Estate sale finds!

Last Friday I took the day off from work for two reasons. #1- to spend the day shopping with Yngwie for his back to school supplies, and #2 - to go to an Estate sale!

They had so many retro/vintage items! It was like going back to 1950! I managed to control myself and only bought a few goodies.

I loved these vintage books. They are actually quite large and the pictures in them are so colorful and cute!

Que, Sera, Sera - Anyone remember the beautiful and talented Doris Day?? I love her and loved these paperdolls. Look at all the beautiful dresses!

In the same box with the childrens books, were these fabulous (and some no so fabulous) patterns.

Believe it or not, all of them are in my size with the exception of the childrens patterns. There is a pattern with several embroidery iron-ons, that is going to my friend Diane. Diane G, if you are reading this they are going on top of your ever expanding pile of books!

I did the Happy dance when I spotted this pixie ash tray. It is even blue!!!! He is so pensive looking. Wonder if he is thinking about the dangers of smoking???

How about this adorable pixie planter!!! And this little guy. I'm not sure if he is a elf or a doll or just a...I don't know what. But, he had the cutest little impish grin that I had to have him, whatever he is! (opps, his belt is coming off!)

Then there was this beautiful Bible. It is covered in mother of pearl and is really beautiful. However, I have left a message with the woman who ran the sale to see if the family wants this as there is stuff written inside:

I can't imagine selling something with this written in it.

See the photo of Yngwie at the top?? Today is the first day of his senior year!! I am so proud of him I could just bust!!!! He is such a blessing to me and his Dad.

Blessings and have a great week!

Linda

Crafty Things

Last weekend my DH and son were gone for most of the day Saturday, my house was fairly clean, and it was way too hot to go outside. So, I spent most of the day crafting! You know those days are few and far between so I enjoyed it immensely!

I found the pattern and instructions for this in my new Create and Decorate magazine. I plan on making at least two more of these in different fall colors. The pattern called for felt leaves on his head but I found some gorgeous, tacky, glittered leaves at the dollar store and you know how much I love glitter, they had to come home with me, so I used them instead and love how it turned out.

Then I made this mini Halloween banner that I think "The Happy Zombie" gave the instructions for it on her website.

Then I pulled out a 1978 Better Homes and Garden craft magazine and made this adorable angel. I must say that patterns today are much better then in 1978 because I had to enlarge this like a gazillion times to get it to the right size. Her head is made from a satin christmas ball and her body and clothing are felt. I love how she turned out.

And if you look closely behind her you will see what else that I did last weekend. 8 pints and 12 half pints of salsa! It turned out really good this year and is a great way to use up the million hot peppers that I have gotten out of the garden!

Its supposed to be another hot day today with temps in the mid 90's. UGH! I am ready for fall!

Blessings

Linda

The end of summer

I can't believe that summer is almost over! To me it seems it just started. Yngwie will soon be going back to school for his last year of high school. A SENIOR! I can't believe it! It was just yesterday that I dropped him off for his first day of kindergarden. He had his Toy Story lunch box and a little lamb cut out tied around his neck with his room number on it. The teachers aid met him at the car and took him to his rooom. I drove a mile down the road, pulled over to the side and cried for a good 10 minutes! When I picked him up he was so excited! He had a best friend named Garrett! 13 years later he and Garrett are still best friends, and while they will be heading off in different directions for college next year, I bet they will always remain friends.


I am getting excited that fall will soon be arriving. I love the colors of the leaves, the mist and nip of a cool morning, and the smell of a woodfire. I found some really cool Halloween fabric when I was at the beach and decided to make a purse. I really like how it turned out. I kinda just made up the pattern as I went along. I love the "BOO" fabric!


I am making some pumpkins from the new Create and Decorate, but have to make a trip to the store for more felt before I can finish them. If you love crafts and fall, the fall issue is great!


Hope everyone has a great day!


Linda

Vacation!

Last week our family headed off to Myrtle Beach, S.C. for our vacation! We had so much fun! The weather couldn't have been better, it was sunny, about 85 degrees with a gentle breeze coming in off the ocean.Don't tell my husband but I found a boy friend while I was visiting S.C. He is a little old and skinny for me, but what does age matter?We also met up with this nice fellow in the aquarium:

Better in the aquarium than in the ocean!

I have threatened to have DH's cell phone surgically attached to his ear!

Then Saturday we headed to High Point, N.C. for the Drag Boat races! All I can say about that is that it was hot and loud! But DH and DS enjoyed them very much!

Of course when we got home I had a mountain of clothes to wash and tons of vegetables in the garden to be picked. So I got busy and made 5 qts. of pickled beets and 5 1/2 pints of hot pepper jelly which is so good served with cream cheese of crackers! YUM! Ohh red and green, reminds me of Christmas, which is less than 5 months away!

So back to the old grind this week!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Linda

A peck of purple peppers!

