Vintage Vogue

Almost 10 years ago, my grandparents made the decision to move to the nursing home and sell the house that they had built and lived in for 38 years.  They left the majority of the sorting and packing to my parents, and as you can imagine it was a huge task because my Nana kept everything.

If you've read this blog for a while, you may remember me sharing some of the trinkets that had belonged to my Nana.  Well, this past weekend my daughter was home for a visit, so we decided to dig out the vintage dresses that Chantelle had picked out at that time and kept here for the past decade.  She thought it would be fun to try them on and take some pictures.  So we got out the camera and decided to have a vintage fashion show to share on our blog.

I got the job of stylist/photographer... my Nana was quite a bit bigger in the waist and bust than Chantelle, so pretty well everything needed to be altered.  Out came the clothespins, and I used them to temporarily take in the dresses where needed.

While looking through the pics we had taken, I decided to have some more fun by experimenting with a new program I heard about called PicMonkey.  It lets you try all different effects, borders and text with your pictures - plus it's free and really easy to use too!  (Not to mention addictive!!)

Here's what we came up with... the first photo being the original, and the second one with an "enhanced"  look.  Enjoy!!

This dress belonged to my Aunt Dorothy which she wore as a bridesmaid in 1956.  It has a matching bolero jacket which we didn't show because this dress couldn't be zipped up... Chantelle was holding it closed as she posed.

This dress was the one my Nana wore to my Mom and Dad's wedding in 1960.

My parents have a picture of my Nana wearing this in the late 60's, with the length being mid-calf on her at the time.  Fast forward 45 years and the length is just perfect now for her great-grand-daughter. 

One of my favourites... hard to see in the picture, but there's a bow just above the waist.

Early 70's???

What a ball we had!!  Chantelle is hoping to find someone who will be able to alter these to her size.  I'm sure Nana would be so happy, knowing that the dresses she enjoyed wearing back so many years ago, are finding a new home in her great-grand-daughter's closet today.

Tracey

A Finish To Share

Well, it turns out I didn't share my progress as I stitched away on Garden of Love .  At one point when I thought about it, I was nearing the end, so I thought I might as well just wait until I was finished.  So I'm sharing the finish today.

Easter weekend my hubby and I were busy outside preparing things for the new fence, so on Monday I decided to take a break and spend the afternoon stitching.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so I grabbed my stitching, got in the truck, and decided to drive up and sit by the water at the Bluewater Bridge (which crosses from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada into Port Huron, Michigan).  

It was a busy spot that day; what with the kids having a day off of school for Easter Monday and gorgeous weather to boot.  Even though the sun was shining, the wind was a bit on the cool side so I stayed put in the truck.  No distractions... just the view of the river, blue skies and the sea gulls swooping around hoping that someone will share one of their french fries they got from the infamous chip truck "under the Bridge". 

I snapped this picture just as the rain clouds were starting to roll in... one of the few fishermen I saw that day...

  

The timing was perfect... just as the raindrops started to fall, I was putting the final stitches in Garden of Love.

Here is the finished product...

This was a really fun stitch, and I know I will definitely be using those silk threads again in the future.

On to the next!!...

Tracey

A Leibster Award... Thank-you!

We were just tickled pink to have our blog chosen by Lindsay to receive a Liebster award!  What fun!!

 Liebster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blog so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

It was so difficult to choose just 5 blogs to pass this award on to.  Here are the 5 we have chosen:

Jon Lee

Lisa

Melissa  

Moonbeam

Tina

Five random facts about Anita, Bonnie, Jody and Tracey (because we all share this blog):

1.  A,B,J,T love peanut M&M's and Cadbury Mini Eggs 

2.  A,B, hate pumpkin / J,T love pumpkin

3.  A,B,J,T never have fun when we get together

4.  A,B,J,T never lie

5.  A,B,J,T hate spiders and snakes, but that ain't what it takes to love us... ohhhh yaaa....

Tracey and Bonnie

A Moonlit Stroll

This past Friday morning around six AM, the full moon was so magnificent that I decided to head out for a moonlit stroll.  (Actually is wasn't quite as romantic as it sounds...the dog just had to pee.)  I grabbed my camera and headed out.

