for the birds

I saw the sun rise on Saturday morning before the Christmas market in town.  I stayed up way too late on Friday night trying to put the finishing touches on my wares, but even exhaustion couldn't curb my enthusiasm. Here is a picture of my little 'booth' at the market in the early morning light.  Wearing long johns under my  jeans, wool socks, two shirts, two sweaters, a vest and gloves, I manned my space for six hours.  My eyes were puffy and my nose was bright red... and my hairdo wasn't too attractive either, I realized after the whole day had gone by, but I had a really good time talking to market-goers and other vendors in the refreshing winter air, and I made lots of sales!!

Today I found this porcelain heart bowl at the Goodwill for 49 cents.  I filled it up with seeds and put it on the table outside the window next to my work space in hopes that it will lure some hungry birds for me to spy on!

new pillow, new plate!

my new $1 plate from the Wellsville China Co. in Wellsville, Ohio

 There's a shop off of Main Street in Madison called 'The Feed Store'.  It used to be a feed store.  And now instead of being home to bags of cracked corn and trail ration, it's full of antiques and old junk... baskets hanging from the ceiling, unruly piles of dusty paintings and photographs, teetering stacks of chairs, tins of buttons and wooden spools, and busted-up suitcases full of beautiful old flour sacking material.  This is where I've found some of the fabric I'm using on the backs of some of my pillows.  I could spend hours looking around in this shop... but the only down side is that it is rather expensive.  Most of the things aren't marked, you just ask the grandmotherly proprietress how much.  Sometimes you can get a great bargain, but a lot of the things, as Nora said as we were descending the stairs leaving the shop earlier this week, have New York City prices.  I did find a new plate though, to add to my collection.  And it was only a dollar!

Nora inquired about a weather vane that was $350 and an old feed sack that was $75.  Those prices are unbearable after you've gotten used to finding really good deals.  For example, I found the beautiful blue and white linen hand towel above rumpled up in the bottom of a cardboard box at another antique shop a few miles up the road.  It was only 50 cents!  And I got three antique chairs like the one above at the Goodwill for only $2.49 each!!  I covered the seat in one of my new fabrics - a pattern I made using one of the paintings I did of Madame Gaillais' roses in France.  And I made the pillow with another one of my new fabrics with my watercolor of an owl butterfly from South America.  Their defense mechanism is to open their wings, which look to predators like the intimidating face of an owl.  And then there are the little yellow and orange Cleopatra butterflies in between.

Table for Ten

There is something wonderful about a department store... at least the way they supposedly were in the olden days, in Nancy Drew mysteries and black and white movies where a lady would measure you for a silk slip and put your purchase in a thick box tied with ribbon, and you could linger to have tea and a sandwich with your great aunt.  And you went there to buy just a couple things, of high quality, that you would expect to use for a long time.  I guess a few modern upscale department stores try to sustain this with grand piano players and attentive employees.  But despite the facade, department stores are mostly cluttered with flashy, disposable clothes and handbags and shoes and home wares made by people paid unfair wages in factories in far away places, and if we thought about where the goods were coming from, or experienced the process of making them, we wouldn't be able to stomach buying them.  Not to mention the terrible flimsy plastic bags that do nothing to make you feel what you bought means something and should be taken care of and made to last a long time.

I remember being in the fine china section of a department store with my mom when I was in elementary school.  Because she hadn't registered for China when she got married, my mom had been slowly buying pieces of her chosen china pattern over the years.  In the section with us was a young woman customer, her mother, and a department store woman following them with a clipboard.  The young woman was working on her bridal registry, trying to choose a china pattern.  She seemed tentative and pensive, while her mother was loud and full of directives, and the department store lady tried to remain cheerfully neutral.  When we were out of earshot, my mom told me to make sure to register for nice china like that bride when my time came, because if not, I would regret it, and be like my poor mom, without much disposable income, trying to piece a set together over the years.  I'm not married yet, and I suppose I could change my mind, but for now I have so much fun collecting a variety of plates at the thrift store.  Most of the plates I've found are made in the USA and many have delicate 22 K gold on their rims.  All of them cost about a dollar each. Two of the plates pictured (the mushrooms and the butterflies &strawberries) were not thrifty at all.... they are Nathalie Lete plates I splurged on because I liked them so much!  They are made in China :(

Sewing Box

I got this box a couple of months at ago at the Goodwill for $2.  It was lined with faux burgundy velvet... that had been tacked in and  glued down with some powerful adhesive.  AND it really stunk like the kind of flowery powder often associated with elderly ladies.  Yesterday morning, I ripped out all the stinky velor and scoured the box with baking soda and Palmolive and warm water.  And now it's down to the bare bones wood, smelling clean and just right for my sewing supplies!