My Buttery

I subscribe to A Simple Life, A Primitive Place and Mercantile Gatherings.  It seems in each issue some wonderful prim home has this great buttery and I'm jealous!  If you read my last post you know that my home is not one of those great prim log cabins - it is your typical 1976 2 story home.  There is no addition out back that is or can even become a buttery.  

My solution - I can make-do with one created from the pantry off my kitchen.  

This pantry is in a wall at the end of the counter in the kitchen.  As you walk past this area you are headed to the 1/2 bath at the end of the house or the garage.  Originally the pantry had a bi-fold door, which when we redid the kitchen I painted the same cranberry as the trim.  I eventually got really tired of that bi-fold door and put up a homespun curtain. The curtain hung from a tension rod at the top and made it much easier to grab something quickly out of the pantry.  

I realize that I need to paint the inside of my new buttery - but I was just so excited to gather all my "stuff" and test out how it looked. 

 The 2 flour sack towels hide the shelf that holds cereal and other boxes that won't fit in the cupboard where I had to move the can goods to.  

Looking at this shelf, my friend Melissa, from Farm Field Primitives, made me the sugar cone and I stitched the "1803" pinkeep.  

This next photo shows an apron that I made from an old feed sack.  I wear this with one of my work costumes.  I thought it was very "make-do".  I'm sure that in the past many women used these feed sacks as aprons. 

I hit the jack pot one day in the consignment store - this handmade broom was there and had the tag with it that said it was made at Pleasant Hill KY, Shaker Settlement!  WOW was I happy.  The round wood container I found at an auction (I was with my friend Melissa) for $4.00.  It stores all our athletic type water bottles. 

So many of these items were stored in cupboards behind closed doors, as I don't like a lot of "stuff" sitting out.  Now it's great all gathered here on display. 

The bowl on the top shelf is one of the few antiques that I have in the buttery. It is a sponged piece by Red Wing Pottery.   My maternal Grandmother was from Wisconsin.  I believe that the bowl came with her when she married my Grandfather and moved to NY state in 1912.  

One of my favorite prim stores had the screen with hard-tack biscuits that I just had to have. Looking at the shelf, I will not need to distress this one much!  Lot's of wear and tear already.  

Another antique piece from my maternal Grandmother - the tin mold.  I've used this mold to make a pantry cake, has a neat pineapple motif on the top.  

I do have a few things from my paternal grandparents.  I do not know the history behind this firkin, other than it was theirs.  This grandmother was a rug hooker and used quite a bit of reclaimed, recycled wool in her hooking.  The firkin was FULL of buttons from clothing that she had hooked into rugs.  

When I was little, I loved digging through this firkin, sorting buttons and stringing them on a needle and thread.   My sister and I still use the buttons for various projects.  When she visits, she always asks me if she can look at the buttons and of course take a few home with her!   

I hope you've enjoyed my new Buttery.  I'm crossing my fingers that I will be able to get it painted this coming weekend - there's no baseball on the schedule.  

Have a great week ~Ann

My new Curtains

I know that most of us make do with what we have, I am no exception.  Our home is a 1976 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, nothing special house.  We have made many changes in the 10 years we've lived here - it still screamed 1976 in 2000.  

The living room windows are a challenge for me.  The three large windows take up almost the whole wall, which IS nice because it lets in lots of light, which is also NOT nice because it lets in lots of light! The windows certainly aren't country/prim at all. If you look closely at the right hand side, you can see that the windows are recessed back into a jut-out (is that a word?) which is kind of interesting.

These dark brown curtains are my second attempt to figure something out for these windows.  I made them a few years ago and have never really been happy with them.  Previous to these, I had made valances I copied out of  Country Curtains.  Those went bye-bye to be replaced with these dark brown ones.  

In an effort to go simple, I bought a bolt of osnaburg and tore pieces for these curtains.  I stitched a rod pocket at the top and tied them back with string.  While I would like to string these across my windows on jute, instead of having the rod, that isn't possible. 

The new curtains...... 

These windows face South and I have to have the roman shades on the windows for blocking the sun in the summer - just to cool down our living room.  Because of the shades I can't hang the curtains on jute - like I would like to, but I will make do! 

Oh, and by the way, I didn't throw out the cats with the dark brown curtains - I have no idea where they disappeared to for the final picture!  

~Ann

A blogging Win

I recently won a giveaway from Becky at Primitives n Stitchin.  My goodies arrived wrapped up so nicely.

The 2 items where a doll needle case and doll quilt.  

 Becky's work is wonderful and her stitching is just perfect.  The needle case is hidden under the dolls dress.  Becky included a thread on the side that wraps around the top button to close the case when not in use.  

 For now, the doll quilt is hanging on the front of this cupboard.  I'm not sure that I'm going to keep it in this spot, but for now it looks great on the front. 

 The doll needle case found a home on my bathroom shelf - No I don't stitch in there, but I needed something new on this shelf and she's the perfect size.  I need to make a stitching area in our basement family room and include her in my display on my side table.  

 I also have to share "The Prom Dress".  Our daughter ended up picking out a pink dress - very funny as this is the color she said she was NOT going to get!  

