A Quilt Collection Copycat

When we were in elementary school, being called a copycat was a bad thing.

Now we have Pinterest.  I waste spend so much time surfing Pinterest, finding really cool things that other people have done, pinning them and daydreaming about how wonderful they'd look in my house or garden.  Every once in a while I even do one of the projects I've pinned.  Being a copycat isn't bad any more, it's an extension of 'imitation is the highest form of flattery'.

With that in mind, I say, "Thanks, Bargain Hunter".  A while ago, my good friend and partner in junking posted pictures of her awesome sunroom and her massive collection of Fiestaware, Pyrex, mid-century glassware and quilts.  She displayed her quilts in a double-wide white kitchen utility cabinet and they looked so good that I wanted one, too.  Here's my inspiration, from her sunroom:

She sold me a cabinet she had when she closed down her booth that was just perfect for quilts.  This week I (finally) cleaned it up and moved it in to our bedroom, the only available space in the house.

Because the cabinet had a fair amount of rust, I cleaned it well and put contact paper on all the shelves.  I thought about getting one of the pretty patterns they have now, but in the end opted for white, so that the quilts could be the stars.

Here it is filled up.

Most of them are ones that my great-grandmother or grandmother made, but a few are ones that I've bought at estate sales or antique malls.   The red poppies at the bottom was made for us as a wedding present by my grandma and the blue & white block one on top of it was made for me when I was a baby by my great-grandma when she was almost 100!  She was getting forgetful, so it's kind of thin on batting in a few places and one of the blocks is upside down, but that makes it even more precious to me.

My favorites are the the feedsack crazy quilt top (unfinished) and the airplane quilt, both from the 1930s and 1940s.  The barkcloth quilt (under the airplane quilt) is one that Bargain Hunter picked up for me at a garage sale because she knows how much I love barkcloth.  I've taken it to the mall 3 times to sell and brought it right back home each time, so it's here to stay!

The one standing up on the top shelf is the baby quilt that our great-grandmother made for my sister (and for me, by default).  The little quilted pig is just a sweetie I bought at the antique mall.

I was surprised at how many quilts I had when i started gathering them from all the places around the house where I had them squirreled away.  I was also surprised at some of the really poor-condition ones that I'd apparently spent good money on.  What was I thinking?  I know where those cutters will go -- into Pinterest projects!

Gooseberry and Butterprint, Oh My! - Treasures from the Michigan Thumb Yard Sale

I promised a peek at the things I got at the Michigan Yard Sale Trail in the thumb.  I meant to post on Sunday but, as usual, life got in the way...

This pink gooseberry was the highlight of the trip -- I could have gone home immediately and been THRILLED with what I found!

Three butterprint pieces plus one horizon bowl.  

These two Verde fridgies aren't great, but the price was right.  The little clothespin apron is hand painted and embroidered

Remember Margaret's straw hat?  It's 2 feet wide!

The other hat is a more fashionable one from Winkleman's department store.

I broke my self-imposed moratorium on vintage Christmas at the second stop!

This is a vintage Davy Crockett shirt from the 1960s -- it's pretty sad, though.  I really liked the little doll-sized chest of drawers, too.

This is some great made-in -Japan Christmas stuff

Have you ever seen a twin faced alarm clock?  Perfect for Ozzie and Harriet twin beds!

Just a few vintage linens, but they were very nice.

This big lot of feedsack strips (all 2-3' long and about 8" wide) was super-cheap.  I wasn't even positive it was real feedsack, because it looked so bright and new

Here are all the paterns -- multiple strips of most of them

This primitive home-made hen & chicks will go out by the girls.  

I just loved this kitchen from the 1970s-80s.  I almost walked away from it but knew I'd regret it if I did.  I still have to arrange with the seller to pick up the box of 'accessories' (dishes and toy food) that she forgot to bring to the sale

I picked up this sad lamp to make a globe lamp.  It needs to be cleaned up (really dirty) and rewired.  You'll see this one late when the project is done

First Time Fun in the Thumb -- Michigan's Yard Sale Trail!

I had a new experience today and it was a great one!  My friend and fellow-junker Bargain Hunter asked me to go with her to the M-29 Yard Sale Trail... I didn't need to be asked twice.  The Yard Sale Trail runs along Lake Huron on the 'thumb' of the Michigan mitten (the Lower Penninsula).  The weather today was in the high 70s with a gorgeous blue sky and deep blue lake -- it was just a perfect day for this fun adventure!

This is a panorama of three photos, so it's a little dodgy...but the lake is still beautiful!

We left early and drove to Algonac and began shopping right away.  The first place we stopped was a frog (no bargains there) but #2 was a prince -- Pyrex gold mine!  It just got better and better after that.

Since I'd never done one of these sales before, I was just flat-out amazed at (and overwhelmed by) how many sales there were.  We did nothing but shop non-stop for the next 60 miles -- all the way to Port Sanilac, where we just ran out of time (and money...and energy) and we had only stopped at a quarter of the sales that we saw on the way and had only stayed on M-29 (didn't go down any side roads).  There was so much junk were so many treasures that I had to remember to pace myself.  What a great problem to have!

If you ever get a chance to do one of these long sales, don't miss the experience!  Wear comfortable shoes, pack some snacks and cold water and bring lots of cash.  You won't be disappointed.

Here are some of the pictures of the day.  I'll apologize in advance that they're not well staged and sometimes a little blurry.  They were shot almost on the run, with my phone.  Since I totally beat and my car won't get unloaded until tomorrow, there won't be any pictures of the treasures until then.

Picture 150 continuous miles of this.  Junking HEAVEN!

We saw LOTS of ships on the lake, but this was the coolest!  That's the Canadian shore in the background

I came home with this sweet 1980s kitchen for my little sweetie, Grace

This was one of my favorite sales, even though all I bought were two vintage hats

I knew I had to have Margaret's giant straw hat the moment I saw it.  This is one of the few pictures of me you'll ever find online -- I think I look really good like this ~

I really liked these pet beds and their furry models

This is the only antique mall we stopped at, which really couldn't rival the sales...

I wish I'd found this sink unit when we were redoing our kitchen.  I searched everywhere for a sink with built-in drainboard.  We had one identical to this in our first house and I loved it!

This was a sad sight out in back of the mall.  A dealer had lots of formica tables and matching chairs and was just spray painting chrome paint over all the rust without even trying to clean or restore them.  He scurried away when Bargain Hunter saw him.  

A big park with lots of booths, but only about half were vintage

Rows and rows of tables of bargains -- all 'price reduced'

One of the creepier things of the day -- the sad deer looking out of the shopping cart 

Picked up this large bag of feedsack for an amazing low price -- I can't wait to go through it tomorrow

A napkin doll, photo for Bargain Hunter

Here's the back of Bargain Hunter's car...
Everything you see is MINE!  (Kind of scary, isn't it?)

Tune in tomorrow for a peak at my finds!

Getting Back to Work!

I haven't posted in two months, but I've been BUSY!  I hope you haven't all deserted me because you thought I was never going to post again...

In those two months, I went for an extended weekend to Mackinac Island for a conference, then a week later went to Australia for 3 weeks, followed by 2 weeks of playing catch-up and dealing with killer jetlag and then trying to regain my momentum on the Etsy shop and the mall booth.  If you've ever watched a hamster run on its wheel and the wheel gets moving so fast that the hamster can't keep up...that's how the past many weeks have been.  Now that life's getting back to normal, I will (hopefully) be posting more often.

Sales are always down in July.  My first year selling, I panicked and thought I'd made a major mistake when the summer sales were so slow.  Now I know it will happen and I use the summer slow-time to really ramp up for fall and Christmas shopping.  As I've been shooting pictures, wrapping and writing listings, I've realized just how much stuff I have!  Even though this is prime shopping time (with flea markets and yard sales) I've really tried hard to avoid buying.

Until Thursday, when there was a jam-packed sale 4 miles from my house!  I was #25 and, since there were lots of tools, most of the people before me were men, so I thought I might still find something good.  Another dealer from the mall (who sells industrial stuff) was #3 and she had a sheet of neon orange SOLD stickers that she used to just buy everything she looked at.  What a great idea! There were 8-10 little metal tool drawers (that sell really well on Etsy) and she just stuck her stickers on all of them, along with the lockers and about 15 other things -- all in the first 5 minutes!

