The Road to California

If any of you have looked to see just where Ashland is, you'll know we are a stone's throw away from the northern California border. Myself, I usually head north towards Grants Pass and Eugene when I travel locally, but once in a while, you just gotta go south. A friend and I had been talking (and talking), about heading down to some of the antique shops we've seen listing stuff here and there on Craigslist in Redding CA. Well, we finally pulled it together and had our road trip last Thursday. It wasn't like Feasting on Asphalt, with cool motorcycles, not even Two Fat Ladies with sidecar. And don't go thinking my friend is fat! :) It was just us and the giant mini van. And yes we had fun. Sadly the mini van was mostly empty on the way back, but we picked up just enough little goodies to make us want to go back to a couple of the places come spring/summer. Like any investigative trip, the places ran the gamut to really good to really awful. Amazing Finds, wasn't amazing at all. In fact it looked like they had stolen the stuff sitting in back of any Goodwill. And it was cold, dark and kind of dirty. A place we didn't even know about (until my friend ran into someone she knew), was nice enough to plan a trip south for in the spring. Great garden stuff and beautifully laid out inside. 11 rooms all stuffed with beautiful things. As is typical for me, I didn't bring the camera. I just go and enjoy the adventure and being in good company. I do wish I had a picture of how beautiful Mount Shasta looked at sunset. The sun casting a rosy glow on the new snow and us, driving home, in the dark of the forest the highway winds through.

The weekend was spent getting caught up on some stuff around here. Piddly things, picking a tree to be cut, finding the Christmas decorations and lastly, doing some more home dec. sewing. This is about it for me. Not my favorite thing to do, but I also hate to leave something half done. The brown linen curtains just weren't working with the new stuff, so down they came and in their place, new fun canvas curtains went up.



 I did these quick and simple, 4 hems, the curtains are all 2 yard panels, no lining.

 Like the linen, when these come down (in a distant future), they will be perfect to recycle to other projects like I will be doing with the linen.

The final throw was made too.



 Not because I am sick of making them ( well I am maybe a little), but because the wonderful rust velveteen is all gone. Oh woe! I snagged the last of the yardage. I saved a scant 1/2 yard to make some arm covers for the velvet chair, even if it isn't an exact match it will work.

Now, every good mid century modern room needs a few things to bring that particular style to it's pinnacle. Starburst clocks, atomic boomerang fabric, awful metal sculptures
and of course T.V. lamps. Now the former three are either out of my price range (those clocks are dear), or just not to my liking, then I saw this TV lamp in a place in Redding Thursday and it just had to come home with me.



 I have fond memories of Siamese cats, decorations and in real life. My grandmother had two sweet Siamese cats, Abby and Oliver along with a few well chosen representations of them in her home. It was love at first sight.  And very reasonably priced. Oh and lets not forget the funky sparkly stacking tables.



 Quite useful too. An Etsy purchase. There are a few other touches still to be done. A new to me lamp is on it's way and finally, a comfortable set of dining room chairs to replace the old ladder back ones. But that's for future posts!

Parting shot: Smoochie, the cleanest ears in the West!