99th Post, Goodies & Sunny Pix

Business first................ this is my 99th post!! If you read my last post, you know I'm having a drawing to give away a goodie pack in thanks for your support! Just leave a comment on this post (or the 98th one, or the 100th one when I do that.....) and I'll enter you into the drawing. Mention it in your blog and link back to mine and I'll enter you AGAIN. What will you win? I promised a picture, and I've finally gotten most of the goodies together, so here it is.

There are 20 pieces of fancy fabrics; nice quality and clean. Mostly new and pressed as well. I'll include a little info with the packet to explain what's what........ And then there's the lace (mostly vintage), some paisley lace (new), a cross-stitched rose motif, a piece of sequined fabric to "raid", some hankie corners for incorporating into your work, thread and trims. THERE WILL BE MORE. When the winner is selected, I'll add additional things to tailor it to your particular tastes and interests. If you do collage, I can add some ephemera, jewelry bits, feathers, wallpaper samples. If you are a sane quilter, I've got loads of yummy cottons. If you embroider, we can go heavier on the threads - metallics, silks, whatever. OK???? :-)

I've got still more pictures from our vacation in Arizona. Take heart, LOL, this is *almost* the end!!! :-) The shop I'm showing you today is one of my favorites ONLY because of its exterior. It's a cowboy shop and gallery (complete with old-time cowboy music) and its wares are just "not my thing". But, oh the courtyard! It's another of those combination shop and residences, although instead of being in one building, the courtyard separates the two and also provides a walkway for people crossing from one street to another.

It's called the Graham Bell Gallery, and as you approach the entrance from the lower street, this is at the foot of a stairway that takes you up to the courtyard..... That's a dummy in the vintage truck, but I always do a double take! In fact, the dummy (there's probably a more politically correct term for that..... life-sized doll?) is switched out with several others that move around from the house front porch, to the shop, to the courtyard benches, etc....

Inside the walled courtyard is a wonderful bubbling fountain. There's a split-rail fence around the imaginatively-landscaped yard. Plant containers and yard art include Talavera pots, a rusty ore cart, old farm machinery, newly-crafted tile and iron benches, wagon wheels, religious statuary and more. There's even a marked grave with a cross for "Sparky" (not pictured), whom I presumed to be a lost FurFriend.....

A potted pine
Cactus and a bench for resting at the upper courtyard entrance.... What a lovely day it was!!!

And a bit of serendipity.......... in the little Tubac Trailer Tether that my BIL owns in Tubac, one of the owners had a "Free Yard Sale" on one of the days we were there. They set out a couple tables of things they wanted to get rid of with a sign that said "Take Whatever You Want - Free!". This is what I found:

An old book (circa 1920's) that I can try my hand at altering, a round little tin full of gold stars, a heart pin and a knife & fork pin. Both of the pins will be great for adding to CQ.. And DH joked that it was worth everything I paid for it, LOL!!!

Hugs,