Two new Table Runners

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Two table runners. I used the exact same pattern for these, but 2 totally different fabrics. I think I like the 2nd one the best........but I think they both turned out. I put both of these for sale in our booth, but thinking one is coming home for the coffee table unless I get to make another one.

Metal detecting

Had a decent Veteran's day today. I closed the store and of course the other job is closed. Ed's dump truck broke down............again, so we did some scouting of areas to metal detect and maybe look for arrowheads.

First 2 pictures are of a tree we have tried to figure out if it's Indian or more natural. We still haven't decided. But it's pretty neat. There is another one like it in the vicinity, but it's a smaller oak. Then a mysterious pile of rocks just up from this tree...........nope, haven't figured them out. We found an area near the tree where the ground was indented and some rocks on top. So we hit it with the metal detector and started getting hits all around. After some digging couldn't find much. Then it hit near the edge of the rock area. We decided we were going to find it. It would hit, then it quit hitting, then it hit on some dirt we had pulled out. Long story short, the piece had been tossed around by us about 20 times until we realized it was this chunk of "dirt". It's lead and once we cleaned it, realized it's a off white.............old bullet maybe????

Found a 1984 penny in my mom's front yard......she didn't see me dig thankfully. Then found a nail and a chunk of foil.

We are trying to find out if we can my digital camera set up for a telescope recently given to us. It's a super nice telescope, so hoping we can post some cool pictures with it.

Auctions

I've had people ask me how auctions work as they've never been to one. I'm going to try to explain how auctions work around this area. Now, each auctioneer has their different styles, so this can vary.

Pretty much any auction, you get a bidder's number.
Auctioneer will start chattering his song and you bid. Some auctioneers are harder to understand than others, don't try to listen to everything......listen for the dollar amount, they will normally say one now two, only this is done fast.......just listen for the number. Once you are around an auctioneer a little bit, you will figure out what he's saying easily.

Here's where things can vary. You have the standard way of auctioning an item, they hold up an item and you bid on it. You may get a bargain, you may have to pay a lot for it. This allllllllllll depends on how many people at the auction want it and how much they are willing to pay for it.

Sometimes they will say choice on this table. I personally don't like this. Say there are 20 items on the table. They could range in value from $2 to $100. Ok.......you like the item that is worth about $40. They will bid.......and whoever the high bidder is, picks the item they want. sometimes they are allowed to take a second item for that same amount if they want. Then some auctioneers will allow the next highest bidder to pick an item for that high bid. Then, they bid again, next highest bidder gets to pick what they want.

One thing you have to pay attention to. If a ringman holds up 3 items, pay attention, if they say 3 times the money and you bid $5, then you just bought all 3 items for $15.00. If they say all for one money, then you get it all for the $5.

It's really not at all hard. Go to an auction and watch, you pick it up fast.

Something I am always shocked by is people that are really struggling for money and they are setting up a new apartment. They don't mind buying used, so they go to a yard sale and pay $150 for a couch. That couch new may be $800 or over $1000. I've been to many auctions where I could buy a couch television, bed for less than $200. You never know, it's worth going to some. You can get every dish you need to set up a basic kitchen (not matching) for less than $10.

If you live in Rolla Missouri or around this area, lots of great auctions. We have Flett auction company http://www.flettauctioncompany.com Huffman auction, Sellers auction company Lortz and many more. Pick up an adtracker go to rollanet.com and you can normally find some good auctions to go to. You don't have to spend a dime, just go and have some fun.

Fall Tablerunner and more St. James Market

We had a great day at farmer's market today. Got to visit with some other vendors that sell fresh corn and wow, it was delicious. I don't think fresh produce (from the garden to your belly) can be beat.
I finished a table runner around 10pm Thursday evening and was at market with it Friday morning around 6am. My mom kept hiding it as she wants it for herself!

I try to show off other vendor's things as we have some unique crafters. We of course have awesome farmer's that work hard bringing produce. I used to buy green beans all of the time at market, then figured I'd save money by planting my own. Have you ever picked several pounds of beans? This is back breaking work for someone in their 30s adn most of our produce people are in their 40s and up to their 70s. They pick this stuff by the bushel. Hard, hard workers that take a lot of pride in what they do.

Onto Rodney this week. Rodney is a very talented man that makes glass ornaments, suncatchers, not sure what you want to call them, but they are beautiful. Rodney likes to visit with people, so sometimes he doesn't get to do a lot of work. He will sit there and make these beautiful hummingbirds, pendants, right in front of you and will even explain it all and teach you. Another heart of gold here!


