Vintage Thingie Thursday : Granite Ware Pieces

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies being showed that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

This week, I want to show you some of my recent granite ware pieces. But one in particular is most special to me and I can not wait to show you. Some of my relatives read my blog, and it just so happens that some of my relatives do not live anywhere close to me so reading my blog keeps them up to date on all my shenanigans. It also affords them the opportunity to see what types of stuff I collect and love.

Last week, I got an email from one such relative. My cousin who lives in Mississippi. Now, this cousin of mine and myself have not seen each other in well over 15 years, but she sure has tapped into my love of vintage. Just look at this wonderful granite ware pot......this came in the mail to me this week!

My cousin sent me this message about the surprise I'd soon be getting.....

I thought of you immediately when I found it and I thought...vintage. If you haven't gotten it yet, I will not give away what it is but, it has been "buried" for at least 13 years. Found it on my property when I was searching for metal for this friend of mine to haul off and just thought....this is too nice for junk. I washed and scrubbed it before I sent it. LOL. The very least I could do. Hope you like it and find a spot for it. If not, pretend you do and get rid of it at your end. Love ya!

Now, you tell me....do you think I have to pretend to love this vintage goodness??? I am here to tell you, I am not pretending no such thing....I simply love it!! It is right up my alley and it will be in my kitchen in no time flat. The lid was a find I brought home from Colorado this year, so this most definitely goes well together!

Just look at these wonderful granite pieces.......

This bowl is an estate sale find. My husband thought he'd purchase it and use it for a dog bowl....well, you can see that never happened.

This beautiful yellow pan is an estate sale find too. I just love the butter yellow color. I think I paid maybe $3.00 for this one.

But my greatest gift was this wonderful chippy vintage pot from my sweet cousin Janna, who maybe is learning to appreciate the art of vintage thingies here on my blog.....at least to the point of not taking it to the junk yard, and sending it to me....where it will be much loved!!!! The thought and the sentiment of this gift means the world to me....really, that kind of love from a gift like this could never be purchased in a store. Again, Janna, Thank you for your thoughtfulness!!

Have a great Vintage Thingie Thursday everyone!!! Have a safe holiday weekend.....

Stacked....But For How Long??

When I was first married, I tried to impress my husband with his favorite, chocolate cake. I'd try baking round cakes, stacking them, and frosting them....more times than not, they went into the trash. Why you ask? Well, the darn layers just slid off of each other into a big mess on the kitchen cabinet. True.

So I gave that up rather quickly. If I could not make a cake in a 9X13 pan or a bundt cake pan....well, it just did not get made. I really have self esteem issues with round cakes. But today, after 25 years of staying away from the round cakes, I purchased the cake pans and tried again.

I ran, literally and got the camera while the cake was still stacked.....we'll see if it starts to slide as the afternoon progresses.

My grandmother made beautiful round stacked cakes. They were the picture of perfection and the taste was to die for. I make really good tasting cakes too....but they have to be in a sheet cake pan or well, no one would want to try it. I really need to get over this phobia of round cakes. I mean, how hard can I possibly make this? I see cakes all the time online and it does not look like there is any real secret involved. I just need to get over this fear of failing and just go with it.

ummm....in the meantime however, I don't think the local baker is worried about any new and upcoming competition.....just sayin. Oh, and in case you are wondering if the back part of the cake is a little lower than the front...well, as a matter of fact it is....must be something wrong with my oven...ahem!

......yeah...for the time being....stacked....I just don't know for how long!!

~ This should not be this hard!!!!!

Quilt Shops Near And Far

While on vacation, I was fortunate enough to find a quilt shop located in the mountains of Colorado. So while my husband headed to the hardware store to grab a few things we needed, he dropped me off at this wonderful shop.

Oh, what a wonderful little shop this was. This was located in Woodland Park Colorado and I had such a grand time shopping here. I purchased lots of fabrics that I usually don't find any of its kind back home. I wanted the more woodsie --colorado feel prints....and I found several I had to have.

