second hand things, pretty things

These lovely sheets with the lily pad motif, are imported cotton and cost about $22.

      As I threatened last time, today I will show you some cheap things, by which I mean second-hand, which I treasure and which decorate my home with-out bankrupting me!  Also, they are being reused and recycled so it's a very "green" thing to do.  Such hand work as many of these pieces are is not to be found new today.  I have a fascination for "Women's Work" in any age
but especially from the  depression.

I cannot read the painters name so far, I just liked the painting.  $25

This came in a lot from ebay the whole thing costing about $10 plus postage.  I'm getting ready to frame it.  Despite what I said about modern work, it is new and very nicely done with ribbon roses on top of the embroidery.

Also from ebay but not the same lot, $3,  it's approx 25 yards of lace!  It will be perfect for the many glass towels I make

I love this pillow case, part of the above named lot.

Crocheted piece from the same lot, Lady with a fan and suitor?

Red work, also from same lot

$3 tablecloth from Goodwill

Another $3 tablecloth, cut up and sewn into glass towels.  The damask is very heavy.  There were holes and small stains which prevented it from being used as a tablecloth.  8 towels.

I watched Ms. Elliot paint this and she charged me $5 for it.

And this is the pot we were supposed to be painting, bought at a garage sale.

We bought this at an Antique store, mislabeled as a print for $40.  It's a watercolor by Wayne Cooper

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My Husband bought this on ebay for not very much.  The artist is Thomas

I love making pasta with a machine bought on ebay

This is a card sent to me by a daughter, which I liked so much I framed it.

This museum reproduction pitcher was $1 at the very end of an Auction

What on earth are these wild things on this tablecloth?  It was made about 1940, from all the clues.  It cost about $22

Found objects, collecting

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elegant Chip and dip set with two Margarita glasses

      I am always bragging about how I got something cheap or free, so today I want to show you some things that really were free.  Either we found them on the street, in a dumpster or at the little shed at our solid waste facility that is called "the exchange".  Some of them cost money fixing but they were worth it.  I don't think I will try doing a post on things I get cheap, I would have to take pictures of my entire wardrobe for starters!

Nifty Red Riding Hood basket

This painting has been cleaned and in-painted and has a gilt frame.  The artist is Stry.

I had planned to spray paint some twigs but didn't even have to buy the paint.  I used these for a Christmas decoration.

This pan was almost new but had been burned, which took me about half an hour to scrub off. It's a "Whirley Pop".   Now we have Popcorn every night and are fair to being addicted to it!

Most of these plants came from friends and from Florida.

I picked up these Burr Oak acorns under the tree.

I thought this a wonderfully colorful plate.

One of these 9 pressed glasses was badly chipped. so they threw away the whole set?  My husband filed away the chip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lamp was set out on the street, but the shade is new and  not cheap!

Just some of countless frames in various stages of being painted.

A wonderful parlor painting.

This painting came out of a dumpster, was folded in quarters.  Title:  Charlie Two-bears, by (Charles) Bruce Mulholland.  It did require extensive repair and then was framed.

     If there is a moral to this post, it might be, pay attention.  I am always looking around me and in fact have found  money in the street at times.  Of course, I also pick up sticks, stones, bird feathers, acorns and colorful leaves.  I guess I could be said to have eclectic tastes!

     Will this snow never end?  Every day we tune to the weatherman to hear about more snow.  I have not been running to the grocery to stock up each snow because we have gone to once a month shopping.  Well, almost a month.  I can't seem to reach 30 days, and only have made 28 days once.  But I keep trying.  It's just there are certain things we haven't the moxy to do without.  Coffee, soft drinks, dish detergent, toilet paper.  Other things, we do without fine.  If we run out of bread, I just make biscuits.  Paper napkins, we use cloth ones.  When snacks dwindle, I make graham crackers, always a hit around here.  I really thought we were going to make it this month.  Until the snow prediction.  The weatherman changed his numbers about 11 pm, going from a "dusting of snow"  to "2 to 4 inches".  We had planned to go the the store the next day.  I thought about slogging through the snow with a months worth of groceries.  "Hey!"  I said to my husband, "what say we go the the store now"?  He was working on something in the back room.  He mumbled something which I interpreted as "Naaaaaa, not now".  So I went on watching  tv.  An hour later he came in and said "Yes, I think we should go now".   So we did. At midnight.  The store was deserted.  Fresh vegetables had not been restocked.  We had two carts.  When we got to the checkout, there were no clerks.  It seems we were expected to use the automated checkout.  Which I had never done before, preferring to be waited on by a real live person.  That was a new experience.  It's obvious that the automatons were never intended to process a months worth of groceries because there isn't enough space to bag all that stuff.  But when you remove a bag the machine gets upset and says, out loud, "please replace the object on the shelf" and becomes reluctant to scan the next object.  So it took us some time.  But in the middle of the night, I found I was less concerned about what time it was.  We were having fun, and getting away with a con on the snow, for isn't it just trying to get us snowbound without coffee in the pantry?

So here are all the groceries, except a large box of mushrooms, which we seem to have lost on the way home.

The pantry is restocked  except for potatoes, in the left basket,  I still have a few to use up.  The new ones, ten pounds worth, will be put in the back room, which is cool.

The fridge is full again.  Don't forget that there is another cabinet full of home canned things, which you have seen a picture of earlier.

I keep a lot of things in glass though I am not a plastic-free household yet.  Plastic bags are the hardest to stop using, I think.  It was easy to go to glass jars for leftovers.  On the left are the salad makings, in a vintage glass pan with a removable handle.  The cheese keeper lived for decades in a high cabinet where I put things I never intended to use.  It's great for keeping cheese in all the time.  It's already sliced for convenience.

      So we are ready for another month.  Another month of snow, if that happens.  We have plenty of wood for our wood-burner too so let the cold winds howl!  We had our favorite omelet this morning, without the mushrooms but so what. At least we had coffee.  And a new recipe for an artisanal bread that I got at another blog, can't remember which one now, that turned out great though it's a very plain one, all technique and smoking hot pans in the oven.
     I think it's just one more month of winter and I can begin to watch for spring.  Yea!