Elk Grove and the Trailer Show

I know I told you all that we were going to attend/sell at a Vintage Trailer Show and Antique Flea Market in Elk Grove. It was hosted by The Red Door.

Well, yesterday was the big day. We were able to partially set up on Friday. It was only a hour away and they had a locked and guarded field to sell on. It turned out to be a lovely day between days of rain and wind. A warm and calm 80' greeted everyone.

I am ashamed to say that I did not get one, not one, picture of the amazing restored little travel trailers that were there. The lovely pristine yellow and white striped one was calling me over and the turquoise and white with diamond plate accessories stood out like jewels. Some proud owners belong to a club and they went all out to make this show a memorable one. You can see photos of some of the darling trailers here

I do have a few pictures of our space.

We saw some old friends from other shows and had some good, short visits between taking care of our customers. R and H from the Visalia area, with their two boys, stopped by on their way through down highway 99.

We are so thankful for our white canopies. They provide much needed shade from the sun.

The Vintage Trailer Show Presented by The Red Door

Coming up soon...

A show we are attending and selling at in Elk Grove.

This is the first show they have done here.

Dave and Kathy are very supportive of our endeavors and we wanted to return in kind.

So, Mr had a few boards that he wanted to have cute sayings on.

They looked like this. About 12" high.

They were the ends of some discarded project that we picked up.

A little persuasion later, he let me have one for my project.

I hope it goes along with the theme of the show,

and,

of course,

someone buys it...wink.

The Adventure of the start of my fabric stash.

A long time ago.

(Have you noticed that I seem to like things that happened a long time ago. Maybe that is because I remember them more, or better... or seem to remember only the good parts. Anyway... Where was I? Oh, yes... A long time ago)

This was during a time when Mr was laid off after working for a company for 28 years. We were having yard sales, going to shows, listing on craig'slist. All to keep off unemployment.

The LORD provided for us then and HE continues to provide for us today, praise Him.

Mr and I were attending a storage auction. It was at a moving company and the storage containers were large wooden boxes, like a small shed. They were probably 6 feet wide, 8 feet long and 8 feet tall. A forklift brought several of them out to be auctioned off.

Another couple that we had met during our times here and there were there also to bid. The lock was cut on the first one and the doors opened. Bidding started. One had furniture, not what we wanted. Another had sundry items. Bidding was brisk and we were not anywhere near the top on any of them. Then the lock was cut on the last one. Inside were stacks and stacks of plastic containers. See through, sorta. And, it was fabric. Lots and lots of fabric.

Most of the other bidders had already spent their wad, or were just not interested. I said to Mr, in my most quiet, out of the side of my mouth voice, "I can sell that fabric".

He says back. "Let's set a limit, not over $100". Done.

Bidding starts. We put in a bid or two and then it was at $100, not our bid. Oh well. The other couple that we knew had it. SOLD for $100.

I overheard the woman say, "Well, all I wanted was the containers. My daughter is moving and we need those". Must have been twenty or twenty-five of them. So, I said, I wanted the fabric. So a deal was struck,
we would pay them half - $50 and they would get their containers and we got the fabric.

Mr backed up our small pick-up that had a canopy over the bed. The couple started unloading the boxes and throwing the contents in through the door of the canopy. More and more boxes were unloaded. Boxes we didn't see from the front. All fabric. I heard the lady mutter, "Well, a deal's a deal". Then a box appeared that did not have fabric. They quickly put it aside to go through later.

There was fabric, cutting mats, specialty rulers, fleece, quilt batting, markers, did I say flannel? Just about everything you could think of in a fabric store. The truck kept getting more and more full. Finally the storage shed was empty. We closed the door of the canopy, thanked the couple and headed home. There was a LOT of fabric there. This was from a serious fabricholic.

At home, I started sorting. Fat quarters of groups of fabric collections. Velvet, plastic table covers, leopard prints, all you could think of right there. I had some containers and they were quickly filled. Bags came out next. They filled up.

I took the fabric to sales and sold it for $1 each piece. Just the other day, I "found" a container that had fleece. It went to a sale. I have made quilt after quilt for family and friends from this find. I have decided that I will never get to the bottom.

Needless to say, we made our money back... and then some.

Only a few of the quilts that were made from the famous fabric find.

Cowboys

Fishing, hunting

Pinks

Fun pinwheels

Blues and pinks

Black and White and Red

Tiny squares

New from Old

My big goal today was to re-pot and trim some of my succulents back.

We have two "parent" plants that have been growing in the same pots for a while.

They have generously given many new plants from their trimmings.

The one in the top middle has already been trimming as much as I was "allowed".

My thought was to take it out of its existing pot, take away a lot

of the leggy growth and separate it into a few more pots.

I was busily starting this task, when Mr came around the corner

and said, "You are scaring me".

So, we compromised.

There has been a lot cut off and we will see where it goes from here.

The succulent on the bottom is another "parent" plant.

I have no idea the proper names for either of these, but they are very hardy,

and  they need that to survive with me.

Old blossoms clung to the stems like a favorite sweater clings to an old lady.

They had to be plucked off to make room for new growth.

It reminded me of myself.

Yes, I know you are thinking about the old lady part, but...

what came to mind for me was old favorite foods,

ways of doing things, old familiar spaces.

I need to pluck off some of my old ways to make room for new

ideas, foods, and new adventures.

Then I will be ready for whatever the Lord has in store for me.

We all need to be pruned now and then.

A few of my new plants along with the old.

"Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver and the other gold."

Wow, that was a song from my girl scout days.

The Ditch

As I was saying the other day in another post Passing Down Heritage, we have memories from our childhood that make us.

As I told you, we lived on a cul-de-sac. Behind some of the homes, ran a piece of land that you could dump and burn your trimmings. It wasn't big enough for a home and had no access except through the side of the homes that bordered on it. It also had a "ditch" that was probably a natural run off and had perhaps six inches of water at the very most.

Here, at the ditch area, we had a favorite place to play. But, we were banned from going down to the ditch because it had water, and that water was probably enough to drown in (!) You have to know that my mother was deathly afraid of drowning and the water situation to really appreciate this. Reprimands didn't work for long, back we would go when we could.

We dug holes for "forts", mapped out how our future homes would look. We made stew with ashes, water and crushed piracatha berries. We gathered polly-wogs to take home and watch anxiously to turn into frogs. We gathered tulle bush tops and as they dried out, they would make such a lovely shower of giant dandelion like dust. We loved it.

Little by little my mom became more comfortable with out sneaking down to the "ditch". We moved away when I was about 12, I don't remember having many restrictions about going at that point, but then I had probably outgrown my need to build forts, or make weird stew.