Vintage Thingies Thursday - and Thrifty Thursday - Pine Cone Dishes

It is time for Vintage Thursday Thingee - so I've been going around my house photographing dishes - oh what a lot of dishes I have to photograph. Please join us at Coloradolady, where Suzanne is our hostess, to see vintage thingies! I thought I would start with my pine cone dishes - I love anything to do with pine cones - anything - I have baskets of them in the house - and pine cones on many, many dishes. I've gotten almost all of them at thrift stores or yard sales - and one or two from ebay - that I just coudn't resist.

Since everything was from thrift stores or ebay - I thought I'd share with the group over at Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday!

I have an old egg basket full of cones we have collected . . .

And a punched tin basket - great for the holidays . . .

There are shelves full of pine cone dishes . . .

And more shelves . . .

And yet more shelves . . .

They all live in this china cabinet in the living room - along with some other vintage things and a flock of white chickens - a story for another time . . .

I love this teapot - it is for left handed -

Or right handed - isn't that just handy? Pine cones on both sides . . .

There are stacks of plates - and platters and these two sizes of bowls . . .

I love the big flat soup bowls - these are great for chilly winter nights and a big pot of soup . . .

And don't for get the salt and pepper . . .


And a wonderful deviled egg tray that our son gave me for a gift one christmas . . .

I even have the tiniest little children's tea set . . .

The cream and sugar are just precious . . .

I like the pattern on the tea set - it is one of the things I got on ebay - to celebrate a new job . . .

So what is your favorite set of dishes? Or do you have more than one favorite?

New lights - glorious new lights

Welcome to my first Metamorphosis Monday - hosted by Between Naps on the Porch. You can rush right over there and see what other wonderful changes bloggers are making in their homes and yard.

When Don was in the hospital, our son was out here visiting from West Virginia. He spent a lot of time at the hospital, plus he also drove me around so I wouldn't have to drive all the time, replaced lights in five rooms of our house, put a dimmer switch on the dining room chandelier, switched some crazy light switches in one bathroom, painted the kitchen (with help from his older sister), watched his nephews one day each (the whole day), bought me meals at the cafeteria many, many times, took his nephews to the cafeteria many, many times, went to Lowes and Home Depot any number of times, put up the whirlygig on the swingset so his dad could see it when he came home from the hospital, repaired, mended and fixed all sorts of things and the day he was leaving to go back to WV he said - I wish I'd had time to do more things around the house. We miss him terribly - not just for the things he does around the house - but just because he lives so far away and we don't get to visit often. He and Jamie are coming out for christmas this year - what a celebration we'll have - our whole family together for the holidays!!!!

The first project was to replace the ordinary (read, uggggly) lights in the bathrooms. . .

This one was so ugly I didn't even buy a replacement bulb when one of the bulbs blew out - I just left it empty and ugly. Do you see my hand holding the camera up to get a picture?

This was the fixture in the shower area of the master bath - ohhhh such bad taste . . .

And the guest bath - more plain and homely lights.

Over the kitchen sink- oh how my heart ached each time I had to look at these lights. And look at the wallpaper behind them - ohhhhhhhhhh just awful. The kitchen has white counters with pine green tile edging, and white/pine green flooring - and then this GAWD AWFUL pastel print wallpaper, with herbs and words and ohhh I just can't describe the ugly of it all.

Near the skylight in the kitchen - over the bar. . .

How ugly can you get? And they were so bright you could land an airplane in there . . . and the light fixtures had all changed colors, I guess from the plastic getting hot, but none of them are the same disfigured color . . .

The old dining room chandelier - again with the landing of airplanes. This was so bright - even after we switched out the clear bulbs for white frosted ones - and just not my style at all - it had to go.

And now - the pretty new lights . . .

These pretty shell shaped lights in the master bathroom - better known as "my" bathroom. We found them at Lowes on our first trip there and I just couldn't resist them.

I love how they reflect in the mirror . . .

And in Don's bathroom - these remind me of sand and sea . . .

This is how they look with the light turned on - and no flash . . .

The pretty milkglass shades on the ceilings of both bathrooms - oh how I love milkglass. . .

Over the kitchen sink - the prettiest little light you ever saw - in the background you can see a hint of my teapot collection - and look at that white wall - ahhhh heaven - I'm in heaven I tell you!!!

Over the bar - now that's more like it - lovely hanging school house lights. . .

The new chandelier in the dining room - it is just like the one our son and DIL have in their dining room in WV . . .

With the new dimmer switch we can have mood lighting - isn't that the prettiest design on the chandelier?

And of course we can't forget sawing man. We don't have a fence to put him on - so Rusty attached a 2x2 to the top of the wooden swingset. Now we can see him while he is busy sawing wood all summer. In the winter winds he gets to go inside the shed where it is safer, and he can rest from his work.

We love the new lights - it is amazing how much of a difference they make in the look of the house - so much prettier. What have you changed lately to make your house more to your taste?

Another block finished

I had thought I would pick this block for our monthly challenge block in my small quilting group - but after fighting with the pattern for hours I give up. I did finish the block, but will pick another pattern. We decided on the blocks being 9 inches and it was hard to find a 9 inch Card Trick - and I'm not good at cutting down the measurements of a larger block.

I finally found one on about.com - what a mistake - I should remember that about.com is mostly a disaster waiting to happen - or perhaps it has already happened. The instructions were inaccurate to start with - and the direction for assembly were iffy at best. I had to recut some of the sections because they simply were too large - but finally I got it all done.

I love the block - hate the process. So I will keep this one - I love how it turned out with the different greens - and pick another block for our challenge next month when it is my turn to pick. But I do have two blocks for my green/white quilt now.

Next I will work on some friendship swap blocks - those are going to be a lot more fun!!!

What is your favorite block to make - and your least favorite?

Some quilting is happening here

After months and months of doctors, hospitals, appointments, tests and prescriptions we have finally rounded a corner and begun to get back to normal. Don has worked two full weeks at full time and is doing great - today I took our oldest daughter (and Ben) to her doctor appointment and came away with only good news - now I feel like at last I can breath again.

So on the way home I stopped and picked up some bleached muslin for a new project. I belong to a small internet quilting group. We are almost all from NW Washington, or at least Western Washington and get together from time to time for sew-ins and shopping sprees, plus we sew "on line". Our newest project is a challenge quilt. Each person in the group that wants to can pick a block for a certain month and then we all sew the block in our own colors and at our own speed. The first month picked was "Alabama" from quilterscache.com.

I don't know why this photo came out wonky - I assure you it is quite straight in real life.

I get to pick for next month and I might try and find 9" directions for the Card Trick block - or maybe not - we'll see what happens. It is fun seeing the posibilities out there for the next block.

I am making all of my blocks in greens and white - for a two color quilt. I have yellow/white, pink/white, red/white, blue/white and purple/white quilts - but no green/white - so here is my chance. The blocks are 9" and with 12 that might not be enough for a bed quilt so I might make 2 or three of each month's blocks so I'll have enough for a big quilt. If I make more than one block from one month I will make them in different color choices so all the greens won't be the same on the blocks that are similar. I have lots of scraps of green so this won't be a problem.

I also finished the first two blocks of A Tisket A Tasket. I have five more prepped and ready for hand applique. I am happy to have made this much progress. The next couple of days I will spend working on the baskets until all are done - and I think she has August up by now - or it should be up soon.

January

February

So what are you working on? Are you having some fun stitching this summer. Our days have gotten back to normal - highs about 74 or 75 - very cool and pleasant evenings, good for sleeping with the windows open - just what we like here in the Pacific Northwest.

Thrifty Treasures

A good day for some thrifty treasures - stop over at Southern Hospitality and find other great blogs with thrifty treasures.

I only have two this time - but they are really good ones. I have a teapot collection, all of them are solid colors - and I've been looking for a cobalt blue one for years (20 years ). I found one in SoCal a long, long time ago. I'd been getting the solid color ones for about 2.00 at a swap meet on the border and when the vendor asked for 5.00 I passed - thinking it was too much. Oh how I've regretted that decision as I've not found another since then - until now.


Just look at that beauty - shiny and blue and so flashy looking. It is going to look great on the top of my cabinets in the kitchen with all its friends. And I paid - are you ready for this - 4.99 - and that isn't bad for inflation in 20 years. :-)


Sitting nearby were these small pyrex bowls. Now you know I love pyrex - especially when it is in such beautiful condition - almost mint. These individual bowls are about 3" across - just the thing for individual servings of pudding, or baked beans - oh the possibilities. They were 1.99 each - more than I usually pay for second hand - but come on - they are perfect - and they were sitting near the teapot - I just couldn't leave them there. I haven't used them yet - but as soon as it gets cool enough I think I'll make some baked beans.

Oooo Look what came in the mail!!!!

In blogland there seems to always be someone wonderful having a give-away. Some I enter, and some I don't - and mostly I don't win - but that's ok because it is just as much fun to see who wins whether it is me or not. I like to visit the winner's blogs and often find new friends. Well look who won this one - from Happy Cottage Quilter

Me - that's who - and I received the package this week and had such fun opening it up.

Ben helped me by modeling the new bag that Jocelyn made . . .

He's so good at it I just couldn't pick one . . .

And he was proud of himself too . . . and wanted you all to see his bumbly bee shirt . .

He then filled the bag with Fisher Price Little people and "sold" them to Grammy all afternoon . .

This is the bag close up - it is so well made - and wonderfully quilted - and those little buttons on the handles - just the right touch. This is going to be my handwork bag - as soon as I can get it away from Ben for a little while.

And in the box - more goodies . . . a seam ripper (I always need those) a label, a darling notepad and some tags for marking your quilting tools when you go to a retreat or sew-in - so handy. . .

And lots and lots of fabric - these are big pieces - don't you just love the chickens????

Thank you so much Jocelyn (and mama hen) - everything is just lovely - and it came on a day when I really needed some perking up. Seems we are having a lot of those these days.

A different winner - can you believe it???

Well, I've never seen this happen before - but there is a different winner for the quilt. Judith Waliston of North Carolina contacted me almost immediately after I posted the winning names in the previous post (it was quite late in N. Carolina but she was anxiously awaiting this post).

Judith turned down the prize - she said because of her living conditions changing so much recently (I agreed not to give details - it is an extremely private matter) that she wasn't in a position to be in possession of the quilt. She is such a gracious and generous lady, and this is such an unexpected turn of events - but we agreed, after several emails back and forth, that we would draw another name for the quilt. Judith picked the number for us, how very sweet of her. She is excited to learn who the new winner is.

So here is the name - another Judith - can you believe it ? But this one dropped the TH off her name and goes by Judi. That's right - Judi - ummmm, Judi who? Judi Shipley - of WA - # 1389.

Congrats Judi - I'll be shipping the quilt off as soon as possible - hope you enjoy it - we certainly have. It is Don's favorite quilt of all time - and I think mine too - since it helped us through this hard time.

Judith W. could use all the prayers and good thoughts you can send right now in her situation. It is not dangerous - but very serious and she has been so kind through all this.

Thanks again to all who donated - cash and prizes - we will always remember the joy and friendship you have all brought to us.

If you haven't seen the winners of the other prizes - please read the previous post. Thanks again.