Primitives from the Iowa Prairie

Take a Breath, and Get Covid!

2024-09-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

After the months and months of emptying that house, I started to try to work on my shop. BAM! I get Covid. Well, crap. Thank goodness they let us have medication this time around. Unfortunately, many are getting it and having doctors tell them it is just like a cold, so go home, rest, drink fluids, no medicine needed. My brother and sister in law are VERY sick because they had one such doctor. We all got sick at the same time, I had a couple bad days, but pretty much cured except for the very irritating cough. They are still having high fevers and terrible head aches. Back in the old days, my husband could have prescribed medicine for them, but all the new "government bureaucrats control the doctors" bull shit, he can't prescribe for any family member. It is ridiculous. All I get to do is pray for their recovery and hope some of the over the counter stuff will work.

On my worst sick day, I had the misfortune to encounter the most evil, vile, bitter, evil, did I say evil? human being that has ever walked this earth. All because he thinks he will buy the motorcycles and that no one else has any right to them, including us, the people that own them. He has been hounding me to sell them, told him I was sick, he told me he hoped I would die. I just said FUCK YOU. It got worse, called me a whore, guaranteed that he would get the bikes no matter what. I don't think so Beelzebub. I hope my run of bad surprises is done for the year at least. I do need to add that every biker guy that came to the house to buy something has been very decent and kind, they all helped me identify parts and told me how to find serial numbers and figure out what year things were made. The psycho is definitely an outlier.

Since I hate doing nothing, I have been painting a lot and making fall things between coughing fits, so I guess that is one bright note.

And I Thought I Used to Have Too Much To Do

2024-07-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA as the last 6 months see the liquidation of my father-in-laws estate. The man was the king of hoarders--we filled 2 jeeps with car magazines and newspapers to recycle, so that was the usual hoarder stuff you find, but that was certainly not all. We also sent 4 Jeep loads and 3 trailer loads of antique radios to auction, well over 1000 radios. Next, we have thousands of radio tubes and knobs and speakers and parts and more parts. Boxes filled with gaskets and car parts, fenders, windshields, tires, everything car. Then comes my next task after moving all that, the sorting and selling of motorcycle parts. This is one of I think 50 speedometers. He had some rare ones, this one brought almost $700, an early Harley brought $1000. We almost sent motorcycle frames to the scrap yard, but decided to try an auction starting them at $50. They all brought about $4000 each---are you freaking kidding me? I still have several actual full Indian motorcycles to sell, a couple Harleys, bunch of engines, it is so much fun. NOT. Last week was scrap yard week and despite all that we have moved out, there was still 10,000 pounds of metal to send the the scrap guy. That is not an exaggeration, it was literally 10,000 pounds. House finally sold and I think I just have one more weekend of moving crap out, but still months ahead of continuing to sell all the crap that is piled up around my ears at my house.

Poor old Catspaw is limping along amidst the chaos. I occasionally get some stuff done...

Crazy Spring

2024-04-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

It was summer all through March, and now that it is officially spring and April, winter is back! Snow and cold and so much gloom. I have been so crazy busy. For almost a year, I have been saying "once this is done, I will have time to breathe"... "Just get through my daughters wedding, then I can breathe"...no wait, crazy Christmas season is upon us, so "Just get through the Christmas rush, then I can breathe"...no wait, everyone is still shopping, I am shipping a million packages a day. My somewhat messy house becomes a disaster area and there is never time to fix it. Now, I am in the "just let me get the taxes done", or maybe "what can I do to avoid doing the taxes?" After all, internet full of end of world during the eclipse, so I wouldn't want to waste my last days. So here I am, when I should be listing things. Sales have slowed dramatically, so a bit more time, but not enough ever.

Oh, and here in the middle of winter, in the city, and I avoid the outdoors at all costs, I have contracted Lyme disease. Broke out in a rash all up and down one arm, no other symptoms, thought I got bug bites from playing with some puppies, but no, it turned out to be the stuff of horror films. My husband found a deer tick on the shower wall one morning. We assume it landed on him when he was cutting brush. Weeks pass, I am changing bed sheets, and I find 2 deer ticks on his pillow. My rash is just horrible, but just on the one arm, then I get bites on my legs. I strip the bed, wash EVERYTHING. We take the animals and check them, they have no bugs. Grace and I take the dog and bunny out to the car and bug bomb the house, spend 4 hours driving around with the pets. Next day, I find another tick on the bed and about freak out. This is the first time I think to look up. My sheer curtains on the window behind my bed have a line of black throughout the rod pocket. I get on a ladder and find the rod pocket full of ticks. How they got there, I will never know. There are a lot of deer roaming the city, we love seeing them, they are so pretty, but apparently they brought guests. We must have brought a pregnant tick in without knowing it and she started a family in the curtain. James and I both are on the antibiotics, and I still jump every time I see a black speck any where. Just telling the story is making me itch. Hope they are gone never to return.

This may be why I turned to all white for the latest creations.

What Are the Chances? With me, 100 Percent

2024-01-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

I have "framed" cross stitch samplers that I or my daughter have made by putting them on old tins, old slates, anything odd like that. I love love love how they turn out, but selling them is very cost prohibitive. First, you have the expensive tin or slate, then add the cost of the sampler, even if I only pay myself 25 cents an hour for the stitching, which takes forever... Anyway, I got the brilliant idea to search for antique sampler images on Pinterest and make prints to get the look without the cost. After printing one out, I realize it was made in 2010, not the antique look I was going for. I had a small tin and thought, oh what the heck, I will cut off a little part of the print at the top and put that on the tin. Now the Pinterest post was just the sampler, no mention of where it came from. What are the chances that the designer of 14 years ago would be sitting in her home in the Netherlands and open eBay 5 minutes after I list the tin and immediately message me that I am not allowed to use the image? I don't mind taking it down or being told I can't use it, but really, what are the chances????

Also, someone else told me I was being deceiving for making something look like a real sampler when it wasn't on this tin, even though I said it was a print and not a real sampler. Maybe this wasn't the brilliant idea I thought it was.

In the meantime, who knew Valentine goods were a thing? Not me. I usually put up a few heart tins and go on my merry blue way, but I realized the red stuff that I didn't get done in time for Christmas could be reimagined as Valentines and I got obsessed with spelling things with old blocks, starting with one little "LOVE" set. Before I knew it, I was in the Valentine biz and I swear it sold better than my Christmas things did. Did not expect to continue to be so busy. Guess it is mostly keeping the usual winter angst at bay.

Sarcasm, My Friend

2024-01-03T06:31:00.000-08:00

I continue my imaginary argument...

She writes again.

I send a new missive.

Thank God you have returned! Hurry we only have a moment before she returns. Help us PLEASE! She has us trapped in her factory of paint and fabric nonsense. She refuses to get educated and keeps muttering about us being mass produced and factory made. It is so demeaning. We are old, and nothing old should ever be changed. We love being like all the other bowls, we don't want to become bowls of color. We don't want to be unique, help us, help us! NO! She is mixing the milk paint! I fear it is too late for us, but perhaps you can save the others. Call the antique police, we beg you. Have her sent to an internment camp and force her to learn the errors of her ways. Farewell....oh noooooo, I am going to be blue....

The Bowls

At least I think I'm funny.

The Letter I Can't Send on eBay But Really Want To

2023-12-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

Behold, the bowl of offensiveness, ruined in its prime by the evil ruiner of antiques, Elaine. She must be stopped! She must educate herself and stop her evil deeds! Only a kind well meaning person can help and she sends an email to the villainess demanding she cease and desist.

So, this is how she did it. I get a message something like this:

You have destroyed so many beautiful antiques with your nonsense paint fabric and other cheap things. Stop it! Then you may actually sell something.

I know I should ignore and delete, but I am a ruiner after all, so I reply with sarcasm:

Nothing I enjoy more than browsing in a shop, then sending the owner a nasty message, because I know everything and they know nothing.

2 days, no response, until....

There was nothing unkind in my note. I would be a buyer myself if the items were not devalued by paint fabric etc. check with other dealers if you take my comments not to be constructive.

Good Elaine says, just delete it.

