Grandpa called me his “gal”. I was his most well behaved grandchild and it didn’t hurt that I was the only one who lived in the same town. We’d sit on the front porch swing and he’d peel and cut apple slices for me. With his dirty pocket knife. Oh, he’d wipe it off on his pants first and the germs, of course, never made us sick. That’s one of my favorite memories or our time together. The other was the words  I’ve got some new baby birds! You see, he raised parakeets.

My first recollection of him and the birds was when I was 5 or 6 years old. He had an unpainted wood shed where he kept the birds. When there were babies, he’d lift me up to see in the nest. Those ugly beautiful little birds always had their mouths open and they were all mouth. Scrawny, featherless mouths. But I so loved seeing them and that was one of our special times together. So when I found this little birdcage at an antique mall the other day, all those memories came flooding back. Not that they’re ever that far from the surface anyway.

It came just like that with the bird in the nest and the bottle. $10.00. I’d gone in just to breeze through, but had to spend that $10.00. I believe it was a cage people took their bird home in when they bought it or perhaps they bought the cage later if they wanted their bird to travel with them. Or who knows? Maybe it’s for baby chickens. I really have no idea. But I also wonder if Grandpa had some? I don’t know what era this is from. Maybe it’s older than he would have used. I simply can’t remember how he got his birds to their new owners.

It’s funny how different things can trigger memories. This particular memory can also be triggered by the smell of hay and birdseed. I’ll never forget being at the library once when a man came in who had that smell to him. It made me want to cry. I wanted to be near him. Wanted him to be my grandpa. Imagine my shock when he left and the library workers turned up their nose and talked about how he smelled like a wild animal. Huh? Is that what people thought my grandpa smelled like? That made me so sad.

One final thing about Grandpa. He got Alzheimer’s. In 1976 they called it hardening of the arteries. It was heartbreaking to watch this man who once said he’d “work til the day he died” slowly slipping away from us. I’d bet most of you reading this have been affected by this disease in one way or another, too. Shortly before he died he was in the hospital. I stopped by to visit and Grandma, in the way people will do said, “Do you know who that is?” His eyes had a moment of clarity and he said, “That’s my gal!” and he left us again.

There’s an estate sale company near where my daughter Erin lives that has “invitation only” sales on Sunday afternoons then have the same sale open to the public the following weekend. It’s such a privilege to be on the invitation only list — with all 9000 of her other closest friends. It’s so funny how there’s always at least 100 people there on Sunday afternoons then the Friday it’s open to the public there’s maybe 20.

This sale, a couple of weekends ago, sounded like a good one. They had told Erin at the previous sale that she needed to be at this one. That there were lots of vintage clothes. Well, you know that had us foaming at the mouth. A good many other people, too.

It’s an hour drive for me, so I’d called Erin and told her — I TOLD HER! — to get there early to line up for a number. She didn’t. We were numbers 79 and 80. But, no matter. We know when everybody gets in, it’s dog eat dog anyway.

About 10-15 minutes before they opened the doors, I got something in my eye. Under my contact. My hard contact. It was excruciating and wasn’t going anywhere. Tears pouring down that side of my face. The pain making me crazy. If you wear or have worn hard contacts you know exactly what I’m talking about. So I slipped off to the side, took it out and washed it off in my mouth. And don’t you go being all shocked at that. Don’t you be actin’ like you’ve never done that. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And I was desperate. But when I tried to put it back in, it dropped on the ground. Did you see that coming? I bet you did.

I’m on my hands and knees with my big ol’ but in the air hunting, hunting. Erin came over and helped. The occasional passer by helped. It seemed to have disappeared. Gone. Vamooshed. We hunted for 10 minutes before I sent Erin into the sale. Told her to go on without me. Get those bargains! I looked another 5 minutes before giving in to the I’ve-got-to-get-into-that-sale feeling. I blame what happened next on my wonky, one-eyed vision.

Erin had run up directly to the vintage clothes, but all the other vintage clothes ladies had beat her and cleaned everything out like a pack of wolves. I roamed around downstairs, picking up a few things here and there. Met up with her and we went back upstairs. Then back down where I spotted this::

Something told me I needed to get it. That gut feeling. But it was more than I wanted to pay and besides, I couldn’t see it very well. Erin looked at the bottom and saw that it was Taxco, so I looked it up on my phone. Didn’t see an example like it on eBay and the Taxco candlesticks I did see were dead in the water. I passed.

We paid for our stuff and left, but made one last search for the naughty contact. And would you believe she found it? Stepped on. Crushed. I had to drive home with one eye sharp, one a fuzzy wuzzy. Not fun. And the candlestick was on my mind the whole way. By the time I got home, it was a pair of candlesticks and perfect. LOL I did some better research on the computer and found that they are made by Hector Aguilar. It means nothing to me, but it does to a lot of other people. These things are valuable! Why didn’t I trust my instinct? Friday couldn’t come quick enough.

