A Few New Treasures ~

I just realized as I came back to finish this post that it is #400.  I just don't understand.  I don't consider myself a chatty person, so how could I have blogged so often?  I really enjoy blogging, sharing a bit about me, family, friends, crafting, and of course the pugs.  I think this milestone calls for a give-away and I will have one soon ~ I promise!

Here are the treasures I came home with.  Nothing too exciting here ~ a brown canning crock, a white ironstone bowl, the yellow ware butter crock minus the lid and the sweet little cookie cutter.

Many years ago when I first started buying antiques, I always wanted to come home with something.  It was usually a cookie cutter or a wooden butter paddle.  It's been a long time since I've bought a cookie cutter, but I couldn't resist the little kitty.  It is only about 2 1/2" tall.  I think I will enlarge it a bit and make a small hooked mat. 

Here is my real treasure.  I've wanted one of these for ages . . . in fact I bought one in the spring that wasn't as old as this one (the shop owner thought this one might be late 19th century) but gave it away as a birthday gift.  I'm not yet sure where it will end up, but I will eventually find the perfect spot for it.

 

Dear friend Wink gifted me with an early Christmas present.  She is the person who introduced me to feather edge 25+ years ago.  You can see a big part of my collection here.  I have never seen a plate with this edge.  It is also stamped Riley and I do not recall seeing that mark before.  It is in pristine condition.  What a perfect gift from the dearest of friends. 

As Alice pointed out, my blog buddies are enablers!  Everyone says I should make the trip to get the pie safe.  I wish I could share a picture but I did not take one :(  It really isn't that exciting but would be the perfect piece to store wool.  The Tahoe is out of town until Saturday so if I want to get it, I may have to come up with Plan B.  HHHMMMM.  My son has a truck but can it make the five hour trip?  I think I'd better find out.  I will keep you posted :)

Thank you so much for stopping by and for all your kind words. 

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Six Inches Too Short ~

I've mentioned my dear friend Wink many times before.  She is my antiquing partner in crime.  I caught the antique bug from her many decades ago.  We live several hours apart, but met for the weekend in the Lancaster, Ohio area.  We stayed at the Dum-Ford House Bed and Breakfast in Amanda, Ohio and spent Friday evening and Saturday antiquing.

In years past, the Christmas antique open houses were Friday evening and Saturday.  We did not realize that it had been changed to Friday during the day, but luckily we were able to make quick stops at two of the shops in the early evening hours.  The following pictures were taken at Miller House Antiques in Carroll, Ohio.  Isn't their log cabin home wonderful?  We did not get to go inside this year, but the inside is even better than the outside.

A small log cabin out-building.

Decorating with cotton seemed to be very popular this year.

 

I just love the stack of sandstone grinding wheels.

This was in a planter-type box.



Mr. Snowman standing guard by the door.



I do have a few purchases to share with you, hopefully in my next post.  Blogger is still giving me fits trying to upload pictures.  It took me several hours to load these. 

Now to the title of my post . . . I need more storage for my wool.  I want open shelving so I can see what I have.  I found a wonderful old pie safe that is missing its doors.  The spacing of the shelves is perfect.  I drive a Chevy Tracker and usually what I want to haul fits in it.  Unfortunately, the cupboard was about 6 inches too tall to fit (or my little SUV was six inches too short!).  Now I am trying to decide if it is really worth the added cost of borrowing my sweetie's Tahoe and driving two and a half hours to get it.  Logic says no, but when it comes to wanting this antique, my mind is screaming YES!  You know, it is said the best time to buy an antique is when you see it because tomorrow it may be gone.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

And Yet More ~ ~ ~

Here are a few more rugs from the show at the ATHA Biennial.  There were many more that I failed to photograph.  The talent displayed was just unbelievable.  

 

I will end the ATHA Biennial rug show with a few of the rugs of Magdalena Briner hooked by Evelyn Lawrence who co-authored a book with Kathy Wright about this very prolific hooker.

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

A New Blog & a Few More Rugs ~

Hooker friend Melissa has finally started her blog.  Please stop by and give her a big hooker welcome (non-hookers welcome, too).  I'm sure she'd love if you became a follower!  She has hooked some amazing rugs in the four short years she has been hooking that she will be sharing with us.  I'm jealous.  Please stop by EverThyne and say hi!

Blogger is still giving me fits uploading photos.  Today the first four uploaded in a matter of seconds.  It then took at least an hour for the next three before I finally gave up.  Here's more rugs from the ATHA Biennial rug show.  If blogger ever cooperates, I will have a few more to share.

 

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Happy Halloween ~ ~ ~

~ HAPPY HALLOWEEN ~

Some of my longtime readers may remember seeing my Halloween decorations (but if you have CRS like I do, you may not . . . lol!), but I thought I would share some of them for all my newer followers.

I have a very eclectic collection ~ some new, some vintage, some hand made and some imported.

Witchy was a gift a friend.

Vintage paper mache pumpkins and witch.  I thought they were pretty pricey when I bought them (except the pumpkin on the right was bought at a tag sale years ago in a bag with plastic pumpkins for only $4 ~ woo hoo!), but now prices are sky high!

These are also vintage.

Vintage tambourine and noise makers.

Cats ~ mostly imported.

Another gift from a friend.

 

Gourds I painted a few years ago.

My mom did beautiful ceramic work.  This is my favorite Halloween piece she made for me.

She also painted the spider, cat and pumpkin.  They all have music boxes that play the "Death March", though ironically all the batteries are dead . . . lol.



Another piece from mom.  I will treasure these always!

A paper towel ghost I made 20+ years ago.  The pumpkin picture behind the ghost was a gift from Karen at My Colonial Home.



Black feather tree.

My favorite trick-or-treater.

Isn't Loocie just too cute?  She was so good while candy was being passed out and received many compliments on her costume.  Annie, on the other hand, barked the entire time.

I hope you got more tricks than treats this Halloween.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren



And Yet More from the ATHA Biennial ~

There was so much talent at the rug show.  So many magnificent rugs.  It makes a person want to do nothing but hook, but we all know that is not possible :)

Here are some of my favorite rugs. 

* * *

As you will see in some of the detail pictures, many parts of the rug had dimension.  I cut off just a bit of the top, but down the side it says "memory time can't erase.

I absolutely LOVE this rug.  It is something that would be so much fun to hook, but it was HUGE.  It would take me years to do :)  Very Magdalena Briner-ish.

Isn't this too cute?



I did not take a picture of the entire rug, but WOW!

 

So soft and old looking.  I wish I could choose colors like this.

This looked like a tapestry.



This rug spoke to me.  It was one of my favorites.  It was probably 4' x 4'.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  (Sorry about the shadows.  The lighting in the room was not the best.)

 

I hope I haven't bored you with too many rugs.  I have even more to share in another post.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren