Almost looks like new

June 6, 2018June 9, 201827 Comments

Last year, in the fall I think it was, we got the idea to turn the old well house into a chicken house. This entailed cleaning everything out and storing it elsewhere. While we were at it I took a peek into the attic, if you will, and found an old iron moldering away up there.

To put is succinctly it was NASTY

I zip locked it that evening and let is sit till today.

I scrubbed, rubbed, polished and even ran it under the water in the sink. I’m NEVER, EVER, going to plug it in, so why not?

I used stainless steel polish, aluminum foil to rub out the rust, and tons of elbow grease! I was determined to make her shine.

To clean the base-plate I had to remove it…

I almost wished I hadn’t, but was very glad for the intuition on bagging the thing months back.

YECH!

Lots of dead spiders in there.

This didn’t come out as nicely as the rest of the surfaces, but it revealed the manufacturer. Manning-Bowman of Meridian Connecticut.

So, I went online and searched. I found an iron that was exactly like mine, but no details on the Manning-Bowman MFG. I persisted. And came up with an old ad!

Meet the Iron that Wags its Tail!

My iron had lost the logo imprinted on its base. Too bad as it would have saved me quite a bit of time today. But hey, I found it!

So now my 1940 Streamlined beauty is all cleaned, shiny, and sitting up on display with my cast iron beauties collected from family.

Oh, and don’t let her sleek looks fool you… she’s pretty heavy in her own right at 4.75 pounds!

I think she looks pretty good!

I do wonder why the previous owner wrapped up the broken iron and saved it don’t you? Never-the-less, I was glad to discover it last fall.

Question: How many of you remember the shaker top water applicators for ironing before steam irons came on the scene?

NOTE: The original ad was found HERE. Do have a look there are several oldies but goodies regarding housework in the 40s.

camouflage

May 23, 2018May 23, 201811 Comments

Can you see me?

No?

How about now?

This Eastern Garter snake is non venomous and a pest predator. I enjoyed seeing it hanging out behind my new herb bed. I have (had?) a resident vole that moved in and stayed for the past three months. Although, I haven’t seen the Garter snake or the vole for a couple of weeks… 🙂

Learn more about Eastern Garter snakes: CLICK HERE

Desk chair makover

May 19, 201821 Comments

I had a favorite chair from my classroom in California that never got sold at my teacher’s yard sale after we moved here. It had been sitting in the barn for ten years now and I almost threw it away.

However, after pricing the many new chairs available on the market, ones without arms, I decided I didn’t want to spend the money.

So, I pulled off the old fabric and scrubbed the legs and wheels.

Scary looking isn’t it?

Put on two layers of quilt batting and some upholstery fabric I picked up at *Sir’s in Fayetteville, TN several years ago…

This wasn’t too hard, but I had to be careful to use the right length of staples; not too long.

And Voila! One less item in the landfill.

The old favorite is now reborn!

Note to self: If you change the coverings it is probably best to replace the foam padding too…

Maybe next time?

Regarding Sir’s Fabrics: Sirs Fabrics was one of my favorite places to go shopping for fabric. The owner used to find some of the most beautiful and unique fabrics from all around. Deeply discounted close outs, buyouts from stores that went out of business, and sometimes vintage treasures that, though watermarked or discolored with age along the edges were worth the purchase because the centers of the panels were still gorgeous and useful.

Unfortunately, this past winter the building caught fire and all the bolts of drapery and upholstery fabric, the laces and flat folded fabrics on all the tables burnt to nothing. The heat of the fire reduced the stock and the building to just bricks and rubble.

I often think “I’ll just pop over to Sir’s and see what they’ve got” for my latest project or quilting fabric and then realize they are not there anymore. I makes me sad that they are gone and I hope they are able to rebuild.

Behind the barn

May 15, 201824 Comments

Out back behind the barn, on an old fence pole and above the scrap pile is a blue bird house. I placed it there when we first moved here.

Dependably every year there will be a nest of babies. I always know when they are being fed because of the chorus of chirping they make. And every year I can depend on them being much quicker than me when I try to capture them in the act.

Today as I fed and watered all the animals the little fellow came and did his feeding while I was very near! Without my camera of course.

And so it is that I took this picture from the dining room window and blew this cropped bit up so we can at least see the babies. It was a long distance (150 ft) and therefore blurry, but I’m just happy to have finally got one.