Manoil Toy People ~Treasures From Grandma's Attic

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I've done a Treasures From Grandms'a Attic post. Well, today's Attic Treasure is a fun group lead metal toy figures. Most of these were made by Manoil but I think one or two are by Barclay.

These were found in a large box carefully wrapped in tissue along with the other toys in the attic.

There are farm workers, brick layers, iron workers, and what look like shoe cobblers. Oh, and just one cow...I wish there were more animals, he's so cute!

Enjoy the photos! :-)

This collection is also part of the Vintage Love Market blog party over at Southern Lady's Vintage.

Vintage Fabric Note Cards

This weekend I spent a little time making some pretty note cards with my vintage fabric scraps.

I like to include a couple of these with fabric orders, but I might put together a few packs of 4 or so to sell. Not sure yet, I'll need to look into pricing and shipping costs for something like this and if it would be worth it. They're blank inside and come with envelopes, so they are useful for any occassion...and just so pretty to look at. :-)

Have a great week everyone!

Having Fun with Felt Food

I spent a little time this week making a few felt food items for my niece. She loves her felt and canvas cardtable playhouse that I made for her this past summer and since we like to play "restaurant", I wanted to add to the food she has in the garden.

Since I'm a total novice at felt food, I kept the items pretty simple.

I made some basic sandwich items...bread, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and bacon for a BLT, of course. :-)

The bacon also works for breakfast along with a fried egg, sunny-side up.

I also made a simple taco shell. She'll have fun filling that with different things.

And we have to have something for dessert, so I made a cupcake with pink icing and a cherry.

It was actually a lot of fun thinking up different food items to make. I'm sure I'll make a few more, I think we need a least one more dessert. :-)

And I wanted to thank everyone so much for all of the nice comments on the "Progress on the New House". Its still moving along at a snail's pace, but the flooring is going down now. Poor hubby is doing much of the work by himself, so it will be a bit longer before any new pictures.

Progress at the New House

Here are a few pictures of the (slow) progress at the new house.

This is what the little 3rd bedroom looked like before; yellow walls, ceiling, trim.and closet along with dark mauvey pink carpet...

And this is where its at now...
This room will be an office. The carpet has been removed and will have hardwood installed, ceiling and closet have been painted white, walls are painted a light tan called "Natural" by Valspar. For this room I was inspired by the fun and colorful designs of Orla Kiely. Since my attempts to find this in fabric form have been unsuccessful, I decided to paint it on the wall. I still have the stems to do, but you get the picture.

I used the sample size paints from Lowes in 7 or 8 different colors and just sketched out where I wanted each color. At just $3.00 a piece, it was fairly economical and will be much easier to change out than wallpaper. I used a 1" inch foam brush for the edges and a 2"inch brush to fill in the center.

I have located her fabric print in a 2-toned version online, so I hope to make a lamp shade with it eventually.

The master bedroom used to look like this...Yes, that's purple on the walls, door trim, ceiling, closet, and carpet.

And this is where its at now... The color on the walls is called "Blue Shamrock" by Olympic paints. And the ceiling, closet, and french doors have a fresh coat of white satin. This room will also have crown molding and hardwood floors soon.

The bathrooms have been stripped of their dated wallpaper, but there's really not much to see in there, yet, so I'll wait until they have something exciting before I show you pictures.

Oh, and the Tiny house is getting a front porch as we speak...photos to come...

Have a great week everyone!

Kitchen Linen Gift Set

I've been "scrap busting" again! This week I made another kitchen towel and pot holder gift set for a friend of mine. Its part of a belated anniversary/house warming gift.

I used several of my older Amy Butler fabrics along with linen. I don't know the colors of her kitchen, but I know she likes earth tones, so I'm hoping these will blend in. :-)

We've also been doing some demo work on the new house. We have removed all the carpet and trim moldings in the bedrooms and hallway, I have the master bedroom painted, wallpaper has been removed from the hall bath, and the hardwood flooring is acclimating in the house and waiting to be installed. I'll have a few very boring photos to share with you soon.

Stay warm, everyone! Its frigid here...brrrrrr

Vintage Alphabet ~ Velvet, Whitework, X-Stitch

It's time again for the Vintage Alphabet link party. This month's letters are V, W, and X.

For V I'd love to show my collection of vintage vases, but they have already been packed and sent to the new house, so I have several vintage Velvet fabrics that I don't think I've posted about yet. The photo above shows a few cut or voided velvets.

I just love the yellow! Its from a vintage bedspread that had a bit of sun damage on one side...the perfect piece to cut for projects!And below is a trio of 70's nylon velvets in bright floral designs.

For W I have a small grouping of vintage Whitework embroidery.

And for X (wow, this one was hard!) I have a piece of vintage X-stitch and a vintage drapery fabric with a faux X-stitch design.

Be sure to stop by the Etsy Cottage Style blog to see more vintage Alphabet collections or add your own to the list!

A New House

Wow! I can't believe I let an entire month go by without a single blog post! But, I have a good excuse...We bought a new house! You may remember way back in the New Industrial Singer post, I mentioned a crazy week and that I'd give more details about later. Well, the couple that had the yard sale where I bought my sewing machine, was also selling their home. They took us on a little tour, and 5 weeks later, the house was ours!

The pictures are not very good, but I wanted to give you a little tour before we start on the renovations.

As you can see from the first picture up there, its not a big house, just a 3 bedroom 70's ranch. But coming from the current tiny 2-bedroom, it feels like a mansion. LOL

Here's the back of the house with the sunroom and deck. It sits on a little over an acre and backs up to a small farm with one horse and one cow. :-)

It has a large eat in kitchen That opens up to both the sunroom and living room. We'd like to install granite or solid surface counter tops, eventually.

The L-shaped living/dining room has a large stone fireplace. I have a feeling that those two rooms will be a challenge as far as furniture placement, so I'm sure I'll be asking opinions on that soon. All three of the bedrooms are carpeted with a mauvey pinkish-purple. I can't live with that, so we're thinking hardwood. But the master has its own bath (something I've never had) and french doors that open onto the deck.
It also has a large finished basement. There is a small 12x12 room with 2 windows and lots of natural light, on the opposite side that will be my sewing room/studio/office. The plan is to move the wall and make it a bit larger (12x16 or so), remove the carpet and install laminate or hardwood, and have french doors that open into the main part of the basement. That project could take awhile, so I'll need to find an alternate work room until then.

We'll also be doing a few projects on the Tiny house, getting it ready to sell hopefully in the spring. I promise to be better about posting updates on all the home renovations. :-)

Have a great weekend, everyone!