This was one of the prints I purchased that day. I loved how the mountains are nestled in an Aspen grove, with that clear beautiful blue Colorado sky....this, by the way, is just what the beautiful Aspens look like in the fall, and I purchased a couple of yards of this fabric. I almost did not get it because it is a lot brighter than most of anything I usually purchase. If it had not been for the print alone, I would have passed it up.

Little did I know what I'd really end up doing with this fabric and after I got home, realized I should have purchased more. I remembered another print that was a rather unusual coloring of pine cones and quickly regretted not purchasing any of that print as well. I called the lovely lady who runs this quaint little quilt shop and she is sending me more of this fabric plus the pine cone fabric I wanted. I am so excited, it is so nice to run into people far from home that are so willing to help a customer who was just passing through and not a regular or local.

Now...back to the fabrics. I decided I wanted to make a quilt out of this fabric. My plan is to cut about 8-9 inch blocks of this print, and pair it with other fabrics in a 9 patch block. The only problem is, I am not too good at choosing fabrics to match something I already have. In fact, I am terrible at it. But I knew of a local quilt shop that has a wonderful employee who has a knack for that type of thing. I knew I had to see Leo, the quilt teacher from last years quilt class.

I walked into the store and announced to Leo that I had purchased this fabric while on vacation....after a few tsk-tsks and a shame on you look from Leo, he laughed and snatched the fabric from my hands and went dashing through the store. I had to laugh at myself...because I knew he was working his magic!

Here is the collection of fabrics I ended up with....well, Leo ended up with.....I just spent my money!

First, he went to what he calls the "home depot" section in the quilt shop.....What's the matter? Your local quilt shop does not have that section??? Okay, let me explain.

The home depot section is the section where all the wood grains, bark, bricks, stones, rocks, grasses and the like fabrics are housed. He quickly picked this fabric on the right for the outer border of the quilt.....ummm.....notice how it matches the bark on the trees...I'd never come up with that in a million years. Next, came the black for a small inside border next to the white bark fabric, and then the yellow for the larger inside border. Again, I'd never picked these off the shelves on my own.....never.

The blue and the white will make up the nine patches. He kept telling me to pick a blue that matched the blue in the fabric I purchased out of town....I did not see a thing that matched.....well, he just plucked this off the shelf and asked what the heck was wrong with this??? All I could say was, "well, since you put it like that, nothing!" He told me the nine patches made out of the white and blue would take on a cloud-sky effect once paired with the other blocks....we'll see......

No matter, I like what he chose for this quilt. At least I think it looks good on paper....ummm...I mean on the table. I hope when it is cut, pieced and quilted I still feel the same way. I just love it that my local quilt shop has such talented men working there and I know without a doubt if I ask for help, then it is more than help I will get. We have several quilt shops in our city, but all the others have women working there, and well....sorry gals, the men in this one shop are so much better at pairing fabrics in my opinion than the gals at all the others.

How lucky I am to have a local quilt shop run entirely by men who have a great eye for fabric combinations. And how lucky I was to find a quilt shop while on vacation and the ladies there were happy to send more fabric my way.

Now, for all you quilters out there? What is your opinion??? Do you like the color combination? Can you see the finished quilt and do you think it will all work together well? I still think it is a tad brighter than what I am used to, but hopefully it will work in the end.

Finished For Friday: A Stash Reorganization

I have a confession to make today. When my kids were in Elementary school, they had to be at school by 8:20am and picked up at 3:00pm. I can not tell you how many times I would drop them off at school, rush to Sherman Williams for either paint, wallpaper or both, then rush home to begin a project on one of my childrens rooms. I am not kidding when I say by the time I picked them up from school...I'd have whatever project I decided to do, done and it would be like magic in their eyes, a whole room transformation in a course of a school day.

Now with that in mind, would someone explain to me why a simple task of cleaning out a closet, reorganizing and putting away everything again and changing simple things in a sewing room should take 2 1/2 days to complete. I am scratching my head at that one....I don't get it. I guess back then, we did not have computers to suck up a lot of time....I am going to blame it on the computer..... not age!

