Speaking of antiques, I forgot to share the antique wooden tray that my son, Rob, and DIL, Lil, gave me for Mother’s Day.  It is just PERFECT for holding my Scrappy Grandmother’s Flower Garden HEXIE PROJECT IN!  OK….so back to my battery jar…..

Antique Wooden Tray

The previous owner said it was a battery jar from an early MODEL-T FORD and that I should not drop it……LOL.  He said that it was over 100 years old………..I wondered why he was selling it for $10.00.  I don’t REMEMBER the MODEL T, mind you – but I found a picture in case you are wondering what it looked like.

Did it have a GLASS BATTERY CASE?  I have no idea.  The gentleman who sold it to me did not appear to be OLD ENOUGH to have had a Model T – but he seemed to BELIEVE that the battery case that I bought was from a Model T Ford!  I have searched and searched on the internet but cannot find the answer…..so if you know…..PLEASE tell me!

sao's Battery Jar

I actually walked away from it when I first saw it – but then later I went back.  You know how it is when something will not GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD!!!?? So…..I got it and came home to GOOGLE my find.  :)  Could it REALLY be from a Model-T Ford……..I didn’t REALLY think so…..but……

I did find one JUST LIKE THE ONE THAT I BOUGHT on E-Bay for $100.00.  I put the E-Bay picture below.   AND….just for fun, I included a little COPY AND PASTE history of Glass Jars just for your reading pleasure.

Battery Jar on E-Bay - $100

WHAT WILL I DO WITH MINE?  I can envision all of my leftover yarns rolled into colorful little balls filling it!

….here is a COPY AND PASTE Googled about .. The Battery Jar

 http://www.antiquebottles-glass.com/battery-jars/

(Before this morning, I didn’t even KNOW that there used to be BATTERY JARS!  I love it when I learn something new!!!!)

Battery jars are simply a straight sided round or square glass jar which was used to house a conductive solution of either acid or copper sulfate. Several

Samson Jar

different technologies emerged in the 19th century, the most significant of which were (at least from the perspective of the battery jar enthusiast):

• The Planté lead-acid cell of 1859
• The Gravity cell in the 1860s (often referred to as a crow’s foot jar)
• The Leclanché cell in 1866.

Although Thomas Edison patented the solid nickel-iron battery in 1903, there are many Edison wet cell jars in existence as well as Edison battery oil jars. See the Wikipedia page on battery history for more information.

Value of Glass Battery Jars

We are not entirely sure of the nature of the demand – it is probably a combination of collectors who specialize in battery jars as well as enthusiasts of 19th century history and re-enactments. We found some discussion online of battery jars and their use in telegraph (Morse Code). See the figure below showing Civil War re-enactor Robert Feeney with his functional telegraph station complete with two wet cells in battery jars.

Gonda / Leclanche Battery ad from 1896

Check battery jars for sale on ebay

As with all glass items, condition is of utmost importance. Damage in the form of chips or cracks greatly hurts value. Battery jar value also depends on related parts – if you have the lid and “guts” they are far more desirable. It is also important that any metal parts be free of corrosion – if the interior parts are corroded, then adjust your value accordingly.

We have noticed auction prices on ebay mostly between $20 and $60. The large rectangular 20th century jars are often worth in the $20-30 range and earlier 19th century examples can reach beyond $100 if in exceptionally good shape. A Gravity cell with both interior electrodes in remarkable unused (like new) condition recently brought $230 on ebay (June 2010).

http://www.theloopyewe.com/sheri/2012/05/camp-loopy-2012

Today I got my yarn from the LOOPY EWE…..  It is Dream in Color Classy – Mailibu Sail.  This is a perfect color for a baby afghan – and especially since I am SORT OF from California!

You might be wondering how someone could be SORT OF FROM CALIFORNIA.    Even though I spent the first 20 years of my life in Missouri (which theoretically may mean that I am from Kansas City, MO) – I also spent an equal amount of time –  20 years of my life – in California…..so WHERE AM I FROM?  HM…..a little bit of everywhere.   *For the record I have lived in Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Georgia, Washington, California, and Virginia…..so I really am from a little bit of everywhere!

Back to my yarn for the baby blanket….. here it is.

