We bought out a Crafter

We bought out a crafter.

Five simple words that don't begin to describe the work involved!

We have been busy. Very, very busy.

I wish I had taken pictures, but it was one of those moments when you don't even think of that. There is too much to do.

The crafter had 4 rooms of a house stuffed full. I lost count of the number of truck & car & trailer loads we took out of there.

We stuffed boxes here. We stuffed boxes there.
For a few weeks, we could hardly walk in the back rooms.

And most of it wasn't even in the back rooms. Most went upstairs to the apartments above the store that we use for storage.

Let's just say I had my fingers crossed that the firemen didn't come do a surprise inspection!

The back rooms are totally somewhat under control again.
The upstairs? I haven't even touched it yet.

The blog had to wait. Pretty much everything had to wait.
I did finally break down and run the vacuum & clean the bathrooms at home.

And, even though I threatened not to decorate for Christmas at home, I did.
And I'm glad I did.

As for the store, I have lots and lots of new inventory. And even more supplies.
I feel like I'm smack dab in the middle of a treasure hunt, because I haven't even seen what's in many of the boxes yet.

Busy times, but fun too!

Pumpkin Pie

I had a request for my mom's Pumpkin Pie recipe, so here it is:

PUMPKIN PIE

Beat together in large bowl:

3 cups pumpkin (large can)
2 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
2 cups evaporated milk
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Pour in 2 pie shells. (9 inch)
Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn heat down to 325 degrees.
Continue baking until set, about 35 - 40 minutes.

Check for doneness my inserting knife just off center. If it comes out clean, the pie is done.

You can use frozen pie crusts. Or, we prefer our own:

PIE CRUST

Stir together:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt

Cut in:
3/4 cup shortening (we use the butter flavor shortening)

Sprinkle with:
5 - 6 Tbsp. cold water, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time
Stir the water in with a fork, until the dough sticks together enough to be rolled out.

Roll out dough on a floured surface, put in two 9 inch pie plates.

After the pie is baked, cool on wire racks. Then keep in fridge. The pie is much better cold!

Enjoy!

(I do!)

Lobster trap

 

Do you know what this is? It's a lobster trap that we picked up at an auction.

Not real common in landlocked WV.

A little boy in the shop one day called it a "bad people trap".

Ha!

 

  

Snowman dishes

I picked these dishes up at a thrift store last summer, and tucked them away in my stash for future projects. The future is now so to speak! It's that time of year when anything & everything becomes a base for a snowman. A little paint. A little time. A whole new look.

I'm not sure what the dishes would have been used for originally. Baking? Serving?

I've been watch some cooking shows while I paint.
Shows like Chopped.
And Restaurant Impossible.
And Cutthroat Kitchen.

And the more I watch these shows, the more I realize how little I know about cooking!

I consider myself a pretty good cook.

Cook. Not chef.

Ahhh. Maybe that's the difference.

Let's just say I don't think I'll be competing on any of these shows anytime soon.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

 

Did you ever learn a new word or phrase, & then it seems like you hear it ALL the time?

 

That's the way I feel about this phrase. I don't remember hearing it, until I started carrying it in the shop. Now I not only hear it all the time, I also say it all the time!

I suppose it was always there, I just didn't notice it.

We're dealing with some big situations in our lives right now that are out of our control.

We live in the heart of the Marcellus Shale gas & oil drilling. We feel like we've been plucked out of our nice, quiet, peaceful countryside, and thrown down into the middle of an industrial zone.

That was bad enough.

We found out a few days ago that the plant George works in is shutting down at the end of this year.

Well.

It is what it is.

And we don't like it.
Not one little bit.

But, we're trying hard to find the bright side.
We are debt free.
We have a safety net.
We have a can do attitude.

We have each other.
And... we have a God who we have a deep faith in.

Things have a funny way of working out, and we believe they will this time too.

We plan to bring lots of new things into the shop. We need it to go from being a little extra money to a lot of extra money!

Another old saying applies here....

A Crock Surprise

See the crock on the left that says Enterprise? I have had it for a couple months or so in the shop. It was sort of hidden under a table.

I bought several crocks yesterday from a customer, and decided to display them all together in a new spot. When I reached under the table to pull out the Enterprise crock, I noticed it has something white all over it.

It was on the inside, but even more on the outside. Crystal like, and practically covering the whole thing. It looked like salt, but I wasn't sure.

I got a wet paper towel, and wiped it off. I got up my nerve, and tasted it, barely touching my tongue to a spot on my hand that had touched the white stuff. Yep. Definitely salt!

You can see a crack in the crock toward the top by the letter S. My guess is that this crock was used to make sauerkraut, which was made by layering cabbage and salt.

The salt must have soaked into the crack, and as the crock sat there under my table, it oozed out. Or grew. Or did whatever salt does.

It's a bit of a mystery to me. Why exactly did it happen? Did it only happen because the conditions were just right? What were those conditions? Will it happen again?

I guess time will tell!

Gossip bench

Are you old enough to recognize this?

 

I admit that I am.

 

It's a phone bench, AKA gossip bench.

 

Back in the day, before cordless phones and cell phones, most homes had one phone. Imagine! And that one phone was either attached to the wall, or had to stay close to it. I'm sure the young folks can hardly believe that. lol

 

The phone would sit on top of the desk part, the phone book would fit neatly inside. And the person would sit in the seat and gossip chat.

We picked this up at an auction, and I gave it the prim treatment. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was plain brown. The original seat must have gave way at some point. When we bought it, it had the piece of plywood you see in the photo for a seat. But, it was unfinished, just a plain piece of plywood.

This brings back memories of party lines, and long and short rings. And the days before answering machines. I remember many times when everyone was outside, either in the yard or garden. Through the open windows of the house, we would hear the phone ring. Someone would go running to the house to answer the phone. More often than not, the caller would hang up just as you were breathlessly running through the door.

Ahhh, the good ole days.

The 70's cupboard

I bought these 2 book cases at an auction. I know you're looking at it, and saying, "I only see one piece". It's actually 2 pieces, stacked on top of each other.

They were plain jane brown. And very 1970's looking.

I dubbed it the 70's cupboard.

And when I called it that on my facebook page, a friend from high school said, "what's wrong with the 70's?"

Why nothing, nothing at all!

We both graduated in '80. The 70's were some good times.

But the bookcase/cupboard? The 70's weren't doing it any favors.

I wasn't sure anything I did to it would help. I didn't want to put much more money in it.

I found a can of sorta bluish/greenish paint in my paint stash. I put one coat on the whole thing, then went over all of it with the orbital sander.

A coat of wax, (or was it varnish? I forget now what I did) and it was done.

Not bad, but I still wasn't sure anyone would want it. It got a decent response on facebook, but I still wasn't sure about it. I didn't bother putting a price on it, thinking I would just use it for display purposes.

Then someone sent me a message asking if I still had the 70's looking cupboard. "Yes I do", I said.

And within a month it was sold.

Shows how much I know about what people want!

Trash to treasure pumpkins

It's been a busy summer! Again! Between the summer harvest and the shop doing very well, (thank you!) I haven't had much free time. I'm trying to squeeze in some fall crafts. 

A good place to do that is with some trash to treasure projects!

The two square ones are the ends off a large crate.

The one in the middle is a slab off our sawmill.

While I was painting pumpkins, I grabbed a couple old chairs........

Pumpkins are one of my favorite things to paint!

And to eat!

Love pumpkin pie!

A painting under the dust

I don't know anything about this painting. Who painted it? Is the scene depicted real or in the artist's mind? Was it painted for the artist's own home, or maybe as a gift? Was it sold?

We'll probably never know the answers. But, this painting has a completely different story to tell.

I bought it at an auction. It was filthy. Covered in dust and cobwebs. So much so, that I couldn't even really tell what the painting was.

I had bought it for the frame. Once I got it home, I picked it up to take the picture out to throw away. But, I started looking closer at the painting under the dust.

I could see potential. I wiped off what dust I could with a dry rag. Ah yes, definite potential.

I carefully cleaned the frame with a damp rag. The painting was still too dirty, so I actually used a damp rag on the oil painting as well. With a very light touch.

I'm sure there's a proper way to clean an original oil painting. I'm sure a damp cloth isn't it.

