Flea Market Treasures...November

Hi everyone! Before I show you this past Sunday's flea finds, I must show you:

Yes, tonight! A rainbow! In November, isn't that wonderful....it made me so happy.
Sunday's fun flea market made me happy too.
Perfect day, nice and cool. Good ''stuff'', not Granny's garage sale leftovers.

I felt energetic enough to actually buy something this week. Which has not been the case recently, I just wander in a daze then go home.
I've been watching this adorable white ironstone milk jug for awhile.

I love the crazed crackle and discoloration, had even seen almost the exact one on Pinterest. [below, Pinterest version]

Like I need another pitcher, right? But...but! Wait.
C'mon! The dealer looked grumpy but when he said 3 bucks, oh how can I go wrong!

Yep I got it. (And the man was nice, he just looked snarky, poor guy. lol.)

At the booth of a favorite seller, the man who usually sells the very old English transferware, I was disappointed to find no china, but I said Hi, and rummaged through messy bins and found great old buttons and a brass needle case. Carved, studded 19th century mother of pearl, plus some fancy glass.

When I was paying for the buttons, I mentioned that I am searching for old junky [not gold or silver/ not plastic] thimbles, and he came up with two! Including a very tiny one, size six. Which he kindly tossed in the bag with buttons. Now my prim thimble collection is begun.
Will I someday regret saying No to the very ugly pink plastic thimble?  I hope not.

Someday I want to have a bowl like This! via Pinterest, below.

Then from another dealer I often buy from [the ''Moss Rose" pitcher, the glass heart dishes]...I got this wonderful primitive Bennington-style big spatterware bowl.

I love the brown colors and drips!

And I have nothing like it in my admittedly too huge yelloware (yellow ware?) collection.
They also had the teeny tiniest little blue striped bowl, so cute!

It's the size of a small cereal bowl---maybe 1 1/2 Cups? and like the white jug it is nicely crackled and aged but perfect.

Then the linen dresser scarf...cut-work and embroidery.

Not washed yet. It will be used for lavender hearts or doll/ angel dresses. Except maybe it's too nice to cut up?

A weird thing happened at this dealer's booth. Since the bowls were heavy and it was just about the first booth I'd stopped by, I asked the guy if he'd hang onto my stuff while I shopped. He said Sure...but when I returned an hour later, someone had unpacked all my purchases and strewn them back around the booth. Only the big bowl was still in the bag! Someone had 'shopped' my treasures and luckily found them wanting. I was upset that the dealers had allowed this...learned my lesson: take 5 minutes to bring heavy things to the car where they'll be safe! Unless one's car is towed, ya never know at this market. Oh nevermind...

Tonight I made chocolate chip-orange pound cake with Trader Joe's bittersweet chocolate chunks. My friend B is coming to visit, for tea and a thrifting day. And maybe a yarn shop!?
Wish us luck! And sunny weather!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach

 

 

 

Pinterest photos here

Hot So Hot!

Hi! Oh, we need a good big storm , the summer doldrums have arrived and it's just too hot to do anything!

You know how it feels, right?

I set out the jug of sun tea early and oh it brews so fast! Today's flavor is peach black tea, yesterday was mango mint green tea. The secret is not to let it get too strong, you want light and refreshing these hot days.

Then I worked on my deck for awhile instead of making the long Sahara-like trek to the beach. I'll walk at sunset instead.

Isn't this lovely! My deck project...any mess from stripping the stalks can just be swept away.
It's a lavender-hydrangea potpourri I just made with the flowers from my friend's yard. They dried very well...and just look at this color! Maybe too pretty for sachets? I think I'll store it in a clear Mason jar instead and just admire the shades of blue.

The fabrics behind the bowl are vintage French floral cottons, recycled treasures. From France! Via etsy.

I loved the idea of the assorted squares, planned to use the vintage fabrics for my lavender hearts...but maybe they are too pretty to cut up?

This one, below, is maybe my favorite, I know it's not going to get chopped up anytime soon!

If you look closely you can see just the faintestet remainders of the original pink candy stripe ground.

And while this pattern is not at all my usual taste, below,  I love the birds, and the detailed but not-quite-recognizable botanic flower renderings. (Are these larkspur? Very vigorous upright  sweet peas? Or what?)

Maybe the blue shades could be a very simple "shabby chic'' beach cottage quilt?

Not too big, just to use for summer naps or picnics...or to snuggle under if our storm ever arrives and cools things off.

I have that wonderful thrifted pansy sheet for a backing but I'll either need more blue flowered fabric or a spacer fabric: I am thinking blue and white gingham perhaps?

Etsy has some good finds, always fun to search their Vintage section when it's too hot for the flea market.  This one's a very good buy and I like the assorted sizes. Five yards for $11.00! Or this classic tiny, palest blue check?

Here are a couple of my favorite French vintage shops: Minouc  and Ma Maison Francaise

The vintage gingham aprons that turn up in a search for ''blue gingham'' make me wish I'd been able to save the ones my mom collected and used. She didn't have many, and what she had she wore in the summer over her khaki shorts and tank tops...cooking corn and lobster up on the Cape.....
Something to look for at the fleas this fall! For now I am taking my Porch quilt sewing out to the pool and I'll cut and sew some French pink hearts later when it's cooler...

What are you up to on these hot Dog Days? Lemonade? Sun tea? And lots of ice!

love

    lizzy

gone to the beach....

Flea Market Finds

The first fall flea market! Yippee! It was awesome, so fun to get out and hunt for treasure.

I don't even think about the flea market from May to mid-September....my Sunday market is right near a major seashore area...and to get there I have to cross numerous little drawbridges, fight my local beach traffic, then the tourists and city-folk...well, it's just not an option. As it was I sat for 15 fidgety minutes as fishing boats and sailboats glided calmly, slowly through an open bridge. The view is nice: white sand, white birds, emerald marshes, blue-blue water. But still.

Anyway, I was amazed at the crowds at the market. Then disappointed not to be finding much. Then, aha!---from two of my longtime friendly dealers I found just the things I needed.

Lots of white linens for white hearts and white Christmas stockings and white doves....

Aren't these beautiful!

I just love this simple guest towel, picture the pale cocoa satin scallops on a stocking cuff? Or across a heart sachet?
And a lovely, never used set of trousseau linens....

 Note the original price![oops, NO! not price $1.99..it's the size. 81 x 99, I think.]

I may keep them or, after a nice bleach and wash, sell the pillow cases in my etsy shop. The sheet will become part of a comforter cover or lining for those white stockings?

And some plain white percale pillowcases---the old tightly woven, very smooth cotton that I love---to sew my special laces to. I like my bed piled high with crisp white lace-edged pillows....I even enjoy the starch and ironing part.

And a collection of rhinestone brooches to turn into tiny picture frames and hang on a Christmas tree or tie to a special present......



like this.....

And just for me...you know how I love turquoise things: a turquoise necklace and an antique (pre-WW2) German Easter egg! So big and pristine. See how the bunny's sky is, well, turquoise? I just had to have him! He came with all the white linens, so I got a good deal, even though his price was more than that of ALL the linens!

Unfortunately it was really, reeeally hot! And so I passed up things that were wonderful but would have necessitated a long  drop-off trip to my car in the sweltering sun: an entire, huge printer's drawer filled with wooden type, wooden letters, all quite large. (sigh). Neat crates for fall decorating. And spectacular mums, only $5.oo each!

Oh well, next week, right?

What treasures did you guys find? Any goodies?



PS Remember our little guy? He sat with me all day Saturday while I worked on a white hearts order. He thought the snips from the seams were food, poor baby. NOT yum. So I fed him crackers.... :-)

 

love

         lizzy

..............gone to the beach

Vintage Linens~ Recycled

The flea market yesterday wasn't just rained out, it was flooded to oblivion. And no market now til mid-May! I stayed indoors quilting and sewing hearts and watched a very sad TV show about people who hoard things....(TLC: Buried Alive- The Hoarders). They made one woman, an active knitter, throw away her collection of good wooden knitting needles! I was so sad for her, not to mention it will cost her lots to replace them. And one woman loved to go to the thrift shop! Ooops....buying used treasures made her, well, happy.

We know how that feels, hmmm?

I like to think my shopping is a form of recycling. I love finding neglected vintage linens, so musty, dusty, and longforgotten, seeing their beauty and giving them a makeover that lets them live a new and cherished life.

This is the white matelasse' coverlet, all washed and pristine,

ready to adorn a summer bed!Here is an intersting website that tells all about Marseilles spreads like this: http://www.oldandinteresting.com/marseilles-quilts-marcella.aspx

And here is the big white euro sham, washed and bleached and now starched and ironed.

"Christina" must have been someone very special, very loved! Look at this trousseau piece with her name in art deco lettering.

Around her name are hand embroidered butterflies, a pansy, and the finest of white cutwork and drawn-thread work.
Don't you wonder why this was never used? Did Christine marry and give birth to a dozen kids who kept her too busy for fancy bed linens?

Did she call off the wedding and elope with a bad boy cad instead?

Sometimes I can make these large euro dust (single layer) shams functional by adding a cotton backing so that a pillow will fit in....this one is really large! Needs a king-size pillow or a large square.

And here is a flea market/ thrift shop mainstay, vintage hankies. They always make me feel like end-of-school-year gifts for Teacher.

My mother and I collected hankies each summer at the big flea market in Wellfleet http://www.wellfleetdrivein.com/flea_market.htm. She particularly loved the ones that had pansies and violets, but we bought all kinds, as long as they were pretty!

We'd wash and starch the hankies, fill them with Cape Cod lavender---often from her own garden. Or Cape Cod Lavender Farm http://www.capecodlavenderfarm.com/...and tie the little bundles with fine satin ribbons from The Brewster General Store http://www.brewsterstore.com/.

Here is a set I made for other daughters to give their moms. They will be on my etsy site and eBay.

And when the linens or fabrics or old quilts are ragged and worn but still have faded glories, still have tattered remnants of their original charm, I love to carefully cut out the good parts and use them for my lavender-filled hearts.

Is this recycling?

                                       assorted white tea towel, quilt, and barkcloth scraps

I hope it is...

                                            Japanese kimono remnants and quilt pieces


that's my excuse and I'm sticking to my story!

PS No! my beach cottage does NOT look like one of those hoarders' homes!
But still..I guess I felt their pain?

love


                    lizzy

                      ...gone to the beach!