Frozen

Today our world seemed as though 

all was frozen after a bad winter storm. 

There was not much snow,

but the the ice whispered upon the earth.

Welcome to our yard in winter.

But the cardinals braved the cold...

...and so did my husband!

Stay warm, my friends!

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Today I am linking to 

Wen's Simply Neutrals Tuesday Party

(even though today is Saturday!).

Why don't you pop over there and say hello

to some of my other friends!

You can find Wen's blog here.

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All of the photos in this post were taken with my 

oldie-but-goodie Canon Rebel T1i

practicing for the first time

 taking close-ups with a 

Canon EFS 55-250 mm zoom lens.

Sausage and Sweet Potato Frittata

Good morning friends! Do you like to sometimes make breakfast food not for breakfast, but for lunch or dinner? I actually do, so here is a recipe that I tried Friday night for a light supper.

I purchased this magazine a week or so ago,

and I think that it is still in the stores. 

I got mine in Walmart...

And this is the recipe...

Believe it or not, I cut the recipe in half, and hubby and I had leftovers for lunch the next day. I didn't even use a cast iron pan, but rather just a Caphalon one. And since dill is no longer growing in my herb garden, I just used a little bit of the dried type. I used Jimmy Dean sage pork sausage, and there was something very delicious about the mix of the sausage and the sweet potatoes. I served it with a little kale salad on the side, which bulked it up a little.

Let me know if you try it and what you think!

A Valentine's Day Fabric Collage: Sister Love

Happy Sunday, dear friends! Our weather is pretty nasty today, cloudy, cold, damp, and it snowed for a while this morning, but what stuck didn't last very long.

So, I decided to take a break from the attic cleaning project (awful business!) and make this Sunday a day of rest and creation. With Valentine's Day coming, I decided to create something for my Etsy shop, where this item is now listed for sale. You can find my shop on my sidebar.

This is a simple little piece,

only measuring about 

6-1/2 inches wide by 8 inches high,

not counting the hanger...

I love this photo of these two little sisters

holding their dolls.

I think that they love their dolls 

almost as much as they love each other...

Pretty pink fabrics,

vintage laces,

and sari ribbon...

I have ignored my shop practically since

I opened it.

We were away so much in the spring,

summer, and fall 

that it spent more time closed and

"on vacation" than it was opened.

Maybe I'll have better luck this year!

May your week be as sweet as the little girls in this photo!

Vintage Village: An Hour of Buying Nothing

Yesterday my hubby had some things to do, so I decided to take a trip to Vintage Village. One of the shops there sells Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint, so I wanted to see if they had the new color, Farmhouse White. Have you seen it yet? It is really a nice shade of white, and I want to use some to refinish an old dresser that I bought a couple of years ago (one of two that is still sitting in the garage waiting for some love. Oops.).

 Don't you just love the way she did this hutch?

 Her blog is on my side bar, 

but you can also click here 

to see more of her post about this color...

via missmustardseed.com

So, the vendor did not yet have the paint, but they assured me that it is on order, so I will keep on checking. Its too cold to paint down in the garage right now anyway.

I did walk around for a little while and take some quick photos, but not a lot because it was kind of cold. Even inside the buildings it is cold, as most of them are not heated.

This was an adorable new building

that had some things for sale inside.

Pardon the long morning shadows,

but I couldn't resist a photo...

...and look how cute the top is.

Wouldn't this make a great garden shed?...

This is another building,

which has been there for awhile...

I've written about Vintage Village before,

but can never resist taking more photos,

especially when the sky looks as pretty as this...

I almost wanted to buy this lovely old garden 

statue, 

but didn't want to have to lift it!

I did love this little farm animal metal

garden ornament...

...and of course, as always, their great stash of

vintage doors...

But, surprising myself, I bought nothing,

and decided to save the gift certificate that Mr. Perch

gave me for Christmas.

I will stick to the plan and hold out for 

Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint in

Farmhouse White!!!

Antique Victorian Cuffs and The Attic

Hello!

I recently bought these two burgundy velvet and lace cuffs on eBay, and I thought that you might enjoy seeing them.

Here are the two. 

The velvet portions are lovely with very slight wearing,

and the lace has aged to a beautiful ecru color.

They don't really fasten closed,

so I am thinking that they were just sewn to the bottom

of the sleeves, and hung loose...

They are embellished with these lovely

sparkly pieces,

which appear to be some kind of metal...

...seen a little bit better here...

...and here...

These would be lovely incorporated into a Valentine's Day project,

don't you think?

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Hubby decided that it was time to clean out the attic.

It's always been kind of dark up there,

so right before the holidays he put in some

fluorescent lighting and shelving units.

I should have know what was coming.

I've already begun pulling out items that I can live without

and pricing them,

since we have a community yard sale coming up in the spring.

Wow.

I would so much rather be cleaning an attic

than making art.

Victorian Mourning Dress Fragments

Friends, by now you must certainly think that I am fixated on Victorian mourning. I assure you that is not the case, and this will likely be almost my last post on this subject, at least for a while!

I just wanted to share with you some lovely finds that I will be incorporating into some fabric collage at some point.

This first one is a small piece of antique Victorian

velvet trim, or fabric, measuring about

7 by 9 inches at its widest points.

It may or may not have been used on

a mourning dress, 

but I can only imagine the beautiful dress

that it once was a part of...

There is only one motif on this piece,

but that's enough to let my imagination

run away with me...

The best part is that it incorporates

several tiny black jet beads and sequins

(see my last post),

 which have been

embroidered onto the satin flowers,

leaves and stems...

All the embroidery was completed by hand,

as you can see in the photo of the reverse.

Dressmakers of that time period

were really extraordinary,

weren't they?...

The other piece is a triangular shaped

fragment that is about 22 inches long

at the longest section.

It is an antique silk embroidered piece, 

also from the Victorian era...

The embroidered portions have faded to a brownish color,

which I think lends to the overall charm.

The lace portion is stunning...

...and I can only wonder what the dress

that it embellished, or was part of,

looked like...

I actually have a plan for these two pieces,

and some of the others that I have recently purchased,

but that may have to remain a secret for a while!

Thanks for coming by!

Victorian Fashion: Black Jet

Hello. I hope that you had a great weekend!

During my recent curiousity about Victorian mourning fashions, I came across black jet, which was popular from the mid 1850's to the early 1900's. Jet is considered to be a minor gemstone and is a geological material derived from decaying wood under extreme pressure. Since black jewelry was worn during times of mourning, you will see it often in cabinet card photos of ladies wearing mourning clothes. And, not only was it used in jewelry, but it was also made into buttons, beads, and sequins. If you would like to find out more about it, you can read about the differences between jet, French jet, and onyx here.

I did find a few jet items to use in some future art projects, and thought they were very pretty.

I bought 30 of these for for a very reasonable price from Etsy.

I agree with the seller in that we are not sure what they are.

They are made of small wooden bases with a wrapping 

of black jet seed beads and added thread loops at the top.

She thought that perhaps they were used as loop closure buttons

on clothing or accessories,

or added as design to lamps, or perhaps shawls.

You can see the little loop...

Here are some small buttons with jet beads set

into them.

You can see that jet is not overly shiny,

but does pick up some light

(especially when the photographer doesn't know

how to control light! Ha!)...

OK.

My word of the year is LEARN.

I feel smarter already!

Have you learned about anything new so far this year?