Antique Shopping

It is taking me quite a while to get all of the photos edited from last week, but I did get through the ones taken in one of the antique stores we visited.  Unfortunately, I did not write down the name of the shop.  Since I only bought a couple of little things, I paid cash so did not save the receipt.  Do you ever do things like that?  I so wanted to tell you the name so that if you were in Pinetop, AZ you could visit them, too!

This long table was the first thing I saw entering the door.  Wow, it was really long!  Notice the yellow ware bowl?  Oh, yes, I zeroed in on it, but it was more than I was willing to pay.  I limit myself to what cash I have and I sure didn't have as much as it would take to bring the bowl home.

This show had everything from A to Z in it.  Wouldn't these blocks be fun?

This little blue bowl came home with me.  The hand  knit cap is interesting and would be useful at 7,000+ altitude, but in the desert, not so much!

I do wish I had paid more attention to this blue toile pitcher.  It is lovely! When I'm taking photos, I often find things I wish I had gone back to later.  the nine patch quilt in the background with the double pink fabric was neat as well.

This shop had a LOT of kitchen tools, but I've never seen so many cake slicers in one place -- Ever!

This display of Campbell soup items was mmm mmm good!. It sure brought back memories of childhood.

Who knew we should have kept all of those old Vick's jars and Phillips Milk of Magnesia bottles?  I loved this display.  Sorry about the face in the window.  I could not figure out how to remove him from the background.  Anyone know how to do that in Photo Shop?

It seemed like there was more enamelware in this shop than usual.  Perhaps it was used more in the mountains than in the city.

Loved this wonderfully soft looking fan quilt.

Doesn't the bottom quilt look as if it might be Amish?  I wish I had pulled it out to see it better!

The log cabin quilt and the bow tie quilt look as if they are really large quilts.  The others seem so much smaller when folded.  Love the tea cup collection below them.

I'm not a fan of blue and pink quilts, but the wool applique quilt below it was lovely.

Loved these little pie safes.

Not sure what the jugs held, but they were quite large.  The brass kerosene lamp was a beauty as was the wooden sled.  I didn't get all of the sled in the photo, it was quite long.

The treadle sewing machine drawer could be quite useful.  What would you do with one of these if you found one? See the doorknob hanger in the background?

This wooden box was really quite pretty.  It was surrounded by wood working tools, saws and such.  If you are in the market for wood planes, they had quite a selection.

This does not look as if it would have been very comfortable for it's original use, but wouldn't a plant look cute in this child's potty?

My friend, Deanna, told me years ago to start saving wooden spools.  She was right, they did get replaced with plastic.  I have quite a few, but could have had a lot more if I'd started saving them earlier.  At least I know where to buy some more if I decided I need more.

As I was using my little camera that I carry in my purse, the photos aren't as sharp as I'd like and the battery ran out before I was ready to quite taking photos.  I did not get a photo of the lovely small cobalt blue pitcher that I bought.  It will be in a future post.

Joyce found some glasses that matched some she had already collected.  Diane left empty handed, but she made up for it at the quilt shop we visited later that day.

Hope you enjoyed a walk through the antiques with us.

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Home Again

Happy Saturday, friends!

As you read in my last post, I was away from the Internet this week.  As I was unable to get my Blogger for Droid to publish, here are a few highlights from this past week.  I will fill in the details as I get the rest of the photos from two different cameras edited.

Last Sunday we were able to celebrate our daughter's birthday with her.  I had made a Pottery Barn knockoff curtain for her pantry door.  There will be details, but here are a few photos of that project.

Daughter Mindy grabbed the camera as I hung this.  Yes, the bi-fold door is still in place, but it will be taken down.

The folds had not been tied in place to set them yet in this photo.

Here is a detail of the ruffles.  The Pottery Barn shower curtain has 4 rows, but as this is a narrow curtain, we decided two would work.  The ruffles have raw edges so will fray over time giving a frilly  look.

