January 2026

Quilt scrap critters

Painting with thread
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My buddy, Beth, gave me some more quilt scraps!  Yay, because I’m addicted to making hearts, kitties, bunnies, birds, anything from these beautiful remnants.

I’m still working with the old velvet bits and pieces, plus she gave me a bag of silk and cotton quilt scraps too.

Most have all the gorgeousness needed built in, but on others, I add a snippet of lace or embellishments.

The eyes are typically vintage, glass buttons, and the bunny tails are pom poms.

Look at the seamstress’ signature on this one!  What a lovely touch.

On the red silk, I added embroidery of my own and teensy millenary blooms.

The fabric can be tricky to work with, it’s pretty fragile.  I need to touch up some frayed areas with dots of glue here and there.

These are definitely not suited for a child to play with.  They aren’t that kind of stuffy, even though that kitty looks huggable, doesn’t she?

The hardest one to make was this swan, that neck, like kitty tails, isn’t simple to sew and stuff when the material wants to disintegrate while you stuff it.

 This piece of fabric was mostly patchwork, so I needed to add extra stitching to liven her up.  Not that I don’t enjoy doing it, plus these critters keep me awake instead of dozing off in front of the tv at night.  And if I didn’t have so many other things to get done, I’d be making even more of them.

For now, I’m taking a break.  I don’t want to use up all the precious fabric in one big blast.  I’ll save some for later.  But mostly because of my upcoming shoulder surgery   To keep my booth at Good Juju full, I need to tag,  prep, and pack  a couple months worth of inventory in advance.

I’d rather be making bunnies!

A surprising find full of forgotten memories, a coincidence, and a gift from Beth

collections, cottage, paintings
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When I took down the holiday displays, I didn’t change much on my buffet.  Mostly the main pieces stayed as is while Christmas glitz was exchanged for flowers.

 Instead of Shiny Brites, the swan was filled with coffee filter blooms.  I added floral pictures, tucked fake pink flowers and larger coffee filter roses here and there. Sugarwings placed her Lego bouquet into a depression glass parfait cup and we put it on a small pedestal.

That pedestal is actually a lamp base that I’d painted and glued a round mirror onto.  I use it a lot, I feel like it shows off anything you set on it.

The biggest addition is this reclaimed painting.  On a mini thrifting day, I popped into a Topeka flea market, and was attracted to the frame.  I thought it was $12 and figured I could resell it, then noticed my own signature on the bottom!

Yep, this is one that I probably sold at Mission Road Antique mall in Kansas City 20 years ago and it’s made its way to a Topeka mall.  I did not remember this piece of artwork at first, then once I thought about it overnight, it came to me.  I’d painted a number of things in my mom’s hospital room as I sat with her in her last weeks.

This was one of those.

At the register, I discovered it was $42 not 12 and was a tad bit iffy on the purchase, but went for it anyway.  Now I’m glad that I did because it has stirred some precious memories and I think it has earned a spot in my home.

Oh, and at check out I was chatting to the salesperson and told her the story of finding my own painting.  She looked closer at the signature, and told me that she used to buy hand painted Christmas ornaments from me and recognized the name.

As we chatted a bit, I completely forgot that I’d just came from the Medspa and had microneedling done.  And was wearing comfy, pj-ish clothing.  This photo was taken a couple days later so I looked much, much worse that day.  My face was bright red, more like Deadpool.  I have to wonder what she was thinking?

“Poor Karla used to sell artwork and do well, now she has a ravaged face and is finding her art tossed aside to show up at flea markets.”

Maybe not, I enjoyed our talk and I don’t think she was too horrified by my raw face.  And I’m so glad that I found the painting.

Another sweet addition to the buffet is this china frame from Beth.  I haven’t decide what to put in it yet.  A vintage photo?  A picture of my grand fairies? An antique print?

The frame itself is pretty old, you can tell from the back.  I feel like it probably should have something of an equal age, but I might be drawn to the idea of the kiddos framed in it.

