Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your compliments on the boots and shoes for my dolls. I don’t know why I like working with leather so much… but I just do! I think part of it is the thrill of seeing how close to “perfection” I can get, and when I look back, I can definitely say, “You’ve come a long way baby!” I look at pictures of other shoes made by the Pros and someday want to be in their league! I also love finding the right leather to go with the fabric… it’s just a satisfying feeling as I stitch them together. I may consider selling my shoes/boots separately too… but I need to make a few more to have something to pick from. It’s kind of funny, but when I was in the waiting room as my hubby was in surgery, I saw people reading, doing things on their phones, doing needlework (I think counted cross stitch), knitting, crocheting, and there I sat with my little pouch filled with pieces of shoes, doing leatherwork. :o)
I too, want to see Barbara’s dress for her new Gotz girl.
I can’t wait to see what Linda and her girls have cooked up for us too!
I know I left someone out, sorry…
No sewing today for me… but I thought I could at least share some of my yard sale finds this past weekend. I think I would have liked to shop a little more at this sale, but I had other commitments and just had to settle for the time I could be there.
I’m NOT the world’s greatest when it comes to knowing what antiques or even just vintage things are good to buy or not to buy. BUT Cindy is! She would have known all this stuff and probably had a car full to take back home to Pennsylvania… But me, about the only thing I can really say I’ve learned from Cindy when it comes to shopping for things of value, is: BUY WHAT YOU LOVE! So that’s what I did! The prices were very low because they were just wanting to get rid of the stuff and get the house listed on the market. So this is my hodge podge of what I saw that I loved. I still don’t know how I’ll use or display them, but I have them now, AND I can ALWAYS call one of my favorite decorating sisters, Cindy.
So let’s see what I bought…
These were the first things I put in my pile… 2 pottery pots… I thought they looked like Hull pottery but Cindy said probably McCoy. There are no markings on them, but I’m pretty sure they are McCoy.
This is what Cindy found as she was researching my pottery pots.
She found the green one too… selling on Ebay for $72. My computer is not cooperating at coping her links to me… rats!
I found the cream pottery vase on Etsy… It IS Hull pottery and was selling for $37.00 in the pink version…
I’ll just show you the rest of my finds…
I liked this little lizard/gecko pottery dish… it’s pretty little… maybe 3″ across. I see there is a chip in the top. It wasn’t there when I bought it… It must have chipped on the way home. I couldn’t find anything on him…
What first caught my eye was this frame… it’s very old and so is the picture. It needs to be opened up and some little pieces of “stuff” removed. It’s like little fragments of wood floating in between the glass and the picture.
I hung it up in my living room after washing the glass. It needs some TLC…
I found these wooden candlesticks and I know they are falling apart, but they wanted to come home with me… I don’t know the history on them, but I wish I did.
We bought this table/plant stand and so far it’s upside down in the back sitting room as my hubby needs to tighten the legs.
One of the last things I bought were these 3 acrylic water color paintings. They are painted by Deb Baughman, from Iowa. They are 14 x 18 and are matted in white and sealed in plastic covers.
I looked her up and saw she had LOTS of paintings… selling for $85-$400! Yikes! I paid $15 for the 3 paintings. I just liked them…
I got some other things too… a leather Fossil purse, some goodies for Rebecca, but I can’t show them just yet. We got a solid wood vintage dresser…(Not sure where it will go, but it was only $15!) My hubby is a sucker for real wood furniture.
We saw this piece too. It was all ceramic and SO unusual… probably should have gotten it…
Cindy also found all kinds of those tokens and pins and coins… I can’t get them to copy either… rats! Maybe another time…
Well, that’s it for today… I have some pictures from Sissy tomorrow and maybe someone else…
See you then,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, I’m the last person who would go to a garage sale, since I have everything I really want and need, but I do love the bowls you bought, especially the green one with the lizard/gecko on it! It is just so unique and in a color I love! I think even I could make room for it!
I also love the watercolor paintings! After taking two courses in watercolor in college, i know how difficult it is! I really can appreciate them when i see them done so well.
Looking forward to Sissy’s pictures tomorrow, and I will get my pictures to you this evening.
Oh, you did find some treasures at that yard sale! Great find on the paintings, and also the white pot (which was my favorite, I think).
I missed commenting last night, I guess, so will comment now. The shoes are wonderful, of course, and I see what you mean about the green ones being a bit too high and needing some adjustment. I’m sure you won’t have a problem doing that. And, I’m another one who would like to see you selling the shoes separately at some point, although I am thinking for you part of the fun is coordinating everything together in an ensemble!
As to your fabrics, I can see the stripe for socks with the dark boots, but not with the other shoes. I think I’d go with a plain white/ivory/whatever to go between the green or orange shoes and the print dress.
Yesterday and today I have been checking some more “jobs” off my list of things that must be done now that Ron’s not here. Yesterday, I took care of the IRA/financial stuff. Was VERY surprised when I called our planner and a real person answered the phone!! NO menu, no “press 1 for…”!! AND….REAL music when she had to put me on hold. Classical music!! Then the financial planner and I had a nice long chat–not just getting the ball rolling on the business part but just kind of catching up. The first time we saw her (before Ron retired) she had young twin girls; now they are 30! Time flies.
And today the last of his medical and adaptive equipment went to The Donor’s Closet, which supports MS research. It’s also a place where people can purchased gently used equipment for much less than brand new. It’s amazing how much stuff they have in there!
My favorite is the lizard pot too. Although that’s probably not McCoy, I recognized the other McCoy pottery immediately. I have several pots including one of the 4” green basketweave ones that I found on eBay decades ago but certainly didn’t pay $42 for, just liked the design.
I’m afraid to go to estate sales or the giant flea markets on the weekends. I should be there myself with half of what’s in my house just from living in different places and liking “stuff.” I never understood why someone would want a painting of an old barn until I visited Kansas in my mid-20s. There were the picturesque old barns that brought back no memories for kind of a city girl but would for a lot of people.
I have a spectacular vase my mom gave me that is Hull.
I can mail you a photo. Sharing photos sounds like great fun.
I love all of the pottery you found.
Your shoe making is an admirable and excellent goal to attain perfection, Jeanne.
I just finished making a bunch of patchwork pumpkin blocks, I have not quilted them, I think I will keep them singly made for hanging for mats. Now I have swerved into a new english paper piecing adventure that might be good.
Happy Thursday everyone. I think about all of you going about your busy days,
Charlotte, you are brave. I know it is very good to have help to do these things. I am grateful that it is moving along smoothly. My hubbs and I have been doing my father’s estate for almost a year and a half,. Finishing it up, but my siblings are too cheap for a lawyer so hubbs and I are learning everything so we do not make mistakes.
I admire your courage.
Thank you, Rosemary. These are things that have to be done, since I’m alone now. Today I changed the natural gas account over. I thought we could just take Ron’s name off, but no, they need to make it a whole new account! I’m learning, too!!
Yikes, what a sale not to be missed. You too have a keen eye Jeanne. Too bad about the rim chip on the gecko piece. My favorite as well. Perhaps, Google lens can identify the makers mark on the bottom? As to the framed print, beware. Sometimes old frames can have powder post beetles which slowly destroy/eat the wood. Look for tiny little holes and sawdust bits. A frame with those can’t be saved. The bugs can get into your house framing too. I would probably encapsulate it in a garbage bag until it can be taken apart outside and inspected closely. You might want to do the same with the wooden candlesticks too. Just a warning. 🙂 The watercolors are nice. Love watercolors. And especially old barns. We have a few around here by some local artists. Looks like my kind of garage sale. Fun, 🙂
Another day, another deck stain sample. Definitely, did not like the 2nd sample at all. And to get it, we had to go to another Home Depot north of here as the closest was out of the sample base color needed. What a waste of time. Now, I wish I’d gone with the next color down on the sample chart from the color of the year that we may end up with, Tugboat.
