Flea Market Finds

Sunday was such a perfect day for the first BIG flea market of the year. Throngs of dealers and buyers, so fun!

But isn't it funny---I always end up buying from the same half-dozen people, much as I enjoy carefully searching the dozens of tables and tents.

At first walk-thru  I was a teensy bit disappointed...seemed like lotsa people spent the winter clearing out the garage and basement, bought a space and were selling granny's old junk! And the man who sells very antique Staffordshire china, sometimes with the Christie's auction labels still on, was nowhere to be found.
And I even had money!

But then, aha! I found the guy with the shabby old white linens and buttons mixed with his other stuff....

Found this great tin of mother of pearl buttons!

The buttons are large, carved, chunky. Primitive. I am guessing quite old.

And later I found this wonderful matelasse coverlet in a box shoved back of his van.

It was so age soiled I didn't want to really touch it too much...eeeewww.

I had it earmarked for salvaged fabrics for white hearts.

I never saw the fabulous hand-crocheted fillet lace edge---HEARTS!--- til I got it home and began airing it on my sunny deck.

Boy, did I negotiate a deal there....so beautiful. And it just came back today from my friend who helps me gently launder my antique whites....the coverlet, carefully rinsed, then washed , then bleached, then washed again by my expert helper and dried in our springtime ocean breeze and sunshine---it is now scrumptious! Yummy white summery perfection!
I'd love to keep it but it will probably go onto my eBay site this week, so if you love it as much as I do, check it out!
Under the coverlet, I found a lovely long Victorian christening dress---passed with a sigh. And this exquisite Euro sham---

all hand embroidered, finest white cotton, with the name Christina embroidered on it!

I'll repost pix of the coverlet on the bed and the sham when it is starched and ironed, later in the week.
Then another fav dealer, I think of her as the lady from Maine, though she recently told me, nope, she lives a few towns away from me, on the mainland!...funny how I get stuff, well, wrong.  And she has very cool things--- always has special finds.
She had this wonderful creamy yellow and cobalt spongeware pitcher (authentic, not repro!), mixed in a group of 40s-ish vanity plates.

Its prim charm caught my eye, despite the price---fair but not flea.

Here it is with lavender and cream parrot tulips, set on a tin spatterware plate, with green apples and a tiny ink bottle with tinier grape hyacinths.....

And the lady also had this interesting small French kettle or saucepan:

 It looks so hand forged! and I love the heartshaped "ears"---the little handles.

It is very sturdy, beautifully handmade, I think---and a wonderful patina.

I know nothing about cookware.

 It is marked in the back:

 France 20.

(if anyone knows about this type of metalware, pls send me a comment!) I don't even know if it is tin or steel or what....But I love it! Here it is with hearts in progress.

And I finished up with some pretty floral plates.

They really don't "go" in my white and blues beach cottage but I buy them anyway!---for photo props or for holding earrings and bracelets on my vanity counter....or for collections of seashells and beachglass. So pretty!
I'm so glad I remembered my big LL Bean boat tote for my goodies!
And I can't wait for next week! I passed up some fab antique buttons, a lovely old china head doll and that white christening dress. Not to mention a blue painted nail or ammo crate that was too heavy to cart around...but I--liked---it! A lot!

Do you guys love the flea market too? What do you look for? What did you find?

enjoy!

love

        lizzy

                                                          gone to the beach.....

Beach Umbrellas

This

was supposed

to be a flea market Monday post....

but time and a bad photo shoot have put a crimp in that plan!

Instead I have been madly sewing away on yet another quilt!

Let's see---I have three, yes---3! quilts with their bindings half sewn. That "accomplishment" somehow gave me the idea that I could begin a another NEW quilt, despite the fact that I have a wonderful vintage Baskets top I am repairing and lovely redwork blocks to design and sew up into a treasure for a friend, I hope. And of course I already got into the NYC quilt design: http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=8918333902682601699&searchType=ALL&txtKeywords=&label=blue+transferware.

But during the snowy days of February I checked out a library quilting book and to my amazement, a favorite pattern "Spider Web" a scrappy string quilt classic,

 also known as "Wagon Wheels"

---was explained in the most incredibly easy terms. My aha moment turned into inspiration.

This was a perfect idea for the orange and pink fabrics I've been accumulating for the past, oh--10 years?

This is the original inspiration fabric, a vintage Lilly Pulitzer scrap.

And a cutter piece from a friend...

 intended for spring and summer lavender hearts.

And somehow in the spiderwebs and wagon wheels my beachy eyes saw summer sun umbrellas.

My creative moment was quickly followed by a virtual shopping trip to my favorite on-line quilt shop, eQuilter. http://www.equilter.com/ to hunt for the base fabric AKA The Sand or The Beach. I chose four sand-like prints, ordered small amounts---and loved them all. My helper, my daughter, loved them all too and talked me into using all four beach prints...adds interest, right?

