A collection of feather edge ~

Feather edge (also known simply as Leeds or shell-edge) was my first real antiques passion. I began collecting it about 25 years ago and it remains my largest collection. It was made in the Leeds area of England from approximately 1775 through the 1860's. Many of my better pieces were purchased from Lisa McAllister, long before the advent of the internet. She is the author of a book about feather edge. Blue is by far the most common color, followed by green and red. I believe it can also be found in yellow, black and brown. All my pieces are blue except for one piece in green.

There is a very informative article about feather edge in the August 2009 issue of Early American Life, though they refer to it as shell-edge and state that the term feather edge is a misnomer.

Below is the cupboard in my dining room.

A close-up of pepper pots and a highly decorated plate.
Clam shell bowl.

The lid of a tureen with a beautiful rose finial and hand painted "onions" encircling it.

Another tureen lid, also with a rose. I do not have the base to either of these pieces.

A small leaf dish.

One of my favorite plates.

I love the "onions" painted on this plate, the same design as on the tureen lid. I also have a set of matching platters with this design.

My corner cupboard in the living room housing more of my collection.

This large tureen (also with a rose finial) is by far my most valuable piece of feather edge. It is in mint condition.

Another plate...

...and a close-up of the detail.

A small reticulated platter.

Many of the pieces in my collection have cracks and chips, but if I was that old, I'd have cracks and chips, too. Heck, I'm not nearly that old and feel I am "cracked"!

Thank you for stopping by to view my collection!

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Tongue troubles ~

WELCOME!
I thought my penny tongues came out good (a little off center, but that's ok) and would be perfect on my cat mat. This is my first penny rug and I wanted it to be exceptional. HA!

I had some trouble with the blanket stitch when I had a 90 degree turn. Some came out okay, others not. I finally got everything done except attaching the tongues and sewing on the back. That is when the real troubles began. Mistake number one was not being precise enough when cutting the back to fit the front. So I'm a little off. No big deal. Right? WRONG! That and the fact that I am trying to blanket stitch through six layers of wool. What a disaster. The first attempt was so bad it looked like my four year old grandson was doing it for me. I tore that out and started over. The second was no better, so I took the cowardly way out and gave up and decided my little rug didn't really need tongues after all! (Maybe I'll try making a little candle mat with my leftover tongues.)
Here it is all done...

...and a close up.

Speaking of my grandson, I picked him up after work today. I took him to visit his great grandma (my mom). Then we came home, got Marvin and walked over to the school playground. Jake has turned into a real magpie and doesn't stay still for a minute. It's hard to get a good picture of him. He has the most wonderful red hair that I'm sure he will learn to hate!

Being the typical boy, he must go UP the slide.

Hanging like a monkey.

Thank you for dropping in. I hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

My new swing ~ ~ ~

What do you think? Don't you just love it???

My older son that lives in Las Vegas sent me this photo. I always told my boys there are certain rules of decorum one must follow when living in a house or apartment, and the #1 rule is no indoor upholstered pieces or appliances are allowed on porches or balconies. I guess hanging from a tree is okay?

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

The weekend CAN'T be over ~

Aren't these the most beautiful hanging baskets? They are all around the square in Oberlin, Ohio. I have absolutely no luck with sweet potato vine. For this late in the season, I can't believe how lush they still are.

Oh, weekends just fly by too quickly. Saturday was a little crazy. I was dropping my foster, Marvin, at a dog event while I headed to Malabar Farm for the "In the Spirit of Friends" show. It was a perfect day for an outdoor show. I was supposed to drop Marvin off at 9:30, then it was 10:00, then got pushed back to almost 10:30. So my bud Belinda and I head off to Malabar ~ over an hour away. Well, with the detour we had it was WAY more than an hour. The show was wonderful, but I felt so rushed I really didn't have time to enjoy it. There were some wonderful primitive crafts, great antiques, and LOTS of hooked rugs for sale, along with some gorgeous wool for sale by Alice at Folk Art Primitives and the Ault's.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bobbie from Union Star Primitives (and the Evening Stitcher), Julie from Plum Run Creek and Sherry, from Sherry's Heart. I ran into a few of my hookin' buddies. You can see their picture over at Julie's blog.

I was just too good! I guess it's because I'm still trying to pay for my Townsend cutter (which I absolutely LOVE!!!), so the only thing I bought was some brown wool Alice dyed for me for a rug I'll be making for a Christmas present. Bobbie had the most wonderful small cupboard ~ not antique but made to look old ~ even had square nails. I'm sort of kicking myself for not buying it.

I got back to Oberlin to the dog event 45 minutes before it was over. Oh, yeah. We took a different route home and had another detour and then missed the state route we wanted. Not a good day for driving. I think they thought I wasn't coming back for Marvin...lol! I'm hoping someone met Marvin and fell in love with him. We haven't had too many "issues" lately, but he still does growl at me on occasion ~ so un-pug like!

