HALLOWEEN IN THE VILLAGE...

Oh what fun we had this afternoon! One of my customers stopped in to show me her "Jolly Green Giant" costume that she had made. She works for a nursing home and wore it to work all day! I love it when my customers come show me special things!
THEN - at four this afternoon our downtown area has trick-or-treating for an hour and did we have the kids! I think over 400 came through in an hour and they were all adorable. Of course, all of our own grandchildren came (all seven) and they were the cutest of all! This has become a yearly tradition for our family. On Halloween night they all go out in their own neighborhoods, so this is the time they can all get together and have fun with their cousins!
The little ones all went to trick or treat together and are they cute or what!!!??? (Grandma's right to be prejudice!)

Then Mr. Soul Man (Gannon) came back and we got a picture with all of our sweethearts with Grandpa and I. (Me, Sydney, Gannon, Jack, Ellie, Caroline, Abbey, Lucy and Dick.)
Sydney and Lucy loved playing with the scented corn bowl fillers. (I can't tell you how much ended up on the floor.)
Me and my Lucy. She was quite taken with this whole event!
Lucy decided Uncle Rich was her new best friend!
Abbey was a huge help. She ended up sitting outside and passing out candy.
Sydney helped me quite a bit too. The kids were coming in as fast as we could give them candy.
Check out these dimples!

Ashley with her girls.
Rich, Val and Sydney all joined in the fun.
When it was over, Ellie wanted to come home and spend the night. We took her out to dinner and she couldn't wait to get here to try out the new air bed! Well, that's the third one to spend the night this week! There just isn't anything more special in the whole world than spending time with our family, we are truly blessed.
Tomorrow is going to be the start of a few very busy days! Dick is going to pick up our full-size sleigh for the shop with his friend. I'm not sure how they are going to get it through the door, they will probably have to take the runners off and reassemble it. I'm going to pack up the remainder of the Halloween (hooray), move the furniture around and get ready to put up trees and garlands. I will be closed Sunday through Tuesday to do a store makeover and I'm so excited! I've looked at fall and Halloween since August, it will be a great change.
SOOOO, if you're in the area, stop in later in the week and see the magic!
Until next time...

LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN...

Good evening everyone! Just wanted to check to see if you're all still out there after this horrible weather we have been having. The wind blew so hard today that I even had to bring my sign in at the shop - it would have ended up at the other end of the block!
So many things are happening around the shop and our great little village. First of all, Halloween will be out the door of the shop by Sunday afternoon. I will be closed on Monday and Tuesday to do a Christmas redo - and I am SOOOO ready (at least mentally)! I have been having marathon sewing times lately trying to get ready. Yesterday I made snowmen, Santas and dolls for 14 hours straight - whew!
For those of you that live close enough to visit, I thought you might like to see a lit of the upcoming events at the shop and around Holly:
November 3rd - Christmas will finally be at Holly Hills Primitives, with more coming on a daily basis for quite awhile.
November 6th - 33rd Annual Holly Holiday Art & Craft Show from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Holly High School, 6161 E. Holly Rd., Holly, MI
November 12th - Downtown Holly Ladie's Nite Out from 5-9 p.m. This is a night geared for women's shopping. The town will be dressed with pink lights and balloons. There will be treats and specials in most shops, door prizes, and lots of surprises. We will have an author booksigning and selling the children's book "Mystery At The Birdfeeder". Come in and have some special Surre Cake and more.
November 13th - A Christmas Tradition show put on by Pig In The Poke from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 255 Hetzler Court, Angola, IN. This is a totally prim show filled with antiques, folk art and needful necessities. One you won't want to miss!
Starting the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the three following will be our Annual Dicken's Festival. A great time for families and friends. Holly is turned into a Dicken's village right down to the carriage rides!
December 9th - Fashion Through The Ages organized by Marta's Loft from 6-10:30 p.m. at the historical Holly Hotel. There will be a fashion show, dinner and wonderful prize drawings. Dress in your favorite period attire from Victorian to the present. Tickets are available at Marta's Loft and are $40. Space is limited, so get your's soon.
Hope I get a chance to see some of you at these events, they will be so much darn fun!
Time to put on my p.j.'s and get a little rest!
Until next time...