While I waited for my beach prints I made these trial block sections:

Sand [center diamond]~

and Sea [turq center diamond]~

I made small color copies of the two tryouts and literally, not computer-ally, pasted (oh, okay, scotch-taped!) them into a small mock-up. Here it is with the fast little sketch of sea/ sand/ brollies in turquoise pen on the right.

The book had good directions, but---way too big. I didn't want a quilt with almost life sized umbrellas, did I? Making the try-out blocks made me realize the artist's 16 1/2" square base blocks were much too big. I went with 12 1/2" blocks instead. And with my little paste-up job I could see that to create the pinwheel, kinetic effect I wanted, I would need to use more contrast within my stripes collection. Back to my stash for lights and darks, plus a rare non-blizzard-day trip to Joann's fabric store added depth to my fabric choice. And I got to shop some more! yay!

And---well--- the directions in that book (I'll add the name later, lost the info---many great ideas!) were waaaay too complicated! Am I really gonna mark all of, let me see---30 squares, cut into quarters.....120 hand marked base triangles???

I don't think so.

Notched for the cut edge, that's the ticket, ladies.

And I figured out a fast way to pre-sew the stripes in bulk.

So now I am happy to report that the central sand colored squares are 2/3-ish done. Just have a bunch, maybe 80? turquoise ocean water blocks left to cut and piece. Then I gotta sew them back into squares, add an ocean border and...and, well, I 'll add an update really soon with more pix of the quilt as it progresses. And I'll tell you about the fab quilting design already chosen for this baby.

Then it's back to the much harder than expected, wow, so many glitches!---NYC: "Hot Town/Summer in the City" quilt. And the baskets. And the redwork....Oh yeah, all  those bindings. And the hand-beaded seashells....

 Pix when everything is further along! How-to's if anyone wants to know....

love~

              lizzy

Treasure!

Flea market season begins here at The Beach on the first Sunday of April.

I was so excited---four long market-less months have passed without the enticement and excitement of the local Sunday market. Somehow, surfing through eBay just isn't quite the same, is it?

My flea market is a little tacky, a little urban (LIRR train station). It starts out slow and gathers momentum until the huge market in November, after Thanksgiving. It is always scheduled to run until Christmas but is always snowed or rained out, too bad.

And I don't even think about going in the height of the summer---the way to the flea market, from my beach, lies through the parking fields and feeder roads to one of the East Coast's largest beaches. Not to mention all those bridges I have to cross, each and every one raised for the boaters and fishermen. The 5 mile drive can conceivably take four hours and use an entire tank of gas.

But on a sunny spring day, the treasures are there for the taking. And this year we have a hotdog seller, yum!

I have a new list...besides my usuals---linens, quilts, transferware, primitives, buttons/laces and trims; vintage infant clothes; old baby shoes; vintage beads.... Here it is:

• colorful graniteware: muffin tin to sort buttons/ funnel for lavender/ bowls& plates (props/ projrct holders/ cups for decorative "gatherings"...)


• Tin molds, cake pans-stars, hearts (candles/ sea glass)


• lace, ribbon


• linens/ fabric (blue)


• big silver spoon for stirring and scooping lavender/ potpourri


• wooden crates


• random "lost" rhinestone items (angels/Xmas/ hearts)


• letters/ ledgers/ sheet music


• mason jars with bails or zinc lids; large, old glass jars -for beach treasures  potpourri storage.

I'm sure I'll add more to the list, plus serendipitous finds.
Prices seemed a bit high ...old chandelier prisms for $5.oo each?!? But I need them to fill an order; the buyer has been waiting since Christmas. And actually I love them so much, I wish I'd bought more.

Other finds: a good white ironstone platter, old, English; a blue transferware platter, damaged but colorful. I use these as props for my photos and also to hold sewing projects & supplies. And a very pretty c.1890s Aesthetic Movement sepia, rose and gold transferware gravy pitcher. So pretty...I'll save it for Autumn? Maybe...

But the real treasures were lying free for the finding on my beach. My kids found these old bottles! Mint except for seaglass patina, which we of course love! The black glass whiskey bottle, one quart, dates from about 1850-1860;

 ...the wonderful round bottomed soda bottle is c.1880-1900.

It says: Cantrelli & Cochrane Dublin Belfast and perhaps once held Irish ale or ginger beer.

Still has an ancient, blackened cork inside! Hhhmmmm.....
What exceptional finds. Rare treasure---quite valuable too!

I was not so lucky (which seemed very karmically unfair! Yep, I was jealous...)

--- though I did score some shards of old cobalt glass...

pretty white pebbles...

Displayed here on the new white platter....isn't it pretty, so graceful!

...and one tiny, perfect sand dollar!

What treasures do you search for? And where? I'd love to know...

love

lizzy