kitchens from yesterday

Thank you very much for the quilting advice, I really appreciate all the help. You'll be happy to hear I will bind my quilt. I will be in FT Worth next week and can stop in to the quilt shop to buy enough fabric to make the binding...hopefully from the same dye lot as I already purchased. Last week I bundled up the boy and went across town to the only quilt shop around these here cowboy parts to ask her advice--even getting past my guilt that I didn't buy my fabric from her but sadly her shop was closed and a tattoo parlor occupies her once cute little store. Thanks for coming to my rescue.

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On to kitchens. I have always been intrigued by the evolution of kitchens. It is the kitchens of times past that are my favorite. Last year I came across a few old magazine clippings of kitchens my Gram had clipped out. What she dreamed of and what I dream of are not all that different. I spent nearly every summer of my young life eating at her table, watching her make meals on her sea foam green counter tops. How I loved that kitchen! It was always bright even on the cloudiest days, it took up enough of the house to face the road and hear cars crunch up the driveway and also to have a back door to welcome casual guests. My seat at the table was a spindle bench I shared with my left handed brother who was always jabbing me with his elbow. When the food wasn't to our liking we would procrastinate eating by poking Suzie the calico cat, who would sleep on the radiator right behind us. I suppose it is this kitchen that fuels my kitchen dreams, though my visions are less sea foam green and more white and pine.

Like Ol' Salty and Cap'n Pepper I have lived with many kitchens through the years. The kitchen is the heart of the home, it's amazing what a coat of paint, or a roll of red gingham contact paper can do to transform even the most outdated kitchens. You can put on a spectacular meal with the barest necessities. Primp yourself and wear an apron, eat on pretty dishes....even if they are nonmatching thrift store finds.

When we were house shopping here in Texas, I fell in love with our kitchen. It immediately reminded me of Leave it to Beaver .

Not that I have watched every episode of Beaver enough to have their kitchen in my permanent memory or anything.

Not that I knew exactly which episode to put on and take a picture of. It's hard to be this way. Sigh.

While we are chatting in the kitchen I thought I'd share a quick tip that makes my life easier. I am often clipping recipes or printing them from the internet. After they have been tried and true I clip and tape them to regular size recipe cards and file them. It's quick and easy and beats writing them out. I had a huge bin full of clipped recipes and was always digging through them.

Thanks for hanging out in the kitchen with me. Do you have kitchen wisdom? Are you happy with yours? What kind of kitchen do you dream of?

PS I made the filigree hearts last week...they are good and very easy.