"I've got to hold a garage sale," I began telling myself earlier this year. May was rainy and chilly. Two June weekends were convention/conference. July got away from me. Our church has a big rummage sale at the end of August. I surveyed what I could contribute and decided I could have a sale of my own and give the leftovers to that sale -- and that the ideal weekend was NOW. (August 9/10).
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| Artifacts that I'm not selling |
It took a good part of the week to prepare. I borrowed tables from two friends. Some of the card tables were pretty rickety but they held up. I had signs left over from the 2016 sale -- Friday/Saturday 8-3 -- so I held this sale on the same schedule.
The big storage tubs with giveaway stuff, stored under basement stairs, were hauled up. I had leftovers from another organization's sale ("I'll pay $20 and make it all disappear," I told that chairman). Then I went through cupboards and drawers in the rest of the house.
I'm pretty aware of the household inventory, but there were surprises. These buttons from long-ago library conferences went back into the archives cupboard in the basement bathroom.
Most of what I had on offer I bought at other people's sales. I know how to buy on Etsy and Ebay but I haven't undertaken selling.
I put the box of flimsies out -- $35 per unquilted top. I put price tags on finished quilts just in case someone was in the market. (No one was, but I got a lot of compliments.)
I don't wear aprons. I don't display aprons. I just own them. But now I don't! I'm sorry I didn't take a picture of the clothesline I rigged up between two ladders. The aprons on the line were very eye-catching.
The weather was beautiful. Traffic was slow but steady. Customers included friends and acquaintances. (I still get "You used to work at the library, didn't you?")
Two women (sisters-in-law and housemates) live a couple of blocks away. We hadn't met them but after a half-hour's lively conversation they are new friends. One of them spent over $200 (including 36 aprons and three flimsies).
Friday's proceeds: $95. Saturday's proceeds: $328.
I returned the borrowed tables. I'm still re-sorting: putting things back (like the unsold quilts), putting things aside for a future sale (too good to give away), and packing the rest to take to the church (most of it).
Author Susan Allen Toth referred to "a spasm of dispossession" when she cleared out her house. I think that's why I am now finding things that I could have put into this sale. They can be seeds for the next time!
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I got the challenge quilt all put together! There is one section with applique. I didn't like the way the appliques looked so I unstitched them, repositioned them, and then sewed them with a zigzag. BIG MISTAKE. When I sewed the applique panel onto the rest of the piece the misalignment was obvious. To me, at least. I had **just enough** background fabric to make a new panel. Whew!
Now it is under the needle. I can't show you any more than this. The challenge reveal is at the guild's September 4 meeting.
Monday link ups:
Design Wall Monday
Oh Scrap!
Moving It Forwad
Our 39th wedding anniversary was Friday.
The Potawatomi PowWow is held the last weekend of August at Shiloh Park in Zion. All tribes are invited and it's open to the public. The Zion Woman's Club serves the dinner -- this year venison stew over noodles. There was enough left over for me to take home for our supper. [I got a photo of the ZWC group but not of the people in their beautiful Native American garb! The man on the right was the dinner coordinator.]
Here are all twelve.
I finished the Teal Mini Swap quilt. I will mail it today. Here's a corner view. When my swap partner says she's received it I can post the full photo.
I wrote earlier that my friend Margaret asked if I could make tote bags for students at a school in Nepal that Margaret supports. I said yes which meant I am committed. I do NOT like production sewing. I've decided to make 10 bags a month for four months. Here are seven completed with 8, 9, and 10 in process.
Monday Making
P.S. I was just a foot away from these monarch butterflies on Sunday afternoon.
I helped set up the Rotary booth at Beach Park Fest on Saturday and stayed for the morning shift. MAST therapy dogs Dandy and Buddy were a big hit with festival-goers! They belong to Rotarians Bill and Debbie.
I'm pretty aware of the household inventory, but there were surprises. These buttons from long-ago library conferences went back into the archives cupboard in the basement bathroom.
Since we successfully traveled downtown to see Hamilton last month we tried the trip again on Thursday -- this time to see The Music Man. We had fifth-row seats at the Goodman Theater. The memorable songs, from 76 Trombones to Pick a Little, Talk a Little, to Till There Was You, have been earworms all weekend.
The previous time I saw the show was in 1959. (I looked it up: at the Shubert Theater. Did Robert Preston and Shirley Jones play the roles on tour? Though the website Broadway in Chicago has digitized Playbills, the archive doesn't go back that far.) What I remember is that we had balcony seats and that I had trouble seeing the stage. A couple of months later I got my first pair of glasses.
The weather has been drop-dead perfect in recent weeks: not too hot, not too humid, and sunny.
I'm the designer for Block Lotto this month. Writing instructions can be tricky -- what makes sense to the writer may make no sense to the reader. Here are samples for State Fair with fussy-cut floral centers. The blocks are 6.5" unf. It takes longer to select the fabrics than to make the blocks.
