Back from Pennsylvania

Last week we went to Pennsylvania to the Oaks, PA cash and carry show.  It was a wonderful show and I saw lots of great new items retailers were purchasing.
We bought just a few things we thought would sell and I will get them listed later  this week on my other blog.  I haven’t had a chance to get pictures taken of anything because it has been so busy since we got home.

I have lots of pictures so I’m thinking of breaking it up into 2 posts.  I’ll think about it as I type this out…how’s that for not knowing what you are going to post about.  Do you do that?  Just start typing away until something concrete is formed – well that’s how it is for me today.  So if I ramble and get off topic that’s just how my day is going….lots of irons in the fire.

I first want to show you the gorgeous (well, it’s gorgeous to us) pie safe we purchased at Red Fox Primitives  ( www.redfoxprimitives.com ). Just a young couple have this business and they do some really fantastic work.
We ended up with a larger pie safe than intended.  Been looking for something to replace our plate hutch and this is it.
Done in a distressed Robin’s Egg Blue.

I had some free time on this trip so I set up a meeting with a blog friend. Normally I don’t have free time of my own but Doug and his cousin went golfing so it was MY DAY!
  I mentioned in my last post about meeting Kathleen  ( http://kskronicles.blogspot.com/ ), well it happened and we had a perfectly fun lunch at A TEA AFFAIR in Lititz.  She brought her cousin Linda along and we all had lots to say.
Kathleen and I exchanged gifts – I gave them both a canvas print of an Old World Santa.
Is he not a beauty!!!  One of my favorites so far on canvas
(which by the way I am selling – 8 x 10 stretched canvas boards $22, 5 x 7 stretched canvas boards $16.00,  e-mail me if interested)

From Kathleen I received a set of 3 Moravian Stars and a bottle of hand wash done up in a cute Primitive Christmas label.

Our first course was a Blueberry Scone with Strawberry jam…I forgot to take a picture of it and the other 2 courses.
After the scone we had soup, then a salad and then the tiered tray came out with tea sandwiches and desserts.
There were 5 different sandwiches. Egg Salad, Ham Salad, Hummus spread, BLT and Cream Cheese/Cucumber.
The desserts were too many to name, but one was a Crème Brulee in a glass.  Everything was delicious and presented just beautifully.
We had our choice of any of the teas they had and could switch to a different kind at any time.
 
Kathleen and myself

Kathleen, me and Linda

I had the Berry Tea – which was a blend of Blueberries, Elderberries and something else.
The color was a very soft purple!  Wish you could see it better as it matched the flowers on the cup.

 

 

At the Cash & Carry show I met Stacee Droit from Arnette’s Santas.
She is just as sweet as you would imagine her to be and soooo talented.
Her Santa’s flew off the shelves.  I had 2 customers that had asked me if I had a chance to get them a Santa to do so.  We went to her booth and both Doug and I tried to pick out the ones we thought they were asking for and we were lucky to be able to actually get our hand on 2 of them.  People were piling them up in their carts by the arm loads.  Glad we only had orders for 2 – we would not have been able to fill the customers order otherwise.
 

On Friday we took a drive up to Kutztown (that’s where we bought the pie safe) and stopped at Sharon Renninger’s Gatherings.
(  http://www.sharonrenningersgatherings.com/  )
She has some wonderful Primitive handmade items as well as manufactured item that are very Prim as well.
I found some cotton woven yardage and bought 2 yards of it and plan to make a long runner for our dining room table.  I want to put just the pennies on it so it’s going to be quite a project and most likely take me quite a while to complete it.
Here are just a few pictures from her place.

Back home Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon we met my brother/Gail, my sister Shirley and we went out to eat because our sister is moving to TN on Friday – not sure why, but I guess ‘cuz they can…and want to.  I’ll miss her so much but then again, it’s a place out of state to visit now.
After dinner we went over to visit our step dad at the hospital.

He was supposed to join us for the dinner but last week he fell and broke his hip and had surgery on Tuesday.  This man is 90 years old and is moving around like he had nothing happen to him.  The therapists said he will most likely go home early this week because he’s doing so well. 

I will post more later after I take pictures of some of the things we bought – most of it was from Cocalico Creek.  I really love that store.

I will leave you with a couple old barn pictures.  I have been wanting to get shots of these barns for years and never have.
 

 

Karen

Quilt – Babies – Etc.

Nothing much has been happening around
here lately….nothing fun anyway.
And I think that is good with as much as we had been going all
summer and into the Fall.

But that being said we are taking our last trip for
the year starting tomorrow.
(We have someone here taking care of things and the kitty –
so all is well and safe)
Heading to PA for the wholesale show and then spend a
couple days with our cousin.
I still buy small things that I know my customers would like – and then sell them  on my other site – yes, I quite making my Penny Rugs but will still try  and find fun things to share and sell to you my friends.
I like to pass on my bargains.

(remember to click pictures to view larger)

I’m also very excited because I’m having lunch on Thursday  with a blog friend.  K (Kathleen - http://kskronicles.blogspot.com/ )  and I have known each other for several years now from forums and now blogging.  We have tried many times to meet up but always  something on my end stopped it from happening.  This time it will happen.
Anyway we are going to A Tea Affair in Lititz
http://www.ateaaffairlititz.com/default.html 
We decided on the High Tea menu – K said the food is wonderful and  you get lots of it and they do it up just right– just what gals like!
I’ll post pictures next week of the real setting/food.

 

Last Sunday the Ladies Guild at church displayed the quilts they make for the  different hospitals/veteran’s/children’s hospitals.

They placed one over the back of each pew – anyone could purchase  one if they wanted to so I did – the money also helps with the shipping  and other things pertaining to the quilts.
During the year I give them as much fabric as I can and I saw lots of it in the quilts.
Wish you could have seen the church that day – so bright and cheerful.
The quilts are simple but made with lots of love – they aren’t  like the quilts of ‘yesterday’ but they have meaning and I’m happy I purchased one.  It’s going to go on the bed in the 2nd guest room….there is quite a bit of Red in the quilt  but difficult to get a good shot of it.
 

 

This week I also made a wonderful Apple Pie – we bought
some Cortland Apples – my favorite for baking.
Needless to say it didn’t last long.
 

Got a picture of little Zayne off of Alex’s FB page – wanted  her to send a larger one for me to get developed but haven’t  seen it yet so had to use this one here…he’s sporting his  new sweater and hat.  Look at that little round face…
 

We went to visit Darren and MaryAnn last Friday and finally Miranda let me hold and play with her – never thought that would happen.  But – mommy and daddy were gone so she had no choice…LOL
 

She loves to dance to Barney
 

Bought some more wool a few weeks ago at Cottage House Primitives in Lodi.
I hadn’t been there in a couple years so it was a fun visit.

I’m working on building my wool supply so I can have enough to
make the large MITTENS pattern I bought this past summer.

That’s it for now – I’ll check in this next week if I can while on the road.

Before I leave you though, I’d like to ask for prayers for our pastor.
We were told today at church that he is in St. Luke’s hospital with a brain tumor that came on him
suddenly – at least the bad effects of it came on quickly.
It is about the size of a baseball and pushing the brain to one side.
After they find out the source of the bleeding from the tumor they will do surgery, hopefully on Tuesday.
Please send prayers his way for him and his family.

Thanks to all for visiting and following me – old and new followers alike!
Blessings,
Karen

No more craft shows…please!

How are all my wonderful friends this Saturday afternoon?
Wow is it storming here – it’s right over top of us and dark – and the thunder and lightning is awesome. We certainly do need the rain though.

This morning we went to IL to a craft show – okay, now if at some point I say that we are going to a ‘craft show’…TELL ME I DO NOT NEED TO GO…they are pure junk.
The typical craft show anymore has nothing but jewelry and cheap wood crafts.

I guess we have evolved and certainly don’t need all that stuff they offer.
Our tastes have changed so much that now I just want to go to the Early Wares/Primitive shows and they are few and far between.
Although the end of the month is the Simple Goods show and it’s on our calendar and we have reservations – only when the time gets close will we know if we want to go for sure.

Last week we went to a couple flea markets and farm stands.
I love going to them even if we don’t buy anything – seeing all those Fall colors, Pumpkins/Gourds and squash besides all the wonderful drieds.

When we went to Cranfest 2 weeks ago we also stopped at Whetstone Antiques in Wisconsin Rapids.  I was there just once about 25 years ago and it has changed considerably.
A wonderful place with lots of goodies.
Doug took this picture of me and Cal the owner to send to my friend in AZ who is good friend with Cal.

Isn’t this this old buggy wonderful?

We did find this old wood laundry cart (there’s a basket too) so we put it outside and added some potted plants we bought at the flea market.
It looked a little bare so I put the twig wreath in front of it.
Eventually when it stops raining and dries off
I will arrange the Pumpkins and Gourds around this area.

 

 

At Cranfest up at Warren’s we bought 5lbs. of fresh  Cranberries
I wanted a lot so I can make sauce and the freeze it.
And to string some to have for Christmas.
Also I wanted to make more Green Bean/Cranberry garlands.
 

 

And for the garlands I bought 3 lbs. of Green Beans

I got enough to make 2 garlands with 3 lbs. of beans.

At last Sunday’s flea market we bought more old Mercury ornaments.
And 2 of the ‘End of day’ ornaments from the 1800’s.
I love the one in the center/top – see the little glass bubble from being hand blown.

One of Doug’s friends gave us some Bittersweet from his property.
It’s very sparse with berries but nice none the less so Friday I picked all the leaves off and broke it all down to manageable pieces – didn’t glean very much at all but enough to put in a twig wreath.

Not much after picking off leaves!

 

This is all that’s left after finishing the wreath

Apples = Apple Crisp
Love this even more than Apple pie!
Had to buy Apples at the farm market.

 

 

Our new settle we bought from Linda in Michigan has become part of the house now.
Love it and we’re so happy it came home with us.

The basket and gourds on the bench we bought from Linda as well – I like how it all turned out.

 

 

Since I started this post the storm has worked its way out of our area – the sun is even shining….but oh my goodness it poured!

Before I leave thought I’m posting the Ohio show graphic

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Karen