elisabeth caroline

safe in her daddy's hands

elisabeth caroline

~

our family grew this past week. in our hearts especially.

a little girl that we have all waited for

and loved from the moment we knew she was coming.

~

my son and his beautiful wife welcomed their first child,

a tiny pink rosebud of a wee girl

elisabeth caroline

bless you little family

perfectly imperfect

georgianna . a tiny pair of shoes . transfer ware & pewter .

old ironstone . walnut table . old lamb & humble

~~

while I polished and scrubbed my little old farmhouse, I realized that nearly everything here, each little cupboard and table, the bookcase filled with dog-eared books, the candle sticks and the old crackled ironstone plates and cups that we have used for many years

are all a little worse for wear.

Edges that were once fine and new, now worn smooth and some nearly gone.

All of these things are dearly loved.

They are "perfectly imperfect" and that just makes them more dear to me.

I am comfortable in my crooked little old farmhouse,which I'm quite sure was built without a square or a plumb bob. She is filled with worn and tatter'd, beautiful and perfectly faded.

pewter & old paper

The old wood floors have a definite tilt to them and so does my favorite "tippy tea table"....and if you turn the table just right, the beautiful old pewter teapot, properly dented,of course, with a visible half moon hollow in her side, rests comfortably on top.

~

Like the old gilt mirrors, their silver now clouded & tarnished, the kitchen cupboard with the make-do knobs filled with chipped transfer ware and ironstone, I fit in here.

old doll

We're like old friends all together. all of us have a story of survival made even more beautiful with our imperfections and beautiful fading colors showing.

~

My favorite ironstone cup has an elegant curved handle, cracked and carefully glued and put back together again.

Our walnut dining table from the early 1800's has a small patch of veneer missing along the top edge of a beautifully curving leg. It also survived a fire. There on the very center of the only leaf it came with is the distinct outline of a large book. It was left by the family Bible that also survived the fire. The table and chairs weren't burned, but they do have some wonderful crazing in the old varnish...and we had to buy them because they are all exactly like the table and chairs that my great grandparents had in their farmhouse kitchen when I was small.

When we learned that the old table & chairs, along with the old family Bible,

had survived a terrible fire,

I knew that it should live with me in my little old house now.

There's the old oriental rug with it's lovely colors faded and worn.

The silver and pewter, dented and mellowed with years of loving use.

An old chalk lamb leans gingerly on 3 legs against an old iron urn on the mantle.

Everything here has a story.

humble

and in the evenings, with the glow of candles being the only light, everything has a wonderful softness of the many years of being loved,

tenderly repaired and kept for many more years of use.

just like me, my things are a little worn around the edges.

Made graceful and more beautiful by candle light...

we all fit in here.

perfectly imperfect.

remembrance

Pleasure is the flower that passes;

remembrance, the lasting perfume.

~ Jean de Boufflers ~

merrie maye

~early ladye's pocket~

“Herbs do comfort the wearied braine

with fragrant smells which yield a certain kinde of nourishment.”

William Coles ~ 1656

Tonight on OPB's Oregon Art Beat~ Katie Estvold of Sparrow's Cottage ~

Books Bound Angel by Katie Estvold

~~~

I'm very proud to be sharing this wonderful bit of news with all of you this afternoon.

My daughter, Katie Estvold, painter & paper artist

and lover of

~all Things 18th Century~

will be presented this evening on Oregon Public Broadcasting

"Oregon Art Beat" at 8 pm.

~~~

Katie will be talking about her art and her love of the 18th c.

from her home, Sparrow's Cottage, deep in the woods of Oregon.

~~~

If you live in Oregon, you can watch the show this evening on OPB at 8pm.

If you are not in Oregon, you can view the show on the internet~

it will be archived, so you can watch it at your leisure at any time on their website:

http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/episodes/view/1026

I hope that you will be able to see this segment.

I'm very proud of my Katie,

who as a little girl,

sat by me and her brother, playing with her paint box, paper & scissors

while I sewed and wrote nearly everyday.

~~~

I'm very proud that Katie has this wonderful opportunity

for her art to be acknowledged

and to be able to share her love of old paper

and her art with all of us.

to see more of Katie's work~

Sparrow's Cottage

a beautiful gift

for me there's nothing more wonderful than putting clean crisp sheets on my bed.

freshly washed and dried on the line sheets.

they remind me of being a little girl, playing all day with my brothers and sister

in the bright spring sunshine and then

being coaxed into the house for dinner and a bath...

There's nothing like

putting on "fresh from the clothes line flannel jammies"

after a nice hot bath

stiff from being dried on the line

and so fresh and clean, that the scent stings your nose...

my daughter, Katie, presented me with the best gift ever.

She had made for me this wonderful brown homespun

~ and completely hand sewn ~clothes pin bag.

It's just wonderful.

Inside I found at least a whole dozen or more of clothes pins.

Katie hand carved ~actually, we like to say they are whittled ~each one for me.

and they

every bit as sturdy and useful

as they are beautiful.

Simply hand carved from our own poplar whips and tightly wired together.

what could be better than this...

a nice hot bath after a long day of working in the yard,

slipping into a stiff pair of flannel jammies

and snuggling down

and falling asleep between the first crisp sheets of spring.

Thank you, my Katie.

***

~here's a wonderful tutorial by Katie if you'd like to make your own wooden clothes pins! ~

~thank you dear friends~

all is well.

xo,C