MICHIGAN PICKERS--OR "SHABBY AND YOU DECIDE IF IT'S CHIC"

I've repeatedly been saying this has been the best auction, garage sale, thrift store year ever! I decided to share some more "finds" with you. This week was half price day at my local Goodwill. I had been there Thursday and decided to snatch up a bunch of items and not take a chance on them being there today--those wonderful finds are for another post! But I went back today and shopped some more and got these bracelets. They are pearlized stones set in bronzey looking metal. All for $2! Not normally my style, but the "pearly" look appealed to me.

This little gem--a sheep picture,I love sheep pictures--dear to my heart for obvious reasons, was covered with thick dust and the frame was in pieces, piled together with another rotting picture and old frame at an auction last week. I paid three dollars, brought it home and cleaned it up. My mom glued the frame and I thought it was nice, but the frame had some bad spots so I decided to try something. I saw some internet posts about using Vaseline to "distress" wood. So I tried it! Literally probably took me less than a half hour start to finish. I wiped Vaseline on the frame in intermittent places using a Qtip. Then I used some sample paint I had (yellow tinted off white) and brushed on the gold frame. I wiped most of the paint off the brush before painting. Let it dry all afternoon and here are the results! An antique looking antique!

Got this gorgeous square plate today for 50cents. I found the champagne glass a shelf away and will glue them with special craft glue to make "footed plates" for Christmas gifts. I couldn't believe how well this glassware matched--also 50cents! Footed plates for $1!!!!

Another of the pretty plates I got for 50cents. I bought the little dessert dishes for the "feet" on these. I will have three identical--cost, $1.

Got this on Thursday and decided not to wait for the half price sale. I had a 20% off coupon and so decided I'd pay the extra--about $20-- and be sure this came home with me. It's a wonderful little kitchen, an item we had been talking about getting for the kids to have while here. Yes, that's our car behind the kitchen!--sorry.We had spoken of what to get just that morning before I went to the thrift store. I almost missed this gem. I was looking at the curtains--department right next to toys--when I spotted this. I also bought a ton of gorgeous curtains for the fabric and to use in Christmas décor. That's for another post!

 

God has blessed me with some very specific answers to prayer as far as obtaining needed and wanted items that I have been searching for. I'm convinced that our Heavenly Father just wants to lavishly bless us! Hallelujah!

WASHDAY

"His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them." Mark 9 3

 

 

Today I put several loads of wash out on the line. It was a beautiful day for washing and drying!

Then some very interesting washing began. Here's the white Romney fleece I bought yesterday in its wash water.

Yes, sir; Yes, sir, one bag full...of unwashed Romney fleece, 5.12 pounds of it, "in the grease!" as spinners would term it. Some like to spin it this way, and wash at a later time. I can't quite wrap my mind around that idea, so I am learning to "scour." I will still run the finished fleece through a drum carder, which will comb the fibers straight and then wash the spun yarn before it ever goes into a project.

Notice how dirty the wash water is after the first soak. (I only washed less than half the fleece and this was after one quarter was soaked). The color reminded me of coffee with a little cream and sugar in it!

Pails all lined up; two to three wash cycles and then two rinse cycles!

Using the slotted spoon to retrieve stray fibers from the wash water. No agitation allowed! This old spoon, purchased at a restaurant "garage sale," has come in so handy for yard duties. It stays out at my chicken coop and its main use is to retrieve ill-placed eggs. Today it became the wool spoon.

I think this was the final rinse cycle with a little vinegar added. See the difference by this time?

Since no agitation is allowed (wool will felt), I decided to "sling" it around. Couldn't find my mesh laundry bag so a lace curtain did the trick!

Wool encased in lace--kinda cool, huh?

An alternative use for the chicken tractor. Parked right up alongside the back deck this made a handy drying rack!

Another handy drying rack. I knew there was more than one reason we bought this mesh table back in the '70's!

Clean locks alongside unwashed locks. See the difference the removal of the yellowed lanolin and dirt makes?

Locks before washing. You see flecks of dirt and such in the locks. Spinners refer to this as VM--vegetable matter. It comes from straw, grass, and whatever the sheep comes in contact with in the field. Tiny bits of this stick into the wool over the season and must be removed.

 

Hope you enjoyed this little wool washing experience as much as I did. How fun to work outside in the beautiful fall weather and learn a new skill called "scouring" the wool.

All day during the washing and ever since, the verse I cited above, Mark 9:3, has run through my mind. This was a big job and the results were stunning from pre-wash to rinse time. Jesus is able to make our sins white as snow by His sacrifice on Calvary. Remember the old hymn, "Are You Washed in the Blood," by Elisha A. Hoffman? It asks, "Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"

 

Have you been washed in the blood of the Lamb?

 

"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments,..." Revelation 3:5

 

"Come now, let us reason together,"

Says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18

 

Blessings, Lori

A PIONEER DAYCATION

We had a wonderful day yesterday! Clint and I both had the day off. In the morning after attending an early estate sale, we drove two counties over to purchase my first fleece! I bought two, a Black/Silver Romney and a White Romney which I will begin washing today--new pioneer experience! Then we visited an old general store, still in operation complete with original furnishings, advertising signs, and antiques! How fun!

 

To top it all off, I had Clint build me a campfire when we got home and I made my first ever attempt at cooking over an open fire--something other than hot dogs on a stick!

I used my deep iron skillet and the new campfire grill I bought Clint for Father's Day. The grill was leaning with the weight and it kind of scared me. I will try to remedy that with some support on the opposite end for the next attempt.

I chose to slice some apples, add butter and water and cover them. To my surprise, they were steaming almost immediately! Next I added some sugar and cinnamon dissolved in a little more water and stirred that in. Notice above, some essential items: an old kitchen chair that served as my "counter space" and the oven mitts!

About 20 minutes after the cooking began I added a half recipe of biscuit dough. I made it extra runny so I could easily pour it from the bowl into the skillet and not stand forever leaning over the fire.

Here is the finished result! I was amazed at how easy this made up and how good it tasted. I did let the dough cook for about an hour. The water on the apples was perfectly absorbed and they were a great consistency. It had a slight smokey flavor, but was very good served warm with vanilla ice cream. Notice the biscuit dough didn't brown like it does in an oven and it took quite a bit longer than a batch of biscuits before it was done. This morning the smokey flavor was more pronounced, probably because I left the lid on overnight and didn't remove from the cooking pan.

 

But all in all the experiment was a success and today I plan to wash fleece and cook stew over the campfire if all goes well!

Awaiting the evening snack time.

Also took some pictures of my "coop flowers" while I was out there cooking. These potted flowers have amazed me. In the last few weeks they have outdone themselves, looking better than they did all summer! Especially the snapdragons. These pictures don't do them justice.

 

I hope you enjoyed the pioneer daycation as much as we did. So fun, so peaceful, such a step back in time!

 

Blessings, LORI

IT'S AS EASY AS APPLE PIE

It's that time of year again...time for an All-American favorite--Apple Pie!

This particular pie is a "Dutch Apple." My daughter said she was hungry for one and we happened to have a bushel and a half of apples on hand for making sauce. So....I threw this together one morning and oh, wow!!! If I do say so myself, it was GOOD. The recipe will go in the cookbook I am writing. Yes, I know...I don't really like to cook, but I'm compiling a family history/recipe type of cookbook and have been working on it for several months, adding in recipes of my own as well as favorites from both sides of the family tree.

 

I was pretty excited because I've only made Dutch Apple once or twice in my life--you see, we are cream pie fans in this house. But I just made up a recipe (I did use the measurements for a favorite crumb topping) and was very happy with the results. So happy, in fact, that I ate a slice before I remembered to take this picture! The pie didn't last long and Clint doesn't even care for this kind of pie so he didn't have any. Guess who finished it off?

In answer to the question posed in last post: The tractor was older by 10 years! However, it's not going gray and someone has done very well in giving it all the facelifts it's needed over the years! Blessings, Lori