But, it worked.

As I was cleaning it, I thought about what a shame it was that this beauty ever ended up in a shed, or basement, or barn, or wherever it had spent enough years to accumulate so much dust.

I'm going to throw some advice out to whoever will listen: If you don't want something anymore, sell it. Or give it away.

Someone will want it. Someone will enjoy it.

I've bought some pieces this summer from a few different folks who had more vintage pieces than they could use. Pieces they liked, some were even family pieces. But, they simply didn't have room for all of them.

When they called me, they said they didn't want to just store them away, they wanted someone to enjoy them.

The painting has already sold to a man who bought it for his living room. I hope he gets years and years of enjoyment out of it!

Quilt treasure

We bought this quilt at a recent antiques auction. There was a note on it that said it was made in 1869. By a 9 year old girl! Her name was also on the quilt, but I won't include that for privacy reasons.

Can't you just see the girl working on this, with her mama sitting beside her, guiding her and teaching her? It makes me smile.

I seldom buy for myself at an auction. Just about everything goes to the store to sell. But not this quilt. It's a keeper!

A Quiet 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

It's quiet here today. Brian & Jessica decided not to make the trip home to WV since they are going to the beach for a few days soon with Brian's family.

Kevin & Katie are spending the day with her family in PA.

George was supposed to have the day off, but ended up working a double!

We planned to go to fireworks last night at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, but those plans fell through.

George & I had hoped to go to our favorite fireworks show tonight in downtown Wheeling, but as I said, he's now working. And besides that, it's raining. And thundering.

I did grill some burgers for our lunch before he left for work, but I burned the burgers. We were able to salvage them, but they weren't the best we've ever had by any stretch of the imagination.

Does it sound like I'm complaining? I'm really not. We've had lots of great 4th of July celebrations in the past, and Lord willing, there will be more to come in the future. And I'm truly thankful to be living in this great nation, today and every other day of the year.

So, for this year, at our house, the chickens ended up with the biggest celebration. Any day they get watermelon is a day to celebrate!

And we still may get to see fireworks for the 4th. They are supposed to have them this Sunday night in Moundsville. Though I'm not entirely sure that will happen either. The fairgrounds there along with the surrounding areas had some severe flash flooding a couple nights ago. A baseball tournament had to be cancelled at the last minute. So maybe there will be fireworks, and maybe there won't.

But if there is, Kevin and Katie would appreciate it. It's not every one who gets to see fireworks for their first anniversary!

Cleaning antiques one way or another

I picked these flags up at an auction the other evening. They are very fragile........ so why are they spread out on my deck? They smell! VERY musty. I wouldn't normally recommend cleaning something like this, but these need air. And rain. And sunshine. I'm letting nature take it's course, and we'll see what happens!

Some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

• Never use water on wood.
• Never use a water hose on wood furniture.
• Never lay fragile flags on a deck to get rained on.
• And sunned on.

(I am aware that "sunned" isn't a word. Work with me)

But some of the antiques we buy are beyond "normal" cleaning techniques.

(I am aware I'm repeating myself. Work with me)

Sometimes we use whatever technique will work. It's that, or throw the nasty, dirty, smelly "yuk, no one wants to touch that" item away.

Please don't judge us.

West Virginia's Birthday

Yesterday was a big day here in West Virginia. It was our birthday. Not just any birthday either. Our 150th!

There will be celebrations all weekend, but the one that got the most attention around here was in Wheeling yesterday. Wheeling is the birthplace of West Virginia, and they pulled out all the stops to celebrate.

George went to Independence Hall at noon for some of the events. I was working then, and couldn't go with him. In the evening, Kevin and I went to Heritage Port on the bank of the Ohio River for a concert and fireworks. George couldn't go that because by evening, he was at work.

 

I realize you can't tell who is singing, so I'll tell you. That is the very talented Kathy Mattea, who hails from West Virginia. Before her, we enjoyed another big West Virginia talent,  Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., who won America's Got Talent a couple years ago. We really enjoyed the concert. And check out that cool curtain backdrop. Love it!

We West Virginian's are very proud of our state, and our heritage. Every WV student has a year of WV history in 8th grade, and our history is drilled in. We carry that with us the rest of our lives.

Facebook was alive with that pride yesterday. It did my heart good to see all the WV pride shining bright. My favorite two posts were from my own children....

From Jessica, who currently lives in VA.: 

There's a land of rolling mountains, where the sky is blue above. And though I may roam, I hurry home to those friendly hills I love.
Happy Birthday, West Virginia! 150 years young.

And from Kevin:

Proud to be a native son of the Mountain State on this historic day, 150 years strong. Montani Semper Liberi!

Kevin also wrote this on his facebook farm page:

 

Farming is hard anywhere, but especially so in West Virginia. We have hillsides so steep our legs are shorter on one side, blazing hot summers so humid you could wring the air, and winters so cold Jack Frost moves south. It can be a challenge, but on this historic day 150 years into statehood we would like to say Happy West Virginia Day! We are beyond blessed to achieve our lifelong dream of farming and to do it in the majestic, wild, and wonderful hills of West Virginia. Thank you everyone for supporting us!

Love my kids! Love my state!

Montani Semper Liberi!

Mountaineers are Always Free! 

Long views of the shop

 

It's been awhile since I took "long view" pictures of the shop.

 

 

I tend to focus in on particular items, so I decided to stretch out a bit.

 

 

I didn't get it all, that's not an easy task!

 

 

But, I tried to get enough shots to get an overall feel for the shop.

 

 

These were all taken a few days ago, and things have changed already.

 

 

New treasures come in pretty much daily.

And, I'm happy to say, things go out daily as well.

 

I'll try to get more "long views" to show other areas from time to time.

 

We're constantly changing it up so to speak.

Rearranging is just part of the game.

 

The heavy part.

 

Thank goodness for those little plastic sliders

that make moving furniture on carpet a piece of cake!

 

So to speak.

A Rotating Table

This table from a recent auction seems ordinary enough.........

But it has a unique feature...............

It rotates! It will turn all the way around.

Not sure why though. Our guess is for playing cards or some other game. But that may not be right because it's more end table size than card table size.

The legs were pretty distressed looking, but I liked that. I just cleaned them and put a wax sealer over the old varnish. The top was more scratched up than distressed, which made it rather ugly. A coat of black paint, some sandpaper and more wax solved that problem.

What do you think it was used for originally? Why the rotating top?

A hidden surprise in an old dresser

I had plans to paint an old dresser that came from a recent auction. But, the more we looked at it, we decided it was too far gone to paint. Old furniture often has some issues. We lovingly call those issues "character". But, this one had way too much character! As in it's falling apart and beyond repair.

We decided it was worth more to take it apart for the wood. It will make great sign boards! We have learned to look at furniture as a whole, and also as parts. A whole new perspective.

The dresser was filthy, an indication that it had been stored in a barn or shed for years. When we started tearing it apart, we found more evidence of that..........

 

Deep inside the dresser, on the back wall behind the drawers were the usual cobwebs. But it's the first time we've ever seen footprints. See them on the right side? A raccoon had taken up residence in the dresser!

 

If that doesn't add character, I don't know what does?

 

Not sure that's a good thing though!

A junker's heart

There's 2 times of year that we seem to do exceptionally well at buying "junk" for the store.

In the spring when we're weeding/planting/mulching flowers & vegetables.
In the summer when we're harvesting/canning/freezing fruits & vegetables.

Which results in organized unorganized chaos.

Why can't the good junk come during a lull?
Never mind, we never have lulls.

Anyway......

Last Saturday, the guys split up and went to 2 different auctions.
Both said, "I should have taken the trailer".

 

George came rolling in first with his load.

He's an old pro at this.

 

 

Kevin came rolling in next.

This was his first solo run.

 

I think he's got the hang of it already!

 

 

Next came the story telling.

A vital part of every auction.

 

Then came the unloading/sorting/cleaning.

Then the reloading/taking to store/unloading. 

And then the pricing/rearranging/placing on floor.

Which make the few hours standing in the sun/bidding/loading at the auction look easy.

 

Why do we do it?

 

We're junkers at heart.

 

That's a good/crazy/fun/embarrassing/cheap/thrifty/ridiculous thing.

Take your pick.

