Home again, home again, jiggety-jog...

~ Periwinkle Colored Bowls ~

Do you remember the old Mother Goose nursery rhyme "To market, to market..."? It goes:

"To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, dancing a jig;
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog;
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done."

I've been to market, several actually, and loved them all. Petticoat Lane, Old Spitalfields, Borough Market,  Old Truman Brewery Market and others. That's when I wasn't wandering around museums or getting lost on foot -smile-. One place I found myself was Covent Garden and spent a pleasurable hour at a small tea shop before venturing, again, into the "unknown".

Londoner's are mad for "vintage" and I couldn't believe the prices! Wool coats from the 1960's were $100 and better. A long, champagne colored Victorian petticoat was $80 but "just for me" the price was reduced to $70. Shoes that had seen far, far better days bore rather precious prices as well. Now, I don't mind wearing thrift store clothes...after all, there's the washer and dryer...but I draw the line at OPS's...other people's shoes. That makes me a trifle squeamish and I've had my arm up to the shoulder in the rear end of a ewe, helping out with the birthing process.

I'm home and settling into a familiar routine. When I got home, a week ago today almost to the hour, the temperatures were above freezing since the first of the month. We've had our share of fierce January winter weather and the warmer temperatures and rain have melted the snow. We're now seriously into mud season but that will change as temps drop again before true springs arrives.

Today is Vintage Thingie Thursday over at ColoradoLady and I've several offerings, beginning with the periwinkle bowls at top. The one on the right belonged to my MIL and we just purchased the left one at a recent auction. These are beautiful bowls and the left one has a "raw" lip where women would sharpen their kitchen knives. I've seen Grandmother Bennett do it time and again and always thought having a bowl serve more than one function was quite useful. These are my 'go-to' bowls for making cat head biscuits and they are "just right" for making six to eight biscuits. 

~ Hand made Scottish tea cozy ~

This lovely little tea cozy was hand sewn by...??? Someone's Gran, do you think? It has a bit of lace, some batting to keep the tea pot warm, an embroidered thistle and the words "Frae Scotland"; frae means from.

~ Thistle and "frae Scotland", embroidered all

~ Top handle ~

This is so clever; the center square where the thistle is located, has an opening and this little rectangle was stuffed inside. It's to hold the tea pot lid on whilst pouring tea; I love this! It shows someone actually meant for this tea cozy to be put into good use and so it shall.

Home Sweet Home and it's dear to me even with the rain and sleet that's absolutely pouring from the skies as I'm sitting in the sunroom updating my blog. It's below freezing and the wind chill is horrid, taking the temps to around 10 above so it's a good dayi to put the tea pot and cozy into good use. I'm headed to the studio and will play Loreena McKennitt while I work, perhaps an audio book later. I promised to catch up with everyone and I will, eventually. I want to visit your blogs and see what I've missed.My desktop computer crashed and the computer doc has been called and will arrive sometime today to take said computer to the shop. Hmmmm...didn't I just say that a few months ago? Seems like an all to recent happening but maybe it's my memory that's playing tricks, once again.

My studio time these past few days has been productive. I've finished one fleece throw, have two more to finish, a scarf for me and a couple of baby quilts pieced with batting and bottom and ready to be sewn. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and work on things that bring happiness so many times beginning when I purchase the fabric and begin to think of the project. Happiness is such a simple quality yet so necessary to our daily existence; so many people struggle to be happy and that is so sad. I find happiness in such simple things: a breath drawn deeply, a good body stretch, a baby's face when they see their quilt for the first time, an adult's face when they realize they were thought of and then action followed thought. Does that make me a simple person? Probably so but it also makes me a happy person.

Until next time,

Blessings ~ tea cozy ~ periwinkle bowls ~ home ~ warmth ~ happiness ~ simplicity ~

Vintage Thingies Thursday

By the way, if you'd like to enter the Give-away Season of Giving, please click here. 

ColoradoLady hosts Vintage Thingies Thursday and this is the second week I've remember to play along. Wonders never cease! -smile-

~ Thistle Cove Farm kitchen mantle ~

We live in an old frame farmhouse, built on the site of the original brick house. The brick house burned Christmas 1899 and in Spring 1900, our home was begun of poplar trees felled on the farm. The farm was much more extensive in acreage then, several thousand acres, and had forests as well as cleared pastures and this house, stables, barns and other outbuildings and storage structures.

In every room there's a fireplace for heat but not all of them are now working. In the kitchen, we do have a working fireplace outfitted with gas logs. The wormy chestnut mantle is out of another old farmhouse and said to be well over 100 years old.

