Lighting ~ The Old Fashioned Kind

Goodman loves to browse flea markets. I really don't, so when he goes to one he sends pictures to my phone if he sees something he thinks I might want.  Last weekend he sent a picture of the lamp in the far left front for me to consider. I asked him to buy it for me, but he decided to get all of these (for one great price.)

 I love old fashioned oil lamps since they're especially useful when the power is off,  and they look nifty, too.  I won't show all individually, but some are cool, really cool...

This is a vintage whale oil lamp. Heh, that's cool in my book. O.O   I colored regular lamp oil to mimic whale oil since I didn't have any of the real stuff on hand.

 This one, with it's cup-styled handle, is called a finger lamp.

The one with blue oil is a hobnail lamp. I added the blue oil for a bit of color in the room where I intend for it to set. ;)

 Next is a pedestal finger lamp.

This one has a Currier and Ives farm scene on the base.

 Last is the one I asked Goodman to bring home, love the design on the base. It will soon have red oil in it so it will fit in nicely in the living room. Below is a close-up of the base.

Do you use or collect oil lamps? Do you know more about their history than I've shared? Please, tell all if you do!

I've Been Dyeing to Show You

 Hello there! Until yesterday we were enjoying a wonderful fall with temperatures in the 60s or 70s by day and 50s by night.  Wonderful time of year.

 Morning glories are blooming on the chicken yard fence.  We like to keep our fence clear, but these aren't weeds; I didn't have the heart to pull them down. They're still blooming since we haven't had a frost yet.

 Our jalapeno peppers did very well in the garden this year. I saved some in jars, but we have literally stuffed ourselves with them more than once since I found the best recipe here that is amazingly similar to Cheddar Peppers @ Sonic, only better. ;)

 

 I made a batch of soap and defiantly cut a few of the bars fatter than usual. I'm just stubborn sometimes. ;)

 I prepared some off-white yarn to try dyeing with ...

 These lovely poke berries that I gathered in the pasture.

 I have wanted to do this for ages. Anyway, I used the directions in my book Harvesting Color to guide me. Here I pre-mordanted the wool in vinegar for two hours. This method as described in the book yielded better results than I'd had before. The book may be available at your local library, if not, you can request they get it. Wonderful book on natural dyes.

 Meantime, I squeezed the berries then strained them and brought the mixture to the correct temperature for the dyebath.

 As I lowered the wool in the bath it soaked up so much color I had a feeling it was going to work. The dyebath was kept at 170 degrees for two hours then I turned the heat off, covered it with a lid and let set overnight.

 Here's the finished result. The yarn is actually darker red than the pic, but my camera is defiant, too, so this is the as close to the true color shade as I could get.

 Goodman built some raised beds for my strawberry plants. I really enjoy working in raised beds as I can sit on the side and weed away without getting a backache. We filled them with regular topsoil mixed with mushroom compost. That's asparagus in the far back bed. Goodman found some asparagus plants growing along the back fenceline, and we put them in the bed. I'm pretty sure they grew from seeds of the plants I had several years ago, that were scattered by birds.

Hope you're having a wonderful fall, Y'all!
Linked with: Wildcrafting Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Good Fences




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Yay For Old And Cranky

 We were out browsing antique stores last weekend when this little wooden sewing machine case caught my eye.

 

Nope, I wasn't kidding about old or cranky. This little gem is a 1915 Model 99 hand-crank Singer. I'd actually used one similar to this one long, long ago. We were living in Germany at the time, and a friend had lent me hers for a day or so. I swooned over it the whole time I had it in my possession.

 Many years have passed since then, and I never once thought I'd see another one. It was covered in dirt and drips and splotches from who-knows-what, but I wanted this machine.  The price was very reasonable, but I hesitated thinking it'd be a waste if it didn't work. Goodman said he could probably fix whatever might be wrong so I took her home. Well, after a good cleaning and a lot of adjusting she works just fine.

 There's a small compartment on the side for accessories. All that was in there was some needles and two bobbins. Still I'm thrilled. I hope to find some more bobbins and a belt since this machine can, also be used with a treadle cabinet.

The serial number was still intact so I was able to get the date of manufacture from the Singer site.

I sewed these lil white pumpkin pincushions on it earlier. Who knew white pumpkins were so cute? o.O

 Hope y'all have a splashin' good weekend!

Linking up with May Sewing Party.