  



Hidden treasures

Here is the church

Here is the steeple

Open the doors

And see all the people

Did you do this when you were little? I remember my mom teaching to me, and then when I was all grown up and had my own little ones, I taught it to them.

I was reminded of it recently when we were out "picking" and found this:

Isn't it a pretty cabinet? I would have never guessed what's inside: Open the doors and there's a...

television!

How cool is that?

Actually, the story gets even better. This was in a barn on a customer's farm. She and her husband moved back to the farm after it had sat empty for 10 years. The farm had been in the family for 200 years, and is filled with keepsakes. They have restored the house, updating it, but keeping it's original flavor intact. It's absolutely beautiful.

The house is filled with family antiques, but, it's just not possible to keep everything. At some point, the first TV the family owned got moved to the barn.

When my customer showed the TV to us she saw that there were a couple boxes stuck in the back of it. After much tugging, we finally worked them loose. The boxes turned out to be 2 more antiques! An old radio, and an old record player. Both with the wood box frames.

Talk about hidden treasures!

Excitement filled the air. How fun!

One of the rooms in their house is a music room, and is filled with records & CD's. I'm sure by now the radio & record player have found places of honor.

Well, you don't run into that kind of hidden treasure every day. But if you have little ones in your life, be sure to teach them about those hidden people right inside their very own hands.

Precious memories!







Fern Determination

I've always admired big Boston Ferns on a front porch, but I've never bought one until this year. Last Saturday in fact. I knew just where I wanted to put it. A little table behind my two rocking chairs.

 

This may seem an odd spot to take a picture of it, but I was looking out the door on Sunday morning, and kind of liked the perspective. So, I snapped a photo.

 

It was pretty windy on Sunday morning, but that is a protected area. Or so I thought.

I came home after church to find the fern on the floor. Upside down.

 

I picked it back up, and sat it back on the table, then went in the house for lunch.

I heard a thump.

It was back on the floor.

 

So, I found an old kettle, put it on the table, and then placed a rock inside the kettle.

I set the fern in the kettle.

 

Kettle. Rock. Fern.

We're good now.

 

Monday (today) it's still windy. No problem.

I went to town. Came home. Glanced at the porch to admire the fern.

 

It's on the floor.

Upside down.

With the kettle on top of it.

And the rock.

 

Ok then. So it's not a protected area.

 

George said, "just keep it on the floor".

But I bought it to put on the table.

 

Where there's a will, there's a way.

I just haven't found it yet.

But I will.

The Antiques are off the Trailer

My last post showed a trailer full of stuff from an auction. What was in that trailer? Let's see:

A sink/washtub from a dairy. I put this out on the floor, and within a couple hours it was sold. She is going to plant flowers in it. How pretty that will be!

 

Lots of enamelware. Notice the tall stack near the back right. I'm not sure what that is? If I take the top two pots off, it becomes a double boiler. But it all seems to fit together, so what would that be? Triple boiler? Quadruple boiler? Hmmm.

 

 

Gallon jars. The cardboard box they were in said Coca Cola on the side. It had dividers in it, and the jars fit perfectly, so it seemed to be their original box. There's no markings on the jars though, other than 1 gallon. I threw the box away. It was a filthy, nasty, mouse poo filled mess. I like antiques, but I do draw a line!

 

 

Miscellaneous junk! You never know what you'll find when you start digging down through an auction box! If you like rusty & crusty, then this table is for you.

 

 

More rusty & crusty! Oh the flower pot possibilities! In fact, some of this has already sold for just that purpose.

 

 

A hillside plow, and plow points. The hillside plow has already sold. Yep, you guessed it - for a flower bed!

 

 

Porch posts. I'm always wishing I had porch posts for sale. Last week, I bought some from a customer. Then I bought more at the auction. I've got so many now I can't get them all out on the floor. When it rains, it pours!

 

 

Basket lids and rug beaters.

 

 

Tall bushel baskets. I didn't know what a tall basket would be used for. It seemed like any produce you put in it would be crushed. I turned to facebook for the answer. Apples, potatoes, corn and green beans were the top answers, with green beans probably getting the most mentions. Thanks for the help guys!

