A visit to Granny and Grumpa's Antiques

 

 

      Welcome back to my blog.  It's been a wonderful long summer, and now that the fall rains have set in it's time to catch up on a whole lot of blogging.

      A few weeks ago my family and I went for a visit to a wonderful antique place that they had all visited several months ago, and were eager to share with me ever since.  Story has it that Grumpa was once a farmer, and when he was tired of farming he sold all his quota, and started collecting antiques.  Now we aren't talking about some very carefully selected collectables, but rather a wonderful, ramshackle collection of all sorts.  The farm that once was home to a herd of cows is now full of an organized chaos of treasures.

     So here is a quick little tour through Granny and Grumpa's.  It may seem like I have a lot of pictures of a whole lot of things, but this really is only a fraction of what there really is to see.  I went looking for spinning wheels, but was so overwhelmed with visual overload, that all I could do was ooh and aah, and snap picture after picture.

     When you walk into the first barn, you'll see a room full of everything Coca-Cola, and in the centre a pool table with a very large model sailing ship.

 

 



 

 

In the parlour, all around the milk tank, are thousands of different beer cans.  The most interesting thing of it all is the fact that many of them are still unopened.  I wonder how much they will be worth someday.

  The next room is full of different milk churns, lanterns and also 4 kids rides that are permantely plugged in so that any children visiting can go on them.

 

  

 

The fella sitting in this room gave me a scare at first, as I peeked around the corner and thought for a second that he was a real person!  His hat says 'Used Hay Dealer'!  :)  The shelves all around this small room are lined with ashtrays.

 

 

If it's dolls you're after this room's for you.  

 

 

I've heard of salt and pepper shaker collections, but this one beats anything I've ever seen.  Literally thousands of shakers filling shelf after shelf.  I only took a picture of a few that stood out at the time. The out-houses are my favorites! :)

 

 

 

 

The curious mix of baby carts, buggies and ride-on toys.

 

 

 

Musical intstruments (many of them are not in such great shape), a humongous cross-bow, shoe forms, glass milk cans, and if it's a boat motor you're looking for, you've come to the right place.

A variety of phone's spanning the last century.

 

Gauges of different sorts.

 

This sleigh and reindeer are life size.  Wouldn't this be perfect for a winter photo-shoot?

A large laundry wringer

 

A old fire wagon

There's a big row of old sewing machines.  I just had a hard time seeing them all standing on the ground covered in dust and grim.

 

A rather nice looking scale 

There are also quite a lot of pump organs and old piano's.

 

Meat grinders

 And tucked in between everything, a bit of humour

 

 Off to the next barn.  As you can see on the sign, Granny and Grumpa's was on the TV show, Pickers.

Above - one of many spinning wheels.  Below- a collection of rollerskates.  I used to skate with these things...makes me feel a bit old!

There are old clothes hanging up in different places around the last barn.  A huge marble collection, an impressive array of spectacles, and a row of brightly coloured nutcrackers 

There are also several jukeboxes

 The collection of camera's ranges from old to very recent models

 It might be a bit difficult to make out what this jumble of cords and things is.  It is in fact an old, electric hair permanent machine. It has a magazine attached to it containing a story of the perils of using this rather frightening looking device.

 

Angela's favorite is the glass cabinet FULL of all sorts of frogs!

 

Bee smokers and hay hooks 

 

Above - the charm of old lunch boxes.  Below - the horror of a dentist machine.

A shoe-makers sewing machine.

One of the various collections of trunks

And of course the spinning wheels, ranging from small to big, floor models to table top kind.

 

 

The black machine, below right, is one of the first movie machines.

 

 

I don't know if a display case full of bed pans would be my kind of thing to collect, but to each his own I suppose.  On the other hand, I love the old Ford (below)

 It's rather unusual to see one of these bikes.

 This puppet show really works, and there is a row of old movie seats in front of it, so kids can sit down and watch.  Now how cool is that!

I love this vehicle!

This last barn is a favorite of the men in my life.  Old tractors!

Marshmallows!