The mantle has a collection of vessels near and dear to my heart. On the far right, there's an old salt cellar that Grandmother Bennett used in her kitchen. I believe she received it as a wedding gift in the early 1900's. My few pieces of Shawnee corn pottery are next and include a mug, sugar dish with lid and a creamer. I adore Shawnee corn pottery; it always makes me smile. The next two pieces, the pink vase and the green vase, are Hall pottery. Next to the green Hall vase is an pretty little unmarked pitcher my Beloved Sistah found at an antique shop.

In the middle of the mantle are three Hall pitchers, a large green and a large yellow as well as the sweetest little green pitcher that's the exact same as the large green...just smaller.Next to those pitchers is a small Italian pitcher and the green, squatty pitcher is another prize from Grandmother Bennett. Again, I believe it's a wedding gift when she and Granddaddy were married.

Perhaps I should take a photo of the center of the mantle so you can see things better. Tomorrow, okay? My eyes are really bothering me right now.

~ kitchen mantle ~

The two pieces between the old Aladdin lamp and Grandmother's green pitcher are Bedouin made. Dave bargained for them in a small shop in Marrakesh and, when the deal was completed, both Dave and the shop owner were well pleased. I think the shop owner was well pleased because Dave did pay Something for the pieces; the shop owner was adamant food was being taken from the mouths of his children but Dave held firm. As in a lot of world areas, bargaining is both a skill and an art in the Middle East and Dave has always "done himself proud" as they say around here. He's good at bargaining, some call it haggling, and to watch him in action is a thing of beauty indeed. Well Done!

The Aladdin lamp came from Daddy's side of the family but I can't remember where. I do know it's old, early 1900's, perhaps late 1800's, I'm really not sure.

Above the mantle is a copy of the The Gleaners by Jean-Francois Millot. Although the 1857 original is an oil painting, this is a sepia lithograph and the original now hangs in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. It drew fantastic criticism when first unveiled because it offended the middle and upper classes. Perhaps they didn't realize even cake comes from flour...? I adore our lithograph and think it's totally appropriate in our farmhouse kitchen.

Until next time,


Blessings ~ country farmhouse ~ The Gleaners ~ well loved pottery and other pieces ~ 

Acorn Cook Stove, circa 1914

~ Acorn cookstove, circa 1914 ~

This isn't the greatest photo I've ever taken but it does show our cook stove; an Acorn, made in 1914. The stove stop has seven burners, one of which is a sauce simmer and all are propane gas. The three ovens are electric and the warming oven is at top left. One of the ovens is hot, one cool and one is a roasting oven and all work. It's a great stove and I've loved using it even though when our electric goes out, only the burners work. In the winter, when a storm comes, I try and make sure I've got bread made so we're not without if the electric goes out...which it does with great regularity.

Acorns were made in Albany, NY during the last century...the same century in which I was born. Like the way that was phrased, eh? -grin-

While we didn't purchase from the Good Times Stove, they do have a great selection of antique, refurbished stoves. Their blog talks about antique stoves as well as a bit of everything else. Barnstable Stove is another good source of antique vintage stoves.

I don't believe the place we bought our Acorn is still in business but we found the restorer in an issue of This Old House magazine. They did an article on David and his business, we saw the article, called him in January '96 and put in our request. Six months later, he called us back to say our stove was ready. David told us he knew of only two such stoves in existence and the other was in Ralph Lauren's Colorado home. Such things impress some people but I'm not one of 'em; I'm just happy to have such a fantastic stove and can only hope Mr. Lauren loves his old stove as much as we do ours.

Suzanne hosts a Vintage Thingies Thursday and I decided to participate. It's been a lot of fun, visiting other sites that are showcasing vintage things. Funny, that. We used to call it antique but, apparently, now the name has morphed into vintage. At any rate, I see my house belongings in so many of these vintage posts. I suppose that what's happens when you've been housekeeping for as long as I have -smile-. I hope I remember to do this again next week, participate in VTT; it's been fun, talking about our stove and doing a bit of research. Perhaps next week I'll talk about my Romanian fiber and textile artifacts.

Right now, I need to post this so I can bake some Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Squares for Quilting Bee tonight. I've been a slackard today; time to get something useful accomplished! In the meantime, here's the recipe for the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Squares. I wish I could remember where I found these but, at any rate, I've changed the recipe just a tad so, perhaps, the original author wouldn't want to be referenced anyway.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Squares

2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups pumpkin or 15 ounce can
1 cup chocolate chips plus another cup for frosting

Butter or spray a 13x9 inch baking dish and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs, stir.
Add pumpkin, stir.
Mix together dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture; blend.
Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips.
Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes, more of less, depending upon your oven.
Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over baked goods, let melt and then spread as frosting.

P. S. If you're looking for the book give-away, Gift From The Sea, it's in the post prior to this one. 


Until next time,

Blessings ~ our old Acorn stove ~ antiques ~ tripping down memory lane ~ quilting bee ~ home baked goodies ~