1980, this wallpaper was lining the drawer. I never removed it...I wanted it to remain as part of its legacy. The dresser and mirror had been stored in a barn in Nebraska since the 1930's, and I believe the wallpaper was in there all that time. My father rescued it in 1977, when the barn was torn down, a few years before I could pick it up from him.
 I pulled a small piece out of the back of the drawer to look at it better tonight. I think I'll try to frame it so I can see it more often and try to research the pattern by the numbers at the top of the piece.
Four...An old painting from the 1880's. This painting is one of a pair. There was a tag on the back showing they were framed at a shop in San Francisco in the 1880's. It's in a dark hallway and it was hard to get a good picture.
Here's a close up of the vase and some of the flowers depicted.
The painter used a very soft yellow on one or two of the flowers, but yellow none the less. Can you see it?
My mother gave me one of these paintings 20 years ago, and then gave me the other one about 5 years ago. They stand about 4 foot high. 

Five...Old Family Quilt. My mother-in-law gave me this quilt last year. 
Her mother created this hand-stitched quilt with other family women and friends when my mother-in-law was a young girl. Each person chose their fabric, made a square, then stitched her name across it. 
Opal chose a yellowish-gold embroidery thread to stitch her name boldly across her square. Opal was long gone when I joined the family over 20 years ago, but I think I would've liked her if she was as straight-forward as her signature appears.
It's not yellow, but Mittie's orange square to the left side of the picture below is another bold statement I love. 
Depending on how it's folded, the quilt fits in with lots of seasonal decorating. The oranges and yellows fit right in with fall.
That's my five this week. Hope you'll drop by Amaze Me Monday, Willy Nilly Friday, and Amy's blog where you can add your five too. You can write about anything, but I'd love to see what you have around the house that you cherish -- if you're of a mind to show it.



Thanks for dropping by!



Partying Here:
Amaze Me Monday
Willy Nilly Friday
Five On Friday





32 comments:

  1. Such enchanting items, all of them! No wonder you cherish them. They are from the good old days when quality and beauty were appreciated. :)
    Thank you very much for sharing. Have a lovely weekend!

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  2. So wonderful old familiar things, full with stories! I would make some collages with the ppaper or simply frame, that would be the best.
    By the way: in my first own apartment, in the 80s, I had to fire a stove. I've done it every morning to brew tea. It took some time, I had to get up earlier before my working day, but I loved this real fire. Slow down your life ...
    Have a nice weekend

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  3. A lovely collection of yellows to start off the day with sunshine. The vintage wallpaper is something to treasure and will look wonderful when framed and displayed on your wall.

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  4. You have a lovely collection of treasures. The quilts look beautiful and the sunflowers in that white pot/can are adorable! Happy weekend.

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  5. I think your coffee pot looks brilliant with the sunflowers in it. The quilt is gorgeous a real slice of history, so much work in it too.

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  6. I enjoyed seeing your "bestowments." I too love old things especially that are meaningful to me with family history. The others that aren't I can just imagine about. Have a nice weekend.

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  7. loved seeing all 5...how fun this party is....

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  8. Lovely yellow. What fun! Sweet memories, too. Love the old coffee pot and the gorgeous quilt. The wall paper!!!! Frame it! Happy Friday!

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  9. What a lovely collection of your treasures! Love the white coffee pot with sunflowers, nostalgic and brilliant! Such a gorgeous quilt!
    Have a good weekend!

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  10. What a lovely collection of your treasures! Love the white coffee pot with sunflowers, nostalgic and brilliant! Such a gorgeous quilt!
    Have a good weekend!

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  11. Love the old coffee pot and it looks lovely with the flowers in it.
    I like old things too and have quite a few things around my house too.

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  12. You have some lovely family treasures. I loved hearing about your grandma's chest and the quilt is amazing. It's good you are the caretaker of theses previous things. Enjoy your day, Pat xx

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  13. Family treasures are the best. The quilt is so pretty and your Grandmother's dresser is a lovely piece, really like that wallpaper in the drawer. Love the paintings too.

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  14. I love that yellow cabinet. If I lived near you, I'd offer to buy it, and you could use the money to buy one the color of your choice.

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  15. Your family quilt is absolutely stunning. Imagine that, young women sitting together and working on a piece of family history. I wonder if they made quilts for all of them?

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  16. Just beautiful! I adore your quilt, such wonderful history, I am sure it is a great treasure for you. Thank you for joining in, I hope you have a great weekend! xx

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  17. Your coffee jug looks wonderful filled with sunflowers. The old paper in the drawer is a lovely link to the past - I wonder what stories it could tell? Your family quilt is stunning.

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  18. Great coffee pot, it sure make a fun vase!

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  19. I adore that wallpaper. So much fun. The quilt is amazing and I love folding them so different colors so too.

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  20. I love all five pieces. The coffee pot is really special. You know how I am about old things!

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  21. Those are great five pieces. I have missed visiting so it is fun to see what you are up to. I am just getting rid of so many things that have been bestowed on me over the years. Now I am bestowing them on my kids whether they want them or not---lol

    Have a great weekend, Shug! xo Diana

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  22. Everything is so beautiful and heartwarming! :)

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  23. Everything is so beautiful and heartwarming! :)

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  24. These are wonderful glimpses into the past. Your great-grandmother's dresser is just beautiful! How lucky you are to be able to keep these treasures within the family. My mother lined her old dresser with newspaper. I kept the same newspaper in there for many years, but finally practical me decided the torn pieces needed to be thrown out (after about 55 years!). One page was wedding announcements, and one wedding was of the parents of a girl I went to elementary school with! Small world.
    Wendy

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  25. the flowers in the vintage coffee pot looks like it should be a painting by itself! beautiful photograph

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  26. I loved every piece you showed.. I like the old fashion life I think you were able to appreciate it more than today. We tend to take advantage of the simple things we have like starbucks... The old cabinet is just lovely and has much character.. The dresser is lovely as well and the paper is beautiful.. At mamas house in the dinning room there is linoleum from probably when mama was a little girl. And I was thinking the same thing to save a piece of it and frame it or something. Lovely post thanks for sharing your things. Happy Sunday with love Janice

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  27. These heritage items speak of the memories in your family - so many stories attached to them. Great keepsakes and wonderful yellows for all.

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  28. I love this post!
    I'm trying to become more of a minimalist
    but I don't think it's going to happen
    I love all these things
    and the stories that go with them.
    :)
    xoxoxo

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  29. Love your enamel pot full of sunflowers and the quilts...such treasures!!!
    Thanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

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  30. Rivercrest Cottage,
    Don't know how I missed this post earlier,
    but as soon as I saw the Sunflowers at Amaze Me Monday. . .I came right over, dear friend!
    Love the enamel coffee pot and the history behind your quilt and dresser!
    Fondly,
    Pat

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  31. I love your memories, I resuced a few things from my husband's uncles home too, my mom's I just helped myself to long before, she use to say, take it and enjoy, loved that about her. My sisters and brother kept saying they didn't want any of that junk... well now it's all mine, they often ask about what happened with something... I just say , I'm enjoying it.

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