After getting everything put to rights, I decided it was time to attack the quilt that I promised my grandson 2 years ago. Yup you read that right. I have had this in my stash for that long. My nice clean well appointed lower level room is now filled with machines, fabric snippets, and tables! Oh well. I am happy to say that the quilt top is done, now for the hard part. Making the sandwich and quilting it. We will see how that goes.

So on to the lower level before I trashed it. After bring down the red ware before Christmas, I decided to leave it down here for a while. It has settled in nicely and I like it. In doing so, I determined that the transferware plate wall had to go. Then I decided to move a couple of things around, and I am happy with those changes too.

The lowboy that has been resting between these two chairs for quite awhile, and always seemed squished into this space. So I flipped the lowboy for the tavern table and it works quite nicely here. Funny how I never thought to do that before. Go figure!

What wasn’t working for me? I had two round tables on either side of the couch and that was driving me nuts. The tavern table on the left and a small pedestal table on the right.

I had to rework the pie safe and I quite love it. My portrait got moved to this location because without the plates around it, the painting couldn’t hold the wall. He works nicely here. I love my PB lantern again with some smalls in it. Though I have had the lantern here before, it now has a watch box that my dad made, a small yellow ware bowl, that I’ve always loved with a pomegranate in it, and a bottle brush tree. The wicker tray has never been on the pie safe and it’s good. It’s so fun to bring things from upstairs to downstairs and breathe new life into them.

When I cleared out the corner cabinet of Christmas greens, it felt very bare and I see that I still have to pull the command hooks. Oops. I added in the antler shed from my daughter’s property, and set them on some Spanish moss.

Here much is the same. Mr Wadley the goose came down from his Christmas duty upstairs, a large mocha ware bowl, filled with dried foliage and the cloche with a birds nest sitting on a clay pot. It’s earthy and it works.

Nothing much changed in the bookcases from the holiday, except all the holiday decor was removed. On the middle shelf I decided to simplify and give the eye a resting place. Moved to the center of that shelf I placed a bundle of leather bound law books the red ware charger and my small wooden pail with a pinecone plopped in it. I like it.

So here are some reflections on both the living room and the lower level room. In trying to embrace the blue sofa, the room was too fussy, for me. Too much going on with the transferware, and too much blue. Now the only blue down there is the sofa, and the toile cushion and pillows. The room feels more like me. I have to say I was surprised, and last year I was contemplating selling the transferware or the red ware, and moving on to something else. When I asked myself what I would like to collect, I had no answer. That tells me these collections are still right for me.

Moving the blue and white transferware back upstairs has brought new life to the living room. I am so enjoying looking at it. A lot of the blue and white is currently stored but that’s ok. I may start to sell some of it off but, I’m not ready to do that yet. Just having a smaller collection feels fresh and not forced. I did buy a new to me plate. Of which I needed. NOT!!!!! As I was setting up the cupboard, I wondered if eBay had a Sheltered Peasants plate that I could afford. The platter on the middle shelf is Sheltered Peasants and I’ve always wanted another piece. In very rough condition the platter is complete with cuts thru the glaze and a large chip on the face. Ok by me, I still love it and clearly so did someone else!

Sheltered peasants is First Period Transferware 1825-1835 so it is rare and very hard to find. For fun as I was reworking the cupboard, I opened my laptop and checked eBay. They had 3 plates. Two were in the $70 range but one was listed for 24.99. I said well this one has issues, but I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. As I explored the photos, I saw that it was chipped but, only on the back. You couldn’t see it from the front. I made an 18.99 offer to offset the 19.00 shipping and they took the offer, so I now have a Sheltered Peasants plate and I am so glad.

My figurine Lambing Time supports the lambs in the plate. For some reason I’m a sucker for sheep!

The moral of this story is reinvent the things you already have. Just find a new home or a new way of using something.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley