Grandma's Kitchen Table

When I was little, my parents and I would spend every Christmas and a week in the summer at my grandparents' house in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. That's me in the photo with them, and the potholder underneath was made by Grandma. Her kitchen was always the coziest, and often the warmest room in the house. It had a woodburning stove, and you could always find me curled up beside it, with a book in one hand and a kitten in the other! And for every meal, we gathered......

At Grandma's table. I loved this table way back then, and I'm completely bananas about it now. When my Mom said that I could have it, I jumped at the chance!

It even has a pull-out leaf, which we probably won't ever use because this table just barely fits in our teeny tiny kitchen.

The drawer is perfect for storing extra scrubbies and dishcloths, and my little tubes of Allergen Block. Wouldn't go to a dusty estate sale without it!

I've also got the big bowl that Grandma would mix the ingredients for her mouthwatering rye bread. The bread was so soft and the crust was so hearty. And then when you put some real butter on it, OH MY!!! That Smoothie measuring cup was hers too. 

Grandma also made THE BEST molasses cookies, which she would mix up in that white Fire King batter bowl.

I remember Grandma wearing an apron every single day, so having one of them hanging in my kitchen really means alot to me.

I've even got her molasses cookie recipe tucked in one of the pockets. Go ahead and enlarge it, but you won't see the entire recipe. It's a family secret!

I always thought that Grandma's table would be mine someday, and I'm so happy to have it here.  I guess Cupcake likes it too. She's made herself right at home, watching the birdies in the trees. And although I know the table is tough and has survived many decades of use, I've put down a sheet of plastic to protect us from her making her butt so darn comfortable up there!  And Grandma, if you're up there watching over me, I'm sorry I didn't inherit your cooking skills, and I reeeeeally miss your cinnamon rolls, rye bread and dill gravy, which is another family secret!  

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!~~~~~~~~It was a case of quality over quantity in the junking department last week. But I won't complain, because the flea market is open and it seems that garage sale season has officially begun. YAY!

This poor Napco lady head vase has a broken neck. If she didn't, I never would have been able to afford her! She's a real beauty, despite the fact that she also has a serious amount of vegetation sprouting from her hair!

After I lopped off all of those flowers, she looks fantastic and gets along really well with all of the other girls!

I have been coveting a watering can like this one for a very long time, and finally found one at a fair price.

I'm always happy to add a new piece to my collections. Now, you may be looking at this picture and thinking: "She can't possibly fit another watering can up there. She's done collecting them". WRONG! There's always room for one more, and I was thinking that if I put the vintage trellis that's just sitting in the garage up on that wall, well my goodness, there's tons of room for more watering cans!

It was pretty hard to spot this mid century metal hanging planter in amongst all of those blue silk flowers, but I managed to see past them, and knew the hanger would look cute hanging on the back porch.

After spending a bit of time pulling those fake flowers out, I scurried on over to Jewel to get some real live purple pansies. LOOOOVE IT!

This bird cage was in need of a bird to sit on the perch, so I was happy to find this vintage clip-on bluebird at an estate sale.

My back still hurts from hauling this cement deer up from the basement at an estate sale. And it looks like somebody needs to start raking up some leaves. Or maybe not. Because after all, we're only halfway through April, and it did snow a little bit Saturday morning. Better wait a few weeks!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~So how's the junking situation, and the weather, in your part of the world? 

Easter Decorations

About a month before Easter, I always think "This is the year that I'm going to find at the thrift store, for $1.00, one of those vintage bunny girl figurines like they have on Ebay for $100 ". Yep, that's what I always think, but it never happens, so when I saw this March Lefton angel at Goodwill, I bought her.....

And I made my own darn Bunny Girl! She only cost me 99 cents, and I already had all of the supplies necessary to bunny-fy her. And it helped alot that those huge flowers in her basket popped right off with a pair of pliers. I adore her!

I didn't decorate alot this year. Mainly because I've gotten tired of packing away my vintage watering cans that are sitting on top of the green cabinet, which is my usual holiday decorating spot. That severely limits my decorating options, so I made do with the area on top of the bookcase.

Another gratuitous shot of my pink radio. You've probably figured out by now that I really like taking pictures of this radio, and put decorations in front of it on purpose!

The back porch, with a few of our blow molds, along with the bunting that I made from a vinyl tablecloth.

Another shot of the back porch. I wanted to take a picture of the front porch, but as some of you know, I feel weird taking pictures of the front of the house. I really need to work on that, and not worry what other people might or might not be thinking. I love my house, and I love to decorate it, and just because I'm the only one on the block that decorates their house, it shouldn't matter to me what others might think. Right?!?

I decided to try bleaching and dying some bottlebrush trees and wreaths. Sarah has a great tutorial, and I can't wait to try making her Halloween trees, because they are AAAA-mazing! And I can't emphasize enough how important it is to use rubber gloves while bleaching. I didn't have any, so I used tongs.

I used Rit liquid dye, and I used very little of it, so I can dye lots more if I want to.

Here's how they turned out. I didn't leave the trees and wreath in the dye very long, because I wanted them to be pale pink.

Since the store didn't have any teal dye, I ended up trying food coloring for the other trees. I found a tutorial HERE for using food coloring.

I'm very happy with the results that I got from using the Rit dye. And the blue trees? I will be re-bleaching them and searching for some teal Rit dye!~~~~~~HAPPY EASTER!!!

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!~~~~~~~~Before I get started showing my finds, I'd like to acknowledge the fact that my email was hacked, so if you received a strange email from me, DO NOT click on any links that might be in there! Now, on to the junk!

I walked away from this pink picnic tin three times before I decided I would be a fool to leave the antique store without it. It immediately fit right in with the Easter decorations!

That crazy-eyed yellow bunny also came from the antique store. Since taking this shot, I've crammed two more vintage bunnies in that old cemetery basket!

That sugary Putz house and those bottle brush trees aren't vintage, but they sure are cute. I suppose the trees are meant to be for Christmas, but I'm using them in my Easter decorations instead.

I can't tell you how many times I've been outbid on one of these Official Girl Scout Cameras on Ebay. What I can tell you is that I was thrilled to find this one at an antique store. For a steal!

Vintage childrens' gardening tools. I already had the watering can, but don't they play well together?!? Again, these are items that I would get outbid on, on a regular basis. I was flabbergasted to find these at a good price at an antique store, because it's usually the other way around, and I get disgusted by the antique store prices and end up on Ebay. There's hope for the antique stores surviving after all!

Vintage decals, again from the antique store.

Although I still wish that someone had not painted that picnic tin (it secretly drives me nuts not knowing what's under that white paint), I'm pretty thrilled with how those tulips look on it!

Last but not least, a little girl's pink broom, to go with the green one I already had. Gosh, you would think that with two brooms, my house must be neat as a pin. Sadly, you would be wrong. These brooms are for showin', not sweepin'!~~~~~~~Well, the flea market season has officially started, but the weather has not cooperated. And it's only a matter of time before garage sale season begins. What's the junking situation like in your part of the world?! 

Bunnies, Bunting And Little Green Men

Just a quick little post to say YES, I'm still here! I've been busy taking care of my Mom (doctors and taxes!), and doing a bit of crafting too. The garage and estate sales have been nonexistent, so I've been making the rounds of the thrift stores, and that's where I found this old set of Easter egg lights. 

And I found all of these bunnies, plus one chick, last Saturday. The picnic tin isn't vintage, but everything else is. The big bunny is even musical!

I made this bunting for the front porch railing out of a vinyl tablecloth.

And this one will go on the back porch.

Here's a shot of the St. Patrick's Day decorations. I've already packed them all up, because I decided that two weeks between St. Patty's Day and Easter was just not long enough to properly enjoy all of the Easter decorations. They need to be savored!

Cupcake Sprinkles says "Erin Go Bragh!" and "I hate this hat!". You might find this hard to believe, but she's just as happy as I am that flea market season opens on March 17th. I'm happy because I feel like I have been seriously junk deprived. She's happy because she thinks that would be a much better way for me to spend my time, rather than dressing her up again!~~~HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!   

REDNESDAY~Lost And Found

I can't wait to see what's going on over at Sue's for REDnesday! When you're done looking at my reds, please head over there to see even more reds!

So yesterday I shared the big mess that's in my Vintage Tablecloth Cabinet.

This is all that I was looking for. Just my St. Patrick's Day tablecloth. But it ended up being like one of those crazy videos where 50 people climb out of a tiny VW Bug. Every time I tried to pull a tablecloth out, a zillion more fell out!

So I ended up taking everything out, and I discovered some things that I had forgotten about or that hadn't seen the light of day in ages. Like this handquilted, hand embroidered and cross stitched baby quilt.

If I had the room, this thing, with it's sweet little barn, would be hanging on a wall.

I believe this pattern is some variation on the pinwheel. All of the pinwheels are pastels, except for two red ones. Kinda strange, if you ask me, but since I can't make a decent quilt myself, I should just shut up.....

Another baby quilt, made with what might be some feedsack fabric, but I'm just not sure. Yesterday I was all set to bag these quilts up and donate them. I couldn't see them and enjoy them, so why keep them? Then I happened to read Leslie's post about all of the quilts she has rescued, and has them displayed throughout her house. Now I'm determined to find a spot where I can see them every day!~~~~~~~~~~~~So you've seen my messy tablecloth cabinet. And I bet you're thinking it's just chock full of tablecloths and quilts behind that other door too..... 

Well, you're wrong. It's full of junk! Lots of stuff that I put in there and forgot that I did it! I'm hoping to whittle it all down to just two boxes. That way there's room for more tablecloths. HAH! 

I finally found this sweet little Strawberry Days set that Elizabeth at Creative Breathing made. Can't tell you how happy I was to find them again!

Also found my Liddle Kiddle Locket. Is it cool that I have a toy from my childhood, or is it Proof That I Started Hoarding At A Very Young Age?!~~~~~~~Remember, if you'd like to see more reds, head over to Sue's!