Homemade Jam and Jelly

I am so fortunate that God has blessed me with a wonderful family of women who like to cook.  Just recently my daughter brought me a fresh jar of her homemade Strawberry Jam and my sister-in-law brought me a jar of her homemade blackberry jelly from berries raised on their farm.  There is nothing like these frest fruit spreads on hot buttered buscuits accompanied by a steaming cup of coffee to get your morning started just right.  Thanks girls, for the wonderful gift.  These gifts are not only delicious, but represent a gift of their time.  Anything homemade is a gift from the heart.  This same sister-in-law frequently surprises my husband, Clark with a homemade blackberry cobbler fresh from the oven - just because she knows he enjoys it so much.  If you also like to give gifts of canned goodies, I would like to share my way of really dressing up the jars for your pantry shelves.  I make custom labels on my color printer using brown Kraft paper.  Then I cut a round jar topper from muslin, burlap or print fabric.  On the jars above, I have used muslin and added a small square of print fabric that I stitched to the center of the jar topper.  I then tie the topper onto the jar with a peice of jute string.  I sometimes leave the circle a little larger than needed to give me plenty of room to tie on the topper.  After I tie my string, I can trim a little of the edges off if I need to so the label will show.  It doesn't matter if the edges are a little uneven - after all, we are going for the primitive look.  I have only found one problem with dressing up your jars in this fashion.  I am sometimes reluctant to remove the topper to use the product inside!  This is a great way to dress up your jars to give as gifts at holiday time.  You can use Christmas fabric and put holiday designs on your labels.  Make a few extra for your own pantry shelves.

Primitive Dolls

I have loved dolls since I was very young and to be honest, I still love them.  I have several dolls in my own collection and my product offering in Persnickety Primitives would just not be complete with out a line of primitive dolls.  I would like for you to meet our very interesting family of dolls that will be here to welcome you to the Persnickety Primitives cabin.  First we have "Rosie" and her baby "Sugar".  Rosie has a kerchief tied around her head and wears a red print dress with a gauze apron.  Sugar is so sweet and wears a primitive stripe dress.  Next, please meet "Tansy".  She has the little knotted hair sprigs and has her name embroidered on the front of her dress.  She carries a bag of sticks.   Then there is "Louise" and her pet sheep.  I just love her feet.  There is "Chrissy" and her kitty.  Chrissy's bangs come down to her eyes and give her a very endearing feature.  Next is "Ramona" who carries a sack full of fabric flowers and sticks.    "Lydia" has a small mouse tucked under her arm.  "Dottie" seems like such a sweet girl with the lace collar on her dress.  "Loves Me Raggedy" has a poem embroidered on the front of her dress that reads:  "Loves me, loves me not.  It doesn't matter, I'm all he's got".  Then there's "Ima Jean" and her pig "Wilbur".  I love the matching plaid dress and head kerchief.  She is darling with those sweet feet!  Lastly, we have "Snicker Doodle"  She has the little dredlock hairdoo and carries a snicker doodle cookie in her hand.  Truly a sweetheart.  I don't know which doll is my favorite.  Come and visit all of my friends at the Persnickety Primitives cabin when we open in May and who knows, one of the girls just may come home with you!

Old Medicine Cabinet Collectibles

I have had a lot of fun over the years collecting old items that would have been found in an early medicine chest.  I had a medicine chest with a clear glass door built to hold all of my treasures.  It hangs in one of my bathrooms.  I have several old shaving mugs and shaving brushes.  These remind me of my grandfather.  When I was a young child, I remember watching him as he poured hot water from the tea kettle into his shaving mug.  He would dip his shaving brush into the hot water then swirl the bristles of the brush around on his bar of shaving soap to build up a lather.  Then he would swirl the soapy brush all over his face and neck and then begin shaving.  I loved watching him do that.  He wore bib overalls and I remember he always unhooked his shoulder straps before he began shaving.  I am not sure why but I guess it was all part of the process.  His face was always so clean, soft and shiney when he finished.  One of the pictures above shows an old razor and hair clippers.  Just what the gentleman needed.  There's a box of lady's face powder, a powder compact and a small rouge compact.  There's a bottle of Dr. Brown's Castor Oil (yuck!) and a bottle of Watkin's White Liniment for the aches and pains.  There's an aspirin tin and a tin container of laxative tablets; also a glass eye cup and and a bottle of Murine for your eyes.  There are a couple of tins of saddle soap and some antiseptic powder.  One of my favorites is the 1906 date book that was a give away by a pharmaseutical company.  When I decorated the bathroom, I found a wonderful border with pictures of shaving mugs and shaving brushes.  We installed a mission styled vanity sink and mirror in dark wood.  Everything fits together quite nicely! 

