Monday, October 25, 2010

My favorite quote from the "News from Lake Wobegon" on A Prairie Home Companion last Saturday, October 23, 2010:

"Those chickens had a look of moral disapproval in their little yellow eyes"

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Flea Market Finds

I had such a great time this summer, hanging out with my friend, Bargain Hunter, and going to flea markets and estate sales. You'll see some of the the great items I picked up in my Etsy store or on Ebay in the next few weeks; but there were some things that I just had to keep! Here are some of the treasures I found:

A Homer Laughlin Kitchen Kraft look-alike cookie jar

A great recipe tea towel (you just can't have too many tea towels!) --
check out the recipes below...
Yet another vintage clothespin bag with clothespins
A homemade sock clown with the cutest look on his face.
Normally, I think clowns are scary, but he's cute --
maybe it's the polka dots.

A pair of Holt Howard cat salt & pepper shakers --
too bad that the 'meow' mechanisms are broken in them.

A chef grocery list and pencil holder -- too cute!
Bargain Hunter and I will no doubt go to more sales this fall -- I'll keep you posted on my flea market & estate sale finds!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Franciscan Coronado Salad Bowl

Some of faithful readers have asked how the 'reconstruction' of my broken Coronado salad bowl is going. In case you don't remember, I got a great bargain ($8) on this salad bowl on a trip up to Traverse City. The bowl was broken just a few weeks later.Well, here's what it looks like now! It took many days to glue it back together -- just a few pieces at a time -- but I think it turned out well.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I'll Fly Away!

I'm pretty excited about this! I got a great bargain at the resale shop on this beautiful twin size airplane quilt. I've seen the airplane pattern, but never have seen one of the old quilts. The fabrics are mostly stripes and almost all different. It has a few holes and some fraying on the edges but, to me, that just adds character.
As I looked at this quilt I got really curious about the history of airplane quilts. Obviously, they didn't date back to the 1800s, but I know that this one is pretty old (probably from the 1st half the the 20th century) so I started doing some research.

The first airplane quilt block pattern appeared in 1930 to commemorate Charles Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight in 1927. I think my quilt might be later than that time period, but was probably sewn within the next 20 or 30 years. The more modern airplane quilt patterns I've found are much more 'arty', and have a more contemporary rounded shape in applique. I'll be interested in finding out more about airplane quilts in the future.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

DC - Last Roadtrip Before Winter

Two weeks ago, we took a long weekend roadtrip to visit young Jim in DC. We had a great time, got to see his house & hang out with him -- even saw the Tigers play the Orioles at Camden Yards (a first time there for all 3 of us).

Here's a slideshow of pics from our trip:

Friday, October 15, 2010

What a Nickel Will Buy

Last weekend, I went to an estate sale that was just 5 minutes from our house -- a pretty unusual occurrence. The house was an old one (fairly run down) built in the 1850s and I got to go. Since it's surrounded by subdivisions and is right on a main road, I imagine it was probably the old farmhouse for all the neighboring area.

Usually the owners of the estates that are for sale have passed away. I always feel sad that they're lives are laid open for strangers to see as they paw through the owners' things. I paw through them nonetheless (what does that say about me)! In this case, though, the owner was actually there (and alive). She looked like she was in her eighties and she was selling to move somewhere else. Back in the late 1800's, her family had bought the house from the people who built it. It was such a pleasure to talk to her, to see the gorgeous woodwork & the original dining room set (which she said was in the house when her family bought it) and to imagine what life was like for the farm family who built it. It was such a pleasure to go to a sale & not be sad about the 'poor old soul' who lived there!

What does the title of this post have to do with all this . . . all I spent was 5 cents and here's what I bought -- 1 4" tall swanky swig!

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Eggs!

Here are today's eggs -- what a variety of shapes, colors & sizes they are!

The tiny white one is the first egg laid by PeeWee. You can see her in the picture of all 13 girls below -- she's the little meanie marked with the red arrow.

The olive colored egg at the top is from the Aracauna marked with the green arrow. I've named Olive (short for Olive Oyl) because of the color eggs she lays.

I have no idea which of the old girls is laying the GIANT eggs (the one at about 3:oo in the bowl, but they all have double yolks.

The robin's egg blue Araucana eggs are almost round.

I just included this picture because I think the look on her face is funny -- her name's Marie (after Marie Antoinette). She's very friendly, likes to be held, is really curious & thinks she's the queen of the world.
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