Thursday, June 27, 2013

Thrift Finds - Week Of June 24

Garage sales are a little different with a 6 year old and/or 12 year old in tow. I end up with more stuff that takes longer to leave my house but they both have a good eye. This weeks finds for the boys included a couple things on their lists...a catchers mitt (worth $75 that I paid $8 for) and a soccer ball (.50). A video game, books and Zoobles rounded out their purchases.

Here are some others that I was rather excited about...

My 6 year old spotted this awesome handmade paddlebat. We live just a mile from the Mississippi where these kinds of boats still travel. A fabulous find! Gonna be hard to get it out of the house :). It was unpriced so my little man took it upon himself to inquire as to the price. They sold it to him for a song.
A totem pole decanter from the Black Hills.
A black metal tole painted tissue box cover and a metal stand.
A aqua blue wood box and a metal colander.
Cookie cutters.

My little dude came up to me with this and I just had to buy it. It is Swedish and reads "Linnea" which is the name we had picked out for him if he was a girl. It is already hanging on the wall!

Still in the back of the truck is an old sewing maching cabinet. No machine but the cast base in great condition and the drawers all still there. I will piece it out to sell.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Thrift Finds

Went out to some sales today with my mom and the Little and scored a few fun things.

A great horse embroidery! This will be going with me to market on Saturday and if it doesn't sell it will be going to the little shop my friend runs on his horse farm. How perfect!

A great vintage towel with a hand embroidered pan, spoon and shrooms! Not sure if this is going to a shop or if I am going to list it on Etsy.

A vintage pink plastic dresser tray and a metal collapsible collander. The collander would make a great piece of garden art - looks like a sunflower!

I just sold one of these! It is Westmoreland glass and has dogwood blossoms around it. Love it!

A fabulous old square pottery lamp with a tree design on two of the sides. Has a great small drum shade to go with it. Gonna be hard to part with this one!

A bookshelf bookend. Just one but cute all the same! May save this for a "cozy up" display this fall.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Garden Happenings

Freezing rhubarb.
Camera hound!
Our new pergola. We are spending lots of time in this spot.
After a VERY long winter which ran into our spring, we finally our having spring....when we should be having summer...oh well. With lots of rain and cloudy days we recently have had a few peeks of sun...just enough to get the garden in and work on other yard projects. I even did the first preserving of the season - freezing rhubarb. Yeah! The camper also got cleaned and we had our first camping trip of the season. Now it may be time to break out the dehydrator and dry some herbs...the thyme and oregano look fabulous!

These strawberries are now covered with white blossoms. Hoping for a great strawberry season!

Big News Coming!

This Wednesday there is big happenings in the world of Remnants By Carrie!

Here is a hint....


Stay tuned for the big announcement!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Studio Happenings

After realizing that market season is fast approaching and I had no new items to bring, I recently got really busy in the studio. The last two days have been quite productive - pin cushions made from a vintage quilt that had seen better days, yo-yo barrettes from vintage and reproduction vintage fabrics and a few new pin cushions using vintage containers.

Lots of fabulous spring colors on the table - much needed since we have another 6 inches of snow in our foreseeable forecast...(Groundhog seriously lied!!!)

Yo-yo barrettes - these are all made from reproduction vintage fabrics. My mom has a source down in Mesa where she picks up lovely reproduction vintage fabrics for very inexpensive prices.

Pin cushions from an old vintage quilt.
I have just enough of the quilt left to make a few patchwork birds.

A new teacup pin cushion and an adorable hen pin cushion.

I also had a special order from a friend for some play food and I finished that up today. I also am knitting some produce bags for the start of market. One of the other vendors at the market sells organic produce and I thought they would be a nice tie-in. I also have a special order knitting order to work on that needs to be finished in the next week or two - matching hats for the photographer I knit for - she will be photographing twin boys soon. I also need to get a few new bags created. Don't really want to go to market with the same stock as last year. There are many regulars there so I want to keep in mind that they are going to want to see something fresh. Add to this the standing order for dog lead bags and the horse show magnets I have been commissioned to make, I have enough to keep me busy :)!

 A couple fabrics I am considering for my next bag - it will be handbag size with pleats I think....

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Knitting & Reading

This past week my knitting has slowed down a bit. I finished another hat for my photographer friend. This is the Sherlock hat. I found it on Ravelry (will include the link once I am on my computer and not on the Blogger app on my iPad). It was a fun, easy and fairly quick knit.

I also found a new series of books that have held my attention (in fact, maybe a little too much :) ). It is the Jefferson Tayte genealogical series by Steve Robinson. I am on #3 and have loved each one. They each have taken place in England (which I love) and each deals with a genealogical mystery. The bits of history are interesting and the mystery keeps you guessing.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Knitting & Reading


I haven't joined in with Ginny's Knit Along in quite sometime. I have been knitting but haven't documented a lot of it. Lately I have been working on a couple hats for a photographer friend to use in her newborn photographs. These are the latest two. The top one I just knit freehand with some leftover yarn I had around (lots of camo yarn around this house full of boys). The bottom hat I used a pattern I found on Ravelry. It is the "Rib Knit Baby Hat" by Jennifer Sauselein of Sorella & Company. It was an easy knit and I love the addition of the little wooden tree buttons. I have had them forever and loved finding a use for them.

 
 
As for reading, well there hasn't been a lot of that...every time I lay down in bed to read at night, I get about 3 pages read and am out like a light. Lots that I want to read but just can't keep my eyes open to read it. Still trying though...

 

Monday, March 25, 2013

Comfort Food

With all that is going on right now I decided some comfort food was needed. One of my childhood favorites is "Chicken Huntington". My mom usually made it after Thanksgiving when leftover turkey was in abundance. It was a HUGE favorite in our house. It is also one of my 20 year old nephew's favorite and my Mom regularly makes it when he visits. Tonight my Little was my sous chef andI loved making memories with him using a favorite from my childhood.

Chicken Huntington
(I regularly double it)

1 7-oz. box macaroni
1 1/2 c. cooked chicken, cut-up
1 T. flour
1 c. cream (I use milk)
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 lb. American cheese, grated
1/2 t. salt

Cook macaroni. Make a cream sauce with, flour, butter (about 2 T.), cream and chicken broth. In it, melt cheese. Stir in the cooked macaroni and salt. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.


I am a purist when it comes to a few of the ingredients. The first being the chicken stock...I never buy chicken stock. I always make my own. So, this weekend I prepared a chicken and then used the bones to make stock. So easy and so delicious. Another thing that has to be exact is the cheese. Living here in the "Land Of 10,000 Lakes" we have always used Land O' Lakes American Cheese. It melts beautifully and tastes like home. It isn't cheap but I have not found a substitute.



First Garage Sale Of The Season

Last week I went to my first garage sale of the season. It was at a church and I didn't find much. i found a great teacup with a rooster on it that will soon become a pincushion. I also found a couple books - one for me and a nature science book for the boys. I am really getting excited for the coming season! Really want the snow to go away!




Sunday, March 24, 2013

Remembering



Yesterday someone very important to me left this Earth. He was 92 and ready for the next stage...ready to say goodbye to this life for the next. He is my Grandfather. He left behind my Grandmother, 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. All of us are testaments to the lives he and my Grandmother have lived and the lessons, traditions and beliefs they have passed on to us. There is a love for working with our hands. We are lovers of learning and books. We have a deep appreciation for the soil and what it blesses us with. We immerse ourselves in nature and reenergizing our souls with the peace we find there. These lessons, learned and remembered are shared in our collective and individual memories. He is gone but he will never be forgotten. He lives on in each of us as we take all he has taught us and go forward in our lives...each turn of the page, each turn of the spade.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Vacation Images By My 12 Year Old

I love the images my eldest took while on vacation! Here are a few...
A light fixture at the BBQ joint we ate at in Joplin, Kansas - Big R's BBQ.


The table at the same restaurant. Love the vintage orange label they put under the glass.

The ceiling of the same restaurant...it was a cool restaurant :)!
 
And the food...YUM...that baked potato was the size of a small watermelon.

And a towel sculpture in one of our first hotel rooms...he was so impressed with it he had to take a picture.

 


Saturday, March 9, 2013

Road Tripping Down Route 66

Heading for Mesa, AZ to visit my parents and doing a little sightseeing along the way. Highlights of the day were stops along historic Route 66 in Kansas and Oklahoma. The Kansas section may be small (only about 13 miles) but it was wonderful! They are doing so much to restore as much as they can. Here are a few pictures from our day...
 
The tow truck that inspired the "Mater" character in the movie Cars and a cute little Cars fan to boot :)!
 

Many great old gas stations - some beautifully and lovingly restored like these two.


A great bit of rusty vintage goodness! One of these just may be framed...

Two handsome boys at the Blue Whale - part of an old theme park along the route.

A VERY old gas station - never had electricity and was heated by fireplace. LOVE the daffodils outside the door.

 
Tomorrow...on to New Mexico!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

On The Design Table..

I have been wanting to make some diaper bags out of fun vintage kid's fabrics for sometime. I have collected a variety of fun fabrics and I think I am ready and hope to have a few ready for the spring craft show season.

Here are some of the fabrics that are waiting to be transformed :)!

An old quilt block, vintage fabric and an old crib sheet.


An old dish towel and some vintage bark cloth.


A vintage feedsack and an old quilt block.

This was once a woman's smock.