Tea and Coffee Staining Fabrics



Tea staining has been around a long time and was first used to hide stains on linens.  Tea staining is a easy way to create an "antique" or primitive look.  In our experience, the differences between tea staining and coffee staining are subtle.  Tea is lighter and gives a more "dirty" look.  Coffee seems browner and gives a more "old" look.  Just be aware that coffee is much more aromatic than tea, and your finished item will smell like coffee for a long time to come.  We have found that some fabrics (or paper) look better tea stained and some look better coffee stained.  We have tea stained and coffee stained with both brewed and instant and both gave satisfactory results.  I just find using instant is easier but there is not near as much color selection.  Tea/coffee staining only works on natural fibers.  Tea is orange-ish if it contains orange pekoe tea; fabric dyed with such teas becomes more orange over time.  Earl Grey is usually the tea of choice, but English Breakfast is ok too.  check out your grocery store or specialty shops and buy black tea for a gentle, soft brown, antique look. 

Tea/Coffee dye solution for 1 yard fabric:

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups instant coffee or tea

4 T. vanilla extract (optional)

cinnamon to dust

1 yard fabric (cotton prints, muslin, cheesecloth)

In a container large enough to hold your fabric, bring water to a boil, remove from heat and add instant tea/coffee.  Add vanilla or cinnamon (optional).  I feel the vanilla scent does not stay.  Dip the fabric in the dye solution for 20-60 minutes.  You may want to check the fabric every 10 minutes or so, until the color is dark enough.  Generally, the color will dry lighter that it looks wet.  I like to crumple up the fabric for a mottled effect.  If you don't like it, recrumple and re-dip.  If you still don't like it, soak fabric in dye solution or rinse it out with water and start over.

When you like the color, hang the fabric to dry.  I like to crumple the fabric up as it dries to get a variation in color.  I have put fabric in the dryer, (in an old pillowcase to protect dryer) to soften the fabric when it gets too stiff.  If you want a grubbier look, place your fabric on a foiled baking sheet and bake at 225 degrees for a few minutes.  Keep an eye on it so it does not burn!  When you like the look, take it out to cool.  When the fabric is dry, repeat the process if you want it darker.

If the fabric is going to be used for something that is going to be washed, set the color with a mordant.  I use 2 T. alum to about 2 gallons water and soak overnight.  Then I machine wash the items with my regular laundry.  There are other mordants such as . . . Recipe (1) Soak it in a gallon of cold water to which you have added 1 tablespoon of vinegar.  Recipe (2) Soak the stained fabric in two parts vinegar, one part water, and two tablespoons salt for 15 minutes, rinse thoroughly, fry in the dryer and press.  Recipe (3) Because vinegar is smelly, return the fabric to dyebath and add 2 t. alum, soad for 5 minutes.

You should wear gloves since your hands and nails will turn brown too.

I put a strong coffee solution in a spray bottle to use on small projects such as samplers and dolls.

(Information taken from http://www.primitive-beginnings.com/)



Lady's Dressing Table

Dressing table essentials have been collectible as far back as the Victorian era and through the 1950's.  These collectibles are still sought after items today.  I have bought and sold these items for years and this is a few items that I have kept.  When ladies wore their hair up, they often wore beautiful hair ornaments and combs.  I have also displayed some old hair pins as well.  In the background in the top picture, you can also see a bedside water decanter that I purchased in an antiques shop several years ago.  The lid comes off and becomes the glass.  Hat pins are also a fun collectible and I have pictured a container of them.  Powder boxes, perfume bottles,  and hand mirror sets are frequently sought after as well.   The second picture down shows an old "hair receiver".  During the Victorian era, hair receivers were a fixture on the dressing table of most fashionable ladies.  They were created to hold hair that was removed from hairbrushes after vigorous brushing, and they look a lot like vanity jars or powder jars, but with the distinctive feature of having a finger sized opening hole in the center of the lid.  The comb would be run through the hairbrush bristles and the accumulated hair would be coiled around a finger and then inserted into the opening of the hair receiver.  The uses for the collected hair was varied, but most frequently it was used in the creation of "Ratts".  These were sheer hair nets that were stuffed full of the hair and then sewn shut.  Most ladies of the day wore the "big" hairstyles so ratts provided a stuffing to enhance the height of these hairstyles.  Other uses for the hair were also stuffing for pin cushions or cushions and pillows.

Vintage Chairs

 I love the look and feel of old chairs.  I would rather have a vintage chair in my home any day than a new one but it must be sturdy and useable.  I can't afford the space to have something in my home that I cannot use.  I just purchased four ladderback chairs and a five legged oak table from a used furniture store that I will be using in the Persnickety Primitives shop as display pieces.  I frequently visit used furniture stores and second hand shops and I have gotten some chairs that I really love.  The first picture shows a glider style rocker.  It uas used by my daughter-in-law to rock my two granddaughters when they were infants.  Over the years, the chair had been painted white and was coming apart.  It had been left for the dump.  I rescued the chair and had my husband work on it to make it sturdy again.  I then spray painted several coats of black paint to give it a primitive look.  We love the way it turned out.  I have a large two toned dining table that seats eight in my sunroom with a long pedistal base and a wood grain top.   We purchased the table in the clearance section of a furniture store.  We had two matching old green chairs that I had painted black and distressed (picture number two).  I use them at each end of the table.   We have six matching chairs (in picture number three) that I use on the side - three on each side.  Four of these chairs were purchased at one auction and the other two were purchased at another auction yet they match perfectly.  It made a wonderful dining set for the sunroom.    The fourth picture down is a Windsor style chair that I purchased last summer at a second hand shop called The Briar Patch.  This is a very collectible style of chair.  The next picture is an antique child's chair that I bought years ago in an antique shop.  All five of my grandchildren have sat in this chair and played or ate snacks at the coffee table.  Children's chairs are very collectible and are fun to display in your primitive home.  Sitting in a corner or by a fireplace, they make a wonderful display piece for a primitive doll or teddy bear.  They are also wonderful hanging from a peg rack on the wall.  Displayed this way, they make an imaginative display shelf for many kinds of collectibles.  The next two pictures are ladder back chairs in two different colors and a little different style on the back.  These are a hot collectible right now.  You can't pick up a primitive or country decorating magazine without seeing this style of chair used in homes.  This is the style I also bought for the shop and I have four in my house.  All eight of them came from a used furniture store and I got them at a very reasonable price.  The next two pictures show an oak side chair with a cane bottom.  We have two of them that my husband, Clark bought at an auction and had refinished and recaned.  I love the look of them.  The last picture is the old upholstered chair that my Mom always kept in her bedroom.  It now sits in my bedroom.  I have a weakness for old chairs.  When I see them at a shop, they somehow end up in my car.  My husband always says, "Now where are you going to put that?"  It's getting harder and harder to answer that question - I'm running out of room!

A Found Treasure

There is nothing I like better than shopping at yard sales, antique shops and flea markets.  I always shop with anticipation, not knowing what treasure I might stumble upon when least expected.  I frequently remember some of my most treasured home decor items have been acquired in just this way.  If you don't keep an eye open, you never know what treasure you may pass up.  Several years ago, I stopped at a yard sale in Vandalia, OH where a lady was downsizing into an apartment and was parting with some of the collectibles that she and her deceased husband had acquired over a lifetime.  I purchased a pressed glass compote from Germany for only ten dollars.  I also purchased a beautiful porcelain vase from the same lady.  I once purchased several pink Miss America depression glass plates off the back of a farm wagon.  Clark purchased a beautiful set of ruby hobnail pitcher and matching glasses on his way home from work one day.  I could tell so many stories of fabulous finds but I will refrain.  The crock jars above were my grandmother's.  The basket belonged to my mother and Mamaw's crocks snuggled in just perfectly.  The hen and chickens are banks that I purchased on a lunch break at an Antiques shop several years ago.   Because of my adventurous shopping trips, you may have guessed that my style of decorating is very eclectic.  I always laugh when I explain that my style of home decor is "Early Garage Sale".  You know, I'm comfortable with that!