Heirlooms Party

I'm a pretty sentimental gal, so I'll be right at home at this Heirloom Party

 hosted by Marie at Emma Calls Me Momma.

I have some great memories of my childhood, and being the oldest sibling in my family, I was of course the first to leave the nest. My Dad's mom and dad were in their 40's when he was born. Old by the standards of 1929, so by the time I came along they were in their late 60's early 70's. One clear memory I have is of my grandmother's upstairs bedrooms that had been my dad's and uncle's, was an old sideboard that contained old papers and ephemera. She had been a schoolteacher for a while, and was a packrat. (Now I know where I get this from) The old sideboard had been her mother's and was crackled with old varnish. It seems that each year a new coat would be put on to "spiff it up". So many layers of darkend varnish were covering an oak beauty.

My parents gave this to me after my husband and I were married. We took it to a professional furniture restorer to remove the many layers of grime and varnish. It was in my Dining Room until we moved to this house, and now it's in our family area in the basement. It has a shelf underneath that holds some silver trays and  collectible Crabtree & Evelyn bisquit tins.

Original Hardware and beveled mirror.

An old Hull apple cookie jar and stove set were also from my Grandmother's kitchen.

The salt shaker met an untimely fate a few years ago,

so I need to give Mr. Pepper his mate back.

This red velvet autograph book is also hers,

with entries from friends which date from 1889.

 I wish I had a "macro" setting so you could see

the handwriting flourishes on some of the pages.

And a foil decal of a bird in flight.

Thank you for letting me share a few of my heirlooms.

Have a sweet day full of memories,

Debra