Pressure Cookery and Family Cookbook: Collectible Cookbooks in Miss Eileen’s Vintage Shop

I just listed two fantastic cookbooks in my vintage shop, MissEileen.

The first one is Parents’ Magazine Family Cookbook published in 1953 by Parents’ Magazine. Lots of family friendly recipes.

The other cookbook is Pressure Cookery by Leone Rutledge Carroll, illustrated by Jan Freeman, and published by M.Barrows and Company, INC, New York, 1947. The book is a hardcover with spiral binding that shows a little wear on the outside. The inside of the book is in very good condition, although yellowed a bit with age. Written in the early days of pressure cooking. As stated in the book, “Pressure pan cooking is here to stay.”

Enjoy the glimpse into the post war years.

Post by Eileen aka GoofingOff

MissEileen vintage

Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns

GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus size patterns

Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and  metal work

Don’t forget the children’s sewing pattern sale in the GoofingOff Shops. Get 40% off children’s sewing patterns. Sale starts at midnight 1/1 through the 15th.

Happy New Year, y’all!

Wreath Inc Gifting on Etsy: The Winner of Miss Eileen’s Etsy Picks December 11, 2011

The winner of Miss Eileen’s Etsy Picks December 11 was WreathIncGifting and her beautiful White Yarn Wrapped Wreath with Plum, Cranberry and Cream Felt Flowers. Here is her interview:

White Yarn Wrapped Wreath with Plum, Cranberry, and cream felt flowers

Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, personal stuff)
My name is Andretta Ross and I live in Groton, Connecticut. My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We have a 5 month old son, Parker, who keeps us laughing every day. I can't leave out our sweet Siberian Husky, Nanook, who loves long walks and even longer naps!

                      Large Vintage Button Magnets 
What are your favorite materials?
My absolute favorite materials are vintage buttons. I love everything about them - their uniqueness, wondering where their lives have taken them, and most importantly: the way they smell! It reminds me of my Nana. I have a collection of probably thousands of buttons that I continue to gather from everywhere I can (despite my husband's often but loving reminders that I have enough). I love them so much that I sometimes hate using them for my crafts! Thousands of buttons, and all I want to do is look at them! I also love working with yarn and felt.

Cloth Wreath with Book Page and Felt Flowers

What is your favorite color combination?
I am currently in love with the combination of a cranberry red, deep plum purple, and a warm cream - the colors on the wreath that was shown! They are wonderful winter colors without screaming snowflakes and Christmas.

What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?
My grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was probably around seven years old. I kept myself busy for hours. The only problem was that she never taught me how to start a second row! I must have made a twenty foot chain!

Felt Flower Headband with Vintage Button Center

What inspires you?

I am inspired by people's reactions to the work I create. I love the look on their face when I tell them that I made it myself. That is the look that makes me want to surprise others the same way.

Where do your ideas come from?
I find myself often saying,"I could make that." Whether I am at a store or at a friend's house, I love to look at decorations and think of what I would change about it to make it perfect for me, and then I start from scratch and do it myself.

What are your greatest challenges? How do you overcome them?
My greatest challenge is that I have a son who only takes twenty minute naps. He has always been a power napper, which turns out to be tricky when you have three wreaths you need to ship out the next day!

White Yarn Wreath with Blue Felt Flowers and Buttons

Who is, or was, your greatest inspiration?
My mother and my grandmother have always been my greatest inspiration. If I were stuck on a deserted island I would want them there with me. They could survive any situation and could make by hand everything they would ever need.

     Pair of Vintage Button Stud Earrings
What is your favorite thing to do with your creativity?
I love gift giving with things that I have made myself. I love thinking of the perfect gift to make for someone and I love how they always know that I spent the time to make it just for them! I think that a handmade gift is so much more special than a store bought gift - no matter the price.

               Red Yarn Wrapped Wreath with Cream Felt Flowers and Cranberry Accents

Why should people buy handmade? Any tips of wisdom on selling handmade items?
People should buy handmade because they are always getting a one of a kind product. Even if two people buy the same wreath from me, each flower is rolled and cut differently. There will never be two that are the same. Also, handmade means that so much love, thought, and time went into creating it - and what is more wonderful than that? Selling handmade items can be trickier than you think. Just because you love something doesn't mean that someone else will, and that hurts when you just put so much time into creating it. You have to be ready for a couple of the downsides to selling handmade. There will always be someone who thinks your product is ugly, you will probably leave at least one craft fair having sold absolutely nothing, and there will ALWAYS be someone who thinks that what you made is overpriced. Don't be discouraged!

                     Large Felt Flower Pin with vintage button center

    What have been the most valuable lessons learned from other artists?
The most important thing I have learned is to never sell something you are not proud of. Once, I made a wreath that didn't come out as beautiful as it was supposed to be. The buyer needed a rush delivery so I was just going to send it out the next day and hope that they still loved it. I ended up tossing and turning all night at the thought of sending someone a product that I did not love myself. The next morning I was waiting at the door of the craft store when they opened and I got what I needed to fix the wreath. That day I shipped off a wreath that I loved and I know I will do that for every order ever placed from now on. With a 5 month old I can't afford to be tossing and turning all night!!

               Purple and White Yarn Wreath with felt flower 
Apart from creating things, what do you do?
I am a stay at home mom to baby Parker. We spend our days playing and taking trips to the craft store!

What are the Web addresses for your work?
www.etsy.com/wreathincgifting

Are you offering my readers any specials?
Readers can use Coupon Code: Goofingoff and receive 20% off of their entire order!
Thank you again so much!
-Andretta

Andretta’s wreaths are truly amazing. Check out her shop and don’t forget to use the coupon code.  Happy Holidays, Y’all!

Post by Eileen aka GoofingOff

MissEileen vintage

Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns

GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus sizes

Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and  metal work

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas

Are all of the gifts wrapped and the cookies baked? Got the cookies done but I am swamped with holiday cheer. No Etsy picks today, just a wish for everyone to have a happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas filled with joy, love, and happiness.

Crafty Sale at GoofingOff is Almost Over

Yep, it is almost over. The 40% discount on all bags, toys, and decorating sewing patterns and the kits will get put away until next year. The sale ends December 31st. If you didn’t get the crafty things you wanted this year, now’s the time to get it at a great price. Just go to the Toys, Bags, Kits section to see the patterns and kits on sale.

The next 40% discount sale will be on Children’s patterns. All those cute summer outfits, the Easter and Passover dresses, the adorable flower girl sewing patterns will be 40% off with the coupon code 4KIDS. The sale starts January 1st. Remember, many of these patterns are out of print and hard to find. I’ll be loading more to give everyone a good selection.

Well, got last minute shopping to do and a trip to the post office (ugh!!) so I got to go. Have a Happy Hanukkah, light the menorah, and don’t eat too many latkes.

Post by Eileen aka GoofingOff

MissEileen vintage

Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns

GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus sizes

Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and  metal work

The Volunteer Garden

Now matter how hard I try, a lot of my life is a bit haphazard. Maybe it’s because I have a “let the chips fall where they will” kind of attitude. Maybe it’s because at work I have to be so exact that I am in a continuous state of rebellion (mild, though, as I’ve aged….like wine and cheese). Maybe it’s because I am too tired to make everything just right. I don’t know, however, this laissez-faire (not lazy fair….thank you very much) attitude extends to most areas of my life. I make stews and soups (throw it in the crock pot with a few seasonings…easy, just act like it took forever and everyone thinks you are a genius), color outside the lines (those lines are suggestions), and garden volunteer style. What’s volunteer style? It is the lazy girl’s way of composting. No barrel, no pile, no turning, just bury the scraps, add water and presto! like magic, plants appear. For those of us who are OCD in the garden, this will not work but I choose to be OCD in other areas and let the garden do almost what it wants to. Besides, the last time I tried to compost the local critters and varmints thought it was a smorgasbord made just for them. Almost scared me out of my….never mind, that’s another story. Back to the volunteer garden.

The volunteer garden is a reflection of your eating habits, and sometimes your didn’t eat it  habits. Tomatoes do pretty good. What variety? The “I didn’t pay extra for seeds” variety. Watermelon, squash, and cantaloupe do OK as long as they get enough water. The onions are growing because they look good (and didn’t get chopped up in time). We have cucumbers growing, too, a few peppers, and even sweet potatoes. 

The sweet potatoes are my favorites. I got very lucky with these. I planned to plant some but by the time I got around to it I was a month late. I bought some pretty sweet taters at the store and put them in the pantry with plans to cook them….and promptly forgot they were there.

One day, while getting something out of the freezer, I felt something rub against my arm. After I calmed down I noticed it was a sweet potato vine, one of about a dozen. We planted the vines and let them grow.

Sweet potatoes have some of the prettiest flowers in the garden.

A few months later we harvest the sweet potatoes. Here’s the harvest.

Not a lot, about 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket. Imagine if I’d of planted them sooner.

Post by Eileen Patterson.