A big reason for our trip out to Wisconsin this summer was to bring home stuff. Lots of precious stuff. Mom had inherited several antiques from her grandmother and mother, and she also had exquisite taste and had accumulated some beautiful things of her own over the years. Dad didn't need the additional dusting, and - the perk of being the only daughter - he graciously gave me the opportunity to rehome them. I'm kind of strange. On one hand I'm not sentimental AT ALL. I can throw away stuff and declutter with the best of them. But if something has a family tie, I'm completely enthralled with it. My home is now the proud possesor of some beautiful, very special items. On the one hand, it can be difficult, because, well, those items are Mom's (will I ever stop thinking of them as hers? I don't know). But mostly, I just really, really love them and hope that my own children feel the same way about them as they grow up. Mostly the pictures are for Dad, who wanted to see where we put everything.
The cabinet belonged to my Gramma Stieve and then Mom had it in her living room - the porcelain black panther on the bottom is from the 50s and I remember thinking it was weird when I saw it in my Great-Grandparents' home as a child. The plate is an antique (not sure how far back) as is the handkerchief, and the little colonial figurine I got after Great-Grandma Stoddard died. Then on the top shelf that you can see is a handbeaded Christmas ornament in my birthstone that my Mom made for me several years ago, and two antique rose glass candlesticks from Great-Grandma Stoddard that my mom has had for many years.
The top two shelves of the cabinet hold a blue bubble glass pitcher, a blown glass starfish of mine from the Oregon coast, a Prussian dish from Stoddard's, two 1800s/early 1900s German bibles, and Great Grandpa and Grandma Stoddard's German wedding cups (amongst my mom's favorite antiques).
This is my memorial shelf in progress. I still have work to do, but I'm waiting until the living room gets painted so I can put up one of those wall quotes I bought several months ago. My mom picked out the tealight "When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure" holder after Gramma Stieve passed away and it was used at both her and Mom's memorial services, and I have pictures, Mom's watch, and the heart is a Grandmother present that we had gotten for her that has the birthstone charms from all of our kids on it. The orchid on the top (which is not currently blooming) was a gift to me, from Dad's coworkers, at the memorial service, which I brought back home on the plane.
My hutch has mostly stuff I've had for several years in it, including our wedding china and champagne flutes, some random pieces of glass and antiques, and then a lovely vintage green picture and glass set that was at Mom's house (I'm imagining it's from either Stoddard's or Stieve's - unfortunately I never asked her about that set, and now I'll never be sure).
The chairs were in Mom and Dad's living room for several years and were part of an antique dining room set, which Mom recovered several times over the years. Draped over the arm of one of the chairs is my Grampa Stieve's prayer blanket. It was specially crocheted for him by ladies when he was in the hospital, dying of cancer. It was always laid over his chest and lap while he was sick.