Indulge Your Shelf

One of my FB pages invited us to share a favorite recipe; I shared this one, and the story of my dear friend Fran, and it was so wonderful to spend time thinking of her!  She's been gone since 2008 and I will always miss her. Fran and I met when I was in my early 20s and, despite the difference in our ages, found we shared so many things.  We loved the same foods, art, past times and hobbies.  She became one of my closest friends and remained so for many years! This is her recipe for Christmas cookies; they are something like meringues, and different because they are pale green.  The sweetness with the addition of the mint flavor makes them very memorable!  The cookies were a regular on my Christmas cookie tray for many years -- even though back then, in the 1980s, they were already old fashioned! If you read through the recipe, you'll see how they got their name.  I always made them as the very lats batch after a long afternoon or evening of baking!

These have been the mountains of my week:  Spiking, so I only go back and forth from a safe workplace to home When at work, I'm under a mountain of files to be archived Driving back and forth, I never tire of this view.

I took on a second part time job at the end of August and, boy, am I ever glad I did!  Unexpectedly, my husband lost his job this week!  That was the bad news; the good news is that I can work both of my jobs from home, and that my main part time job is letting me work many extra hours from now until the end of the year. Also, I have a booth full of Christmas to sell in town at Willowstone Antique Marketplace . Although, sales are slow due to the pandemic and more shut downs from our high Covid-19 numbers. My Etsy and eBay sales have been slow but steady, so I'm satisfied that this holiday season will come out much the same in income as others have -- at least with my vintage sales! I'm hoping to hit 1000 sales in my Etsy shop before the end of the year -- as of today, I have 24 to go to hit the mark! Somehow, the busier I am, the more I seem to be able to get projects done; like organizing all my Christmas ephemera into categories to store in a large container. I'm alway...

 I've had a tradition for many years now of creating stuffed fabric pumpkins for Fall.  I usually start out intending to make a couple and then go a little crazy. I create almost exclusively from vintage materials, and most of these pumpkins reflect that.  My most favorite pumpkins are the ones I made from this crazy, flower power 1960s/70s fabric I found recently: Next favorite are the ones I made by piecing different vintage fabrics together, like this: I topped this one with a doily, snippets of lace fabric and a very old bloom from a corsage.  The pale floral fabric just under the longer piece of lace fabric is something I salvaged from a dress dated in the 1880s. I have to say that combining the reds, pinks and greens makes it my very favorite. Here's more of that same fabric in another pumpkin; this time I tied a piece of crochet lace around the stem... and decorated the front lavishly with colored seam binding that was a gift from a swap partner!  I love ...

My visits to estate sales are few and far between since social distancing, but I visited one last week at a quiet time of the day so I was able to dawdle there.  The sale was in a 100 year old house -- just adorable.  The family's taste was even kitschier than mine.  I could have bought a lot, but I just picked up a few things.  Among them: paper ephemera. I love old Hallmark items!  These will be so much fun in the Spring -- something to look forward to! I can't pass up an old Santa priced right.  And look at that squirrel occasional sticker! I'm really into sheep right now.  The bunny and the boy -- how precious!  I love his outfit.  This is an advertisement for a new development in Terre Haute -- look at the prices!  It just makes me think of George Bailey's Building and Loan! More interesting ephemera that I had to have.  Valentine in great condition, an Icelandic service card, and a wine label from Germany. This is either Briti...