Hibernating in Winter

The temperature has been jumping up and down from 30s to single digits.  Time to hibernate at home after work.  My idea of cozy is a comfortable space, not too formal where the decorating is eclectic to say the least.  The tatted doily was saved from life in the Great Big Thrift store and cost a whopping 75c, the disheartening thing is knowing someone spent about 200 hours making it! 

After visiting the Bachmans Idea House where flea market style decorating ideas bloom I convinced Mr. Wonderful to get out the drill and make me some finials from the pine cones sent to me by  Jane at Aralia Janes  They are HUGE!

This petite valentine gift: I love more than 'a partridge in a pear tree'; it's a pink bird in a seed cup!  Made for me by Miss Shirley Zetta's Aprons.  It's so much fun when you connect in more than blogs visits and that's what Shirley and I have done, emails fly back and forth from our respective parts of the country.

This adorable shadow box came from Stephanie at Creative Indulgences and the little Miss looks like she can face any winter weather!  Stephanie has written me several times a week since we were matched in a swap last spring!  What fun to learn about life in the Northeast!  

Red is my favorite color and my valentine tree held this tag that came with several gifts from Kim the Musing Mama.  Kim too, writes regularly, we share the job description of mother to Asian born children, her doll came from China, my boy and girl were born for me in Korea. 

Hibernating I look around and enjoy the gifts of friendships, the gifts in the mail are lots of fun but knowing such wonderful women is the real treat! 

Darling Companion Crafting

There are many red things in my house, it's my favorite color.  Sometimes though, a little pastel find comes home with me.  Exhibit A:  Lefton Miss Priss salt shaker a thrift store save for $1.40.  You know I walked those isles for 30 minutes looking for her 'other half' but she was destined to remain a single gal.  I thought her a perfect spot to display this old cupcake topper.  The topper reminded me of bakery treats at Sterling Pastries where my beloved Little Grama worked during my childhood days! Thank you to Elizabeth for triggering another memory with your gift bag of goodies!  

 

The Home Companion magazine is dated 2005 but I save them and puruse them each month of the year.  The paper dolls remained intact until this year when I decided to use them to create a little valentine project.  You see, Anne Estell reminds me of another little blond who grew up in  our house; our homemade baby girl.

The base is a heart shaped open sided red cookie cutter; I used scrapbook paper and then a layer of flecked opaque fabric over the paper.  The back has a doily that allows a peek-a-boo view of the inside where I glued the other pieces of the paper doll clothes. 

The Home Companion wasn't the only M.E. treasure I saved, calendar pages also provide great graphics for valentine paper crafts.  My pal of 29 years will get this card next week. We are both Norwegian  mothers of Korean born children.  I love the Scandinavian Christmas papers for a great group of red mixes that complement the trim in Mary Englebreit's drawing! 

 

'Hope you haven't stopped Valentine crafting yet, I love this time of red, glitter and doilies.  One more week till the Big Day of Love!

Two by Two

Dinner for two?  The children are all gone and my sets of dishes now have grown by twos. When I see a pattern that I like at the thrift store, I pick up two, one for Mr. Wonderful and one for me.

This pattern is called English Cottage; I love the muted colors of the stoneware for some fall comfort food:  meatloaf,  acorn squash and baked potatoes with sour cream, grated cheese and bacon garnish.

When I spied this plate I ricocheted back to childhood, my Mom bought these dishes at Red Owl grocery store; we had meals on this pattern called Blue Heaven.  For $ 1.30 for the pair I can step back to 1965 and suppers that included fried parsnips (YUK!)  roast beef and pop-overs (YUM!)

I love this set, especially at this time of the year!  Apples on these Franciscan beauties are perfect for our September dinner table.  Yes, there are two of them, that's all, just a couple, same price $ 1. 30 for the pair.

Last year at the Gold Rush Flea Market I picked up this set of Swanky Swigs and the carrier for $ 12.00!  The paint is a bit dried, maybe someone who collects them can tell me how to refresh it.  I tried rubbing some lemon oil into it but no effect.

Since I'm showing you apples; here are a couple more.  This set is called Gay Fad, I picked the sugar and creamer up because they matched Little Grama's cookie jar.

The turquoise Fiesta belonged to my Great Grandmother, she gave them to me when I was 4 years old!  I've been in love with dishes ever since!  Eight plates and saucers, no cups!  On a vintage tablecloth I can't help but smile when I pass my dining room with these dishes on the table.  I think dishes are my weakness but I only add them in twos nowadays!

Leaf Looking

Judging by the pictures you would think fall had come; instead the high for Thursday is supposed to be somewhere around 99 with a very high dew point making if FEEL like 104.  I don't mind, really, because you see, I don't like winter and living in a state where we get a lot of it, I can wait.  

Still, I love the Back to School time of year, the excitement of new pencils and backpacks and chalkboards...

The date on this little easel desk and chalk board says 1913; Mr. Wonderful's Grandma had it for her days teaching in a one room school house in Iowa.  A stoic Norwegian if ever there was one, Grandma lived to be 107 and died on the farm where she was born.  Good stock those Scandinavians!  This treasure came home from the last trip to Iowa  two weeks ago; the roller still works like a charm with lots of pictures including the solar system and 'teaching the calf to drink'.  

My Big Grama was a school teacher too, starting her career teaching in a one room schoolhouse as well.  My Grama taught eight grades in southern Minnesota.  These two books called  Prose & Poetry The Sunshine Book and The Emerald Book were from her storeroom of all things academic.  I put them on top of my mantle with the little figurine that I found at the thrift store for $ 1.75 a few years ago.  

I love to decorate for the season and fall colors are so beautiful, even when the bounty is artificial.  I weave a garland alongside the books and pile of pumpkins and gourds.  The runner is one I sewed about five years ago; Jo Ann has such an awesome collection of autumn prints, sigh...

I haven't taken my vintage turquoise and yellow print tablecloth off the dining room table yet, it looks so cute with my turquoise Fiesta dishes, bright colored napkins and striped tumblers.   I bought two of these English patterned plates; another thrift store save that cost me $ 1.30 for both of them!  I like to buy two dinner plates and change out my dishes.  Since it's just us empty nesters, I have lots of sets of two, well, I have lots of sets of more than two but we won't go there!

Not in a Million Years!

I was going to the Dollar Store in search of something for a craft project when I thought, I'll just run in to Good Will.  My first isle, I looked up and THERE IT WAS!  I haven't seriously even looked for the Friendship Large Red Bowl!  I mentioned it yesterday in the post about the Pyrex at the Flea Market as a joke.  I never thought I would find it!

Are you ever so shocked to see something that you stop in your tracks?  I approached, I looked, I saw the price tag and then I fainted!  I protected the bowl by falling on my head in a summersault position.  Then I looked underneath that shelf just to see if the others might be there too.  They were not there, probably because last April I had found the rest of them at a DIFFERENT thrift store!  

I took Big Red home and washed it up, there are a few light black scratches (almost like pencil lines) that didn't go through the paint but it's almost perfect.  I'm wondering if someone with a real case of Pyrexia will tell me what to try cleaning that with.

I told you I would show you my finds from the Gold Rush Flea Market in yesterday's episode:  here's one.  It's a $1.00 find, full skirted rosebud apron!  The colors are bright and it's like new, only better, 'cause it's old!  I don't suppose you know where I could get a big red bowl to do some mixing when I don it, do you?  Oh!  it's right here!

The price for this red Cinderella, and I'm still in shock:  $ 4.99!

Girly Stuff

A while back I told you my unique habit of reuniting separated pieces at the thrift store; candlesticks, creamers and sugars, cups and saucers all make their way into my cart while I 'drive' them up and down the isles looking for their lost mate.  I even did it with a vintage boxed Knickerbocker Raggedy Andy this week!  I walked up to a woman holding the boxed Raggedy Ann and said, "Oh!  There she is!"  She handed Ann to me and I confessed, that I was just putting them together.  She said, "Oh, I'll take him then, my sister loves Raggedy Ann."  

