Wordless Wednesday With a Twist: Vintage

Andrea was the winner of Wordless Wednesday with a Twist last time. As a result, she got to pick the theme for this week. She chose vintage. This was not a surprise to me, she loves vintage. I was very excited because I've been wanting to get involved in this and this was a good theme for me to join in on. I have a lot of things I'd like to share with you. Without further ado, my inheritance:

My grandmother had enough stuff in her house to provide sentimental things for 50 grandchildren. Since I'm a sentimental grandchild, I took some of it. First up is the picture that hung above her piano my entire life.

I can remember lying on the floor in her living room staring up at this picture, the light filtering in through the window, and imagining all kinds of things about this girl. I have loved this picture for as long as I can remember. When I found out the story behind it, I loved it even more. My grandmother and a friend worked together when she was a teenager. Her friend's mother bought this picture and told the girls that the first one to be married would be the recipient of the picture. My grandmother was the first one married. This was a wedding present. I am so happy to have this in my home now.

This is a picture of a conglomeration of things from both my grandmothers, one of Gary's grandmothers, Gary's grandfather, and Gary's baby cup.

The buffet belonged to Gary's grandmother. I feel blessed to have possession of this and hope that one of my daughters-in-law will cherish it as much as I do.

This is the 'infamous' dog. This dog is made of metal. It is heavy. It is probably made out of lead. It has been used as a doorstop. I carried this home on the plane, but I had to pack it in my carry-on because it was too heavy to check. My grandmother had this in her living room and I can remember 'riding' it as a child. She repainted it numerous times throughout the years and probably has 20 layers of paint on it. I think every child and grandchild wanted this dog. I'm not sure how I ended up with it, but I'm extremely thankful for it.

My sister and I have argued for years over who would inherit my mother's china. It is beautiful and I love it. (This is, by the way, good natured arguments. Kind of like the ones about who the favorite child is. I am, but we won't tell her. Shhhh.) My grandmother had promised her that she could have her china. I, of course, wanted it too. However, there was no way I was going to actually fight over something with my sister. Sitting there staring at the silverware, I looked up and saw the china. I asked her if she would be willing to split the two. She would get one and I would get the other. She thought that was a good idea. Because I am a wonderful and benign older sister, I allowed her to choose which she wanted. She chose the china. So, I have the silverware. Isn't it beautiful? My grandmother even still had the little booklet that came with it about entertaining.

In the silverware case was this silver. It is much older than the set. I believe that it belonged to my grandfather's Aunt Rodie.

My grandmother was a prolific quilter. Some of my most treasured possessions are the quilts that she gave me. This was a baby quilt made for Dominic. In her later years of life, she was afraid that she would die before all her great-grandchildren were born and they would miss out on having a quilt. She was, of course, right. During those last few years, even though she was nearly blind, she made baby quilts like it was going out of style. She tried to make a quilt for each grandchild to have for their babies. She also made full size quilts for grandchildren to have when they grew up. I am amazed and humbled by her need to give.

My grandmother was a prolific sewer, period. She made doll clothes, tea towels, doilies, quilts, slippers, and more. These are some of the tea towels she made. I am so happy to have them. They are something I can use everyday and think of her.

As I mentioned, my grandmother had a lot of textile items. At least 50% of them were doilies. A lot of people don't use doilies anymore, and my family is no exception. However, we didn't want to get rid of them. So, when I saw the pattern for this quilt, I knew I had hit on something good. I called my aunt and she sent me all the doilies that had holes in them. I cut them up and put them on quilts. My mother had a handkerchief that was her grandmother's. I added that to her quilt. I had one of my grandmother's and added it to my quilt. This is my mother's quilt. I gave all the girls in my family these quilts for Christmas. I think it was a good use of the doilies.

My other grandmother collected teacups and this is one from her collection. When she died, her husband gave one teacup to each of her female descendants. I don't have a tea set. I've been wanting one. Perhaps I should try to match this teacup.



This was Gary's cup when he was a baby. I love having things that belong to my husband. My boys love seeing his name on it and knowing that he was little once. It has his birth date on the back.


Gary's grandfather collected brass. This spoon rest is one of the items we inherited.

This bottle opener is another piece. I like the fact that we are able to use these items daily without concern that they will be ruined.

Gary's grandfather adapted this old welding gun (I think) into a lamp. Gary's parents gave it to Xavier and, since he is a mechanical kinda kid, he loves it.

Gary's mom made the shade to go on this lamp and gave it to Gabriel. This is my favorite lamp. I like the way you use the pump handle to turn the lamp on and off.

So, that's it. If I could, I would completely decorate my house with stuff handed down through our families. It just means so much more than new stuff.

Go check out the other posts for Wordless Wednesday with a Twist!