Well, maybe not a peck and they aren't all purple but lots of them are. I bought the seeds for the Royal Beauty pepper and started them in Februrary in my laundry room on a shelf. They started out good then it seemed that they just wouldn't grow anymore so I said "Fine! I'm just gonna stick the lot of you out of the front porch and you can fend for your self! And they did! They started growing like crazy. So I ended up with a couple dozen purple pepper plants. I planted 1 dozen and gave away the rest. However, you do not need 1 dozen purple pepper plants! Oh My! they are so prolific! But I am going to cut them in strips and freeze them for stir frys this winter. Won't it be fun to see a purple pepper in my pepper beef stir fry!



I have also been doing some sewing and I just love this little dish towel!

I used the pattern in the newest Create and Decorate magazine. They give you directions for making your own dish cloth, but I found this one and decided to skip that step and go straight to the fun stuff! I found a scrap of vegetable fabric I had and sewed that to the edge. She is appliqued onto the towel and I used running stitches for the details. There is also a pattern for a broccoli and some other vegetable that I can't think of right now, so I am going to make them all.
Well, time to head out on the lake for a late day boat ride! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Blessings

Linda

I am still alive!!!

Sorry I have totally neglected my blog, but I was abducted by aliens!

Well, not really, but it's the only good excuse I can come up with. We have had a very busy summer and I have been ill for a few weeks. Dr.s still don't have a prognosis, but we are working on that with some more testing coming up in a couple of weeks.

We have spent alot of time out on the lake this year. The weather has been sooooo nice. A couple of weeks ago Dear Husband and Yngwie took Yngwie's ATV that he never rides any more and traded it for this V-Drive Racing boat. I was not a happy camper when I saw it! I swear I think I am the only adult in our family!

It only runs on racing fuel that is $8.00 per gallon!!!!! They say they are going to convert it so that it will run on half racing fuel and half regular fuel. What were they thinking????

I have been doing quite abit of sewing but haven't taken a picture of anything that I have made! I am working on a Halloween purse at the moment. Yeah, early I know, but I saw a photo of one and had to make it!

I hope everyone has had a great summer, I will try my best to do better with my blogging!

Blessings

Linda

Summer Flowers

Good rainy, Wednesday morning.

While I am getting a little tired of all the rain that we have had lately, my flower garden is loving it.I

I love the bright, vibrant colors of these tiger lillies.

Painted daisies.

Coreopsis.

Snap Dragon.Rose Campion.

Please keep our family in your prayers as my uncle was killed in a tragic tractor accident yesterday in WV. He leaves behind a wife of 40 years, 3 daughters, and 1 very devoted grandson.

Blessings

Linda

Friday Show and Tell!

TGIF! Seems like the only time I am posting anymore is on Friday Show and Tell, but I have been so busy with crafting, cooking, gardening and just having summer fun!

Week before last I showed you some vintage patterns that I had bought at an estate sale. Today I am showing you a couple of the things that I have made from my patterns.

Here is my vintage Midge wearing the evening gown shown in the lower right corner of the pattern. I love how it turned out, but I'm thinking its needs "something" but I'm not sure what. Any suggestions? I love these patriotic angels! This pattern came from one of the Better Homes and Gardens Christmas books. Of course their angels were Christmas angels, but I thought wouldn't patriotic angels be cool for Independence Day! I have 6 more ready to be cut out. I can see Halloween angels, Thanksgiving angels, pink angels, etc... See the pretty lacy trim on the bottom of their dresses? I bought a HUGE bag (like a comforter comes in) at the Goodwill for $2.00! I get so excited over a good deal.

We are headed to Lexington, NC this weekend to watch some boat racing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Blessings

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

T.G.I.F.!!!! Good Morning! Kelli over ate http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ click over and join the fun.

Yesterday during lunch, I went to an Estate sales and let me tell you I was in heaven! Dolls, Dolls, Dolls! They advertised 100's of dolls but I bet there were 1000's of dolls. But I did good and didn't buy any. Well, kinda. I don't consider these dolls. They are more like ..hmmmm, decorations!

The little mouse just won my heart! He kinda looks like that mouse-like thing on the Ed Sullivan show. Popogejo, or something like that.

When I saw these stacked in a corner I almost jumped for joy!

There are 22 Good Old Days magazines from 1975-1977. My grandmother used to get these when I was a kid and I loved them.

And if that wasn't enough look what else I found:

Vintage doll clothes and stuffed animal patterns!

I can hardly wait to use this adorable pattern.

Who knew trolls wore clothes??? All of mine were "nekid"

Then I wandered over to the garage and found these:

Two 1966 catalogs. One in a Montgomery Ward's Christmas and the other a J.C. Penney spring and summer.

I would totally wear that black and white one!

So I have my holiday weekend reading cut out for me! Hope your's in fun and safe!

Blessings

Linda

Yard Sale Finds

Saturday morning I went antiquing particularly looking for that "pink" chicken pitcher, but that was elusive. I did however find a couple things at a yard sale.

