Wandered into the local consignment shop on the unending quest for a small wall hung display cabinet the other day. Struck out on that front but I spotted some color in the pile of linen to one side on the "small item" display case. Lovely tea towel with a flower and geometric figuring - bright colors and totally ME.
No price tag, but gorgeous workmanship and very art deco in spirit. I leave my contact info with a price request - figuring I can't afford it. As I'm walking out the door, the owner comes in and we ask -
sounds wonderful. I guess I should check the thrift shops...but in our area they are the somewhat ratty items that folk like me discard!! No treasures..but I should keep looking.
This is a consignment shop - selling collectibles and antiques. I am now wishing I had taken the time to look at the rest of the pile. In the "going going gone" section, there was a box of vintage fabric that I really thought about buying for crazy quilting - as if I'll ever really start doing that!
On 1/11/11 3:14 PM, in article C952244E.AA1D9% snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net, "Cheryl Isaak" wrote:
Sounds great.
Woohoo! The last great deals I got was when we were at the EGA weekend regional and Donna & I did some antiquing, and I got this fab brass candelabra for $10!
Looking forward to it. On this topic - we've been going thru and clearing out the boxes of treasure (and trash) sitting in our storage room and sunroom. And finding lots of stuff from DH's family - just things that his mom had stored away and were rarely used. But, on the needlework front, I have to say, she was meticulous in cataloguing. We found an enormous tablecloth done in "tied cotton thread" - I cannot describe, but will put a photo on RCTNP - made by her mother's Great-grandmother - when the woman was in her 90s around 1920 (Iiread it correctly). It's been kept in saran wrap on cardboard, so I'm airing it in our dryer freshening cabinet, and then re-packaging archivally. I don't know if it's displayable - but maybe. Also, another tablecloth made of silk brocade placemats, hem-stitched with what looks like biege cordonnet, and then with crocheted bands - like the sashing between squares on a quilt - joining the mats. Made by a great-aunt in 1930. All with the full names - in Lithuanian & the Ellis Island conversions. Plus a bunch of thei interesteing very fine reed work & basketry that I think is like folk arts from the 30's that DH's grandmother made - some really lovely things. But, he's told me the huge stash of cotton crocheted runners & mats I can use - they were under plants, etc. So, we'll see. But the tablecloths are amazing, and I'm going to bring them for show-n-tell to a guild meeting.
I don't know much about this early 20th century kind of folk needlework - maybe some of our more knowledgable - or senior- crew will know. I'm sure that the tied cloth is some Lithuanian needle art.
Just sharing a bit. I also found a bunch of Indian textiles - pillows, hangings, mirrored pieces that I'd bought on various trips there. Gosh, I'm getting old - I've had these for 20 years!
Ohhhhh......Is that the one we went into after lunch last summer; they weren't opened officially yet, but they let us poke around. That was a cool place!
True, very true. It's been quite a delay in going thru this stuff while trying to get builder corrections done in the house. Plus in a fiasco we lost stuff in our storage unit. Not a big deal about some pieces of furniture that were in there - but I'm worried that some of my heirloom china/silver was still in there. I'm kind of over it - but it's been back and forth with the attorney about bringing action against the storage unit company - long story. So, we knew we had a lot of stuff, and DH had been telling me we need some kind of china cabinet - with me thinking, no, we've plenty of space. Well, now that we've unearthed a bunch of stuff - and there are still more boxes with things I have to agree - we're going to need another piece for the dining room. Which is unbelievable, but...
Yup. It balances the horror of the actual immediate family members (as in the 2 terrible SILs). DH is quite happy finding these things, and in his family all of these nice things were put away, buried in layers in a buffet, etc. So, it's nice for him to remember when he last saw some of them - when he was a kid, still living in NJ. And that we both want things visible, being used as appropriate. We've also found some things of mine - including some interesting artwork - that he's not so sure about. The needlework is so lovely and kind of unique - a bit heartwarming since we never were able to meet each other's parents. Just trying to think of a way to have it somehow displayed or able to be seen/appreciated at times.
The best part - DH has actually agreed to give away a lot of the kind of ordinary and extra things that we have no need for -which is awesome. So we've been doing donations of clothing, some old afghans, housewares, almost every week the last couple of months. Funniest thing - we have enough engineering/drafting tools to run a class - his stuff, my stuff, and both our dads. Seriously, how many compasses, slide rules, technical pens of various ages - can you have. I think we even have a slide rule that is almost 100 years old, and one of the drafting sets was used when the dad got it - so it too is about 100 years old. Pretty cool.
Consignment shops, what a great idea!!! For years I've been looking for a pattern for tablecloths I used to see all over when I was a kid (some 45 years ago, ahem), but I can't find them anywhere. I should start looking for the tablecloths themselves maybe. Does anyone else remember the little squares of white, with large-ish cross stitches done in different colours all around the edge to make a very geometric pattern? Kinda hard to describe, and I can't even find a picture of one to show. :)
Susan in BC, which reminds me I must go change my nickname now.....
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