Saturday Digest

For the sewer:  This portable pressing table could be a great idea and it's DIY.

For the Jewelry Maker:  (or wannabe jewelry maker, they have kits!)  Unkamen Supplies on Etsy...really great  people to work with on an order.  Two of my favorites they offer are this bracelet and this one.


For those with young children or grandchildren:  Made by Joel  is a great blog!  My girls have played with or colored all of his free printables numerous times.  His new book, Made to Play, is also on my wish list.

Did you know?

That okra can be dried for decorative use?  It's beautiful!!  

Embarrassing story:  I stopped at a garage sale a month or so ago and here was a sack of dried okra.  I thought it was gorgeous.  I asked how much the bag was since it didn't have a price on it.  "Oh, it's free."  I was told.  I thanked her and proceeded to look around.  Then she told me her husband said to put it out on the sale because it was the best okra they had ever grown.  They wanted to share the seeds.  I thanked her again before I left telling her I thought I would use them decoratively.    Not until hours later, did I realize my faux pas!  Here was a gardener (or gardener's wife) who wanted to share seeds and I took off with all of it.  The garage sale was in another town and there was no way I could go back to return it. (time, kids, not even sure which house it was, the sale would have been almost over).

Looking back, she was in no way irritated.  She was chatting pleasantly on the phone and with me.

When I see or hear "Free" at a garage sale to me it means "I want this hauled out of here". In my defense, my Mom and three of my kids were waiting in the car for me and I was "power sale-ing" on our way to my sister's house. 

So, apparently, I have the seed for the best okra out there.  If you want some, I'll send you some seeds.  Just email me with your address.  

What is really sad is that I don't grow okra and really have no desire to, but next summer I will be planting some... if only for the dried pods!  

Do you like okra?  Should I try to grow it to eat it?  How would I use it?  Soup?

So much for "digest". :)

Fall Mantle Part 2

We are so blessed to have two mantles to get to decorate!  But, I will tell you that our spring mantle was the summer mantle too.  It takes a lot of time to change things out! 

The vines are honeysuckle vines from the back yard.  They last for a couple of weeks in water!  

The vine pumpkins came from Target.  I feel like I cheated with something "new", but they are so neat.

The three books on the left are Norwegian that have been translated to English.  The next book is a Bible, maybe German?  It has an incredibly beautiful font inside.

The bottle says "Old Ruxton Rye".  I'm not sure it's particularly old.  It came in a box of bottles I picked up and I just liked the color and shape.

This set of books may be the neatest I've ever picked up. They have marbled covers, but spines are in really poor shape.

I didn't care because I bought them for the textured pages...mmmm...so something...they make me happy. :)

I'm glad you stopped by!

I'm linking up with Debra and her Vintage Inspiration Friday blog party.

Fall Mantle Update

A few weeks ago I spiffed up our mantle to reflect the season.  It was a gorgeous fall day with the windows open and I took a few pictures.  

I replaced the picture above the mantle with a mirror I bought at an auction a number of months ago.  I loved the picture that did hang above the mantle and still do, but it had hung in prominence in our home for 22 years.  It was time for a change. :)

Quite a few years ago, my older girls and I made this bead garland to decorate tables at the harvest breakfast at our church.   

We had so much fun making it, we made more out of blue and silver beads to decorate their 4-H tree that year. 

We used vintage beads from disassembled jewelry and some new beads we bought from Dollar Tree.  

It's pretty self explanatory...beads, wire, twist...but if time permits I'll try to do a little tutorial in the future.

I think white and silver bead garland would be so pretty for Christmas and winter!

I updated our other mantle too, but haven't had a chance to take pictures yet.  

Our leaves here just really started turning colors this week.  It's so pretty outside.  

Happy Fall Day!

The Kountry Store

I had the chance a few weekends ago to finally meet two ladies that live and sell treasures just outside of my hometown of Concord Nebraska.

Karen and her daughter Kandy run the Kountry Store located about 3 miles East of Concord. The store is located in an old farmhouse.  I would be tickled to get to fill a house with vintage and antique finds! Like playing house as an adult...just using a lot more elbow grease than when you're a kid!  I was thrilled to tour it!

Lots to see and want here!!

Sweet cabinet, huh?

I love canister sets.  Great for the kitchen, studio, sewing room....

They had a set of seven of these old diner cups. :)  

Everyone loves a chandy, even if you don't have a place to hang one.

This little set was made from orange crates...I've never seen that before and thought it was really cute.  The chairs were especially neat.

It was so nice to finally meet Karen and Kandy.  If you see something you like you can contact them through their Etsy shop haylofttreasures.  Looking for something you don't see?  Send them an email through their Etsy shop and ask...I hear there is a barn full of treasures that I didn't see!!

If your local, you can call them for a appointment or for their hours.  402-584-2288

Would You Buy It Wednesday

About a month ago I bought a lamp at a garage sale for a dollar.  I have a couple of old floor lamps in poor repair and a few that have been spiffed up and in use in our home. If the price is right, they are hard to pass up.

Are you worried that it's sitting in water?!?!

No worry, the cord was in nasty shape and I just snipped it off.

What I was really excited about was the shade frame.  Well, I wasn't looking very closely at it, and as I cut off the shade, which was in really poor condition too, I realized that the shade rings are only held together by the shade. There are no vertical supports. I'm not really sure if I can "redo" the shade now and keep this neat two tiered assemblage.  Oh well.  I'll see what can be done.  I think all the altered shades I've seen around the internet are so neat.

