Holiday Cuteness

As some of you may know, I maintain the blog for one of the Antique Stores in my town and the other day I went around snapping up photos of Christmas items that are for sale.  I was smitten with all of the “cuteness” of many of the pieces.  The kind of sugary cuteness that allows your lips to part and form a smile on the face.  Now I must mention the Santa behind these tiny Santa salt and pepper shakers.  I am not sure why he so “wide eyed”, but thought him to be rather cute in an alarming sort of way.  Did someone just give him a “melvin?” Ok, yeh, I am laughing!

This set of carolers are precious…though the little boy on the right looks quite bored with all of it….

…and this snowman can make you smile even you are having a not-so-smiley kind of a day.

 

The praying angel candle holders are my favorites…

…as is this elf Christmas tablecloth.

Looking at these Little Golden Books took me on a trip down my childhood memory lane. 

The cottage style quilt would not only be a cute addition to a collection, but it would make for a delightful Christmas tree skirt.  Two of my trees in my house have bases swaddled with old quilts.  It adds such a softness and vintage look.

Santa and Mrs. Mouse….what a cute pair.

This grouping of vintage Santa’s just screams retro Christmas!

Around every corner of the store, there are wonderful vintage and antique Christmas treasures.  The tree below is decked out in vintage cookie cutters that have pretty red and white bows glued onto them.  All the work is done for you, just add a hook and add to the tree.

A herd of Breyer deer are up for grabs – and there are some awesome ones here!  A grouping of these would look great on a silver plate tray with a sprinkling of fake snow at their feet.  Add a few bottle brush trees and you have neat cabin style vignette.

 Plenty of adorable faces to adorn your tree and holiday home…

like this cute pair of ornaments…

…and this boy and girl who move back and forth.  Their little faces and clothing are just plain adorable.

But my favorite of all is this crusty little elf with his full beard and impish brown eyes.  If he could talk, what do think he’d be saying?  Or perhaps I don’t want to know.  ha!

How many of you are done decorating for Christmas?  I’m done except for a few small details.  Now I can kick back and enjoy the moments to bake and spend time with friends and family.

A Lovely Fall Morning

What a beautiful morning…sun shining, cool temps and a light Delta breeze billowing in through the windows.  As the fresh crisp air fills our little home, I don’t mind doing all of the dishes left over from my annual card game with 11 of my fun and beautiful girlfriends.  We have been playing cards as a group for I don’t know how long now…years…and each of us takes turn to hostess the game one.  Last night was my night for the year and what fun we had!!  Of course, Fiona and Duhgall love the company..till they got whisked upstairs for doggy lockdown. 

I love the morning light as it filters in through the windows, peeking through the trees out front.  The white pumpkin seemed to be the “star” at the table this morning with the sun glistening off of its edge.  Sitting on the Lazy Susan piece is a striped yellow ware bowl (which I am crazy about collecting), a McCoy yellow ware corn pitcher and a wood bowl tucked inside of a white pedestal bowl filled with straw and fall silk flowers.

Two cement chickens made their way into the smaller of the two wood dough bowls on the sideboard. 

 I found the two dough bowls within a month of each other during the summer.  I have been wanting one FOREVER and lucked out with the two.  I paid 10.00 for one and 30.00 for the other.  Can we say SCORE!?  yup…..

…and they are staying with me for a very long time.

Seasonal pillows rest on the porch bench.  I just hope that the neighbor cat doesn’t fancy them as much as I do.

A few new additions of some English brown transfer ware have made their way to my hutch and atop a farmhouse bench.  My friend Cheryl, who sells in one of the shops I sell at, had this neat old feeder for sale.  I was really wanting it – like badly wanting it – so we traded…I had a French grain sack pillow she had been eye-balling so we did the old swaparoo.  We were both very happy.  :)

Said feeder now holds some of my plates.  Just flip the feeder on its side and voila, slip the plates right in for a pretty vignette.

Happy Fall to everyone!  Time to hit the candy corn!

One Stitch At A Time…..

So….. long time no see!  How y’all been?  Can you believe it’s almost September!?  Gadzooks!  Where DOES time go?  Well, as for me, this girl has been on the edge of her sewing seat these past few weeks making pillows to sell in the shops.  With the holiday season on our heals, I’ve been gearing up for fall and Christmas pillow making.   Awaiting me is a huge bolt of burlap, new stencils and a stack of pillow forms.  Just looking at the bags of pillow forms makes me think of the story “The Princess And The Pea”.  The disarray drives me mad, but soon the house will hopefully be back in some sort of normalcy…well, hoping so at least.

On the top of my list was to make up some Union Jack pillows in neutrals.  So far, one down and a gazillion to go.  I put this one in the store and a lovely lady, Debbie, bought it the other day.  (smiles!)  I think it will be quite happy living in So. Cal!

For the pillow I used two contrasting linen-like fabrics and a white for the stripe.

 

I have a huge stack of vintage hankies and found three to make into pillows.  If you sew, then you may agree that it is often times a lot of fun to find the coordinating fabrics to match a vintage textile.

