The Purple Painted Lady Barn Sale

I received one of those totally charming postcards announcing this barn and junque sale. I had never been to it before and it was being held at a farm in a little town just east of where I live.

http://www.the purplepaintedlady.com/2014-barn-sale-junk-jubilee/

Held right on a farm ! That sounded enchanting to me and when I arrived there I was not disappointed. The farmhouse was situated on a hill overlooking acres and acres of rolling hills. There was a lovely barn. That, too, was filled with merchandise for sale.

musicians on the front porch

Vendors tents were spread out over the rolling hills.

From the house out to the road was a tree lined dirt driveway that had chandeliers hanging in the tree branches. This was a totally romantic setting, reminding me of Tara (Scarlett O'Hara's plantation).

purple chandelier hanging in a tree

The days of this event were two beautiful, sunny, not too warm days - perfect for wandering through the alleys of white vendors tents.

There was live music. There were meals being prepared on grills (barbeque chicken dinner). There was a whole section of the gardens filled with tables and chairs where dinner guests could have their dinners. There was also a food truck which sold regular picnic food - hotdogs, hamburgers, etc.

And so many vendors of some of the lovliest handmade items I've seen in a long time. This was an enchanting way to spend a lazy Summer afternoon.

What Color Is Fall ?

Took these photos on gorgeous day last week. Fall is a feast for the eyes. I love the smell of the freshly picked apples. I'm going to try a new way of eating them. My favorite way was to cut and core them, slicing into segments which I would drag through caramel. I certainly was defeating the purpose of the "oh, so healthy" apple by slathering it in caramel. Yesterday, my friend told me she loves to put a dollop of peanut butter on each segment. Now, that's much better. That's how I'll have them too. A little protein with all the antioxidants.

pumpkins in the sunshine - at local supermarket

gourds of many colors - white - rose - green - orange - mocha

 

 

 

at local supermarket - they have relationship with many local farms

These next two pictures were taken at a farm market that is very near my house. It's a delight to visit any time of year. The Fall seems the most festive. I think because it is so short - just a matter of weeks. All these pumpkins will be gone by October 31st.

This farm market is a destination for many school busses in Fall, unloading dozens of tots to pick their very own pumpkin to bring home. They also get to see lots of farm animals and a few wild ones as well. In the last picture is Mr. Peacock walking around the parking lot. There are lots of chickens, goats, deer, and donkeys to delight the children.

truckload from a local farm ready to set up at the farm market



local farm market - mums - corn stalks - lots of goodies indoors and out

 

Inside the market at this time of year, you'll find lots of local fruits and vegetables - apples, pears, pumpkins (of course), cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, peppers, zucchini, etc. Lots of homemade pies, jams and jellies. Some fall décor, like wreaths and Fall flowers. They also carry local honey processed from their own hives, local maple syrup and, dry soup mixes.

 

I'm blessed to live near both these places. I don't just shop there, I'm entertained. In fact, one of my favorite sayings is: I go to the supermarket for vacation !

Quilt Show

I visited a quilt show on Saturday last (September 14th). It was quite near to the location of a conference I was attending. I visited the quilt show during my lunch break on Saturday.

Driving back and forth all week to the location were the conference was held, I had seen the signs announcing the quilt show.

It was an extremely pleasant surprise and diversion after sitting all week and industriously taking notes at the conference.

It took place at the United Methodist Church of North Chili, NY. The entire sanctuary was filled with quilts. They were draped over every alternate pew so you could walk by them without disturbing them. The church hallway had quilts hanging on the walls. In a huge room - I don't know what the church used this room for - perhaps a gymnasium or a large conference room - there were large bed size quilts. This room also had a few quilt related vendors around the perimeter.

 

sorry about the legend taking a bite out - this quilt was so beautiful - the stitching so elegant

 

the quilts had a legend with the name and how the quilter came to make it

 

 

 

 

Very large quilt - very wintery scene - in strips


 

 

close-up wintery scene - lots of shiny snowflakes heat set


 

child's quilt - all animals wore different shoes
 

A totally lovely surprise - tea was served in their tea room.

 

 

 

 I never plan to actually make a quilt but I so admire the dexterity of those who do. They seem like a giant mathmetical problem to me - matching all those right angles. I do, however love quilts, especially vintage ones. I have several of them, including a doll bed one. I treasure each one. They seem like a huge undertaking to me. I'm an "instant gratification" type of person. I want to see the results of my work in the twinkle of an eye. How about you?

Summer's Grand Finale

Is it true that after Labor Day, it's not cool to wear white any more? Why not? Summer's over, back to school, fall clothes, apple pie, pumpkins. Before you know it it'll be Thanksgiving, then Black Friday, then Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day and New Year's. Wow, that flew by.

That's how it is with us, time racing, busy, busy, busy.

But, I took my good old time saying good bye to summer yesterday on Labor Day. My plan was to visit my sister at her lake house but on my way I planned to stop at an antique mall that I've been longing to visit for a long time.

I also planned to get an ice cream cone after the antique mall visit but that didn't happen because my sister texted me and wanted to know if I was still coming. I knew then that she was getting a little anxious for me to appear. So I skipped the ice cream. For a holiday weekend, the lake house was unusually quiet. There were just 7 people there, including me. Even that was fitting for our farewell to summer. The day before they hosted a clambake and there were probably three times that many people plus the hubbub that such a large crowd engenders. In addition to roaring boats, kids tubing. etc. to add to the excitement.

I'm so happy that yesterday was a beautiful and quiet, slow paced and peaceful kind of day. Perfectly fitting for kissing summer goodbye. I hate to see her go. I love her so much. I love Miss Fall too but winter, not too keen on him. He's so rough, cold, gray, snowy, slippery and looooong.

vintage frame & vintage lace remake jewelry organizer

https://www.etsy.com/listing/196386140/earring-organizer-vintage-lace-and-frame?ref=shop_home_active_5

On my visit to the antique mall, I was more or less looking for some vintage wares to use for a new product that I've added to my etsy shop. Jewelry organizers. Since my aesthetic is remaking vintage, I like to use vintage picture frames and vintage lace for these. Of course, I saw lots of things that I would've loved to purchase but didn't need at all. I did find one item that I can repurpose into a jewelry organizer.

this is called a tailer tot - bottom tray & handle removable - becomes a walker

 

 

these are some of the things I would buy if $$$ were no object
 

After a leisurely drive down the east side of Canandaigua Lake, I park at a boat launch and my family picks me up in a boat so I don't have to drive to the south end of the lake and up and over a mountain (Great Tor), driving down a treacherous one lane dirt road to get to the lake house by land. So much safer to arrive by boat.

mountain in background would have to be descended to reach lake houses by land

Another new-ish product in my etsy shop are these crocheted berets. Fortunately there was a little niece there to play the part of hat model.

I do hope that Miss Summer takes a long time to actually take her leave and that she leave us with the glorious burst of Indian Summer before she actually hides herself for a few months.

A Weekend with Uncle Frank

Last weekend my baby brother, who lives in Pennsylvania, paid me a visit. He arrived on Friday afternoon and departed after breakfast on Sunday. Whooosh.......a whirlwind !

The first place he wanted to visit was the Mini Cooper showroom. He drove up to NY in a used Mini Cooper that he purchased a couple months ago. In my imagination, I thought he wanted to visit the Mini Cooper showroom to, perhaps, buy a new set of floor mats. But, lo and behold, he wanted a whole new car.

I spent the next couple hours reading all the magazines in the showroom while he dickered and doodled about prices. Finally a deal was made and we were to return the next day to pick up the new car.

The new Mini

We came home and had dinner of the leftovers from my cooking class of the day before.     http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2014/08/cooking-with-cousins.html#comment-form    Watched a little TV before retiring in preparation for a marathon tourist Saturday.

Saturday began with breakfast at the Rochester Public Market. We purchased breakfast at a Hispanic Bakery at the market. We brought our take-out breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese on a grilled, buttered hard roll, to the coffee bar a few door down the road where one of our cousins is a barista. We enjoyed breakfast with that whole family of cousins (4) plus husbands.

Chatting over breakfast, I mentioned that I planned to venture by the market stalls to get some local fresh whatevers when a cousin said "come on over to my house - I have lots of whatevers from our own garden for you to take home.

This is what I gathered up from cousin's garden 

Artichoke growing in cousin's garden

Cousin's Veggies prepped for ratatouille

After breakfast, we wandered through the market for a bit, then went to cousin's house to gather what she had for me.

Next on the agenda - off to visit a favorite niece. Here's her garden. She actually built it all herself out of pallets. While there, I did a little photo shoot for a few hats I just knitted up for my etsy shop.

Niece's garden

Hat photo shoot

Then off to pick up the new Mini. And to top off an "energizer bunny" type day - dinner at P.F.Changs - with even more relatives.

Chang's

On the gloriously sunny and bright Sunday morning, we had a date with two of Uncle Frank's childhood friends and their wives at yet another bakery.

He returned to PA and I collapsed on a chair with my feet up to recover from a weekend with Uncle Frank.

Cooking With Cousins

On Thursday last, three of my cousins, my sister and my BFF participated in a cooking class at the NY Wine & Culinary Center, situated on Canandaigua Lake in the town of Canandaigua, NY in the NY Finger Lakes Region. http://www.nywcc.com/

This was a mini-family reunion for us. We do meet several times a year for a marathon breakfast at a local coffee bar but this event was a memory maker. The culinary center is exquisite, overlooking the lake. The lush surrounding gardens, tables and tents outdoors, walkways through the gardens and being with people you love made it feel like a holiday.

One thing I regret is that we didn't go much earlier. We did not get an opportunity to explore the center. They do stage weddings there, have culinary and wine making classes, plus turn out amazing chefs.  Our class took place from 6 to 9 PM and we arrived just in time. Arriving earlier would have given us time to explore the gift shop and whatever other goodies were hidden inside.

The classroom was a mega kitchen with three huge square stations, each with a (vegetables only) sink, a 4 burner stove on each side. There were ovens, refrigerators, more (hand washing) sinks along the walls. Each station had four prep areas with a huge under counter drawer of supplies.

potato gnocchi

Each of the 4 pairs of cooks had a different assignment. My friend and I made gnocchi with duck ragu, 2 of my cousins made risotto with peas and asparagus, My sister and cousin made Bolognese sauce with buccatini pasta, and the final couple (who we didn't know at the beginning of the class - but after cooking and dining with them) felt quite chummy - made Penne with sauce Norma plus dessert.

fixins' for duck ragu

At each of the 4 prep areas, all the ingredients to make each dish were measured out and arranged on a tray. If any slicing of vegetables was required, the fledgling chefs needed to do that. We were given explicit knife handling instructions beforehand. (thank goodness, there was no blood).

duck ragu

The same meal was prepared at each of the three stations. When the prep and cooking was finished, the 8 people at each station enjoyed the meal, that they all participated in preparing, together.

risotto with peas and asparagus

buccatini with bolognese sauce

gnocchi with duck ragu

dessert

The theme of our class was cooking dishes that would be common in Sicily. I came home with all the recipes except for the sweet we had for dessert. It was a "rolled up like a cinnamon roll" fried dough, dipped in honey then dusted with powdered sugar. Scrumptious. Must see if the others took home the instructions for that.

We got to bring leftovers home. As a bonus, I had a meal all prepared to share with my weekend house quest (the baby brother).

I can't wait to go back there again.    

Tablecloth Curtains

My bedroom has never had curtains at the windows. The windows are the crank out type. There's a double on one wall and a single on another wall. They are the type of windows that have double panes with a venetian blind in between the two pieces of glass. The slats on the shades can be opened and closed as much as you like but you cannot move the shade up and down and just see clear glass. It's all self contained.

I'm sort of minimalist regarding windows. I want light. I'm not into closing off the source of light with drapes. If I use curtains at all, they have to be white and very "see through".

Lately I've been thinking about introducing some softness into my bedroom by curtaining the windows. And since my aesthetic is "vintage remakes", the thought occurred to me to use vintage lace tablecloths as curtains. I had recently purchased a beautiful handmade vintage crocheted tablecloth at an estate sale. I carefully laundered it in preparation for selling it in my etsy shop. But when the curtain prospect came into view, I thought of that tablecloth. But, alas, it was not a good fit. So it will indeed go into my etsy shop.

this one didn't work - it'll go into my etsy shop

 

I did have another vintage lace machine made cloth that was the right dimentions  and makes a beautiful curtain for the smaller of the two windows.

For the larger window (the one with two panes of glass) I was having trouble finding a tablecloth both long enough and wide enough. I did have a treasure though that I purchased last year at an estate sale. At first I thought it was a bed sheet but then decided it was a tablecloth because it has handmade lace on all four sides. Plus the entire surface of the linen is embellished with embroidery and cutwork. So that is covering the big window for now. I do have it over to one side. I don't mind at all that the curtains are different.

this is the cloth I used for the larger window

this is how it looks at the window

I will still be on the "lookout" for vintage lace for the big window. I may have to get two tablecloths in order to be able to close the curtains. And I'll be looking for the manufactured lace type because they are airier than the hand crocheted ones.

I did want my curtains to be hung from bamboo poles. I discovered that you have to buy that at garden centers. The curtain rings can be purchased at the home dec stores like Lowe's and Home Depot. The rings have a spring clip to grab the curtain material. Super easy to do.

I am happy with my "new" curtains. I think they look dreamy and romantic. It's kind of fun having decorating dilemmas to solve.