More Patchwork Furniture (6 original sources)

 I am going to start at the end and show you our completed project.  This great white cupboard really looks like the real McCoy, doesn't it.   I had several browsers at our first flea.o.logy sale who thought it was an 1800's cupboard.  Of course to knowledgeable antiquers it was obvious that we have mixed periods a bit.  The wonderful leaded glass doors are from the 1930's and their original home was as windows in a cottage.

The cupboard shown here, without its green glass (30's style) knobs, was for sale at flea.o.logy http://fleaology.blogspot.com/ but didn't sell and will soon be available at Treasures Antiques. http://treasuresantiquemall.blogspot.com/ We think that fixing the doors to latch more securely will help it find a new home.
 This picture shows the entire cabinet.  Such a charmer.  Now I am going to tell all in sort of an exposé.

This is the inspiration piece.  It is a mid 1800's pine cupboard as evidenced by the square nail construction.  It had a pair of gloves boxes on top, originally, though by the time it came into my possession it had just one in tact.  I am really baffled as to how it was used, since the glove boxes are usually on dressers, and dressers are usually all drawers.  But alas, whatever its original function it was the perfect base for a cupboard.

With the remaining glove box removed it was ready for a new top.

I had in my possession the pair of leaded windows mentioned above.  They were to form the doors, while the dresser harp above was an unlikely candidate for the crown of the cupboard. 

The harp obviously needed some reconfiguring, but with a jig saw and moving some of the decorative wood trim pieces it suited just fine. 

The next necessity was making the upper shelf unit.  My husband did this with some pine boards, so that the top wood matches the base.  Antique tongue and grove bead board, also pine, completed the back and provides a traditional anchor to the base of the cupboard.  Paint, as always, unites and a set of reproduction green glass knobs adds the 'jewelry' to the piece.

The reinvented cupboard actually ended up costing me a lot more than I had expected.  Let me crunch the numbers and give you some ideas as to where to get your 'building blocks'

1. Cupboard base, bought from a friend, but at her public yard sale                                             $50
2. 30's cottage windows purchased at my flea market 'flea.o.logy' from another vendor                $40
3. Dresser harp was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.  Another dealer at Treasures brought  it to work to give it to a friend of hers, but when the friend did not show, she gave it to me!! :-)
4. Pine lumber and hinges from hardware store                                                                            $30
5. Tongue and groove antique bead board bought at Treasures Antiques                                      $20
6. reproduction glass knobs (4) bought at TreasuresAntiques                                                       $12
7. paint purchased at hardware store                                                                                           $15
Total materials expense                                                                                                        $167.00

Lunch with My Antiqueing Friends!! Plus Fabby Decor!!

After two years of getting together with antiquing friends for lunch on a rotating basis we have possibly had our last luncheon this past week, it was at Marci's house, hosted by our friend Dorothy.  Now you might expect, by her name, that her house flew away to somewhere over the rainbow, which prevented her hosting at her own charming home.  However weather related it might be, the wind did not pick her house up and spin it away, it just knocked over the carport into her house, causing a huge crack and lots of renovation. 

 Fortunately Marci was good enough to step in and provide a location for the get together.  I always love going to Marci's which you already know if you have read much on my blog.  This wonderful 'ohh la la' mannequin always makes me smile.  I love the puffy pinned up skirt it makes one think of the Moulin Rouge.

Here we see the mannequin in her element in front of  Marci's most recent project, a decoupaged screen, which she cut out of plywood, hinged and decoupaged  with the pages and pictures of old books. 

Marci's vignettes are always charming and unexpected.  She mixes textures, graphics, found items and repurposed items, gathering them together in bold arrangements.

These include numbers from an old cash register, a camera, game pieces, a gauge, a flute, silhouettes, clocks and a rubber stamp.

 
 

The black and white boxes on the left, above, one round and one square, were actually gifts to Marci from a devoted friend, me!  I feel honored that they have made the cut several times.  I also love how Marci has used them in this vignette.

Her use of old books without their covers juxtapositioned with a wonderful crusty crown is stunning.

 And now after all the eye candy, and the sense of visual satiation, its time to take care of our tummies. 

And a special thank you to my dear friends who have made this luncheon group something to happily anticipate.  They are Dorothy, Stacy, Marci, Michelle and Wendy.

Queens, Crowns, Cream and Crumpets ...

Yep, this is us; me, the queen of clutter and Stacy the queen of pink!! We have gathered our queenly talents to celebrate the creation of a future queen... (who's current domain is Cambridge, I believe, which is my own ancestral stomping ground!)  Stacy provided the royal environ, and healthy nibbles, and I spent some time dabbling in the kitchen a bit and brought the mandatory crumpets and clotted cream what else.

Here we see Stacy practicing her royal wave!

 The Royal Event took place on Friday April 29th, making it early morning in the far flung royal kingdom near the shores of the Salt Lake, which is Great. ... Meanwhile in the nether land of the southern Kingdom of Clutter, I finished up my book club about 10:00 P.M. on Thursday night, and with three hours until I needed to climb into my carriage to travel to Stacy's palace, I choose to tie on the apron and make the crumpets.  I have a great recipe, that I got out of a novel, (Where else?)  The book is called English Trifle by Josi S. Kilpack (which, I enjoyed, if you were wondering, its a who-done-it, not quite Agatha Christie, but very nice!) 








Crumpets
2 cups all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t instant yeast
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
2 cups of warm water.
Sift the flour twice, mix dry ingredients and add the warm water.  Whisk together until smooth, and about the consistency of pancake batter. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes, until a few bubbles form on top.  Heat frying pan to medium heat.  Spray crumpet rings and pan with Pam type product. (I used deep cookie cutters).  Place rings in pan to heat, then spoon in batter about 2/3 full.  Wait until batter rises to fill rings, and bubbles are popping on top, about 6 minutes. Turn with spatula, and flip the back of the crumpet with a tea spoon forcing it out of the ring.  Cook other side until brown about 2 minutes.  Note that cooking too fast will cause a doughy center.

 When we were in England with our friends the Moes we went to a tea house in Brighton, one of the high lights of our trip for me.  (Ranked slightly below seeing Jane Austen's house) We had scones and clotted cream.  The scones were more like an American biscuit, but a little sweet, and they had raisins.  I loved the clotted cream, but have never been able to find such a thing in the US. 

Clotted Cream

Last year, when I had my Canadian friend, Stacy, and her Mom to the house for 'tea', I found  a recipe for faux clotted cream on the Internet, and we loved it.  I find it pairs well with crumpets as well.

Take an 8 oz cream cheese at room temp, and using a fork work it until quite soft.  Then start working in , a tablespoon or so at a time, of a pint of whipping cream.  Don't get it too smooth, or it won't be 'clotted'.  Serve on scones or crumpets, also good paired with jam.

I got to Staci's around 2:00 A.M. Friday morning and we wore tiny tieras while we watched the royal festivities happening live in the mother kingdom (of Canada at least) across the pond. Did I mention that Stacy is an honest to goodness real royal subject?)  I had to run off to babysit some adorable munchkins, so I left at 5:45 A.M.  We had a wonderful time bonding, as neighboring queens should, and our countries should continue in peace and harmony for many seasons to come!!