Whimsical and Homespun Art Creations with a Little Rural Living Thrown In





Sunday, July 26, 2015

Rutledge, Missouri & Maquoketa, Iowa Flea Market Finds

Mr. Hollow and I have been trying to get some traveling in on the non-rainy weekends; although, they are few and far between! ;)   The summer is speeding by so fast.  Our intentions are to get as much running in as possible before the cold weather is upon us again. The amount of rain has us at a slow start this season,  but it has also made us more grateful for the sunny fun filled outings. 
 
Maquoketa, Iowa had their annual flea market at the fair grounds.  The morning was beautiful and overcast.  The blessed cloudy skies gave us a break from the hot and humid July temps.  The indoor venue had a lot of antique vendors .  I was surprised to find a wonderful display of Alfalfa feed sacks (9 to be exact) and a few Fulton heavy duty sacks.  The wonderful lady was only asking a dollar a piece!   I just love the sage green against the cream of the feed sack cloth. :)
 
 

 
 
 
An outdoor vendor had a stack of woven soybean sacks.  I have been on the search for ones like these that have a tighter weave and strong coloring.   These should do nicely for a pattern that I have been working on. 
 


The rainy weekends have been relentless in these parts.  Mr. Hollow and I decided to take an overnight trip to check out the Rutledge, Missouri flea market.  Believe it or not, the weather man was predicting rain. :(  We took some time off from our jobs and went anyway.  I am so glad that we did, since the weather was absolutely beautiful!  Here are a few of my finds from the trip...

My first purchase at $2.00 was for some pie tins.  As you can see, they are marked Lucille's pies.    They will go great with my small collection and will be special to me since Lucille is my maternal grandmother's name.  :)

The same vendor had a trunk full of medium sized plastic letters for a dollar a piece... some red and some black.  The red ones would lite up fairly easily.  Mr. Hollow picked out ones to spell our last name twice and then enough to spell my son and his fiancĂ©'s first names.  Yes I wrote it, fiancĂ©.  My Farmerboy has gotten himself engaged! 




This looks like a muffin tin, but it is actually straight sided for small cakes.  It is from Chicago and heavy duty for industrial sized ovens.  I had thought of having a friend cut it down for me, but a few other ideas for it have popped into my head.  This piece will remain uncut, until I can be sure... Hmmm. ;)



I love handmade rag rugs.  There is a local dealer that I purchase them from.  You cannot beat their durability.  This one is a long runner, and the photo does not due the apricot color justice.  The vendor was such a nice man to chat with.  His array of rugs were simply breath taking.  He even had some made from white chenille bedspreads!  If it weren't for my black cat, they would have been mine.  Absolutely lovely!!  This one is a strong couple of yards long, created from an acrylic bedspread.   It was the best $20.00 that I spent on the trip. 




It was so nice to visit a new area and have a relaxing trip and break from the work routine.  This past week, I have been taking the time to reorganize my studio.  There are a lot of projects building up that need to be worked on.  I guess, I can thank the rain today for keeping me home! ;)

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Vintage Bucilla Alphabet Quilt ~ WIP

Here is the progress on the vintage Bucilla Alphabet quilt.  The colors are so funky bright, and the little characters are charming.  They really should have kept making this quilt.  It is such a wonderful starting place for newbies to embroidery.  I have been stretching my knowledge with this one.  I inadvertently screwed up the pattern by using the outline stitch instead of a backstitch around the main characters.  Funny thing... My Mom was certain she used the outline stitch when she made my sister's.  Talk about channeling the past! ;)
 
 
E is for Elephant...  Very exotic looking isn't he?
 
 


F is for Frog... I was so proud of how the satin stitch worked out on his eyes!!




G is for goose...  His beak looks a little weird due to the hoop being just removed off it.  :(




H is for Humpty Dumpty (in progress)...  Is he still popular?  LOL


These character quilts are so fun, but I really need to reduce my stash!  With my million other interests, it will be hard to complete them all.  Plus, I really doubt Farmerboy is going to have that many kids! LOL