What a great run! Wow, we are so appreciative of all your support and kindness. Several of you brought us gifts which I’ll show in a future post – right now I’ve got a huge tote bag to sort through.
Remember the little dog named Angel who lives with Galen and Gloria? She came to the sale – I had to hold her. I want my hair to be the color of Angel’s instead of blonde gray.
And Penny came to the sale, too, from Rochester.
I had to pet her, too. So many friends who came and I had so little time to chat.
And that brings up a complaint from me. I only know you guys by name – why didn’t you identify yourselves? I saw hundreds of faces who told me they love reading the blog but only one or two told me who they were! I am so disappointed but also want to encourage you to leave a comment. So many of you said “oh, I’ve never left a comment”and I said “why not?“ I do not understand! We are a group of friends and I threatened to quit talking if nobody keeps up the thread of conversation. They all laughed – they knew I couldn’t shut up.
I can hardly wait to sew something although tonite I’m busy watching basketball and that goes for the next two nights as well.
Here are our trusty helpers –
Jane on the left came from Des Moines and Amy on the right came from Kansas City. Two more friends, Brenda and Nan, came from Kansas, too. They surprised me when they simply walked in! Such fun we had catching up!
This is what we started with this morning in the kitchen – not much.
It got up to 50 today but yesterday was brutal – we will never forget it. Our shoppers were tough – cold weather wasn’t going to slow them up!
So it’s in the books – thanks for coming or just for sending a message of encouragement and regret at living too far away to come. It was all appreciated by both of us.
I always read your posts, Mary, and wanted to pop in and say I’m with you on the white hair! My dad’s family all had this lovely white hair and mine is kinda greige! lol Glad your sale went well!!
Kudos to all concerned for a successful sale in the cold. Spring has arrived in central GA, azaleas are beautiful this year.
I’m mad at myself for forgetting about the sale!! Ugh, how did that happen?! I’m happy for you Mary that everything went well and you got the chance to see old friends and make new ones too.
I spent the past two days (and tomorrow) cleaning and sorting my own house. I do this once a year and still seem to have plenty to get rid of, thirty years in the same house, it just accumulates and seems to breed more, ha!
Sounds like a good time was had by all. I love garage sales, we go every Friday and Sat. We live in Las Vegas, so that was a bit far!!
So much work but so much fun too to see so many people you know. I hate that I live too far away to come to the sale. So glad it went well in spite of the cold weather, which doesn’t look like it slowed this group down one bit!
I did not get there till noon on Friday and the cupboard was almost bare so to speak – you had an amazing turnout! Way to go Ladies! Now enjoy the games and rest….blessed are you both !
Mareen – yes, it was a fabulous turnout! Too bad it was so darned cold.
So, Connie is moving hence the reason for the sale. Did I miss out on where she’s going, and when? I think you had a good sale – I was there Friday morning and it was pretty picked over only 2 hours in. Was there anything left?! I stopped at Junkin Gal in Garner as well and she was super busy too! A great outing on a beautiful Iowa spring day. Thanks Mary and Connie!
Cathy D – Connie is moving to their lake home at Okoboji later this month.
I feel so sad that Connie is moving farther away from you.
I’m so happy your sale went well. Love your blog Mary !!!
My hair is the color of Angel’s…and I love it…my grandma and mom both had beautiful white hair..I am so lucky.
Glad your sale went so well. We are just losing the last of our snow in west central MN. I have white hair inherited from my mom and grandpa. I do like it.
I am so glad it was a great success.
I look forward to your posts. I don’t comment on everyone, but enjoy them all and the comments.
S
Wish I could have been there, looks like a fun sale. I’m looking at new machines so my pennies are being saved to make this investment. My Viking has been having issues which causes frustration. So far I’ve looked at Janome, Elna, Baby Lock. Big decision so I’m doing a lot of research.
We had snow today, waiting for better weather. It was good that you had sunshine for the sale,
Hope your teams win!
Hi Dianna, I would love to hear what you buy and why. I am thinking about trading up my Bernina 750 for a Bernina 880. Not sure. I really do like my 750.
Thanks.😀
The Bernina dealer isn’t too far away but I want to buy locally since the 2 shops that I looked at are ones I frequently stop at.
It might take me a few weeks to make up my mind. 🙂
I’m using my Juki and Featherweight to keep me busy.
