Doin What I Love

I've finished painting the spare bedroom and am now looking for a same to medium sized table to put my sewing machine own. I got to looking on craigslist and accidentally came across an item for sale by a lady who runs an antique store that I haven't been to yet. So of course, I finished my coffee, got dressed and went straight to it, only to find that behind it and across the street is another antique mall I haven't heard of!! Yay for adventure! And to find them both by accident... :) Anway, haven't got a table yet, and I didn't go to the second one across the street, but here are some of my finds from the new mall.

This is a civil war era sewing machine by the American Button Hole, Overseam, and Sewing Machine Co. I've just emailed someone about its value to see if it's worth buying. VERY VERY cool!

The tag on this said "primitive bench". I have the perfect spot for it. I <3 it

Close up of the sewing machine

Peeeerfect kitchen table for a "crunchy" house!

I like this one even better. The wood top is ruff, so you can't mess it up or scratch it. And I love the butcher block on top!

One of my favorite finds beside the sewing machine and the "bench". It is all heart pine, built between 1920-40 and native to the Wiregrass area. This would look great in my new room too!

I will probably return and get this come pay day :)

This would be beautiful in a country home....if you can look past the red. If it were mine I'd repaint it.

These are old aluminum or tin? cake stands. Made me think of my Aunt Christy (she makes cakes). Perfect for a bride going for an old/vintage wedding theme.

Another bed that would look awesome in "my room". I need to get a job hehe.

More great finds!

This drysink is now MINE! I've been eye'n it for months and just happen to walk in today and the owner had everything 40%!!!!! I found out the owner his moving out so.....I grabbed it!! Now, how to justify to my husband I bought an old drysink to use as a changing table for a baby we don't have. I just couldn't pass it up because I knew I wouldn't come across one like this again.

Amongst all the other "stuff" can you see the black beauty?! Would look beautiful in my freshly re-done spare bedroom

This old buggy seat would make an awesome bench!

I see past the gold. This would be beautiful in a distressed paint! More like white, with the Ralph Lauren tobacco glaze!!

New Projects

We received two rockin chairs from my parents for Christmas this year; unfinished. I had been wanting rockin chairs for a while so I was excited not only about the chairs but also this meant a project for the hubby and I to do together! We started on them this weekend and I should finish up today. Will post pics as soon as they're done!

I also have a project of my own: redoing the spare bedroom. I'm wanting it to be shabby chic/country prairie themed. I read that this look has pale pastel walls or neutrals/creams/beiges. I went with neutral since I'm coming from PURPLE. Lol here are some pics so far. It will be a while before my masterpiece is complete! Lol

Hidden Treasure

It was such a dreary day that I decided to go for some coffee and visit my favorite antique shop. As usual, they had some great stuff. I'm so excited I have to share what I found! Too bad money doesn't grow on trees or most of these items would've found a home today :)

Old Singer sewing table

White sewing machine (really cool)

I thought this was unique. I'd totally use it :)

The tag said it was electric and works! Anyone want to make some butter?!

I drooled and drooled over this. If it hadn't already sold I'd find a way to buy it and store it until I get my "crunchy" house one day. It's table with two benches. Probably my fav find.

This is was just beautiful....and huge.

This Singer sewing table stood out to me more than the wood topped one. If I had a place for it'd I'd buy it!

So pretty for a little girl's room. I love how it has charachter. It's not plain.

Ok, this was cool! It's a vintage manicure set!

Interesting piece. At first I thought "it looks like it should be at a funeral home", and then I thought "from a photography standpoint, this would make for some killer photos"!

Another favorite find! Vintage Electro Grand sewing machine

Really cool old cash register

I think to most this old ironing board wouldn't be anything special, but I could find a use for it my "crunchy" house one day :)

Old wash tub! How cool!

I love old stoves <3

This is another fav find for my crunchy house. I love it!!!

I fell in love with this! I want to build my own and put it in my spare bedroom as a book shelf or something, but I want my shutters to have a white-washed/distressed look; not green.

One man's junk is another man's treasure

Got to do a little antique browsing with my best friend on Saturday :) Made for a great day! We came across a cool and really old typewriter, a rockin chair made out of tree limbs and.... I found some shabby chic furniture! I fell in love with the look and the price. Can't wait to redo my spare bedroom!

This old house

I did it! I finally got the nerve to pull off to the side of the road and take a quick pic of an old house I fell in love with several years ago. It was really foggy this morning and thought it might make for a good picture. I couldn't resist! I had forgotten what it looked like, but remembered I LOVED it! And when I pulled up it was like "oh yeah, this is why it stays in my memory"! Will post the picture soon! I took it with my canon so I have to deal with the whole SD card thing.

cold weather cookin

It has finally gotten cold down here in the deep south, and it's got me in the mood for warm homemade vegetable soup with homemade cornbread. YUM! I wont go into the entire spill, but lets just say after running to 4 different grocery stores to get the right buttermilk and three attempts at making the cornbread, I was ready to call it quits, but I FINALLY got it right. But not in time for the hubby to eat before work. I feel like I failed :(  The food was great though once it was finally done!

 And here is snapshot of Maddie during her bath time yesterday hehe

Household Tips

One of the many things my parents got me for Christmas was a book; Vinegar: 101 Practical Household Uses. I read The Help and relayed to my mom the many uses of Crisco. I guess she remembered that and although it's not about Crisco I guess it's close enough. I thought I'd share what I learn as I read it. So far I'm pleasantly surprised at it's many uses!

•  You can periodically clean out soap scum and disinfect your washing machine by adding 2 cups of white distilled vinegar and running it through a full cycle (no clothes or detergent).
•  To brighten colors add 1/2 pint white distilled vinegar to your wash cycle (This will also reduce lint & static cling).
•  If your worried about color running on a new garment (like those dark dark blue jeans); soak them for 10-15 min in a few cups of vinegar before washing.
•  Preserve the color of your swimwear. Add a little vinegar to some water and soak your new swimsuite in it. It's suppose to make the color last longer, even if you swim a lot in pools with lots of chlorine.

Ok, so the only one I've tried so far is cleaning the washing machine and I can't tell you if it worked because how do you tell if you have soap scum in the first place? Where do you look to see a before and after? As for smell, all I can say is that my first load after "cleaning" the machine did not smell like vinegar. Anway, I'll be sure and share my experiences and post more tips as there are many many more!

Since my Thanksgiving post I've been up to alot. As you can see, I had an audience while I completed my first sewing project: a walmart sack/bag holder thingy for my sister's kitchen. I learned quickly that sewing is enjoyable, but one can get very frustrated very quickly. I also learned that when you start getting tired you start making mistakes so STOP and take a break!  LOL I'm getting ready to work on my next couple of projects, but keep putting them off because I still can't sew straight seems :( I'm a perfectionist. Any pointers are more than welcome!

I've also been practicing with my new camera, but got an iPhone and forgot about the camera for a little bit. I'm using both to practice shooting and play with creativity. I'm discovering I really like taking pictures of nature. And I'd love to one day be able to take a picture of something "ugly" or "ordinary" and turn it into one of those works of art where people just "ooo" and "ah" over it. Until then, here are a few of my pictures thus far...

This is my favorite from the iPhone

My husband and I found this bird nest made into the side of dead tree while walking in the woods :)

Lookin up from my tree stand

Everyone, meet Clyde!

Also from tree stand

Angled shot from tree stand

My absolute favorite so far!!

 All of the daisy pics were taken with my Canon.