This week, I want to show you my fabric stash that has been pulled out of all sorts of bins, stacked and folded on the side shelves of the closet. Now, I can at least see what I have. ~I did not paint these shelves bright pink and lime green....well, I did paint them, but years ago....that was my daughters choice, not mine and well, as time is of the essence, I have not repainted them.

I even gathered up all my vintage sheets I have been purchasing, and stored them in one place.

Just look at all this vintage goodness....I hope to get around to making a couple of vintage sheet quilts soon. I am looking for some vintage sheets with a more brown, green, or orange coloring in stripes or anything other than florals. My son, is like me, and likes to sleep under covers even in the summer. Problem is, he is so hot natured, and is always burning up. I think a light weight quilt made from a more manly vintage sheets would be perfect.....I know I want one for myself....in pink florals!

You can even see the bolts of backing fabrics and upholstery fabrics on top.....by the look of all this, you'd think all I ever did these days was sew...and it is quiet the opposite...I can hardly find time! Maybe I need to stay out of the quilt shops.......just sayin'

I purchased this great storage unit, it holds lots of goodies! Do you see those red boxes??? I found two of these, brand new for $3.99 at goodwill. They are stemware storage units, but I had another idea.

These are perfect for storing craft supplies and vintage lace and trims. Remember, when thrifting, think outside of the box and come up with new storage solutions for the things you find. As in this case, perfect-o!

Here is my scrap bin, finally with all the scraps gathered up and in one place. Before they were in several bins and they were all over the place.

Top shelf holds my buttons, thread and other goodies!!!

And on the far right, I have bins of vintage hankies, linens, tablecloths and quilts. Some are cutters to be used in projects, while others are just stored in this space.

I am so glad I have something to share for finished for Friday over at Lit and Laundry! In case you are wondering why there are no before pictures, well lets just say....you would not have wanted to see them....Trust me!!!!

Believe me, for a time this week, I did not think I'd even see the hallway as I was so covered up with stuff, much less finish to have a blog post up. Man I wish I knew what sped things up about 16 years ago....I needed a HUGE dose of whatever that might have been!!

Vintage Thingie Thursday : A Vintage Souvenir From A Vintage Theme Park

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies being showed that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

This past weekend, my daughter and I went in a local antique shop. From the looks of things, business must not be too good right now. Several vendors had from 75% to even 90% off in their booths. I happened to spot a little pitcher that sure brought back a lot of memories. The original sticker marked Japan was still on the bottom. I don't imagine this to have too much monetary value, but memory value, it holds quiet a few.


Let me say this, there really was a marine wildlife park before Sea World.....at least here in Texas there was and here is a great little souvenir creamer to prove just that. When I spotted this, it sure brought back a lot of memories. Not bad for .49 cents.

(All Seven Seas Photos from Internet)

According to Wikipedia:

Seven Seas Marine Life Park was a marine mammal park and animal theme park built and owned by the city of Arlington, Texas, United States.

The park opened on March 18, 1972. The 35-acre (140,000 m²) site was located in north Arlington off Interstate 30 near Six Flags Over Texas and adjacent to Arlington Stadium.

The city council of Arlington voted to close the park in 1976 because it did not generate enough revenue to both pay its operating expenses and pay off the bonded indebtedness.

The property is now the site of the Arlington Sheraton Hotel and has several buildings on property that date back to the park.

I guess back in the 1970's tropical landscape was not in the budget. I had to laugh at myself when I saw this picture. Native Texas Landscape in the background.

This ship was the icon of the park. It was visible from the Interstate for years, I think a portion of this may be still in standing today.


There was only one ride in the whole park. This was a cave type ride and if I remember correctly, a penguin exhibit. It was most popular to say the least, as the heat here in Texas was always a scorcher in the summer and this ride was so cool.

This brought back fun memories, we used to go there when we had family members visiting from out of town. I can remember going myself as a child several times.

