The gypsy caravan

Memorial day Monday means the gypsy caravan if you live in St Louis.  I say this every year, but meh. What was once a really great antique show is now really marginal. It's filled with socks, crap made in China, coupon stockpiles, and just regular flea market junk.  Which I tolerate fine at a regular flea market, but NOT at one I have just paid $20 to get into.

I always manage scrounge up a few things, and frankly I only blog them so that when next Memorial Day rolls around I can look back and decide if I really want to be bothered with going.

This year:

A bag of ornaments.

A box of ornaments.

My favorite find in a long, long time! A very sweet watercolor plus frame.

A cotton glittery snowman.

A sweet shelf for Sam. (New, made in china I am sure. And blurry. I totally have given up on the photo thing.)

And a toddler quilt. It's really worn in the center, but the price was right...

And I could not resist these sweet animals.

Until next year.

Maybe.

Probably not.

If you could park when it was only $10 to get in, then maybe. But  no way I am going to try and carry all that junk on a long, crowded bus ride into the venue. We tried that one year and Dave ended up walking miles with all the junk. Oy.

A mini quilt, the patriotic tree & the swap deadline

My SIL is having a baby and she asked for something "vintagey that represents St Louis" to hang in his room.

Man, I struggled with that request for a long time. One day while surfing Ebay I stumbled on this mini Cardinals football flag. The football cards are long gone from St Louis, but as you know, are now in Phoenix. And my in laws all happen to be in Phoenix.

Perfect! It connects the dots between the two cities.

I sat down with my sketch pad and starting sketching up ideas for a mini quilt. I chose a block that reminds me of the spokes of a bike wheel, since his parents are avid bike riders.

It was a little extra challenging since I had to use my back up machine since the Bernina is STILL in the shop (for just a cleaning, do not even get me started on the insanity of this system!*). But in the end I think it turned out super sweet.

St Louis Spoke mini quilt
14 inches square
vintage felt mini pennant
Machine quilted, hand applique
Finished May, 2015

Yesterday I reclaimed a feather tree from my mother and painted it blue. I've wanted a blue tree for the summer months since last year.

It's all decorated up for the patriotic summer holidays and waiting for some new handmade goodness!

We have six, maybe 7, swappers. Swap sign ups will close this evening, welcome emails will go out tomorrow morning.  I can't wait to add something new to this tree!

*Why, oh WHY, do they make you leave the machine there endlessly for a cleaning? Why don't you just make an appointment and show up then and leave it for the day? You don't leave your car at the mechanic endlessly like this for an annual inspection! It only takes an hour for goodness' sake.  There are no Bernina dealers on my side of the river, so I have to drive to the city and then wait almost a month. It's totally inexcusable really.  These are $$$ machines.  If you follow me on instagram yesterday you saw a total melt down because my back up machine will not work. I had a bad, bad day with the kids (all home now), I have PMS,  Grant slept all of 3 hours or something the night before, I am trying not to emotionally eat and I SERIOUSLY NEED TO SEW. Argh.

100 miles of yard sales (with Jack)

So, this year we took Jack along on the 100 mile yard sale (due to his complete inability to behave at home with anyone else in charge, ahem).  It was actually not so bad. He complained a lot about when we were going to be done, but at least he isn't two! LOL

First, some things I did not buy:

A crazily overpriced quilt top.

All the pyrex. Actually there was a lot more.

This very Golden Girls fabric padded mirror *thingy*.

All the cookie jars.

A cute strawberry cross stitch quilt.

All the salt and pepper shakers. A whole trailer full. It would take a whole salt mine to fill them all.

A very sweet cabinet. Actually I didn't even really consider this, but seeing it now I have some regret! LOL

The Waltons lunch box. I love the Waltons. And Dr Quinn. And Little House. But not when calls the heart. I loved the first season, but this new season? UGH.

I did buy:

Loads of pieces of GORGEOUS limoge china. I guess I am back to totally embracing my pink frilly thing. Forget trying to funk it up I suppose.

Some of the serving pieces.

The sweetest hand painted swans.

Totally shabby again. Ahem.

A delphite bowl. I almost screamed out loud.

I think these old clip on ties will be fun at St Patty's Day.

Martha Stewart ornaments from when she still sold all the cute things in K-Mart.

A small haeger duck. Who is blurry. I must've been drunk when I took the photo this close.

SWEET shakers! These have dented lids but will be so cute with all those tiny flowers my littles are always picking for me.

A rainbow of zippers.

A mountain (loads more than it looks like here) of horse ribbons. Horse ribbon everything man!

A delicate hand painted glass...

The St Louis 1893 sold me. (A quarter!)

Some cute books for the not twins.

Oh hi Ginty!

A big boy bed for Ginty. I would've preferred another spindle or Jenny Lind bed, but this was $10 and solid wood. A coat of paint, a sweet vintage decal right about there...that'll do pig.

Random linens.

Fabric and a pillow case. I have decided I could have nothing but these pillow cases and die happy. A whole closet full.

A doll quilt. The other day Sam asked me for doll blankets and when I said they are in your room she replied, "mommy! They are all hanging on the walls!"  Umm, oops.

A very sweet snowball quilt. I left it and then went back for it.

I keep meaning to tell you that if you see a spot like this on a quilt you should know it will turn into a hole when you wash it. I don't know why, and I don't know what makes them, but they always turn into a hole.

The back is the sweetest peach color ever, which is what made me fall in love.

So. This year was better than this sale has been in years! Plus I got to spend some quiet time with Jack and Dave.

Win.

**We have 5 people signed up for the patriotic swap, so it's a go. Want to join us?**

A Patriotic swap?

A few people have asked about adding another swap, so how about a patriotic theme?  I am always struggling to find things to hang on our summer feather tree (some day I WILL have those cardboard axes).

I picked these up yesterday and they got my crafty wheels spinning.

A few other patriotic things from the blog:

And one I have always loved from Country Living:

We are a little bit short on time, but I think it will work.

Details:
I will just run this the same as Halloween and Valentine's day. You make x number of ornament type items and you will receive the same number in return. (The number will depend on how many people sign up - it will be between 5 and 14. I will tell you the exact number in the welcome email.) Craft with whatever you please.

 If I can get at least 5 participants I will start the swap. I will close the sign up list at 14 participants.

The postage fee will be the usual $5, I can invoice you directly through paypal, so leave your paypal address in your email please. That way you don't have to worry about remembering to put it in your package and the shipping addresses are all collected in one place for me already.

The deadline to have your package to me will be June 21, that gives me a few days to turn them around in time for July 4th.

If you would like to join please email me at makinprojiks@gmail.com. Sign ups will close Weds, May 27th. Be there or be square!