Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Pyrex & Homemade Mac and Chese Recipe

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
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 on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

Sometimes, things go wrong and it turns out to be the best thing going. Take this pan of homemade macaroni and cheese for instance.  I have made this recipe before, but this time, got ahead of myself and left a few ingredients out. 

I have to say, it turned out amazing....so much better than when I do it the "right" way! Of course serving it in a vintage pyrex baking dish always helps too!!

Here is my modified....better than original recipe! Super easy.....fantastically good!!!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese:

You will need for the sauce:

3/4 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup water
2 T butter
3 1/2 T flour
1 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup monteray jack blend
about 1/4 cup Velveeta cheese - cubed
dash salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
dash garlic powder  
black pepper to taste

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and whisk flour in butter. Whisk for about 2-3 minutes. Slowly add milk and water whisk constantly. Cook until this thickens, about 5-6 minutes.  Stir if needed. Once thick, remove from heat and add cheese, spics and stir well until all are mixed well and cheese is melted, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

You will need for the pasta:

2-3 cups macaroni noodles
cheese for topping
chili powder for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 inch baking dish. Cook pasta until barely done. Remove and drain and rinse with cold water, rinse well. In a mixing bowl, combine pasta with sauce and stir well. Pour pasta into baking dish and top with about 1/2 cup of mixed cheeses - cheddar and Monterrey jack on top. Sprinkle top of cheese with a little chili powder. Bake uncovered 25 minutes and let rest five minutes before serving.

VERY good and super easy!!! Enjoy!!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!!

When The Truth Is Written All Over Your Face.........

" Oh....look what we found.....just tossed here all shredded up......we have no idea what happened "

.........the rest of the roll......hundreds of bits all over the floor. I wonder if Sammie and Bailey really think I don't know what happened here!

Progress on My Jubilee Quilts

I'm afraid I stay behind and can not seem to keep up with the Barrister's Sow-a-long over at Randy's blog. But.....I am trying!! I most likely, would have not had such a hard time of it had I not decided to make an extra quilt in all Christmas fabrics.

Both of these quilts are my Jubilee quilts, made in the year I turned fifty. I can honestly say, I would never have believed I would have completed all of these blocks and continue to stay sewing to complete these quilts. I guess my motivation is "turning 50" and needing something(s) to commemorate that event!

To get a better look at fabrics...click photos to enlarge

I decided to lay all of the blocks out and take a look at how they were coming together.  So far, I have completed 39 blocks for each quilt.

Here are the Christmas fabric blocks. At this point I am not sure which set of blocks I love the best!!

And speaking of behind.....I am six blocks behind before the new blocks are released on Randy's blog.

But if you do that math....that translates to TWELVE blocks behind.....six blocks for each quilt!!

I have all the blocks cut out....and if this looks like a gillion pieces...well believe me it feels like a gillion times ten to me!!! I need to get these sewn together today if possible, or at least make a good dent in these blocks....there are tiny pieces in here.....so wish me luck!! I think the new blocks come out this week....so I need to get busy!!!

Have a great day!!! Sew something fantastic!!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Touches To a Baby Shower

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
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 on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I hosted a baby shower for my niece and had a marvelous time with the planning of all the festivities! The theme was Under The Big Top - circus theme shower and I used a few vintage things to add to the decor and re-purpose for the shower. I will have a more detailed post a few days next week and show how it all came together! But for now, here are some of the things that I used that came from vintage items. As always, clicking on photos will make them bigger.

 This is a banner that I made using photo copied pages from a vintage circus children's book that I purchased online.  This banner spelled the name of the baby....it was so cute!

 I found an elephant and giraffe at goodwill.....vintage looking brass animals from the 70's maybe.....but these quickly became decor for the mantle.

 I don't like brass at all...but painted these turned out really cute! See that circus poster????.....I gave you a sneak peek HERE and this is what I did with that poster and window......spray paint can fix up lots of ugly things really quick.

I purchased this elephant at an estate sale. It was one of those ceramic pieces from the 70's as well....and while it looked ok as it was....it was not what I really had in mind.

I used baby blue spray paint from Michaels and it made all the difference in that elephant and the planter in the middle that held cotton candy.

Here is another view of one of the tables.....

 A vintage baby planter that is a clown was the topper for this serving display. I filled the planter with suckers and it worked out really well.

The lion was a vintage fine, and embellished with felt and the initial for my new great nephew's name. 

By collecting cast off items at goodwill, thrift stores and estate sales, I was able to update them to fit right in with my theme and not break the budget. Come back next week for a more detailed look at the shower and how it all came together! 

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!

When My Husband Recites My Words......Good Grief

I spent the day finishing the pieced back for my Ugly Fabric Quilt challenge. I used the left over pieces of squares for the back...every last one of them. The rest of the backing fabric is some I had in the stash and thought it would work well. I had just finished sewing and trimming the back together  and was starting to press all the seams........ when I had a horrible OCD moment and was stopped in my tracks..

What the HECK.......See that short pieced top row? I sashed the sides with the fabric that I used for the rest of the back...it was not until I started pressing that I had this MISTAKE staring me in the FACE........good grief..............

Just look................I was so upset.....talked about ripping all the seams out and seeing if I had enough fabric to recut those pieces.....the flippin' stuff is not going in the right direction.....oh. this. drives. me nuts.

You know what is worse than this mistake??? Is hearing my words thrown back at me by my husband who I swear never pays attention to what I say......Here is how that conversation went.

Me: Good grief, I am going to have to rip all of this out.....that fabric is going the wrong direction

Husband: No you don't, it is just a "FOCAL POINT". 

Me:  No...it is a mistake.......

Husband:  No...it "OFF SETS" the rest of the back.....stands out.

Me:  Be quiet....you don't know what you are talking about.....

Husband:  It is a "GOOD CONTRAST" to the rest of the back.....shows - "ADDED INTEREST"

Me:  No it is not....and does not.......

Husband:  It won't matter when we are snuggled up underneath the quilt this winter....

Me:  Huh???  Be serious...... Are you crazy......this will drive me nuts.

Husband: It is a QUILT.....does not have to be perfect.......just act like you planned it that way!

Husband:  A quilt is a quilt......no matter!

He pays attention more than I thought...now if I can only convenience him to set at one of my machines and sew....I might could get all my unfinished projects finished!! He certainly has the lingo down.....ugh! Guess I will leave it, after all...after all it is the back and a quilt is a quilt no matter what!  Besides that...he thinks we are snuggling under this one this winter....Ha!

Would this drive you nuts?? I hope after it is quilted, it won't bother me as much!!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage CASE Knives

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
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 on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

These two pocket knives are definitely vintage. Not only are the vintage, but they are not the normal thing to collect for a girl. Since I only have two, I'd say they really are not a collection.

In fact, these two belonged to my grandpa and I remember them being in the kitchen drawer in my grandmas kitchen for years. When my grandpa passed away, I asked for these knives.

They are both Case knives, and I know they are great knives and sought after by knife collectors. I don't think these are anything too special other than belonging to my grandpa which makes them special to me.

I need to have my husband clean them up for me, and will have him do that soon. These just hang out in a curio cabinet these days....fond memories of special people who have gone on before us. I miss them both so much.

In The Bag - Ugly Fabric Challenge Complete - Butterfly Quilt

I am so behind on everything these days! I have lots of things to show you and talk about, but it seems day after day goes by and well.....I am still not showing or talking very much!! ahem.

Many of you know about "In The Bag - Ugly fabric quilt challenge" and it has been so much fun looking at all the progress on the blog set up just for this challenge. Here was my inspiration for these fabrics. ( As always, clicking photos makes them larger)

From the Hancock's of Paducah spring catalog

I received my fabrics in May.....and figured out right away what I was going to do with them. I got a spring mailing catalog in the mail from Hancock's of Paducah and there was a quilt kit for a similar style quilt, and I decided to take that inspiration and make something of my own.

Here are the fabrics again, that BJ from Arizona sent me!!  Not a bad group, but they certainly were out of my color range and element of comfort. The challenge is to make a quilt or something quilt related with the fabrics sent, using 90% of the fabrics. You can add any from your stash and only purchase one other fabric if needed for  your project. When I saw those fish staring at me, I was really worried how in the world I was going to use those!!

Here is the finished quilt. This measures 62 X 62. Let me say first off, I am not a big butterfly person at all, and I am  not a square quilt kind of person either....go figure!!!  I really like how it all came together.......and all with "ugly" fabrics.

Here is how I used most of the fish fabric. The fabrics out of my stash were the brown and the green used for the borders. The light fabric that is throughout the quilt also from stash.

That light greenish fabric that is used throughout the quilt is what BJ sent me as well. I ran out of that and tried to buy some more...I ordered a half yard of what I thought was the same thing, but it was not. Thankfully, Ros traded me a swatch of that fabric that she had, for the fabric I mistakenly ordered.  With that bit she sent me I had just enough...I used every smidgin I had of that ugly light green fabric.

Here is some of the coral fabric in blue...with more of that fish stuff!!!

These butterflies are a block I saw online, I had no pattern, I looked at the block, and tried to figure out how to make it. They turned out pretty good and I was shocked I was able to actually pull that off. I seem to work better without a pattern. If I have a picture to look at, I can usually figure out what I need to do to acquire the finished block.

Here is a closer look at the fabrics in the large butterfly. The orange, light blue  and the purple floral and green/red floral were the challenge fabrics. The blue fabrics in the large butterfly as well as the yellow and small red dot were fabrics from my stash.

I am using the last of the blocks from the center of the quilt and the left over butterfly blocks on the back with a backing fabric from my stash. I have cut the orange, blue, and florals into long strips to be used as a scrappy binding.

I purchased no fabrics for this challenge, with the acceptation of the piece I swapped for which was the light green. Not bad for a few "uglies" and clearing some untouched fabrics out of the stash, huh???

Here is the scraps that are left over.....I have all the blocks ready to sew for the binding and the back...once I have it quilted I will post finished pictures of the back and the quilting.....I just feel good to finally have this one off the design wall....now I have to hurry and try and work with the fabrics Gun from Sweden sent me...but I at least do have an idea for that one too!!  Stop by the Challenge blog and take a look at all the inspiration that is there. All projects are created from "ugly" fabrics. You be the judge on the ugly part!!!

Everyone is like a butterfly, they start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful, graceful butterflies that everyone loves.  ~ Drew Barrymore

Vintage Thingie Thursday: I Have Nothing!

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
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 on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I have nothing ready this week, and just am not up to trying to be creative with a post or search the computer for stored pictures. Forgive me! The links are below for those who are ready to link in....I'll be back next week.

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: A Happy Birthday and Some Vintage Treasures

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
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 on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I should have done this post yesterday, but decided it would be for Vintage Thingie Thursday! Not that the sweet person it has to do with is vintage...yet....but these things are definitely considered vintage. (as always, clicking photos makes them bigger)


Tuesday, was my son's 30th Birthday.....hard for me to believe thirty years has past since he was born. Very hard to believe. Happy Birthday to the joy of my life!!! I have the best son ever and he has a heart as big as can be and golden too! 


This is the gift I received from my cousin when he was born. I love this and have kept it in the original frame. I had forgotten how adorable it is until after I got it out of the cedar chest.....it is and always has been one of my special keepsakes!!!

She also made one for my daughter, but I will have to save that for a different time!

This is the blanket and outfit Jeff came home from the hospital in. the blanket says "baby boy" and I just love the little sailor suit. I think this was such a cute outfit.

This is the only other outfit I saved from when he was little. It was my very favorite outfit and he wore it a lot. I wonder if the person who gave him this remembers it??? Believe me I know exactly who gave it to him!! It still looks great!!

I was twenty when my son was born, and I made him a blanket.....I did not know if he was a boy or a girl so I guess I had picked a gender neutral pattern.

I used to stitch back then, but never do it anymore.........but the thing that really got my attention was the fact that this was quilted by machine.......and I had done it!!!!

It was large squares quilted but none the less, I did it when I was twenty  years old.......should have been a sign I guess of what was to come. I think it is time to step out and find the courage to do a little quilting on my own quilts again....even if it starts with something as simple as this.

Here is another blanket I kept from when he was a baby.

...and an actual baby quilt. I did not make these, but they are some of the things I kept of his from when he was a baby.

It is hard to believe that this boy (man) was ever small enough to wrap in blankets and wear those baby clothes.....time has traveled way too fast!!

Just know son, you are so very special to my heart and no matter where the road may lead you in this life....the road home is never too far or too long to travel!!! Happy Birthday to my baby boy......yes, he will always be my baby boy, no matter how old he gets.


Have a great Vintage Thingie Thursday!!!