Gathering Dust

Auction Goodness Vintage Sewing Basket

A few days ago at auction I won a very full wicker sewing basket.  Besides actually buying the basket, a good part of the fun is digging through the basket to see what kind of treasures it hold.

I had to dig past a lot of flotsam and jetsam- dried out old rubber band pieces, nails, screws, rusty paper clips, the rings that go around canning jars- but in the end it was worth it.

Buttons had been stored in these vintage Christmas boxes- the top one if from Daytons- my favorite department store when I was growing up.

Cute snap cards- a picture of a couple kissing and the caption reads "Two parts with but a single snap"....sigh, how romantic...

I love this cute little strawberry pin cushion- actually, it's not a pincushion, it's an emery "needle cleaner"- an advertising giveaway.

And of course, lots of white and cream buttons- I usually sort those out first because I love the way they looked grouped together.

I've had several people email me about kits from my Paper Cowgirl class.  You can find them in my Etsy Shop.

Etsy Shop Update- Selling Still Gives Me A Thrill

I like to set goals- I don't always meet them, but I if set a goal, and make it "official", either by writing it down or fixing it in my head, I accomplish a lot more than if I just have some vague ideas about doing "stuff".  Writing it down makes me accountable to myself.

But enough Oprahsizing- this weekend I said my goal was to get the total number of items in my Etsy shops- Gathering Dust and SugarPinkMoon up to 100. 

When I started yesterday, I had a total of 30.  Now I have a total of 70- but along the way people are BUYING things, so the count goes down.  Geez....

Ok,you know I'm kidding.  I LOVE it when you buy things from me.  Even though I've been selling antiques for almost 14 years, I still get a thrill when someone wants to buy something I picked out.

When I got my first booth at the antique mall, my rent was $250 a month, and I had a 6 mos lease.  I remember talking it over with my husband, and realizing that I was committing myself to spending $1500.

But I really wanted to try it, so we decided I should risk the $1500. I moved in and went back the next day and realized that I had sold two pieces that I had brought in on the first day - for a total of $18. I was SO THRILLED.  I remember thinking "Now, the most I can lose is $1482"- always the accountant with the financial statement running through my head.

So, I haven't quite met my goal yet- but I still have a few hours.  In the meantime, here's a look at some of what I have listed so far- including a bunch of funky plastic stuff- buttons, jewelry, even a clothespin. 

I'm going to take a listing break and read some of Tina Fey's book BossyPants.  Tina is my new hero ever since I started watching 30 Rock a few months ago.  I relate to Liz Lemon because she wears clothes with food on them and sometimes has lettuce in her hair, and sometimes, I do too.

30 Seconds of What I Was Thinking at the Estate Sale

I have a post over at the  Button Floozies blog about buying a box of buttons at an estate sale.  I use about 300 words to explain what went through my head in 30 seconds while I decided if I should buy the box.

Oh my gosh, that sounds really boring- well at least there are some pictures of pretty buttons...

Button Floozies

If you'd like to hear more about buttons, or more about my Yorkie puppy who's name is Button; I've written a guest post on the Button Floozies blog.

Button- hiding under the bed.  Maybe I should wrap a Swiffer around him so he could tackle some of the dust under there.

Dear Santa

I've been a very good   pretty good girl and if you have room in your sleigh,do you think you could bring me something? I don't want much, just some old thing.

Maybe something with drawers, like the pharmacist chest in the first picture, or a folk art chest like this one.  An elf put a lot of work into this.

If one of your elves is talented with a paint brush, I really like this grain painted table.

I'd be happy to rearrange the furniture in my house if you bring me an old store display like this to keep my lace in.

Or, if the sleigh is already full, I'd be happy with what's in one of the drawers.

Sorting these buttons could keep me busy for all of Christmas morning.

Thank you Santa- there will be milk and cookies for you by the fireplace.

(All pictures taken at Mission Road Antique Mall.)

New Old Stuff in the Etsy Shop

Since I don't have any antique shows planned for several months, I've been working my fingers to the bone  spending a little more time than usual stocking my Etsy shops.  I've added button cards and some cool buttons- square mother of pearl and rhinestones to SugarPinkMoon.

Jewelry in SugarPinkMoon including an ART brooch, a Lisner Rhinestone snowflake pin and couple of awesome stickpins, including an a deco pin made of old plastic- maybe Bakelite.

Victorian "stuff"- including a wonderful mirrored velvet photo album with floral photo mats.

Some fun little cuties- figurines, a hanky in a presentation folder and Cracker Jack charms.

In my Gathering Dust shop, I've got cabinet cards with great BACKS, German music, and handwritten ledgers.

If you're looking for some NEW old jewelry, supplies or just something fun- check them out.

Button Card Collecting

 
Back when I started my blog- about 4 years ago (oh my!)- it seemed like I was posting about buttons all the time.  I loved buttons and wrote about them so much that I was afraid people would refer to my blog as "that button blog".

I haven't had a button post in a long time,  because I haven't found a lot of great buttons or button cards. 

At an auction last week, I sat next to a dealer who bought a tin of buttons.  We looked at them together and found quite a few pearl buttons.  We started talking about Muscatine Iowa, which was once a huge producer of pearl buttons because of its location on the Mississippi River.  My friend Tami, who is a button collector extraordinaire wrote a post about her visit to the Pearl Button Museum in Muscatine.

Thinking about the pearl buttons got me to take a look at my little button card collection. 

 
I have lots of cards- but not a lot that have all their buttons, or don't have some other problem- like "pushed" corners.

