Sunshine, Pumpkins, Onion Burgers & a Singer 285!

 These are not ghosts.  They are little piles of primitive handmade pumpkins-to-be!  The weather is fabulous here and it's hard to make myself do anything inside, much less sit at the computer, so explains the long lapses between posts.  HOWEVER, I feel the need to create weird little things, so this is what happens when it's hot outside!

I made these from osnaburg (rustic fabric).

 

Osnaburg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Osnaburg was a coarse type of plain textile fabric, named for the city of Osnabrück (from which it may have been first imported into English-speaking countries). Originally made from flax yarns, it has been made from either flax, tow or jute yarns, sometimes flax or tow warp with mixed or jute weft, and often entirely of jute. The finer and better qualities form a kind of common sheeting, and the various kinds may contain from 20 to 36 threads per inch and 10 to 15 picks per inch.^[1]
It began to be woven in Scotland as an imitation from a German import of a coarse lint or tow-based linen cloth in the later 1730s. It quickly became the most important variety in East-Central Scotland. Sales quadrupled, from 0.5 million yards in 1747 to 2.2 million yards in 1758. It was exported mainly to England, the Netherlands and Britain's colonies in America, and some rough fabrics were called "osnaburg" as late as the mid-twentieth century. In the Atlantic plantation complex, prior to the abolition of slavery, osnaburg was the fabric most often used for slave garments.

 I mixed acrylic paints into colors I like, painted them, added stems & then 'grunged' them with a coffee/spice mixture & baked it on!

 A few extras and.......voila!   Primitive pumpkins & pattypan squash for your rustic decor!

Don't laugh.....it's one of the ways I earn a dab of spending money selling on Ebay!

 One of the days that we sewed outside on the porch I made this pair of mini quilt tops.  I'll add them to my pile of UFOs (un-finished objects). 

These were fun because they called for mini charm squares of fabric (precut into 2 1/2" squares).

 My microwave quit years ago, so this is my primitive method of thawing hamburger.  Of course NORMAL people (people with an actual memory) simply take it out of the freezer early in the day.  I put it in a ziploc bag and then into a bowl of HOT tap water.  In a short time........thawed and ready to cook!

 If you mix a couple tablespoons of Onion Soup Mix into your hamburger, form patties & then brown them, you can then add a couple cups of water with about 1/3 cup of the soup mix over the top and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Quick skillet Onion Burgers!  Even my non-onion lovers like this one.  You can serve over noodles, rice or potatoes and you've just got to add a veggie and you're all set!

This is a Singer 285K.  The K means it was built at the Singer Kilbowie Scotland Factory.  This is a fixer-upper I'm working on at the moment. 

The 285, built in 1963-64, was considered an economy model, a straight stitcher, and not necessarily one of Singer's finest machines, but I liked the blue color and the price was right, so he's getting an overhaul.





I've been working on primitive Snowmen, too, but that's a picture for another day.  We've been picking pie cherries GALORE off our two little trees, so one of the next posts will be canning cherry pie filling!  Right now it's entirely too hot/sunny outside to be INSIDE canning pie filling, so they are going straight to the freezer until canning day!