Coca Cola Christmas

 Good afternoon, y'all . I am in the mood for an big iced cold glass of Coca Cola! I am a soda nut, but alas , I have not had cola in months. Boo Hoo!   So for now I will just enjoy a "Coca Cola Christmas " in my small foyer. 

 Yep, I decorated the small hall with the few Coca Cola items that I have.  The little tree is surrounded with crocks, tins and a carton of Cokes. 

The tree was simply decorated with candy garlands. The tree is topped with a Hands on Design and Priscilla Blain piece called "Chalk Full - Merry". 

There  is a mod podge of items on the old shelf. 

Including a wee white tree with a few Cola ornaments.  Not many Cola ornaments are there?😏 Oh  well, I will slowly acquire more. 

Old tins, bottles, salt and pepper shakers and one stitch are as snug as a bug in a rug in the Cola crate. Always Believe was a freebie I shared a couple of years ago. 

Pottery, Dollar Tree plates, Coca Cola postcards and tins fill the 2nd shelf.

Mistletoe Kisses was a freebie ,but for the life of me I can not remember the designer. Do you know? 

The bottom shelf is filled with just a few pieces of Watts pottery, an old door knob and a few treasures.  You may find a few dust bunnies too, but just ignore them. 😀👯👯👯

 Quilts, quilts, and more quilts. ! Can I squeeze one more quilt  in ?  Hee! Hee!  My favorite place to decorate is the thrifted shutters where I hang seasonal quilts. 

Front and center is  "Father Christmas " from the book Fast, Fun , Fabulous Quilts.

If you come to my house , you will find that every door is adorned with a quilt, wreath or some decoration. Come Christmas time, I decorate many of the doors with old red long johns and my girls' childhood Christmas dresses and gowns. They bring back fond memories. 🤗

Hanging among the dresses and gowns is With Thy Needle and Thread's  "Snow For Christmas". 

The bathroom door holds more long johns and dresses along with With Thy Needle and Thread's freebie called "Merry and Minty. This was a SAL with Brenda in 2020 . It is still available on her Facebook. 

Oh, I have never shown you any of my bathrooms. Let's go into this one. 

OOOPS! Excuse me, Santa . I did not realize this one was occupied. HEE! HEE! .  I bought this Santa at the thrift store and placed the fella here until I put him on the patio. Isn't he a hoot? 

The pink bathroom  is rarely used . I did not decorate it this year for Christmas except for Santa's short visit. LOL. 

These are a few of my vintage embroideries and crocheted laces displayed in the bathroom. I did put up one framed Christmas card and a small tree- so I was wrong there was a little Christmas in here.

Alrighty, y'all that's my foyer in a nutshell. Or should I say in a cola crate? Hee! Hee! 

 I will keep my eyes peeled for Coca Cola ornaments throughout the year. 

A darling 1990's stitch that I purchased years ago at the thrift store. 

Here is another super easy recipe that my family enjoyed during the Thanksgiving holiday. Again , I will be serving it as a Christmas side. 

SLOW COOKER RANCH MUSHROOMS

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb mushrooms whole

1 stick of butter

minced garlic

ranch dressing mix

DIRECTIONS:  Add ingredients to slow cooker. ( I added just a smidgen of water to the slow cooker. ) Cook for 4 hours on high or to your liking. 

Merry Christmas, Sweetie Pies!  Thank you for dropping by. 

 Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

Remember " You are awesome!" 

All you need is love . 

Gingerbread hugs and stitches!!!

Dedicated to my sweet sister , Amy who embraced the Christmas spirit. Love ya, Amo. 

Getting Ready for Christmas

Hello , sweet friends. Are you in running wide open with all of the Christmas preparations? Or are you on one of the lucky ones who has it all done and can now sit back and enjoy it all?    Me?  Well, I enjoy running around like a chicken with her head cut off.  Hee! Hee!  All will come together in the end though.       Family has arrived from out of town and now it is time for the festivities to begin!     First, Mr. Pinker and I have to go to Wally World and pick up some last minute things- oh bother! I bet it will be a mad house. 😜😛😂  🐔🐔

Later tonight we will be baking cookies and decorating them.  Oh what fun the grandsons will have. 

This past Thanksgiving I tried a new recipe . It was well received so it is back on the menu for Christmas. 

Ingredients for 5 Bean Salad

5 Bean Salad Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of garbanzo beans , drained

1 can of kidney beans, drained

1 can of black beans, drained

1 can of green beans, drained

1 can of wax beans , drained

1/2 cup of chopped green pepper

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1/2 cup of chopped celery

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 c of vegetable oil   ( I used olive oil)

1/2 c of vinegar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Combine beans, pepper, onion and celery in large bowl. Toss. In  a separate bowl, whisk sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper until sugar is dissolved. Pour over bean mixture. Mix. Refrigerate overnight.

Woo Hoo! I am doing the happy dance!   I finished "All is Calm" by  sweet Darlene Deon of Darlene Deon Designs. ( Click here to visit Darlene's Esty) . In a tote in the garage, I found an old wooden winter sleigh that I had painted years ago. It was from the Walmart craft department from back in the good old days when they had a variety of items. 

Anywhooo, "All is Calm fit perfectly.  Thank you , Darlene for a darling design. 

The wee four patch is still in the hoop. The border will be quilted next. 

   

Now onto the plans for the week. 

Hmm.... What Should I do This Week? 

🌞1. Work on Flaming Butterflies quilt

🌞2.Work on Festive Four Patch quilt

🌞3. Work on Travel journal

🌞4. Visit with family

🌞5. Begin packing for upcoming trip.

An Elvis Whitman tin I recently found while thrifting . 

Alrighty Sweeties, I hope to post a few photos of my foyer decorated for Christmas soon.  One or two  of the new tins from my latest haul will be in the Christmas photos. Can you guess which ones? Hee! Hee! 

Lots of tins found for less than a dollar. Have I told you I love tin? 

Enjoy you day, Sweeties and ...

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, ya'll

Melisa 

"Every day brings new opportunities. "

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy. I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

I am joining these lovely ladies' link parties. I hope you check them out; they always have so many wonderful projects going on and provide the opportunity for other needle workers to meet.

Frederique at   Quilting Patchwork Applique for Patchwork & Quilts - Saturday

Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Kate at Life in Pieces for  Stitching Stuff ( Sunday) 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap - Sunday 

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew & Tell- Sunday

Brenda at Songbird Designs for Monday Musings

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Carol at Quilt Schmilt  for To Do List Tuesday 

Santas, Santas, and More Santas Christmas Hutch Tour

"Rain drops keep falling on my head". It has been raining cats and dogs all week. But I am not complaining. I do enjoy the rain as long as it is not too blustery. 

On the Monday before last , Mr. Pinker and I headed to Alabama to see what treasures we could find. 

 "The women's clothes are a $1.00 and the men's $2. " the clerk said as I entered into one thrift store. 

"Oooh, women's clothes- here I come!"

As I pushed my buggy to the back of the store, my eagle eye spotted a white vintage looking mixer on the bottom shelf.  I bent down to pick it up. 

"Boy, is this heavy. " I looked it over and spotted the price. " This is not right I thought so I took it to Mr. Pinker . "What does this say?"I asked. 

"$1.50," said Mr. Pinker. 

I quickly went to the clerk. "How much is this mixer? It has a price on it , but I am not sure if it is right. "  

The salesclerk looked at the mixer and said "You got it! " "1.50" .  

"Wow!" , I exclaimed . 

"We will see if it works when you check out," she said.  

And by golly it did. I was doing the happy dance straight out of the store. I did go back and look at the other small appliances and they were all in the $1-3 price range.  I will not use this mixer  because the cord looks sketchy, but I thought it would  be cute in a display. 

 The mixer is a Dormeyer mixer from the 1940's- 50's. It is missing the large bowl.  Being as a curious as a cat, I had to look up the history of Dormeyer and was fortunate to find a great article on the company's history. If you are interested click the colored link to learn more. 

