Ellis Family Sale

I love a good garage sale, tag sale, estate sale, auction, or thrift shop.......my only problem is I have a lot of treasures already. The Silver Fox and I were involved in helping to clean out several family member's homes a few years back and that brought my inventory around here to a new high!  Need I say more!  So lately I haven't done much thrift shopping.....but on Facebook several weeks back I got an announcement for a family/estate sale from one of my 2nd cousins.....very tempting because I knew her mother, Mary Lou, who is my first cousin once removed to be technical.  She LOVES garage sales and had bought for many years...... which makes for an awesome sale.

Just for fun, I thought I would share with you their wedding story, since it was so unique.  And for those of you who are not family.....trust me, you will love it just the same and wish you had a record like this for one of your loved ones!!!  Don & Mary Lou Wedding

Don & Mary Lou Ellis Wedding Picture

So off I went to Cedar Rapids with my Garmin.....can I just say I love that thing!  I would never have gone without it.  I am not that brave, but that crazy thing makes me brave!  I pulled up as I saw the cars parked and picked a place I could drive right into, because I don't parallel park either.  I went on Day 2, as I was busy the day before.  Which is OK, I knew it would have been crazy and it was!  And I am of the mindset, if I am to have something it will be there.....

My cousin, Judy had worked so hard to pull this off.  I can't describe the amount to things that were there.....humongous amounts & it didn't include the furniture because that had been sent off to an auction house....her aunts and brothers also pitched in and it took the whole tribe to handle this!  It was so good to sit and visit with them in between customers, which I would not have been able to do on the first day.  It was pretty nutty, not surprising!  I went through the house I think 3 times because there was so much to see and I was trying to be pretty selective......remember the lady that doesn't NEED anything!  But I must say it was sooo much fun cause I hadn't done this in a very long time! And throw a little cousin love on top of it.....a really delightful day!

Some of the Schmidt girl cousins......Linda, me & Judy

So this is what I brought home with me......a beautiful crochet lace table cloth.  I am a sucker for them, it had a few stains, but I washed it and it cleaned up beautifully!

My mother's family has a thing for Amana made furniture.....it is usually solid walnut or cherry. Although they did make some things in oak too, but mostly walnut. We got most of our furniture at Krauss's which is no longer in business....which makes me sad.  But we also got a few pieces from Schanz Furniture, if you want to check it out.  I don't know where this started, any of you cousins know?

 But several of us have pieces from there and they are beautiful, solid, heavy, well-made and timeless.  So I was looking and this piece I actually missed, but my cousin Gary thought I would like it and put it on my pile.....so glad he did....so sweet, small tray.....did I say I like trays too?

Now she is all decked out with a few Halloween and fall embellishments.....so very fun!

Then I ran across these wonderful milk glass vases, my daughter, Sally has a beautiful black hutch that my dad made for her and she is collecting milk glass to go in the top of it, so I sent her a picture of these two.....so these made a brief stop at my house before taking a trip to Chattanooga, where they live at her house now.

I also picked up a candle lamp, can't have too many of them either.  I turn it on most nights, great night light!

My heart did a little pitter-patter when I saw this Amana foot stool.....like foot stools too!  Imagine that!    And it lives very nicely with the Amana Lincoln rocker.  And the walnut quilt stand my dad made me many years ago.

 The patchwork pumpkin looks wonderful on it's little stool.....I never had a great place for it, because it is BIG!  I had no idea when I did this project how big it would be......now it has a spot to be and it looks wonderful!

I picked up this old Charles Denby cigar box and the geode too....I like old advertised and ephemera. This lives for now on my book case with some books that fit right inside!  Judy had a whole tote of geodes, I wished I would have gotten a few more of them after the fact.  Can you believe it?  I like pretty rocks too.  That was one of the first things I collected when I was a girl!  Got it all scrubbed and it looks beautiful!

I wished I could have taken you all along that like old things, it was so much fun.....thanks Judy for a great summer day outing!

Ta Da Dear Jane Finish......finally

Well last week on Thursday, October 16......I pulled my bent needle through all the layers of my Dear Jane for the last time. In that moment, I received my PhD in quilting. I didn't go to any institution to receive it, but if you can execute this project and complete it, in my book we have earned it!  I must say I did it with a sigh of relief and the moment was rather anti-climatic.  Over the last couple months, I just wanted this project done and I was ready to move on to other things instead of spending about 2 hours every morning stitching on "Her."

I don't think these pictures do it justice.....as I don't have a place to photograph something this big.......it does look wonderful and the hand quilting added so much to it!  That is what kept me going on it, to see the transformation of each block......beautiful!

I have no idea how some of you have done the whole quilt several times over.....you're killing me!  I have no desire to do that at all.  Been there done that.....ready to do something else!  But kuddos to you that have the stamina to do that!

Right now she is in the quilt rack waiting for her label, which I think I will work on after posting this blog.

Note: This picture was taken before the whole top was quilted.

My goal was to have this quilt totally done sometime during the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, which meant having it done by April 9, 2015.  Civil War Ends .......eye witness accounts for your perusal.  I am thrilled to have met that accomplishment.  What I personally really love about this quilt, in being able to honor those in our families that fought, North or South, in this conflict.  Both the Silver Fox and I have ancestors that represented both sides.  I think I inked about 25 names.  Did you know that Iowa in the Civil War had the most men serve in proportion to the state's population than any other state?  A little trivia for you!  But the men from our family did not live in Iowa at the time of the civil war.

 The corner signature block......In the Spirit of Jane A. Stickle.

 Henry L. Leach was one of my husband's ancestors.  And see the star by his name, that tells me he is a grandfather, not an uncle or cousin.  G-5 Poof is your challenge for this week.....get to it!

 This is the only picture I have with me in it.  A little hard to do without friends to help and you can't see mine!  Robin and Karan are hiding to hold this baby up and it is a heavy quilt.....lots of pieces, means lots of seam allowances.  This was taken two weeks ago at a retreat I attended at the Grout museum.  So it was not quite done, but while I attended, I got my two blocks done each day......a lady on a mission!

Here we are in all our glory! 

 Done is better than perfect!

But I think she is just perfect, but I might be a little bit bias!  :)