After Tying Up Loose Ends
I soaked and pre-washed all these knitted washcloths.
(in my homemade all natural laundry soap of course)
The yarn I used for these cloths have been through some serious torture.
These skains and balls of yarn have been drown in coffee, attacked and held hostage by kittens then they rolled on to play hide and seek at the barn.
I wasn't sure if all the coffee "stains would come out.
But guess what ...
They did come out, every last one.
To bad I am not selling my Laundry Detergent
this would be a great marketing tool, huh?
Well, now that they are clean...
these wash cloths are ready to sort, tag and price for the bazaar.
To-Go Projects
The plastic bag does "help" keep the yarn protected from any further attacks.
However, since I take it where ever I go and pull it out just about anywhere it isn't always a fail safe way to protect the yarn or what ever I am working on.
This is just fine with me...
since any cloth that is not Green Gourd sales quality...
gets put in my personal stash.
And I ...
can not have too many wash rags.
I use them in the shower, the dish sink and for cleaning around the house.
Sewing Tote
There are more than just a few unfinished pieces in my sewing tote.
Some doll cloths pieces that I left unfinished from last year.
I also have some pieces in here that I started when Mary was still a baby.
Shew... I wonder if I will ever finish those pieces.?
I may have some new motivation ...
my younger sister is pregnant again and I am really hoping that this time around it is going to be a Girl.
I did manage to finish up some of those doll cloths projects.
American Girl Doll
These doll cloths didn't take much time to finish up either.
For the first time in a long time...
all the moving pieces "seamed" to work together without a snag.
(Literally!)
I would sew more often if my sewing machine would cooperate with me on a regular basis.
To my machines defense, it is more human error than the machine.
It is all about having the right tool for the job.
I was armed and ready this week...
with just about every type needle and thread I would possibly need for any job I decided to take on.
I wasn't about to have any "tension" issues this week.
Friday Night Lights
After all the work put into getting enough pieces together for the show.
Then scrambling to making sure that we would have enough tags to price all of our pieces.
It was time...
Time to pack up and head out to Jarvisburg to set up our table.
We also needed to stop by the barn and re-wrap
Phoenix's Leg
It is really healing up nicely don't ya think.
Any hoo...
Bill is taking a little longer to get home from work than we expected.
It is funny how we...
hurry, hurry, hurry ... then WAIT!
Well, Bill finally straggles in the door with a long tired face.
What is going on?
I didn't hear the bike pull into the drive way.
"The bike ran out of gas, and I had to walk home from Nags Head Elementary School."
Oh my!
Why didn't you call?
No response.
OK?
He grabs some gas cans and gets into the truck and heads to the gas station.
We load up the truck, take him to the school to fill up the bike then come back to the house to drop off the bike.
Don't ask me why that order... this is my husbands logic.
We pull out of the driveway to head up to Currituck.
By this time it is already dark.
As I am backing out I notice that it is a little more difficult to see behind us than usual.
This is when Bill and Mary become aware that there are no lights on at the business across the street.
Then we notice that the porch lights are not on at our house anymore either.
Hmmm...
this is curious?
No street lights either.
I don't really think too much of it and continue down our road.
Once on the bypass I realized that there are no lights anywhere.
No stop lights, no business lights...
what the heck!?
Again... I'm not too concerned, just curious.
Living on the coast we have surges and salt on the lines etc...
It should be back on soon enough.
Plus, we are set with candles etc. from the storm, just a couple weeks earlier.
Which we never used.
Further up the road we go...
the lights are still out.
Ok,
now I am starting to get a little worried.
Salt build up on the lines is not as common as it use to be and it generally caused outages in spots.
This power outage seems to be a little more wide spread.
We try to find a radio station that would inform us of what was going on.
Dead Air.
We did find some stations still up...
but nobody was talking.
This is starting to feel a little spooky.
By the time we are in Kitty Hawk
we have gotten in touch with our friend Ashley from the Jarvisburg Fall Bazaar.
She informs us that the power is out in Lower Currituck as well
and we wouldn't be able to set up at the church.
Well,
we still need to change Phoenix's leg wrap so we continue up the road and over the bridge.
Once over the bridge it occurs to me to look at our gas gauge.
Why this did not occur to me earlier I do not know.
Guess what?
Yep... on empty!
As I look around and see the power out everywhere, I realize that there is
NO GAS!
Now I am in a panic.
Poor Bill... I turn on him like a mad woman.
"What the heck, you were at the gas station getting gas for the motorcycle and you don't put gas in the truck? What were you thinking?"
We decide that we should just try and get to the barn, wrap Phoenix's leg and then maybe ...
just maybe the power will come back on by the time we are finished.
Ok, this was not a very well thought out plan.
We pull up to pitch black barn.
I pull right up to the barn... Phoenix is in the very first stall.
Darn it...
I can't leave the truck running, we will run out of gas.
But we will need light.
We will use the headlights on the truck!
Seems like a BRIGHT idea a the time.
Well we also had the radio going to hear the updates on the power outage.
There seems to be power in Moyock...
maybe we can hobble that far without running out of gas.
We finish up with Phoenix and Bill crawls behind the wheel, he didn't like how slow I was driving on the way up.
He turns the key...
Really?
Yes... Really!
We ran the battery down.
Ok...
we will call Ashley or Wendy.
What... we can't get a signal now... "Emergency calls only".
But this IS an emergency!
Not really but it sure is a pain in my arss!
Do we have any jumper cables?
Of course not.
We start hunting around in the dark for a way to jump start the truck.
Yes, there are keys in the gator.
We at least have some light for the tool barn.
And Yes, we found some jumper cables.
Now we just need something that will jump the truck.
The tractor is the only thing that might have enough juice to jump the truck
but Bill can't figure out how to get it started.
Just as Bill and Mary were about to walk to find someone to give us a jump,
the power came back on.
Amen!
We are even getting a sporatic signal on the cell phone now.
Yes...
I finally am able to get in touch with Ashley who lives about 15 miles away.
Being the angel that she is,
she comes to our rescue.
The Shell Station up the road has power now.
We even have about 45 minutes left to set our table up at the church.
Shew...
What an adventure.
Let's hope Saturday will be less eventful.
Show Time
Well, I wasn't as organized as I would have liked to be.
I didn't have the sheet that I was going to use for the table under the table cloth.
I forgot the zip ties to hang the horseshoe bars on the screen with.
I even ran out of tags.
But I WAS there!
Gourds and Bags
Wash Cloths
Fringed Doll Coat
Copper and Oak Lamp
Birdbath
Made from one of our retired woks and some horseshoes.
This craft bazaar was a little disappointing.
We didn't do as well as I hoped.
We didn't even break even.
The American Girl Dolls, were the biggest hit of the day.
My table had more visits from all the little girls
admiring the clothing models than customers checking out the merchandise.
Mary was a good sport.
She actually sold her own doll's jacket that I made for her several years ago.
The only other thing we sold all day was a pair of jeans for an 18" doll.
Then to add insult to injury, I spent more than I sold.
There was a woman with a booth who went to Vietnam every year as a missionary.
Then she brings back items to sell to raise money to continue her missionary work.
I couldn't help myself.
Folks who know me well
know that I am a sucker for books!
Especially children's books.
A friend of her's did all the artwork for the books as well.
She had so many beautiful items
that I just couldn't walk away from her table empty handed.
Hand-painted Fans
Chop Sticks
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my fan and chop sticks.
I may have to retire my old hand fans from Ben Franklin now.
And my chop sticks are Off Limits to the rest of the family.
Mary has already tried to give them a test drive.
No Way...
at least wait till I have the first go at them.
Dishcloth
Ok...
I know that I make my own dish cloths.
Why would I buy someone else's?
This is why!
For the Love of the Tag
In case you can not read the tag, it states:
HAND CROCHET DISHCLOTH
Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We're eating very well.
With home, health and happiness,
I shouldn't want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God's been very good to us.
So with that in mind...
I will not lower my head and feel sorry for myself.
Even though I didn't even make my money back on this event.
I have gained so very much.
I have gained back my motivation and desire to create.
To get back into the
Green Gourd Game again.
It seems that the doll cloths got the most buzz at THIS bazaar.
I wasn't expecting that.
Several people took cards for possibly custom doll clothing.
Christmas is coming up... doll items are certainly something that may be worth focusing on again.
I already have a decent collection of ornaments.
All the build up for this craft show has left me feeling a little blue.
However, I have all kinds of great ideas and intentions
for the weeks to come.
One of these days I will get around to washing and carding all the wool I have stashed away on my shelves.
But until then...
or at least for today, I will stay busy with my ordinary chores.
Neglected Laundry
Cleaning
Homeschool
And the countless other unsung ways we fill our days.
I am grateful that I have the strength and imagination to accomplish these tasks in a way in which I can be proud.
I have been blessed with a loving healthy daughter and a husband that allows me to follow my dream of an intentional life for our daughter and family.
We may not be rich,
but we have a life filled with riches!
