Vintage Crocheted Hangers & Pink Mallow Volunteer

I love these crocheted hangers. About 15 years ago, I went to the estate auction of  the 90+-year old aunt of my cousin's wife and I bought a big  box of crocheted hangers.

These are wooden hangers and probably from the 1950's?  I am just guessing, as I really am no expert on hangers. 

There were also  all wire hangers in the box. Again I am guessing that these are from the late 1960's/early 70's since the harvest gold color is so prevalent.

The wooden hangers were probably hard to find in that era, so this lady turned to the cheaper, easy-to-get wire hangers.

I can imagine her sitting in front of TV watching Lawerence Welk while crocheting these hangers. 

I never knew this lady, but I feel connected to her.  I know she enjoyed cooking and gardening because I also bought boxes of her gardening/cooking  books.

She died before the Internet took off. I wonder what she would think of her hangers still being used by someone and pictures of them in cyberspace for the world to see. I think she would feel good about that.

While touring the garden after work, I shrieked as I spotted one pink mallow bloom in front of the daisies.

 I have spent the past two years trying to get rid of this plant in my gardens. Once established it's a bugger to get rid of. It has a long tap root and if a tiny piece remains in the ground, it continues to grow.  I am happy to say that just by pulling gently on this tiny plant, I got the whole tap root. Look how long it was already!

Success is sweet.

I Got so Much Done This Weekend!

My weekend went by super fast, but I feel good about all the inside cleaning/outside garden work I got done. I will spare you the details of my long overdue cleaning chores.

Our local strawberries were ready this weekend.  DH stopped and bought two quarts from people who sell them by the roadside.  They go out picking at the crack of dawn and by 9:00 a.m they are selling them for $3/quart all over town.  I put the two quarts in my vintage strawberry carrier and set in beside my nearly-ready-to-bloom white astilbe for this photo Op. Then I took them inside, cleaned them and squished the to smithereens!


Then I took them inside, cleaned them and squished the to smithereens!.We often buy California strawberries in early spring. They were pretty good this year. But they never give off all the sweet juice that our local berries do.

The local berries made for a tasty dessert served over some store-bought pound cake.
This morning I decided to remove some of the Lamb's Ear I planted last year. It has grown so fast that it is taking over my lavender in the front Arbor Garden border.


I removed this big clump and planted it here:

I think it looks nice between some blue spiderwort and Johnson's blue geraniums.
After moving it, I cut it down and then moved a second Lamb's Ear to this area.

I think I am going to enjoy it in this garden.

Saturday afternoon I spent a bit of time on the deck tying these green beads to a project that I finished on Sunday.

Do you have any idea what I made?
Well, you can find out by going to my sewing/quilting blog. Just click this sentence. 
If you want to know how I made this altered fabric, check the previous post by clicking here.

Valentine Sweets for My Sweetie

Happy Valentine's Day!


I  spent a lot of  my weekend  in the kitchen. Strawberries looked good when DH was shopping, so I made spinach/strawberry salad for Sunday lunch and then decorated these four berries  with

some leftover melting chocolate.  I just love the look of jumbo berries dipped in chocolate and nuts.  I guess you can tell that since I used them in my new header.  Each one got its own heart-shaped plate and was slowly devoured with every bite  enjoyed to the fullest.

I bought a new Wilton heart cutter--one of those big thick ones-- and decided to make boxed brownies to try it out.

I am not too thrilled with it, but I think it's because the brownies were under cooked and did not cut cleanly.  I threw away about half of them because they were too gooey in the center.

I also did a lot of sewing this weekend.  One of the items I made was a Dresden plate (name of the old quilt patten) placemat to go with my black and red dishes.  I do love designing table items to match my many sets of dishes.

 But instead of the black/red dishes,  I decided to use them with glass dishes so I could put one of my Vintage valentines under each plate.

That marshmallow stick on the top of the plate is cute, but it tasted awful! So bad it was inedible. So don't buy them if you see them marked down after the holiday. Well, buy them if you want to, I don't mean to tell you what to do, but I can't imagine that anybody could eat one of those--it was like chewing on a rubber tire.

Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

Not much Happening around Here

I have been thinking about the table I will set for my Thanksgiving dinner. I am pretty sure it will be this Vintage china. The dinner plate is a pattern called 'Windsor Fruit'.  from Johnson Brothers England. Of all the dinnerware I own, I think 'Windsor Fruit' is my favorite.

The vegetable bowl behind the dinner plate is a different pattern from Vernon Kilns. It is called 'May Flower'. I think the two work beautifully together. They are from the 1940's - 1950's.

Here is a close up of the 'Windsor Fruit' plate.

The pic is from replacements.com. I went there to find out when the china was made. Whoa, was I impressed when I saw the price of this dinner plate! Let's just say I made a very good purchase about 20 years ago when I bought this nearly complete service-for-eight set.

I am not even cooking on Thanksgiving Day. We are going to my MIL's for dinner. We already have a turkey, so I plan to cook it on the Saturday following. I will do the whole turkey day shebang all over again. The best part will be having leftovers for a big turkey/dressing/fresh cranberry sauce sandwich the next day.

I am not even cooking anything to take to  my MIL's.  I found this 14-slice variety pack of cheesecake and that is my contribution--every piece is a different flavor. Can you imagine making 14 different cheesecakes and assembling this?
You have to love those huge food distribution stores--in this case, Gordon Food Service.

Other than working and getting my hair cut, I have not accomplished much this week. 

I did start a new banner for Christmas. It will be a 'Ho Ho Ho' banner, but so far I have only completed two H's.  It took a bit less than 10 minutes before work one morning. 
I guess I am just not in the mood to sew this week.

I have also been ordering library books. The Country Decorating one I had last week was a Dud--other than the sunflower tree, there was not a thing I was interested in. I already have a pic of that tree in my files. I got it off the net a few years ago--more proof that the net is the place for ideas!

 Now I have three novels to read.

 I had better get started--a couple of these are pretty thick!


So that was  my week--not too exciting--I hope yours was better!

Out with the Roosters -- In with Sarah

After my last post, Balisha sent me this jewelry link.

Once I got there I was mesmerized by all the vintage bling and went through all 45 pages in a two-hour session. What fun I had becoming a Sarah Coventry sleuth. I found that I owned a number of pieces that I did not even know were SC.

I got out the magnifying glass and jewelry containers and every time I saw something that looked familiar I dug through it all.

I found these pieces right away. I just love that flower petal mesh diamond shaped necklace--never knew it was a SC.
I know I have more, but I didn't get them out.

Ever since I gave up collecting roosters, it's been pretty boring going to thrift stores or garage sales. I think I will start looking for Sarah jewelry -- it's small and inexpensive--many pieces are under $20. My first hunt will be for the matching necklace for this ring. I never knew there was one until I saw it on that site. I tried to order it, but it was no longer in stock. Darn! My mother gave me this ring and she said she has the matching brooch, which is giving me as she never wears it anymore.

While searching for more Sarah, I discovered that it was produced under three marks - Sarah Coventry (first used in May 1949), SC (after Oct. 1953, and Sarah Cov after 1960. There are also many unmarked pieces, which makes for a bit of a challenge when trying to identify the piece.

So thanks, Balisha, for getting me started on a new collection!

Oh, I never did the necklace below. Maybe it's not SC after all. I did find a bracelet that I was thought an old great uncle brought from Greece... LOL. I was way off on that one!

Vintage Necklace

I wore this vintage Sarah Coventry necklace today. At least I believe it is a Sarah piece.

Does anyone remember those in-the-home parties for Sarah Coventry jewelry?

My mom went to few back in the day. I think she gave me most of the pieces she purchased (I hope my sisters aren't reading this or they will whine because I got them and they didn't!).

I must say that the jewelry was very good quality. The pieces I have look as good today as they did when she bought them in the 1960's.

I get compliments almost every time I wear a piece of S.C.

Has anyone ever seen this piece before? I would like to know if it is in fact a SC piece.

Heaven on a Pyrex Plate

I finally used the tablecloth I bought about a year ago. I bought it to go with my 1950's Pyrex turquoise-banded dinnerware. I thought a brown and turquoise tablescape would be fun to do.

I don't use the vintage Hazel Atlas Capri Dot glasses very often, but I always love them when I do. They are such a beautiful color of blue.

I didn't spend much time thinking of a centerpiece. I grabbed this oversized Margarita glass which was already full of clear marbles. I wiped a little dust off the rim, tossed in a few blue marbles, then filled it with water and floated a single dahlia. The bird candle holders were used just because I think they are probably from the 1950's and I saw them first when I opened the candle drawer.

All day at work I was craving spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, onions and basil. When I got home I immediately put a big pot of water on to boil. I skinned the tomatoes, chopped the onions, sauteed them in a bit of oil and butter, tossed in a handful of chopped basil..............
Ah, who would have thought I'd find heaven on a Pyrex plate?

Tuesday Treasure

Anybody know what this little treasure is?

I bought him Saturday at a garage sale. He was my only purchase. I paid 50 cents.

What do you think it is?

I Wonder What Lady of Long Ago Wore This Fancy Hat...

It's part of my small collection of thank-goodness-I-wasn't-a-lady-back-then memorabilia. You know, in the days of waist-cinching corsets, long gloves and hats like this one.

It is beautifully made with all that intricate beading. It must have been a woman of means whose head donned this jazzed up vintage beret (or is it a pillbox? I am not up on hat designs).

I don't know who "Mr. James" was. I suspect a high quality milliner. Has anyone (a New Yorker perhaps) heard of Hats by Mr. James?

Here I am modeling this little beauty...side view...

Front view...look at all those beads....


Want to try something interesting. I found this little game today.

I did it twice and both times it got the correct symbol. How can it possibly know what number I picked?

Dining Al fresco

I am all alone tonight.
It is a beautiful warm (but not HOT) evening.
I decided to enjoy the moment and dine outside.








I threw one of my vintage tablecloths on this small table.
Since I just finished a bottle of the Relax wine, I used the pretty cobalt blue bottle to hold my last peonies.
With my collection of dishes, it was easy to find a perfect match.
I made a nice salad with grapes and poppyseed dressing and sat here and enjoyed every bite.

I do not usually enjoy eating outside because I don't like to fight the bugs for each bite.

Tonight I ate the entire salad without being bothered once by a bug.

I must do this more often.

Vintage Hydrangea Tablecloth

Can you believe it is almost Easter? I thought I would post a pic of an Easter table setting. One of my hobbies is collecting dishes and this table is set with old pyrex dishes and Capri glassware (the blue). The vintage tablecloth is probably from the 50's. It is one of my favorites (I have just a handful of these old tablecloths--maybe 4 or 5). The centerpiece is just a bowl full of artificial flowers and Easter eggs. You can't see the eggs very well, but they are real eggs that I have decoupaged. I did the eggs years ago and they have held up well. Many of them have quilting motifs.