Blue Monday

I am participating in my first Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally whose favorite color is blue. Blue is definitely one of my favorite colors too! I have been collecting blue china since I was about 8. I used to find lots of them at flea markets, auctions, yard sales, and antique shops. Then I learned about eBay-big mistake! My collection just keeps growing-a piece at a time. I go off on another collecting tangent and I forget about the blue & white, but always keep coming back to it. I must admit I have ‘strayed” to other colors as well, but the bulk of my collection is blue! One of my favorite pieces is a platter my mom & dad bought for me as an 18th birthday present. It is large about 17” long and is flow blue. They paid all of about $35.00 for it-my dad-(silly man) thought they had spent too much!

Most of my collection are English pieces, but I have a

French piece & even some American pieces of Flow blue. The little Mason's aqua jug I picked up at the Salvation Army for $3.95-what a buy!

Be sure to stop on over at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ to check out all the other participating Blue Mondays.

Tablescape Thursday-It's All About the Toile

BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH: Pink Saturday and A New Tablescape Thursday Button-I am participating in my first Tablescape Thursday. It was a lot of fun creating my place setting-I rummaged through totes that have not seen the light of day for awhile and came up with the scalloped border Limoge plate. It is really lovely & unless you look very closely, you can't tell it has a chip on the bottom rim. Even though it isn't perfect, its charm has preserved it all these years. Dinner took on an air of elegance, even if it was just stuffed chicken breasts & mashed potatoes. Thank you Susan for the inspiration!

Tablescape Thursday-It's All about the Toile

It's All About the Toile-I just love toile-any design-any color-I am smitten! I just found this fabulous garnet-red tablecloth on sale for 75% off at Williams-Sonoma. It is the perfect backdrop for the garnet faux-silk placemats I bought at Target for 98 cents each-what a bargain! For my Tablescape Thursday, I chose a silverplate charger I bought as a set on eBay years ago as my first layer topped it with a vintage transferware plate in red-(I feel like I'm frosting a cake!), then a vintage Limoge plate I bought at a Flea Market & crowned it with another red transferware plate in a pattern I collect called Andalusia. The flatware is Milburn Rose, a pattern that dates circa 1930. It is my "Good Silver" I purchased at an antique shop shortly after I was married-(thank goodness for LayAway!) The knife is mother-of-pearl handled-(part of a set purchased on eBay). The little crystal votive is actually an individual salt dish. The napkin is also toile folded together with a damask in garnet. Isn't it romantic?

A Mental Health Day

Ok, so I was supposed to be working but alas the fabric store was having a half-off sale-how could I say no!?! I have a sweet little French caned chair that is in dire need of a frouffy down cushion. I want to make-over my livingroom & this is a simple & inexpensive jumping-off point. So needless to say one of my favorite antique shops is right next to the fabric store which is right up the road from the pastry shop-it just kept snowballing! I bought a delicate little ribbon style fabric & a linen check-not sure if either will cushion the chair or just become cushions! I finished my afternoon off with a cappuccino & French pastry-naturally! But I behaved at the antique shop & didn't buy a thing-but tomorrow I go thrifting so maybe something will turn up!

I am parting with some of my transferware collection. As my husband says, I cannot keep it all. I have been sifting through the totes in the attic and have added some to my website. I have been collecting since I was ten-mostly blue but I have yellow, green, brown, mulberry, lavender, pink, red & bi-color. My most unusual is the yellow/brown bi-color. It is a Ridgway,one of my favorite manufacturer's. Yellow is a rare color. I have only ever found one in all my year's of collecting. I started my obsession at our local flea market. At the time you could find pieces for under a dollar especially if they had a chip or crack. A few years ago I bought a red & black plate for four dollars that I sold for over a hundred. Alas, those deals are few & far between. When I first started buying dishes I knew very little about them. I bought several books which have become well-worn reference books. One is Romantic Staffordshire Ceramics by Jeffrey B. Snyder. It is a handy guide for identifying many popular patterns & manufacturers.

This one is also a Ridgway, polychrome-(multi-color transfer) plate as is the green/brown & yellow/brown.

I have them everywhere throughout the house. I change them with my mood & color-scheme. I have also passed this "bug" to my neighbor. Beware-it is quite contagious, often spreading to other family members & friends! My neighbor's partial to lavender-my cousin to green! With all the varieties out there-the possibilities are endless!