So what about the lamp?

I had bought one solar light stick and had been trying to decide if I could incorporate it into a piece of  "junk" for a light in the tank garden.  If you pull the solar light off the stick, it's about the size of a lightbulb.

You can imagine it was a bit tricky to get a shot of this at night without a tripod.  I was balancing my camera on my angel's head.

So, what about during the day?

There is the plan for my bench made out of one of my old bed frames to sit here by the lamp.  I've had this out there now for a few weeks and the jury decided it's staying.  

At first, I thought I was pushing the limits. 

REALLY JILL?!  You sat an old lamp in the garden?  

I was going to paint it black to make it resemble  a lamp post.  I had the paint out and was ready to go, but then realized that I wouldn't like it.  So, rusty metal it is. :)

So, what do you think?  Would you buy it?  And, if you had a "tank garden" would you put a lamp in it?

And, yes, I'm thinking that some lovely rusty trinkets and silverware hanging from the lamp shade could be pretty cool in the garden too.  Or would that be going to far?!

I'm linking up with Junker Newbie Stephanie for Would you Buy it Wednesday. 

Fall in the Tank Garden

I have three good sized mums that I've been enjoying in the tank garden.  All three are a beautiful rusty red color.

I also had golden rod which was beautiful, but I had cut it out before I took these pictures a week or so ago.

The lace vine was almost completely eaten up by grasshoppers, but once they dispersed it came back.  That vine and one of my hyacinth bean vines completely covered my bed frame trellis.

This is the first year for this vine and considering the grasshoppers, I was pretty pleased with how it performed.  It's planted in a rusty barrel so we'll see if it makes it through the winter.

I never got my mulch in or the doors mounted like I'd hoped this fall, and it's not looking promising to get at it yet.  Oh well! I guess it will be a spring project.  So it goes. 

The sun is shining brightly today, but I had to turn the furnace on this morning. I was trying to tough it out! 

Happy Saturday!

Tissue Covers From Vintage Fabric Scraps

I have been thinking about tissue boxes and tissue covers for awhile and found a pattern for a tissue cover here at the very purple person blog. Novita lives in Tokyo and graciously allows the use of her pattern for personal or commercial use.  When I bought a box of old cut up clothing, it wasn't until I got it home that I knew  what I wanted to do with it.  I've done some tweaking to the pattern. I can share my changes after I decide what, if any, of the changes I like best. :)

The fabric all came from the same box of cut up clothing at a garage sale.

The pieces I would say ranged from the 1950s to the 70s, most from the 70s.

The little tag is a neat touch and that came from a small bag of trims from the same garage sale.

I made these two from hankies (yes, same garage sale!)  

These and a few more have all gone to find new homes in a pocket book, book bag, or purse as a gentle reminder of a special woman.  

I think the hankies sewn into a tissue cover are a great more modern use of a keepsake handkerchief.  How nice to peak into your purse or pocketbook and have a little memory of someone you love. 

For me, it's just joy to continue to use sleeves, bodices, pants, and scraps from the years gone by.  

Pieces that were saved out of pure necessity.

  

Cutting around the faded parts.  

Sometimes choosing the faded parts.

I will be making more. :)

Friday Sneak Peek

This week I'm linking up with a new blogger I found a couple of weeks ago, Jennifer at studio jru 

She hosts:

and states that the studio is wherever you create.  My place is usually my sewing room, but often the kitchen counter, garage, barn...

I thought this stained feed sack needed a tree, and it did.  For a while I thought it needed leaves, it didn't.

The leaves have since found their way to a bare branch in our foyer.  The tree is just going to be pinned up on the wall for awhile.  Sometimes a project is just an exercise and that can be a good thing too.

I hope you have a great fall weekend!

You can peak at other projects here.

Summer in a Jar

One of my all time favorite projects was my day in a jar I posted about here.  That jar makes me happy :)

My "day in a jar" collection  has not grown until two days ago.  I was gathing up some dried flowers I had laying around here and there from this summer.  Hanging some, putting some in cans, etc. and realized how pretty some would look in a jar. 

This summer wasn't the summer I had hoped it would be in so many ways, but it was the summer God blessed in so many ways.

So, in my jar are little reminders of this summer.  A couple of flowers from my daughter's wedding, some my little gals picked, some from my garden, with a little scrap of vintage fabric tied on in a bow.

All representing so much more to me than would appear to anyone else.

.......

Spray Some Frost

I couple of months ago I saw frosted glass spray in the store and thought it would have some great possibilities.

I finally bought some last week.  I don't know how long this product has been out but it was new to me.

I used a mailing label to mask off part of a pint jar and sprayed the rest with two coats of the frosted glass spray, added some round flat rocks (from our lane) and a tea light.  

It's like a window into serenity.

You could embellish the top of the jar, but I really liked this one simple.

The Product

What I learned:  

*It will wash off with soap and water within the first hour if you don't like the result.

*3 days later you can wash it off with soap, water, and a chore boy scrubber

*Paper doilies did not adhere tight enough for a good result

*Since it will wash off, you really can't use glue that you'll need to wash off to hold the masking piece down.

I see so many more possibilities with this...I need to fire up my silhouette cutter!

I wonder what would happen if you sprayed it on a pumpkin?  :)

I'm linking up today for the first time with Coastal Charm's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

and At Home with K Terrific Under Ten Tuesday.