I will try to get some close up pictures of these glass birds and pendants he makes as they are breathtaking. When the sun hits them, the colors are fascinating.

Table Runner Three Bars pattern

I did this table runner using mostly scraps and then some other fabrics.

Busy busy Drusy quartz

We have been listing lots of our drusy quartz on ebay and it's been selling okay. We are doing flat rate box fulls. They are getting awesome deals on this drusy, so be sure to check out ebay id mo3fan and sometimes rocknutt459. Copy and past the following link for drusy quartz
http://myworld.ebay.com/mo3fan/



Some pictures of the things I've been making.











The pink/green flower quilt was sold at last week's market and is on it's way to Costa Rica. Most of the tote bags have sold and I really need to make some more. We have added wine gift bags, dish soap aprons and some "boxy" style zip close bags to the mix now as well. I also have 2 table runners waiting to be completed to add to everything.

We have some unique crafters at the St. James Farmer's Market as well. This gentle makes some neat things if you are a car buff or a Route 66 buff.

Candle sales have been up so running low on the selection. We will be adding more here very soon. Every little bit helps to pay the bills!

Before Pictures of Drusy Quartz

Just some pictures of the drusy before it's pretty.

Here's the red clay that comes off of the drusy.

In the tub before they get the pressure washer. Some pieces need a good soak and scrubbing, but normally all they need is the pressure washer. The really nice pieces that have pieces that could be broke get just a soaking, light scrub and sprayed.


And here's the one piece after cleaning.



I'm not catching the sparkle I normally get with the sun.

Getting Ready for Rock Show

We are getting ready for the Missouri Mines Rock Show coming up this weekend. We've got to rock hunt a little bit, but not near as much as we got to last year. We haven't found the nice cabinet pieces like we did last year, but still some nice pieces.

A friend's video

Drusy Quartz

Ok finally a few pictures for the drusy quartz people. This blog started out just for the rocks, but it's turned into just a general blog. We've been bummed as we just haven't had time to go get our drusy or clean/organize what we have here. It's rained 5 out of 7 days for the last month or so. Where we go to hunt this stuff, gets pretty nasty in that red clay when its rained a lot. We got 5 inches in one day...........

Start of a new 1971 Chevy

I've owned a 1971 Chevy truck for yeeeears. It's had some engine issues...........in short, it needs another one.
Now that we have dad's 40 international running and all it needs is paint and interior work....it was time to get mine going.
I will try to be religous in getting pictures of the upcoming work.
Here is one evenings work already.

Ed showed up in the driveway with this in the bed of the truck. He even paid money for it. He was all excited.........I told him it's hard to get excited about something that looks like this.


He even paid money for it!
So, it took an entire night, Ed stayed up til around 11 pm, but he got it stripped down to the block. The block is now at an engine shop. We aren't using much of anything else from it. It's out of an old impala that caught fire last year around Rolla. It's starting to look a bit better........

400 small block. Ed wants to paint the block black, I say chevy orange. He is building the thing............but............orange. His goal is to get about 500 horsepower out of this thing. We are using the starter from it as it tested good. So I polished up the aluminum part and Ed painted parts of it black. I don't have pics of the starter, not really anything exciting.

Quilted Totebag John Deere STyle!

I had been wanting to do something with John Deere material for awhile. I had planned on making a rag quilt, but really want to make some totebags for farmer's markets. They are fun to make.
I don't like copying patterns and then trying to sell things. So had to make one from my head. Pretty basic, common style, but as I make them, I start throwing in my own thing. With my love for quilting and need to keep practicing..........these are of course quilted!
Here's the proto type!
Here's the lining.........it's a simple John Deer fabric, but I like the fact it has a vintage style to it.

Farmers Market 2009

St. James Farmer's Market. First Friday of May. I do these markets each Friday........well hope to. The first one was fair weather, it rained a bit when we first got there, then that was it. The second Friday, well, big storms with 70 mph winds, I stayed about an hour and saw what was coming and headed to the fire house.
I'll mostly be selling my soy candles and my sewing stuff there. I have tons of jewelry that I've made that I'd like to clear out and we take small pieces of drusy quartz there. My mom goes and sells her homemade butter and my eggs.

I'm doing a bunch of posts at the same time. We just don't have much time anymore. We work in the garden, we are working and I'm sewing. I currently have a pile of shirts that each need 5 patches sewn on them, some other officer uniforms to sew patches on and hem and I'm currently working on a large order of dog bandanas for a pet rescue reunion in the state of Washington. I've managed to squeeze in some a few other sewing projects though!

Looking east from our farmer's market area. We are right off of I44.
Some of our vendors. I didn't take a picture of my stand............