Let's Go On a Picnic!

Yesterday, I wrote that I would post some pics of my new Shabbified picnic basket and the silver, glass and linens that I had "shopped" the house for. Below you will see a closeup of the silver ware that I purchased at the St Vincent de Paul Store. It is made by Rogers and the pattern is Magnolia. I scooped these up for 50 cents each. I bought two dinner knives, two teaspoons, two dinner forks and two soup spoons for $4.00!! They were black with tarnish, but are sparkling after a good polish with Silvo. The glasses are pink swirl tumblers by Arcoroc. I received them as a shower gift from my dear friend Muriel, twenty-seven years ago!!

Here are the plates etc. ready to be packed. The plates are J&G Meakin "Bridal Bouquet". I started collecting this pattern a few years ago. I have eight luncheon plates, two cups and saucers, a platter and a large milk jug. I'm using the plates for the basket because the lavender coloured flowers is similar in colour to the lavender in the fabric. The linens I picked up a few years ago on one of my thrifting jaunts. There is a small tablecloth and four matching napkins and four other napkins all in a lovely, faded pink. They are made of linen. I paid probably $2. for all of it, so I am not afraid to throw it in the washer. I iron it when it is wet until it is dry. This gives the linen a lovely look and feel.

See the hand crocheted tablecloth???!! I paid a dollar for it in a joblot at an auction about a month ago. SCORE!!! There is a white linen tablecloth underneath it which I bought at another local thrift store....price?....$1.00.

I love picnics. I can remember going on picnics when I was a toddler in France (I am an Air Force Brat!). Here I have assembled a bottle of Perrier, an (opened!) bottle of roseh (LOL) wine (had to have a glass last evening on the porch!), a luscious ripe tomato, a piece of medium aged cheddar, some olives, a hunk of polish sausage, a piece of baguette, two pinkaliscious apples and a sharp paring knife.

I packed everything into the basket. I suggest that if the food will not be eaten within an hour, that you pop in a small freezer pack to keep the perishables cold until you do eat them.

I was at Value Village a few weeks ago and saw this beautiful Ikea wool plaid blanket. I thought at the time that it would be a great picnic blanket, but I talked myself out of buying it. The day after I bought the basket I went back to VV and the blanket was still there!!! I brought it home this time!!! Now it is ready for our picnic! Hop in the car!!! We will find a pretty field just down the road!!!

Hugs, Laura

Revamping an old Wicker Picnic Basket.

A week ago my hubby drove me to Toronto to see the surgeon for followup on my shoulder surgery. My shoulder is coming along wonderfully. I'm hoping to be back to work sometime in August.
On the way home we stopped in Cobourg where we know of a fabulous pub, The Cat and the Fiddle, where we can get great fish and chips. On the same street, Covert Street, there are five (count 'em!) 5 thrift stores. Tim dropped me off while he found a parking spot and then went to the pub to get himself a beer. I started at the west end of the street and checked out three of the stores, but didn't find anything. After lunch we went into the last two stores where I found six saucers to match six cups I already had. Tim found the picnic basket (above) and thought that we should buy it. I hmmmmed and hawed for a few seconds and then agreed that it would be fun to fix up a bit.

The first thing I did was to remove the lining and the foam cushioning inside as well as the pieces of very thin plywood that you see which were used on each side of the lid. Next came a bubble bath in cool water with Tide and liquid bleach. I used an old denture brush and scrubbed away at the wicker and removed some grime that had accumulated. Then I rinsed it well in cool water and set it outside to dry in the warm air.

The next day I cut some white prequilted fabric to fit the bottom and sides. I glued it in with my hot glue gun.

I sewed a new lining from some Mary Rose fabric that I had in my stash and then glued it into place also. (see below).

And TaaDaa here is the finished basket below. I have gathered some vintage linen napkins, a small matching table cloth, two vintage luncheon plates, two pink glass tumblers and two sets of silverplated cutlery. I will take pics of the linen etc in the morning so you can see what it all looks like together. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. What do you think of my new shabby rose chic picnic basket??

I love fixing up old stuff!!!

Now that I have figured out that I have to load pics first, then add the text, I will be posting new blogs more frequently. This has been a long learning curve for me!!!LOL!!!
Hugs, Laura

Thrift Store Finds from a Few Weeks Ago

I have being try to figure out how to add pictures to a specific post and I finally clicked on the "HELP" icon and Viola.....there it was....."How to add an image"! DUH!

So now that I know how to let's see if I can make it work.

I went thrifting a few weeks ago and scored a few beauties!