Two weeks ago I walked around at the thrift store looking for the mate for this little bone china creamer, I couldn't find the sugar so I placed it on the shelf where I put the loners.  On Friday I went on my weekly field trip and saw a sugar bowl,  picking it up I thought it looked familiar.  I walked to the loner shelf and low and behold!  The creamer from the first trip was the lost mate!  Into my cart they both go, together again, happily ever after. How many of you are now walking through your thrift store restoring couples to their original state?  I make pairs all the time regardless of wanting to buy them!

I think I have about six sets of these little creamer and sugar sets now.  I use them for High Tea parties but I'm thinking with this many of them I might need to think up a little display to put them out and look at them all for a while.  This is my first in the purple color scheme.  For $ 3.75 for the pair, would you leave them?

When it comes to decorating, I think I gravitate toward the softer side at least in the bedrooms.  This little leather coin purse belonged to 'Big Grama', that one was a school teacher.  I filled the purse with my favorite flowers.  I love the fragrance and the petite little bell flowers, the cake at our wedding was decorated with silk Lily of the Valley even though I was married in August, not May the month when they bloom.

Gloves are part of my ensemble when I wear vintage dresses and drive the '57.  Being a tall girl, my glove size is 7, not typical for the 5'2" average woman of the 1950s.  I frequently use gloves in vignettes to layer things on.

I love handbags and hats too, eat your heart out Bette Page, mine are really vintage! I picked up the little white purse (which had never been used) for $1.00 at a flea market a couple years ago.

Over the headboard, a collection of girly soft colors, 3D hydrangeas, a floral from the 1950s and a pastel toned plate are hung along with four Skeleton keys.  I love to look at these vintage pieces tucked here and there, connections with the past make me happy in the present.

A Glimpse

Do you love to peek into the background in other blogger's photos?  I love to catch a glimpse of their homes to see how that too, reflects their personality.  My love of vintage tatted doilies requires me to "SAVE" them from life in the thrift store.  Some Grama spent hours making that beautiful piece and they end up in a thrift store!  I can't make them but I am happy to take them home with me.

I live in the Upper Midwest, my home is in Minnesota.  My beloved Mr. Wonderful was born and raised in Iowa, I have transplanted him to a better life!   We went to the Wisconsin Dells on family vacations when I was a child, fond memories of riding 'the ducks' from WWII on Lake Delton.  Mr. Wonderful and I went to The Dells on our honeymoon in August of '78 and for our 30th anniversary a few years ago.  A slightly better budget this time but very few of the same sites; it's water park heaven now.

Knowing my love for vintage linens and red, white and blue, an appliqued dish towel was part of a wonderful package from my friend Chris at Perfectly Printed She made me an adorable little house that to me looks like a Post Office, she garnished it with stamps!  'See the other goodies she include?  Tell me, does any friend in my real life  know I like this kind of stuff?  Um, probably not.

Do you see the Little Golden Book to add to my collection?  Mr. Wonderful works for the Post Office and she knows my need for those little silver bound story books!  'Love it all Miss "Chris Craft"!

I found the dish drainer at the flea market,  Miss Kim at Musings from Kim K sent me my own dolly dishes to put in it!  I have wanted red metal dishes and here she was: Santa Claus!  The journal sitting in the background is a 'slam book' of sorts where I keep track of the trades and swaps I've been in.  I don't want to forget the wonderful gifts, fabulous ephemera and thoughtful tuck-ins that you have sent me.  I keep pieces of the wrapping paper, pretty tape or graphics that you add in the book!  The beautiful cover art was a card made by my pal Stephanie Gilded Junque; I saved the card and now it covers my journal. 

Remember the spring flea market with the giant rain storm?   I had this little chicken feeder I found for $3.00; here is the project that needed some tweaking.  My beloved built me a 'faux window' when I couldn't find one small enough for our little hip-roofed shed, the chicken feeder now holds Impatiens and Coleus. There's a glimpse of my decorating in the 'Early Attic' style I love.  

