Thelma and Louise (and Harriet) hit the road again… Part 5, and More Ohio!

Friday morning dawned bright and clear…

we took a quick walk through all the in-process-of-being-set-up booths at Simple Goods, then a quick check and fluffing of our booth and headed out the door…

places to see, things to do!

Our first trip to Ohio, we were off to hit a couple of must-do visits!

An hour-and-a-half later, we arrived at Curry’s Antiques in Lancaster, Ohio for Ginny Curry’s Christmas Open House!

We followed the drive (as directed) up past the main house to a field at the top of the hill…

The view from our parking area was breathtaking!

We had heard so much about Curry’s, excitement was just bubbling up…

We couldn’t wait to walk back down the hill to see everything!

But first, we had to stop and visit with the chickens…

and snap photos of this adorable log shed…

and of course Ginny’s dooryard garden, too!

We headed back down the drive to the shop and outbuildings…

so much to see and take in… so beautiful!

Everywhere we turned there was a beautiful garden…

and creative holiday display…

I just love the way they use apples in their garlands… so pretty & festive!

This sign pretty much spells it out… PINCH ME!!!  Am I really HERE???

It’s funny how weird it feels to have looked at photos for years of a place

and finally

have the opportunity to see it IN PERSON!!!

This fellow was set up outside demonstrating for passers-by…

BUT

we had other things to see first!

After stopping to chat with a couple of friends who had traveled from New York for the festivities and show, we ventured into Curry’s Antiques!

The shop was a delight…

with holiday displays and gorgeous antiques in every nook & cranny!

Absolutely loved this Christmas tree display…  soooooo neat!

Such a pretty bedroom set-up and…

a couple of our favorite people, James Cramer & Jill Peterson were doing book signings of their new book, ‘Tis the Season – Christmas Eve with James Cramer and Jill’s new book, Simple Cooking for a Simple Life (note there are a few of our recipes within those gorgeous pages)!

We love them AND their books!

(Sorry this shot is blurry, but it was hard to get them to sit still!  Oops!)

A beautiful pomander display greeted us in one room~

I loved this pine garland with simple mittens for decoration… so sweet!

Christmas was everywhere~

Back outside, we had a chance to visit with the blacksmith…

Such a nice guy!  He showed us how to make a rose-head nail… so neat!

My cohorts in crime, Doreen & Judy (of Country Plus), headed back up the hill to our truck!

We headed off to our next destination…

passing by this sweet log cabin,

this picturesque church and burial ground,

and we parked in this little field next to an adorable farm, complete with vintage truck in the back yard!  Gotta love Ohio ❤

We could hardly contain ourselves… Miller House Antiques, here we come!

As we walked down the country road, we got a glimpse of a log cabin and a puff of smoke…

ALMOST THERE!

Oooooooooohhh!  So excited, “LOOK!!!”

No words can describe or pictures portray how sweet this place is…

AND

how nice Linda and Ralph Miller are…

we were welcomed in style!

With fiddlers on the shop porch… and lots of food!

It was like walking into a fairy tale!

So sweet~

Great antiques, displays and Christmas goodies everywhere!

The shop was a total delight and the food on the porch was delicious!  Have to keep our energy up, you know!

Next was the Miller’s home… open on this special day, what a treat!

The dooryard garden was so sweet… little special touches everywhere~

Visions of others…

so sweet!

It’s the little touches that warm my heart.

Perfection.

Special things for special folk…

how privileged were we to experience this special place.

Warmth and comfort,

overflowing.

Taking a deep breath, trying to soak it all in…

s l o w l y…

I headed back outside

to see what other little surprises awaited.

Alas, it was time to go…

so much to see, so little time.

BUT

we’ll be back, of that I’m sure.

We took another quick stop at American Traditions Antique Show in Lancaster, Ohio which was organized by Donna & Don Smith of Southern Star Antiques.

Again, we were in such a rush… visiting with dealers we know and love… never took the camera out for photos.  This show was fabulous, lots of great antiques and handmade crafts… a wonderful group of people!

We hit the road again… back to Mount Vernon and Simple Goods~

Here’s that sweet little church again…

an abandoned farmhouse…

and this dilapidated old house, set up on piers and forgotten… saw this on our way, had to stop and take photos on the way home!

Finally, back at Simple Goods for the vendor dinner where Candy & Max outdid themselves, a quick walk around the now-more-completed booths and we were greeted by this atrocity!  Miss Chickie would be mortified by this CHICKEN CHOPPING BLOCK!  Shhhhhhhhh… don’t tell her!  Guess it’s a good thing she didn’t come with us after all.

A few more revisions to our booth on Friday night…

and we were ready for showtime!

Saturday dawned cold and clear… we moved along quickly, getting dressed in our colonial attire (probably takes us a bit longer than the ladies of 1700!) and headed down to the breakfast room where the place was hopping with anxious and excited shoppers and happily stressed vendors.

We had the opportunity to meet new Facebook friends, greet old ones and quite a few customers from all over… WHAT FUN!!!

Then we were off to the show.  Customers were waiting in line outside the main building, warming their hands by the campfire… the excitement was palpable!

A quick walk through the main building, admiring all the booths… finally complete… and we were off to the second building and our own booth.  We buzzed around, getting organized and preparing for the crowd that was sure to come!

I took a walk around our building since everyone was finally set up there as well… beautiful booths, wonderful people!  Such a great atmosphere~

Our next door neighbors~

Sweet Audrey of 1824 Antiques talking with Jenn of Rabbit Hill Primitives… lovely ladies, both of them… Facebook friends we finally got to meet in person!

Another Facebook friend, Lesa Cook of Brier Creek Primitives had this great booth… so fun to meet all these wonderful talented people!

Loved this lady’s jacket!  She was gracious enough to pose for me~

Folk Magazine‘s booth… never had a chance to meet and talk with Ben Ashby, though… another Facebook friend.

Carriage House Lighting has beautiful light fixtures… love them!

Putting on the finishing touches… that cupboard in the back left came home with us!

Stacey Mead (The Goode Wife of Washington County), another Facebook friend on the right in Stephanie Monahan’s booth, Monahan Papers… some of Stephanie’s papers came home with us, too!

Entrance to our booth just before opening~

Kristine Berg Doss and Kris Thomas from A Primitive Place & Country Journal… our neighbors, such sweet ladies!  We met Kristine and Kris at Walker Homestead for one of our 2010 Simple Treasures from the Past – Antiques & Primitive Goods Shows and Kris stopped by to visit us this summer when on a trip east~

Doreen’s beautiful rug she made for Candy & Max, using Candy’s design for the show!

Mickey Bakeman of Primitive Pursuits and Sue Beahm of The Painted Cupboard… great neighbors!

A special surprise we were able to get for the show… yes, it’s POD CORN!!!  We were totally beside ourselves when we found it… pretty scarce around these parts this year!

This is a close-up… so neat!

Once the show opened, this is how it was… busy, busy, busy!  So wonderful, but difficult to get back into the booth to re-stock!

As I mentioned before, our dear friend, Judy Coffey of Country Plus, was helping us out for the show.  Here she is posing with Kristine & Kris and the newest issue of A Primitive Place & Country Journal WITH HER HOUSE ON THE COVER!!!  YES, Judy’s house is featured in this issue… don’t miss it!

More of the crowd!

As the crowd slowed down, we took the opportunity to leave Judy (soon to be known as Harriet) in charge and headed over to the other building (in a horse-drawn wagon!) for a quick run-through.

That’s it folks!

We completed our journey over the next two days, stopping again at Seville Antiques and Bridgewater Primitives before leaving Ohio and heading east.

What fun!  Just wait until we hit the road again!

Fun, food & laughter all the way~

Thelma and Louise hit the road again… Part 3, Ohio!

Maryland and southern Pennsylvania faded into the distance and

WE WERE OFF!

OHIO, here we come!

Let me preface it to say, neither of us had been to Ohio before…

or even western Pennsylvania for that matter.