Today, I took my Mom to a luncheon for a Slovenian lodge she belongs to. Her very small ethnic church is closing, along with a half dozen others in the city. Very sad. I did get lucky though and won the 50/50 raffle, so I have another $78.00 towards my Townsend ;-)

The rest of the day was spent playing catch-up, doing my Mom's laundry, and all those other mundane tasks that need to be done. As usual, the cleaning fairy skipped my house!

For those of you who have asked about Frannie, I got an email from her new mom and she said Frannie is doing great and they love her to pieces. Hooray for Frannie!!!

Thank you all for stopping by. Please come again soon.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Got-R-Done

Welcome everyone. Fall is definitely in the air. The nights here on Ohio's north coast are very crisp ~ perfect sleeping weather ~ and the days are pleasantly warm and sunny. Oh, I love it!

I thought I would share a few of my finishes with you. The little pug mat was hooked a few months ago...now it has binding.

I've also been playing catch up with the punch needle pieces I've finished in the past. This is a Lori Brechlin design. I think I punched it back in 2007.
A little bunny I also finished back in 2007. I guess I like that blue background!

Another Lori Brechlin design. For punch needle, this is huge. It's about 7 3/8' x 9 1/2'. This too, was punched a year or two ago.

And finally ~ ~ ~ my cat rug that took me 5 months to hook, though I also hooked the pug rug and a few punch needle pieces while working on this. It is by far my largest rug to date. It measures 21" x 33". The cats are from a Polly Minnick book and the background is my adaptation of the antique cats rug. The colors of the first picture are quite accurate. Now I just have to think about steaming and binding it. YUCK!

As you've probably figured, I enjoy the hooking and punching part, but really don't like the finishing. I am now all caught up finishing my punch needle and hooking projects. That feels good and will hopefully inspire me to get busy finishing the cats. It will have a place of honor in front of my antique corner cupboard. I also started to work on the cat penny rug again. It shouldn't take long to finish if I set my mind to it.

The weekend ahead looks beautiful so please enjoy it. Tomorrow there is a new craft/antique show at Malabar Farm in Ohio ~ a first time show but with high quality vendors. I need to shop quickly because I'm also working the Oberlin Doggie Do for Ohio Pug Rescue. Maybe Marvin will find his forever home.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

The Witch Is In ~ ~ ~

Thank you for stopping by. I don't really have "fall" decorations. I have lots of Halloween and a little bit for Thanksgiving. My decorations run the gamut from homemade, to craft show purchases, to imported, to tacky. I love them all. The witch was a birthday gift from one of my best buds. Isn't she great? The witch, that is. My antique step cupboard in the dining room. On the top shelf are ghosts I made about twenty years ago. The pumpkin on the top shelf to the left is one I've had since childhood ~ it's REALLY old!
On the middle shelf are five paper mache pumpkins and a paper mache witch on a pumpkin, dating from the 40's, I believe.

A close up of tin noisemakers in a trencher.

Another close up view ~ this time of paper mache items.

A gourd I painted a few years ago.

These decorations are on top of the pie safe in the dining room. My dear mom (she's now 89) made the ceramic items in the 70's and early 80's. She did beautiful work and I will cherish them forever. I painted the scarecrow to the far right in 1975!!!
These decorations sit atop the jelly cupboard, also in the dining room. About half the items are craft show finds (some of them were gifts) and the rest are imports.

A not-so-little punch needle mat ~ a Lori Brechlin design.

One of my favorite little rugs that I hooked a few years back.

A wreath made by my younger son when he was in Cub Scouts.

(He's now 28!)

A few more things in the kitchen. The flying skeleton rug was an eBay purchase. I painted the gourd to the left.

Don't you just love the green plastic tile? When I bought the house ten years ago, I swore it would be one of the first things to go!

I hope you've enjoyed the ten cent tour of my Halloween decorations.

Please stop by again soon.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Something you don't see every day ~ ~ ~

Today in Ashland, Ohio, Pug Rescue was set up at an event to benefit the Ashland County Shelter. Usually fawn pugs outnumber the black ones, but today black pugs ruled! We had five black ones, one fawn male and a fawn puggle. Hopefully someone will have fallen in love with one of them and will apply for adoption.

This was just a hoot. This wire haired terrier spent most of the afternoon riding on the back of the horse, sometimes facing forward, sometimes backward. Both the horse and dog seemed very comfortable. It was a sight to see.

Yesterday was a great craft show at Quailcrest Farm in Wooster, Ohio. These guys (gals?) just cracked me up. Love the 'do on the brown llama. I didn't buy much ~ I could have, but didn't. I bought some small dried gourds for a wooden trencher and some luscious wool from Alice (A Day in the Life ~ ~ ~). I also got a pressed glass goblet ~ a real deal for only $5.00 ~ most likely late 1800's. I have quite a collection and use them everyday.

I spent almost five hours driving to and from the events plus the time at the events, and I wonder why I didn't get anything done this weekend. Go figure!

The weather was picture perfect in Ohio this weekend. I wish it could go on like this until next spring...lol ~ but living in Ohio, I know better.

Thank you for stopping and hope you all had a great weekend.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren