I've been a very busy girl.

Yup, I've been a very busy girl these last 10 days.  Antiquing in North Georgia and locally, putting up pumpkin for pies and making pumpkin pies and bread, preparing slow cooker oatmeal, and restocking and resetting my three booths in at Queen of Hearts.  Whew, I'm a little exhausted just posting this. 

Let's start with pumpkin pies, shall we.  I lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the mid 1970s and there is where this city girl learned to prepare pumpkin for pies.  Nothing like learning at the hands of farm women.   These are neck pumpkins which look like gynormous crook neck squash.  The thick necks are pure meat and offer the bulk of this tasty pie filling.  The traditional way to prepare pumpkin mash is by slicing it up and boiling down.  You then mash and then drain the excess water from the pumpkin. This could take days and is labor intensive. 

 I'm a slowcooker gal.  Love the way it prepares food without fat and keeps meats juicy.  So I skinned and chopped and filled my crock pot with half of the first pumpkin.  Put the slow cooker on low and went to bed.

The next morning, the pumpkin had cooked through soft and I poured off about 4 cups of liquid.

 

Like potatoes, this cooked pumpkin is easy to mash but I like to run it through the Foley Mill which mashes the pumpkin to the perfect consistency for pies.  This slow cooker process was such a great way to prepare the raw pumpkin and no waiting to drain off the excess liquid over a few days.   

A freshly made pumpkin pie. Apologies for the use of a frozen crust, but I just didn't have the time to make a homemade crust. LOL  Heaven, this pumpkin pie is so tasty and rich with flavor.

In between making the pies, I had a great two weeks of finding treasure.  So let me share a few pics of what I found; this first group of items were purchased in Jasper, Georgia. 

An early folding checkerboard from the 1930s.  Great border illustrations.  Found this at the stinky Jasper flea market but I paid a $1.00 for it, so it was worth it. LOL

 

Pretty English biscuit tin from England, Circa 1960s. These are a popular item and I always sell well.

I love American basketry and this lovely, split hickory market basket is a winner.  I kinda fell in love with it so it is going to live with me for a while.

Popular with cigar smokers, this wooden cigar mold is in great condition.

I love weird pieces and these three pieces of wood banister finials just kinda stacks nicely.  I removed the top piece and will put a pillar candle in the other two stacked pieces and come up with another idea for the top piece later.

Lovely pair of turn of the century prints in Victorian frames with bubbled glass. 

Pretty, milk glass finger candlestick.  Sweet Victorian piece.

Cool agricultural sign touting the quality chickens in Cherokee County, GA 1955.

Okay, so this cute little box is not really old, but it has a Mermaid on it and you know I have  a soft spot for anything mermaid.

Now for the treasure I found locally this past weekend.

Found this great 1930s quilt at my local Goodwill for $8.00.  Sold it in 24 hours after bringing it in to my booth.  Glad I got the picture of the display and I especially like the giant metal spiders all over it

 Sweet, medium size ironstone pitcher. 

 This exquisite pair of civil war era hand tinted prints in lovely wooden frames.  These are big illustrations as well.

 An even earlier print, dated 1837, also hand tinted in original frame with bubbled glass.

Lovely etched nappy in heavy silver plate. 

An early Rogers piece from the 1900s.

 Two nice pieces of cathedral glass window pieces. These are small and probably side or transom glass.  Love the fall colors on this one.

 Lovely little cut crystal perfume bottle with faceted stopper.

Everybody loves Turkey plates and platters.  This Staffordshire piece is a rich purple transfer ware piece.

Not very old, but sassy just the same. Gotta love this terra cotta turkey.

Corn objects just delight me and this Shawnee teapot is
 perfect for a harvest table.

How cool is this huge metal scoop with turned wooden handle?  This is a nail scoop from a hardware store. Before Home Depot and Lowes existed, if you wanted nails, screws, nuts and bolts, you went to your local hardware store and bought them by weight.

And these three vintage mixing bowls.  One is a McCoy, the rest are USA.  All show the crazing of age but you know they were the start of some great kitchen treats. The smallest is about 5 inches in diameter.

Spent most of Sunday rearranging my three booths to get ready for the holiday decorating and setup.  Will begin setting up for Christmas right after Halloween.

 The Victorian booth is packed and it looks good.

 My new booth neighbor put up this permanent shelf and they said I could use the back that faces into my booth for hanging items.  I love booth neighbors like this and the new wall space gives me a great backing for pictures.

 Redecorated the oak mantel with Halloween items.

The left corner of the booth.  

Still more to share to include a visit to Vintage Village and my tasty slow cooked oatmeal...it's like eating dessert but guilt free.  Will do that in my next post.  Have a marvelous week all and blessings to you and those you love.  Sea Witch