China Hutch

This simple hutch was bought for $25.00 about 20 years ago at a yard sale.
It is not fancy, but has served me nicely. I recently put all the glassware in my collection in the upper
shelves. The bottom is full of treasures, the top has more of my cookie collection in jars. You can also see bowls, crocks, pewter, lovely gravey boat, old recipe book, large enamelware pitcher. The drawers are full of old spice tins, most of them still full of spices. They live in the drawers for lack of any other place to put them.

My Hoosier

I may have posted about this hoosier once before...but here it is again.
Picture is kinda crooked as I am not able to stand at the right angle in front of it to get a good shot.
The large jars on top are filled with some of my cookie cutter collection. The darlin' white cookie jar belonged to my grandmother and she left it to me...This is love! It is a puppy in a basket. The apple corer/peeler laying on the enamelware surface was more of a recent purchase, about a year ago. Until then I had accumulated four of those things, all in the blue color. But this one is much older and I liked the green better. So I have whittled down my collection and now only own this one and the one I actually can use. This later is the one I used to use for years when I made jar upon jar of applesauce. Filled a large pantry with this applesauce and apple butter. I even took it to school when the kids were in elementary school and showed the classmates how to make applesauce. They loved how it peeled the apples. They would even eat the peeling. This is one of those good memories of being a young mom.
Anyway, more bowls, yes, I do love bowls, nut chopper, canisters, crocks, recipe box, string winder, meat grinder, mayo maker, pretty dishes and more fill this great cupboard. The little green and white outfit hangin' on the front is actually a homemade,vintage clothes pin holder. It fits in with the green in my kitchen, so it has a home here.

Kitchen Corner

This is the corner of the kitchen near the stove...where all of the fine cookin' goes on...well it's fine if hubby does it...if I do it it is just okay.
Again some modern appliances...then my treasured antiques and collectibles live here. Crocks, old bowls, graniteware coffee pot, wood butter mold, old spice tins in wood box, much more line the counters below and cabinets above. I do enjoy my kitchen, even though it is not a big farmhouse kitchen that I long for. Not sure if the farmhouse kitchen will ever become a reality...but I pretend this one is. This is why I work to make it appear as farmy as possible, filling it with old country wares.

Top of fridge

The one thing I could do without is the look of modern day appliances...but can't live out with them, so must try to hide them. I do have a plaid towel over my toaster oven and the mixer (which you cannot see in this photo). But the microwave and hubby's coffee maker, as well as the fridge are all exposed.
My MaryJanes Farm magnets are lined up across the front of the fridge. Photos of my children and grandchildren are on the sides.
The other things are old and new (made to look old) bowls, an old popcorn popper, enamelware pitcher and tea pot, old jello mold, jars, rolling pins and other utensils.

On top of a cabinet

After I took this I reasized I needed to dust! Oh well, this is the way it was, so be it. The wood cabinet was made by first hubby about 25 years ago.
I love the green glass salt and pepper shakers. The old photos are of family members. The one on the left has my grandfather in a school class. His family was dirt poor and you can tell this when you look at the picture. He is the only one with ragged clothes on and even has a dirty face...oh that is so sad. Maybe he was just a dirty kid...like my oldest daughter was. I tell ya' she could go outside for ten minutes and come back with dirt all over her, my son, having gone outside to play as well would not have a spot of dirt on him.
Anyway, this old picture is so near and dear to me. This is only one of two of his childhood that I know to exist. I wish I knew what school it was I would post a pic of it on a Classmates forum and see who might recognize the kids.
I do have a crock with colored pencils in it behind the pic...I keep it here for the grandkids to use to color with when they are here. Although they live so far away now, that those visits are few and far between.

View from the kitchen table

When I sit at our kitchen table there is no window to look out of. So I decorated the wall with lots of old things that I treasure.
The bottom left corner has a cross stitch I did years ago...it is of a Mammy holding a bowl and it says, " Hospitality serve here...Ya' all come back." If I had it to do now I would use a much smaller linen, dyed to look old. I could take it out of the frame and teas dye it, I guess. Oh, one of these days I will just get a bug in my bonnet and do that!
There are various prints of Jesus, ladies, fruit and an old embroidered house up in the top right corner. Then there are plates of varying types. They can be works of art in their own right. The long mirror is to help see what is going on around the corner, although it is really too high to see much. We used to have three mirrors here and you could see if the kids were standing at the top of the stairs or walking in from the stairs. No need for that now, as they are all grown.
The fan you can see on the table is an old one and I use it when it gets too hot in the kitchen. You can see part of a log cabin quilt over the back of a chair...it is made of very old fabrics.
This wall is between my Hoosier and a china hutch and behind the kitchen table. It is pretty cramped in this area of the kitchen. As I have said before I have way more kitchen 'stuff' than I have room for...but still love to collect it.

On the left

This is the counter to the left of the sink in my kitchen. Here are once again are my crocks, bowls, jars filled with old kitchen stuff, wire milk jar carrier, and more. On the top of the cabinet is an old ice crusher, old tins, jars, bowls, and bucket. Inside of this cabinet is some of my many bowls...love to collect them. I used to find them at yard sales quite often, but they are getting harder to find this way. I'll post a pic of the inside of the cabinet later. Bottom cabinet has pots and pan that I use on an everyday basis. The bluish jar with the metal cone shaped lid is a shaker for keeping cleanser in. It is a White King. Cute, huh?

Counter to the right

This counter sits to the right of my kitchen sink. You can see a modern convenience, the dishwasher, which is nice to have as I am a bit of a germ-a-phobe. Using this makes me feel like things are really clean.
As for the decor...you will see old bowls, an old ice cream maker on far right of the upper cabinet, baking pans, cookie jars, jars filled with cookie cutters and such, spooners, butter churn, bread box, fan, coffee grinder. All of these things are either vintage or antique. Anything modern I use is usually hidden in a drawer. All of the old stuff gets the counter tops!

Lookin' out my kitchen window

Not as charming as it could be...as it looks into the back room. When we moved into the house it did look out onto the back yard, but Tim added on a room after we had lived here only about a year or so. In order to get the size of the additional room we needed we had to incorporate the kitchen window. So I take it as it is.
Here you see some of my kitchen goods, such as: old bowls, wire utensils, vintage tins, crockery, and lots of little dodahs. I sink is okay, although I would like an apron sink. The counters need replacing...but when ever hubby gets around to it is when I'll have them. My kitchen is comfortable, not my dream country kitchen, but this may never happen, so I will make do with the one the good Lord has given me for now.

Here is a view of my kitchen. The walls are sage green. These cabinets were a very ugly dark stain until about two years ago when Tim striped them down and refinished them. There was also a soffit above the cabinets for the first ten years we lived here...it was also ugly. It was a major job to tear this out, but the result is great. I did not really want to use this area above for putting things, but since I needed the space I had to. As you can see I love old crocks, jars, wire, enamelware, antique utensils, and anything of olde. Can you see the MaryJaneFarm magnets on the front of the frig? There are six of them all with farm themes.

Butcher Block Table

This butcher block table was made about 25 years ago by my first husband and the birth father of my four children. He was indeed a talented craftsman and self taught. It sits at one end of my kitchen. I have it laden with treasures, so it is not much good for rolling out pie crusts or other such domestic deeds.
On top of this large wood table sits jars of cookie cutters (part of my collection), a jar of ice cream scoops, other jars with miscellanous antique or vintage kitchen untensils, antique candle mold, Amish wood oval box, antique wood bowl, wood box with carrying handle for paper and pens for taking message on the telephone. The large green milkshake machine is from the 1930's. It came out of a Soda Shop in Montana. It works great. I had wanted one of these because I had good memories of my parents using one in a church camp burger joint called the "Chat 'n' Chew" near Mt. Lassen, California. I may go into this more at a later time. On top of the milkshake maker is a green cake plate and cover. Got this at the Farm Chicks Show a few years back. It does not normally sit there, but I had moved things around in the kitchen and had no other place to put it. So there it sits for now. I love to collect kitchen things, but do not have a big enough space for it all. Much of it is stored away in boxes.
On the bottom shelf rests old picnic baskets, an old wood barrel, cream enamelware bucket with green trim, apple basket, old huckleberry picker, old cookie cutters, two oak sewing machine drawers, and a wood storage bucket.
Thanks for looking...let me know what you think!

My Kitchen

Here is a picture of my kitchen. Not sure if it will show up, as I cannot see it on the screen. So this is a test.

My Makedo

Here is my contribution for the Makedo contest that was on MaryJanesFarm forum. I had to leave for Alaska in a rush so I did not get to finish this and enter it in the contest. I went into my studio today and decided it was about time I finished it. So here it is. Better late than never!
Anyhooo...I got the base at the thrift shop I volunteer in. I believe it was a candle holder in it's former life. I made puffballs covering them with old looking fabrics, attached them, added fringe and wallahh! Now it will hold pins and needles. It stands at about 18" tall. I think it has a late 1800's look to it.

Alaskan Log Home

This is one of the quaint little cabins that grace Fairbanks, Alaska.
This one was my favorite...it appears that a family may have lived here
and as the family grew they added on more rooms.
This place was on the border of town, but was likely out of town
when it was built in early 1900.

Reuse Area

Here is the sign at the Transfer Station letting people know they can leave or take stuff they need.
Can you believe it? As I am a bit of a germ-a-phobe I would have to wear gloves if I did this too often. Then use lots of hot water and soap!

Transfer it!

One of the funnest things I recently did in Alaska was to go to the Transfer Stations...what is that one might ask? Well, oddly enough it is the dump! But with a twist. You see there are the large garbage bins lined up all around a parking area, but at one end is a covered area with a cement floor. This area is for people to drop things off that one might have taken to the trift shop to donate. These things are good used items, but no longer needed by whomever drops them off. Being that my two daughters and I are all garage salers, we thought this was great. So we would hit the transfer station a couple of times week to find all kinds of goodies. I only got a stack of magazines, as I already had too much to bring home. But my daughter who lives there got a set of school lockers just like you might see in the pages of the latest Pottery Barn catalog. She has them painted and at one end of her entry for the kids to put their sports equipment in. A locker for each sport for each kid. She has five kids living at home so this should be a big help is keeping order.
The other daughter got lots of corduroy and wool clothing for cutting up to make her darling purses. She had so much there was way to much to bring home. So as we make trips back and forth to Alaska I guess we will bring it all home. Now for her to get the purses made and sold.
As you can see by the photo, everyone goes to the transfer station shopping. We saw people with their cars full everytime we went there, and not just junky cars either. There was lots of building material, wood, clothing, etc. The maintenence people come by and clean out everything in the covered area once a week. Making for a clean slate once a week with new stuff bring brought in by people everyday. I sure wish we could do this here...it was a hoot!

Together and in love for 12 years

This is a picture of me and my true love, Tim, on our 12th wedding anniversary. We happen to be in Fairbanks, Alaska to see the grandkids, so we went out to dinner here. We had Italian food and it was delicious. Tim and I have been through alot together over these years, but we have managed to keep our love strong...at times with LOTS of prayer. He loves me so very much and I am so grateful for the fact that he takes such good care of me. We hope to have many more happy years together.

Me and Smokey

I have not posted since arriving in Alaska and likely will not be able to again for a couple of weeks until I get home. I am at my daughter's house and their Internet has limits on downloads, which means I should not post photos unless I want to run her bill up. I may put in a few words, but I know this is boring. So if I do, I do, if not, well then it will be when I am home again before posting. Then I will tell of the tales of Alaska.
In this picture I am posing with the grandchildren and Smokey the Bear at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. It was Fairbanks Days there at the theme park. This park has log cabins and old homes and business from the turn of the century brought in from the area and set up on one street. So of course this piqued my interest. I took lots of photos. Some of these were set up as they had been in the old days, some had been made into little business selling local art and souvenirs.
There is an old ferry set up there with tours, a train that runs around the park giving folks rides, a carousel, mining exhibit, cultural art building, and more.
I am keeping this short. My sleep is messed up because of the midnight sun...it never gets dark here! SO I am off to get to shut eye! Please check in a few days or a couple of weeks.

Queen of the Ranch fabric

This is the fabric I found today at the Quilting Bee Store. It is one in a line of fabrics by Moda called, "Queen of the Ranch." Some of them had cowgirls on them, or were bandana prints in pretty colors, some roses. But I thought this one would be good for my kitchen curtains. They did not have this color, however. So now I must search to find it elsewhere. The photo shows a packet of several of the fabrics in the line. But there was none of this one on the bolt. The blue one in the store was very pretty also. My friend Karen found a green in this packet that she liked. I think it is very old fashioned, pretty, yet simple and cozy. Something my great -great grandmother, Permellia might have picked out of the small mercantile in a nearby township from her farm.