 

With hankies in hand, I strolled down the aisles of JoAnn’s and found some pretty cute coordinating fabrics to go with the hankies.  (I could have scoured through my “stash”, but it’s more fun to go shopping and gush over all of the pretty fabrics!)

Some of my favorite fabrics are those that are reproductions of vintage sugar and feed sack fabrics – like the fabrics in my old quilt.  These old snippets are just as charming and sweet as a grandmother’s hug after a Sunday meal!

 This gray and white number is one of my favorites and I think it will be perfect for fall.  Love the roses….

…and they remind me of those we have out in the garden.

 Another favorite hankie, sporting some pretty pink carnations, was turned into this happy little pillow.  I had the fabric with pink roses in my stash and thought it looked pretty cute with the hankie. 

 

I LOVE my labels, too.  They make me happy!  My business name is Fig and Lottie, named after my great Aunt Lottie and my great Uncle Figgins (aka Figgy).  Figgy and Lottie would have been a bit much, so I shortened Figgy to just Fig.  Every time I sew on these labels, I think of them.  My Aunt Lottie would have loved this, too.  Uncle Figgins would have just given me one of his demure smiles and a slight nod of approvement. 

I fell in love with this fabric that looks like old school maps.  These pillows would be so awesome in a young man’s room or in a room with a nautical theme.  See the boats?  Super cool!

The backs are pretty neat, too, with the brown and cream stripes.  Love those stripes!

So anywhos, I best be shuttling myself away from this chair and get myself busy cutting, stenciling and sewing up some more pillows.  Tis the time of year that being in retail is busy, busy!  I know you girls who do this for a living are nodding your head in agreement!  Right?

Take care and have a good week!

Great Graphics!

As some of you may know, I write the blog for one of the stores that I sell at.  This week I shared some of the wonderful old grocery/mercantile items that one of the vintage scouts, Leslie,  has available in her space.  I am smitten with the sweetness and originality of the graphics on these everyday items of days gone by.

Plee-Zing brand…not how wonderful is this?  And made by the Otto Seidner company…..my uncle’s name was Otto.  I’m thinking I may need to purchase this piece for myself – that is if it is still there.  :)

When you go to buy spices at your local market, does the Celery Seed and Mace containers look like the two above?  If they do, please share where you shop.  The artwork on these labels are just beautiful in their own way.

I’ve purchased a few of Leslie’s old jars recently and actually use them.  I will have to remember to share them on another day.  One holds cinnamon and sugar and looks cute just sitting out on the counter.  Beats Tupperware any day….

How about picking a fresh bouquet of flowers and filling one of the jars with a cute arrangement?  Just be sure not to get the paper label wet.

Any of you remember the Sweetheart drinking straw box below?  Read the small print:

Ideal for children and grown-ups, too.  Amen.  I just love the adorable box!

Beech-Nut gum….remember that?  They are making it again!

 I have never heard of Ivanhose Mayo, but the store display for it sure is a winner!  Fun piece!!  I can see this in a craft room to hold all kinds of bits and bobs for crafting.

Till next time……

Some Elbow Grease and Shinola

 

Ever get the hankerin’ to spruce up the old nest?

 

Sure you do!

Besides doing laundry all day yesterday and cleaning the house, I’ve been adding a few touches to the laundry room – which we remodeled last September.  Over time I have found some antique school chalkboard slates, 1920’s black and white school photos, wood shoe molds, more galvanized scoops and the Shinola shoe polish tin.  Love the graphics on these old tins!

I will most likely tweak the vignette even more, but here is the end

result.

The yard long black and white military picture is from 1958 and it is the perfect size to sit up on the shelf.  The French Laundry sign (below) initially sat on the shelf, however I think I prefer the military photo better.

 

Housekeeping rooms, need I say more? 

Have a beautiful day!

What’s All The Chatter About Now?

What IS all the chatter about?  Well, if you will recall, I shared about Magpie Antique's and All Things Inspiring (click HERE) back in February.  The store has been opened since February 3rd and has since received positive feedback from many and has been dubbed one of the favorites amongst those seeking out antiques and collectibles.  I am super duper excited for this!  All of those who sell their items (including me) work really hard at finding interesting items to sell AND keep our spaces fresh, cleaned and stocked with new items each week.

With the 4th of July coming up, the store is decked out in glorious patriotic fashion and sporting vignettes in red, white and blue.

Allow me the pleasure to share……

  The owner of Magpie, Janet Dyk (pronounced like Mike) named the store Magpie because Magpies are known to collect pretty objects to take back to their nest and they like to chatter.  So after much contemplation, Janet thought it was appropriate that her store be called Magpie….after all, we like pretty things for our nest and like to talk and share stories of our quests to find that perfect object to adorn our homes.

For more on Magpie:

Magpie Antiques and All Things Inspiring

140 S. Walnut

Suite D

Ripon, California

(209) 599-4545

shop hours:

Monday – Saturday 10 AM – 5:30 PM

If you are coming from Highway 99 (north or south), you can take the Ripon “MAIN Street” exit and go west towards town.  If coming from I5, take the exit towards Manteca and then get on southbound Hwy 99.  Magpie is located on the corner of First and Walnut.  If you stop by, let us know if you read about us on my blog. 

Magpie will be closed on July 4th.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Till next time……