Dream in Color - Classy - Malibu Sail

I love my CAMP LOOPY BADGE and am looking forward to starting my first project May 27th!  I am making the same baby afghan that Judy Laquidara is making.    I chose this because I have a goal to make GREAT-GRANDANGEL baby blankets for my future angels….and since I have 17 grandangels  I need to get started NOW making GREAT GRANDANGEL baby blankets/afghans/quilts!

Here is the CAMP LOOPY CHALLENGE for the first project – we have to choose a pattern designed by someone who is not from our country!  I am making the same baby blanket as Judy Laquidara is (for her first grandchild)  and I have borrowed Judy Laquidara’s picture of the baby blanket…….

The Designer is……….Ingrid Aartun Bøe

Pine Forest Baby Blanket

Tomorrow I will wind the shanks into balls and then I will be ready to get started on May 27!

Have you heard the expression that GOOD THINGS happen in THREES?    Well, I had three happy things happen today.

When I got home tonight I found the LOOPY EWE YARN in my mailbox….so that was ONE HAPPY THING!

ALSO IN MY MAILBOX WAS THIS!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks VOL 5 2012

I won this Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks VOl 5  from Judy Laquidara.  HERE IS A BIG THANK YOU!!!  I am going to take it to bed with me and dream about future creations!

This is a 2nd HAPPY THING.

My 3rd HAPPY THING is this….  my friend Catherine made this for me….in my COLORS!!!  It  can be a multitude of things….a cozy, a coaster……….or……

A MYSTERY PRIZE

…..a thread catcher.  I simply adore it….isn’t it cute?  THANK YOU CATHERINE.  I have been wanting and needing a thread catcher for the longest time and this one is PERFECT!

Actually there is ONE MORE HAPPY THING about today…..I got this picture from my grandangels who are on a camping trip this weekend…… ……I just had to slip in one grandangel commercial…..LOL!  

Grandangels and Friends Camping

Have a happy weekend and I hope that everyone has THREE HAPPY THINGS HAPPEN this weekend…..make that four!

Aren’t these happy colors?  This candy just makes me want to smile.  Has anyone ever eaten this candy?  I don’t think I have – but then I am a chocolate person!

Sweet May Color Palette 2012

At first I thought that I might make a SWEET TREAT QUILT with Judy and her Sweet Treat Quilt Along……but even though I like the quilt I decided that I need to make something unique!  I still want to make the quilt but will use other colors……….I had better hurry and decide because the quilt along clue 2  is expected today – MAY 7!

Sweet Treat Quilt Along designed by Judy Laquidara

I think I will keep with my tradition of combining the FREE MOTION QUILTING CHALLENGE with the COLOR PALETTE CHALLENGE to make my monthly donation quilt to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative…..so I pulled some fabric and this is my project for the week!

May 2012 Color Challenge Fabric

Also on my Design Floor this week is the Free Motion Challenge hosted by Sew Cal Gal!

Leah Day is the featured Free Motion Quilting artist for May, 2012.  When I saw her demo I was really encouraged – it LOOKED pretty doable (I am a very new FMQ student.)  She showed us how to do two pretty cute patterns.

Leah Day's RAILROAD STIPPLING

Leah Day's Double Stippling

So…..I tried it and mine surely isn’t as nice as hers……but here it is!

sao's Double Stippling

sao's Double Stippling

Double Stippling back view

Hop on over to Judy Laquidara’s Blog to see what other quilters have on their design walls this week!

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/05/07/design-wall-monday-may-7-2012/

And speaking of Judy Laquidara (AGAIN) I am so excited because I won the new 100 Blocks Quiltmaker’s Book from Judy….can’t wait to get it! HAPPY DANCE!

Quiltmakers 100 Blocks Vol 5 2012

Ready for some Mexican food?

In case you aren’t familiar with Cinco de Mayo – here is a little exerpt from History.com.  Most people think it is the Mexican Independence Day – but that doesn’t appear to be the case……

Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—commemorates the Mexican army‘s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Cinco de Mayo traditions include parades, mariachi music performances and street festivals in cities and towns across Mexico and the United States.

Even if you don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo – it is always fun to celebrate SOMETHING…..so today is just as good as day as any.  I think that I might also NEED TO CELEBRATE Judy Laquidara’s new free pattern SWEET TREAT  - Judy is hosting a SWEET TREAT QUILT-A-LONG.  She is using the colors of the new May 2012 Color Challenge….doesn’t this look yummy?

