Friday Finds

Here are just a few of the finds we got this morning.

Mr got a whole lot more that I didn't take any pictures of - like wood shelving, a buffet cabinet (free!) an old metal bed spring (you take the springs out and sell them separately - I have no clue what they do with those!) a metal cabinet with a Formica top that will get a new wood top. Just some basic starter supplies to make some fantastic items with. When you get the supplies for little or nothing, that just makes it greater.

I got this:

Among the items are two colored pottery bowls that I am thrilled with (I have this weakness for bowls and pitchers, if you haven't noticed) some cobalt blue glassware (a tidbit server and a pedestal dish) a covered casserole in a metal server, some ironstone, carnival glass, a unique nutmeg grater (front center) and a number of pieces of mottled grey enamelware. There is also a jar of old marbles a metal box, a strainer and a tin that says "Lipton Tea".

Most of this came from one barn sale and it was so dirty it needed a bath before I set it anywhere in the house. Not a bad haul. Now the hard part - pricing, I don't like to price, it takes time and thought.

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Elsewhere

I came out of the house the other morning and found this

It is all that is left of "Pretty Bird"

True to form, I thought. We never seem to have a pet very long before they either run away (from boredom I wonder) or they get killed.

You can read about him here

Since it has been such nice weather, and he is cooped up inside of the house most of the time, I put his cage outside on a table where he can see us working, here the other birds, etc. Since it was also warm inside without the swamp cooler going, I left him outside overnight (I've done this before...)

Well, something (perhaps a raccoon) had scoped out this convenient place to have dinner and decided that this was the evening to go out to eat. The cage had obviously been pushed off of the table (and it was a large cage, so it must have been a big raccoon). There were a few more feathers here and there, but I am sure that Pretty Bird is now singing with the angles.

Who knows what animal we will next torture... Stay tuned.

Oh, did I tell you that we now have a cat?

Sobering News

While I was out doing my yard sale routine this morning, I got a call from child #5 and she asked me if I had any more news on a friend.

My response was, huh? She then told me that he had been river rafting with two others and had died. So sad, he had worn all the protective gear that normally goes along with the sport, but had hit his head and his friends found him.

This is so sobering because we just had a camp with a lot of river rafting in the mix, young and old alike. I don't know about the conditions where our friend had been, but it is always a consideration about danger that has to be taken into account.

The next sobering thing is that we have just a short time here to live and how do we live it? We don't know if we will make it to the end of the day. Our friend was a high school english professor, had just completed his masters degree and was probably ready to look for Miss Special and start his family. He is now with our Lord in Glory, but that doesn't lighten the heartache of his family and friends

The most important part of all this sobering news is that our friend was a Christian. He had accepted the free gift of salvation and was eternally bound to live with Christ in Glory. It is a most important decision and he made it early and was living his life to reflect that decision.

Our hearts are with his immediate family and those that were very close with him. We pray that this accident will bring glory to our Lord in whatever way it can. May we grown closer together because of it.

Ironstone Heaven

Recently, we hit a jackpot at a yard sale

The first day we went I was selective and got most of these:

some of these large and I mean 15 inches high, were to a bowl and pitcher set at one time. The other large one is an unusual vase, thing $$ when you see these and they are not quite as ugly... I mean, how many of you want these to docorate with?

Most of these dishes were from my first visit to this yard sale. I cleaned them up, they were rather dirty, fly speckled and real dusty, dirty. The set of square bowls I thought were kinda unusual. My daughter (the vintage bricoleur) drooled over many of these. And, another bricoleur, when she saw the pictues, said "I want to buy that one" (she collects ironstone)

Well, since I had such a great review, I decided to go back the next day and here is what I got

I'm sorry, you just have to put up with my photographic skills or lack there of. There are multiple shots of the same dishes here.

