How did this happen? November came and went in a flash. And now we’re into the Christmas month with too much to do. But before I get onto Christmas stuff, here’s a rundown of the Lightship Basket Museum Yard Sale. If you missed it this year put it on your calendar for next year and if you’re off island make it a “next year must do”. I have a summer friend who returns to the island with three or four friends for a ladies weekend that centers around this big event.
To put my money where my mouth is, I actually followed my own advice and took stock of my chair situation before turkey day. I was shy one chair. I got a sweet little wooden side chair with a perfect caned seat for $10 bucks! Bought 4 Lloyd Flanders wicker chairs for $15. Each. Perfect condition!
Finding cushions to fit may be a problem and could negate the cost of the chairs however. I’ll deal with that in the spring when I spray paint them gray to blend in with my deck.
.And then, because chairs were on my mind, for a whopping $50. (way out of my comfort zone as far as yard sales go) I bought a low, slipper chair in a pale mint green leather. It is so perfect in my guest cottage and the reason I paid $50. for it was that I almost bought two for $125. each at Raphael Osona’s auction last summer. Now they were a bargain. It is so right for the guest room that I wish I’d bought two. Remember when I suggested NO HESITATION at yard sales. Again, I didn’t get a wonderful concrete coffee table for the deck on Sat. and on Sunday when I returned…. You guessed it. Gone! I figured it wasn’t meant to be.
Bunch of frames for $2. Each. The botanical prints aren’t bad but I put photos in them.
As for those frames for photos, I did buy several but ended up scattering the baby pictures all over the table for Thanksgiving and everyone had a good laugh passing them around.
For a family party scatter silly or goofy family pictures on the table. Creates great fun. The centerpiece is a green squash scooped out for greens and roses.
My centerpiece is one you might consider for a Christmas table. I used a scooped out green squash as a vase, inserted a glass of water and filled it with herbs and the last blooming red roses from my garden. Red napkins picked up the red color and large leaf placemats under the squash served as a runner. No room for placemats and I’m not terribly fond of tablecloths.
I just put up my tree which is always a three-footer that I often put on a table. This year it is in an oversized crock that I got at last year’s yard sale (the big one) and covered with lots of lights and silver, gold and bronze balls. Here on Nantucket you might be out of luck if you don’t get your tree early. It’s also so cheerful to have this lighted tree in the house for a month. Every year I say I’m scaling down, but then I take out all the ornaments and things for decoration and I get excited to use it all.
And now for some quick DIY ideas to get started:
- Fill clear plastic ornaments with a bit of tinsel and string them together for a mantel garland.
- Stitch or simply overlap lace doilies to create a vintage table runner.
- Create a black and white theme this year and decorate the mantel with black and white photographs in silver frames set on a bed of greens. Weave a string of lights in and out around the frames.
- Make no-sew stockings using iron-on bond tape like Stitch Witchery or Wonder Weave. You just iron it between fabric where you would normally stitch the fabric together. Tip: Great for a quick hem job. It will hold through a few washings.
- Stocking ideas: While contemporary design is popular right now with everything from knitting projects to quilting, Christmas is a time of tradition and a patchwork stocking is easy to make from leftover fabric scraps. If you want to go modern, use black and white small-print fabrics and make the cuff with a black and white plaid. Or think metallic!
- For a golden theme: If you still have pumpkins and gourds leftover from Halloween or can find them in the market, spray paint them gold metallic and use as decoration or for holding small candles.