M'Lady the Vintage Dress Form

Last summer my hubby and I were visiting our favorite little town just North of San Antonio, Boerne (sounds like brun-e). We stopped in a little antique shop and found this great dress form. It had been marked down, and marked down again to $175.00. I'd been looking for a dress form for years and could never find anything in a reasonable price range. Although the $175 seemed fair, I asked for more. I was thrilled when the dealer let me have her for $125!!!! (I know some of you have gotten way better deals, but I'm rarely that lucky LOL)

Unfortunately, my dress form was so stained and dirty, that she wasn't even invited into the home (except to take these photos). I removed her outer cover and found...

shredded paper!! I have to tell you I was shocked and disappointed. But I had to get her clean if she wanted to stay inside the house.

Here she is naked! I vacuumed her off really,really well and them steamed her all over. It was a lot harder than I had thought it would be, but I finally got her smelling almost good.

I obviously wasn't going to put that nasty paper back in so I wrapped her in thick batting. Meanwhile, the nasty, dirty cover was being soaked for a couple of days in a big tub of powder Tide, Oxyclean and what started out as very hot water. The fabric came out very clean with only one or two little ink marks on it.

I didn't put the cover in the dryer because I was afraid it would shrink. And I think it did anyway because it looks a little tight. I hand stitched the opening all the way up the back and it looks really good. This was the part I thought would be the hardest and it turned out to be the easiest. The really hard part was filling her bust! The first go-round she looked like Dolly Parton!! After a little reductive surgery, she looks pretty normal.

I've heard that every dress form should have a name and this one is named M'lady. When we first bought her, my hubby referred to her as "your lady" meaning my lady. He carried my lady on his shoulder. It was sooooo cute and funny looking. Then my lady had to stay in the garage, and I had to work on my lady to get her cleaned up. I kept thinking of her as "my lady" so the name stuck.

Now she's in my guest room wearing the prettiest lace robe. I'll share that with you on the next post. It's beautiful and I'm sure you'll love it!

Happy New Year!!

Patricia :o)

"Believe" give away!!!

Paula, of Castle and Cottage, is giving away this beauitful "Believe" sign. This is so beautiful! I know I'd keep it out all year. If only I could be so lucky to win this!!!!!

Christmas Decorations

It's been a while since I posted, and it will probably be a while before I do it again. I was inspired by so many of your Christmas posts to share a little of my Christmas decorations, too. This will be our third Christmas in Texas since we moved from California. The first two years, we didn't really decorate because we went back to CA to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. This year we're staying home.

We usually put up an artificial tree, but this year my hubby wanted a real one; a great BIG real one. It's over 10 tall and I don't know how wide. All our ornaments look tiny on it and it took 90'of ribbon!

We got rid of a lot of our Christmas decorations when we moved. It seemed like we had so much! As it turned out, we didn't have enough and had to get a few new things. The golden reindeer, runner and glass vases our new. I hung silk holly, grapevines, ribbon, and "crystal" stars from the chandelier. It looks so much prettier in person.

This is our Santa table. When we first started setting things up, we thought we had so many Santas, but it turns out that we only had a few. I think less is more in this case. Each Santa stands out a little better because they're easier to see. (My mother in law MADE the tall Santa with the pearls. Isn't he gorgeous?)

My husband fell in love with the Santa print and HAD to have it. I like it and think it's cute, but Santa is not the reason for the season. I didn't want him to be the center of attention, so he's in the dining room.

More new purchases. I found these cute reindeer at Marshal's and couldn't pass them up. Everything else is done in gold and red, but they're neutral, so I think it works OK.

Another new addition, a snowman family: Mommy, Daddy and two kids. Just like our family.

We put garland ribbon and ornaments all along the stair rails. It didn't turn out exactly like I envisioned it, but it's close enough. At the top, there's a little triangle ledge that we set up my hubby's snowman and some little trees.

We hung this cute canvas Santa on the hall door and decorated the little table a bit, too.

Above the fireplace, we hung a nativity print. I had to take the picture on an angel so that the flash didn't reflect on the glass. I love this picture! This is also a new addition. We were supposed to wait until after Christmas to buy it for next year, but I couldn't wait. What if they ran out?! I had to have it now.

Here is my attempt at making a live center-piece. I used the left over branches from the tree to make this, hoping I'd save a little money. But after I bought the little bucket, the foam, the snowman, the berries, the stars, etc, I may as well have bought an arrangement from the store. Oh well!

The house is way too tall to put lights along the roof line. (Floyd wanted to get a 25' ladder to do it. NO WAY! I didn't want to risk him falling from that height). So we decorated the entrance. The plastic Santa is close to 40 years old. It's not in the best shape, but you can't tell until you're up close.

This is one of my favorite little snowmen. He was a gift from a secret Santa years and years ago. I just love his message! It's supposed to sit on a shelf, but I use him as one of the bigger ornaments on our tree every year. I put him at eye level so that everyone see him.

Wishing you all a very Merry and very blessed Christmas. And remember,

Jesus love you snow much!!

Patricia :o)