I took some of the dishes and arranged them in one of Mr's creations, a hutch

I would say that most of these are transferware, brown. The large brown pitcher is held together at the pouring spout with scotch tape, but it still looks good on a shelf. I passed up the covered casseroles the first day, but snatched them up the second day. I don't know why any other dealer didn't find these before me...

I look for ironstone marks on the dishes like these

One of the bricoleurs says she will help me with the pricing. That is the hardest part for me. I want to sell them and not have them as museum pieces in my store.

One last piece was this bowl -- it is Metlox and the Rooster is a trademark to look for.

All, in all I spent around $100 for all of these. That is more than I would normally spend, but I know that the value is here.

Well, keep your eyes peeled, you may run acorss a find like this sometime.

My Prize Necklace and a Quilt Project

Did you get to see my new necklace that I WON! ?

Looking this over, it seems pretty obvious that I don't win things very often...

Anyway, back to the necklace. Rachel from:

http://vanhookandco.blogspot.com/

made this wonderful creation for just me!

It has two circular disks which have "Honey", "Papa" and our anniversary date stamped onto them.

I totally love it. I had my grand daughter take a picture of it while I was wearing it and instructed her to not take it of my chest...

Honey and Papa are what the grandchildren call us and other "adopted" grandchildren also.

You should check out Rachel's blog for yourself and perhaps purchase a necklace for yourself, after all, you may be like me and not win one very often.

And, I won it by commenting at http://allthingsvintage88.blogspot.com/  And, no, she isn't having a giveaway there at this time, but you should haunt, oops! I mean visit her blog often because she has lots of wonderful ideas.

Recently, I have noticed that it is very hard to comment on other people's blogs, is this only for me? One of my fellow bloggers thought the world had ended and she was the only one left and was all alone...

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I am happy to say that I have finished another quilt project, this time for a wedding gift.

The young lady that this one goes to likes "modern" and purple and black. I hope that she can find a place in her new home for this lap size one. The colors don't look true to me here, they almost look blue...

Does anyone want to tell me how to "imbed" a link to another site when you are blogging? I know I can write it out, some have this neat linky thing -- you know, press here (on a word) and it takes you to the site you want - like if I wanted to share another blogger or such.... Any help is appreciated.

Here Come Those Hazy, Lazy Days of Summer

I distinctly remember hearing about those days

I can't find them...

We have been so busy, good busy, tho

First, we went on a camping trip up the river, where there were many that braved the rafting trip down the river -- about 5 miles.

Mr in his sturdy craft coming down the river

Some of us waiting for the "rafters" to arrive and those that have already come in telling stories of their narrow escapes from the "terrors" of river rafting, like running aground in the shallows, hitting rocks on their backsides, or gettin splashed from a fellow rafter as they floated by.

Special guests from far away even braved the rafting trips

One of my daughters and granddaughters

Many young people sitting around and playing games and getting to know each other better

Unusual rock formations...

Campfires enjoyed by young and older alike

Tri Tip prepared by our own chefs over an outdoor grill with:

Salad, hot buttered bread,

Pinto beans with a delicious BBQ sauce to go over either the beans or the meat or BOTH!

And, not to forget the delicious deserts - about 9 different cakes to chose from. Definetely NOT a diet camping trip.

One morning found some of the grandsons visiting with Mr (Papa) at breakfast time.

(along with some "adopted" grandchildren)

We are preparing to go to a wedding this coming weekend down near the central coast. We secured the campground at the first of January, so we were commited to this camping trip and did not go to our usual show on the second weekend. This has been a one show month for us - we did the northern California one at the first of the month (that seems like a year ago by now)

Hot weather has finally hit us and today we had near 100 if not hitting it. We were blessed with so much rain earlier in the year, that it has made a lot of the vegetation grow more and that will make for more of a fire hazzard as we get warmer.



We have many items ready for the next coming show, at the first of the month in Alameda, Lord willing. Some items we save for just this show each month.  We look forward to getting back in the saddle and selling soon.