Spring Cleaning ....

Yes, yes I know, today is the official first day of summer. However, here in So. California we are enjoying mild spring temperatures and it put me in the mood to do some spring cleaning! I began my day dead heading the front planter  flowers, it needed it so bad! Then, before I knew it I was upstairs dismantling my Americana display shelves. I do this once a year whether it needs it or not .... hehe. That means taking down a lot of collectible figurines, baskets, antique tins etc. This time I took my time (all day) and re-did the look of the entire cabinet. What a job, I still have things all over the place without home.

This is our upstairs linen closet ... I don't own that many linens so I decided this would make a great space for the Americana overflow!!

My child's wagon full of babies and other little friends. The sock monkey in the back was one of the last things my mom made for me before she passed. She worked at the church craft club making various items for kids at Christmas. I loved the sock monkey's so she made me my very own Uncle Sam monkey. Next to Sam is a VERY old (60 ish) Chucko the clown.  A long time friend was cleaning out things in order to make a move and was tossing him away, he had belonged to one of her boys. I rescued him for 10 cents and he's been mine for a good 20 years!

I added some glass jars to house my many ABC blocks, Americana foods and my newly painted watermelons.

Another new addition are quilts ... they are taking over the house and I needed to find some more housing for them. The bottom one is a bow-tie quilt made by my grandma many, many years ago. The next one is a gift from my dear friend Paula, on top of that is a Coverlet throw quilt and on top is an Americana Snowball Quilt.

These are the three shelves to the far right. Lady Liberty graces the top shelf, this is the tallest shelf and these collectibles are TALL! Next are a few of my Americana Longaberger Baskets and on the lower shelf you can find my Uncle Sam's! Along with George and Martha Washington!

Center - A memorial to my dad and his WWII experience. The flag on top was draped on his casket at his funeral 30 plus years ago. The bugle he blew while in the Army is at it's left and his battle ribbons grace the center.

A close up of the girls! 10 Lady Liberty's and 2 Uncle Sam's, very good odds!!

And finally, the far left three shelves. Another Longaberger Americana Basket sits on top, misc.,  items fill in the middle followed by a few items from my tin collectibles. 

 

 I can not tell you how good it feels to know all these things are nice and clean for yet another year ... woo hoo.

Still "tweaking" the table scape ... I think I like the wheel barrel standing up better with all the goodies inside. How about you? I also added some geraniums and moved my 48 star flag up to the front. The crazy crows are still there as well, at least for today ....