Glad to hear your sale went well. Wish I could have come but a bit to far from CA. I would have been happy to send you some of our 80 degree weather. Love the doggy guests.
I’m so glad it was a big success! Sorry it was such a cold weekend. Here where I live in Texas, it was almost 90 today!
Glad the sale went well. Your hair is a nice color in the pictures. It may get whiter as time goes on. My mom one day said , “I think my hair is getting whiter.” She was 90. I can’t tell what color mine will be. I only have a few strands now. Neither Mom nor Dad turned gray very early so I’m right on schedule.
Sorry you are so far away that I couldn’t make the sale.
Mary, considering all you’ve been through this last couple months…you looked great!
It must be friends that makes your heart happy.
I wish I could have been at the sale. Congratulations on yours and Connie’s success.
Jo in Wyoming – thank you, Jo! It has been a great 40 years!
I’m so glad your sale was a success. Wish I could have come, so many wonderful things.
Congrats on the sale. There were so many interesting looking things in the sneak peak photo. Probably a good thing I live too far away! Your hair is very pretty. I want the rest of mine to go silver, but I still have a lot of iron gray in the back. Oh well haha
Glad to see the sale was a success. We had snow in SE Wisconsin today! Celebrated my youngest grandson’s 3rd birthday today. Finished two projects this morning that just needed binding! Feels good to finish!!
Oh, what fun your sale must have been! I wish I could have attended and bought a treasure or two! Rest up next week. Aren’t the basketball 🏀 games so enjoyable? I can’t miss any of them. It’s March madness😃 oh, your blog is the best.
Mary, when it gets really cold, we put on more clothes. The wind might stop me from going somewhere, but never the cold unless below zero, and that is just common sense.
With all the people you have met at the store and the blog, I was betting they would all be there for opening and clean you out in minutes, even if they didn’t need it. As many of us who couldn’t come, we just knew lots of others would.
I love the “ceiling” in Connie”s kitchen. It is a perfect place to hang the military pictures.
Tomorrow is closing day for Terry Peak Ski Slope near Lead. Today they had a party! The main game was skiing or snowboarding down a slope over/thru a man made pond of COLD water hopefully to have enough momentum to make it out of the water on to the snow on the other side and not get dunked. Needless to say, everybody had a great time. The TV station was there for lots of videos. I bet if you went into the KOTA TV news site in Rapid City, SD that you could see their report. Well worth the joy and fun.
Take care. At least you don’t have much to take home. Enjoy your ball games.
Betty in Rapid City
Hi Mary, my sister has hair the same color as yours, champagne blonde the hairdresser called it! Mine is just salt and pepper! Glad the sale went well, take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
While you were having your sale we were having ours. A friend decide she wanted to have a charity fabric garage sale, about 4 others joined her. We set up tables and had all the fabric, precuts, yardage, kits and books, patterns and ruler. The proceeds was going to be divided between 3 locals, the police dept, for toys when they go on demistic calls and have to remove the children. a police officer who uses her own money to buy personal items for nursing home patrons and the women’s battered shelter. It when so well, we are going to have another one in Sept, so monies will be available to them again close to the holidays.
We also had a donation jar for people who didn’t buy anything, or asked if we could round up their purchase total, all agreed. Tired but filled with graditude.
Marie, what a wonderful idea to help out your community. I am sure the recipients of your sewing sale items are just as grateful as a warm hug a finished quilt brings to any human. I love hearing stories of such caring people who share their compassion with those less fortunate. Thank you for commenting on your weekend sale.
Marie, I love this idea, too. Got my brain working. Thanks!
I’m so glad your sale was a success. The weather doesn’t always cooperate with us but that couldn’t stop the quilters going to a sale! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
It looked like an amazing event! It was fun seeing pictures of Angel and Penny, too; they are so cute. Too bad it was so cold; but apparently, the weather did not keep shoppers away. Thanks for the post. 🥰
Hi Mary,
Now that’s a sale! I couldn’t be there (and couldn’t have got all the stuff I would have bought back to Europe even if I had been there!) but I really enjoyed zooming in on all the pictures and looking at the treasures on offer. What a lot of work you and Connie put in to prepare! All those fabric packages! I am sure all your customers went thrilled and happy back home. Love the photo with Angel, so nice to see her so happy in her forever home. It has been cold here too – we got a load of snow om March 31st and it didn’t melt until yesterday. Sunny today but still below zero. All the daffodils are looking a little chilled!