I was there when they opened the doors and headed straight for the candlestick. Dang it. It wasn’t a pair and it wasn’t perfect, but it was still there. I grabbed it and a couple of other little things, paid and spent the rest of the day at thrift stores. Now I’ve got to figure out what price to put on the candlestick. Looks like I could price it anywhere between $50 and $450. But what would someone actually pay……

The first sale of the year was pretty darn impressive. Or maybe I was starving? Ricky and I went Friday, the first day and Saturday for half price. I managed to get some pictures before the things were scattered here and yon. These are only a few, though. Some of the pictures were horrible and need to be retaken. Also, I didn’t take picture of the bigger items, yet or the things Ricky loaded up. (I’m so excited that he’s starting to get interested in buying and selling junk, even if he isn’t obsessed like I am.)

All of this, with the exception of the baskets – I thought they were too fragile to ship – will be on Etsy. Actually, these pictures are Etsy ready, only these are cropped more.  I’m trying them out here. Do you think the Cheerios are too much in the little frying pan? Is that pushing things too far? I’m trying to get more artistic with my pictures. Etsy pics are so different from eBay pics. eBay is straight out, show the item as close as you possibly can in the thumbnail. No frills. Etsy is artistic. Backgrounds and props, maybe. Lots of white space, maybe. I edited these while I was tired and had the laptop in my lap. Now I’m not so sure about the coloring.

So. What’s been going on with me these last few weeks? I’ve been trying my best to start the new year off right. Trying to develop new good habits that will naturally replace the old, bad ones. I’ve been trying to keep the house clean, dishes washed, clothes washed, bathrooms clean, etc. I’m trying the pick up every day, but do one chore a day. Floors one day, dusting one day and bathrooms another. It’s just the two of us. You’d think it would be easy, wouldn’t you? So far so good. I started some of this in November, but worked hard to get the house to a maintainable level. I’ve made it into the first week of the year and I’m right proud of myself. Now, if I can just get on that *%&^$^* treadmill.

We also moved Ricky’s shop into my old store. It’s still a crammed up mess. We’ll be tackling that probably this week. He and the rest of the employees where he works were laid off for three weeks. A big account was lost and they have a back up of product. We’re trying to take advantage of his time off to get some things done.

Aaaannnd, I’m trying to step up my Etsy business. And the booths. Call me crazy, but I think the treadmill is going to get lonesome.

I’m excited about this! Can you tell?

A couple of months ago I bought this stool. (Ruth D., this is the one you said you wanted to see.) The most fierce competition had already been to the yard sale and bought up most everything. There were still some furniture pieces with sold signs on them. Somewhat unattractive furniture pieces at that. But oddly, this stool was still hanging around. Am I the only one in this area who appreciates naturally aged, painted furniture? Probably.

Anyway, my intentions were to put it in the “white” bedroom that is no longer going to be white. As I was considering the stool the other day, knowing I couldn’t part with it, it hit me that I had the perfect spot for it. This spot has always had a kitchen stool and the one I’m replacing is wonderfully sturdy, but this little crackly stool looks so good here. And it’s the perfect spot to hold the jar full of tart tins. (I saw this idea either on someone’s blog or on Pinterest and naturally I can’t find it now to give credit to the inspiration inspirer person blog whatever.)

It was difficult getting a good picture. I tried all kinds of angles.

But do you want to see the real problem?

There’s that pesky modern invention on the counter to the right, I was too lazy to move the garbage bag in the background and the vacuum cleaner in the bottom right corner. (A Dyson, by the way and the best vacuum I’ve EVER owned.) There’s a cabinet door that won’t close at the moment, and Lawdy! The counter top to the left is in a horrible, flat surface, piled up, mess!

I’m linking to Faded Charm’s White Wednesday.

The picture colors aren’t quite true. I’d planned to use a bookcase in there with the back and shelves painted this same color. So far so good. You can see some of the inspiration rooms I’ve pinned on my “Spare bedroom ideas” board on Pinterest.

Then, at an auction a couple of weeks ago, I fell in love with a shabby, chippy, cream colored chest.

More pics of this later. It deserves a post of its own.

OK. This isn’t white. Hmmmm…

Then yesterday, a childhood friend’s mother called and said she was going to sell the iron and brass bed I’d admired and did I want to buy it? Yes, please.

It does have a foot board in the same pattern. Now, I originally planned to use either an upholstered headboard or no headboard, or a door or a mantle or something. But I do like this and it fits the room, so….. Now my white room will have gray, white, mint green, cream, brass and silver. Dangit! Best laid plans. I seem to be incapable of sticking to them.

