Aside from an accidental attempted suicide last night (will explain in a bit) I can see it’s gonna take me a while to get quilts made. I decided to start with a small throw for the back seat of our car – something to cover our cameras when we go in to grab a bite, etc. Good thing. I hadn’t realized how drastically my stamina (or rather, lack thereof) would give me grief.
As to the accidental suicide attempt – it’s fortunately only a scratch. However, the blade crossed directly over the main vein in my wrist.
Oops.
I’d never used a rotary blade before. Given how shaky my hands are, I figured I had a better chance of cutting a straight line with a rotary tool and a straight edge.
For the most part, it worked exactly as I’d hoped. However, some of the trimming was at awkward angles, and, well… You can see for yourself. One bandaid and a fair amount of swearing at myself later, and I was fine. I’m also aware of the risk now, and will figure out other options to get the job done – options which DON’T put my wrists, fingers, etc., into the line of fire. For a start. I pilfered some of G’s wood clamps and use them to hold things in place while I cut. They’re a terrific solution. Not infallible, but much better.
This past weekend, my husband and I were bad.
Real bad
Both G and I spent money on stuff just because we liked it. Technically I bought his “want” and he bought mine. We found them in the same exact spot, though: the new local antiques mall, even the same booth.
Mine was an antique spice bin.
Given this container is around a foot tall, I assumed they were mistaken. Then, on closer inspection, I discovered it’s exactly what they said — a spice bin. Only it’s not something from someone’s home; it’s a store display. You can make out a couple of shadowy letters across the top in these photos. I went back and checked again, and sure enough, it says CINNAMON. I’m going to take a closer look tomorrow in daylight. I want to see if there’s a name stamped on the bottom anywhere. I can’t see diddly tonight.
Frin what I’ve been able to cobble together, is it’s most likely circa the mid- to late-1800s.
Even in this rough shape, I think I got a steal. In better – not perfect, only better – condition, this type of display is going for over $425 on eBay. (It’s not the only one – the others were all in the same price range.) We paid $25. This one isn’t a whole lot better than ours and they’re asking over $200.
G, meanwhile, got an antique doctor’s apothecary chest:
I believe he said it’s solid mahogany. At the price of wood, he’d be ahead even if he ripped this thing apart for materials. Of course, he wouldn’t dream of it. In fact, he’s gonna spend more money on it. He’s shopping around for materials to make a stand for it. I’ve already ordered a replacement skeleton key for it, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for vintage/antique medicine bottles in the spring yard-sale glut.
The map up top? I made it. It’s the first one I made using Inkarnate, and overall I’m pretty happy with it. This one was just practice. It’s incomplete because I knew it wouldn’t work for what I needed, but it does have the locations corresponding to my neverending dragon bilge.
Ooo, cool spice thingy! I wonder if this was for cinnamon sticks, or powder? The medical cabinet is pretty nifty, too. Shame it’s not filled, you probably could have used some laudanum after your self harm episode.
I don’t have a clue on whether cinnamon was sold ground or in sticks back when. I just knew I wasn’t leaving without the bin. I also spotted another couple of items I wouldn’t have minded having, but couldn’t figure out where to put them. Not that I knew where I’d put the spice bin, either.
Lucky for me, G promised to swap out too-small-to-use spice shelf in the kitchen with a set of rustic shelves large enough to hold the spice bin and more.
That spice bin is a beauty. I bet you can restore it, if you wanted to. And the medical chest is beautiful.
I did a little bit of external cleaning/polishing with Howard’s Feed-n-Wax. I’m going to do the inside too, so it halts the rust. But I don’t want to do too much that might mess up the patina.