Gathering Dust

SATURDAY Estate Sales

Did you notice I said SATURDAY estate sales?  . 

My  reason for not going to Friday estate sales:  Many estate sales are now starting on Thursday.  Sometimes companies will run Friday at 25% off, but not all.  I don't think I've ever gone to the second day of three day estate sale and bought something if the price wasn't reduced.  Think about it, Friday is just full price left overs from Thursday. 

So I waited until Saturday when everything was half price.  What did I get? Two composition dolls.  The one on the left I bought just for the head- she has no arms or legs, and shortly after I took this picture I beheaded her.

I know, that really freaks some people out, but she has a very pretty face.  The carriage is something I bought earlier in the summer.  I haven't had a lot of luck in selling full size doll furniture, but I thought the silver blue color of this would make a pretty display at the holidays.  Fill it with greenery, pine cones and some silver, pink and blue ornaments.  I think it would be so cute next to a Christmas tree.

Vintage office supplies including a cute old Webster's composition book and a first aid kit.  The blue box is for a typewriter ribbon.  Unfortunately, the masking tape price tag was slapped right over the pretty lady's face.  When I pulled it off, some of her curls came with it.

The office supplies are atop one of those great old vertical file folders that reads "LETTERS" and still has it's little leather tab to pull it from the shelf.

Love this shabby vignette.  The candlestick is a little chippy, and has a little bit of rust and verdi gras.  It's sitting on a dresser mirror with cherubs for handles.

This Florentine tray and filigree frame fit in nicely with the candlestick.  The leather piece with pink and gold accents is actually a leather book cover. 

Speaking of books, I got this huge heavy book with beautiful floral plates.

If I cut the book apart and sold the plates separately I could probably get $1 a piece for them- for a total of $200.  If I sell the book, I'll probably price it at $10.  I hate the idea of taking a perfectly good book apart.  What would you do?

If You're Going to the Desert, Do It In Style... a Trip to Bouse AZ

Three weeks ago, we flew to Phoenix to meet up with DH's family for a road trip to Bouse AZ, population 996.  Bouse is located about two hours west of Phoenix.  In between Phoenix and Bouse, there's a lot of....sand... yeah, sand and brush.  It's pretty remote.

Our reason for a family vacation to Bouse (instead of a Disney cruise) was that my father-in-law was stationed at Camp Bouse during World War II before he was shipped to Europe.

My father in law is the last confirmed member of his army unit, and we were there for the dedication of a monument to his unit. 

If you click on the link and scroll down past the article, there's a family picture on the right side.  I'm on the left side of the picture holding one of the umbrellas whining "I'm hot".  You can't see everyone, you know how some people always hid in the back of a group picture?  Anyway, there were 30+ of us at the dedication.

And how do you get such a big group to Bouse AZ?

You charter a luxury coach!

And the trip is even better when thoughtful family members have arranged for round trip full meal service and even acted as bus stewards and  stewardesses.

Nieces kept themselves entertained by bringing full backpacks that weigh more than they do. 

And this cutie kept himself completely entertained by looking out the window at the variety of semi trucks and trailers on the other side of the road. Since the bus was up so high, it was a different view than you get from a car.

We made a short stop at the Bouse Museum, housed in a former Assay office.  They had a lot of items related to the town's history as a mining outpost and to the army base set up during WWII.

I was particularly interested in this display outside the museum.  To some people it would just look like rusty junk, but it's actually artifacts found in the desert, most left from the army base that was there over 70 years ago. The museum curator knew the history of all the pieces and if there were related to the army presence or mining activity.

My father-in-law was thrilled that so many of us were able to make it to the dedication, and it was an adventure for all of us.

When we got home, I had a letter from my Mom with a clipping of an article from my hometown newspaper that had just about my Dad's WWII service.

We're proud of our Dads and their service to the country, and the sacrifice and service of all of the Greatest Generation.

Zentangles, a Craft Apron and Derfy

I just realized I haven't done a blog post in a month.  For the last few days, I've been meaning to write one, but it's almost like I forgot how. 

My sister-in-laws both bought the book One Zentangle A Day  and were having a zentangle retreat this weekend.  I couldn't go, but I took pictures of some of tangles I've drawn to send to them so I could attend vicariously.

I thought maybe sharing those pictures would be a way to ease my way back into blogging.

I'm a huge believer in the power of doodling, tangling, journaling or just making things in general to relax, improve your mood and keep you sane!

This is my very first tangle, and as you can, I've played and experimented a lot since then.

This is a  freestyle patchwork  apron that I've been working on. This is the "skirt".  I'll probably sew it to a premade bib style apron.

I've had people ask if I make aprons for sale, and the answer is "Yes I do".  Usually they are spoken for before they make it to my Etsy shop.  If you're interested in this apron or a custom made apron, email me. 

My other news is we adopted Karla's Yorkie, Dorothy.  Originally we were just going to take care of her during October when Karla was going to be gone a lot. After being with us for a few weeks, Karla decided that Dorothy was a such a sensitive little girl that she needed to live in a household that was a slower paced than her busy cottage.

Since we've fallen in love with sweet little Derfy, we decided to keep her.  Button is her real biological older brother and they love each other, love to play, and usually fall asleep next to each other.  Our other dog, Buddy is bigger than Derfy and Button, but he's a sweet boy who is willing to play gently with the little dogs.

I'm not as talented with dog photography as Karla is, but I thought this was a cute picture.  You can see what a pretty girl Derfy is, and Button has his skull and crossbones collar on so you can see how tough he thinks he is.

Dorothy's name "Derfy" is how Karla's grandfairy Dewdrop says "Dorothy".  We thought is so was cute that we'd change Dorothy's name to Derfy.  Then DH realized he didn't want to call the vet's office and say "I'd like to make an appointment for Derfy Leintz".  So she'll stay Dorothy, but we call her Derfy.