china and pottery

What the Heck is in that China Cabinet?

October 10, 2012 at 10:00 am by Claudia

First of all, why do I decide to do these kinds of posts on a rainy, gloomy day? Don’t answer. The truth is, taking a bright sunny photo in the den would be all but impossible on any given day. Even though there are lots of windows, the big window is tucked under the porch roof, so we don’t get any bright sun until the end of the day. So, using Aperture Priority, I’m attempting to take some fairly decent photos of this cabinet and its contents. (Note: I need a new camera.) And eliminating the television from this photo would entail moving a few pieces of furniture and that’s not going to happen. Trust me, this photo would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t painted the inside of the cabinet a pale pink.

This china cabinet, which is on the petite side, was one of the first things I bought for my apartment in San Diego. I found it in Ocean Beach, my favorite place to hunt for vintage anything. I bought it to house my collection of Fiesta, which I ended up selling a few years later. I love the different tones of wood and the inlays along the sides. I’ll never paint it. You can see the Hendryx birdcage and some of my Roseville on top. Let’s take a peek inside, shall we?

Shelf One

1. aqua bulb bowl – McCoy, 2. my great-grandmother’s syrup jug with pewter lid, 3. platter from my favorite set of of Edwin Knowles china, I wrote about them here, 4. creamer and sugar found in Orange, CA, 5. small dish from my great-grandmother’s set of Haviland China (the rest is still stored at my friend’s house in Detroit. I know.) 6. pale pink depression glass plate that I won in a giveaway 7. French china pitcher, found at Vignettes, 8. French china plate, also found at Vignettes 9. One of my first pieces of McCoy, a lovely green vase (I have 2 of them) 10. hat pin holder, 11. vintage hat pin

Shelf Two

1. McCoy bird dish, 2. McCoy vase in peach/coral, 3. McCoy pot (a present from Brenda) 4. beautiful plate, made in France, that you can’t see very well (from Vignettes) 5. Hull pitcher (a present from Betty) 6. my grandmother’s baby shoe, 7. my pink hobnail vase (found in the neighboring town) 8. a goose egg cup

Shelf Three

1. two teacups from that set of Edwin Knowles china, 2. a bowl and a gravy boat from that same set, 3. a little platter – same set, 4. McCoy vase, another one of my first finds, 5. a beautiful egg cup in my favorite colors, unmarked (I found it at Vignettes) 6. McCoy Arcature vase (one of my all-time favorites) 7. McCoy bulb bowl in aqua, 8. hat pin holder

I think I need some larger plates or platters in the back, don’t you?

I’ll take you on a tour of the kitchen cabinet (also full of china and pottery) on another day.

Thank you for all your beautiful, heartfelt comments on my post about Riley. I can never thank you enough for the compassion and love you’ve sent my way and for the love you’ve sent to Riley. Bless you.

Don’t forget the book giveaway! It ends tonight. Scroll down three posts and you’ll find it.

Happy Wednesday.

A Want Ad

September 12, 2011 at 12:01 am by Claudia

Since I have a somewhat captive audience here on the blog, may I ask a favor? If you ever see one of these bowls in your travels, please grab one for me.

This is my atmospheric mood picture.

Or maybe I decided to write about this later in the day when it was very cloudy out. I’ll leave it up to you.

I bought 4 of these bowls from a wonderful kitchen store in Woodstock several years ago. Unfortunately, 2 of them broke. I’d like to say it was all Don’s fault, but truth be told, it was due to my own clumsiness. I tried to replace them but the ladies at the shop said the manufacturer wasn’t shipping them anymore. The stamp on the bottom of the bowl says ‘Kiss That Frog.’ So, a couple of years ago, I did a Google search and contacted them. Unfortunately, they were only for sale on a wholesale basis – and I didn’t need 100 of them.

Here’s a view of the both sides. (Pardon the annoying intrusion of our binoculars in the upper left of this photo.) Isn’t the design lovely? As you can see, I’m just about to settle down with some ramen noodles.Yes, it’s true. Apparently, I’m reliving my studio apartment days when ramen was a quick, cheap meal. It still is, I’ve found.

If I had my way, I’d have about 8 or 10 of these. That way I’d have some back-ups. Because I do break things.

These bowls make me happy. Just think how happy I would be if my dear readers found some! I’d reimburse you, of course. Just file this image away in the back of your head and maybe some day you will be walking around a shop and (cue choir of angels) there it will be. You never know. Stranger things have happened.

Clean-up, Rearranging & an Anniversary

August 30, 2011 at 5:00 am by Claudia

I walked outside today and noticed this heart – made by the relentless rain hitting the gravel next to the porch. A perfect heart – isn’t that amazing? It made me smile on this day after the hurricane.

We moved into this house 6 years ago today. Part of what sold us on the house were the 4 large trees in the front of the property: a shag hickory, a weeping willow, a sugar maple and a catalpa. We deeply love these trees. To hear cracking and groaning as limbs were ripped from them on Sunday was heartbreaking. Each of the trees lost one or more branches; in some cases, large limbs. The sugar maple suffered the most. It is the tree that sits the closest to the house. You see it in every photo of the garden or the porch. We are very sad. Don was so upset last night that he had to write a song about it.

Clean up has started. We are grateful for a friend who came over with his chain saw today. That was an enormous help. There is still much to do. There has been terrible flooding in our area, with damage to crops and homes.

We are very lucky that the house was not hit by a tree. Everything seems even more precious to me. Early in the day, before all the devastation happened, we decided to rearrange the furniture in the living room. Long story short: we moved everything around in several formations but ended up putting it back in almost the same position. It really doesn’t work any other way. These little changes have made things just a bit cheerier today. We ended up moving some tables into new positions:

The dollhouse sat on this coffee table – it’s now on a smaller table and the coffee table is in front of the sofa in the den. It almost moved into the living room, but we couldn’t imagine the living room without the round oak coffee table.

We decided to take away the white table that was next to the piano, moved the piano over 6 inches, and now the yellow chair fits perfectly in the space.

On another note – the bowl on the left was in a photo a couple of posts ago. Some of you mentioned how much you liked it. It’s not McCoy. It’s a pattern called Orange Tree by Homer Laughlin. I found these at an auction a few years ago and I love them. This pattern was made in the 1930’s – 1940’s. Here’s the mark on the bottom of the bowl if you’re interested in searching for some of your very own Orange Tree bowls:

Happy Anniversary MHC.

Go hug your trees today.

What the Heck is in that China Cabinet?

A Want Ad

Clean-up, Rearranging & an Anniversary

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives