Catching up Post (Part 3) .... Clearing out No 44

Greetings lovely friends & readers

This post is written mainly as a record for myself, my sons & grandsons ... & I acknowledge it may be of no interest to anyone else.  But I wanted to keep a record of clearing out my family home,  as I have a tendency to forget 😉

Winter Pansies planted in my old trike just yesterday  🖤

I was down at Mum's house for 2 weeks emptying it out & cleaning it ready for settlement on March 10th.  The new Owner was purchasing it as a rental property & I wanted it presented as "move in ready".     I first came to live at No 44 when I was aged 1 so I had 61 years of memories tied up in the house & large section.  I expected to feel all sorts of emotions the day I drove away for the final time but I did not feel one iota of sadness whatsoever.  Which surprised me to be honest.   I felt incredible sadness for my Mum who was lying in bed in a Resthome, just 6 doors away from the house she had lived in for the bulk of her 93 years of life.  The morning of settlement I had walked up to visit Mum as I did twice daily, & she had been very frail & incoherant.  So I felt a deep sadness over my Mum but certainly not over leaving the property. 

My brother had sold quite a bit of Mum's furniture on Facebook Marketplace prior to my arrival so this was my little set-up in Mum's lounge, where I sat for my meals & to do a bit of knitting or reading in the evenings.  A cane chair borrowed from my sister in law & a banana box for a side-table. There was nothing else left in the lounge room but this worked just fine.

My brother & I had to be ruthless when it came to Mum's furniture & possessions.  We both have small homes & each have houses full of furniture already.  So many, many loads went to the 2 Charity Shops that Mum liked - SPCA & Hospice.  I kept some things that had sentimental value but even then I was ruthless.  Some things I bought home were simply because I could not bear the thought of them going to an Op-shop.  Like Mums wedding dress for example - like I would ever fit into it in a zillion years !!! But I kept it.

I certainly do Not need more sewing supplies but I kept Mum's sewing basket (which she made herself) & needlecase, which my Dad sewed himself when he went into the armed services & they all had to make one.  
 

This mohair bear was made by myself a year after Dad died - the pattern is "Old Boy" & that's what Mum used to call Dad.  The Granny bear I made for Mum after she fell in love with the pattern - I did not knit the cabled twinset - this was knitted by Mum in very fine wool.  Before her eyesight deteriorated Mum was an exquisite knitter.

I have been working on a few revamps of some things I bought home & you can expect to see more over the coming months as I slowly sort my way through things.  This table above was "donated to a mate" by my brother, & I promptly undonated it & hid it in my car.  It was made from an offcut of formica many years ago & used as a bedside table in Mum's spare bedroom.

I chalk-painted it with cream & then used a lovely green on the top called "Pale Sage".  Just to take the plain-ness off a bit, I added a stencil in the same colour as the legs.  I gave it a light distress & a wax & it is just THE perfect size. 

This concrete statue had sat in Mum's laundry for many years.  She had a broken neck as you can see above (cracked right through).   She was also a dirty pale lemon in colour.  

I filled the cracked neck with some strong adhesive, left it to harden & then chalk painted her in cream.  I love how she has come out & you would never know she'd had a broken neck!

The two silver trays above had Australian maps etched into them.  Mum used to feed her neighbors cat whenever she went to Australia & these were bought back as thank-you gifts.  The larger one had rust spots on it which I sanded off.  I cleaned them well & then chalk painted them in cream - I really loved the floral edging on them both. 

Then I applied a couple of the left-over transfers from Juno's rabbit suitcase in my last post.  I added hangers to the backs & these are now part of my Easter displays.  

This cutting board had seen alot of use but I loved the shape of it.  Once again painted in cream & then transfers applied.  I really like how this turned out too.

I hope to share some of my Easter decorating in my next post. 🐰🐇

Last week I dug an entire tray of worm castings into my raised veggie gardens along with lawn clippings & some compost.  I dug them over well & then planted 6 punnets of winter veggies - silverbeet, spinach, broccoli x 2, cauliflower & baby cabbage. I saw cauli's in my supermarket last week for nearly $10 each !!!

While I was outdoors working I picked my gourd harvest.  These are one of my most favourite things to grow as it's always a lucky dip what shapes & colours you get.  I decided to do some autumn decorating on my deck table as I'd given it a good clean out there.

I washed my gourds & displayed them in my vintage scales .. I am not usually an orange-&-yellow-fan but I just loved these rich warm colours for autumn.  💛🧡

While at the Garden Centre buying my veggie punnets I noticed these celosia plants in autumnal colours so a punnet of those went in my trolley & the Kalanchloe plants were on special so I grabbed one of those too.

Love, love my new display .... & not a cat in sight (Yet!!) 😉🐱

Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

I am all caught-up now & hope to continue blogging more regularly.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week - be kind to yourselves & to each other,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x