I was shopping at our local St Vincent de Paul and spied with my little eye! the "perdiest" pee-pot I had ever encountered. It was made by the

W. T. Copeland

and Sons

Stoke On Trent

England

The colours of the transfer pattern are still vibrant! The pottery is a creamy off white and blends very nicely in my "shabby romantic cottage chic" decor. The top rim is flat and almost an inch wide which would have made a very comfortable place to perch one's bottom!! I may use it for a plant pot or for a display of my homemade summer potpourri.

When I saw this bamboo shelf, I did not know what I was going to do with it. BUT...I knew that I was going to NEED it! LOL! It was painted "Colonial Blue" which was a popular colour in the '70s and '80s. While our bathroom was being installed I decided that this shelf was the perfect size for such a small room. So, I painted it white. I used a melamine paint which is very durable; it dries to a hard finish and will withstand high humidity found in bathrooms.

Hmmmm.....I have just previewed the blog and the pics are not showing up where I want them to show up!!! GRRRRRR!!! So....I am going to post this bit and do some more research on how to put pics where I want them!

I hope you have a truly stellar day!

Hugs, Laura

Auction Sale Tomorrow!!!!!

I am going to a good old fashioned auction sale tomorrow. It is being held at the farm house out in the country where a family has lived for many years and has collected many treasures. I first heard about it when the auctioneer, Boyd, mentioned it at another auction I attended earlier this spring. My friend Dee was at the auction, too, and so we decided to make a date out of this coming auction. I have packed a picnic and filled the truck with gas. I have Lysol wipes, papertowels and cloth bags incase I buy anything. I use the papertowels to wrap breakables in....much cleaner than newsprint. WHOOOPIE!!!!
I pick Dee up at 8 am and the drive will be about 40 minutes. We will have about an hour to check things over before the auction begins. You can check out the listing here...there are pics of what is to be sold.
http://sullivanauctions.com/?p=1219
I love going to a Sullivan Auction!!! The auctioneer is quite an entertainer!! It will be a great day!!
Hugs, Laura

A Discarded Angel.

We just had our upstairs bathroom remodeled, so had to make a trip to the dump on Saturday. My hubby, Tim, loaded the various pieces of trash into the truck along with our household garbage and recycle. He tipped over the old toilet to dump some rainwater out of the bowl and heard a kachinkle, chinkle.....and out fell a handful of coins!!! No wonder the dam thing wouldn't flush properly!!! We have lived in this house for eight years and always had trouble with this toilet. I thought it was because of hardwater buildup, but it was just cold hard cash!!!!LOL. I washed the coins and counted it up..... 86 cents......not enough to cover the cost of the new bathroom!!! So he loaded the toilet and secured everything and we drove the backroads to the local dump.
Now I have a confession to make. I have been known to go the dump and bring home more than I have taken. Alas, I didn't find much last Saturday when we arrived at the dump, but I decided to poke around some more in the metal pile to see if there was something shabby and unique to paint.
The pile of scrap metal at our dump is huge, probably 40 feet wide and 30 feet high and I don't know how many feet deep. I just skimmed around the outskirts of it and founds bits of old bikes, strollers, umbrellas, fridges and stoves, but nothing that really peaked my interest. Then I noticed something at my feet that looked like it was made out of plaster. It was upside-down and I began to smile when my brain registered what it probably was. I could see that there was some kind of instrument, being held in some hands and a couple of wings!!! Close by, about eight inches away I found a broken foot. Could it be??!!! I turned it over and this beautiful "angelic" face looked up at me. I could hear her pleading to me "Please take me home with you. My foot is broken and I am so alone here all by myself!" "Oh, dear Baby" I said. "No more fears; I indeed will take you home with me and you shall have a special place to hang on my bedroom wall with my other plaster angels". My husband just shook his head and chuckled when I showed him who I had found. He knew that I would give her a loving home.

A few days ago I tried to glue her foot back on, but carpenters glue just wouldn't work. I thought that I might have some Plaster of Paris hanging around somewhere, so I trekked down to the basement and of course there was a box of it waiting patiently for me and my latest project. I am happy to say that the P-of-P
worked wonderfully and the broken foot has been mended. Now I have to decided whether I will give her a few coats of white paint or try to restore her to her shabby gold gloriousness! What do you think I should do?

First Post.

Good morning
Today is my first attempt at blogging. A new friend, Lynn at Teacupstitches, sent me a link to her blog and I was inspired to set up a blog of my own. I am going to try to add something new every day for a while, so I get the hang of things. I have so many ideas, and stories to share with you!!!
Hugs, Laura