First, a quick stop in Lancaster County, PA…

You wouldn’t think it would take us long to stop and buy gourds at an Amish gourd farm,

WOULD YOU???

Sure, no time at all!

After a perusal of all the gourds in stock in the showroom, we knew we were in

 DEEP TROUBLE!

There was only one problem…

ALL the gourds were clean and shiny!

Our dear friend, Connie had given us the contact information for this farm through one of her friends.  Low and behold, this fellow was at the farm this very same morning AND

THEY WERE EXPECTING US!

He likes pretty shiny gourds… shyly, we asked,

“Do you have any uncleaned gourds?”

The sweet fellow behind the counter said,  “you want dirty gourds?”

YES!!!!

He took us outside to bins and bins of dirty gourds AND

more boxes and boxes of dirty gourds inside this HUGE barn!

GOURD HEAVEN… a couple of happy campers!

So, with smaller purses, we were off…

OHIO, HERE WE COME!

The hills of western Pennsylvania were beautiful!

BUT, hours and hours later, we were very grateful for the sign

WELCOME TO OHIO!

We were supposed to visit a shop in Alliance, but as it got late and we got a little lost, we called and postponed our visit for the following morning.

Let me tell you, finding a hotel room without a credit card can be a little daunting!

It seems that CASH isn’t accepted at the Holiday Inn Express…

so, in search of a room, we drove 15 miles to a skanky place in Warren, Ohio…

one quick look and we kept on going!

We decided to go on to Alliance and see what we could find there, tired and hungry by this time!

We ran into a little accident along the way, which left us sitting and waiting for a half hour or so… lucky for us, we weren’t involved in it!

Finally, a good night’s sleep at the Comfort Inn in Alliance!

Nothing prepared us for our stop at Bridgewater Primitives!

An unassuming warehouse building with some primitive decor outside

OPENED UP to

ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME PRIMITIVE SHOPS WE HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE TO SHOP!

We were welcomed by Lesa Green and Scott Miller and given the royal tour!  What a great place, fantastic finishes on their primitives with a sprinkling of antiques and other stuff~

A real log wall in the middle of the shop defines the space and atmosphere… you’d never know you were in an industrial building!

Believe it or not, this is the bathroom!  I just love the old tub!

Beautiful things in every corner and reasonable prices!

We were given a tour of their workspace as well… it’s amazing the amount of merchandise they pump out each day!  Talent, talent, talent… and nice people.  They even stopped by to visit us at Simple Goods later in the week.

After picking out some new merchandise for the shop and saying our good-byes, we were off!

Much to our surprise, just down the road, we had to wait for a train crossing (don’t see that back home anymore)!

Seville, here we come!

We were really looking forward to our first visit to Seville Antiques!  So many people told us it was a MUST DO for any country antiques lover…

Again, the exterior was deceiving…

Joyce was wonderful and graciously allowed me to take photographs and gave Doreen a tour of all her back rooms.  What a fabulous collection of country antiques dealers… ALL IN ONE PLACE!

The girls told us the music playing was the gift cd included in the new issue of A Simple Life Magazine which had been delivered that very day!  Of course, we had to buy one since we knew we wouldn’t be able to wait until we arrived home for our own issues.

special things in every booth~

love this cow!

the crewel chair pad really works… ideas, ideas… mind is buzzing!

every corner was a delight~

I LOVE hetchels… saw at least a half dozen in this shop!

Doreen bought this little treasure… sold it, too, at Simple Goods!

flax… linen warp in 3 widths… be still my heart~

Loved the sweet painting on this cutting board, reminded me of my sweet Miss Chickie~

Missed her enough to talk to her on the phone… am I nuts???  Yep.

One of the sweetest baskets I’ve ever seen… wanted to take it home with me in the worst way, but alas… I wasn’t buying for me~

What a treat, what a treat… I know I’ll be back again and again and again!

Our damages were tallied, and new cd in hand, we popped it in and with toe tapping, knee slapping Appalachian tunes to drive by, we headed on to Mount Vernon and Simple Goods!

To be continued…