Meet Mamie

My blog was named after my great grandmother Mamie. I never personally knew Mamie, she died in 1958 before I was born, but I have heard about what a kind woman she was from stories my mother has told me. Mamie was a seamstress and she taught my mother how to sew in the late 1930's on an old treadle sewing machine. Mamie's sewing ability seemed to be a family trait as her father was a tailor (this was the occupation listed for him in the 1880 and 1900 census records). I thought you might enjoy meeting Mamie through some pictures.This is the John Noerr Family circa 1890. Mamie is the young girl seated.

This is Mamie when she was around 18 years old, circa 1898.In this photo Mamie is the woman in all white. My grandfather is the teenage boy next to her. This picture was taken circa 1918.

I love this photo. This is Mamie holding her first grandchild, my mother, in 1929.

This last photo pictures Mamie sometime in the 1950's.

It's All In The Details

I didn't get a chance on Friday to post all of the pictures of my studio for the "Where Bloggers Create" party. Although you got an overall view of my room, I thought I would share some of the details that personalize my creative space. The picture on the suitcase is one of my favorites. It's actually a real photo postcard from 1924 of my grandfather and his fellow swim team members. I love the swimsuits!

Party Hangover!!

I had a great time visiting all of the fabulous studios and creative spaces at Karen Valentine's "Where Blogger's Create" party yesterday. I didn't get a chance to visit all of the spaces yesterday but I plan on hitting several more "parties" this weekend. Thanks to everyone who visited my party and for all of the encouraging comments. I had hoped to have better pictures to post on my blog site to show off my space but I was happy to have gotten my blog started this week and that I was able to join in on the fun.

Now I am off to Springfield, MO to watch my son compete in a bike race. Here's a picture of him competing in a race in Nebraska a couple of weeks ago. Have a great weekend!

Welcome to My Studio

Thanks for stopping by and visiting my vintage inspired studio. I am very fortunate to have the use of one of our spare bedrooms as my workspace. The room is about 12' x 12' with a wall of three windows for great sunlight. This room really serves three purposes for me......it's a workspace for my projects, scrapbooking and sewing.....it's a place to display all the collections that I love.....and finally, it's a retreat space to get away for some quiet TV watching or reading.

Take a look around.........I hope you enjoy your visit!

As you enter the room and look to the left you see my family picture wall. This display has pictures dating from around 1890 to the late 1940's. I am the designated family historian and am fortunate to have documented a lot of the stories behind those pictures. Under the picture gallery you will see my old, yet functional, sewing machine. I bought this sewing machine in the spring of 1983 and it is the only sewing machine I have ever needed. The sewing machine sits on an old school desk that came out of my husband's high school when they renovated their stenography classrooms around 1980. The desk itself dates to the 1930's. There are six desk drawers which are great for storing all my sewing notions. Storage shelfs made from wood crates hang to the left of the sewing machine and hold fabric and other craft items.
In the corner to the right of my sewing area sits my Wolfe dress form. I named her Shirley (not exactly sure why). Shirley has sported various outfits but today is going "a la naturale". I was so excited when I spotted Shirley at an antique store a year ago and I knew she had to come home with me. Shirley is standing behind one of my collections....vintage suitcases. I love these old suitcases. They have a great look to them and also make a great place to store some of my little used supplies. Across from my sewing area is my general crafting workspace. I love the antique mail slot I acquired a couple of years ago and it became the jumping off point for my whole workspace. The cubbies are wonderful display spots and the top of the piece was perfect to display the Singer Featherweight sewing machine that my mother purchased in the late 1940's (for $97.00!). She used this machine for years and taught me how to sew on this machine. Behind the machine is a quilt that my mother made for me about 15 years ago. My actual work space is our old bedroom dresser. My husband had a great idea to put a laminate top (prefab from Lowe's) on top of it and it makes a great work surface with lots of storage.

To the right of my work space is a small area that was perfect for an old typewriter table that is now topped with a German wood beer crate. The cubbies in the crate are perfect for my paints, glues, etc. I found two old wood memo boards (kind of like early day clip boards) and they hang above the crate holding some of my stickers and rub-ons.


I had hoped to post more pictures but I am new to blogging and I was having some technical difficulties with uploading my pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.......I plan on visiting all the beautiful studios involved in the party today and look forward to seeing your space as well!

Time to Get Ready

As I mentioned in my first post a couple of days ago I am new to the blogging community. I have visited many great sites over the past few months and have admired the design and content of several blogs. I have been contemplating starting a blog for a while now but kept stalling because it really wasn't in my comfort zone. When I saw the "Where Bloggers Create" party invitation on the My Desert Cottage blog I finally decided to take the big step and create my blog so that I could join in on the fun. I want to thank Karen for not only a great idea but also for being the catalyst for me to step out of my comfort zone and create a blog. I look forward to sharing my workspace and viewing all the wonderful studios and workspaces where bloggers create.

Now it's time for me to not only get my workspace ready for Friday but to also figure out how to add pictures to my blog......a work in progress!

Welcome to my blog

After months of viewing and following a number of wonderful blogs, I decided to take the plunge and create my own blog. Welcome to my first posting. My goals are not too lofty. I hope to share some of my ideas and projects and connect with others who share the same passion for creating with vintage objects, photos and ephemera.

Thanks for stopping by......more to come later!