Need to get going on this endless project because it’s been getting colder and colder each night. We may have to actually turn on the heat. Good thing I changed the furnace filters here yesterday. 🙂
Great garage sale finds. I’m not much for pottery per se but I love flowerpots. Unfortunately I have a brown thumb and so most of those I have are stacked for future use. I’m thinking of putting artificial plants in them since I love the pots but I’m a disaster with real plants. I really like the pink flower vase.
No matter where I go I am always buying artwork of some kind, usually like the three pictures in the plastic covers. Unfortunately I have run out of walls to hang things on since Sean and Dionne have been doing jigsaw puzzles and framing them for my Christmas/birthday presents for several years now. They are Thomas Kinkade puzzles and make lovely wall hangings since I could never afford the real thing. So the other pictures are stored at the moment. I was going to redecorate my guest bedroom and hang some of them in there. It was Andrea’s room and still has things from when she lived at home. So far I can’t seem to find the time or the effort to redecorate the room and it has become the repository for the overflow from my sewing/dolly room so no matter what I do with it, it will still look like a storage room. That’s the problem with a house with little in the way closets and no basement or attic. Everything seems to be out in the open – or maybe I just have too much stuff. No!!!
Since we are discussing artwork I’m going to give a shameless plug for a friend of mine who is an exceptional watercolor artist. But first a little background. When I was in 6th grade I had a teacher that was an amazing artist. She had her youngest daughter long after her first and stayed home until she started school. She tried to get a job as the art teacher at the high school but none was available so she took the teaching job at the elementary school in her neighborhood. Her oldest daughter attended junior high at the school next door. But while I was in junior high (at another school) my teacher did get a job as the art teacher at the high school and since art was my elective in 10th grade, I had her again. I knew her older daughter was also an amazing artist from the time she was little because her mom had several of her pictures in her classrooms. Many, many years passed and, since I wished I had graduated from that high school but we moved before my senior year, I found I could buy a yearbook from the year I would have graduated. I was so excited to get the book but when I read the dedication in the front I was shocked to discover my teacher had passed away just after we had moved. She went in for a simple surgery and ended up suffering complications. Somehow, maybe through Classmates, I found her older daughter and contacted her to tell her how much I had enjoyed her mother and how many times she had talked about her oldest daughter’s artistic talent. We became great friends and keep in touch now. Now for the plug. Her name is Carolyn Latanision and she lives in Massachusetts. You can look her up on the internet. Her credentials are wonderful. She was chosen as the artist to do paintings depicting the glory days of Bethlehem Steel. Since she lived in South Bethlehem she had a front row seat to the site and the activity. Her dad had worked for Bethlehem Steel painting the stacks. Sadly he passed away from lead poisoning from the lead paint. Anyway, if you get a chance her website is well worth a visit. One day I hope to buy one of her originals. They’re fabulous.
Dear Barbara, following up with the comments from yesterday. I will be on the lookout for the Daniel Roebuck Christmas movie about Bethlehem, PA. Let me know if you see it posted before I do. And wow, you met someone else with a PA connection. That is amazing!
I’ll be keeping my eye open for the Christmas show.
Dear Jeanne, you always find the best things when you shop! I can understand why Cindy is your advisor. She has an amazing booth in her antiques mall. In fact it doesn’t look like a “booth” at all; it looks like a beautiful den in a lovely house.
It definitely shows that you like to make doll shoes. It took great patience to figure out how to make shoes for Mae’s feet. But you did it!!!
Just had a kitty step on the keyboard and lost my whole comment so I just write one speck over. The McCoy pottery is really neat. We have a few pieces of Roseville Pottery. Roseville owned the McCoy name at one point. We also have some Rookwood due to the Cincinnati, Ohio connection.