 
Simple but so sweet.

 
Love this one- enamel and glass from "Czech-slovakia"- I'm guessing it's from the 1920's or 1930's.

 
While I was taking pictures of my button cards, I wanted to get a picture of this Button, too- but he was being shy and hid under the bed.

 
I want to give equal billing to Button's brother Buddy- but it's so hard to get a picture of Buddy- he's always busy patroling, with his nose is to the ground. 

I scanned some of my favorite cards, so you can use the images in your projects.  Just click on the image to enlarge it and then right click to save to your computer.
 
Bluebird pearl buttons- from Iowa 1923.

 

Mermaid Pearls.

 
Another Bluebird card.

 
Lucky Day was another brand of pearl buttons.

 
 Another Bluebird card- I'm not sure of the significance of the camel and the desert....

Happy creating- I better get that fuzzy Button out from under the bed.

A Sweet Estate Sale Surprise

 
My estate sale finds have been kind of....thin lately.  I've been able to pick up a few things here and there, but nothing like the Pink Lady estate sale or the Time Warp sale.

 
I did have one estate sale find this weekend that made me smile.  This cute little drawstring bag that has "Crochet" embroidered on it had some sweet hankies tucked inside.

 
When I got it home, I pulled out the hankies and found a pretty piece of lace in the bottom of the bag.

 
And wrapped in the lace...

 
...a chalk wedding cake topper. 

 
Oct 14, 1944- I bet the wedding was a GI on leave, or on his way to the war in Europe or the Pacific.  I wonder how long it had been wrapped in lace, waiting to be found.

What's on the Bookshelf? Reference Books for the Antique Dealer

 
 
Do you keep all your books in one place, or have them scattered through out the house?  I have bookshelves or bookcases in every room in the house.  Decorating books are in the guest room, craft books are in the craft room, recent fiction is in the living room, the bedroom has overflow books from the living room because I seem to be able to buy books faster than read them...and this cabinet in the front hall has (mostly) my antique reference books.

 
I've been selling on and off on Ebay for twelve years, and some of these books have been invaluable in telling me just exactly what I have- identifying glassware and flatware patterns or finding the name or maker of tableware.

 
 
But some of my books have been good for more than just reference, they have great pictures and I enjoy just browsing through them.

Antique And Collectible Buttons  by Debra Wisniewski has pictures of thousands of buttons.  In all my hours of sorting hundreds of pounds of buttons, I don't think I've ever run across a button that isn't in this book.

 
 And the book has pictures of so many great buttons that I'd love to find.  Like this set of pink ladies accessories...

 
...cheery yellow and orange Dutch set

 

Another book that I can look through over and over again is Costume Jewelry (DK Collector's Guides) by Judith Miller.

 
Besides having beautiful pictures and a great index of maker's marks, this book has helped me to have a better "jewelry vocabulary".  Instead of describing a pin as "curvy with shiny green things", I can say "C-scroll pin with green lava stones and aurora borealis crystal rhinestones set in silver-plated metal".

It's also helped me identify smaller genres of jewelry collecting like

 
...creature pins.  Yep, there are people who collect fish, seahorse, bee and spider pins.

 
If you read my blog often, you probably know I have a soft spot for old children's books.  Collector's Guide to Children's Books, 1850-1950: Identification & Values, Vol. 2  by Diane McClure Jones has charming pictures.

 

Along the same lines, another book I can page through and enjoy over and over is a Collector's Encyclopedia of Children's Dishes. an Illustrated Value Guide  by Margaret and Kenn Whitmyer.

 
This book covers a long time span- from 1800's china and pressed glass child's tea sets to toy dishes I remember playing with.

 
One of my favorites from this book is this brown transferware set called "Girls with Pets" -it combines so many of my favorite things- children's dishes, brown transferware and dogs.

 
Does anyone else remember playing with these aluminum dishes?  I think I had the cookie cutters and the muffin tin- and the pie plate until my Mom turned it into the dog's water dish.

For me,  these books are kind of like the old Sears Christmas catalog that I'd go through over and over,  making lists of what I wanted. These are just four of my favorite "browsing" books.  I guess with the amount of time I spend looking at antique guides, it's not surprising the bedroom has overflow books that I've not gotten around to reading.  I'm just too busy "armchair junking". 

European Sewing Notions

For the past three years, Lili and I have done a swap- I'll send her little paper things like wallpaper, postcards & valentines and she sends me FABULOUS things like European sewing treasures.  She said she got these at a "boot"- I think that's a Dutch word for flea market.  The boot is the trunk of a car, and in theory, people sell out of the trunk of their car.

 
The package was wrapped with a map, twill tape with numbers and a gingham accent tape.

Inside was this sweet box- and inside the box:

 
...the red and blue theme continued- red seam binding- LOVE the label, a floss keeper, more number tape and playing cards with beautiful designs,

A back to school postcard, a snap card and thread card.

More twill tape- this has my initials on it!!!  (Maybe I should sew it inside my clothes before I go to camp).

Antique bobbins and an etui.  An etui is a crossword puzzle word that means needlecase.

(I know one other word that is used only in crosswords- "ort"- which is a scrap of food. That has nothing to do with this post, I just thought I'd throw it in there to see if you were paying attention.)

I don't know how I can come up with a swap gift for Lili to come anywhere close to what she found for me...

I might just have to put on my boots and go to Texas to do some shopping....Karla and I should be on the road in an hour or so on our way to Round Top.