'Bout Time!

Where does the time go? Summer is half over already and I'm getting behind on posting pictures.

Here are some visitors who always have a lot of fun at Wellers! Diane Rait and her granddaughter, Kailey, like to spend time shopping together in the store. They have a ball looking at all the vintage items and they always bring home something wonderful.



Here they are trying on hats and they both look gorgeous!


Kailey finally decided on the 1920s cloche pictured in one of the previous posts. (As you can see, she really looked great in all of the hats.)

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Expanded Exhibit at the Rural Historical Society Museum

The Rural Historical Society Museum continues to be open to the public every Wednesday and Sunday from 1 to 3 PM. Docents are available to speak with visitors and answer questions. The Museum shows and tells of the settlement and development of the Village of Rural.


At this time the Museum features an exhibit on Margaret Ashmun, her life and her work. Miss Ashmun is probably the most published author ever to come from the Waupaca area. She has over 24 novels and textbooks to her credit. She was born in the Village of Rural and she used the area as a setting for a number of her novels. Early in her career she was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The entire Village of Rural is on the National Register of Historic Places and is often cited as one of the few examples of an early Yankee village in the Midwest. One may view photos and learn the history at the Museum and then walk the village streets and see many of the original houses and the bridges over the Crystal River. Guided tours are occasionally possible on request by calling 715-258-0973. Rural is located south of Waupaca just off highway 22 - about 4 miles from highway 10. The Museum is on Main Street.

(Helen Robinson)

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

I'm Big on Bob!

Banana Bob, that is!

I recently acquired some lovely Banana Bob jewelry findings and have packaged up quite a few for the store. This line of jewelry was sold in high-end shops during the 1980s and the company has since gone out of business. I was very lucky to find a treasure trove of Banana Bob and other findings.

This is just a tiny sampling...



Also some excellent cameos and other little lovelies like beads, connectors, drops, cabs, settings and more. Here are a couple that I haven't packaged yet...


Over the years I've accumulated an extensive stash of vintage findings. Some from as far back as the '30s and '40s. I've been making room for all kids of jewelry goodies at Wellers so drop in and take a peek!

Stay cool!

Colorado Studio Retreat Alert!!

This looks like a really GREAT retreat! Everyone who has taken KC Willis' on-line workshops has just raved about them! Check out the details here - KC Willis Studio Retreats.

Visit KC Willis Studio Retreats

Missin' My Pop

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

I was so blessed to have my father in my life and I miss him a lot since he's left this Earth for his home in Heaven.

His resting place in Windber, PA

What a cute kid he was!

From a 1955 family portrait

Pop and me in Dublin, Ireland

Lakes of Killarney 1971

Me and my Pop having a few laughs - Chicago, IL

Mom took this photo of Pop in NYC when they were on their honeymoon in 1948. (He was 22 years old - same age my daughter is now.)

Weller Wednesday

Here are some of the visitors we welcomed at Wellers this past week...


Gloria Mihna from Medina came cruising through Rural in her beautiful 1959 Chevrolet Impala! You can pack a lot of great things in a convertible on a nice day.

Isabelle, Jolene and Tony - New London, WI and Shelby - Strum, WI

Janele, Mark & Jimmy Etten - Chetek

Judy Stuebs (Rural) brought her mother, Evelyn Anthes, and her cousin, Nancy Zupan to the Weller Store for some fun shopping.

Kathy and John Lancour from Albertville, WI are taking a little mid-week vacation at the Crystal River Inn in Rural. They spotted the 3-legged apple ladder out front and had to check it out.

Nancy Zupan and cousin, Judy Stuebs had so much fun down in the Junque Shoppe!

These two couples enjoyed browsing the store together one day this past week.

Sharon Heschke (Larsen, WI) and Sharlene Boutwell (Neenah, WI)

Susan Burns poses in front of the store after loading her purchases in her vehicle.

The Gramlings - Kiel, WI - explore the Junque Shoppe at Wellers

Tim Lemke spent some time in the store with nephews Jacob and Mason Johnson. Tim just brought us his very nice (and extensive) collection of vintage straight razors - come on in to see them if you're in town! Tim's collection includes razors, strops, sharpeners, boxes and a Cudahy packing Company grocer's knife and all are available for sale now at Wellers.
Send me an email at: info@wellerstore.com if you're not local and would like some information about the items in this collection.

A smiling Waupaca girl stands in front of the wonderful vintage blackboard she found in the collectible toy room we opened recently.

Random Items At Wellers

I thought it would be fun to take some random merchandise photos so you can see the wide range of items we have in the Weller Store.


This is just one of the vintage needlecases (with needles) that lives down in the Junque Shoppe At Wellers. We try to keep a variety of old papers and ephemera on hand.

One of our consignors, Barb Akers, just brought in this very beautiful lamp over the weekend. SOLD!

It's really hard for me not to keep all the pretty linens at home! This is my current favorite in the store.

In addition to the printed flour sacks, we also have the plain ones as well as some sugar, rice, and feed sacks. A few large, heavy printed feed sacks came in after this photo was taken.

We have several of these wonderful old electric fans. I just love this small one! Looks like something out of a 1940s movie detective's office.


More ephemera in the form of dairy caps. We have quite a large selection down in the Junque Shoppe. We also have pint, quart and half-gallon milk bottles.

There are bowls and crocks galore - this one is my personal favorite.

We like crates here! Apple crates, egg crates, soda crates, fruit crates. Don't you just love the graphics on the labels?


Another denizen of the Junque Shoppe! I saw this and thought "planter!" What do you see? The great thing about items in the Junque Shoppe is that you can let your imagination go wild. SOLD

Hats Are Back!

Is it just me or are women starting to wear more hats again? I've been noticing more and more hats lately - especially in church on Sundays.

When I was a little girl, I often wished I was big enough to wear hats to church like my mom did. Oh, sure, I had my new Easter outfit every year, complete with hat and matching handbag, but it just wasn't the same as those sexy little hats with feathers and nets or the wide brimmed hats with ribbons and flowers. I remember being fascinated by the process of making hats, too. My mother and her friends would gather together some afternoons with all their millinery forms and flowers and make the most beautiful hats. If I was lucky there were scraps that I could glue together for my dolly.





As you might imagine, I have a weakness for lovely hats and can't help myself when I come across some nice vintage specimens. Expect Wellers to always have at least a small selection of vintage millinery and accessories on hand.

What's New At Wellers?

Oh, lots of vintage and primitive items have come into the store in the past week! Here is just a sampling...




Splish, splash! Can you imagine taking a bath in one of these? No wonder they only took one bath a week (year?) back in the good old days!


Aren't these just beautiful pulley wheels? They would look smashing with a little oil finish!



We have also received a nice apple ladder, primitive tree planter, potato planters, nail keg, wooden barrels, crocks, a large selection of zinc canning lids, and so much more!