Junkin'

I love thrifting, or junkin', as my old friend Amy and I used to call it. We used to go out all the time. We even went to Minnesota to stay with her sister and go junkin' there! Back then we used to look for vintage glass. We both had a fettish for compotes and cake stands.

My next trip out with Susan netted me some good finds like the first time.

I got these sweet Buffalo China bowls. I would like to sell them on Etsy but I'm finding myself wanting to use them.


I also picked up..

...a transistor radio.

Or is it?

It's not!

It's a flask in disguise!

Isn't this cool? I never saw anything like it. It even has a fake knob to adjust the radio station and holes punched into the case so the "sound" can come through from the speaker.

The flask doesn't even look like it was used.

The case says "SWANK" on the bottom.

I haven't gone out junkin" in a while now. But now that I've looked at these photos again, I really want to go!

What cool finds have you thrifted lately??

Thanks for stopping by!

Buffalo Garden Walk

Here is a look at the Buffalo Garden Walk. It is held the weekend after the one I went to in my community.  It is widely anticipated and people come from all over the country to see the work these people have put into their gardens. In some cases there can be a whole street of houses that participate in the walk. There is a real sense of community.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great Sunday!! :)

 



Niagara Falls

My niece, Jill, and her two kids have been in town from Washington. Since they live so far away, it was great to see them. We don't see them very often.

We thought it would be fun to go to Niagara Falls.

I took this photo from out on the end of this...

..the observation deck.

We planned on going down to ride on the Maid of the Mist.

Doesn't it look so far away?

There was 18 of us in all, we went down to the lower gorge and got on the boat. We had those lovely and stylish blue ponchos to put on. But it was so hot in the sun, they were sticking to our skin.

So Little V wore only the hood.

But as we got closer to the Canadian Falls, we got doused with water. It was like a rain storm. The captain of the boat stayed in the same spot for about 5 minutes and we got drenched. There was so much mist, we couldn't even look up to see the falls. We laughed so hard. Then the boat started listing because we were in the rapids at the bottom of the falls. It was hilarious. So nice to make memories with family that I don't get to see that often.

 

The view towards Canada.

A picnic lunch.

 

This tour is called The Cave of the Winds. It basically is standing under the falls water as it comes down. You can get really soaked especially if you go all the way to the top of the deck. It's called the Hurricane Deck. We took the kids when they were younger. It is so much fun.

A group decided they wanted to go down and have a look (or a shower).

This is the before...

...this is the after.

Everyone got a new pair of sandals.

A view from the brink.

Hope you all are making memories with your families this summer!

Thanks for stopping in. :)



Thrifty Gals

At the end of this past school year, my friend Susan and I did a lot of thrift store hopping.

One week we went from Salvation Army to a church owned thrift store, to Amvets, to Goodwill.

Here are some of the things I scored that day.

We  started out at Salvation Army.

First off, I have been looking for brown transfer ware plates since March. I almost dropped over at the sight of these!

17 pieces for $9.99! They say "Mason's Patent Ironstone, England" on them.

I also got these four sandwich trays.

Supposedly, these were for a sandwich, a drink and a ciggy. There is a formation in the front right corner that looks like its a cig rest. But I refuse to believe that my parents and their peers would have their food and a smoke on the same tray, so I'm using the spot for a spoon. Like so.

I think it looks quite lovely like this.

At the next shop I got this silverplate bowl...

...and this really beautiful pink chenille bedspread.

After that we headed over to Amvets where we came across a box of old canning jars that we split.

This one is a wide mouth jar. I never saw one like this before. It says "wholefruit" on it, so I suppose that was it's purpose.

I put it in my bathroom and filled it with soaps my husband brought back from France for me.

I love small stoneware bowls. :) So many uses.

 

And I found a couple of creamers.

I really got some good deals that day.
I'll do another post with some items I picked up the following week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine Award!

I got my first award!!!!!!

The lovely JoAnn at Sweet Pepper Rose nominated me for the Sunshine Award. I'm soooo excited. It's really nice to be noticed. :)

The Sunshine Award is: given to bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.

Thank you so much JoAnn for recognizing me. That's really sweet. You have no idea how much it means to me. Really!

I would like to ask everyone to head on over to JoAnn's blog and check it out. Also, there are some other really great blogs nominated along with me, please have a look at their blogs too, if you have a chance.

Now it's my turn to nominate some folks.

Here is how the award works:

First, thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.

Second, answer the following ten questions about yourself.

Third, choose 10 of your favorite bloggers and link their blogs to your post.

Be sure to let them know you are nominating them for the award.

Last, copy and paste the award to your blog.

Here are my answers to the questions:

1. Favorite Color: Mainly purple, but red catches my eye as well.

2. Favorite Animal: I have a sweet spot for polar bears, but I think my main love is for dogs.

3. Favorite Number: 618 - don't ask.

4. Favorite Drink: Hot? tea - Cold? water (isn't that boring?)

5. Facebook or Twitter: Facebook - I keep in touch with my family near and far.

6. Good Book or Good Movie: Good book because it lasts longer than a movie.

7. My Passion: Photography, inherited from my mother.

8. Giving or Getting Gifts: Giving, especially something I made.

9. Favorite Day: Friday, end of the week and estate sales abound.

10. Favorite Flower: Peony - beautiful to look at and smells beautiful, a rare combination.

So now for my 10 nominations:

1. Danni at Silo Hill Farm

2. Fiona at Just Paint It White

3. Jennifer at Town and Country Living

4. Fifi at About Blogging Time

5. Shannon at Fox Hollow Cottage

6. Amanda at City Girl Gone Coastal

7. Kaitlin at Wunderbar

8. Sarah at Dumped and Discovered

9. Natalie at NorthShore Days

10. Melanie at My Rags To Riches

Check out their great blogs too!!

Finished Strip Quilt

I finished the strip quilt that I bought all that pretty rainbow colored fabric for.

This quilt is for Ron's cousin Nicole's baby shower.

I thought this type of quilt would be easier than the one I made for his niece, and it was in some respects, but washing and ironing small strips of fabric can change the nap so the ones with obvious patterns were a bit wonky. I had to try to re-iron them to get the pattern straight or trim them so it was straight, which made some of them thinner than I wanted.

 

Well, anyway, it was well received and I was very happy with the colors. I want to make one for myself now. Maybe over the winter. I really need to take a class and learn the correct way to do it all.

I am glad it is done because when I'm doing a project like that, I can't spend any time on anything else. Lord knows, I have so many other projects I need to do this summer and it's nice to move on. Plus it will be nice to have my dining room table back as that is also my sewing/cutting table. :)

The idea for this quilt actually was from one of my pins on Pinterest.
Here is my original pin:

 It was available from Garnet Hill.

I took a picture of this with my cell phone and then went to the fabric store and looked for fabrics that were comparable to the ones used in this quilt. I love doing that. I did it with the last quilt and it was satisfying to find comparable or matching fabrics to my inspiration.

I bought strips of the fabrics in varying widths. I washed and dried and ironed the fabrics so they would be preshrunk and not shrink when Nicole washes the quilt.  I stitched the strips together, stacked the quilt body on top of the batting and then the backing fabric, which was the navy you see in the top picture. Then I pinned all three layers and basted it in four directions. Then I hand tied it in several places with embroidery floss in colors that complemented the fabrics I used.
Once again I made my own bias tape for the edging and sewed that all the way around.

 Whew!

I'm off to Lowe's or Home Depot tomorrow to get some paint and things for my next projects. I'm excited to get started.

Have a good night!!!!


Linking up to:

Pinned It Made It Monday
at Country Girl at Home







Garden Walk

This weekend is the Garden Walk in my community.

I'm amazed at the energy of these talented people. I can only dream of having gardens such as these.

I am also intrigued by the everyday look of people's homes and then the backyard is such a pleasant surprise!

One of those homes belongs to a man I used to be in Garden Club with.

Now, for small village lots, I thought this was a really nice garden.

But turn around, and follow a path through some fences...

...and you're in a beautiful Japanese garden.

He dug all this by hand!

This is actually the back of his garage.

Simply gorgeous, and so relaxing. I would love to go sit over there when the garden walk isn't going on so it would be quieter and have less people.

I've figured out what my garden is missing. Whimsy.

But it also needs trees. My husband doesn't like them so he took down every single one we had in our yard. I need to twist his arm and get some more trees out there!

Hope you enjoyed a little snapshot of our little town! :)