High Button Shoe
June 19
..boy, talk about being late for a letter this time! crow soup was released surely without my telling you of it! as per usual, the days of summer fly past at an alarming rate, and my days are full of chores (and summer pastimes) to enjoy and in some cases simply endure.Anyway, crow soup did get released. We can be found at http://www.crowsoup.com/Market586.php We are offering a large quantity of linen flax in its natural state for you to use in either a craft project or simply, as I like, to display in a bowl or basket. We have a old tin cup makedo that is nastied up rather nicely, and a witch makedo, some white pears ( which by the way, are making a strong comeback or perhaps never entirely left..but I am seeing them again really strong!), and something else. What? I can't remember. Drats..don't you hate that when you can't remember something simple. I could go look it up I suppose, but I am off line, and you will be looking at the other stuff anyway, so it will just be a nice surprise for you!I did want to tell you about some pears I just bought. They can be found at 'thisoldecrow' on extreme primitives at www.grapevinehollow.com While there check out Bittersweet Susan too. She is a talented primitive artist and a lady I truly enjoy knowing. I have a recipe for making wax pears, but haven't found the time to do it. Keeping the farm in running order this season seems to be far more taxing than usual. We, of course, have added this upcoming sale, this Friday and Saturday to the agenda. June 23 & 24 9am-6pm. The idea is to start cleaning out some of the overstock and giving you a good chance to get some really great folk art at amazing prices! AND the antiques are on sale too! Behind that great thought is one BIG bunch of manhours and every muscle in my body hurting. Planning to start on the preparation of it about 2-3 months ago, I have managed to fritter away those weeks doing other things (no, I don't have a clue what I did...) and now the hour is near and I am paying for that frittering away of time by having to really work at this. I hate getting ready for a garage sale! Hate!I also have sold several furniture pieces in the past couple weeks, so the shop needed a pretty good overhaul to fill in the bare spots. The shop will be open this weekend, with 20% off shop wide, and the deep clearance prices will be on the yards and in the barn.We will continue to have perhaps a monthly sale date thru October, in the barn, but the shop will not be open. We will start working after this sale on the house (shop) putting in a new bathroom, which if you have been here do know will be a MAJOR work project. We are completely redoing it, which includes taking out an outside door, that entire wall out, tearing out that shower, vanity, the floor, ceiling, the nasty marlite (spelling?) from the walls, taking out a wall to make it bigger, adding a large window when we do put the outside wall back together, putting a new BIG honking shower in (the reason in the first place that the whole outside wall has to be torn out.) While we have the big gapping whole in the back of the house, that big white wainscot cupboard that is in MY living room that I just cleaned out and organized, (thankfully), will be moved over to the shop and will go thru that gapping whole into the shop. It is the only way it will ever go in as none of the door openings are large enough to accommodate that big piece going thru. Which reminds me, we better double check, triple check, and several more times check all the door way opening measurements to make sure this monster cupboard will clear ALL of them once it goes thru the hole in the wall.Ronnie, while being a born farmer at heart, is a carpenter/builder by trade, so we are doing all the work ourselves. I use the word we, which he often finds humorous (I think), as he points out the we part of the duo is mostly him doing the actual work. Often an accurate assessment, but I AM the helper. Surely lacking the talents of the work crew he is used to, but still a hand to hold something while he nails, and really good at keeping him supplied with coffee! These, however, are the times I think he misses friend Eric, and wishes he had Eric as crew rather than me. They worked so good together that even unsaid words were known in advance, the next move was known in a sequence only good men used to working together have, and their combined knowledge and skills are amazing. Watching them work was watching an art form. But alas, Ronnie only has me. Talk about work shock!We are also taking out an east wall and putting in a french door. Ah, my heart be still. This I wanted very badly. There was discussion, after the initial NO! Sometimes, after his initial resistance, I get what I want. Actually most of the time. Thankfully, this time, I did. NOT that it will be easy, as there are several obstacles to work around, but it is do-able, and yesterday we bought the door. I just stand there in the shop and look at the wall, knowing there will be french doors there and my heart smiles!We are doing all this work (there again that word WE), because by next summer, or perhaps sooner, we are selling our house and moving into the shop! Ronnie was born there, and while I love the house we built ourselves that we live in, the olde house beckons us. With the demise of the shop, it became apparent to sell one or the other, and we could never sell the old homeplace. Of course, the move means many improvements to the old house. New well, furnace, septic, so it will keep us busy. I am filled with excitement, anxiety, sadness, awe at what it will be as I am moving into century old wood flooring, original wood ceilings, old woodwork and windows. It is also smaller than this house, and as I have repeatedly told you I have a LOT of stuff. I think later as it becomes more apparent what we can and cannot take, we will offer some of the furniture of this house for sale. I have to mentally prepare myself for that, as I love all my furniture. Also, ALL that junk I have saved for 40 years must be dealt with! Death would have been easier! As some of you have asked, I will keep you updated on the progress of this move. I know some of you move regularly, but I haven't moved. So for me, this is a major event.Update on my gourds. They are in the ground, growing, and so far no varmits have munched on them. So my plan for gourds is still in the works! But the growing season is long and varmits are plenty.My rosemary plant died. Really, you say?! No big surprise there, was it?Show update. I am beside myself with joy. Beulah and me are taking a week in September and going to Kentucky and Tennessee. We will be meeting up with the infamous Frannie of Cabin Creek Farm, DruAnn of Cinnamon Creek Cabin http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=4308302&, Twigs of Mercantile Gatherings www.twigsnsprigs.com and Ruth of Primitive Homeplace http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=4432446& follow this link and you can link to click on several really great shops or websites, of which I have the privilege of being a part of http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&uid=4308302&gid=9209301& . I have been accepted into Ruth's Gathering on September 23 to do the show. I do believe I have died and gone to heaven! The show promises to be a great one. But meeting these outstanding women is plum pure delight for me and Beu. So watch out South, here we come again. I am sure you have recovered from our last venture down south a few summers ago. We remember that trip with special fondness. Fueled with our constant travel companion, red licorice, we managed to fill every day from dawn to late night with antique shops, museums, battle fields, laughter and a renewed love of the land and people of those states.Keep in mind and mark your calendars too for the show November 4th in Mt Vernon Ohio. I am not doing this show, but surely would love to attend! Put on by Candy, Max and friend, you can find all the information AND the roster of exhibitors at www.simplegoods.net Primitive folk art and antiques at its best!!Update on my folks. They continue the aging process, and often it is difficult for them. Dad is seeing the specialists in Grand Rapids again, for more back pain. Probably no more surgery, but rather the shots in the spine now. My toes curl with even the mere thoughts of that. Mom continues to need help walking, is dreadfully thin, and often I am reduced to sadness seeing her this way. We walk hand in hand now to help steady her and even in this writing, it brings tears to my eyes.Update on the garden brick path. Of the probably 300 hundred old rescued bricks from the renovation building chimney, that I scarfed home with such glee to make my garden path, I have managed to get NINE in place. The rest remain stacked next to the garden with grass growing up around them. And following Ron's 'design' he made for me, I had to go back every 3 bricks of that (!!!) to remember the design. This will surely be an all summer project.Update on the antique grass. We are harvesting and curing the grass. It is available for your fall bowls and baskets. It is a mixture of the grasses growing around the barn yard. Some of the colors are breathtaking! We will start showing it on crow and raven probably in August. It is sold now on our website under folk art, I think. Sold in gallon bags for $4.50, which gives you a BIG bunch!Aching from every muscle from this sale work, mowing lawns, planting gardens, and dragging hoses around to water the vast existing gardens (as until yesterday we had gotten little rain), I went to the chiropractor last Friday and found that the antique shop across the street from the doctor was going out of business and had a sale going on. Aha! Ron (with a big toothy smile..I think..perhaps it was a sneer....) tried to discourage me from even checking it out. But of course, he lost! The next day Saturday, their final day, they were having a huge percentage off. So of course, I had to go back (45 minute drive one way), store opened at 8AM, and got me the bestest stuff. A few of these treasured items, will turn up as bases for the big old crow from Kentucky Primitives www.kentuckyprimitives.com , as I hope to start making them again soon.BUT I have resisted ALL but one of the garage sales, that have been everywhere since before Memorial Day, so I have been a good girl. Good and Tilda aren't often thought of in the same sentence. As you know, we live in a small town, surrounded by small towns. So everybody knows everybody, or at least we used to until people keep moving in...Anyway, I was mailing off a big box to a County Probation address in Indiana, and Roger, the hardware owner, where I mail UPS out of, asks with a big smile..."You been bad again?..." which started Darrin, the hardware help, into a big fit of laughter. Ah, small towns.So, I gave you plenty to look at. I hope you all were able to get the 7 day mini course on primitives. Please check out the links provided to other shops and websites. These are some of the best. If you didn't get all of the 7, let me know, and I can send them to you. And thanks to all of you who have written me about this course. And a BIG thank you to Diana for putting this all together.Me and my coffee have to head off to the shop to tidy some things and then to the barn. Mattie is with me today to help (just HOW much love can you have for a 7 year old grandson???) and then his mama (daughter Beulah) and Sarah are coming to help me for a couple days this week too.I already got sidetracked several minutes this morning to watch 2 mama turkeys and their many babies walk the full length of the yard next to the hay field. Watching baby turkeys calms your soul. I do believe everybody should have a Mattie and baby turkeys in their lives!I hope you can make this sale if you live close enough. We will continue to have sales until we can get rid of enough stuff to make this move manageable.Thanks for asking to be a part of our farm.in fond regard, TildaI attached a picture of my iris garden looking out over the hayfield to the woods. The iris weren't in full bloom in this picture, but I still found it beautiful! The iris bulbs were from my Grandma Hattie's garden, who died in 1969. This was the morning path of the baby turkeys.oh, AND please check out www.saltboxfarm.com Brunie's Garden Party is this Saturday at her farm.