Posts

Corner of gold picture frame.

The Gallery Wall: Memoir in Frames

1 Comment / Posts / By

An engaging and informative article in Veranda magazine titled ‘Are Gallery Walls Still in Style? Here’s What Designers Say’ (Rebecca R. Norris, August 10, 2023) inspires me to a fuller consideration of such. One of the designers quoted in the article notes, “A well-considered gallery wall can read like a book and…narrate a story.” There are innumerable ways to style a wall or walls in our rooms and so, this will be one of several posts on the topic. This post will consider the ways a gallery wall can be a visual memoir representative of a life story.

The Gallery Wall: Memoir in Frames Read More »

Pressed sage leaves

Pressing Flora

2 Comments / Posts / By

Sometimes, when you share something of interest to you with family and friends, they express a desire to try it out themselves. This has certainly been the case with my passion for pressing flora. This past spring when the wildflowers were in bloom on our land we extended an invitation to join us for collecting

Pressing Flora Read More »

Appliqued blouse

What I Am Wearing

7 Comments / Posts / By

Lately it seems when reading about fashion words such as slow fashion, traditional craftsmanship, deadstock, remnants, restyling, restoring, and/or vintage fashion are encountered. A fromdeepintheheart.com post of February, 2023 titled “Using Vintage Fabrics in Fashion” introduced the idea on this platform and featured a skirt made of vintage embroidered handkerchiefs embellished with seed pearls from a broken necklace and vintage sequins. Today’s post continues to consider traditional craftsmanship and features remnants of crocheted lace…

What I Am Wearing Read More »

Black fountain pen on marble desk top.

Sketching En Plein Air in the Texas Hill Country

Leave a Comment / Posts / By

Working out on the land has become a passion for me. Wearing hiking shoes, a long-sleeved tunic, loose denim pants, a straw hat, and short or long gloves depending on where the work is happening, time and the rest of the world cease to exist. It occurred to me to try to document with sketches the life of these native trees and other aspects of our small piece of the Hill Country. So, I began with the purchase of an inexpensive, well designed fountain pen.

Sketching En Plein Air in the Texas Hill Country Read More »

Initialed gold cufflinks

Vintage and Antique Cufflinks: Beyond Sartorial

1 Comment / Posts / By

As a child I was sometimes allowed to borrow jewelry from my mother or grandmother. Most pieces came with a story. On rainy or hot days in the Texas Hill Country when gardening is not an option there is nothing better than a trip to a vintage shop and moments spent searching every inch of the glass display cases for something of interest. For several years this interest centered on cufflinks.

Vintage and Antique Cufflinks: Beyond Sartorial Read More »

Russian imperial pins

An Interest in Decorative Pins

2 Comments / Posts / By

This set of diamond flower brooches from the Russian Imperial Family Collection came up for auction in London in 2004, part of lot 36, Russian State Jewels. They remind me of the astonishing jewels on view in the Lester and Sue Smith Gem Vault at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. My favorite of the collection not one of the jewel encrusted tiaras or necklaces, but rather a set of antique diamond flower buttons which belonged to a queen– imagine having buttons made of diamond clusters! While we may not have diamond brooches or buttons there are many fascinating pins to be had and just as many ways to wear them.

An Interest in Decorative Pins Read More »

Shoes & Dress on chair.

What I Am Wearing

Leave a Comment / Posts / By

Full skirts are filled with happy memories for me…twirling around in a pink seersucker skirted dress with a starchy net petticoat made inside, trailing the train of a raspberry taffeta ball skirt along the path of Market Square park on my way to dinner and a show, the rustle of my Grandmother’s skirt, sitting close to her on the sofa and listening to her read aloud.

What I Am Wearing Read More »