I Am Trying Not To Lose My Marbles!

Speaking of Fathers and their day...my grandfather had an amazing collection of marbles. Thought you might like to see them...he kept them in a large glass container just as I do. Some of these would be approaching 100 years old.

This is a vintage lithograph that I had framed. I display it above the marble collection. These beautiful posters were used each week to illustrate a Bible verse in children's Sunday School classes.

#1 Grandson separated the marbles into colors for my "photo shoot".

Blues...

Some of my favorite blues...

Greens...and some favorites displayed on an old flower frog.


Love the earthtones...some are Bennington pottery marbles. They were made at the end of the day when all other pottery molds had been filled...the leftover clay was made into marbles. I have some wonderful blue ones also. They are pictured further below.

I really love the oranges and yellows...

Steelys (pictured below) were heavy and the ones used to shoot the others.

Swirls...

Then the infamous sulphide incident...

Quick story...when my son was 4 years old, he came in and said, "There's a chicken in this marble". "Sure there is," I scoffed. "I'll show you," he said. I heard him outside hammering...I thought, "Isn't he something, trying to build something...wait! NO! Not the marble!!!!" Yes, he was trying to get the chicken out of the marble to prove to me there was indeed a white one encased in the glass...I held it up to the light...there that sulphide rooster was...but he wasn't worth nearly as much as he was 5 minutes before.....ugh.

Can you see his outline in the pic above?

Bennington pottery marbles...

Some flea market marble finds...displayed with some miniature books and my grandmother's mini dictionary (top of box).

Could it be genetic that I love round paperweights? They are just big marbles!
Hope you have a good week...it's just hot as all get out down here in Mississippi. We sure could use a little rain...it'd make the tomatoes grow!

Join us at Treasure Chest Friday!

Don't lose your marbles,

Pine Needles, Paperweights & Redware

Hot, hot, hot & humid, humid, humid! Ah, the joys of living in the south in the summer...I worked at the Flea Market re-arranging my little "store" today. I so enjoy doing that...and this afternoon I decided to touch base with a non-descript post on the blog. Just some pretty pictures of things I collect..nothing fancy. No tutorials or anything of that nature.
My mother began a collection of paperweights for me many years ago. I have tried to keep the number down, concentrating on clear and green spheres. Here is the first one she bought for me. It's a beautiful "flower" of browns.

Then I got some Kerry Greens...beautiful glass work on these.



I popped in a blue one!

There is something very icy about the clears...pretty on a silver tray and compote.

I moved on to pine needle baskets a few years ago. I got this beauty at a garage sale...I love the neatly done stitches and patterns.

The basket below has no lid and in it are old wooden handled screwdrivers that belonged to my husband's grandfather.

I found this pine needle pitcher in the booth next to mine at the Flea Market. In it are my mother in law's hand carved crochet hooks. No telling how old they are.

Many, many years ago I fell in love with Redware plates. The hubster and I drove to PA in search of the plates of one artist, Ned Foltz. Look what I found...right in Paradise, PA...a Ned Foltz! Beautiful glazes...even though my taste has gone another direction, I can't give up displaying my redware.

I also visited the studio of Dave Eldreth...his salt glazed pottery is something to behold! I have collected numerous Eldreth pieces through the years...

I esp. like his Christmas plates and Santas.

The blue rippled redware plate below is by artisan Steve Nutt. I have several of his plates, one of which was the hubster's Valentine's gift to me many years ago...it has "You will always remain in my heart" written in yellow slip....gotta love the hubster! I also have his Merry Christmas plate that I dutifully drag out every holiday.

Funny little vignettes below & above are my attempts to use some of my silver! It was begging to be used... so why not?! Have you noticed nobody polishes it today? Just lets it sit there and tarnish...wow!!

Hope it's cooler in your neck of the woods than it is way down here in Mississippi!

Take time to smell the roses (and don't forget to water them!),

Bring Back Pink!!

For me, PINK SATURDAY always poses a conundrum of sorts. (For those of you who are new to this blog, I enjoy linking up with Beverly at her blog, How Sweet the Sound, on Saturday. She sponsors a party where all the bloggers who participate show something pink. Click on the words PINK SATURDAY above and visit!) Beverly was even kind enough to feature my blog last Saturday!

Here is what I have noticed about myself. On Thursday, I begin thinking about what I'd like to highlight. Of course, it must be pink and therein lies the dilemma. I begin poking around in drawers and such trying to unearth anything pink...did you understand what I just said? IN DRAWERS AND SUCH! Gulp...I must admit, that most of my pink items are tucked away.

It seems to me that most of you who participate in PS proudly display your pink for all the world to see....on a daily basis. But, I on the other hand, have hidden mine away. My guest bedroom was once all in pink...very fluffy,very frilly, very flowery, very feminine. Then a very dear relative moved in for a year or so, and he being male, the pink and white scheme seemed a little...well, TOO over the top...even for someone quite unfazed by such nonsense.

So out went pink and in came a more contemporary "gender neutral" scheme. Now, those words frighten me...I've noticed that MANY things in our society are going that direction...gender neutral. So I am reconsidering ... I might just bring back the pink in my life. What in the world is wrong with BEING feminine and expressing it in different parts of your home, I ask? Well, the answer is NOT ONE THING!! Do you feel the same way?

My entry today in PS includes my mother's little pitcher collection. She loved ALL things pink, and I love these little reminders of her femininity. She wasn't much of a collector... a few things here and there, but she loved her pitchers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

May pink be an expression of your femininity,

Crazy for Crazy Quilts

I have no idea why I am attracted to some of the things that I am attracted to...I love symmetry...(my sister has a name for that which I won't use in polite company). I like order and

neatness. When things are strewn about, I get antsy. (Is that a real word? I can't find it in the Oxford American Dictionary.) But that's the feeling I get...like fingernails scraping a blackboard. I don't mind if someone writes "Wash Me" on the car's back window in front of me as long as the letters are scribbled neatly. I am not a neat freak...well, maybe slightly, but I PREFER order.

Long story, short. One of my favorite collectibles is the Crazy Quilt. Now if you don't look closely, you won't see the order...you will see a jumble, but if a Crazy Quilt is done correctly, orderliness and symmetry emerge.

This was my first CQ acquisition...I was hooked, but good. It came from upstate New York and the backing is an old feedsack.

The only thing I did to the quilt piece was to replace the maroon triangle at the bottom..the rest of the silks and satins were pretty well intact. It was love at first sight. Thus began my quest...

I ran across this piece in a basket of "junk" pieces..I kept searching and then a dream came true. After many years, I actually talked the "hubster" into going to PA to Lancaster County...Amish country. He wasn't one bit happy (he prefers sunny Florida, not a place where electricity is frowned upon) but I finally wore him down and off we went! Oh, it was glorious and on our way out of Lancaster, I stopped at a little Flea Market and down in a big ole basket of linens, there IT was...my prized possession...a piece of an Amish quilt. ( I went to PA fully intending to buy a whole Amish quilt. I took $200...what a joke! I couldn't touch one for less than $400.) So I came roaring back across the Mason Dixon line with the following: a child's snow shovel, a piece of redware pottery by Ned Foltz, some assorted salt glazed pottery, an Amish made iron bowl holder and THE PIECE OF AN AMISH CRAZY QUILT!

Now, this picture does NOT do it justice. I pinky promise, it is beautiful!

Check out those stitches...every once in a while you will see one that's not just perfect, but all in all it's some of the most symmetrical stitching I've ever seen....love it!

I continued my search and found several more pieces here and there. This one is also in my living room and it sports a big white velvet heart right in its center! Stitching isn't as pretty, but I like the heart. Then one day I woke up and said to myself, "Self, why don't you try some Crazy Quilting?" I argued with me but I won and I started doing research on Victorian CQ's and

decided that I'd give it a try.

My first feeble attempt...a little cushion for my son's old rocking chair. Ok, this wasn't too hard...let's try something a little more...well, decorative, I am NOT Amish I reasoned.

I paid too much for this chair at an auction...I let my desire get the better of my sense and I kept on bidding...that lady with the hot pink blouse on was NOT going to beat me out of this chair...so to sort of "hide" my purchase, I designed and made this pillow. Does that make sense?

I used Amish colors but just sort of jazzed them up...a little...anything worth doing is better with a few sparkly beads I always say.

Why not do a little something for the bathroom? Maybe a 20x24 design...oh, brother.

A few beads here, a golden spider web there...thus, began my spider web period...uh, oh.

Let's buy a book of fancy stitches to go with the beads....
Book was by Linda Causee.

Now I progressed to "not so" Amish colors... and satin ribbon roses...such fun!



Have I lost you yet? Oh, poor reader, I am so sorry, but when I get on the CQ rampage, I can't help myself...it's almost over! I promise!

A pin cushion for my Mother.

So there you have it...a few of my pieces of another's life...the Crazy Quilt...a thing collected by a Crazy Girl! If you've never tried your hand at crazy quilting, then you really need to!

I am linking to The Shabby Chic Cottage's Transformation Thursday...grab the button on the right to join us.

May all your days be crazy,