Autumn

Well, it has been quite awhile since my lost entry, but I have been busy with my new Etsy shop and a little eBay as well. My fear of the unknown has now passed and I am listing items almost every day. I am actually selling a few things, too!  I still have a lot to learn about Etsy and photography and promotion and tagging and all the other good stuff that goes along with Internet business, but I am getting there.

School is going along fantastically (is that a word?), and I have great classes of kids. We did have a tragedy over a week ago, but we are all helping each other heal and coming together as a community to support one another.

I am going to try to post some of my goodies here when I put them on Etsy. If you ever have something that you are looking for and would like to know if I have it, just private message me here or on Etsy. My Etsy shop is located at http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmeliesFarmhouse

Halloween has passed, and Thanksgiving is almost here.....how time flies! We have had the furnace tuned up, the chimneys checked, fired up the wood stove and stocked up on firewood as well as making sure the gas fireplaces are in working order for the season. We are ready for winter!

New Corner China Cabinet

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a local auction and bought several pieces of furniture in addition to all of the little goodies I normally get. As many already know, I am a china hoarder. I needed another place to display it, and the dining room needed another taller piece to balance it all out (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). I do not know the age of the "new" piece, but I'm thinking 1930s (or 40s). I love it and my second fave set of china can now be on display for me to enjoy every day. I took pics of both cabinets along with some closeups of the two sets of china.

The first set of pics is of my 1940 china cabinet that was bought new by my step-grandparents when they were first married. (Papaw Deno is still kicking it and will be 95 this Christmas Eve eve.) The china is from New Wharf Pottery (Stoke-on-Trent, England), which was in business from 1878 - 1894. The set is anywhere from 118 - 134 years old. I think it is older, because the pattern is not named/numbered, and I cannot find a picture of it anywhere except for a plate in a different color (which did not help me at all).

 The only pic I found of this pattern was unofficially dubbed "Mallow." What a find!

Below is the new corner cabinet, and it now holds my Tressemanes & Vogt (Limoges, France). I do know the pattern number and exact date for this set (TRV321, 1907). I just love its class.

Here is a cool little tutorial on making ghost lights.
Ghost Lights

Firewood

What fantastic weather we had today in our part of Ohio. The 72 degrees was perfect weather for hubs and our farmer friend to stack wood. Our friend brought a load down last weekend and another one today which ended up being almost a cord and a half. We already had about a cord and a half from last year, so hopefully we will not any more until well after the first of next year. It just depends on how cold it it gets.

Etsy, Here I Come!

After much thought over the months and loads of encouragement from friends and family, I am going to open an Etsy shop. I was going to wait until after the winter holidays, but was advised to do so before Christmas. I had been dragging my feet about the whole thing due to fear of the unknown. But after much researching and discussion with experienced, like-minded people, I became a little more confident of the undertaking.

I plan on selling vintage "farmhouse" goods mainly from the U.S. and Europe. Occasionally, I am sure I will have items from other countries. (For example, I have some post-war Noritake "occupied Japan" plates and bowls that I will be listing, as well as a lovely hand-crocheted 1970s bed coverlet from Mexico.)

Right now I am busy with the business end (ha!) of it all.....getting all the right licenses and forms filled out, setting up the shop, learning about SEO, etc., etc. I'm mentally exhausted, but so excited at the same time. So hopefully I will be mostly ready by October 1, 2012 :)

Guest Bathroom

I started the guest bathroom (the one I usually use for now) back in March, 2012. I had taken some before pics, but they mysteriously have disappeared from our camera. I did find a picture of it when we first looked at the house with our realtor in November, 2010. There was a lot of peeling wallpaper with pretty purple flowers, blue cabinets, and a broken shower head. (I went to take my first shower in it and it fell off!)





Now it is September and I finally found a mirror that I liked at an auction this past Saturday. All that is left to do is complete the towel rack pallet project I found HERE, buy a rug and towels, and frame some antique artwork for over the throne. This is how it looks so far....

I painted the vanity top with chalkboard paint (it's sort of thick) and then sprayed it with satin poly. I made the outer shower curtain from burlap. The walls look darker in person and are colonial gray from Valspar.

Jelly

Just a quick note about the jelly I made last weekend....yum! I made four pints of apple and four half-pints of jalapeno pepper jelly (first time I had even tasted pepper jelly and I love it). I cannot wait to try the pepper jelly over some cream cheese with crackers this fall and winter......I am going to try and make more this week as I have a "boatload" still on the plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Green jalapeno pepper, red jalapeno pepper, and apple.....all made without food coloring.

 

Hot Red Jalapeno Pepper Sauce

Yesterday, the auction was a bust so I left and went to a nearby outlet mall. I bought some of my favorite Estee Lauder perfume and some of hubs' favorite Starbuck's K-cups. Then I went home and started on canning some red jalapeno hot sauce. We had a bumper crop of peppers this year from all of the varieties of peppers that were planted, and I'm trying new ways to preserve them. (Later this week I'll post how I made the Christmas pepper jelly.)

The original recipe was for "red hot sauce" and it came from a Ball Canning book. I double it and made sauce a little runnier.....the recipe says to cook it to the consistency of ketchup, which didn't sound appealing too me.

Washing the pepper mix from the garden. I removed all of the red jalapenos for this recipe.

I cut off the stem end, split lengthwise, and scrape out seeds/membrane. I then chopped them up in my new Ninja mini chopper

Finished product! It is probably twice as much as I need but, I will have to find more ways to use it.

Back to Work

Summer is over for me....I headed back to work this week and will now start longing for my next long break. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my job but I love being home to "work" on my projects.......someday :) I plan on going to an auction tomorrow morning in the next town (well, it's really a village) over to the NE. When I get home, I plan on making some hot sauce and red pepper jelly with all of my now-red jalapeno peppers. I think I have enough tomatoes to make up some soup as well. Hubs has promised to get up on the ladder and pick some of the "good" apples that weren't discovered by any insects or other creatures. I would love to try and make some jelly and/or applesauce on Sunday.  Until then ......

Auction Goodies

The library is done except still waiting on the electric sconces.....should be here any day now. Hopefully, they'll be here by Saturday, so I can install them. While I am waiting, I am slowly trying to "find" things to put in the room that I already have. The following are a few auctions goodie's I got in the past month (except for the McGuffey spelling bookr, I got that last summer).

antique cherry drop leaf table

Pewter candle holder and McGuffey spelling book

Antique (minus the pulls) walnut chest of drawers, lamp, & more pewter

Pewter vase/candle holder

Old books, ironstone platter, and more pewter

Barn Quilts

A long-time friend of mine, Jerrie, from my home town is a very gifted "barn quilter." Today, I'd like to show you some of her designs. She sent me a little history behind these quilts below.She lives in southern Ohio, so if you really like them and need more info you can email me at ameliesfarmhouse@yahoo.com. Enjoy!

Barn Quilts - The story.

The history of the American Barn Quilt can be traced back almost 300 years to the arrival of immigrants from the central regions of Europe; Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. It is widely believed that barn painting/quilting originated in Pennsylvania with these immigrants and then spread too much of the New England and Midwestern states. Paint was very expensive in those days and painting a decorative and distinctive quilt pattern on their barns was a wonderful way of allowing for decoration. It also became an excellent way for travelers to find particular families or cross roads as towns people would just tell them which pattern to look for. Paint became less costly around the 1830 to 1840’s and at this point barn painting/decorating became an actual trade with specialized artisans. These artists combined many folk designs as well as specific geometric patterns from quilt squares: Snail trail, Bear claw, Mariners compass and Drunkards path.Decorating barns with colorful designs and quilt squares peaked by the beginning of the 20th century and slowly gave way to a more pragmatic form of barn painting; advertisement. Gone were the colorful quilts and in their place came the paid ads for Red Man Chewing Tobacco, Ceresota Flour, and Mail Pouch: A nostalgic part of the history of American barns in their own right. Today barn quilts have become popular again with more and more becoming visible. Quilt trails have been developed in many states. After a number of barn quilts have been displayed in an area, a map is developed that guides the viewers to the location. The map will have an address, maybe a picture of the square and a name or explanation of its meaning. A few of the states that have developed quilt trails include, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa and of course, Michigan.The quilts can be put on any type of building, from houses, garages, sheds or just mounted on two posts and displayed in the yard or a park.

 

Shutter Shutdown

Well, poop! I cannot use the shutters on my library windows because I need about three more inches of wall between the left window and the outside door. I'll have to save them for the man cave makeover, I guess. Anyway, here is a pic of them after I cleaned them up a bit.

Shutters

Not feeling very motivated today.....back to work every day starting Monday :(

I did start working on the shutters to hang on the inside of the library windows. Before I started, I was surfing a little and came across a cool site for repurposing shutters.
Shutters

More Antique Books

This  morning I made a trip to my favorite hairdresser for a color and cut.....thank you Jamie :) And when I got back home I did one last touch-up on the library floor (hopefully the last) and got back into my antique books.

Celebrated Generals was published somewhere between 1880 and 1896, the exact date of which I do not know as the book is undated.

The next book is General History and was written by a professor at my alma mater the University of Cincinnati. It was written in 1897 and includes a lot of little crib notes on small pieces of paper.

The last book, The Quest of John Chapman, was published in 1904 and is about Johnny Appleseed.

Antique French Lesson Book

After I posted about my book, it was time to go to the first staff meeting of the year at school....the real work starts Monday. On the way home, I stopped to get a second gallon of floor paint to do a third light coat and touch up the edges. I can't wait to put some of my auction furniture in there.

I grabbed another book to be shelved in the library, and it was a first year French lesson book (2nd edition) from 1927. It was meant to be used in a total French immersion atmosphere....I can't imagine doing that in a public school today. Anyway, the cover is not too exciting, but there is a lot of graffiti inside. Seems Miss Sarah Rose didn't bring enough notebook paper to class.

The Young Ranchers

Last summer I purchased quite a few antique books from an auction that was basically liquidating a very small town historical society. I plan on putting them into the finished library and picked this one up last night. It is called The Young Ranchers (or Fighting the Sioux). It is a first edition of an 1895 young teen boy book, No. 8 in the "Forest and Prairie" series. The author, Edward S. Ellis is from Geneva, Ohio.

Front cover

Inside front cover reads "PRIVATE LIBRARY OF G.F. Gallaher  No. 22"

Inscription reads, "To Fred Gallaher from Momma, Dec. 25th 1899"

"Heap Big Injun" drawing found between pages 106 and 107

Loudon Florals Prints

This is the second post of the day and it's not even 3:00 pm yet! I have been quite motivated today.

After I loaded up the dehydrator, I went out to the barn to fetch my four (very) old shutters with countless coats of paint. (black, dark green, and light green/white were visible). I hosed them all off to end up with a slightly distressed look but I still need to take a brush and soapy water to them.....might put them in the library flanking the two windows.

Then I repaired the eyes/wire on one of the three Jan Korthals London prints I acquired at this past weekend's auction on the cheap. I just need to have the glass in one of them replaced and they are ready to hang.

The other box of prints I purchased contained two pairs of botanical prints. My least favorite pair were hung today in the kitchen (below) and the other more "antiquey" pair will go in the library. (I may have to move the kitchen prints closer together, we'll see.)

Drying Herbs

Yesterday I primed the floor and this morning I put the first coat of paint on! Now, I have all day to do other things like dry some of my herbs for future use. There are many ways to dry herbs and I am far from an expert on them. However, I did have great success last year using a dehydrator. Today, I am drying two types of basil and some sage.

Cinnamon Basil

The bottom layer is cinnamon basil...smells so good.

Lemon-Lime Basil

The next two layers consists of lemon-lime basil...very citrus-smelling and crispy fresh.

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The top layer is sage, since it will probably dry fastest and need to be removed before the basil. Sage has a lower moisture content and can be air-dried (but I do not want to deal with this). You can also leave the sage leaves on the stems and put into the dehydrator. I chose to gently pick each leaf off.

This is the dryer portion of the dehydrator that sets on top of the stack of trays. You can add more trays, but this is all I wanted to do today.

I put the temperature between the 95 and 125 degree F mark. When it is done, I will store in small airtight, glass jars that I saved from store-bought spices and pimentos.

Wall Sconces & Candeliers

Amish candeliers in library (no candes yet)

Amish wall sconces (need shorter candles or LEDs)

The above pictures are of the work I did today. Even though the room will not be done for a few more days, I wanted to post a few pics of the progress. I didn't post a pic of the floor prepped for painting because, well, it's not very interesting at all. The paint looks like it is a different color on each wall because of the natural light. The windows face west and the doorway above faces another room.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!