One Thing Leads To Another

This week "Grandma Chickie" gave me a box of apron patterns (22 to be exact)and some scrap fabric....

and then she gave me this box of over 130 old vintage patterns. They were mostly dress patterns, but there were a few patterns for children's clothing. I had so much fun going through these and checking out the clothing styles. I would actually like to make some of these. My daughter, Amber, will have fun with them too. There was also an old card with a hanger on the back of it (you can see it in the next photo.) I was having so much fun looking at these and sorting them that I was shocked at what I found in the bottom. I could see fabric and thought it was more scrap material.

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I kept digging and I hit the jackpot in the bottom.....
I found this....
and this....
and this! I was so tickled! These had never been worn. Grandma must have made them, folded them very neatly and stored them for later use then forgot about them. They were neatly pressed and ready to wear. There was an older used one that was ripped, but must have been saved for a pattern. All this leads to....Making pumpkin bread! I have already posted this recipe here. Remember I told you it makes a bundt cake and a loaf.
Wrapped tightly in foil this lasts and stays very moist. See that end piece? That's mine.

More Junk From Grandma's House & Halloween Print

A ghostly pirate ship glides through the water with sails billowing near Ghost Island. This is part of the Halloween festivies every year for the local villagers organized by Hazel, the mayor of the island. Hazel lives on the opposite side of the bay from her dear friend Morris who is her right hand man, helping her with this event each year. They visit so often that they decided to build a small foot bridge to shorten the distance between them. This year the two of them decided to add a pumpkin carving contest to the list of events including a costume party, apple bobbing, and barn dance.

I added this print to all my shops today. It will be on eBay Saturday morning.

Grandma Chickie had us cleaning out more cabinets this week and below is more of what she considered junk and didn't want. Most of the stuff was truly junk and did get put in the trash, but these few items we saved.

Old Folgers coffee can ....
Green percolator....(I'm sure my daughter will take this.)
I loved these glass storage dishes. Not sure how old these are.

A very pretty amber colored butter dish.

I made the most beautiful cake to take out to Grandma's. It was so pretty that even my husband said that I should photograph it for my blog. Notice you don't see it here. It was the most bland cake I've ever eaten. The name, Brown Sugar Pound Cake with a Brown Sugar Glaze, sounded delicious and looked spectacular, but to me it wasn't really worth the trouble. Even Grandma didn't give it a thumbs up. How can something be so pretty and taste so dull? The glaze was good so I might use it on a different cake sometime.

Hometown America Folk Art Painting & Another Junk Find

I spent the last two weeks painting this new piece of Americana and had so much fun with all the little details. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop. I listed this on eBay last night and it ends on Sunday, September 7th.

"Hometown America"

The scent of autumn rises into the air along with billows of smoke drifting from the chimney tops in the little village of Hawthorne. Leaves gently fall from trees forming a kaleidoscope of color on the rolling hills. Families dine in the local café after church and walk home in the cool evening air. Tillie, a local business owner has been dating Mr. Hankins, the Farmer’s Bank president, who was won over by her warm smile and kind heart. They plan to be wed at the village church and the reception is scheduled for the Hawthorne Inn, owned by LuAnn, Tillie’s best friend. The entire village is invited so Mr. Hankins might have to dig deep into his pockets for this event!

Now, here is the other item that I mentioned that I got at the Jesse James Antique Store in St. Joseph, MO. I didn't want to share it with you until the flowers I planted started to bloom.

I got this little rusty jewel along with the basket attached for $18.00. Even though the chain and every other part are rust ridden, my husband was able to ride it. We parked it right here in my flower bed after I cut back the forlorn cone flowers. I want to paint it, but my husband likes it rusty. Please leave a comment with your opinion and I'll share them with my hubby. All you lurkers out there, please stop in and leave a comment too. I need to win this slight disagreement.

Since it's late in the season, I couldn't find a liner for the basket, so I had to use a heavy plastic bag and poked tiny holes in it. It seem to be working.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, because it's back to work tomorrow for most of us!

More Great Junk!!

I've blogged before about my husband's grandmother, Grandma Chickie as she is known to the children of the family. She is now home from the nursing home and doing very well. She is so happy to be back on the farm with her dog Shelby. She had suffered a broken hip in a fall and had to have a hip replacement. Edna is walking now without her walker most of the time. She asked my husband and I to clean out some of her cabinets and here is what I came home with:

These great dessert cans from Watkins still had the powdered mix inside. I love them and I'm claiming these!
The above containers as well as the little clip on bird are for my daughter, Amber.
Isn't this the cutest little pink box?
Look what was inside!
Look at these great retro curlers. Aren't the colors wonderful? My daughter is going to want these too. Any ideas on how to display these?
Not sure who is getting these two vases.
My daughter is going to jump on these little ornaments too!
Amber or my son, Eric, will want this set of 8 amber colored glasses. Eric also got an old tin globe bank which I've already given him and didn't get photographed.
This old chocolate box is mine!
Not sure who is getting this very retro turquoise and white Holiday thermos, but I'm sure Amber will have an idea.
This jar is mine! Notice how I stake my claim.

...and finally these four season Robert Wood aged, yellowed, and very curled prints will surely find a home in one of my kids homes.