Don’t expect to see any room pics any time soon. We don’t have a mattress, we’ll have to paint, and all kinds of things. I see at least a year in the making here. The 8 month in process craft room is still unfinished. It only lacks a few things, but they’re out of my control. Waiting on the hubby.

One of the most exciting things was seeing them filming for The Nate B. Show. Now, I rarely get to watch the show, but I was a tad disappointed that Nate wasn’t there. I don’t know if they’ve aired this yet, but here are my pics.

They were in the 5 Cent Mercantile booth, one of my favorites.

Cari, of Cash and Cari, had a booth there, but I’ve never seen that show (I know, I know.) so it didn’t mean as much to me. Melanie and Tiffany had their picture made with her while I was off on some other tangent.

Now. What did I buy? A couple of new Christmas ornaments, a Halloween decoration, um…. uh…. hmm…. I don’t remem… Oh! A ring and… well, shoot. Must not have been anything exciting if I’ve forgotten already. The experience is the best spent money. But here’s one thing I do remember and actually took a picture of.

It’s really hard for me to find W initials for my name. M’s are everywhere, but never a W. So when I found a whole bunch of WC plaques for $8 each, I was super excited. Where would I ever find both my first and last initial in one plaque? I was so happy. Then Tiffany said, You know that stands for water closet? Uh, no. I didn’t think of that. Then…. It’ll go on my bathroom door! I’d show a picture of it on the bathroom door, but 1) it isn’t on there yet and 2) it wouldn’t be as interesting. It’s just a plain ol’, white painted luan door. Bor-ring.

We were there shortly after opening on Friday morning. It was so crowded, it began to get on my nerves. It’s annoying to have to watch out for people stepping on you instead of getting to really see all the goods offered. I didn’t take many pictures. I was just too overwhelmed. (I seem to get overwhelmed quite easily! Never noticed that until just now.) Tiffany took 5 million pics. Her report will, I’m sure, be a lot more interesting. Especially since she got a picture of The Cowboy.

So the first place we stopped was the Earth Angel tent. The first booth I stopped at in there was the booth I kept going back to all throughout the weekend. I was mesmerized by the altered art collages. Swoon! Here are some pictures I took there. They’ll be linked to the huge size so you can see really close-up.

I don’t want this all to be hideously long and boring, so I’ll only post a few pics each day.

So what else is new? Nothing more has happened in the craft room studio. Waiting on my “lectrisherman” husband to hang the lights and get the plugs hot. Also waiting on him to help move a piece of furniture from the shop to home. I have started a serious fall clean-out though. Worked all day yesterday on one wall in our bedroom. The wall with my closet. Now it’s on to the wall with the chest of drawers that holds said lectrisherman’s undies and socks. But I’m off to work in a few minutes. Sigh. Time and no money, or money and no time. Or, if you’re like I’ve always been, no money and no time.

The flour sack print has faded badly and the pink has faded to almost white. There are also some stains in the middle.

Can you make out the word “Allied”?

And I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Belisk flour.

But most of the sack print is on backward!

And yep. I had to shell out three whole smackeroos. I’m sure the ladies having the sale, who were in their 70s and 80s, were shaking their heads in wonder as I left. What would she want with that old thing? And I was wishing I’d got there earlier.

So now. What am I to do with this? Make pillows? A chair seat? Leave it as is? Unquilt it to expose the right side of the print? It will be hard to cut out around some of the best print. If it were yours, what would you be inclined to do with it? If you know me well enough, you know it’ll be a long time before I get around to tackling it, so I can entertain ideas for quite awhile.

]]> http://shopjustvintage.com/blog/junking/what-can-i-do-with-this-quilt/feed/ 9 http://shopjustvintage.com/blog/junking/one-mans-trash/ http://shopjustvintage.com/blog/junking/one-mans-trash/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:52:29 +0000 http://shopjustvintage.com/blog/?p=1920 Many, many moons ago, my husband brought home a green, plywood box on legs. It had been in either the electrical shop or the machine shop where he worked. Apparently, the guys got something better and were throwing this box out. I think Ricky brought it home for himself for a tool box, but we needed a coffee table and I quickly claimed it. This was way back in the day, I tell ya. Wayyyy back. I’m sure there are plenty of pictures with that green box in them, but I haven’t cleaned out closets yet and it would take me an hour to find one buried in the picture box which is buried in the bottom of a closet. Let’s just use our imagination, shall we?

Years later it was replaced and was relegated to the back porch where weather got to a couple of sides.

Now, you know I’m working on my new craft room, ahem, studio, and love the look of the stacked suitcases. (Actually I love the idea of each suitcase having it’s own shelf, but that’s for later.) I had some cool suitcases, but they needed something to sit on rather than being on the floor. I looked out the window and saw the box, so sad and abandoned. So I started scraping.

Not a bad look! At least I like it. Some of you will, some won’t.

The suitcases I have were stacked waiting to be filled.