Cunningham Family Quilt

This is my grandmother, Verla Pearl Ogden Cunningham with her Cunningham family quilt. This project was one that I put together about 20 years ago. I wanted a family quilt and decided it would be fun for my aunts and cousins to have each have one as well. So I ask each female in the family to make a quilt block for everyone else. We brought them together at one of our annual family Thanksgiving dinners and traded them. Each person got to choose ahead of time what color scheme they wanted used for their blocks. I choose Americana red and blue for mine. This photo is of the quilt my grandmother made using the blocks we all made. My block is the fan design in the center. My mother's is the blue one to the right of mine, where the black cross is in the bottom corner.
Would you believe I have still not put mine together? This is because some of the blocks were not quite squared and needed to be remade or some people did not use the red and blue theme for me and theirs did not at all fit into my colors. So tried as they might, some people are not quilt makers. You can also see that the nine patch was a favorite amongst family members, I guess this is because my grandmother used this pattern alot and it was familiar to them.
I am the fortunate one to have gotten this quilt handed down to me when my grandmother passed away. I did request it as well as any other quilts she had made that I could get my hands on, which was only a small portion of them. But I treasure these few and take very good care of them.
Wish had that bucket hanging on the line that grandma used for clothes pins. After she had been moved to a nursing home her house had to be closed up for a time with her belongings distributed. Some of my aunts and cousins were there to go through stuff, but I do not think any of them had my tastes for old junk and it probably got thrown out.
My grandmother made many quilts over the years for missionaries all over the world. Her legacy lives on in places unknown. But I know these missionaries must have been kept warm under my grandmother's quilts.
Did you see that she has her slippers on her feet? She pointed this out, but I did not care if she had them on in the photos. I took a photo of each of the quilts she still had in her possession at this time. So glad I did this when I did.

Treasures from the Grave...

Sounds kinda spooky, huh? These things came in the mail today, sent by my sweet sister-in-law, Martha. These items were in my father's belongings and they are believed to have been my grandmother's. Her name was O'Delphia and she passed away several years ago. I am sure she crocheted the table runner as she did alot of table cloths like this. I did not get one of them, but now I have this table runner to enjoy. The little box has some jewelry pieces in it and I do remember her wearing these. The journal has nothing written in it, but it is a neat old one. The fan has flowers on it, with some really soft tassles hanging off of the end.
I am always so thrilled to get 'pieces of the past' especially if they had belonged to my ancestors.

Dressed for the Photographer

My, oh, my is this ever a handsome book. Joan Severa has done an amazing job of using photographs and details on fashion to make this time in history come alive. I am amazed at her knowledge of every little detail on the clothing.
This book will be a great resource for me on trying to date some of the old photos in my collection.
I do feel sorry for the women in our history...they had to endure some pretty uncomfortable fittings to be in the height of fashion. I'll take my loose fitting clothes anyday!

Mennonite Women

Just got this lovely book from Amazon. It has some great photos in it as well as some history on each one. I am so intrigued by the simple ways these women live by. I enjoy learning about fashion has been in our history. This photos show both the Victorian dress and the simple clothing of the Mennonite ways. The Victorian styles actually almost look extravagant in comparision to the simple Mennonite dress. They would surely need an apron while making applesauce in the way they are doing it on the front cover. I love how they are all working together to make an overwhelming chore suddenly one of pleasure as they exchange conversation. It looks like the man in the group has the easiest job, using the apple corer/peeler.
I have one of these old peelers as well as some newer ones that I use. They sure came in handy when I lived on my little farmette in California and had lots of apple trees. Thank goodness we had all of that apple sauce, it was so needed to live on throughout the winter months. Sadly, I never got a picture of the pantry where all of these jars where stored.
I used to take the apple peeler/corer to school and use it with the kids for fall celebrations. They loved the long 'peels' we would make. It is a fond memory.

Organic Farm Queen

Here is MaryJane signing her newest book, "MaryJanes Stitching Room" for a customer. She is so very elegant...and to be a farm girl no less! She gave credit to her sidekick and twenty year friend, Carol, for her contribution to the book. She said it should have Carol's name on it too!

MaryJane Butters Speaker

Well, you can add public speaking to the list of MaryJane Butters talents. She was in Auntie's Book Store in Spokane, WA. tonight to give a talk and sign books. She was warm, down to earth, and interesting. She fielded questions from the audience and gave advice to those who asked her for it. She spoke about an hour. Boy, did that fly by...I could have sat there for another one at least.
She was so kind to mention me by name as someone she knew in the audience...I was so pleased with this. Don't we all like to be made to feel special? Well, she did! Thanks MaryJane.
She looked lovely, put together, professional...and wore great boots. My friend, Karen, loved her handbag.
It was a fun evening and we were both glad we went !

Pamela at Auntie's

Here I am in front of Auntie's Book Store after the MaryJane appearance tonight. Dorky photo of me! We closed the store with MaryJane and Carol!
See post n MaryJane for more.