Sewing Chick

Friday, June 13, 2008

Cherries

I love cherry fabrics! This first one is a vintage dish towel... isn't it sweet?

This next one was a skirt that I got at a thrift store. I've cut it up to make a handbag out of it.... what else?

This vintage fabric belonged to my great-grandma. She sewed a lot, and after she passed away, I inherited all of her fabric.

Vintage tin canisters & and Eyeless Chicken

More second-hand finds, coming right up! These vintage canisters I've picked up at garage sales. None of them match, and that's exactly how I like it! Right now they're empty, but soon enough they'll be storing little things like batteries or change.

I love these little canisters. I want to fill them up with little bobbins, because I need to get some more and they will need a place to live.

These metal boxes came from various garage sales. The blue one I just got a few weeks ago. I think my friend thought I was crazy when I got it (for one dollar I might add) but after she saw how it fit in, she changed her mind. I did a little research, and the Johnson & Johnson product had something to do with dairy farming. Not what I would have expected, that's for sure.

What does this have to do with canisters? Absolutely nothing. My grandma gave me this vintage chicken, but its eyes must have fallen off at some point.

My Love Affair with my Kitchenaid Mixer

What else can I say except that I love this mixer. It stirs, it kneads, it makes pasta, it does the dishes (oh wait, that's my husband who does the dishes but you get the point!) That blue piece of goodness is there with me through thick and thin, as I experiment with new recipes and as I make familiar, oldies but goodies. It even forgave me the time I turned it up too high while mixing a thick dough; the slow, growling motor letting me know of my error.

And then there's the matching blender. Its motor is extremely strong and has no problem chopping or blending whatever I throw its way.

Tonight our dinner included my great-grandma's "Skillet Supper," Bacon & Cream Cheese Rolls, and Triple Chocolate Brownies. I owe these brownies all to my Kitchenaid Mixer. See approximate recipes below (I say "approximate" because I cook with the "dump method."

Skillet Supper: Two zucchinis, a bag of frozen corn, a large can of tomatoes, about half a jar of spaghetti sauce (leftover from our lasagna dinner yesterday), spices to taste, and about a cup of water. Simmer all over medium-low heat until cooked through. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bacon & Cream Cheese Rolls: One pack of crescent rolls divided into four rectangles, about 6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped fine (which I did with my beloved Kitchenaid blender), spices to taste, one teaspoon of milk. Mix together ingredients two through five, then spread 1/4 of the mixture onto each rectangle. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

Triple Chocolate Brownies: One cake mix, one mix of instant chocolate pudding, two cups milk, chocolate chips, two eggs. Make the pudding according to the directions on the box. Mix the cake mix, the pudding, and the eggs. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 350-375 degrees for as long as it takes to cook all the way through. It took me about 50 minutes, even though the recipe called for 35 minutes.

The Rabbitry

I am in no way endorsing the breeding of rabbits for profit, just to clarify the title of today's blog. I think that breeding is wrong, and I would personally never buy a pure bred. I know people that do, especially dogs, and I can kind of understand that, however I live in a 100% mutt household. With so many animals that need rescuing, why pay the kind of money that purebreeds cost? Visit your local pound or shelter for cats and dogs, and visit the House Rabbit Society for adoptable rabbits in your area. Enough ranting on that subject.

What this blog really is about is showcasing my wonderful rabbit items and paintings. Let the fun begin!

This is a doorbell I got as a gift awhile back; I wish someone would install it for me so I can enjoy it!

This is a poster I found second-hand, and I put it in a very nice gold frame that was given to me. I did have to buy the mat new, though I don't mind because it turned out so cute!

This I got at a going-out-of-business sale. Those are the best!

I saw this half off at Kirklands one day- it was originally $120, but I still didn't want to pay sixty dollars for it, so I passed. Then one day, at New Uses (a second hand store in our area though not exactly a thrift store) I saw the exact same painting for thirty dollars. It became mine.

I'm pretty sure I got this one at New Uses too though I can't remember for sure

My parents got me this one. It depicts a very bad sailor boy, however. You should never pick a rabbit up by the ears!

This was actually a postcard I bought at a bookstore, matted it, and framed it.

My college roommate got me these bookends. They're awesome and hold antique books that were given to me by my grandma.

This adorable egg cup was a gift.

I can't remember where I got this. Walmart maybe? Isn't that terrible. I really don't like to go to Walmart, but it's so close....

I got this rabbit canister the other day at a garage sale. It came in a grouping of four that the lady was selling for two dollars. The other canisters had various farm animals on them and had some chips. She offered me just the rabbit canister for only 50 cents! Sold!

Repurposing- The Fourth "R"

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose. The last one's the most fun, isn't it? I didn't exactly repurpose old cork like I should have for this project, though I am repurposing old hoops. I know if I was patient I surely would have run across a corkboard someone was selling for next to nothing, however at Smith & Hawkins, they were having a sidewalk sale yesterday and, on clearance, they had these circular cork mats to put your plants on for $1.39 each. They were perfect (or so I thought), so I grabbed three; one for each of the hand-me-down embroidery hoops I had in mind for the project.

After I got home, I traced around the hoop onto the cork just like this tutorial says, http://www.sweetjessie.com/2008/03/put-cork-in-it.html , but ran into some problems because the back is lined with plastic. I thought I would be able to gently peel off the plastic backing however the cork breaks when I try to separate the cork from the plastic. So there it sits, awaiting for me to come up with a solution, and also awaiting for me to decide which fabric I want to use. Too many fabrics, so little time.

In this photo, look at what the vintage fan is sitting on, and there you will find another artfully repurposed craft that is fun and simple to make. I found some shutters at a garage sale (I found some in three different sizes, and so I made three, though the other two can't be seen in this photo). With these shutters, I screwed them together to form a rectangular box, topped it with a piece of scrap wood, and paint as you see fit. Voila, a nice little place to set your beverage, book, clock, or whatever else doesn't take up too much surface area!

Here you kind of see more of the shutters that I repurposed. On top is an antique shoe-form, into which I popped an old dowel rod (which had been a paint stirrer in its recent past), and there you have a paper towel holder.

Next is a birdhouse-trio wall-hanging necklace-holder I made. At the flea market in Shipshewanna, Indiana, I found someone who was selling those adorable little birdhouses for something like fifty cents to a dollar, depending on the size. Surely he was using reclaimed wood, which makes this all the more eco-friendly. I glued and nailed the trio together, placed eye hooks in the side and attached with a ribbon I got at a garage sale years ago. Then I screwed three cup hooks onto the front, and there you have it. I originally made it for keys, but after I amassed all those necklaces at a garage sale for ten cents apiece, I needed a place to put them.

Next up is one of my personal favs. Here we have a few feedsacks that I've sewn to fit a body pillow. Did you know that back in the olden days, people would use their feed sacks just like regular fabric, and many of their garments would get lined with this feedsack material. Companies actually started making the lettering wash out so that it was all the more easier to repurpose the material. Anyway, I love the way they look, and they're comfy too!

Along the same lines as the Feed sack body pillows, here we have three pillows. One is made from ladies' handkerchiefs, one from fabric napkins, and the third from a vintage bag of flour.

Last up for now is a wine crate ottoman, complete with free casters that my friend gave me after she took them off something of hers. The wine crate was given to me a long time ago by an ex's mother. I simply placed some foam on top, covered it with fabric, and stapled the fabric to the underside of the lid. Inside I store linens. In this house, almost everything needs to double as storage because I have so much STUFF!

Here is a mug tree I got awhile ago at a garage sale. I liked it because it was metal and shabby chic, not like the 70s wooden one we all grew up with. I did have mugs on it until I came into a ton of jewelry at a garage sale, all ten cents per piece, and now I am having to find creative ways to store it all. I told myself I wouldn't buy anything to put the jewelry on and would instead just use found objects around the house. This seems to do the trick, however, I think it works best with bracelets because it doesn't have much height.

This is a cat house I made in college for Lily, our then-cat. She was a stray who just walked into the house one day, literally, and then never left. A roommate of mine kept her after college. To make this house, I used leftover wood that I had. No new wood was purchased. I painted it to look cute, and there you have it. It no longer houses any animals, but it sits out in front of our house just for show.

Wow, am I tan in this photo.

My Sewing Room

Here's a pic of my sewing machine. It's a Singer, millenium series. My first summer out of college I worked at Joann Fabrics until the school year started (I'm a teacher), and one of the ladies I worked with bought an embroidery machine, and so she sold me this machine for fifty bucks. Not bad, not bad. If anyone has an extra manual to this machine, please let me know! I never did get the manual from her when I bought it.

I love vintage tins and glass jars!

Every sewer must have a stash of vintage buttons.

Every time I see a wire basket while out and about, I get it if the price is right. I especially love these deep ones. I have two of them this size; the other one is in the living room and holds scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas.

More thrify finds - Some Photographs

An awesome tin breadbox which now stores some fabric

An adorable little footstool beautifully embroidered

A little bunny rabbit photo holder and a small candy dish
which doubled as a paperweight to keep the napkins from
blowing away at our wedding shower picnic

Several thrifty second-hand things here- the pillows, wool
blanket, and even the chair itself

These great metal boxes to store stuff, plus the little green tennis
ball holder thingamabob which I think would be great to hold flowers in moss

The lard tin was a buck and now holds the rabbit food.
The suitcases were handed down to me from Grandma.

A vintage red picnic basket topped with a wire basket full
with some of my vintage red-handled kitchen utensils

This calendar was only a dollar, even though it's over a hundred years old!

This Ice-o-Matic thing must have been once used to crush ice.
Unfortunately, the day I bought it, I dropped it and broke the little drawer in front.
It still makes for a good little storage area
for something like spare keys or perhaps change.