Does a pile of ironing make you smile?

Sometimes, when my ironing looks like this, I grin ear to ear.  Doilies that needed freshening up, a vintage tablecloth that I love to use with my turquoise Fiesta dishes from Great Grama are on the docket.  On the far end of the ironing board the brown and white gingham check is a 1950's house dress that I wear when driving my '57 Chevy.  

My vintage tablecloths require sprinkling before even thinking about ironing them.  A friend told me that her mother used to sprinkle the clothes then roll them up and put them in a bag in the refrigerator before ironing them.  Knowing me, I'd put the clothes in the frig and forget them there!

When I was a little girl I had a pink ironing board, complete with a silver insulated cover and a little iron that plugged in and heated up!  I remember my Mom letting me wash all the doll clothes and then hang them on the line with my little wicker basket and clothes pins.  Next would come ironing.  I thought it was fun then...

Now, let's see...would I rather iron or eat cookies?  

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Or go for a ride?  Gotta change clothes, I choose ride!  I finished the ironing, not to worry!

Early Attic Style

Before it caught on as 'junk market' or 'flea market' style, I have been decorating with old stuff.  My Grama's treasures (and some other peoples' Grama's treasures) have been part of the charm of home.  This set of flags is actually a hood ornament that went over the radiator cover of a Model T Ford.  In the stack in my formal living room:  Scrabble, Password, Yahtzee, and wooden Dominoes.  Who needs the Wii?

The entry table in the foyer was set up to inspire the gardening as I head in and out to the watering can and my evening ritual of Miracle Grow and dead-heading the patriotic posies in my Victory Gardens.  The numbered tacks in the center are to mark and coordinate screens and windows from the days when they had to be installed every summer and removed every autumn.

Don't ask me why I think whisk brooms are so adorable.  My Dad used to sweep out the carpets in the car when he washed it every Saturday night.  This whisk is well used, it should be about 3" longer!

A little peek into my 'playroom' aka crafting place.  They once were somebody's jam jars but now they are the perfect spot for ribbons and garnishes for paper craft projects.  The slot for the spoon easily dispenses ribbon and rick rack!  I love the charm of useful items that find a new life far from the kitchen.

Speaking of paper craft, I have recovered from my week of 10.5 hour days spent in the Mini MBA program and settled down with some cute paper, ran through three glue sticks and have produced my Friendship Garland contribution to Elizabeth's Creative Breathing exchange.  As soon as I can clear away the scissors, scraps, and mess I've made while creating the tags I'll show you what I came up with to illustrate the fact that

Tammy's in Love!

From Another Time

Cute Counts.  This is yet another example of things I have saved from life in the thrift store.  Top price:  $ 1.00.  How can someone donate all those hours of work?  I don't get it, why buy one of those strip-mined department store hot pads when you can have one of these?  

I use them like a border under my cabinets and can't help but smile looking at the variety of patterns and colors chosen with care.  Who knew there were so many patterns for hot pads?

I pick these syrup pitchers up when I find them at the thrift store too.  The red handled one is not usually on this shelf, it's on my kitchen sink and you might have guessed:  it's Palmolive and I'm soaking in it!  (Old line from a commercial with 'Madge' for those of you who are old enough to remember)

 

Swanky Swigs!  I found my first set in the carrier at the Gold Rush Flea Market last summer, those are red and the ensemble cost me 11 big ones!  I was jumping up and down happy; I had seen them for  $ 35.00 at the antique store and wasn't feeling that flush, even if I loved them.  These yellow and green ones appear brand new, and I paid 50c a piece for them.  Swanky indeed!

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Even a vase was colorful in the 1950s, this cutie was saved from The Great Big Thrift Store for $ 2.50  I think at one time she might have held an umbrella but we both like Tootsie Pops better!

I love the colors and the cheery usefulness of this earlier time.  Now, I'm off to set the table with the turquoise Fiesta dishes and a pair of Swanky Swigs for my honey and me.