Love My New Camera

I have a BIG problem. Sweet little daughter bought a new camera for me a few weeks ago. Oh! I love it, it is fun to point and click. What color do you think she bought for me? Yep, green! My favorite color. It is nice small so I can put it in my pocket and carry it anywhere. My other camera was so big and heavy, I hated to carry it around unless I knew I was going to use it for sure. So many times I would say, " I wish I had taken my camera with me." Now I have no excuses for not taking it with me all of the time. It has been fun snapping pictures of everthing all around town. The only problem now is___ I down loaded the pictures and put them on the computer today. But where are they?? How do I find them? Tomorrow I will call my son and have him stop by and help me find them.... Hopefully soon I will post some pictures of the Family Christmas party at The Green Pea. Let me just say, we had soooooo much fun. Good evening.

Christmas Dinner

Mr. Pea comes from a very large family and is one of twelve children. In the last decade, his siblings have begun a wonderful tradition where they each take turns hosting a Christmas dinner. We look forward to it every December. This year, it is our turn!

Country Living

I thought it would be fun to host our family dinner inside The Green Pea Boutique. For the last two weeks, I have been rearranging my store and moving furniture around in order to make way for buffet tables and dinner tables and places to sit while grazing on hors d'oeuvres. Yesterday I had a dear friend come by and help me iron table cloths and napkins, then decorate the tables. So much work but we are almost there! Saturday the family will begin rolling into town for our big evening together, church the next morning, then a lunch before they head home.

I am very excited.

Vote for my daughter's living room!

My daughter, Brandy, entered a contest on another blog to win a Restoration Hardware brickmaker's table. Velvet & Linen has teamed up with Mark Sage, the designer for the new Restoration Hardware furniture, to give away three tables (priced at around $1300) for absolutely free! The goal was to prove that this table can look completely different in three different decors.



After over 170 entries were received, my daughter made it to the Top 10! Now it is up to the readers to select the three recipients.

I have shared pictures of my daughter's home before---her sewing room and her guest bedroom that she put together with help from her father. Brandy and her husband love to travel abroad and she has decorated their living space with items she "dragged home on the plane." I think it reflects their lifestyle well!

My daughter riding out in the Sahara Desert. She does not get this sense of adventure from Mom.

Here's the link to the poll. Will you please vote for "Brandy O"? I will be sure to post pictures if she wins that table!

A Few New Treasures

Sweet little chopping block island with storage shelf at the bottom.


I really like this Vintage coffee table I painted black. I like the height of this table.



A very carved Vintage marble topped coffee table painted black of course!



My beautiful green bedroom set that I bought from my friend Janice, it was her mother's and Janice turned 85 years old this past March. I love you Janice, you are a Dear Friend..



This is the lovely dresser, chair, mirror and headboard. The night stand and tallboy are not pictured. The set sold in just a few days. So many customers commented on how pretty they thought it was. I was really in love with it too! Not everyone has the room for a set with so many pieces, so I priced it separately or as a set. I was happy that it was sold as a set. After all of those years together I did not want to see it separated. Silly I know!!

Barney's Work Day at The Green Pea

Hey Mom, do you have a little time to play ball with me? I am a little bored.


I think I will take a short nap. If someone comes in will you keep your voices down? I am so tired.


I think that it would be nice if I had a pillow or even better a soft new bed, this floor smashes my head.



Wish it was closing time, there is nothing for me to do and I miss my friend Logan. I want to play and all Mom does is work, talk, talk, talk and help customers.



I have just been promoted and this is my very own chair. I am now the store greeter and wear my tie to look professional. I can hardly keep the smile off of my face. How do you think I look?

My New Day Bed and Quilt

This is the iron double bed I bought this past summer. I can just see it in someones sun room.



I purchased two beautiful quilts this summer and this is the second one. It is about 80 years old and is so beautiful. The picture does not do it justice. The first quilt I put on one of my beds because I was having a Open House and it sold the first day. Oh! I really wanted it for myself too.



One nice feature about a double day bed it that you do not have to remove the pillows to take a little nap.


There are so many tiny stitches and this quilt feels so nice to the touch.



This iron bed is unique in that booth ends are the same height. It is painted a light grey and has a few chippies. The swags are so elegant, I wanted to keep it also but I do not have room for it in my house. I just love the colors in this quilt and think it looks so nice with the bed. I hope you all have a good evening.

The Lion's Club Fall Car Show

Escalon's Lion Club had a very successful Car Show this past Saturday. With over 280 cars entered, food courts, vendor booths, raffles, 50's music and just a lot of fun for family and friends. I think all of the shops and the Cafe were very busy on Main Street. The weather was cooler and we even had a few showers in the morning.




So many cars to look at. It was hard to pick just one car as your favorite, they were all so nice.



It was very nice to have the cars parked on the grass, it made the walking easy on the legs and it was cooler than the heated pavement. Important things when you get older!