On Tuesday, Diane and I left early to go to Joyce's cottage in the woods for a quilt retreat.

Diane drove, so I got to take a lot of photos of the Ponderosa pines.

We got up early and stayed up late.  I sewed a LOT of quilt chains.

They look better organized.  There are two blocks that are positive/negative in the finished quilt.  I only sewed one of the dark blocks together to see how they would look.  The rest of the blocks are in all those chained together parts.

Joyce provided the location and Diane and I did the cooking.  I learned that cooking at over 7,000 ft. altitude requires adjustments even when melting candy coating.  The coating dried out and I only got 3 of the shells for the mousse dessert made.  The rest just went in little cups.

A trip into Show Low allowed us to go to a couple of antique shops.  I'll share more of these photos later.

It was a great week spent with friends sewing, laughing, eating and sharing.  All too soon, it was time to go back down the mountain from the 70 degree weather to the 100 plus degree weather in the Valley of the Sun.

There will be more details on each of these once I get all those photos edited.

What have you been up to lately? I hope it has included friends, family and fun!

I missed you!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Testing 123

Do any of you out there use Blogger for Android by Google?  I have tried several times tonight to use this app and it will not publish so I am asking for help! 

I was hoping to use this to keep blogging while I am away from my own Internet service, but several attempts failed to publish.  If you have any experience, please let me know. Perhaps then I can figure out what it is that I am doing wrong.

Here is the photo I took with my phone of the complete "It's About Time" vignette to share with you. It's not the best, straight off the phone and taken when it was too dark.

Thank you so very much!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

French Bread Croutons

This week has been a week where I've been working on a lot of different things.  I've made a Pottery Barn knockoff curtain which I'll show you as soon as it is hung in my daughter's home.  Monday I got to go for a sew day which I told you about here, I made a French Wreath, painted another small chalk board almost like this one, painted a tool box that I'll show you later, bought some goodies at Goodwill for projects, sewed 4 borders for the pastel log quilt that I showed you here, and I cut all the pieces for another quilt that I will work on this week at a mini-retreat.  Yep, I'm going to the cool mountains to sew!  Diane, Joyce and I will be at Joyce's cottage while our husbands do other things.

A mini-retreat needs food, so one of the things I'm taking is some French Bread Croutons for the salad that will go with the Wild Rice Chicken Supreme casserole that I will be taking.  For breakfast the day I'm doing it will be Stuffed French Toast, but that's another story.

This is how I do my home made French Bread Croutons.  The store kind are okay, but they are usually hard as rocks and I like a little softness in my croutons.

This is what you need to make them.

That's it.  French Breach (I buy what my grocery store calls rustic French bread), Extra Virgin Olive Oil and what ever spices you want to use.  I usually just use garlic powder.

Slice the bread.  I use an electric knife which makes it much quicker to do.  Of course, you could buy pre-sliced French bread, but I like the look of the uneven sizes of cubes you eventually get.

Slice across the slices.  I usually do a stack at a time, not slice at a time, though this photo is of just a couple of slices stacked.

Then you will make the slices into cubes by cutting the across the strips.

You will put the cubes in a bowl and toss with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle in as much of the spice as you would like.  I like just a hint, so I don't use a lot.  If your bread is more than a day old, you may want to use more olive oil as it will absorb it quickly.

Place the prepared cubes on cookie sheets in a single layer.  For a whole loaf you will need at least two cookie sheets.  Bake these in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, checking and stirring them around a couple of times.  You want them toasted lightly, not burned.  You could hurry this process by putting them sheet at a time under a broiler, but if you do watch them VERY closely or they will burn before you know it!

Let the cubes cool on the sheets once they are done.

Store the croutons in an air tight container or a sealed plastic bag.

These would look so cute as a gift with a ribbon tied around the top.

The croutons are great on Caesar salad or floating on top soup.  And they are delicious -- even to snack on and so very easy to make.  Forget the store bought and make your own, they taste and crunch so much better, too.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.  We are celebrating our daughter's birthday with her today and giving her the red ticking striped Pottery Barn knock off curtain.  You'll see and hear about that in a later post.