I've missed a lot of blogging lately and missed all of you, but believe me I haven't been missing any action - both our boys are playing on travel baseball teams (different ones of course!) and our older son ran track this spring and is also playing on a basketball team on the weekends.  I've been trying my best just to keep up with all my laundry!  Track is now over and only one more weekend of basketball so I hope to be around more.  Plus I only have 15 more days of school! YEAH!  I love summer break.

Have a great week.  ~Ann

Congratulations to Sandi!

Tonight my random number generator - named Daniel - chose a number and Sandi, you were the lucky number that he chose. 

I have sent you an email and I will need your mailing address to send out this redo to you. 

Thanks to all that commented on the post for a chance at winning this sampler/cutting board combo.

Have a great weekend.  I'll be sitting outside for a minimum of 7 baseball games - if you are warm, think of me - I'll be freezing!  ~Ann

My Swap From Misi

This is the post for my Swap that I did with Tammy from A Primitive Place - the swap was "So you/So me" My swap partner was Misi from 1890 Gable House Musings.

My mail lady arrived on Saturday just as we were leaving for a baseball game and she was delivering my swap package from Misi.  No fair!  I put the package in the garage and went on about my Mom duties.  Good thing our son's team won the game!  Otherwise I might have been a little upset.

 

As you can see Shadow a.k.a. Graby was very interested in the box as well.  You can't smell the package, but oh, wow!  Just the smell of the box was tantalizing. 

I unloaded the box and found these wonderful fabric covered boxes, a neat feather, prim envelopes and hang tags.

Inside the boxes were some perfect prim treasures.  Misi's wax fruit was the source of the spicy smells.  They are simply beautiful.  Each one is so detailed.  The strawberry has green burlap as the hull and the skin is full of indentations to represent the seeds.  All the pieces of fruit are dusted with spices.  The colors on these are just perfect.  If you are looking for a gift for someone (or yourself!) I would highly recommend these.  WOW!

I love these little basketweave frames.  Misi combined the So you/So me theme of this swap, using my love of basket weaving with her love of portraits, she hand cut these profiles and made these little magnets.  They have a new home on my fridge.  ( I need a black fridge to go with these rather than a white one......)

The bird nest with moss and a gourd egg found a home on my bread box.  I just finished this breadbox redo - paint and briwax.  It holds all of our coffee making supplies. 

 

The fabric covered box with George's picture is in my corner cupboard in the dining room. I think I will use it as a storage box for my prim/silicone light bulbs.

The wax fruit fits perfectly in a wooden bowl that I have and looks well with my Easter Bunny.

Misi made a cute little ditty bag from blue reproduction fabric.  I knew right away it would go on the peg rack in my bedroom. 

The 2 other fabric covered boxes are sitting on the end of the church pew in our bedroom.  I have a lot of blue in this room and these boxes fit in perfectly.

                                        

I used the twine that Misi wrapped my goodies in to wrap the grungy/prim envelopes and I placed them with the feather pen on my Great-Grandfather's writing desk.  They look super with the tin candle holder I have.

A couple of other items Misi included were 2 blackened beeswax ornies and some gorgeous felted wool to use in rug hooking.  You can see these items in the photos above in the grouping.  I can't wait to cut the wool and use it in a project.  I'm thinking of a flower mat of some sort. 

I have to share with you all what a small world it really is.  I live in NW Ohio, but grew up in a little town in rural upstate NY.  Misi lives in Western NY.  I shared with Misi that I grew up in NY. Her Dad owned a business in the town that I grew up in!  Misi and her family lived in a different town and our paths never crossed, not til now. 

Misi, I'm so thrilled with all my swap items.  Thank you so much for the thought and effort you put into the box you sent me. 

~Ann

One for me, One for you and a WooHoo!

One for Me

I spotted this framed cross stitch sampler at a local Goodwill awhile back.  I really liked the houses and alphabet.  The stacked up animals just weren't all that appealing to me so here's what I did...

I took the piece out of the frame, cut it apart, coffee stained it and nailed it to the front of this cutting board.  The cutting board was another GW find.  I painted it maroon, sanded it and applied a coat of Briwax prior to nailing the stitchery on the front.

Haven't found the perfect spot for it yet, it's been hanging here and there around the house until I find a place that it can call home.

One for You

After I finished up my sampler - cutting board piece I decided to make one for you!  I took another sampler that I found at GW and created this redo that I'm going to give away.

To have a chance at winning this 

1. leave a comment on this post

2.  You need to live in the US

3. be a follower of my blog

4. leave some way for me to contact you - either have a blog or leave me your email address.  I will draw out a name next Thursday night, April 14th. 

WhooHoo

I found this large Pfaltzgraff Folk Art bowl in an antique shop last week. It does have a small chip under the lip on the left, but I can live with it for the $20.00 I paid for it.  A great addition to my Folk Art collection.

Have a great week.  ~Ann

Spring Celebration by PAFA team on Etsy

The PAFA Team at Etsy has been busy, busy, busy preparing new primitive Spring items! It's easy to find the items, simply type in STPAFA in the search field and all the new spring items will pop up, or click HERE to take you there directly. 

One of the 5 new baskets that I listed this morning for the celebration.  You can see the others at Etsy or follow the link on my right side bar to head over to my selling blog, 1803 Ohio Farm Baskets.

Have a Great Weekend

~Ann