Country Living Fair Part 1

What a wonderful weekend I had! My dear, longtime friend Lori and I went to the Country Living Fair in Columbus, OH. Such a treat!
Lori and I have been friends ever since our first borns were babies. Now those first borns are 22, married to wonderful spouses, and Lori is a first time Nana!
The weather was so perfect...low 70s and sunny. Lori had been praying for great weather, and Jesus graciously granted it!
There were DROVES of people there! At 10am when the gates opened, we all made an orderly beeline for the fair!
These beautiful vintage cups and saucers caught my eye...just $4 a set too! But I settled for a photo of them since I have plenty at home. The fair was a mixture of Vintage Flea Market finds, antiques, and lovely handmade crafts.
Aren't these handmade tidbit trays/cake plates so sweet!! I've made one myself and just love it.
Awww....a Chenille snowman! Chenille was sooooo popular among the artisans at the fair. So many things made from chenille among the booths.
The Fairy Garden Booth was extra sweet. I wanted one of these at my house! Tiny little gardens with cute little hidden treasures.

This craft was unique...an old quilt piece was the background for embroideried words, photos, and buttons, etc. for embellishments.
Lunchtime! We decided to eat around 11:30am. So. Glad. The line grew to a very long length by the time we finished eating! This food booth was featured in the Country Living Magazine and it completely lived up to their raves!
The. Best. Pulled Pork Sandwich. EVER!!!

This is your first taste of the wonderful things we saw, ate, smelled, heard, and enjoyed at the Country Living Fair! Watch for Part 2 to come in the next couple of days. I promise there will be LOTS more cute, handmade crafts to show, and most are easy enough to do at home.

In the meantime....Simple Joys my friends!

Slow Cooker Soup, Homemade Bread, and Grandma's Spice Tins

Thursday was a chilly day and I had to work that afternoon. So I decided to put Slow Cooker Tomato Soup in the crockpot for dinner. It's a Weight Watcher's recipe and is 0 points! I layered in fresh spinach leaves, 2 sliced carrots, 2 celery stems sliced, 28 ounces of stewed tomatoes that I gave a whirl to in the blender first, 4 cups of chicken broth, a chopped onion, and some basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper. Set it on high for about 5 hours.Of course homemade soup begs to be accompanied by homemade bread. Oh how I L O V E homemade bread. Today's bread du jour was French Bread with a cup of whole wheat flour added for nutrition. I make the dough in my bread maker, then divide it into 3 cute little artisan loaves to rise and bake in the oven.
And here are the warm little cuties...I take a stick of butter and rub over the hot crust just til the crust is soft and buttery. And since there were 3 loaves, I wrapped up 1 loaf to give to a neighbor I had not yet met on our street.
The soup smelled like Italian goodness when we walked in the door after work. Even my 12 year old son ate it cheerfully and said it was 'not too bad.' THAT'S a complement about homemade soup from a 12 year old boy. : ) We ate the leftovers today, but I added 1/2 pound of ground beef and it was even tastier. Plus more filling.
In other news, autumn seems to have arrived in the past week here in Indiana. Yippee! We even finally had some rain on Friday. So needed. So I've started to decorate for fall just a bit. This past weekend I inherited my sweet Grandma's antique spice tins and bottles. So here are some of them on my sweet little window-ledge-scape in the kitchen.
And I put the others here on my oak china hutch by my vintage Betty Crocker cookbook. I love all things vintage and really think I should have been born in the '30s. :)
So that is what is happening at my house lately...what about yours? Enjoy your weekend!

Mom's Spartan Singer circa 50s or early 60s

When my folks moved here last week, I spied this favorite old sewing machine. It was my mom's back in the 50s or 60s. And when I was about 8 or 9 years old, Mama taught me to use it.
I made so many Barbie clothes with this machine! And began my DIY home decorating as I made pillows and blankets for Barbie's apartment. BTW, Barbie's apartment was a chair. The seat of the chair was her bedroom, and underneath the chair was her living area and kitchen. Making up her house was the BEST part of playing Barbies.
By the time I was in high school, I started sewing clothes for myself on this simple little machine. Many an afternoon I spent down in our basement, sewing a new dress or top and listening to the local Easy Listening station. That music, today, still takes me right back to our basement in Salina, KS where I sewed my little heart out.
Mom let me take this machine to college as well. I don't know how I managed to go to school full time, work 1-2 jobs, and sew an occasional dress or gift, but I did. And now, this sweet little 'Belle' has come back to me and sits proudly on my recently refinished 1950s sewing table. Happy sigh. Simple joys. Sweet Life.

Stay tuned for new sewing adventures with 'Belle' and I.