New in The Shop - Free to a Good Home Listings...

The first two of our new Free to a Good Home listings are in the shop, a victorian silver syrup pitcher and a vintage silver over brass sugar scuttle!

Often when I am antiquing or go to an auction I end up buying whole boxes of silver, and there are always a couple pieces left in the box that just aren't quite right for my store. I hate to see them pile up and just sit around in storage, so I am starting to offer these pieces in my shop occasionally as "Free to a Good Home" listings! This means the item is free, you'll just pay $8 to cover UPS ground in the US or USPS first class shipping to Canada.

To keep it fair, and to make sure many people have the opportunity to get one these items, please only buy one "Free to a Good Home" listing at a time (so if there are multiple listings in the shop, just pick your favorite one, please don't buy all of them). If you would like to be notified as soon as our "Free to a Good Home" items go up in the shop, please follow us on facebook or twitter!

Shop Sale!

Save 15% off all items in the FQMercantile etsy shop, even sale items, from now until the new year! Just enter code HAPPYNEWYEAR at checkout, the sale ends January 1, 2011. All items purchased during the sale will ship when we are back in town the first week of January.

Happy Holidays!

I'm taking a bit of a blog break for now while I am out of town celebrating the holidays with family. I'll be back to blogging next week and will start adding some new items to the shop then as well! Happy holidays everyone!!

My vintage aluminum tree!

In The Kitchen: Lavender-Lemon Honey Cookies

I set out to make molasses cookies yesterday evening, only to find I was out of molasses and ginger, oh and ground cloves too...clearly it was time to find a new cookie. This recipe follows the same basic plan as classic molasses cookies, but uses ingredients I happened to have on hand last night. I must say, the cookies were rather good, in fact, this year for Christmas Eve I think I'll be making these rather than those molasses cookies!



Lavender-Lemon Honey Cookies

• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup lavender sugar*
  
• 1/4 cup good honey
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• the zest of 1 large or 2 small lemons
  
• Extra sugar for rolling

Mix butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, lemon zest and egg together in large mixing bowl. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to honey mixture and stir until well combined. Refrigerate until dough has hardened, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375F. Scoop out dough and roll into 1 inch balls, then roll the balls in sugar and press lightly to slightly flatten them. Place cookies on parchment covered baking sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet immediately and cool on rack.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

*I've found lavender sugar at the local Charleston Farmer's Market (from Tiverton Farms), but you can buy it online, or you can make your own by combining 1 cup sugar with 1.5 tbs lavender and half a vanilla bean. Let the sugar mixture sit for 3-4 weeks, shaking the container occasionally, before using.

Sunday Shopping: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, the holiday season hit me hard, between running the shop and travel and making gifts, this blog has been woefully neglected. I did manage a Sunday Shopping post this week though, and there will be another In The Kitchen coming in the next few days, I promise!

For this Christmas-themed post I've chosen 10 of my favorite holiday decor picks, from etsy and beyond...

Vintage Mercury Glass Ornaments




Forest Theme Tree Topper with Toadstools
this is seriously out of my price range, but still amazing





Vintage Bottle Brush Trees





Joyeux Noel Burlap Banner


Antique Silver Baskets
shameless shop plug, I know, but around the holidays I usually have a silver bowl or basket
filled with ornaments & greens in almost every room



Tinsel Chain Garland






Christmas Stocking made from a Vintage French Grain Sack
Glass Clip-on Toadstool Ornament





Vintage Ribbon
for trimming the tree and decorating packages




Gingerbread
I know this isn't a decor item, but nothing says Christmas to me more than a big slice of warm gingerbread
topped with lemon curd, so I had to end with it. (by the way, this Smitten Kitchen gingerbread is one of the best I've ever made!)