Uh, oh, evil ruiner has taken over and forces me to reply:

You are mean. Insulting. Condescending. Read your hateful note one more time and tell me how it is helpful. Nonsense paint and fabric? Cheap things? Stop it!? Go away.

Then she comes back with

Talk to antique people. Get educated. Then your business may improve!

I am really sad that I only replied with Go away again. Now I can't write my smart ass story that I just concocted, so will just have to write it here, where sadly she will never see it, but maybe somewhere in the future, the good reply that I wish I had written...

Ah, my dear friend, the pompous windbag! How kind of you to return and regale me with more unsolicited and unwanted advice on how to do the job I have been doing for 40 years. I am but a humble peasant, purchasing old wares for a small amount of money and selling them for a larger amount of money. I so stupidly thought that since it is more, as in greater than, that it meant more value. I have been corrected. More is actually less, at least that is what you tell me. And all those customers, who like a little color in their home decor, why they are wrong as well. BROWN! All you get is brown, and you had better start liking it. Because she has spoken and none shall argue. Talk to antique people? I am an antique people. I talk to other antique people ALL the time. They know what I do and they don't care because I pay for the merchandise they are selling and they are kind and decent people. Oh, and also, the tin cocoa can that Grandpa stored his nails in is not an ancient relic deserving space in a museum. It is just an old can and if I want to sew calico around it, I can. The bowl in question? About 110 years old or so, but mass-produced, factory made, 1000s just like it, not a handmade rarity, so I can damn well paint that too.

P.S. What on earth can you have against calico? What has it ever done to you?

Thank you for listening.

Going Green

2023-12-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

I got the green group finished, giant pile of wonderful things await the red milk paint, so hoping I find time to do it. We went Christmas shopping for the first time yesterday, and trying to put up the trees today in addition to finishing listing these and all the shipping. Breathing deeply!~

Cute Little Green and Red Toys

2023-11-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

There is a new dealer in a nearby antique mall that has been bringing in the cutest vintage toys, and so many in that 1940s green and bright red, so Christmas perfect. Here are the pieces I have reimagined for my shop.

I also have been buying up old blocks and Christmasing them up:

Sold Almost Before I Listed Them

2023-11-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

It has been the craziest busy Christmas season I can remember. Still working all day, shipping and listing, listing and shipping. I keep filling up the memory card on my camera on photo days, also a first. Basically doing at least 800 pictures about 3 times a week. I still have not found time to clean the house or paint my antique projects. The dog needs a bath again too. I mostly have kept the family fed, but that is about it. Here are goods that sold very fast, wanted to remember them when I get to sit and remember some day...

Did There Used to be More Time in a Day?

2023-11-06T08:00:00.002-08:00

I feel like all I do is work lately, no fun to be had and wondering where all the time went. I used to have time to take walks, get both the girls to school and work, cook and clean, do an elaborate sale in Clarinda and still keep the eBay store going. Now, I get up, just Grace to drop off at the University, sit down and start listing, photographing and shipping, next thing I know, it is 10 pm. Dishes not done, laundry piled up, dog needs a bath, mountains of antiques not painted. Shouldn't be sitting doing this either, but need to complain. Why can't I get anything done??? Well, more on that later. I really just want to post these photos for me to look at in the future. Some of the finished Christmas--my entire creative process has consisted of "I should tie something on that" and "I should put a tree in that"

September was CRAZY

2023-10-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

That went by in a blink! I created more fall goods than I think I ever have and they actually sold, so I just kept making it. I pretty much sat down at 8 to paint and create and did not finish until 10 pm every day, stumble bleary eyed in to bed, get up and do it all over again. In between all the pumpkin paint, I ordered massive amounts of bottle brush trees, the most expensive being the tiny little guys on wood blocks. Most places I looked wanted $38 a dozen! I did a little better, but they were still crazy expensive. I bought some large trees in grays and browns, decided they are a little too somber, so will be trying my hand at dyeing trees, I will let you know how that goes. I decided I would absolutely not make any paper doll creations this year, then Mr. Tim Holtz showed up on youtube giving demos of his new Halloween and Christmas lines, and the next thing I knew, I had ordered every single thing in the line and then some. I cannot put those dolls down, they are so much fun to create with!