Junk Jive and a New Little Painting

Our family room is what we call our "lodge room", because it makes me feel like I'm in the north woods. We found this Farm Bureau sign with my husband's grandpa's name on it. I'm sure grandma thought it was destined for the "holler". It has a lot of meaning to us and works great in this rustic room on the barn siding walls.

This little beauty is a set of antlers converted to a hat rack. In the top right corner of this picture you can see a portion of our junky green oars that hang above the windows.
Below is an old tree with the branches chopped off that I put in a basket to use as another hat rack. My hubby has lots and lots of hats! A bow back saw placed beside the stone fireplace is another junk find from the farm.
This is my second in a series of four season "friendship" paintings and is available right now on eBay. The winter print and card is available on my Etsy shop .
More painting tips coming soon!

New Notecard Sets and Another Junk Idea

I spent the day with my beautiful daughter, Amber, yesterday helping her hang pictures in her apartment and arrange her crafting area. Since I took the day off from painting, I don't have anything new to share except these new cards that I've listed on eBay .

I got the idea for this nightlight from the Junk Market book. I just wired a little nightlight to the back curved side of this grater. I was making it for the kitchen, but when you live in an old house outlets aren't always where you'd like them to be. Mine are too close to the bottom of my cabinets and the handle on this grater wouldn't fit under the cabinet. So, I have a cheese grater in my bathroom! This picture doesn't do it justice. The light really shines neatly through the holes in the grater.

This isn't really a junk idea, but remember, anything can become a chalkboard. This is the door (in my kitchen) leading to my scary basement. All you need is some chalkboard paint and a brush.

and More Junk Jive

We have a winner! Paula, Miss Anonymous, said the item was used to weigh eggs and she is correct. It is an egg scale. I've decided to add another winner just because of pure creativity. Here is what Miss Sandy from Quill Cottage had to say:

Paula is probably right but I want to guess too! I think it is part of a contraption used in a flea circus act. The acrobat stands on the flat end while the other end is suddenly pushed down and the tiny acrobat goes flying and flipping through the air to land in your dogs hair!

How creative is that!

Well here is a little more junk to share with you. The bowls above my cabinet came from? Yes, that's right, grandma chickie's farm. Once again she thought they were trash. They have several chips on them and one is cracked, but from high on top of the cabinets, who can tell.
This isn't the best photo in the world because it shows the lovely condition of my old cabinets, but I just had to share my hubby's ingenious idea. When we moved into this old house I remembered that a previous owner had her husband put this section into the cabinets to store her cookie sheets. I have a large dog and two cats and didn't think this would be a very sanitary place to store mine. I would end up having to wash them before using them each time I'm sure. It just so happened that he, my hubby, had these drainage tiles that fit in this area perfectly to store wine.

More Junk Jive

I love hunting for junk! Here are a couple more items that we found at grandma chickie's farm when she had us clean out her shed a couple of years ago. I use this little scale to hang my tea towel on by the sink.

This large scale was quite a chore to clean up but well worth it. The glass was very dirty and when I took it apart to clean the inside of the glass, there were muddobber nests between the two plates holding the glass. It was next to impossible to get them all out. I can't figure out how they even got in there. I wiped the dial and realized the writing on it wasn't water proof so I quickly stopped. Part of it did smear though. It's great for displaying fruit, but I had already eaten the oranges and grapes when this photo was taken. They don't last long around here! If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you'll notice the Ninja Turtle magnets on my frig. One of the Ninjas is my son, Eric, when he was little. He loved the Ninjas! I know that having photos on your frig is looked down upon in the decorating world, but it's my home and I love looking at my families faces each day.

Junk Jive Giveaway

I thought it would be fun to share some of my junk ideas. These are items that a lot of people pass on, but for some reason appeal to me. A dear friend of mind had been saving these large jars that came from Wal-Mart with dill pickles in them (very cheap). She gave me three and I went and bought one jar of pickles myself. All I can say, is that it would have taken my husband and I a loooooooong time to eat that many pickles. So, I'm very thankful to my friend. They work great as canisters and I plan to paint the lids black and get some black and white check ribbon to glue on the edges of the lids. Recently I made hang tags to tie around the necks of all the jars. The jar of marshmallows are treats for my dog that she gets when I put eye drops in her one remaining eye. She's a big marshmallow herself! Click on the photos for a closer view.

The first person who leaves a comment, correctly telling me what the metal item in the middle of the shelf is (in front of the jars), gets a free notecard from my etsy shop. I will notify the winner. Aren't these red skates fantastic! I fell in love with them when my sister, daughter, and neighbor went to the Worlds Longest Yard Sale two years ago. They were in the first yard sale that I went into and were my first purchase. They make great bookends for my cookbooks.
This old scale was considered "junk" by grandma chickie and now belongs to me. A candle sits on top.
Then, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I went to several flea markets and he found this old 50's KitchenAid mixer. It works and was only $25.00!! Sure beats several hundred for a new one. I've never had one and just love it. It's hard to find one with a bowl. Most of the bowls got broken over the years. My daughter was so jealous, but I'm really looking for one for her. I'm hoping to find her a pink or green one. She lucked out though. We bought her a vintage sewing basket that was filled with lots of vintage thread, lace, and various sewing notions. That was her Easter basket.