At another thrift store I found the 1970's Chadwick Bow Maker Kit for a quarter.

My hutch is filled to  the brim with Christmas goodness. In fact, it is overflowing onto the floor , but that is ok.  I am going for that vintage general store look. Hee! Hee!  

I was going to decorate my hutch in gingerbread men this year, but my daughter wanted to see the vintage mugs when she comes home for Christmas so the Santas  made their way into the kitchen.  Do you want to take a closer look? 

The top of the hutch stays the same. I only added a Rudolph sign and a jade green Santa mug.  That was an easy peasy shelf to decorate. 

The shelves are filled with Dollar Tree and thrifted plates along with vintage red doilies. 

Hanging off the side of the hutch is a vintage enamelware pan filled with plastic cookie cutters. 

Front and center is a vase filled with plastic greenery and a vintage sleigh and reindeer. 

Nanny's old coffee canister is near and dear to my heart. The "C" has rubbed off but that is just fine to me. I think the snowman salt shaker is a Johanna Parker.  Do you know if it is?  I found it for $.50 when I was in Texas in October. 

I started collecting Santa mugs in the 1990's . I used to get them for a quarter.  I miss those days. 😏

The little Santa with the wild and wooley beard dates all the way back to 1968. He makes me smile. 

Mugs, mugs and more mugs sit on the 2nd shelf. 

My most prized piece is the Santa pitcher. The little red deer was a piece from my Granny's.  Granny always had the most glorious cedar Christmas tree with loads and loads of tinsel. -- Aaah such a fond memory. 

I did not pull out as many of my vintage Christmas boxes as usual, but I did bring out the Ritz box and the Christmas Lamp Bulbs . 

More mugs and celluoid Santas. 

Holt and Howard mugs are sprinkled all about. 

Some date to 1964. 

The bottom shelf is just as cluttered decorated 😁 with vintage Santas. 

Stacks upon stacks of mugs. 

Cheap bottle brush trees tucked in mugs and in candle holders

The vintage scales holds a box of ceramic napkin holders and another prized piece that I have never put on display.---

A vintage box of ornaments that I bought 24 years ago. 

They were made in Occupied Japan. 

The ornaments are so pretty and delicate.  They will go back in the China cabinet after Christmas. 

These ornaments are so pretty. I can not believe I have had them hidden behind mounds of milk glass for all these years. 

That's my hutch in a nutshell. Hmm what other clutter can I show you? 🤔🎄🎅🤶 

 Well there are lots and lots of Christmas tins sitting in and around an old milk crate. 

I did not put much effort in the silver pencil tree, but it is up. Hee! Hee! 

The old hoosier top is sporting a new apron.

I tried to cram as much Christmas on the hoosier top without removing  too much ( Being a little lazy this year) . Hee! Hee!

Wooden Santas, loads of garlands haphazardly draped, Crocks and cookie jars.   The old tobacco prints in the background were given to tobacco farmers when they brought their tobacco in to the market in the 1990's. I grew up on a tobacco farm which I helped work on into my adulthood. Dad would bring me a new print home each year in appreciation that I and Mr. Pinker helped in the harvest. 

Wheww Wee! Are your eyes crossed from seeing all of the at country clutter?   I know. I know. I am a clutter bug, but all of that country goodness makes my heart go thumpity thump! 💕💓💕💓 And it all brings back fond memories for me. 

If you would like to see years' past Christmas hutches, just click on the links  below. You will see a lot of the same things, but just arranged differently.

2023 A Very Vintage Hutch

2022 Sprinkle of Vintage Christmas Hutch 

2021 Christmas Hutch

I am so grateful that you dropped by for a visit today. It truly warms my heart. Have a wonderful Wednesday, Sweetie Pies and ...

As always,

Happy Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

"She who has the most junk wins. I am in 1st,2nd and 3rd place"  Hee! Hee! 😅😀😂 

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗🧵

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy . I miss and love you so much. .   ❤👼

A Log Cabin Syrup tin, small cheese crocks and a potato smasher are new thrifty finds from AL.