The showers seem to clean the air and drop all the dirty dust on the beautiful old cars. Fortunately a few towels and a little elbow grease and they were sparkling clean again. Rain-rain go away! All these little boys want to play!



Here is Madison looking at all of the trophies for the winners in the car show. Madison came to help her Oma for the day at the store. Thank you sweetie for your help. I had a Fall Harvest Open House and it was a busy day for The Green Pea. The Oakdale Art Club had 20 members showing their art work in my store and that was a real treat. Thank you to all of the members for sharing your works. They are a friendly group with a lot to offer their members and the local communities. I was please to hear that they had some new sign ups for membership. A special thanks to Janet, Dorthy and Anita for looking after all of the art work, Friday and Saturday.

Oops! one more pic (blog meeting)

Fun Meeting New Blogging Friends

Last week I was asked by these three lovely blogging ladies to join them for breakfast . I know Miss Jean from In The Garden with Miss Jean and Becky from Sweet Cottage Dreams, but Dawn from Cottage State of Mind was new to all of us. So we met for a wonderful breakfast at the local Waffel Factory. We were all having a good time laughing, telling stories and talking about our families and of course our dogs. It was time for me to open, so we headed to the store for a few more hours of fun. Dawn had made a Pupcake for each of us, they were so cute. It had two 1930's Scotty dog candle holders on the top, she also used a 1930's plates to set the pupcakes on. Dawn found the Scotty dogs and plates in the attic of her 1930's Bungalow home. You can find the directions on how to make the cakes on her blog. She also had a copy of the cover of a 1930's Sunset with a sweet little girl and a Scotty made for each of us. Just for the record both Jean and Becky are the proud owners of Scotty dogs and they are all soooo cute too! Check out their blogs and you will see for yourself. Sweet Becky had a gift for us too, thank you for the cute little note pad, magnet and book marker. The day was so much fun that I hope we have another one soon.



Dawn holding her camera , Miss Jean and Becky holding their Pupcakes, how do you like B's green hat?



Dawn found just the right Fall color tie for her dog Sunny. I bet you look cute Sunny.

Burlap table Cloth

What do you think about covering a few of my display tables with burlap table clothes? I love the texture and color of burlap.

Two Sweeties and New Treasures

These two young ladies Camille and Josie had the sweetest little smiles. I just had to take their pictures. They bought a sign that read: No boys allowed ! for their bedroom. I hope that your brother gets the hint girls......

I have been finding trunks lately. I love them for coffee tables and also for storage of quilts and what ever.

Here are two new flower frogs. I have a collection of my own and I am always looking for unique frogs. I have some made of pottery, wire, iron & glass but my favorites are the wire ones.

Look at these little cuties, they are hand made and painted. They would be nice for the garden, patio and inside the home. They are vintage and in good condition. Just toooo sweet.

My truck was full and I needed to make two trips of treasures, I was lucky this time. It was all from Escalon, all of this from only two sales. I am trying to not buy projects, love to just clean the new treasures and put them in the store right away. Sooooo nice........ Well, I am not showing the truck because it has about 4 projects in there. Most of them are easy except for one dresser that needs painting. Just can not pass a real deal !!!

Meet Barney the store dog

This is my little man Barney all dressed for work. He is the greeter for everyone that comes into the store. You can find him asleep on the job often. but he is never late for work because I will always find him in the back of the truck waiting to leave. I don't think he has missed but about 3 days of work in the last six years. He really enjoys getting dressed in the morning and when I take the tie off he knows it time to go home. Oh! he's just to smart. Well I hope you liked meeting Barney.

Just a few Pix

Here are some of the colorful ties for only the BEST OF THE DOGS to wear to work or play.



This cute little white enamel table with black trim, draw and two pull out leaves was a real looker. It didn't last in the store very long.



These fruit and bottles boxes were a gift to me from a friend that was moving into a smaller home.



Look at this great baby buggy I found in a neighboring town. It is a German buggy with fancy fenders.

Have a nice weekend. Sandi

Dish Towel Quilt

This beautiful red and white quilt was made in just 3 months. It is pieced together by machine and hand quilted. A fabric border and trim was added around the edge.



This quilt was made as a wedding gift. Don't you wish you had a friend like Chris? What a heartfelt wedding gift, one that will last forever.



Meet the lovely maker of this quilt, Chris. She was taking it home to give to her friends. So many hours and hours of hand stitching done with love. Chris, you are a sweet lady!



This how it all started out, just a bundle of dish towels. Wow! who would have guessed? Notice the rows of tiny hand stitches? Thank you Chris for letting me borrow your quilt for a week.
So many of my customers enjoyed looking at your work of art.

