MyLuckyChicken

Yard Sales and Projects

  We had our big yard sale on Saturday and it was quite a success. Thanks so much to Dava for all the helpful hints! We followed your advice and I'm sure that's a big reason we were so successful. We actually sold everything which was a wonderful surprise. Even the little leftovers that I put in a free box were taken by the next day.  I didn't take any pictures but I do have a few that I posted to craigslist with the ad.

I thinned out my tea cup collection a little bit...

One of our neighbors bought 4 of these (we gave her the rest). She works in a nursing home and has tea parties with the residents. How sweet is that? I much prefer thinking of them being used for a tea party than sitting in a box in storage!

Another neighbor will now also be using this chair...

He's a writer and I hope he has many wonderful creative thoughts in it!

All in all I am happy my things have found new homes and will be used by people instead of sitting in a storage unit collecting dust (not to mention costing me money).

This brings me to a little confession. My neighbor Dave said I was going to disappoint some people, but it's a chance I took. If you scroll back up you'll see the teacups are nicely displayed on something. What you can't see in the picture is that they are on my as yet unfinished cabinet that I've been stripping . I used it just for display as we were short table space. Well someone one wanted it, half stripped and all. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse and honestly I wasn't quite sure where I was going to put it so dear readers, I sold it. I'm not sure what she is going to do with it but I was in a purging mode and so off it went. It's rather zen not being too attached and all. Something I've been working on lately so I am proud of letting it go.

Now on to new projects...

If I ever get my new sewing machine I will need to decide what to do with the two quilt tops that I got a while back.

But for today I soaked them...

and then laid them out on the grass to dry. Both quilts are in pretty rough shape.I don't think they can be saved in tact. I was thinking of taking the salvageable squares, maybe fusing them to muslin and using them as embellishments or pockets for my bags.

Here you can see the first one and how bad the edges are.

But there are some blocks like this one that I could save.

It's all hand stitched.

The second one is basically in the same condition.

Some good...

some not so good.

If anyone knows how I could save the quilts or has any different ideas for the pieces, I'd love to hear them!

By the way, I am going to be taking a quilting class this fall so maybe I'll learn something there :)

Bear

A little bear I made yesterday from "The Cute Book". A fun and simple project for a Sunday afternoon.

I am continuing to strip my little cabinet when I can. Given the chemicals I am using I like to work outside or when the kids are asleep. Since I can only do one side before the stripper starts to bother my hands (even with gloves on), I am only about 2/3 of the way done. The doors are the next, and hardest part. Wish me luck!

The kitchen is getting messier and messier. Another wall has been mudded and is ready for priming.  It's the biggest area of wall so it will be nice to get rid of all that green. I will try to remember to take pictures tomorrow when I have good daylight.

School is starting up soon and I've got my mind on that. Gathering supplies, figuring out what the day will be like. Bubba is going to kindergarten for a full day so that will be a big change. His little school has the most gifted Kindergarten teacher and I am so excited for him. Plus our neighbor from across the street will be joining him and his other best friend in the same class, so I anticipate a great year!

I think we are going to have a yard sale on Saturday. We have way too much stuff and need to do some serious purging. I have never had a yard sale before, so any tips would be much appreciated!

Don't be too jealous...

It's been a while since I've posted because we've been away visiting...

Yup. We took the kids on a road trip. It was only about a 5 hour drive and they did great. We left at 4:30am, so they slept for a lot of it. Sesame Place was nice, mostly a water park. I'm not much of a water park girl myself but the fact that it was 97 degrees and super humid helped. We had lunch with all the characters and that was a big hit. Would I rather have been in Europe? Sure. But the kids loved it and maybe we'll do Europe next year.

The summer is quickly winding down around here. The sewing machine will soon be replaced, and regular posting shall resume :)

Before we left I acquired some new pillow cases at my local thrift shop.

I really need to get my sewing machine back so I can turn them all into some terrific bags.

I think I am going to play more with design and embellishments, just simple trim or some little embroidery. Nothing too fancy I like the simple style of my Floppy Tote  so far, just tweak it a little.

There is a local farmers market here and I think I may try to sell some there next year. What better place to sell a market tote?

I'm not crazy, but I might be soon.

I am going to be painting my little cabinet white. And just so you didn't think I was crazy to spend all this time stripping something just to paint it back the way it was, I thought I'd post some  pictures a little closer up that show the condition of the paint. Here you can see a little of that freaky yellow paint that is so hard to get off. I think it may be lead.  The white that is on top is a lot like a tempera paint that kids would use in school.

A little closer up. So when I do get it done the white will be much cuter!

And here is the project that may drive me over the edge. I despise living in a construction zone. I know repainting isn't actually construction, but the mess and disorder dive me crazy. Plus there are a lot of cracks in the walls so we need to put a coat of mud first, then prime, then paint. Here is one section of wall primed with a test of the base color. It's not the right color. Way too gray for what I was picturing. It's actually going to be a sweet light blue.

This is some vintage material I bought on ebay. It's going to be the curtains for the new kitchen. The blue on the walls, it turns out, is an exact match to the light blue in the petals. I didn't plan that but I am apparently drawn to the color. I have no idea what this material was originally. It had pockets on either end like it's a curtain but they are 78 inches long so that seems like a pretty giant window. I love the cheery flowers and the vintage feel so I can't wait to get them up!