I remember once, there was an attraction and you got to pick a "oyster" and mine had a pearl inside. It was a little pearl and they put it in a pink plastic clam case. I still have that little pearl, I just could not find it today...go figure!

Here is the map of the park. I remember this map so well........

Well, hope you enjoyed a peek at a vintage theme park that was in operation before Sea World became so popular, at least around here anyway!! What about you? Did you ever get the chance to visit Seven Seas?? My guess, would be not too many have even heard of it.

Have a great weekend everyone and a wonderful Vintage Thingies Thursday!!!

Take Me Back Tuesday: It's On The Line

The blue sky above, the heat from the sun, the soft gentle breeze on my skin, the sound of birds singing in the trees, the calmness that comes over me and soothes the spirit. These things are among the many pleasures that come from..........

.......clean wet laundry piled in a basket, a bag of clothes pins and a clothesline in the back yard. A simple pleasure really, but one that brings back lots of memories from childhood and also allows me to reflect on my everyday happenings today.

We live in a world that is in fast forward mode all the time. We are programed to get things done quickly, the easiest and the fastest way possible. We learn to take the path that requires very little energy from ourselves to get to the end result the quickest. Let me give you an example.

About a month ago, we were appliance shopping and I was dreaming of owning a pair of the new fangled front loader machines. Oh, the ones I wanted were top of the line, of course, with a top of the line price. When I looked at all the performance statistics, the one thing that stood out with the dryer was the fact it professed to drying a HUGE load of laundry in only 10 minutes.


I thought about that one....10 minutes to dry a load of laundry....that registered with me that once I put the clothes in the dryer I had only 10 minutes before I had to return to the laundry room to fold and put away that load....and all of a sudden, the appeal was lost. I dislike so much folding and putting away the laundry that all of a sudden, that was not a great selling point for me. Truth.

So for now, I have put that dream aside. Things can be bigger, faster, and prettier, but that does not mean it is the best for me.......

Often times, for me, I get so caught up in the daily grind of living I forget to slow down and enjoy the journey. If you are like me, let me say this, a clothes line will solve a lot of these issues. For me, once I take a basket of clothes out to the line, things slow down drastically. All of a sudden, I have time to think, ponder current situations, and relax in the warm sunshine without a care in the world.

One by one, the clothes are hung to dry and during this process, I have lots of time to think. Whether it be about someplace we have been or someplace we are dreaming of going. Sometimes thoughts of my family, friends, or thoughts of total strangers flood my mind. It is a slow down process, time to think, time to ponder the questions that plague my mind, time to leave the worries of the day right there in the sunshine.

It is a very therapeutic process and one I am so thankful to be able to enjoy. I know some think this is so old fashion and think who in their right mind would hang clothes on a line in the year 2010. I say, that these folks are the very ones who need to experience a slow down process and stop and enjoy the little things.

I remember as a young girl, we would spend the weekends at my grandmothers house. There was nothing like the smell of freshly laundered sheets as we snuggled into bed at night. The smell was intoxicating, fresh, clean with a hint of sunshine. No other place I ever remembered had linens that smelled that fresh, only my grandma's house. Along with the sheets, the towels were always soft and smelled just as good as the sheets. In fact, if you opened up the linen closet, the freshness filled the small space. I never really questioned that fresh laundry smell until I became an adult. I wondered why my laundry was not that fresh smelling and how it was I only remember that from my grandma's house.

The answer was so simple, it made me smile.....Downy fabric softener, a clothesline and sunshine. If you have not slept on freshly, line dried sheets in a while, you have no idea what you are missing. Do you suffer from sleep apnea? I am certain a freshly made bed with sunshine dried sheets will have you sleeping like a baby in no time.

But don't take my word for it, ask Dora. Now, if I can come up with a solution in keeping wiener dogs out of the laundry basket of clean clothes, I will have it made.

Thanks for stopping by on this Take me back Tuesday.....simple memories from a much simpler time. These days, sometimes when you least expect it, the past will sneak up on the present......slow down, relax and smell the fresh laundry....I'd hate for you to miss out!