A mini makeover in my jewelry corner

Good JuJu, Hand painted
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In February, I will be having rotator cuff surgery.  Knowing that I’ll be one handed and away from my booth for a while is inspiring me to get all of my duckies in a row while I’m still able to work.  One thing I wanted to do is lighten up my jewelry corner for spring.

This is the before, which I like.  The dresser is the ideal size to display my vintage baubles on, and great storage for backups.  But the dark color felt over powering.  Plus I hadn’t bothered to rehang anything above it since selling a few mirrors.   It was looking slightly uncared for.

For a revamp, I mixed up a faded blush pink paint (consisting of deep rose, white, cream, and grey) then primed my dresser.  Between coats of paint and primer, I repainted some darker toned mirrors too.  And a couple of other tidbits around my booth, because the furniture was taking forever to dry.

 I was slapping paint on stuff all Willy Nilly because there wasn’t anything else to do while waiting.

The cedar wall  needed to be a tad more foofy, but I didn’t want to repaint it all, so hung some rose patterned curtains over it.  I’m not sure if they did the trick, but it is a softer look.

This is the black mirror from the before pic, now a creamy tone.  And while I had my paints out, I pinked up the roses above it.

A year ago, when I first moved into this spot, the week of set up was during a bone chilling freeze.  And while the drafty, old warehouse juju is part of is kept warm enough to keep the pipes from bursting, it isn’t exactly toasty inside.

I’d quickly added roses onto the wall, bundled up and left because I was freezing and could barely feel my fingers.  But yesterday, the weather was downright balmy for January and the antique mall was a pleasant place to be.  While killing time waiting for the dresser’s fresh paint to dry, I worked on the roses that I’d felt were too rushed looking.

It is possible that no one but me will notice the difference, but the little changes made me happier.

For now, I’m letting the dresser sit a few days to get good and dry.  It’s a good thing I don’t live closer, because I’m itching to get in there and set up my displays.   Since it’s a 40 minute drive, I can make myself wait and give the pink time to cure.  Isn’t she a pretty color?

Like I said, it isn’t details most shoppers will notice much.  But I think it lightens and brightens the area, which the customers will hopefully feel.

Kicking off the new year with hearts and roses

antiques/junking, Good JuJu
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After and during our December sale at Good Juju I had a brief window of feeling better from my previous illness before catching another.   I had two parties planned that week then needed to redo my booth.  I got it about 90% done with the work, but started feeling icky, so wore a mask and kept going.

Catching this virus, as well as the one in November reminds me of why I push so hard to do my set up early and not wait til the last minute.  You never know what could come up before the sale.  And I feel more comfortable not having that big redo hanging over me.

I was able to finish that last 10% in time, without worries.  It just isn’t in my makeup to be a procrastinator   And it really isn’t from some sort of perfectionism or obsession, it’s from life lessons learned.

 Stuff happens, so I manage my todo list to be prepared just in case.

After set up I was either recovering or having holiday fun, so my days started running together.  When I put away all the trees from my house (it took 8 hours, I kinda took my time and made a day of it) I got out the calendar that I typically keep on the table (it had been put away due to the houseful of twinkles and baubles) and was stunned to see how close our January sale was.

There was a moment of panic, then plain ole relief.  And maybe some minor back slapping, knowing I was ready for take off.

And seriously, what better way to kick off the new year than to be at one of my favorite places with all of those fun vendors and customers?

Not to mention I get to enjoy a whole new holiday.  Valentines!

Yup, my booth is all hearts and flowers, which makes me happy.  Because I’m a pushover for any sort of festive decor.   I love a celebratory theme.

Because my much put off shoulder surgery is finally scheduled for Feb. 18th, I won’t be filling my cottage with hearts like usual.  So I’m going to soak up as much of this theme as I can at Juju.  I’m looking forward to our sale.

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