BUSY MONDAY...

Good morning! Whew, we made a whirlwind overnight trip to the Little House Saturday night to check on some things. I always feel cheated when we only stay one night! We took Abbey with us and had a ball. Guess what we did on the way home?
Yup, had to stop and get more pumpkins. Chad and Kim (son and daughter-in-law) have a yearly tradition of going to Ashley and Tony's (daughter and son-in-law) house to carve pumpkins with Abbey and now Lucy. I offered to pick up more pumpkins up north, since the price was so reasonable! Ashley made a big pot of white chicken chili and they have a ball. I love to see our grown children making their own traditions. They go back to trick or treat on Halloween too!
I wanted to try to share pictures of THE HOUSE in Holly that everyone loves for the holidays. The pictures don't do it justice, but it is decorated so beautifully. I can't even imagine how many pumpkins are lit outside! There are white lights all through the cornstalks, bales of straw and pumpkins everywhere!
These two guys decorate for every season and it is exquisite. Wait until you see Christmas!
They even have a candy corn tree. It has three colors of lights and they are just perfect! Sure wish the pictures would have shown it a little better.
Well, today is sewing, sewing, sewing day (at least until late afternoon). I want to run up to see Dad for awhile and then grandson Jack is having his first sleepover. He has finally decided that he is old enough to come by himself! Then tomorrow I'm locking myself in for the entire day. I have SOOOOO much to get done and the ideas are just swimming in my head! I have one more week until it all comes to the shop.
Hope you all have a wonderful week and are busy little elves getting ready for the upcoming holidays.
Until next time...

MORE ANTIQUES...

Hello out there in blogland. Got some "new" antiques in and wanted to share a few pictures. Some of them were too dark, but at least I have a handful.
The old barrel above has "pantry goods" on a stained piece of material and would be so cute in a buttery!
This old tin scoop is really a keeper. I could just see it filled with greens and pinecones for the holidays.
An old mustard top enamel table with a drawer is a cutie - paired with two old wooden folding chairs. The rocking horse is new/old. An old man had it handmade over 40 years ago hoping to give it to his child. The child never came, it stayed in the closet for years and now he brought it to my shop to find a good home.
This BIG old table is a little ornate for my taste, but would be a beautiful holiday table. It has two leaves that pull up on the ends - it would seat a lot of people! The copper piece on the floor is a parlour warmer and is about 120 years old. You would put your hot coals inside to keep your parlour warm.
This picture came out WAY too dark, but it's an old walnut cupboard with two drawers at the top. Oh what could be done with this!
This little child's folding chair is adorable. Couldn't you see a big snowman sitting on it for the holidays?
Then there's "Maude". Yup an OLD dress form. Trying to think up something fun to do with her.
This little "chair top" is my favorite. You could either sit it on a table or hang it on a wall. It has a candle holder on the arm with a little grubby cheesecloth wrapped around it.
Wouldn't your best dolly look cute sitting in here?
I was so excited when customer/friend Jeanie came up from Kentucky last week. She brought me 5 BIG bunches of tobacco. How cool to hang in a prim house!
I also have tobacco knot bowl fillers.
My dealer friend Carol brought me these old lace-up hightops today. They are so darn stylish! They even have French heels.
It has been one hectic week - so far. I'm sewing like crazy, painting some new goodies, and stitching like a maniac. I want to have LOTS of new wares for both our Ladies Nite Out (Nov. 12) and A Christmas Tradition show (Nov. 13 - see side bar). Hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
Until next time...

MARATHON SEWING...

Good evening prim friends. What a busy two days I've had! Today I got a good start on some snowmen. They are loaded in the chair waiting for various parts to get them finished up. Whew! I think the next month is going to be a sewing marathon. Thank goodness daughter Amanda has agreed to turn and stuff for me, don't know how I would do it all! Tonight might be a late night getting some of these guys closer to being finished.
Yesterday Jim and Sharon met Dick and I to help haul more antiques. We got two pick-up loads and dumped it all into the shop. Guess what tomorrow is going to bring?? It looks like a bomb went off in the shop. I am so thankful for friends! It helped being able to get two loads at once and now Bonnie has offered to come in and help get the shop put back together tomorrow.
I am getting so excited to do "A Christmas Tradition" show in Angola, IN on November 13. If all goes as planned, we should have some really special prims to take with us. Again, friends Sharon and Carol have offered to help do set-up and work with me. Should be fun to have a girl's weekend too! I talked to the promoter today and it should be a fantastic show!
Yesterday Grandson Gannon went with us to visit my dad. Great-Grandpa is so special to him. I was so excited to hear that today he remembered that Gannon had been there! I pray that with the upcoming holiday season (and all year long) that we don't forget our very special family and friends that are in nursing homes. Throughout their lives they have all given so much of themselves, now it's our turn to give back. I wouldn't trade one minute that I've been able to spend with Dad, I would never be able to get that back. Yup, it's hard somedays to run up there after work, but it would even be harder to set there with no one to visit with day after day. Keep these people in your prayers and make time to visit.
Well, time to get busy again for the evening. I might just make poinsettas while I watch Dancing With The Stars.
Until next time...

BUSY WEEK AHEAD...

I have some exciting news I wanted to share! On Holly's Ladies Nite Out, November 12 from 5-9, Holly Hills Primitives and Zanie Janie's Simply Coffee will be honored to have a booksigning by Wayne Brillhart with his beautiful book "The Mystery At The Birdfeeder". The books will be for sale and Mr. Brillhart will be with us to sign. This is a wonderful, educational story that would be a great Christmas gift for any family. There will more on this a little later.
Oh my, what a few sunflower seeds will do! Dick put some out yesterday morning and the ducks had a field day in the back yard. They looked like little soldiers coming up over the bank from the canal.
I think we must have had somewhere between two to three dozen of them. Sure wish the grandchildren could have been here to see them!
Then last night we had a ball! We had a wonderful dinner at the Fenton Hotel with Janie and Steve and then met up with other downtown merchants at the Moose Lodge to see our downtown mailman (John) and his band. They play mostly 60's rock and roll and they were really good. We ate too much and then danced most of it off before we came home and crashed. Guess we are getting old! The best part was to see the support of our town for our local mailman. I love small towns.
We had a relaxing Sunday morning and then we went up to the nursing home to visit Dad. He had sadly been slipping the last couple of months, but I wouldn't trade one hour that we have together for anything. I took him cute little brownies and chocolate covered strawberries for Sweetest Day.
After we left the nursing home, we headed for daughter Amanda's house for our "birthday" dinner. The poor girl has been trying to do this for us for almost a month! We had so much fun with four of the grandchildren and got beautiful cards and coffee mugs with the kids pictures on them. The perfect gifts! The dinner was great and so was all of the company.
The week ahead is going to be a BUSY one! Tomorrow I'm going to pick up a couple loads of antiques for the shop and then Tuesday will be a marathon sewing day before I open back up on Wednesday. Whew! It makes me tired thinking about it!
I plan to switch to Christmas the Monday and Tuesday after Halloween, then Ladie's Nite Out is November 12 and the Pig In The Poke Show will be November 13. Crazy days ahead!
Well prim pals, hope you had a wonderful weekend and have lots of creative projects in store for the week ahead.
Until next time...

A CHRISTMAS TRADITION...

