Vintage Prim Enamel Skillet And A Big Thank You

I wanted to thank each of you who visit my blog and those who leave comments. I often forget to thank you and I'm sorry for that oversight. I would say "you don't know how much it means" to me that you visit and leave a comment but most of you have a blog and you do know how much it means. When you visit my blog it tells me you have taken time (that is precious) and given that precious time to me, it's a gift! So, thank you bunches and bunches!

This is a vintage enamel skillet I found at the antique shop, of course. It's beautiful red exterior and navy blue interior grabbed my attention. It has a couple of small dings on the bottom that show it was well used by the cook of the family. I wonder if it hung above the stove to show off it's lovely red color. I can imagine the meals that were cooked in it for the family. Mmmmm, bacon and eggs or omelettes; fryed potatos or pancakes; grilled cheese sandwiches. I love this pattern by Terrye French, it is one of my favorites and I never tire of painting it; she is such a prim gal and she makes me smile. If you think you have seen this pattern before, you have. I painted it on a vintage breadboard and posted it last week. This one is on its way to England, but she will be showing up again on another vintage find.

Monday Morning MarketPlace

Good Monday Morning Bloggers. I would like to introduce you to one of The Old Farmhouse Gathering's artists. Her name is Brenda, but in blogland and on Etsy she is known as The Rusty Thimble. I don't know if her thimble is rusty but it certainly is busy. To get to know her a little better I am sharing with you some questions that she has answered for an interview and showing some of her wonderful creations. Check out the side bar to find 2 fabulous giveaways that Brenda is offering on her blog. Is that generous or what? Please take note of the other places you can find Brenda listed at the bottom of this feature.


1. What is the name of your Etsy shop and why did you choose that name?
The Rusty Thimble
I come by the name honestly, I even had store named this in Texas. I ask my husband almost every day if you find something rusty today please bring it home to me.

2. How long have you been on Etsy?
Just a few months now.


3. What type of items do you offer?
Primitive Handmade items dolls, critters, tucks, make-do’s

4. How long have you been crafting?
I remember as a child making doll clothes and watching my mother sew. I made all of my own clothing in high school. I have made my creations and sold them since the age of 18 and I am now in my 50's. So I guess I could say I have crafted almost all of my life.


5. Who or What inspires you?
I get my inspiration from so many places. I live at a lake and love to go to the water and sit. I love color and all things I can get my hands on that are VINTAGE to use in projects. Old quilts are my favorite, my grandmother and mother always quilted. My mom is 88 and she stills quilts; that is enough to inspire anyone. I hope I am still doing this if I reach that age.

6. What is your favorite item in your shop and why?
Right now that would be my Cone Rabbit. It is an original OOAK no two are ever alike. I often make this using old sheet music for the cones.

7. Other places where you can be found (Ebay, webstore, blog)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RustyThimble
http://therustythimble.blogspot.com/
http://www.simplyprimitives.com/artisans/rustythimble.html
http://shop.ebay.com/therustythimble/m.html?_dmd=1&_in_kw=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

This photo is from last Wednesday. We had an overnight snow that brought 4 inches of snow. It was a wet snow, just perfect for making this snowman. My Sweetie and I hiked and then set to work building this guy when we got home. By the next day he melted enough to topple over so he is buried underneath the snow we received Friday and Saturday. We ended up with 2 feet of snow and some reported almost 30 inches in our area. Hey, where's the other 6 inches of snow that didn't show up at our house? My poor Sweetie! He got out with the snowblower to clear off our driveway and parking areas. I had twisted my back from a near fall on the snow on Wednesday so I wasn't much help to him. I usually use the shovel while he drives the snow blower. He had to do it all yesterday. I felt so bad for him. I don't mind shoveling snow. I always make a game of it by throwing a shovel full on Sadie (my Border Collie), she loves it and understands it's playtime. But my husband doesn't think it's playtime if I throw a shovel of snow on him....party pooper! Can you believe Mr Weatherman says it is going to snow again on Tues and possibly Thursday of this week. Ol Man Winter is really kicking up his heels before retiring to his rest.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Boy, oh boy, the sky is certainly emptying its store house of snow. The white stuff came down most the day Friday and didn't let up overnight. We have 17 inches of snow and it's still falling. I might have to say UNCLE on this one. I love the white stuff but too much of anything is not a good thing.

This is a photo of a birdfeeder I have on our back deck. It’s on its last leg; I will need to buy a new one this spring. It’s been dropped a few times but fortunately it hasn’t been taken off by a bear. Every spring we have bears come up on our back deck so we have learned to bring the feeders in at night. It has seen it fair share of squirrel attacks. I thought I had it high enough but the squirrels are good jumpers; they land on it, hang upside down and empty the feeder in a matter of minutes. Our Border collie, SadieMae, sits at the deck door and chases them off. She has a doggy door that lets her out onto the deck. When she’s on patrol no squirrel in its right mind comes up on the deck.

Of course I painted while the snow has been falling. I finished one project and began another. I am also working on getting a couple of new pattern packets done and on Aly's Room. I'm also working on a giveaway and a free pattern giveway. Stay tuned for those. {{{Shiver}}}}, this cold weather puts me in the mood to paint and create but mainly I am finishing up things I started back in December.

Bummer, looks like church will be cancelled tomorrow. It was cancelled last week too due to snow. The first of the month we share a meal together following the morning service. This month it is soup, sandwiches and of course dessert. I found a new recipe for a soup I wanted to take to the meal and had planned on taking a homemade (batter and all)pineapple upside down cake. It's not really the meal that I will miss but the fellowship of Believers and the encouragement from the Bible that our Pastor shares. I don't think the roads and parking lots will be cleared by tomorrow since the storm looks like it will hang on til tonight.



Pull up a seat, let’s watch the snow together. Doesn’t the seat cushion look nice and soft and all comfy. My back is still sore from shoveling snow from the snowfall we had Tuesday night. We will have to use the snow blower this time around. Old Man Winter is having his last fling before spring arrives. I hope everyone who has a front row seat to this blizzard event is safe and warm inside.

Vintage Bread Board

I found this vintage bread board at a local antique shop, a place where I find many of the things I paint on. I painted a Terrye French design on it, added a vintage cookie cutter and some homespun fabric. This board was well used. I can imagine the cook of the family using this board to cut the veggies for dinner. When I picked the board up I knew I was holding a lucky find. This prim gal fits so perfectly on this board. It was a delight to paint.

I have finished preparing for the snowstorm; while the snow is falling my brush will be flying. I don't know what it is about snowy days, rainy days, gloomy days, they always put me in the mood to paint or clean. They energize me to move and be productive. With a forecast of 20 plus inches of snow due to arrive Friday and Saturday, I should accomplish a lot of things I have been putting off. I sure wish one of those things was organizing my studio. Who knows, it might happen.

A Wonderful Recipe

After sharing that rich and wonderful cheesecake recipe yesterday, I thought I would share something just as sweet and with no calories. This is a photo I took of our youngest grandson and his pops. This is Tony (our grandson) and the other young fella in the photo is my Sweetheart of 33 years. We celebrated our 33rd in January. It's hard to believe we've been "hitched" that long, the years have flown by. The old adage "time flies when you are having fun" is certainly true. We've had a lot of fun in the 35 years we have known each other. My Sweetie was in the Air Force for 24 years. In those 24 years I had 12 different drivers license and somehow he managed to only have 4. We traveled and had fun everywhere we went and in those places we made a home for our family. We have put Christ first in our marriage and have lived by the Word He has taught us. I wouldn't have missed a moment of our life together. I like to tell my Sweetie that I want to share his place in Heaven, that way we can spend more time together and do the things we didn't do in this life.
We have had our ups and downs but we've been committed to one another since we said "I do", we've learned to work out our differeces and to grow by our mistakes.

I wanted to share this recipe with you that I found several years ago. A few of the ingredients have been changed to match our own lives.

Recipe For a Happy Marriage

1 cup consideration
1 cup courtesy
1 cup full of compliments
1 big container of faith and hope in God
2 cupfuls of praise
1 small pinch of in-laws
1 reasonable budget blended with a generous dash of cooperation
3 teaspoon pure extract of a humble I'm sorry
1 gallon faith and trust in each other
1 cup contentment
1 cup of encouragement
1 cup of daily forgiveness
1 cup blindness to the other's faults
A heartful of daily prayer for one another.

Flavor with frequent portions of recreation and a dash of happy memories. Stir well and remove any specks of jealousy, temper or criticism. Sweeten well with generous portions of love and keep warm with a steady flame of devotion. Never serve with cold shoulder.

Turtle Cheesecake

Turtle Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups of chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup of melted butter

Filling:
3 pkgs of cream cheese (softened)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of chocolate chips
2 TBS chocolate syrup (Nestle)
2 TBS caramel syrup (the kind you put on ice cream)
1/2 cup of chopped pecans
¼ cup Nestle semi-sweet chocolate mini chips (used for the top of the cheesecake)

Grease 9 inches spring form pan and preheat oven to 300 degrees
Crust: mix crumbs and butter together. Press into the bottom of the spring form pan and up one inch on sides of pan.

Filling. Beat together the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla, beat well. Reserve 1 cup of the batter and pour remaining batter into the spring form pan. In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate chips. Microwave the chips for 1 minute and then stir. Stirring makes sure the chips melt well. If they are not completely melted, microwave for another 15 seconds. These will burn easily so make sure not to overcook them. Stir into the melted chocolate, the reserved cup of cheesecake batter. With a butter knife swirl the chocolate batter into the batter that is in the pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once cake is done, remove from the oven and run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan. Allow to cool completely. Drizzle the chocolate and caramel syrups over the cake. Sprinkle with pecans and mini morsels. Refrigerate for several hours before removing from pan and serving.

This is the photo of the cheesecake I made for my Sweetie's birthday back in December. He is a big chocolate fan and the whole family enjoyed it. I prefer a strawberry or a pumpkin cheesecake but I have to say for a chocolate cheesecake this one was tops!