Blessings!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

Frenchy Wreath and Sew Day

A few weeks back Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict painted a rooster she had found with chalkboard paint.  I loved it and remembered that I had a similar rooster tucked away in a box in the garage.  I got it out, but was dismayed to find that mine was molded a bit so writing on it with chalk would not work.  The rooster, however, looks great painted in the black chalkboard paint even if a message would be hard to do.  My rooster was formerly verdigris and I like him much better now.  Since I could not write a message on him and hang him on a doorknob, I set him down and he ended up laying on a wreath I had bought at the Dollar Tree and had not used in a project yet.

Here is the result after a little twine was added to the rooster and wreath.

This wreath will get us through until it's time to decorate for Fall.

Yesterday Diane invited Joyce and me to come for a sew day.  We sewed and laughed, at snacks and Diane prepared a lovely lunch of chicken saladon a croissant and fresh fruit - yum!

The oatmeal cinnamon chip cookies were center stage with Diane's snippet bag. Joyce takes the snippets and stuffs pillows with them.

Diane was working on this lovely fabric -- looks like desert colors, yes?

This is a group project.  She is making the square blocks and others are making star blocks.  Shhh, it's for a gift, so can't tell any more.

Diane designed the quilt in EQ 6, a  computer quilt design program if you don't know what EQ 6 is.

Joyce finished the last few pieces of one project and started another, unfortunately, there wasn't really any way to show what she was working on at the stage it was in.  Don't you love how Joyce smiles with her whole face!  I sure do!

I was working on piano key borders for the pastel log cabin quilt. It's hard to get the color right as Diane's dining room is in the middle of the house with not a lot of natural light.  The overhead light was on which made things look a little off in color - sorry about that.

Everything starts out organized, really it does.  We just get into our projects and make a mess.  Next week we are having a mini retreat at Joyce's cottage in the mountains.  Oh, I hope it is cooler! It's supposed to be 113 today!

In the afternoon we took a little trip to the nearest Goodwill.  Joyce found books for her husband and a red sheet and a black print sheet to use in a rag rug she is making for the cottage.

I found a bunch of stuff to use in future projects - a wood tray, an ironstone plate with cobalt blue flowers, and a silver goblet among other things.  You'll get to see them soon.

A day with friends is such fun.  Hope you have those frequently!

I also hope it is cooler where you are - thank goodness for AC!

Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

On my soap box

Several years ago I had the pleasure of spending a few days at the historic Hotel Pere Marquette in Peoria, IL.  I was not unfamiliar with the hotel as I had grown up not far away, but had never stayed there.  Staying at this landmark gave me the opportunity to see things from a different perspective.

Normally when staying at a hotel, I ignore the soap provided except for washing my hands.  I take my own body wash, so mostly the hotel soap goes unused and is left behind.  However, the soap at the Pere Marquette came in a beautiful box with the Pere Marquette Logo on it.  Since I was not using it, I did bring one bar home with me and have had it displayed in either the master bath or in the dressing area.  The box itself is white and the lettering and logo are in cobalt blue.  You know my weakness for cobalt blue!

Sadly, the box was beginning to look a little worse for wear -- water does that to packaging!  So, I decided to duplicate the box.

Then, it occurred to me that it didn't really need to say Pere Marquette and have their logo, it could say anything I wanted it to.  First I designed what I wanted the face of the box to say. The words I decided would be appropriate were La Maison de Campagne d'Arnold* which means The Arnold's Country Home. The crown is from The Graphics Fairy, the best "go to" for graphics.  The lines are standard in MS Word so for this project no fancy drawing program is needed.  I may do a "create a box" tutorial later -- that part is a bit trickier to make sure it scored correctly, and the measurements and placement correct.

