Happy New Year, one and all!

My wish for each of you and your families is that you have a safe and happy New Year and that 2013 bring many blessings and improvements to and for all of us.

The end of the year is always a time of reflection for me.  This year I will celebrate the end of this year with my husband, as we generally do.  We will venture out onto our front porch with a glass of cheap champagne and listen to the sounds of distant fireworks.  We will kiss at midnight, then go back inside, turn off the lights and sleep the rest of the night.  Boring, yes, but I do look forward to spending future uneventful New Year eves with him and I pray he will do the same with me.

I happily bid goodbye to 2012; it has been a difficult year not just for my family but for our country.  We've seen more violence in schools and on the streets.  God has been kicked out of government offices and our schools.  The U.S. is in serious debt and her people are losing jobs, income. 

On a personal level, I cannot imagine anything more painful than losing a child or grandchild.  It is something you never get over, something my family is still suffering through.  I have personally struggled with ill health and we have been told my husband will be losing his job some time next year.

We will be fervently praying for our and your families, for our country, for health and for understanding and for a much improved 2013.  We look forward to 2013 with positive hearts.  God be with each of you and may He cover each of us with His will.  God bless you and again, Happy New Year!

Family, Flu and (Christmas) Frenzy

Hubby and I are home, safe and sound, from our Indiana trip.  Well, maybe not so sound - I picked up a bug and have been sick since we got back.  But we had a great time while we were there.  I, of course, had to share a photo of my great-grandson Bentley and my youngest grandson, Ace.  Ace is certainly proud of his little nephew!

 

As you know, our antiques and collectibles are now in four shops!  *Whew!*  If you've never been involved in this business,  you have no idea how busy shop owners and vendors stay, especially this time of year.  Being in one shop is busy enough.  Four is ridiculous.

 

One of our booths in the Corner Nest has a little roof; it's really handy for additional display and we take advantage of it during the Christmas season.  We've used this Nativity scene for the last three years.  We could have sold it a couple hundred times.  Last year we had a gentleman leave a message for us telling us to "name our price".  Uh-uh.  It's not for sale. 



 

 

It's the only display we have that isn't for sale.  Everything else can definitely be purchased!  We sold quite a few things at the Nest's Open House (it was on the first of December) .  We also sold several items at the Homestead's Open House.  This coming Saturday is the Open House for West State Antiques.  Here are a few shots of one of our booths there:

 

 This runner lights up - so gorgeous "in person"!

 I painted the snow family scene on the ironing board in the right side of the picture below.  We're still adding to the items here - lots to do before Saturday!

 

Below is a shot of one of our spaces at the Homestead Shoppe. Several of these items sold during their Open House 

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This next photos is just a portion of the "back porch" we rented in Bristol's newest shop, the Cottage House.  We'll only be in this spot for three months (that's another post) but if you live in the area, it's a "must see" shop! 

 

With all our shop activity, we are running really behind on getting our home decorated, gifts wrapped, etc.  I finally decorated our tree last night and started wrapping gifts but now our living room and bedroom look like Christmas got mad at us and threw up in those rooms.  Lots more to do!  'Till next time, stay Blessed and healthy!

 

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Snow People, Open Houses and Rushing out the Door!

Just look at the sweet expressions on this vintage snow couple!  They were part of an estate buy-out and I fell in love with them immediately.  I kept them as part of our home decor last year but they will have a new home for this Christmas.  They were part of the Christmas items we took to Church Hill, Tennessee today for our booths at the Homestead Shoppe there.

We'll be leaving for Indiana next Friday to spend Thanksgiving with "the kids".  This means we have barely one week to get our spaces in all three shops ready for the big Christmas shopping weekend after Thanksgiving!  Plus, two of the shops have Open Houses coming up within the next three weeks!  

This beautiful antique lawn dress isn't part of our display.  I saw it today as I was wandering about the Homestead.  So wonderfully shabby and chic!  I had to share it with you.

Quilting, Babies and Shop Tending

If you know me even a little, you know I'm a camera-toting, picture taking woman.  When I was a little girl, I carried around a state of the art Brownie camera much like this one: 

If my memory is correct, the one I used had a little flip-thing on top that allowed you to look down at the camera to reveal your subject's image.  There was no flash to use, no special settings.  You just flipped up the little metal thing, looked down toward your stomach (yes, that's the general area where you were supposed to hold this camera) and snap the picture.  Oh yes, you were supposed to hold VERY still while taking the picture and your subject was supposed to hold equally as still.  But I digress.  I didn't mean for this post to focus on cameras.  It's supposed to just mention my propensity to take pictures.

Anyway, you know that I take a lot of pictures.  I also post a lot of pictures online.  You know I sew, you know I love art and enjoy creating.  You've seen the pictures.  Now I have another picture to share - it's a quilt I've been working on.  

 You won't find pictures of any other previous quilts.  I'm not a quilter.  At least, I haven't been until now.  (That little embroidery scribble you see is some freehand embroidery I decided to add to one of the blocks)  This one will be a surprise for my eldest stepson and his girlfriend.  They're having a little girl (his first child) this month.  

This is another one "in the process".  I'm working on two more quilts now.  Don't expect to see beautiful complicated looking quilts from me, though.    This quilting stuff is time consuming!  DO expect to continue to view pictures like this one:

This groovy-looking guy caught my eye at a recent estate sale.  He's handmade and the lady who had owned him  stood him on her front porch and used him to hold her mail.   I thought he would make a perfect stork to hold baby items or even baby gifts at a shower.  Later I realized that he's actually a pelican.  Oh well - makes as much sense to me for a pelican to deliver babies as it does a stork.

Speaking of babies, I will finally meet my first great grandbaby in a couple weeks.  This grandma has happy feet; I can hardly wait!

Meanwhile, I'm still getting things out of storage for Christmas displays.  Having spaces in one antiques shop keeps you busy.  THREE antiques shops makes you crazy.  Have you "liked" us yet on Facebook?  https://www.facebook.com/PrimitiveCollectibles

Updates...

Wow, I have lots of news to share with you!  I'm now a great-grandma!  Little Bentley was born August 4.  It's still hard to believe my son is a grandfather!  (That's my son and Bentley above)  I've yet to meet Bentley - he lives in Indiana - but I'll soon be holding and cuddling him.  We'll be going there next month.

When I last posted, we had booths in one antiques mall.  We now are in three different malls and have a Facebook page dedicated to our little business.  If you want to take a look, just click HERE.  I hope you end up liking us! ;)  

The three photos above are of the last three make-dos I put together.  All three are now for sale at the West State Antiques mall in Bristol, Va.  

I simply can't close this post without mentioning Randi.  She would have turned 19 March 22 of this year.  She was due to graduate from high school.  She was always smiling, was an honor student, worked as a hostess at a restaurant, and was loved and cherished by her family and friends.  She was beautiful and I adored her.  The love for her and from her will live on.

Thank you

Thank you all for the phone calls, the emails, the cards - THE LOVE you have shown my family and me.  The passing of a child or grandchild is not something you get over.  I don't even know at this time whether it's something you ever get through.  It's something you carry with you, something unspoken it's something always on your mind.

I will soon return to the world of blogging and sharing; I've missed all of you, Dear Friends.  Thank you so very much.

Heavy Hearts

Friends, I have been MIA and will probably continue to be for some time.  My heart is heavy, my spirit deflated.  My eldest granddaughter, Randi, died a month ago today.

It's still hard for me to talk about it and I will not be sharing any details.  What is important is, she is in the hands of our Creator and she is in complete peace.  It's up to us left behind to accept that peace for ourselves. 

Meanwhile, embrace your children and grandchildren.  Let them know how special they are to you.  Precious moments are just that - precious.  But there is no promise that those moments will build upon one another in this life.

Another Great Find (But not for us!)

 Authentic log cabin structures dot the countryside here in Northeast Tennessee.  Regardless of how many I see, regardless of the state of disrepair, I have a love affair with each one.  My imagination runs wild with visions of the people who constructed them and the conditions under which they worked - selecting then cutting down trees, struggling to pull the cut wood to the building site, lifting and cutting each beam to a proper fit...

 I think of the women who worked in the fields, prepared meals under crude conditions, gave birth to their babies as cold winds blew through roughly fit areas in the cabin walls.  Imagine living in a one room home, bedding down at night with babies and, possibly, your inlaws just a few feet away.  Imagine trying to sleep with the sound of wild animals howling in the distance or possibly trying to claw their way into your home and trusting that the structure your husband prepared for you was strong enough to withstand strong bear claws.

Well, this is not one of those cabins but I love it, just the same.  Some craftsperson spent a lot of time putting this (roughly 2-feet high) cabin together, trying to replicate the days of so long ago.

 The inside of the cabin is equipped with a stairway leading up to a small loft with a tiny bed. Downstairs is a diminutive wood cook stove, a table and two chairs, even tiny canned goods.  Can you see the two sacks of flour?

 The interior doesn't photograph well; the roof is not removable nor are any of the walls detachable.  I took these pictures by maneuvering my camera lens through the front door and windows.

And, alas, as adults all know we can't keep everything we love.  So, tomorrow this will go to Elizabethton, TN to the Corner Nest and will have a temporary home in one of our booths there.  I hope whoever takes it home will be able to love it for a long, long time.

Meet the Foo!

Look what I managed to score at a recent visit to one of our local antique shops - a Foo Dog!  This guy is  hand carved from one piece of boxwood. 

What skill - notice the loose balls inside his mouth and inside the ball under him. No, they won't come out of either place!

Fu dogs are believed to both protect you and bring you good luck.


This is a male, by the way! Females have a baby foo under them; the males hold a ball.

Do I believe in them? No, but why chance it? ;)

Read about Fus here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_guardian_lions