Harvest Open House

The Green Pea will be celebrating its first anniversary on September 11th & 12th. please come and say hello and have some refreshments and fun. The Oakvalley Art Society will be displaying their beautiful works of art both days. OVAS was founded in 1999 in Oakdale (our sister city) the members have a commitment to encourage art in Escalon, Oakdale and surrounding communities. Special interest has been devoted to promoting Outreach Programs for Youth. They have sponsored youth awars at both the San Joaquin County Fair and the Stanislaus County Fair. The artists will have their artwork for sale. The store hours will be 11-4 pm Friday and 9-11 pm Saturday.

The Escalon Lions Club will be having their 16th Annual Autumn Cuise on Saturday, September 12, 2009. Main Street will be closed down to hold this event. It starts at 8 am-4 pm with many events: Breakfast available at The Grange Hall, lunch in the Patio Court of The Green Pea, Vendors Show, 50/50 Jackpot Raffle, Raffles and Drawings all day.

Registration Downtown Escalon 8 am-12 noon
Show and Shine 8 am-2pm
Poker Walk 11 am-1pm
Car Judging 12 pm-2pm
Goodie Bag and Dash Plaque to the first 150 entrants
Over 20 separate awards
Free (participants only) raffle ticket with car entry
Cruise Drawing (rules available at the Friday Night Pre-Cruise)
Music and DJ services by Gene Adams
Pre-Registration by mail must be received by August 31, 2009 for more information contact
John Salvin (925) 216-4077 or Bud Andrew (209) 815-5789.

Hope that you can come and join us for a fun time.

Reinventing my Treasures

I have been working on taking some old sewing machines apart so that I can use the treadle for a table base. Since I have a hard time throwing anything away, I made a frame/hanger from the wooden frame that holds the sewing machine. I took the machine out and sold it by itself for $30 I am thinking I can part it out for more than selling all together!



I have two old oak table tops I plan on putting on these bases. My friend had a thick piece of beveled glass cut for her treadle base and made a hall entry table. It was very nice you could see all the details of the treadle through the glass top.



This is a unique double bed frame, the headboard is the same height as the footboard. Do you think it is to wide to make a daybed out of it?



I just love rusty old small wagons! Think of all the fun some kids had playing with this one.
Well, have a Sunday and I am going to have a fun day off. Maybe go for a ride in the country after Church. Blessings, Sandi

Take Time To Smell The Flowers

Well, Tuesday I was delivering a few things to my friend Becky's home ( Sweet Cottage Dreams ) and I was in a hurry as usual. Becky asked if I would like a cup of coffee, since I had only had one cup that morning I said, "yes I would love a cup". I had read Becky's blog the night before and it was about her mother's advice on how to: TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE FLOWER'S. So I did just that, my work would wait for me at the store. We had a wonderful time, we talked shop and eat homemade blueberry-banana bread and fresh fruit with a few cups of coffee. Even her dog Fiona (a pretty Wheaton Scottie) had some watermelon with us!!! She loves it... She walk with us everywhere we went around the house. Fiona was not about to miss one thing that Becky was showing me, if it was a new chair and I touched it she would jump right on it and sit there sooooo cute. She is a character. After 2 hours of talking (seemed like 10 min) I was leaving and Sweet Becky had made a loaf of wonderful bread just for me and Mr. Pea. Weeee enjoyed every piece of it too. I think I need to slow down a little and do more visiting with my friends more often.
Sandi

New Projects

This a beautiful dresser, all it needs is a good cleaning and a linen white paint job. What do you think about changing the hardware? I believe these are original , how would crystal look?



This is the matching head/foot board I plan on painting it too. I think I might use them for a while in my guestroom.



I have for some time wanted to make a bathroom vanity from a nice dresser. I finally found just what I was looking for, one with a bad top. I plan on having a piece of marble cut for the top. I will blog it when I am finished. I will have to get Mr. Pea to customize the drawers for the plumbing. He is still busy with the back part of the building. He should be finished soon, we are hopefully wishing!!!!



Here is the top, the wood is peeling up and the finish is to far gone. Marble will look beautiful on the top and I like that the dresser will have a new purpose. Everything needs a change once in a while.



Now, I absolutely feel in love with this old German WWII ammunition trunk from Italy. The green paint has a wonderful patina. After a little sanding and a clear coat I would like to try it in my family room, as a coffee table or side table between two chairs.

Our Road Trip to the Mission Inn

Jim and I traveled down South for the weekend to celebrate his sister and brother in-laws 60th Anniversary. We had a wonderful time with all of the family there. Here are some of the photos I took of the Inn. It was so beautiful with the many gardens and walking paths. There were several outdoor parties going on, and I also spotted two wedding receptions on the upper level. What a nice place to get married, the Chapel was booked for another wedding so I could not take any pictures of it. Someone there told me that there was a wedding in the Chapel every 2 hours that day.




You can see the new Bride talking to her Flower Girl on the balcony, she was having photos taken.
Here is the Bride waving her veil over the railing.

Here again is another Bride and Groom. I was having so much fun taking photos of their wonderful day. The weather was cool and everyone seem to be having a good time. I did manage to go across the street for a couple of hours and antique before dinner.