Coming Up for Air

Hello, fellow bloggers and readers!   I'm taking this chance to come up for air before my next round of projects kick into gear, and to catch you up on recent adventures of Panoply.  Seems we've been awfully busy hunting & gathering with some better-than-usual estate events these past couple of months.  Sisters M&J just got back from a whirlwind trip to the northeastern area of North Carolina, where they worked hard, assisting J's daughter-in-law and parents with sorting generations of 'stuff' tucked away in a garage on the family's property.  They left early, last Wednesday morning, and returned Friday evening.  What they accomplished in between makes me tired just to think about it.  I had family and home obligations during that time, so I didn't go, but it's a good thing- it left more room to haul stuff back.

The crew involved three generations:  parents, children and grandchildren.  The tools of choice were a golf cart and a Kubota all-terrain vehicle to navigate the property's acreage without having to drive on and off the main road to enable accessing and carting the loot from garage to house for initial sorting.   Sorting became an organization task, separating the boxes as: 1) picks for resale, 2) yard sale designation, or for 3) personal retention.  Sister M took her Rav4, and they were loaded to nearly max capacity upon returning to WV when the trip's task was complete just 60 hours later.  The total job is not finished, but this was a really good push to make a dent in the family's project.

I joined M&J Saturday morning for what ended up being a twelve hour day to sort all of this:

Additionally, there were large items along the floor in the foreground (not pictured).  We had a system going:  M and J alternated unwrapping everything and making a first pass at cleaning items in the washtub just behind these tables.  I was in the area to the top and right of this frame, on the computer, listing and indicating for each of us.  There were a couple of neat collections among all the stuff, like this array of shaving mugs (with some glass mixed in this photo below):

Twelve hours later (72 for M&J), we'd managed to shift stuff from one set of boxes to three distinct piles of boxes.  For the record, my husband thinks we're crazy, but enjoys seeing us happy and having a good time together on our ventures.  This was my designated pile:

Sunday, I spent another eight hours (two with M&J to go through the linens received), and six unpacking my stuff, and cleaning what hadn't been cleaned. 

I started soaking linens while unpacking these goodies:  

I brought home a nice set of glasses with a 'C' monogram (nice coincidence that one of the family's surnames begins with the same initial as mine), a wonderfully large brown transferware tureen and underplate, Noritake china service for six + additionals, and Nippon blue & white china, including serving bowl with lid.  The lid to the tureen may show up on a subsequent treasure hunt, but for now I can think of several other ways to use it besides its intended purpose. 

Yesterday I finished resorting all of my stuff, cataloging what's in each box, and the linens are clean and folded (another five hours, totaling 25 hours for my involvement alone).  Everything's now ready to get ready for resale, lol, which will entail pressing linens, tagging and pricing items, and carting them to our antique mall booth space for styling (do you think we're crazy like my husband does, lol?).  M&J each have their own stashes to do the same with.  How fast and by what method each of us operates is as individual as we are.  We do, however, collectively & cohesively style our space vignettes from each, to achieve an overall complemented look.  And, of course, how fast it sells is almost totally out of our control.  One thing's for certain:  we're better at hunting & gathering than we are at eliminating (we tend to indulge in long periods of fostering finds before letting go).

J's gone back to OH, and sister M and I have plans to reset the store very soon, starting with a couple of large furniture items recently acquired.  We plan to break down a couple vignettes, relegating some smalls for an upcoming community yard sale in September, and bringing in some of these recent finds.  Hopefully, I'll have photos of all that by next week.

August....yes, August, is THIS week!  And with the last few days of break in the weather temperatures and humidity, it actually feels a little more like Fall here!  This October my younger daughter is getting married, and I've been gathering vintage items for that for over a year.  Next week family will be hosting a shower for her, and we've decided to have it at my house, mostly for ease of parking.  Somewhere in between I'll be forced to move a large portion of my guest room furniture and my basement boxes of vintage and antique items to allow plumbers access for some updates being planned.  

Never a dull moment, but hopefully some breaks in between to come up for air.  I thought summer was supposed to be lazy!  Are you taking in deep breaths with all your activities?