I enjoy trying different things, so when I saw some recipes for home-made marshmallows and read the raving reviews on the taste I knew I had to give it a try.  And for starters I want to tell you the taste is fabulous.  Like a bit of soft silk for your mouth, mmmm, delicious!
For those of you who would like to try making some, just a bit of advice that might make things a bit easier for you.  For starters, if you have a kitchen-aid or similar mixer, great!  If you don't, (or if like mine it went on the fritz) make sure you have a very reliable hand mixer.  When I made my first batch, my hand mixer died on me just as I was finished, from over heating.  So I now have a new hand mixer and the next batch was a breeze.  Now if I could only find someone to fix my kitchen-aid, I'd be a happy camper.
Next, go to youtube and watch 3 or 4 video's on making marshmallows.  This will give you a good idea how it's done, and take the guess work out of it, and show you the possible pit-falls before you begin.
The recipe I went with in the end is on this web site. http://www.joyofbaking.com/candy/HomemadeMarshmallows.html

These are the only ingredients you need for this recipe.  As you can see, it's mostly all sugar.  As you can see, I also added a candy thermometer.  Not all the recipes I looked at required one, but just said to boil until the soft ball stage.  Like serious, I'm impatient, so I'd probably not wait long enough for the sugar mixer to heat up, as it takes about 10 minutes to reach 240F/115C.

This funny looking mixer is 3 pkgs of unflavoured gelatin in a half cup water, and left to bloom for several minutes. 

I suggest you get the correct method for this on the website (and video).  This is a water, corn syrup and sugar mixture.  When it reaches the correct temperature add it to the gelatin mixture.

When you first mix it it just looks like this sort of watery sticky mixture with an a creamy colour

As you start beating you will see it start to thicken up and turn white.

You will need to beat this mixture until light and fluffy, which will take about 10 minutes.  It looks sort of like meringue, but don't be fooled, this is one wickedly sticky mixture.  When this is all done you can add the flavouring of your choice, and a bit of colouring if you like.  I started with vanilla, and the ones you see here are peppermint flavoured with a bit of green tinting.

This is were the icing sugar comes in.  Grease a 9x13 pan then line it with wax paper, grease that as well and then dust very liberally with icing sugar.  Once you have managed to transfer most of the mixture into the pan (I say most, because this stuff is so sticky you will still have a good coat in you mixing bowl, but a good sink of hot water and dish soap will make quick work of that), let this dry for at least 12 hours.  Don't cover it!!!

So now you are ready to cut your marshmallows.  Liberally dust your counter with icing sugar.  And also have a bowl of sifted icing sugar next to you.

Cutting can be a bit tricky and sticky, so you will have to find the method that works best for you, whether that be a scissor, knife or pizza cutter.  After the pieces are cut, put them into the icing sugar to dust the edges so they aren't sticky anymore.  To remove extra icing sugar, toss gently in a sieve before storing.

Now it's time to enjoy!  These would make a lovely addition to a party table or even taste good in a 'smore! 

This pretty tray comes from the Button Box http://www.thebuttonbox.ca/

I hope this inspires you to go and try your hand at making some marshmallows.  You won't be sorry, I promise.  And the best part is that unlike store bought marshmallows, there are no artificial ingredients in these ones.

Puppy Love

So, she's finally done!  And how can you not love a cute little girl like this, with a pink flower and polka dot bandana!  I always find it interesting how I see an idea somewhere (this one from a Dutch blogger and crocheter) and how all these funny, odd looking parts come together at the end and make something like this.  You see, I'm not much for following patterns.  I will use them as a guideline if I need to, but then I usually just wing it.  The fun thing is that each critter comes out looking one of a kind.  But can be rather frustrating when trying to make 2 symetrical ears, and forgetting the number of stitches you started with the day before.  I really need to start keeping a notepad handy.

This little puppy would make a perfect gift for a little girl.  She is for sale ~ $20 and it's yours. 



'A few of my favorite things'

 

I found these fun antique looking bits at Michel's last week.  I'll be adding them to some of my vintage inspired crochet things.

Wrist Warmers

Happy Spring!
My oldest daughter is totally into vintage clothing.  I am certainly not complaining, as some of the clothes I've seen teenagers wear leave me seriously scratching my head. Websites like freepeople.com and www.bhldn.com are some sites she likes to visit and get idea's from.  So when I recently picked up a copy of one of my favorite crafting idea magazines 'Molly Makes' and saw a pair of wrist warmers featured on the front cover I knew I had to give them a try.  So off I go to my favorite wool shop to buy what I need, only to realize that the yarn used in this pattern is so fine (lace weight) that there is no way in the world I was even going to attempt working with it.  Sock yarn is also very fine, although double in size of what they were asking for, but I figured, get a bigger hook and fudge the pattern.  This pair you see Charlynn wearing is my second pair, and I'm glad to say she is very pleased with them.
If you google wrist warmers under images, you'll find lots of different styles and sizes.  What I usually do is spend some time looking through the images, then combining what I like best and going with that.