Plain and Practical

Selling Aprons at the Delaware Farmer's Market

 

Here's my "booth" at the Wednesday Farmer's Market in Delaware, Ohio, held on Sandusky Street from three until six o'clock.  Even though it was close to 90 degrees, we were in the shade of the lovely tall old brick buildings (aren't the details in those old friends marvelous to behold? back in a time where people took pride in their workmanship and even brick buildings were carefully conceived).  I sold out of all the children's sizes, so need to make more of those, for the grandmas who wanted to give their little cuties baking lessons.  The rack, wood ironing board, stool went into the back of the truck in 2 minutes, secured, and the red bag held my cushion, the wood info box, a jug of iced mint tea, and some reading materials.  The other vendors were so pleasant and nice!  not catty at all.  Seven dollars for the space.  It's a shame the Grove City market doesn't allow crafts, I got to meet lots of lovely Delaware folks, shopped and spent money in the antique store in town, bought a beverage.  Income for the town and a nice perk for their residents, and volunteers helping out.  They had a neat idea I am borrowing--when you arrive, or if you have a permanent spot you like, they write it on the sidewalk in your space to "hold" it for you, isn't that smart?  So there were lines and people's names or, mine says, "apron lady!" and I get to be under a tree.  Note the ribbon securing the rack to the tree, in case the breeze picks up or someone yanks a hanger!  Going back on Saturday since Craig is busy with a gaming conference all weekend!

Workin' on all that wool!

 Patty stopped by and took this pic of me working on that 100 pounds of wool I picked up yesterday.  This is the Indian Valley Spinner, which is for bulky thick monstrous yarns, or plying a 24 ounce skein of two other yarns without any breaks or knots, but it's got a poor ratio for trying to do regular medium weight yarns.  I can feel it in my legs, like biking up hills all day!  Very pleasant to sit on the porch and have people stop by to talk to, as you spinners know, it's like watching grass grow or paint dry.  You need to keep an eye on your work but you certainly aren't mentally ripping along and the mind wanders.

The replacement part for the good wheel is on its way back from Norm, and might actually be here before the show by a couple of days.  Whatever time I have it working, I'll be sitting right there and skipping everything else but bathroom breaks and drinking liquids between skeins.  Leaving for a show on the 26th of June, Hubbin can't go but will still enjoy a drive in KY anyway.  Hopefully there will be lots of knitters and spinners and felters at the show, wanting my wares!

I Dived Right In! (Or, Time To Wash My Prayer Cap Again)

Hee, just came home with 100 pounds of wonderfully clean, ready to spin wool from the Mid-States Wool Co-operative in Canal Winchester, Ohio.  You can dive into the big bins and gather out the fleeces you want, and skirt them and just buy what you like.  I could not survive as a spinner without this wonderful resource, at $2 a pound for the colored wools, even after washing and the laborious task of preparing and spinning the fibers, I can still make a profit selling handspun yarns to a shop in Ohio, another in Michigan, and at local SCA events around the region.  I splurged and got 3# of dyed blue heather wool, just lovely, been wanting some of that for about two years and just suddenly found myself holding it and buying it, too.

The staff has been there forever, and is very knowledgeable and kindhearted, never sharp or surly, and they are helpful in every way.  If you are a spinner, or know a spinner, this is like heaven on earth!  Remember, you've got to get in there and find what you want, so wear all washable clothing and be prepared to take a shower and change when you get home!  But I think it smells like MONEY!

Making a Compromise, and it Feels Fine After All!

Well, as you know I am Plain Quaker.  However, it seems the business world isn't ready to hire anyone dressed in clothes they made themselves from simple patterns and linens from Gohn Brothers or old tablecloths.  I have an interview Tuesday afternoon with a large geriatric services company, and an evening interview with a large downtown mission that serves the poor.

So after the last interview said "If you work here you can't wear that" and pointed at my attire, and the times I showed up for interviews in Detroit and people suddenly remembered that job was filled . . . I can feel the discrimination, and it is painful.  Good husband and I both want me employed, so we can put aside money for our grocery store we want to open, and I like having "my" money to spend and not feel like I'm just lazy and making him go off to work every day!  It's a better partnership for us when we both have jobs.  A job also provides growth experiences, give my ego somewhere to exercise and build self-esteem, and I like working in places where I am making a difference in people's lives in a positive way, both clients and staff alike.

This requires a little compromise on what I'd like to wear, and what I need to wear to meet expectations.  I became modestly dressed for many reasons, and Plain for my personal leading.  So here's how I'm defining Business Plain for myself:

  Solid colors, in somber tones, these are men's jackets.  I'm built like a linebacker and with my weightlifting routine picking up for future martial arts projects, the shoulders are going to get bigger yet

The skirts, five black, one burgandy, one blue, are somewhat interchangeable with the jackets.

I'll wear black tights with all, and tomorrow's shopping list includes flat modern shoes, a purse (!) and replacement buttons (Valerie wearing buttons again!?!) for the shiny ones on the jackets.