This was a strange yard sale. Everything was free! It was for a mission trip and they had a glass jar sitting on a table and you could make a donation. I found these wonderful Gurley candles:

They look brand new! The price tab on the botton said .29! I also got the little chalkware santa and 4 craft books and a cute skirt.

At the antique store the first thing I saw when I walked in were these adorable elves!

Well I knew right away they were coming home with me!

I have no idea why I have become so elf addicted. I guess they are so darn cute! Look at those ears!

Have a blessed day!

Linda

Yummy Orange Muffins

Back in the winter I went to an estate sale and found a bunch of "cook booklets" Ever since I have been reading them like novels! It is so interesting to see how recipes have changed. In the older cookbooks they assume you know what temperature a "hot" oven is. They don't have the detailed instructions todays cookbooks have.


Yesterday afternoon I whipped up a batch of Orange Muffins from this 1935 Carnation Cook Book. Mary Blake is the director of the home economics dept of Carnation. I wonder if they still have a home economist?
Orange Muffins:

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups cake flour (I didn't have any so I used self rising)
2. teaspoons baking powder (if you use self rising you don't need this)
1/4 cup carnation evaporated milk, undiluted
1/4 cups orange juice
grated rind from one orange.

Cream the butter and sugar, add egg and beat well. Add orange juice, and grated orange rind, then milk and then flour and baking powder, sifted together. Bake in greased muffin tins for 20 minutes in a moderately hot oven (375). This batter may be stored in the refrigerator several hours before baking.

NOTE: Mine were done in 15 minutes and that may have been a minute or two too long.
These muffins were delicious! A very subtle taste of orange in a light muffin. I spread butter on mine, but orange marmalade would have been good too. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Friday Show and Tell

Happy Friday everyone. Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ hosts Show and Tell each Friday so click over there to join the fun.

My show and tell this Friday is one that I have been meaning to show for a couple of weeks and just never got around to it.

A month of so ago I went to and estate sales and it looked like whomever lived in the house got up one day in 1960 went out and never came back. There were 1950's clothes hanging in the closet, all the furniture was from the 1950's, all the dishes, etc..

When I went up into the attic there was a box full of fabric, all from the 1950's. I went and asked the price and she said I could have the whole box for $20.00. That seemed a little high to me but after thinking it over I decided to go ahead and get it. I am so glad I did. There were 52 different pieces of fabric, all 2 yards to 8 yards and it was it perfect shape!

So here is the skirt I made, using some of my 1950's fabric. I have to tell you this is my favorite skirt right now. I have worn it once a week since I made it Easter week.

Isn't this the cutest fabric? I love the colors and the little dutch people make me happy everytime I look at them.
Of course if you are using vintage fabric, you must use a vintage pattern, so I used this one. I didn't like the pocket idea as I'm big enough without adding inches to my hips with the pockets. I have no idea what year it is, but it looked kinda like 1950's to me. It is certainly well worn and for a good reason. This skirt pattern rocks! Easy to understand and put together and the results are fabulous!

Voila! My new favorite skirt!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Linda

Prom Night!

I can't believe that my baby is old enough for Prom! We made these photos of him and his girlfriend before they left to go to dinner! The Prom was held in an old barn that has been converted into a community center of sorts. After the Prom he and 14 of his friends headed back to our house for an after Prom party.

Even though it was "chilly" they decided to go swimming in the pool, mostly just the boys.

After about a half hour in the cold pool, everyone gathered around the fire pit on the patio.

Sorry for the blurry pic. Isn't it amazing that fire still draws people to it. Anway, they sat by the fire and talked and roasted hot dogs and had s'mores until 4:30 a.m. when I was finally able to convince the girls to go in the house and go to sleep. We had decided that whoever came to the after prom party had to spend the night. We didn't want these teens out driving around at 3:00 in the morning! The girls all camped out on the living room floor and the plan was the guys would sleep in the pool house. Instead they guys decided to go sleep in their cars, at 5:00 a.m. Fortunately they are all smart enough to know not to start the car. They slept with their windows open as well. (I found out later that DH had made sure everyone had their window down.)

At about 8:30 a.m I saw some of the guys wandering around outside, so I went outside and started breakfast. The guys of course had to knock on the windows until the girls woke up too! Dh and I cooked 2 lbs of bacon, 2 lbs of sausage, 2 lbs of ham, 24 biscuits, 2 dozen doughnuts, and some fresh fruit. There was nothing left! Those kids must have had hollow legs!

Poor DH with a bad case of bedhead! At around 10:30 a.m. they all started leaving for home and DH and I headed indoors for a nice 3 hour snooze after being up almost all night! But it was worth it. We knew where the kids were and that they were drug and alcohol free, and they weren't driving our twisting, turning country roads when they were so tired.

We are having rainy cool days and nights here this week. Good sleeping weather!

Blessings

Linda