Meeting the Petticoats

Today my friend Janie and I met up in Big Spring. She knows all the small haunts there and seems as we walked in that everyone knows her as several of them spoke to her as she walked in...she's a “regular”you see. She is what I call a “swooper”, where she just swoops in, picks out a few things quickly, and is ready to go. I'm more of a browser, needing a little more time to find things, take everything in, decide whether or not to make a purchase and then move on. So far in our shopping we have not really found anything we both wanted at the same time, although I have liked much of what she purchased and she mine. After a few stores in town we headed out to a little antique store in the country. The shop owner is a bit older and truthfully I gotta say, not much of a housekeeper. There were dust and cobwebs everywhere, but we managed to find a few treasures anyway. My favorite find of the day was a Robin's egg blue rearing horse. He's about 10-12” tall. His glaze was crackled and he had a crack or two, but he was really a great color and just sharp looking.

 I also purchased several jewelry scatter pins and one owl necklace. The pins included two poodles (another favorite thing of mine), a tiny colt, and an artists palette. (In the attached photo the two owls on the outside I recently found and purchased on Etsy...so cute. I wore one today and it looked so perfect with my outfit. Owls, are a new favorite.)

 My friend made some good purchases at this antique store as well.

Then we headed off the Colorado City to meet several of the gals, better known as the Petticoats on the Prairie. There are about 8 of them; I lunched with five of them today, two of which I already knew. It was great meeting other women who love vintage and “junk” as they call it, as much as I do. They are planning a show in another town in a month or so and there was lots of chatter about that. Several of them are also planning a “picnic” at the Roundtop/Warrenton Market in late March. That will be great fun. I am planning to attend and hope to arrive early enough to be a part of the assembly line to prepare sandwiches etc., for the picnic. There's a chance I may stay there too instead of driving back home that evening, but we'll see about that. Lunch was a great ham and spinach quiche, garden salad with Balsamic vinegar dressing and homemade vegetable soup. The other girls had chicken salad sandwiches and other fresh salads. Very neat little place for very tiny little town. Anyway, after lunch the rest of the afternoon was spent taking in a couple of other antique shops in CC where I found a stoneware vase and two elephants. My friend also gave me a biscuit jar that was in her mother's shop that she just no longer wanted.

 She is closing up her booth in this shop and it was something I thought was pretty. After a trip to the Sonic for drinks we headed back to the west to head home. It was a great day. Meeting her friends and seeing their shops was such a treat. All have great ideas, and are very creative women. It was fun to be a part of such a fabulous group of gals.