One man's trash...

...is totally another's treasure! I have so much fun antiquing, flea marketing, garage saleing, etc. It's always a treat to wander Goodwill, too. I like to see the potential in something that others can't. I have fun revamping things plus it's much "greener" (and cheaper!) to buy things that have already been made rather then to cause new things to be manufactured, not to mention you are keeping stuff out of landfills! If I had my own place I think it would be Salvation Army Style all the way! Here's the latest finds:

I love to collect vintage dishes (and they're aqua! Double score!):

Aren't these vintage bride dolls the sweetest? I love love love them! I will use the one on the right to decorate with at the upcoming bridal shower I am throwing my friend (she is a brunette). They were only $2 each and I estimate they are from the 40's or 50's at the latest:

I also found this wooden house, it looks like it was made to hold a chotchke or two, but I like it on it's own as a sculptural element. It now sits by the phone.




Another steal was this random of random quilt top...a random quilt for a random girl, eh, Angela? Ha ha. It's actually rather difficult for us humans to create a random thing, our brains want to organize things so badly- I was rather impressed at their randomness. I guesstimate that this quilt top was made in the 60's or 70's as it has some very funky fabrics! Some even have butterflies, it was a sign.

The fabrics aren't actually pieced together, but zigzagged onto a backing.

Sometimes a steal really is someone's trash, like the other week when my parents found this antique sewing machine sitting outside an Amish house. They asked about it and sure enough it was out for the trash. And it's in great condition too- the paint still looks great, no rust. We have a Singer treadle machine that my mom bought when I was little (she sewed us a lot of costumes on that machine! Way to go Mom!) so we have an appreciation for them. I'm curious as to what happened to the cabinet this would have been a part of.

I was surprised that this was out on the curb, it'd be worth a pretty penny in an antique shop, especially since it is in such nice condition.

The silver detail is quite Art Deco, this machine is probably from the 1920's or 30's. It's newer than our treadle machine. Us Chaneys like to rescue cool stuff, lol. And you wonder why we have too much stuff....

Thought I'd show what can be done with a thrift store find- I bought this gold plastic frame a few weeks ago and finally revamped it last weekend.

Before:

I spraypainted it black- when you remove color from an object it becomes all about its form. I LOVED the design that was left on the cardboard! So ghostly! Next time I'll have to remember to put a good piece of paper down to preserve the design.

I let it dry and hung it in my room, no other place for it now!

Can you tell I like butterflies from my pic? Ha ha. I really like "Mod Victorian" items so I liked how the frame turned out. I think it would look great with some Haunted Mansion wallpaper!





Stay tuned, folks for more craftiness!

Chautauqua Quilts

Last weekend I went to the Quilting Around Chautauqua quilt show at the Chautauqua Institution in NY. There's this neighborhood of beautiful old homes, many of them are summer homes on the lake. They also do cultural events, I've been there twice before for performances. It was nice to get out of the house, and I definitely got my exercise- 800 quilts were spread out in buildings all over the general area. It might have been nice to have had someone with me, but I had fun and got to explore and see what I wanted. Both the houses and the quilts were inspirational. I love old houses and quilts so it was a great match.

Wouldn't you love to live here?

This little church was unique and really cute:

A tiny public garden that was cute, had some pagodas around:

A beautiful, huge hotel:

I think I found my house:

You know you're in a nice neighborhood when this is the "homely" house in the neighborhood!

And on to the quilts:



A beautiful 1800's fan quilt:

Cute to use log cabin squares as pumpkins:

I'm not always a fan of batiks, but they work well in this:

A cute Christmas log cabin, it'd be cute as a big quilt:

I love the log cabin/stars combo, but I'd do different colors:

What a cute snowman!

I don't always like "mod" quilts but I like this one (Basic Grey does scrapbook paper and fabric):

If you don't want to do a whole big quilt you can do a framed one, it could be cute:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE 30's fabric...here's a cute chicken wallhanging:

and 30's butterflies! The whole thing was like 18"sq.

1930's baskets were sweet in a wallhanging:
The mini quilts were amazing...this whole quilt is 11 and 3/4 inches square...each bear paw was tiny and amazingly exact! Whoever did this was really talented:

It was a fun afternoon, I was definitely the youngest person there! It was funny because the "soundtrack" for the day was listening to women ohh and awww over everything.

There were a lot more neat quilts but those were my faves. I'm trying to get into quilting, been reading books, hoarding fabric and collecting patterns for a few months now. I really have a fun time putting fabrics and patterns together...now I just have to actually do it! I really wish I had more space to do stuff like this!

Antique Quilt Top

As I mentioned earlier, my mom and I purchased this antique quilt top from an antique store in Erie a couple of weeks ago. I just had to talk more about it. The pattern in called "Autumn Leaves" (I was so excited when I found it in a quilt book!) and it became popular in the '30s and '40s after it was shown at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. This quilt top is from that time. It is a delight to behold in person- Mom and I just couldn't walk away. It's in really great condition. The workmanship is absolutely incredible- every stitch is hand sewn in perfect, tiny stitches. The mitered corners match up perfectly. Nearly every leaf is of a different fabric (only one or two are the same). I cannot imagine the hours spent on this.

Which brings up the question...who made this? We'll never know. The woman who had it in the store bought it a long time ago at an estate sale in the area and didn't know very much about it. One also has to ponder why it was never finished into a whole quilt. What we do know is this: whoever made this quilt top was very talented, both at sewing and at putting colors together. There is no area that looks "off" or out of place. The colors are well balanced. All the principles of design apply here.

Mom and I are doing our homework- how should we finish it? The quilt top is made for a Full bed, we will probably add a border or something to enlarge it a little to be Queen sized. There are several independent fabric stores around here that carry reproduction '30s fabric that we will have to go see. We need to find a backing fabric, fabric to bind the edges and perhaps fabric to make a border. We also need to figure out how to actually quilt it too- where should we put the stitches? Is there a design we should use? It'll be an adventure.

I know, I know- I really don't need any more projects...but I couldn't pass it up! It's funny that I like this quilt so much since I am really not a "yellow" person, but for some reason I love this quilt! It cheers me up.

Everytime I see it, it makes me happy!

Whoever you were who made this quilt top, thank you!