Here is a bit of the Halloween I did with my purchases:

This is "The Spirit Merchant", my paper doll fortune teller, loved creating this little spooky room for her to work in.

"Bewitched" has a black tree atop a cauldron, twiggy witch broom, love it!

No paper doll here, just a little spice tin converted for storage of graveyard dirt.

My piece de la resistance, the haunted music room. I started this years ago but just couldn't make myself put the finishing touches on. Got inspired to finish and here it is:

Hmm, maybe this one is my best instead...I love love love how this turned out. I usually would not alter such an expensive and early piece, but I knew black milk paint would make it so perfectly spooky and it did. The mirror really needed the haunted doll photo.

Overwhelmed

2023-09-10T15:35:00.001-07:00

There are times when I go in search of antiques in America and come up empty handed. Then, there are times like these when there are so many flea markets and antique shows and the shops seem very well stocked, at least until I show up and take it all home to add to the pile. I recently told my husband I didn't have any money left, and he looked at me like there were radishes growing out of my ears because I have been shipping about 20 items every day. I had to explain that while I am selling hundreds of dollars of merchandise, I am buying thousands of dollars in merchandise. I seriously can barely get to my computer and work table because there are Cat in the Hat piles of bowls and firkins and boxes filled with old tin, all needing to be transformed. My music room is now the hoarders nest, the dining room has things lined up around the walls and I have to clear a place for us to eat every single night. Although we cleared out the Clarinda house a year ago, I just now was able to go through a few of the boxes we stuffed in the attic, so much more left to deal with. We also have the husband's parents home to clear out and it is getting stacked on the front porch and in the garage. I feel like all I do is fill up the trailer, go to the landfill and dump stuff where ever we can find a bare spot. Not liking it at all. With too much to do and not enough time to do it, how did I spend last night? Went to the casino at 7, looked up from the slot machine to find that it was now 2 am. I don't even know how that happened, but I can still see spinning reels when I close my eyes. Of course, I won a lot, and of course I lost it all, but it was fun at least.

The latest dark and spooky items that I have managed to create amongst the chaos:

A Little Bit of This a Little Bit of That

2023-08-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

It has been a roller coaster July. My husband had a hip replacement and it was a month of recovery. He fell on the ice a couple years ago when he was out jogging, pulled a muscle that never healed and the limping ended up destroying the hip. Miracles is what those ortho guys do. Still, I was in charge of all the fetching of things for the first week, lots of work and worry about blood clots and other disasters, but we came through at last. I am going to have a hard time when he retires--I barely had a minute to work on my shop, so been putting in overtime now that he is back at work. Scattered, I am doing everything at once, and here are the results:

Could be fall...

or maybe just jump in to Christmas

but don't forget about blue

and maybe a little red for good measure

Teal Blue and New Photographs

2023-06-21T13:21:00.001-07:00

I wasn't happy with my teal milk paint photographs, so I did them over, much better! I love the color so much, I painted one million more things with it and now I have to order more paint.

I was patting myself on the back for finally getting some Independence Day goods done early....then I realized it is only 2 weeks away, so I am actually very late. I may start doing fall now, as it crazily seems to sell in July and August better than in October.

The Once in a Lifetime Antique Find

2023-06-19T14:25:00.003-07:00

I stumbled upon this set of toy graniteware quite by chance--someone had listed them in the pretend play toys section and called it spatterware. I knew I loved it and wanted it and could not believe I was the only bidder. There were 30 pieces! Further investigation found that it is confetti graniteware, or "end of day" graniteware, when the factory workers used up all the bits of enamel color left at the end of the day to create this beautiful pattern. It is rare to find any, let alone this many pieces, most in excellent condition. I am only slightly surprised that I re-sold them so quickly. I think this is my most wonderful find of my antique career.

Studies in White

2023-05-30T10:43:00.002-07:00

I have become a bit obsessed with early ironstone, old photos and black and white graphics. I would love to do an antique show using just this style. If you have never heard of 1871 Farmhouse, look up the etsy shop and her blog and Pinterest, I love, love, love her style. I am so inspired by all her photos--she takes gray and white and all things neutral and makes them "catch your breath" beautiful.

