Weekend Finds

This past Friday I went to a couple of antique stores and to a "new to me" flea market.  I didn't find a lot but came home with the above odds and ends.  I'm oddly excited about the big gallon jar with the metal lid that has "sugar" hand written on it.

Appropriate for now...a green handled heart cookie cutter.

Then Sunday, I went to an auction and came home with a few fun items.  Some will be going in to my booth, some to Etsy, and some waiting for a project....

These are hands down my favorite find of the weekend!  They may even keep that title for quite a few months!  Wrought iron folding chairs.  One is pretty decent condition and the other, well, not so decent.

See, they fold down!  Unfortunately the arm rest is broken the left one but I think it just needs a bolt.

So, the question is, "What do I do with them?"  My thought is to clean up and keep the good one in the house and then take the seat and backing off the other one and put it in the tank garden.  Or, should I try some fun way of replacing the seat and backing on the other one and keep it in the house too??  Do I have room for two more chairs?  Ha, you probably can't help me with that question, can you? 

It has a sweet profile doesn't it?  Does anyone have suggestions for cleaning and restoring wrought iron?

I'm linking up with Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Knick of Time Tuesday. 

Thanks for stopping by. It's fun to share the finds with all of you and hear your thoughts!

"Jill Makes" a Tea Cozy!

I've bought a couple more issues of Mollie Makes since the first issue came out that I blogged about here.  Once again, just like with the little apple cozies, I was smitten with the idea of a tea cup cozy in the November issue!
Look at the cute cozied cups in the magazine!  Some are crocheted and some are knitted.

I decided that I should keep a window seat project handy for when I'm tired of "kitchen work" and my little gals need second breakfast, a snack, or are just slow at eating. We have a window seat in our kitchen that looks out into the back yard.  I love this space. (A big thanks to my brother who built our house!)

This tea cup cozy was a perfect project.  Really easy.  It didn't matter if I sat it down, I knew where I was when I picked it up.  It was all treble crochet.

I only know basic crochet  and I'm sure it could have been "better" but, it's "good enough for who it's for!"

Even though the pattern is in the magazine, I don't think I'll step on their toes too much if I tell you that all you need to do is chain stitch the heighth of your mug, then treble crochet back and forth until it is wide enough to wrap around.

 Fold wrong sides together and stitch it closed with yarn and darning needle on the top and bottom. The directions said to use the yarn tail from the beginning and the end of the crochet to do this, which I did.

 Turn it right side out, add the tag, and slip it on your mug.

I made my tag a little different from theirs. I cut a piece of square felt, embroidered "tea" on it and then tightly whip stitched it down. I used a back stitch to embroider the tea bag "string" on to the cozy.

Now, how will it be to drink tea with something fuzzy below my lip?

Not sure. :) I may just use it to sit and hold tea bags.

Wouln't this be neat to give as a gift with tea in the mug?

You need to use a mug that is straight and not tapered at the bottom.  This is the only mug I had that could work, but I'll be on the lookout for more!

It is seriously cozy!


Linking up with Tidy Mom "I'm Lovin' It" Friday.

Blog Breaks Happen

Jan. 25 8:15 am

Kind of messes with your eyes doesn't it?  All that blue nothingness.  

I'm hoping to get back in the swing of posting after the past month or so of such things that keep one away from posting.  The biggest of which was my husband's foot surgery and his current non weight bearing status for his foot.  He's doing great though and we have great expectations of this taking care of his foot for good.

Through a friend I found this, Project::Sky 365 at knitsofacto blog.  At first glance I thought "Just the sky?  With no horizons, skylines, or earthbound things?" "I don't know...."

And, then I thought of one of my favorite Bible verses:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft.

One day to the next conveys that message; 

one night to the next imparts that knowledge.

There is no word or sound;

no voice is heard;

Yet their report goes forth through all the earth,

their message, to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19: 2-5

and, I was in! Although, I have no intention of stressing about a picture a day or bemoan the fact that it's already the 25th of January.  I'm also not sure yet how or how often I'll post them.

A frequent saying here when we see a beautiful sky, "That's a God sky, if I ever saw one!"

So, why would I post just plain blue sky when proclaiming my start to this project and my favorite Bible verse?!?!

Because it was the sky this morning.

Because I had time to take a picture and post this morning.  

Because, it will be enough.

And,  Kim inspired me with her word for 2012,  justdoit.

My Conundrum Through My Window

I'm contemplating my dilemma through my window this morning.

On a very brief stop at an antique store on Sunday, I found what I thought was THE perfect storage for my scraps of vintage fabric.  (Picture it standing upright)

Cubby hole storage in a perfectly rough and chippy piece.

Bins of vintage blue, red, yellow, white,.....fabric for me to rifle through when I need a piece.  You can see it, right? 

I stuck my head in it three times.  All the way in the cubby holes.  Nope, didn't smell bad.  Just kind of old but not bad.  It would smell better with a spray coat of finish and baking soda.

The price was good.  I was excited.  My son helped me carry it downstairs.  (My husband's foot is still out of whack, surgery imminent)

My son helped me carry it back upstairs yesterday.

I hadn't stuck my head in the bottom cubby holes.  The bottom board and backing at the bottom were bad.  Smelly, almost oily, moldy.  How did I miss this?!?!  (Perhaps the ER visit with my husbands foot until 2 am on Sat. and lack of sleep when I stopped at the antique store on Sunday)

I pulled off the bottom board and knocked off the backing.  Now what?  The center boards need to come out at the bottom too.  My husband is bringing me a saws-all to cut it down. 

It's fate is in the air.  I want to make it work as I envisioned, but sometimes you need to know when to cut your losses and walk away.

Many people in the blog world choose a word for the year to guide and inspire them. 

My word for today is:

Reconsider.

Any thoughts you have would be appreciated. :)

I'm joining up here:

Knick of Time
Thrift Share Monday

Epiphany

They kept their eyes on the star.

More Sweetness...With a Crib Halo

photo from this site

With this photo as her inspiration, my daughter created this...

from the flowers we used on the centerpieces at the wedding. :)

The wreath will hang horizontally, like this, above the crib.  We decided we are officially calling this element a "Crib Halo".  She used a grape vine wreath and hot glue to attach the flowers.

While she was making the crib halo, I was making this...

For this wreath, I wrapped an embroidery hoop (again) with a strip of neutral fabric and then created the fabric roses with all neutral fabrics.  To make the roses, you fold a strip of fabric in half lengthwise and begin to roll and twist.  All along securing with a low temp glue gun.

When I got done, my daughter said, "Glitter.  It needs glitter."  She was right!  A little spray adhesive followed by a generous sprinkling of silver glitter, and it was really pretty!

Just fun. :) 

You may be thinking that these sure aren't colors for a baby girl's room.  Well, she's going for pretty and feminine not necessarily "baby".  I think it's going to be wonderful.  I hope to get to their house to take pictures of it when it's all done to show you.

Her last project for this post:

Her inspiration for these came from some shop online and they were selling the framed silhouettes for $160 each.  She bought these frames at Target for $10 each then found free images online.  She printed them out on just plain white paper, stapled it to black paper along the outside, then carefully cut out the silhouettes.  It really only took her about 5- 10 minutes to cut each one out.

These will hang 2x2 on one of the walls in the nursery.

I love silhouettes and remember trying to draw my kids' silhouettes with a big lamp and white paper on the wall years ago.  This was before all the digital abilities.  I wasn't too successful. Ha!

(She was ready to leave and take the projects with her so that's why the quickly shot photos and the jammy clad 6 year old helping out.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Vintage Feed Sack Elephant

So sweet!

This was one of the projects for the expected baby girl that my daughter and I made last week.

We used four different vintage fabrics.  Three of them were old feed sacks.

It's hard for me to ever actually use any of my feed sacks.  Because then they aren't there to just gaze at. :)

But, for this sweet elephant...(and for my daughter and grand daughter)...I could cut into some of them!

This is the pattern we used that was purchased from this Etsy shop.

The directions were clear and good, but I would have a few suggestions to make it a bit easier.  If you were to buy the pattern, email me for them.  I will say that it's not a beginners pattern.  Precision is needed when sewing the pieces together.  I'm glad I had to run to the recycling center when we were sewing it, so my daughter did some of the toughest seams. :)

But, just like having a baby, the memory of the hard parts begins to fade and you think, "I could do this again!!!"  I may need to make another one just so I can have it sit nestled in some vintage fabric.

I'm just loving the mild weather we've been having...hope it's nice where you are!