The clothing above cost less than $60.  It would have been closer to fifty, but one jacket that fit exceptionally well was $9, and I liked the way it looked, very new in condition.  Everything smells fresh so I'm not even dry cleaning it, no stains or damage, except that two skirts need new elastic stitched in.  Not a problem.

I'll make myself four more white or cream linen blouses with narrow enough sleeves to fit under the jackets.  That will have to do for a summer wardrobe, and then will do the same for wool items for the winter, if hired.

If you are a broad shouldered woman who likes their sleeves to actually touch the wrists, consider re-building a men's jacket.  They are well made, and you can dress them up with scarves or sparkly pins if that's your bend.  For me, they simply fit with a minimum of lace or darts that show off boobies, so in my book they actually are Plain and Simple, or as much as I can get in a regular mass-market way.

Note that the Shark Tale managed to teleport into the picture at the last moment.  That's Boo's "periscope" coming over to check out the un-Boo-ti-fied new clothes!

Not for Swimming--for Planting!

 so go find a broken down gazebo, take it apart, and then fill some wading pools with the best quality dirt and manure and potting soil bags you can find, plant those goodies!

Good Husband and I move often for his work, so this way I can take my gardens with me and they all stack together.  I can even rebag the dirt, if I choose.  I also did some with stacked burlap bags (pole beans), plastic gallon buckets (5 cents each at the art store) and lined some baskets with burlap and filled them up too!  Will keep you posted.  $11.99 each pool, plus $17 dirt, and seeds or plants.  Very much cheaper in year two, of course.

Guilty of Not Posting--Here's My Excuses

 I moved, the last load came here Tuesday a week ago.  The house is neat and other than some book boxes in the bedroom upstairs to put onto the shelves, a pile of camping gear on the back porch for husband to sort through, and the very full basement, it is all put away and the home looks very nice.  No one else sees the bedroom.  And I'll deal with the basement some rainy day or when it's so hot I choose to be down in the dungeon.

and here's what I've been doing in my spare time, making aprons, sunbonnets, and woven pot mats.  I have enough to go to the Delaware farmer's market tomorrow and check it out for attending on Wednesdays and the Saturdays that my husband is busy working.  These are all made out of old clothes, sheets, curtains, pillowcases, and remnants found at thrift stores, church rummage sales, and garage sales. 

here's 1/2 of the stock in the sewing room, and there are many boxes and bins downstairs of washed fabrics ready to sew up.  That's a front to bib overalls on the ironing board, going to become an orange-backed cute butcher-style size small apron, complete with original pockets!  and of course rick rack.

there's only one other thing I've been busy with, it cost me and husband over $500 and I don't think we're done with it yet:

I caught poison ivy.  This is after 2 weeks and a full steroid run (yes, you do get "roid rage" even with the prescriptions stuff, be careful!) and waiting it out to see if I need to go back and start all over again.  It's not fun to have the itchies in humid hot weather.  Craig is spraying every day trying to get it under control, we have about five different varieties, been using the internet to identify them all and spray them, one is a well established bush, and another is a 2" thick vine going up the telephone pole, some dead, but lots still flourishing.

I hate poison ivy and it hates me.  Too bad it isn't like chicken pox, catch it once and be done with it!

It's Finally All Making Sense Again

So obviously I've located the camera, cord, and have some things done to show you!  First of all, here's a picture of Melanie's quilt--she's finally preggers after years of trying--so these squares need to be trimmed, put with the Gohn Bros. cotton batting that came two weeks ago, and quilted:

and then, I've been playing in my new Grove City yard, front and back--kinda tricky because I have to leave those icky non-edible things the landlord put there (I think they are called flowers?) but the poles are ready for beans and the gourds are ready for, well, gourds, and I've planted five rose bushes and have three more to go.  Birdhouses are hung, shepherd's crooks are in place, and we bought a reel lawnmower--works great!  no more gasoline, fumes, dust flying, spark plugs, sore shoulders from trying to yank it's cord . . . much better!

Then there's the goodies from the Dexter United Methodist Sale I took Michelle to up in Michigan last week.  This is 15 loads of sheets, yardage, pillow cases, and curtains, all washed and line-dried and ready to organize and sew into aprons and sunbonnets.  This is the week I set up my Apron Blog that will have the paypal widget on it, for selling online  (no more etsy--and their percentage!)

And the very best news of all--we are starting Quaker First Day meetings here at my home, 11:00 on Sundays, starting this very next Sunday, May 3rd.  I am hoping the two benches the neighbor is building for me will be done in time!  I seem to have blessings at every turn, Husband's job is good, I'm getting some interviews, there's enough stock to open the online store and endless amounts of fabrics to keep going, and my spinning wheel part should be back from Norm Hall soon--so I can finish that Sauder Village promise!

Getting All Settled In

Well, the camera is here somewhere.  And a cord that hooks it up to the computer is in Mt. Clemens.  But I've plenty to tell you anyway.

There's a cool consignment shop for local crafters, and I'm putting some of the old Etsy items in there to move them quickly, and I've also discovered I am within walking distance of a quilt shop so can just mosey up there and get a little of whatever color I need to match, they have lots of fat quarters.

The local thrift stores have provided me with good cheap 10-cent packages of seam binding and some $2 sheets for apron-making, and the sewing room is in production mode again although I keep reaching for things that aren't here yet.  A $5 desktop from the local auction house is my new sewing table, but Husband is eyeballing it for himself in the office upstairs after my usual table arrives!

Difficult to find in Columbus Ohio:

really really fat juicy chickens with big chests.  Smallish to medium whole chickens are $9, bought one under duress today for feeding to the father in law this weekend. 

sturdy clothing rack for holding my aprons, would like something I could fold and take with me to the farmer's market starting in late June to display them.  Hmm.  Sketching designs.

white cotton curtains in the thrift or regular stores.  Lots of bright colors and all polyester or other synthetics, I just wanted plain old cotton.  Had to go to the axis of evil store and get white twin sheets and make the curtains out of that.  Everything else just too expensive.

Otherwise everything else falling into place, baking supplies are in Plain City, gardening stuff is on Craigslist, cool cheap furniture in town, quilt shop 3 blocks away, mailman eats the cookies I leave him in the mailbox, everyone talky and friendly.  Oh, and the neighbor says there are four "huge" peonies at the side of the yard, she showed me some bare ground where they are expected to re-appear, and I think every thing is going to be all right for the entire garden plan all the way around.  Both pizza places are acceptable and five more yet to try out.  It's all good.  I am so very blessed!

I Have Reached the Diskcommbobbulated Stage

Even for people who move as often as we do (and some moves are smoother than others, you know?), there is about a week in there where you still have a toothbrush and towels in two bathrooms several hundred miles apart but you don't know where your cord is that connects the camera to the computer (hence you-alls get no picture today).  Yes, the coffee pot is still making coffee in the morning on one end of your planet but there's no spoons yet on the other. 

I made a map of the new home and decided what furniture will fit and not, and yesterday gave up on finding a dinette set tiny enough for the new kitchen after visiting seven thrift stores.  So I returned to one shop, bought a $10 four-foot long wrought iron plant stand that was half off, went to Lowe's and got a magical already-made table top for $9, and two stools and two round butt-biggerers for the stools and screws and wood trim to fit onto the bottom of the table top to fit it onto the plant stand, and voila, soon as I am done painting and clear-coating I will have a delightful perfect-sized table and two stools.  Woot.  Total cost was about $70, mostly because of the two new stools, but I have a large husband and didn't want a wiggly secondhand stool.  These are very sturdy.

Also restained and resealed the church bench because it's going to live outside on the roofed porch, and am painting four wood bookcases my grandfather made for me years ago.  And packing boxes, again, but this time being more careful to pack with giant labels that say what room they go in!  And we'll police the movers to insure that the boxes get all the way to the rooms they belong in, this time!  Found two very large baskets for $3 each, will paint white today for the porches, and also splurged and spent $15 on a nice wood pedestal, which got primer'd this morning before six a.m.  I am picturing it on the front porch with a big beautiful boston fern on top!

Also got a piece of wood--it was a cabinet door from the re-use place that sells construction supplies to help out Habitat for Humanity.  $1.  I'll primer it in a few minutes and make a sign for under the mailbox that says "the Hibbards."  I am all excited about making a new home that supports my husband, he is working very long hours and travelling all over the country for work, getting little sleep and eating meals that are not at all good for his diabetic diet.  Within a week or so, he can lay his head on clean pillows and sheets, go to work in a shirt I iron "with prayers included" for him, carrying a proper lunch of his favorite foods.  Dinner and a foot rub awaits his return!  I love to spoil my husband.  Without him I just don't feel complete, everything seems to fall apart.

Oh, and ordered the garden seeds.  Dreaming of the future garden as I sleep at night.

Too Much of that there Excitement Stuff

Dramma, drammmmmaaa.  Woke to find house full of smoke and as I stood up the detectors started going off.  I said a bad four-letter word, out loud and with feeling.  Remembered that the downstairs tenant is in a wheel chair and saw it was 3 a.m. and didn't hesitate, called 911.  Then as the operator was yelling at me (no brownie points for jabbering out the correct address in the middle of the night in a new home) because I wasn't outside the house yet (I was getting the cat, I was not leaving without Boo, and you can think whatever you like about that, I don't care).  So I still beat the fire trucks by ten minutes, with Boo in his cat carrier and me a coat and sitting on the tailgate of my little truck, and called husband in tears, to find he had turned his phone off while at work in Seattle.  My butt was wet from snow and it was snowing and cold and the firemen were here for two hours.

The previous renter's child had dropped toys down the vents.  A few rattled down into the furnace, where the firemen finally figured out the problem and removed the smoldering ruins.  I told husband, "Everything you own, including your wife, smells like melted plastic."  But as the day went by we all aired out, no heat until at least Tuesday so Boo is happily employing his heating pad and I'm all layered up and glad for electricity.

Headed down to see Husband on Tuesday and apply some serious elbow grease to finding a rental home in the Columbus area.  Thank you Lord for our safety, it being a fixable problem, and a chance to see my adrenaline gland is still in perfect working order.