Color Challenge May 2012

If you aren’t familiar with the color challenge and want to join in the fun, go visit Judy Laquidara’s  or Vicki Welsh’s blogs.  It is a unique experience to make something – however small – using the colors of the month!

Back to the Quilt-a-long!   If you want to make this quilt,  you can choose your own colors! “WANNA JOIN IN THE FUN?”  If you do, go the link below……the first step is easy!  And the second step will be coming on Monday!

Sweet Treat

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/05/04/sweet-treat-quilt-along/

AND TA DA…that’s not all…..GO TO CAT PATCHES for a CINCO DE MAYO Celebration and GIVEAWAY!  Oh my – what a time for a birthday!

http://catpatches.blogspot.com/2012/05/its-cinco-de-my-obirthday-giveaway

Three Generations of 5K participants

The festivities were perfect – kudos to the planners and volunteers….we even had a DJ and Chris Jones was our announcer!  Here they are with my SIL Greg Epps – the course marshall (I don’t know if that was his title….in fact I just made that up so it probably wasn’t his title – in fact,  I am not even SURE that he had a title!)   I do know that he worked hard on setting the course and taking care of other things.  He held the megaphone and said READY SET GO…..

The Announcer, Greg, and THE DJ!

Thank you to our sponsors!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT – we had a GUEST COW at the RACE – with Mr. Sthreshley!

Mr. S. and the EAT MORE CHIKIN COW!

We had SO MUCH FUN watching some of the students get to put PIES IN THE FACES of some of the teachers and principals!  They bought tickets that were randomly selected to see who got the honor.  OH MY WAS THAT FANTASTIC!  (They were whipped cream pies – so hopefully it was a little bit tasty for the VERY SPECIAL TEACHER/PRINCIPAL volunteers!)  

Mrs. Radtke looks ready…..

Ready for the pie in the face fun!

Do you think that Mrs. Biddle, Mr. Fillman, Mrs. Radtke, and Mr. Herd look calm, cool, and collected?

READY FOR THE PIES?

This has to make you smile!

 

We had the FUN RUN FIRST…….one mile – 8 times around the track!

Ready for the fun run!

Dr. Bechtel came for the fun!

Dr. Bechtel came back to visit!

 

Mr. S. and Mrs. Phillips are ready for another round of PIE IN THE FACE FUN!

 This time Mrs. Little, Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Innes, and Mr. S were the great recipients of the pie-in-the-face fun!

Is this fun or what!!!!

 

I took lots more pictures and I am going to post all of them right here – I hope you enjoy the pictures!!!!

 

Thank you to my grandangel, Cooper, for being my running partner today!

Grandma Shirley's Running Partner - 3rd Grader, Cooper

 

YES  - you did see Mr. Clicker in the pictures…..he did the entire 5K on my shoe!  For those of you who do not know, Mr. Clicker is the little orange and green man on my shoe.  He goes to school with me EVERY DAY……I use his CLICK instead of a BELL.  The students seem to enjoy it –  and they also like the fact that Mr. Clicker speaks French to them.  :)

Several students came up to ask about Mr. Clicker....yes he was there!

TA DA….but I do have a couple of SHOW AND TELLS……

First – here is a project that Grandangel Leanna and I made – a sock monster that she named SHELDON.  It took us one ENTIRE DAY…..but turned out to be pretty cute!  (Sheldon is a character on THE BIG BANG THEORY – I have never seen this, but now I am curious, so I may check it out.   I mean, Sheldon must be funny .. or cool .. or weird to be distinguished as the namesake for this sock monster!!   :))

Here we have pieces of two pairs of socks (ONE was a pair of striped toe socks)

Leanna and Sheldon ... all finished!

It turned out to be really cute but it was NOT EASY and there was SIGNIFICANT RIPPING OUT OF STITCHES GOING ON!!!  I am sort of hoping that Sheldon won’t be requesting any “FRIENDS” in the future!!!

AND my second SHOW AND TELL is my pineapple afghan that I crocheted.  It took TWO YEARS – but I was working on other things as well!  This was what I took to Grandangel Sarah’s Dance Lesson each week – I crocheted for one hour while she danced.  I love how it turned out – it is a pretty shade of baby blue – even though in the picture the PRETTY BABY BLUE looks a tad bit pale! 

This will one day belong to my first Great-Grandangel; however I don’t have any Grandangels who are married yet – so this may be ON HOLD for awhile.  Now I am going to start a pink one. …in case my first Great-Grandangel is a girl.       I KNOW I KNOW…..these colors are sexist…..but it’s my party so I will go with traditional colors!  It was so funny because when some of my California Grandangels were visiting last summer, they were PREDICTING who would have the first baby and get the afghan!  It was interesting for me to easedrop and hear their REASONS for choosing who would be a parent first … and who would NOT BE A CANDIDATE AT ALL!

Baby Afghan - completed April 2012

sao's baby blue pineapple afghan

Unfortunately I didn’t get the binding on Jannae’s art quilt – so THAT is still on my Design Floor too.  Sometimes our best intentions get preempted by other projects that just pop out and demand attention!  :)  AND we all know how much that I LOVE binding.  I do it better when I am with OTHER PEOPLE – so I decided that I would take it to my next VIRGINIA SCRAPPERS GROUP.  OH NO….I can’t go this Saturday because I will be at the FIRST ANNUAL SWIFT CREEK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GATOR 5K.  I am working as a volunteer with the children in the FUN RUN first .. and then I will actually be IN the 5K  (am I crazy or what!?)

Check out what other quilters are doing this week by going to Judy Laquidara’s Blog at Patchworktimes.com!

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/04/23/design-wall-monday-april-23-2012/

AND DO NO FORGET TO VISIT JUDY OF NC’S BLOG TODAY to see her TABLETOP MINI QUILTS!  She is at ShadeTreeQuilting and I put the link below.  I hope I get one of these table top quilting frames for Mother’s Day……hint hint hint.  

http://www.shadetreequilting.com/2012/04/inside-outside-with-table-toppers.html

This TABLE TOPPER MINI QUILT BLOG HOP is sponsored by Madame Samm and started April 16th – you might want to go look at the bloggers who posted before today too!

I wish that I could have taken pictures of everything!  I did take a few and I hope that you enjoy them.  There are some PORTRAITS  that took my breath away – by MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS!

My Grandangel, Leanna, is taking Graphic Arts this year and had two of her projects on display.  One is of Kermit the Frog – and she used only words to make the image.  The second project is a poster that she made  to advertise a Taylor Swift Concert.  She LOVES this class.  I loved seeing ALL of the projects!  Leanna even humored me and let me take a picture of her with her projects!

Congrats to all of the area teachers and students!  ENJOY!

OUTGOING PRES CATHERINE and INCOMING PRES CHERYL begin the celebratory part of the meeting!

The GIFT CARD - brought smiles

The Beach Bag and the Tissue Box brought MORE SMILES

AND THEN THE TEARS OF JOY AND GRATITUDE POURED FORTH…..

Susan produced a tear-jerker masterpiece

GOOD JOB SUSAN

It even has a butterfly – probably one of Catherine’s favorite creatures.  I cannot believe that I didn’t take a picture of the cupcakes that Catherine brought for the festivities.  They were beautiful – decorated with colorful butterflies.

To Catherine - SUSAN UNLEASHED

The BACK has a photo of Catherine's LOST AND FOUND Masterpiece

Catherine also got some wonderful potholders in my favorite colors….red and black.

The Year One Board Members bearing gifts

In TYPICAL GENEROUS CATHERINE STYLE Catherine gave luggage tags to anyone renewing their membership or for anyone joining……WELCOME TO THE FUN ALMA!

Thank you Catherine for the RMQG TAG

Slip your ID Card in here on the back.

We always have IMPRESSIVE SHOW AND TELLS and last night was no exception.

The center of this quilt is from our First Round Robin – WOW – this is beautiful!

Hand Dyed Back

Another STUNNING QUILT from the First Round Robin!

The Shoes with a SPARKLE!

Thank you to my friend Bonnie for making me a STILETTO……she read my mind…..I was just wishing for one.  It is BEAUTIFUl!!!!!

sao's Stiletto

My 8-year-old Grandangel, Cooper, was impressed too and ADMIRED my MINI-SWORD this morning!!!

Cooper Loves The Mini-Sword, Bonnie!

READ THE NEXT POST TO SEE THE SPRING FLOWERS THAT WE MADE AT OUR APRIL RMQG MEETING!!