Hopscotch Designs

… we all do it…

“it was on sale… I actually saved $25!”

“I really do need more sandals… summer’s coming!”

“I’ve haven’t bought anything lately.”

“I don’t have a skirt quite this color.”

“I’m sure I’ll go to a ball some day!?!?”

“I’ll save it as a present for Jenn!”  (Actually the reverse of this is true of a wonderful hand painted cookie jar on Jenn’s mantle that she bought for me but refuses to give me!)

Run into us at a flea market or estate sale and you’ll find Jenn and I are the queen’s of justifying things.  We just can’t resist, can’t help ourselves, can’t walk away without that one perfect, special, unique, one-of-a-kind… bargain!!!

There was a time a few years back when we’d both just moved into bigger houses and could always find space, in fact we actually had space that “needed” to be filled.  Sadly that time has past.  Now if something comes into the house you can pretty much guarantee something is going to have to go out. 

Right stage:  Enter Applecrate…. our salvation.  Over two years ago Debbie and Judy called us to let us know they were moving their antiques and crafts store into a big old barn and had a ton of extra space.  Did we want to rent a booth for our children’s clothing line?  Absolutely! For the clothing line, ummm, well, hmmm, I mean you can’t just put a bunch of clothes in the

middle of an antique store can you.  People won’t even look at the clothes.  Think, think, think.  Maybe if we just scattered a few antiques around the clothes wouldn’t look so out of place?!  I’m guessing you see where this is going…. Now we “have to” buy cute antiques to keep the booth looking cute.  Not only that but we “have to” go estate sale shopping every Friday after we drop the kids off at school.  And, since estate sale shopping requires stamina, we “have to” go to our favorite coffee shop, Cosmos, for breakfast before we get started.  And, last but not least, all that diggin and hunting and “working” means we “have to” have Mexican food for lunch because….. hmmmm….. because…. oh yeah, because they have margaritas there!  LOL!  At this point there’s pretty much nothing we can’t justify in the pursuit of the next great find.

So come check out all of our totally “justifiable” estate sale purchases along with some great “Hopscotch Designs” and other wonderful finds at The Applecrate Country Store - 13277 Highway 8 Business
El Cajon, CA 92021.  (M-F 10am-6pm, Sat. 10am-5pm)

a little peek at Fall 2009

Here’s a peek at those chenille scrap bags I promised–I’m still spring cleaning, even though I have WAY too many other things to do!  Here are pics of a few of the fabrics…

 
Each bag is a treasure trove of 1+ pounds of large 10.5″ square, very useable, very gorgeous fabric scraps from vintage cutter chenilles in a variety of colors and patterns. They are perfect for quilting, applique or any other scrappy projects in the works or scrappy plans waiting in the wings–put on your crafty thinking cap and have some fun!

On a side note, I have to tell you, these scrap bags are so ADDICTIVE!  I love making them–I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to take something we can’t use and send them off to someone who can.  It’s the thrill of purging without filling a trash can–it makes me soooo happy, and I hope the end result makes you all awfully happy too!

Happy New Year, everyone!!

We hope that 2008 ended on a high note for you all…with that in mind for ourselves, Michele and I decided to wrap up 2008 by combining a business trip with a minivacation for us and the kids.  Replenishing our supply of vintage linens for the website and vintage pillowcases for our Megan dresses (watch for them coming soon to the website, so stay tuned…) meant we were headed for our favorite vintage linen supplier’s garage in Santa Barbara.  We headed out Monday morning with 4 kids, 4 tons of luggage, 4 pounds of snickerdoodles and with a 4 hour drive ahead of us.  I’m happy to report that the trip was deemed a success on all fronts–for the kids that meant:

• Fording streams (or playing in the creek at El Capitan Canyon, depending on who you ask), chasing bunnies and chickens, building sandcastles at the beach, getting nauseous from too many turns on the tire swing, a picnic at the park topped off with turtle sightings and feeding the ducks, and 4 pounds of snickerdoodles (snickerdoodles + tire swing could explain aforementioned nausea).

For us that meant:

• Getting all of the vintage linens we needed and then some, plus all of the above, with the possible exception of the tire swing…

  We also managed to fit in Hopscotch’s christmas party at Palazzio in downtown Santa Barbara with all of our “corporate officers”  (we gave them all titles, but now I can’t remember them…but I’m pretty sure that “president of polka dot fabrics” was one of them).  One of the best finds and the biggest surprise on the trip happened on our way home–we hit horrible traffic on late Tuesday afternoon and early evening heading into LA (3 right lanes closed should say it all), so we decided to jump off of the freeway at Santa Monica Blvd. and kill time by grabbing dinner.  We happened upon Cafe 50’s–an amazing fifties style diner that ended up being one of the highlights of the trip.  I was so smitten that I took a few pics with my cel phone (not great pictures, but you’ll get the idea)…

Really good food, great atmosphere, super yummy milkshakes…it had me humming the hokey pokey on my way out!  It was a happy accident that we found it and I look forward to going back next time we head up that way…

Well, it looks like it’s time for me to wrap this up, and I wanted to do that with a wish that 2009 is chock full of happy accidents and good health for all of you and all of us–Happy 2009 and I hope to chat with you often in the new year!