I loved every minute of spending time with you and Connie and watching everyone buying all that great fabric and “stuff.” So glad I could help you this weekend.
The picture of you and Angel is a treasure. I’m going to have it framed. She adores you and I think she knows you’re the reason she’s found her forever home with us. If you hadn’t been so persistent. We would have never gone to the shelter to look at her.
Your sale was great and I was able to get many treasures. I spent most of the day yesterday ironing and then sorting all the fabric into color families. I’m absolutely thrilled with the white sewing cabinet that matches my Koala cabinets. I put my AccuQuilt Go machine and dies in it and rolled it under the sewing center. I’m can’t believe my good luck. Amy’s name was on the price tag – so thank you Amy (whoever you are) for putting that sewing cabinet on the sale.😁
Hi Gloria,
Just wanted to say how wonderful it is to see Angel looking so happy and healthy. Bless you for giving her a loving forever home!
I wish I lived close enough to have attended the sale. I would have introduced myself to you! I don’t comment that often but I want you to know I check your blog everyday and enjoy reading it so much. I read all the comments too!!!
Glad you had a wonderful sale. The weather was brutal but quilters are a strong bunch!
What a great day you guys had! Whatever the temperature…friendship warms the heart!
I am glad that your sale was so successful! I toyed with the idea of driving up on Friday, but later decided against it. I should be downsiizing my own stuff and not bringing more home! I love the color of your hair just the way it is! Maybe it will turn white when you are older. My mom’s hair was like that only hers (like mine) was auburn. I am playing my violin in church this morning so I’d better get moving!
Mary, I hope you are thawed out by now. We’ve had more frigid weather as well but hopefully next week will be better.
II have your color hair, I never know what color it is. At home with my lights it still looks blondish, in bright sunlight it looks more grayish with a blond cast. When I cut some off it looks more tan/gray. My older sister got the beautiful clear white hair after she quit coloring and my younger sister’s is more salt and pepper white after being a blond all her life. I guess God likes us the way he wants! Linda
Your post Mary just warmed my heart seeing the doggies who visited you. So nice to see both dogs who have been in our blog reading with you. Nice we could see them too! I wish more readers would add in their comments where they live as I like to associate areas from the traveling we have done in our motor home. I have learned there are several from NY who read your blog faithfully and feel connected to my sewing sistas.
I read your blog every morning and wish I had been able to get to your sale but upstate NY is a bit too far. Please continue to share with us!
I was reading today that a lot of chickens will have to be destroyed in Iowa because of a bird flu epidemic. I immediately thought of you. Hope your birds are safe. It would be heartbreaking to have to lose your chickens. Hoping for the best for all of you.
I am still envious not that I NEEDED anything the comradeship would have been enough. Someone on Facebook asked how many of us got comments on our report cards “talks too much”. You wouldn’t believe how many. I guess that is why we keep in touch on Facebook. These are folks that I went to school with over 50 years ago and when we showed up at the reunion we were from all over but felt we were neighbors. A good thing about Facebook
Mary, I love the picture of you and Angel! You are a very pretty gal and your hair color is perfect for you.
What a lovely time everyone had. It looked so organized, you know hundreds more of us would have loved to be there. So glad it went well. Love seeing all the puppies snd see how they were. I look forward to hearing all about your ideas and quilts, wishing you and Rick the best. Praying for his healing..Thanks for all your encouragement you give us too.
Margaret
So glad your sale went so well. What a relief to have it done as it is a lot of work to prepare. Hopefully it made a dent in the accumulation. I too have been purging. After retiring 11 years ago from teaching and moving 6 years ago, I was ready to thin out my closet. I am still in the process but making progress slowly. I still think of your death cleaning a few years ago and it encourages me to persevere.
Here’s my comment. Wish I could have seen the whole sale. Texas was beautiful yesterday but everyone’s allergies are bad. Thanks for enduring the cold cold weather. Just wanted you to know I was thinking about you and Connie and other helpers. I know you are at church and I m off for there now. Love Nancy W.
Hi Mary – Whew! what a weekend jammed packed with memories for both you and Connie. I appreciated seeing the pictures. Not the same as being there but still fun to see.