So, with no joy out in the garage, I went into the house.  I found two things that have been on my wish list!
Two pink gooseberry cinderella bowls were tucked inside some other, not exciting bowls and were dirt cheap.  Then I found a papier mache owl decoy, which I've been looking for for years!  I was so excited to find those 3 things I almost dropped them doing the happy dance.

After that, all the other things I got were good, but all to sell -- the owl and the bowls will stay here.

Christmas linens -- the sheer apron is especially cute

red and green Pyrex bowls

I always like anything with ships

both of these are Oven Serve bowls ane one is marked Kitchen Kraft, too

glass insert Crown canning jars from Canada -- these always sell very well

I've been avoiding dolls and doll stuff, but this bride doll is complete and the box is dated 1960

I had to hunt all over the garage to find this canister set, and never did find the 4th lid.  They were all so dirty and filled with solder, nails & screws and electrical parts.  I'll let you know how they clean up.

This nativity set was all in the box.  The man who's estate it was sat in the living room chatting with everyone -- he was a great salesman!  He told me there were a 'few extra pieces' in there, that he'd made.  All together there were about 40 extra

A fun bonus to the owl decoy is that little Grace loves it!  I have it in the kitchen by my crow decoy (okay, I know it's wierd) and she just kept looking at it and laughing.  This pictures blurry, but it's hard to hold an owl  out of reach in one hand (you can just see it in the lower left corner) and shoot a picture of a moving baby with your phone in the other...

I hope you found some good sales this week, too!

2 Crazy Days of Shopping - Day Two: Davisburg Antiques

I thought I'd be posting this 'second day' post the day after my 'first day' one -- an entire week ago!  It seems like there just isn't enough time in the day (or enough days in the week) to keep up with everything.  When I do one task, I keep thinking about all the other ones that aren't getting done.

But enought whining...

Back to the 2 Crazy Days of Shopping.  On Saturday (a week ago, now) my friend Bargain Hunter and I went to the first Antiques Festival in Davisburg -- about an hour closer than Midland.  It was smaller than Midland, but I think that it will grow in size and popularity very quickly.

It was a miserable day, chilly and rainy, but the shopping was fantastic.  AND extra points to the Davisburg people:  they had crews going around with wood chips, putting them on all the really muddy places to make it easier to walk.  That's something they never do at Midland!  Even with the wood chips, our feet were covered with mud and we had mud up our jeans to our calves.  But when did a little mud ever stop a motivated junker?

I intended to take pictures of some of the staging and cool items, but got too busy shopping and forgot to.  Oh well, that's something to save for next time...  I found some real treasures and filled up my granny cart and part of Bargain Hunter's.  In my defense, my granny cart is one of the smaller ones I've seen...that must be why I always fill it before BH fills hers!

Here are some of the cool things I got:

I just LOVE these woven metal baskets (or are they purses?)  I don't know if I'll sell them on Etsy or in the booth -- they have such possibilities for display

Spaniel PBN

Bag lot of children's toy dishes.  I admit it -- I bought the entire bag lot just to get the little slotted spoon and the teal starburst plates!

Glass pitchers are on my 'do not buy' list.  I couldn't pass this one up, though -- it's now in my kitchen.  I replaced another pitcher and set of six glasses with this one piece though.  That should prove I'm not a hoarder!  

These complete my set of these Daisy Pyrex bowls.  I'd just told Bargain Hunter that they were on my wish list and there they were, in the first building we went into!

This octagonal tin is in great condition.  I priced it and took it to the booth and ended up bringing it home -- I can't part with it!

Art Deco spiral chrome bookends from the 1930s

This quilt is a cutter -- 3 of the 15 blocks are too frayed and rotted to use.  The other 12 are really nice, though, and the perfect size for seat covers or pillows (if I ever get time to sew them)

This set was my big splurge for myself -- I'd never seen this set of Tavern candles before.  I don't believe that Santa was original, but he's a cute add-on

The colors in ths Canada tablecloth are so bright!  I don't know if I'll be able to sell this, either, as I love all things Canadian...

This big Old West tea towel is really unusual and in mint, unused condition. There are dates and historical events all over the map and the principal people around the edges

I'll definitely go to Davisburg Antiques again (but probably get a bigger cart).  I'm already looking forward to the next one...think how much fun it will be without the mud!