* Oops, pardon my French! A sweet reader corrected my phrase as originally written so I've updated it to the correct words.. My future projects will be correct, alas, the ones I have now are improper French!

This first box is the same size as the PM box, but future boxes or perhaps just wraps will be the size of the soap I put in them.  Don't you think that's a great welcome for guests to have something other than a commercial box or package of soap -- even if the soap inside is commercially made.

I'm thinking I might have to learn to make soap.

Then it occurred to me that a matching candle would be a nice addition.

Just a few keystrokes and vanilla replaced the almond - oatmeal, move the location so two could fit on the page of parchment paper and then there were two candle wraps.  A little double sided tape and voila!  A matched set.

Of course, I printed out a few more of the boxes as well so I could replace this one when it needs it and to fill with soap ready for the next guest.

Hope you didn't mind me getting on my soap box today.  With all the political stuff going on, isn't it nice to just focus on making something pretty to enjoy?

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

I am joining these parties:

Graphics Fairy Brag Monday

The Farmhouse Porch Cowgirl Up Party

 ADelightsomeLife

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

It"s About Time

Time seems to fly when we are having a good time, right?  Well, then I must be having a good time at least most of the time as it seems to slip away quickly.  But, when you are waiting for something, it drags!

Psalm 27:14 says "Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

When I'm waiting for something I have trouble with that!  Maybe that's why I like clock faces right now.  I showed you a bunch here and not then there was my Time is Ticking pillow.  Clock faces just kept cropping up, so I decided I needed to make one -- a big one, so I made this:

The face is sort of hidden on the armoire.  I've been thinking of painting the armoire and putting crown molding on it.  That is probably what was there to begin with.  My dad had my brother-in-law cut a piece of walnut for the front, but I'm pretty sure it should have been crown molding instead to be more authentic.

The clock face began as this hex sign I bought in Pennsylvania many years ago.

This sign hung on a cute little storage building where we lived at the time. I'm not in love with it and never really did like the colors, but wanted a remembrance of our time in Pennsylvania Dutch country.

The back looked like this.  Can you see the flaws along the edge?  Perfect for the look I wanted!

A couple of coats of primer and a couple of sandings were needed. There was a lot of waiting for the paint to dry between coats!

A couple of coats of white paint and then I used a paper towel to dab some cream colored paint to give that aged look to the face without having to use antiquing gel.

I used a graphic from The Graphics Fairy (my favorite go to place for graphics!) An overhead projector was used to enlarge the design.  I used a fine mechanical pencil to draw on the numbers.  I ended up using different words that I had originally planned.  Those I enlarged on the computer and then traced using graphite paper behind.  You can also use a pencil and color the back of the sheet you have printed the words on, but that is much messier, I think.  After the letters and numbers were on the clock face, I used black extra fine and fine Sharpie pens to fill in the spaces and add the minute marks.  This was a VERY time consuming task.  The Sharpie pens did not like to stick to the paint which I've never had a problem with before.  Paint pens might have worked better, but I didn't have any on hand.

The crown was another graphic from The Graphics Fairy, but it was a little trickier to apply.  Since I wanted it to look antique, I didn't want to use the same Sharpie pens used for the numbers and lettering.  On the Graphics Fairy, I found a link to a tutorial for using Modge Podge and Elmer's glue to transfer an ink jet image onto the painted surface.  This was the first time I had done that so it was scary waiting overnight to see the results!  Next time I think I'll use a thicker coating of Elmer's, but overall, it has the look I wanted -- time worn.

Do you like it better on the armoire or the book cases?  It will probably be moved over a bit and maybe a basket or something added to the right of the clock to balance the entire space better.  Since I was trying for a closer look at the clock face, you can't see the rest of the top of the right bookcase.

Here is a little closer look with the books moved so you can see the entire clock face.

Times flying and I really must say it's been fun! Spending time with you, my friends is always fun!  Hope you have a grand day!

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Lois

I'm joining:

 Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

                  Vintage Inspirations at Common Gound

DIY Showoff