Just Working and Working

2023-05-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

I have nothing interesting to say, just painting and painting, no fun these days. This is the new teal milk paint I just bought:

These are the tins that just needed blue calico:

and some more odds and ends:

Breathe In and Breathe Out

2023-04-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

I quote my new favorite song from For King and Country. The chorus of "breathe in and breathe out" gets me through the day. If you haven't heard of this band, go the Youtube! Watch their live performances for the best idea of who they are, which is amazing. Grace took me to a concert last year, I went to make her happy, expected nothing and turned out they are now my absolute favorite music to listen to, and the concert was unlike anything I have ever been to. The brothers sing like angels, the music is very percussion centered, very energetic and wonderful. My husband didn't want to go to that one, but agreed to take us to their Christmas concert in Kansas City last November. He, like me, thought he was just going to make us happy, and ended up becoming a convert. We immediately bought tickets for the next concert in our area, which was 2 weeks ago in Moline. It was even better than the first shows we saw, so back to the tour page, we find they will be in Des Moines in August, definitely going.

Now, back to work, here is the latest from Catspaw:

Playtime

2023-03-29T09:24:00.001-07:00

I am listing a bunch of early toys....

Spring Creations

2023-03-27T16:12:00.004-07:00

I should have finished Easter things a month ago, but continue on my journey to finish late. I have sold a few things already, and I do like what I did get finished. Have a few more things in mind, but quite sure they will not get done. Spring stress is here with tax time, crazy weather, crazy country, crazy times.

Just Some Odds and Ends I am Listing

2023-03-08T12:06:00.002-08:00

Collecting Reds

2023-03-02T15:12:00.002-08:00

I put together some red things for a little change...

Grace did the winter sampler for me two months ago and I just got it framed, just in time for spring. Winter has been pretty uneventful, knock on wood. My cousin lives in Lake Tahoe and is trying to dig out from 8 FEET! of snow. I can't even imagine. It was even 60 degrees here yesterday. Right back to winter today though.

My husband had to work last Saturday morning, got home at 2 and we hopped in the car to drive an hour over to Geneseo for the antique mall. It was not a wasted trip--I spent $500! Here are a few of the nice things I found:

I got the platter idea from Pinterest, love it so much

Vignettes

2023-02-20T11:53:00.005-08:00

I still take all my photos outside to get the good natural light, but the cold has made my sessions very short--take one item out, photo, back to get warm, then one more item. Today is in the 40s so I can stand to be out a bit longer and can fuss with putting groups together in vignettes. I also have my painted doors to use as backdrops again, they had been in Clarinda and I never had room in the car to get them back here until the great move. So far, I have some of the plain and primitives done and waiting for the batteries to charge so I can go finish. This is what I have so far:

Prayers for my Ohio Friends

2023-02-15T09:14:00.002-08:00

I have several customers that live in Ohio, I think all live away from the disaster of the train derailment, but still too close for comfort. It makes me horrified that it is being ignored by the press and the government. All hands should be on deck working to clean up the water and the air. Almost like the screeching climate people don't really care about the earth at all. I pray you are all safe and if you know of any good charities working to help the people affected by this, please let me know. I have heard that even the Red Cross is acting like there is nothing to see here and did not show up.

Tiny Laundry

2023-02-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

Feeling Tom Petty this week "I'm so tired of bein' tired..." Winter blahs even though winter hasn't been so terrible this year. Very cold, but snow has been semi-scarce. We had to shovel yesterday, the heavy wet stuff, but warming on the way, so it should all melt again. I need to stay away from the doomsday internet, so depressing and concentrate on living in the now. Since I didn't have a good "switch the crafts from Christmas" idea, I just got out the blue fabric and have been wrapping things up. I found an old quilt top full of small pieces of 1890s blue calico that I have been wrapping clothespins and brooms and spoons up with. It was such a good bargain and the fabric is so pretty.

I also found some tiny washboards to add milk paint and fabric to: