Antique Mall Fun

 The first antique mall we went in was Artichoke Annie's.  Well, first we tried to find another antique mall, and ended up in a field.  But with a little help from google, we got back on a real road and found a different antique mall.

I did find some sewing machines.  I was nosing around this old one to see if it still had it's bobbin case when an older gentleman and his wife passed by me.  He said, "I'll bet you don't even know how to use one of those!"  At which point I felt obliged to tilt the machine up and examine it more closely pointing out things about it.  His wife politely nudged him on down the aisle.

There were so many quilts and unquilted tops.  This was the GREEN display!

Care for a photo anyone?

Some more interesting finds..........

And this guy was disturbing.  He doesn't appear to have hands, so I'm not quite sure how he got his mask on.

Sarah thinks she needs a small stand mixer for her kitchen.  Do you think this will work?  It's sure cute!

Another old treadle machine.........

I was thinking that I needed a small sewing machine to keep at her apartment.  This one is cute, but a little smaller than I was planning for.

There were loads of old quilt tops, quilts, and other assorted handwork items.  It made me realize that I don't want to accumulate quilts that will someday end up like these.  I'm going to start giving more away and hope they will be loved and used.

And a few more interesting finds.........

We then traveled down the road a little farther to the Veranda Antique Mall.  We didn't like this one as well as it was a bit more organized, cleaner, less dusty, and there wasn't as much opportunity for "discovery".

I did find this very amusing...........

And the tag on it read..............

Don't think we need to say any more about this one!

There were more quilts here...........displayed a little better.

And a plethora of newly made rib baskets.

One of my favorite things about both places was the locker system where I could lock my purse in and not have to carry it around.  The other really cool thing was that apparently it is common practice to take your dog antiquing!  This lovely lady was in both of the antique malls with us as were several other dogs.  One was even being pulled through in a wagon!

It was nice to wander through the booths, without all the crowds like in St. Louis.  

Christi

The View in St. Lou

Well, last weekend was definitely interesting.  Had we known that it was the weekend that all the St. Louis University, Washington University, and every other college around students were moving in, we would not have made the trip.  Ikea was sold out of almost everything, including all the furniture Sarah had selected for her apartment.  Her mattress was delivered on Saturday morning and now sits on the floor in her bedroom with her college graduation quilt on it.  Furniture will have to wait for another trip.  You couldn't buy paper towels anywhere, and there was a line to get in to Trader Joe's.  So, I guess you could say we decided to pray for guidance which lead us to this......... 

We got to walk around in the beautiful Cathedral Basilica and visit the museum in their basement.  There were no crowds here.  We spent a good portion of the weekend with Jacob, my nephew who is in St. Louis attending Concordia Seminary.  

Jacob kept pointing out all the religious symbology and I kept pointing out the great quilt patterns.

There are some great quilt borders on this ceiling!

After walking through the Cathedral, we picked up some Andy's Frozen Custard....DELICIOUS!

Then Jacob took us around the Concordia campus.  We couldn't go into any of the buildings, but we did peek in the windows of some.

It is a small, but beautiful campus.  He had finished and passed his Greek class on Thursday.  So, by tradition, everyone who passes Greek jumps in the fountain.  That event had occurred Friday morning before we arrived.  

Here is Jacob's fountain.   We went to church with him on Sunday morning and then packed up and headed out of St. Louis.  Sarah went straight back home, but David and I stopped at a couple of antique malls on the way home.  More on that in my next post!

Christi

Small Animal Fun

 

I had left some baskets and tubs on my deck for someone to stop by and pick up and Boots decided these were the purrfect place to relax.  He also enjoyed sitting up and gazing in the window to see what might be happening in the house!  The tubs have been picked up, so we moved a bench over since he seemed to enjoy that spot so much.  Now all 3 kittens sleep there at night so they are close and ready for loving when the door opens in the morning.

Here are the terrible trio.  They have really grown and I'm sure have a ways to go judging from the size of their paws.

David and I attended a free longarm quilting machine road show last week.  I enjoyed seeing their van in the parking lot and appreciated the sentiment on the back........

Three guys from Iowa did the presentation and demonstration.  They had 5 machines set up for us to try out.  I just liked the visual of 3 guys traveling the highway in this cute van!  I did learn a lot, and was so busy checking it all out that I didn't take any photos of the machines.

At home, the beets were pulled and made into beet pickles...........17 pints!  A couple more batches of sweet pickles have been made as well, and I have been making fresh tomato sauce and salsa.  

Sarah and I went to Bethany to visit my parents this past weekend.  My sister came down on Friday with my nephew's girlfriend.  Chad and Jackson came down on Saturday after football practice and brought their new boat.  Sarah enjoyed some time on the boat Saturday afternoon.  It was strange to have 6 people there and my dad be the only guy.  Dad took the 4 of us girls (yes, it's nice to consider myself one of the girls) to the Amish Small Animal Auction on Saturday morning.  We went in his old rusted out truck so that we could attempt to "blend in".  We didn't blend.........we were some of the only people wearing facemasks......... and shoes!  We tried to social distance as much as possible, so I tried to be closer to the animals than the people.  

I texted David that morning to let him know we were going to this and his response was, "Remember, it's like a national park.  You don't take anything out and leave only footprints."

There were sheep, goats, calves, pigs, pot belly pigs, and lots of birds and rabbits.

Sarah and I liked the ducks.

We didn't realize there would be so many quail, pigeons, and even turkeys!

And chickens and roosters, of course, and then more pigeons.

And so many people..........apparently this was the social event of the month.  The hillside was packed with trucks, trailers, wagons, and buggies.

Of course, they had lots more than just the animals to auction..........

I was able to pass this sewing machine by as well as all the other junk.  Everything from old doors, lumber, boats, to dining room chairs.

We followed David's directive to the letter which meant that we didn't leave with a pecan pie from the selection of baked goods.  When we told him about this, he said next time not to leave with anything that was alive.  Then I reminded him about the sewing machine!  He just can't win!

Having just had dental surgery on Thursday, I spent some time relaxing on the couch with some baby quilt binding and Tucker, my sister's golden doodle.  I did finish the baby quilts and my Dad held them up for photos.  The first is for Chandler, my third cousin who is due to have her baby in December.  She is doing her nursery color in the darker green.  This is the Moda Love Charm Quilt pattern.

This one is for Elliott and Andrea, David's nephew.  They are expecting in November.  I bought this panel on the sale table at The Stitch in Jefferson, IA and added the border.  They are doing lighter greens, and Elliott likes elephants.  This one we know is a boy.

I realized that I didn't have any photos of people from our trip north, so here are Carmyn and Jackson.  We really like Carmyn.  We told her we're not quite sure what she sees in Jackson though.  She had to get home Sunday because her family has a large hog farm and they were doing vaccinations on Monday.  She invited Jackson to help........nice date!

We are heading to St. Louis this weekend to start getting Sarah's apartment set up.  I'm sure there will be many adventures to share (if we don't murder each other) next week.

Christi

Happy Birthday!

Yes, my baby is 23!  She is celebrating with one big cookie!

 And her best bud, Dory!

I took a little time to look back through the photo albums of past birthdays and all the interesting cakes I made for her.  Here are some favorite photos..........

 Pretty sure she had chicken pox in the photo above......there are some spots in her eyebrows!

 Oh, the hair!

First day of preschool!

 First piano recital

 The morning hair hasn't changed!

 More chicken pox......

 Northwest Missouri State Fair Baby Show.

Church Christmas Program

We have the most interesting conversations while fixing supper as a family.  Monday evening was Parmesan Chicken.  Sarah got chicken breasts out to thaw before I got home.  

So, there was much discussion about the poor chicken with the breast on the right.  It was larger than both of the others combined!  You can only imagine the conversion about breast size...........of chickens, of course!  I'm thinking supper isn't going to be nearly as much fun when harvest starts and David is in the field, or when Sarah gets moved permanently to St. Louis.

On the sewing front........

 I pulled out some little blocks I had made last year as part of Bonnie Hunter's Leader/Ender Challenge.  Bonnie, of course, made enough of these for 2 quilts during the year.  I have a nice table topper/wall hanging now that I finally set them together.  I just never really liked the fabrics in the blocks, but now that it's set together, it is perfect in my dining room.  Quilting to come.......

 Here are the blocks from the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt I participated in.  I have them sewn together now, but still need to add the border.  

And I finished another block of the Appalachian Memories Quilt.  That's 6 complete now!  Half way there!

 Charlie was on hand to help out in the sewing room.  It's amazing how much lint a dark gray long-haired kitten can find in what I thought was a clean sewing room!

 And, Dory was standing guard sleeping on the steps to the sewing room.  One must be careful not to rush up and down the stairs as you never know what my be resting there.

And, I finished this little Celtic Knot Basket a few weeks ago, but didn't have a photo.  This is sitting on the dining room table and Cici has tried really hard to get herself curled up in it, but there is no way she will fit.

I'm hoping to do a little more weaving soon.

Christi