Just on the edge of town about a block from where we live, is a place called the fairgrounds - complete with a race track for the horses, some stables and a few agricultural buildings.  Our annual fall fair is held here in September... the busiest time in an otherwise quiet neighbourhood. 

Just beyond that is a farmer's field, where the golden moon was descending at a rapid rate.  I got out the camera and starting shooting (as much as I like my camera, it's at times like this that I would really love to have a better one.)

After about 100 pictures Willow was getting pretty impatient, so we carried on with our walk in the opposite direction... just in time to see the yellow sun peeking up over the horizon to start a brand new day. 

Tracey 

Home Sweet Home

It was 24 years ago today that we moved here into our century home.  Sometimes it's really hard to believe that so much time has gone by... our youngest was just a year old at the time, and now he is a 25 year old man.

When we first looked through the house, it needed quite a few updates and lots of TLC.  It had been used as a duplex for many years... with different generations of one family living together over the years either on the main floor or upstairs.

As a young married couple just starting out with 2 kids , our interest in decorating and gardening hadn't really piqued at that point... we were just wanting to buy a nice house that we could raise our family in.  Yet when we walked through this house the very first time, Paul and I could see through the dated wallpaper and paneling and envision what we eventually wanted it to be.  We fell in love with it right away.

Over the years we have made many changes inside and out, with still lots left that we'd like to do  :^)  (I really wish I had taken more "before" pictures in those early years.)  In some previous posts, I've shown you some of the renovations we've done inside.  Today I'll show you some of those changes outside.

This first picture was taken in fall of 1989 and pretty much shows the way the front of the house looked when we moved in.  The only difference is that there was originally a solid  tongue and groove "railing" on the porch that I recall was in pretty bad shape - I'm sure that's why we removed it.  (I'd have to do some deeper digging to see if we ever took a picture of it.)

 A few years later in 1991, we replaced the original floor and stairs on the porch plus changed the cement base to lattice.  When I look at the picture now, I really wish the cement had been in good enough shape to have kept it.  I do remember it being quite crumbly in places from the porch settling over the years.  

When the contractor was working on the porch, he noticed that there was a solid board painted black and nailed in behind the fretwork at the top (see above pic).  He suggested we take off the board to let the light come through.  It was a subtle change, but one I'm glad we did.  For a few years at Christmas time I wove wide burgundy and gold ribbon through it.  Notice we are starting to put a few plants in front of the porch... at that point, just annuals I think.

Fast forward to 1999... you can really see a significant change in how things look!  At this time we were getting more interested in gardening as you can tell from the flower beds.  What a difference trees and perennials make!  We've switched out the blue, white and black trim for historical colours in green and a neutral beige.  And there's our sweet little Sheltie named Heidi who passed away in 2007.  If you had the camera out, she always seemed to show up for the pictures!

In these next pictures from last year, you'll really notice how our love of gardening has "grown" over the years.  We have added new windows, a new roof and finally a railing to the front porch.  Even though the railing is not the same as the original one which was solid, we really love how the contractor built it in keeping with the style of the house.  I also think it gives the porch a more open feel.  

I have to say though, one of my favourite things we added to the front porch were the Victorian screen doors.  The porch actually has 2 doors, but you can't tell from these pictures.  The 2nd one is to your left as you walk up the steps, and it is the door that we use on a daily basis.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my little tour through the years.  Now that spring is here, I'm looking forward to getting out in the gardens to see what changes have taken place since last year.  We are putting a fence in the back yard this year, so I know there will be many changes and new looks to the gardens back there.

Happy Spring!!

Tracey