Monday, November 28, 2011

A Shawnee Gift

My dear friend, Sandy, and I got together this weekend to do some flea market shopping. We first became friends teaching high school together many years ago and have since enjoyed many hours of collecting, crafting, and "Glamping" (camping in our little vintage trailers) together.  We even shared a booth in a local antique mall (or two) for a few years...until we completely wore ourselves out!

Old friendships are so comfortable...you can just be who you are...no excuses necessary. And this old friend surprised me yesterday with a little gift...


a vintage Shawnee miniature pitcher to add to my collection.


It is marked USA on the bottom in teeny-tiny letters...


and will look perfect with the other pieces in my collection.


These little mini's are getting very hard to find so I am absolutely thrilled to have this piece. The tiny vintage pieces are no more than 3 inches high and they are perfect replicas of the full-size pottery made by Shawnee in Ohio in the 1930's and 40's.  (I wrote about my collection in a February 17, 2011 post here if you'd like to learn more.)


I can't wait to make a tiny little space for Sandy's pitcher in my kitchen pottery cabinet.


A day at the flea market with a wonderful friend and an unexpected gift from the heart...
Life Is Good!

This post is linked to:
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm
Tuesday's Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sunday, November 27, 2011

It's All Stephen King's Fault!

Well, not entirely. I can't blame Stephen King for all of my November writer's block but I think he may have started it.

Needing a short blog break, I picked up a novel by Stephen King...and couldn't put it down. Then it was back to our little town library for another, and another, and another. So I've spent my little blog vacation in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine with Stephen (I think we must be on a first name basis by now) traveling through time and fending off all sorts of shady characters. It was a great escape.


November has been a tough month. Last November, my sister Nancy lost her battle with ovarian cancer. People had warned me that the anniversary of her passing might be difficult but I had no idea just how right they were. And somehow, while I was reliving those last few weeks at Maine Medical Center, writing about my latest craft project or flea market find just didn't inspire me to write. So I gave myself permission to spend a few weeks away from the computer.


In addition to reading, I found comfort these past few weeks in just spending quiet time in my craft room, where Nancy and I had enjoyed so many hours together over the years.


One night, I decided to pull my bins of fabric out of the attic and found the stash I had put aside for quilts I intended to make "someday". And so began my other November never-quite-got-back-to-the-blog escape...sewing.


As November wore on, I sewed and hand-tied quilt after quilt, emptying two bins of fabric and batting. Never being very good at stopping at just one of something, I ended up finishing eight quilts to give as Christmas gifts. I guess I had my own little Black Friday (except it lasted for a month) ...in the warmth of my craft room with a Pumpkin Spice coffee in one hand and an embroidery needle in the other.  Sewing was almost as good an escape as chasing evil spirits in Castle Rock!


But I've missed blogging and the creativity of the holiday season is a good time to get back to it. Hoping my writer's block is finally over, I'm looking forward to reconnecting with blog friends again and saying Goodbye to Castle Rock for awhile.