Treasure Hunt

A friend and I checked out a church rummage sale in the area this morning, and we came away with some mighty good finds. Here's what I brought home for $9.75.

Big, rustic basket - $1.50


And a decorative birdcage (to house a plant, maybe?) - $1.00


Leather-handled basket - $1.00


Mirror (with plans to paint the frame) - $2.00


Vintage bread cloth - 50 cents


Vintage roll cloth? - 50 cents


Anyone know what this is, for real? My friend and I are just guessing. It has two snaps, which when fastened, make the cloth look like this.


The embroidery lies face up, then, within the outer sections.


Jar candle - 25 cents


Rustic sled - $3.00


My friend spotted it, but she has two decorative sleds and decided that doesn't need another. Score!

Just Peachy

Recently, while giving our old chest freezer an overdue defrosting, I came across a forgotten bag of frozen sliced peaches. Since fresh peaches are in (sweet, juicy, drip-down-your-arm) season, it seemed almost heretical to consider using frozen now. Then I remembered a well-loved recipe for Peach Cobbler from Lora Lee Parrott's Sunday Dinner. It's quick, delicious, and calls for frozen peaches.


Warm from the oven with some whipped or ice cream--or in our case tonight, frozen vanilla yogurt--it says lovin' from the oven any time of year. Oh--I usually halve the recipe for just the two of us, since one of us has quite a sweet tooth and is semi-committed to watching her weight.


Some minor changes to the recipe--I add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dry ingredients; also, like my friend Sharon, I use 4 cups peaches rather than 2 or 3. No oven temp is given, so I bake at 400 degrees and use a greased 8 or 9" square pan for half a recipe, 9 x 13" for full.

PEACH COBBLER

1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
3/4 cup milk
2-3 cups frozen peaches
1/2 cup water

Melt butter in baking dish. Mix flour, baking powder, 1 cup of sugar, and milk; pour into baking dish. Arrange peaches over batter. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup sugar over peaches and pour water over peaches. Bake in preheated oven 50 minutes.

'This is a quick- and easy-to-prepare dessert. Also easy to use with other fruits. Especially delicious served hot.'

Mrs. Bob (Mary Jo) Ketchum
Shawnee, Oklahoma

Brighten the Corner*

Here's a small project I can lay claim to. We were given three chairs and a table just for clearing them out of a family member's basement. Here's one of the chairs before.


And after.


After sanding, priming, painting, re-sanding--wet this time--and re-painting. Paint on the seat bubbled up the first time. Either I hadn't sufficiently sanded, or the primer and paint were incompatible. Still learning.

So now, this cheery red chair brightens a corner of the deck. For more brightness, there happened to be some wildflowers growing among the weeds down the hill.


*In my youth, I sang alto in church with a girls' trio--creatively called The Girls' Trio. I'm pretty sure we weren't that good; bless the hearts of the folks who patiently listened to and encouraged us! 'Brighten the Corner' was one of 'our' songs. We loved to sing the last phrase:

Brighten the corner
Where (soprano)
Where (second soprano)
Where (alto)
You (and so on)
You
You
Are! (three-part harmony)

Oh No I Didn't!

No, I didn't restore this French-inspired kitchen set! The hubs suggested we leave the job to a professional and frankly, he didn't have to ask me twice. Maybe with a little more experience, I would've considered tackling such a large project, but I just didn't feel ready to take the risk.

A craigslist find, she originally sported some old, stained off-white polyester cushions, a highly lacquered, black-spattered finish, and a sizeable variety of nicks.


However, we were able to see past her surface blemishes to her shapely tabletop, beautiful wood grain, cute skirt, and well-maintained cane. So Anita at Heirloom Furniture Restoration worked her magic, and we were thrilled with the outcome. (We could use a larger rug now!)


I did manage to re-cover the chair cushions with this red and white home dec fabric. Ticking has always been a favorite of mine. I also sprayed each cushion with a stain repellant.

Thanks to craigslist and Anita, we're enjoying the new look in the nook!