I always love reading your blog and I don’t often comment. I am here in middle Georgia where all the flowers are blooming and the pollen count is enormous. I would have loved to visit you and to have bought something to remind me of you. I can’t travel anymore and pretty much stay at home, but I love visiting with you every day!
My name is Carol from Indiana. I have learned so much from reading your site. Such things thing small and simple, getting a project done, cost factor of small verses big, straight line quilting and not stitching in the ditch that draws attention to my not perfectly matched points. I swear on rainy spring days I’m going to get my bulls eye quilt done. I was too far away to come to your garage sale as I just home from South Carolina.
I love reading about your adventures! I guess I should be happy that I don’t live closer with all that eye candy you had for sale, although it would have been nice to meet you girls in person. I need to purge while I am still able to work on it. The nice thing about purging, is there are others who will be happy to give your “stuff” a new home. Your hair is really pretty! Mine is somewhere between yours and Angel’s. How about March Madness? Wow, nail biters for sure!
So glad to hear you had a successful sale!! Gosh, I wish I could have attended! I bet folks went away with some real treasures!
I spent the weekend in Estes–second weekend in a row. This time it was just me and the pups and a good book. If I stay home, I do not know how to just put my feet up and relax–thanks, Mom!!! I could do that at the cabin. I went into Rocky Mountain National Park early this morning, hoping to spot some moose. No moose, but I did see elk and deer. I can’t wait til spring when Trail Ridge Road is open and I can get up high to see marmot and pika. I am so fortunate to have the park in my backyard. I came back down through Estes and did a quick hike at an open space area in town that had the ruins of a wonderful stone bungalow from the very early 1900s. I just love Colorado history!
Diane from CO -love hearing about your trips with the dogs- sounds so fun!
They love to go! I’m not sure if it’s familiar smells or if she knows the twists and turns in the road, but Skyler knows when we are almost there (same when we go to my son’s house!). She starts crying and carrying on as soon as we turn off the main road and into the “neighborhood”. She gets so excited!!!
My son lives in Iowa. We live in Texas. When he has Sally our grand dog with him she starts whining as soon as he gets off the tollway several miles from our house. When I’m around l, she ignores him as I’m her favorite person. Dogs know the area I think by smells.
My friend and I had a great time on Friday morning. We hit two quilt shops on the way home (Sibley, IA)
Forest City and Estherville. Had lunch at Softail Saloon in Superior. I’m the one with the two rescued Pyrenees/Akbash puppies from Texas.
Thanks for having the sale-I know sales are a lot of work.
Congrats on a very successful sale and “ cleaning out”. It must have been so much fun to see so many friends and to have so many helpers. That’s great. I was sorry to miss it, but just too far away.
Your hair is very pretty, Mary. Mine is still brown and I’m almost 72!
The pups are adorable😀
Mary and Connie, Congratulations on a successful sale. And thank you for the before photos of the items for sale. Good luck Connie on your move. May it go as smoothly as possible.
Congrats on the successful sale. Thanks for updating those of us who couldn’t attend. Oh what fun it would have been to be there. It looks like other than being cold it was fun and dogs were snuggled and people visited with.
I’ve enjoyed all the comments. Your hair is very pretty Mary. Mine started turning gray in my twenties. Somewhere down the line, my mother (who never turned gray) said to me “I wish you would color your hair, you make me look old”. Oh well, you can’t win them all.
I was at the very back of the line in that first photo. I parked in the church lot about 8:50 AM and saw a gentleman taking a photo of the long line of women waiting for 9:00 AM. Apparently I said, “Holy crap” and the guy laughed at me and said ‘exactly’. At first glance inside the garage, I saw an old stool, a narrow bench, and painted chair. I didn’t even get any further inside, I just quickly picked up, paid for and left the craziness within 5 minutes of the start. And, the best part, Stan was able to fix the ‘wonky’ of each item and by Friday evening each treasure found a new spot in our home. Thanks to both of you for sharing your treasures. And really, I’m not surprised you had so many fans and such success!
HiMary – I’m really glad the sale went well! Looks like there were some great things. I spent the weekend in agony – suffering from sciatica- it’s still not better but I can’t get into my spine doctor until the 14th. I’ll try to hang in there until then. I hope you enjoyed the basketball – all of the teams we were rooting for were eliminated before the final.
I wish I lived closer. It was my kind of sale!
Had a great time!!! Thanks for all you do!