Daughter Emily has a friend who has a friend that lives in Gainesville, FL. This friend of a friend told her friend about a large commercial Blueberry field that opens to public pickin' after the migrant farmers leave for South Carolina.
Last Monday, Emily, Elise (6) and Emmett (10) amd I drove 2 hours to 'glean' blueberries and peaches. We spent a little over two hours pickin' before heading our two hours back home. What fun we had...and what a haul we made.
The field of blueberries was 1/4 mile wide by 1/2 mile long and the bushes had loads of berries waiting to be picked.

The peach trees were at the west end of the field. There were only about 12 trees and they were loaded with fruit...yellow peaches as well as white peaches. They were small, about the size of an apricot but so juicy and sweet, especially the white peaches.

Once home - what to do with ALL this fruit. I filled 5 quart containers with blueberries to give away and still had as many berries left. I also gave away a large bag of peaches. The next project was to make some peach perserves. The peaches were so juicy that the preserves have a bit more syrup than intended but don't they look yummy? This morning I needed sryup for the grandchildren's eggos, so I whipped up a small batch of blueberry syrup. Um-m, so delicious.

Lord, bless the owners of this field for allowing 'gleaners' to come in. Amen

1940s Dress Patterns

Sixteen years ago, While living in Indiana, I went to a small town yard sale. It was about 20 miles out in the country but I think almost every home in that small town was having a yard sale. What fun I had. The only thing I remember buying is a bag of about a dozen 1940s dress patterns. I love the 1940s style even though I was only a child then. In the intervening years and moving a couple of times, I lost track of where I had put these vintage patterns.
A few weeks ago, while cleaning up in the garage and going through storage boxes, I found that bag of patterns.
Wow, they are cuter than ever. In preparing these patterns to list on Etsy, I found out that the pattern pieces were machine cut without any markings. Complete, illustrated instructions were given so you would know what to do with the pattern pieces. I'm glad they don't do that anymore. A pattern size 18 had a 36" bust which today's patterns would be a size 12.
In researching 1940s dress patterns, I learned that one of my favorite patterns was actually a rare pattern and worth almost $40.00. It is the Betty Grable Hollywood dress pattern. It is now listed on my etsy shop.
http://www.allthingshomey.etsy.com

Zipped up Flowers

Why would anyone have a gallon jar full of old zippers, you might say?
Over twenty years ago one of my mine and my mother's favorite Bargain stores was going out of business.
One of the many items for sale were zippers. (They weren't old then). And they were 5 cents a piece.
Well, I am my mother's daughter and I can't resist a bargain. My mind starts calculating - 5 cents a piece - 20 zippers for $1.00. Now that's a bargain I can't refuse.
For over 20 years I have enjoyed my gallon jar with it's colorful zippers waiting patiently for a project.
THEN, I saw a zipper flower somewhere on the internet and HAD to make one. I typed in Zipper Flower Tutorial, on Utube and learned how to do just that.
The photo with the small coin purse has a detachable zipper flower that can be worn as a pin, and is for sale on my other Etsy shop: http://www.treasures4ewe.etsy.com

Would you like to win a zipper flower made just for you? Click on my 'FOLLOW' button before the end of May and I will select, randomly, a winner to be announced by June 4th.