 

 

Tractor seats. Lots of people like to buy these and turn them into stools.

 

 



Washtubs. Again, great for flower beds. See the small pot in the front? It's handmade. You can see the welds on all the seams. It's heavy too. I'm sure it has an interesting story, if it could only talk.

 

 

Wagon wheel hubs. The big one in the back is fragile, as in the spokes want to fall out. But come on, how cool are they?

Wheel barrows. The first one has the desired metal wheel, but is missing a handle. If you lay it on it's side though, and fill it with flowers as if they are spilling out of it, that won't be noticeable.

Wood boxes. I couldn't believe how high boxes were selling at the auction. Many were selling for $40 to $70 each! I had to be patient, and finally the price came down. Whew!

 

 A large wheel, probably off a hay rake. It's about 53 inches tall.

There was some other misc. things I didn't get pictures of - a couple mirrors, some half gallon jars, and a Hoosier cupboard that needs some TLC. I'll take a pic of it when it's ready to go to the shop.

In the middle of working on all this, we bought more stuff from a few customers, so it's been a very busy week!

Can I sleep now?

Auction finds

It's been busy around here the past week, & this week looks to be busier yet. I spent last Monday & Tuesday in the woods. Me & the Weedeater vs. Multiflora Rose. I won, but with a bit of a battle scar. Poison Ivy. So far just a spot or two. Hopefully it won't spread.

It was a busy week in the shop, and I was excited to get some old porch posts from a customer:

 

Another new item in the shop is the 4 old oak chairs that used to be Jessica's:

 

 

Two have already sold, which means of course that as of right now, there are still 2 left.

 

Continuing in the chair department, I also put these out last week:

 

 

One of these has already sold, and I may get more of these in this week.

 

I also put lots of smalls out on the floor from an auction we went to a couple weeks ago. Last Saturday, we decided to close the store and go south to Reno, OH. An auction was being held there to sell off the estate of a blacksmith/farrier/collector. I felt like crying when I was talking to one of the auctioneers. The auction was held on the farm, and the auctioneer told me that the man was over in the house, completely unaware of what was happening outside. He has Alzheimer's, and would be devastated if he knew his belongings were being sold.

 

You might ask, didn't his family want any of it? Believe me when I say, if he has kids, (I don't know), they could have each taken enough to fill their houses, and there still would have been enough to sell. A huge collection. The man had been following the auction circuit for 30+ years, and must have bought at every one he attended. Antiques hoarding.

 

Example:

 

 

Old insulators. They said there were 5000 of them! They sold them by the box, and most sold for $10 a box. A real bargain. But that was the only bargain of the day - prices were high!

 

George had hoped to buy several blacksmith tools. There were lots to bid on. The man had as many blacksmith tools as he did insulators, and then some. But they sold sky high.

 

It was a 2 ring auction: George and Kevin stayed with the blacksmith ring, while Katie and I stayed with the miscellaneous ring:

 

 

There was a little bit of everything. All old. All dirty. A day for old clothes and leather gloves. And patience! (If some of those people who wanted the same things I did would just give up and go home, it would make my job much easier! HA!)

 

 

Look, more insulators!

 

Every junkin' trip we have made lately is proving the same point: Prices are up. We are going to have to raise prices in our shop, or give up on antiques. We're not ready to give up, so...... prices are going to have to go up. We'll try to keep them as low as we can, but between us having to pay more, and high gas prices, we have no choice.

 

We put partial blame on the higher prices on TV shows like American Picker. Also Pinterest. More ideas readily available to everyone means higher demand. We see people at auctions paying more there for something than they would on the same thing in my shop. Example. There were lots of wood boxes. A box that I would sell for $25 was getting bids of $30 to $40! It's not just auction fever. We see the higher prices everywhere we go.

 

 

In the end, we managed to fill the trailer. But when the cashier told me the total, I about fell over. We try to keep track as we go, but there were times when the auction was moving too fast to keep it all written down.

 

It rained yesterday, so I just left everything on the trailer. But today, it all comes off and gets a good cleaning. Then it will all be loaded back up, taken to the store, put in inventory, priced, and then displayed.

 

Lots of work!!! But for those of us with a junking soul, it's worth it!