Good evening prim friends. Wow! This is sure a busy time of year! (BUT SO MUCH FUN!) Yesterday Sharon and I drove down to Columbus, Ohio to the market to buy some Christmas goodies for the shop and back again. After a combined 8 hours in the car, we were both sure ready to get home. We had a great time, laughed until our stomachs ached and did a lot of brainstorming for the shop.
Today I got everything priced and went through everything else that I have ready to put out for the holidays. As soon as Halloween is over...
It is always so good to get home in the evenings and turn on all of the little lights that make this home. Can you tell I love pumpkins on the mantles (both up north and here)?
This is my little "stitching spot". I love to snuggle in at night and stitch away while spending time my with dear hubby.
The sun was streaming in Tuesday morning and hit the wood stove just right. It won't be long until the fires are burning and Christmas lights will be going up.
I am so excited! I am doing another show on November 13. "A Christmas Tradition" is presented by The Pig In The Poke and should be such a great show - prims only! Mark your calendars and be there by 10 a.m.! The show will run until 4 in the afternoon behind Homestead Antique Mall at 225 Hetzler Court, Angola, Indiana. If you've ever been to a show put on by Pig In The Poke, you won't be disappointed. It will be a crazy weekend! The night before (Nov. 12th) is our downtown Holly Ladie's Nite Out, then load up the goodies and head for Angola. I'm so lucky that Sharon and Carol will both be helping me with the show and I promise to bring some great prims! Hope to see you there.
Well, time to get some sleep. Another big day tomorrow.
Until next time...

AUTUMN IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN...

Oh bliss! Saturday afternoon, after I closed the shop, Dick and I headed up north to our beloved Little House for the weekend. The colors were gorgeous and the cottage seemed to say "Welcome Home" as soon as we walked in the door. I putzed around some with a little fall decorating and we got things settled for the upcoming winter (boat and camper in storage, yard raked, etc.).
My dear little Dad built this mantle for me a few years ago and I cherish it with all my heart.
It's so much fun to light the fire (electric logs) and decorate the mantle for the changing seasons.
The little "log" cabin on the left is an oldie made from match sticks and the one on the right was given to me by one of my mom's lifelong friends.
Friend Connie and I made these paper mache characters years ago, but they are like old friends when I get them out every year.
What is a new season without some samplers?
I've had this cat for years too, but I still love her ruby slippers.
Another sampler done on burlap.
This big old carpenter's tote is in the kitchen and is filled with candy jars and "candy corn".
Annie's Sugar Cookies hangs over the sink.
These curtains are a new addition this year made from old feed sacks.
Every cottage needs some Campfire Marshmallows!
A lot of my old sifters made the pilgramage to the cottage when we moved.
This old window hangs in the kitchen and is filled with keepsakes from my mom and grandmother. The hooks to hang towels are made from bent spoons.
The old bike got dressed for fall too. The basket is FILLED with pine cones that were in the driveway.
Pine needles anyone?
Yesterday Dick and I took a drive along the Au Sable River and stopped at Lumberman's Monument.
What a wonderful place to learn about logging in Northern Michigan.
This is from the look out at the monument. We were down there in the boat just a few weeks ago!
Then up the road to Iargo Springs.
Another beautiful look out.
On the way home today we saw this is someone's yard! Yup, just had to stop! All of the pumpkins were from from $1 to $4! We got one for all of the grandchildren (7) and had to bring some home for us too!
Everything was on the honor system. Just put you money in a coffee can.
Can you believe that cornstalks were only $2???!!!
Even the fences were decorated with pumpkins!
I loved the top of the fenceposts.
This was an Amish farm. It was so beautiful with the horses grazing and the grand colors in the background. Just down the road there were three little Amish girls eating tomatoes in the garden in their little bonnets. I would loved to have had a picture of that, it was like something out of a story book.
More gorgeous colors on our way home.
There's nothing quite like fall in northern Michigan. Hope you enjoyed a little bit of our beautiful color.
Now, back to business. Tomorrow will be a full day of sewing, on to the markets later in the week, a couple loads of antiques, and then back to the shop to get things all in order. Hope you have a great week planned too.
Until next time...