Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Egg Cups and Rabbits

March 30, 2018 at 10:20 am by Claudia

I heard the peepers last night. If you’re not from this area, peepers are tiny frogs that sing (called chorus frogs) in the early spring. Our neighbors have a smallish pond near the road, where a bullfrog resides, and as I walked upstairs last night to go to bed, I could hear them through the window. Oh, so lovely! And a true harbinger of spring. If you’re interested, I recorded them and the results are on my Instagram post from last night. Hearing them call to each other is magical. There’s also a little bullfrog in there, as well.

Eggcups, final edition. Let me say that I’m sure I’ve left some out, in fact, I know I have. But most of them have been displayed on the blog this week.

Some of these eggcups live in the china cabinet in the kitchen – the rest live in the cabinet in the den.

Starting from the left, a transferware, flow blue egg cup that I found in a shop – no markings, so I have no idea how old it is. The one in the middle (don’t you love the smile on that duck’s face?) was given to me by a Teresa, a reader of this blog. This was made out of what was called a Holland mold and hand painted by someone with the initials LH in 1958. He or she did a great job. This is one of my largest egg cups. On the right, a Delft egg cup, marked with the number 28. A gift from my mom.

A goose egg cup (one of my favorites) that I found in an antique shop. It’s marked: Sarreguemines, France, with the letter A. It has a lot of crazing, so I’m venturing that it’s fairly old. The next egg cup is one I found in San Diego at the shop, Vignettes. I love the colors. The wooden egg cup is one of a set of four sent to me by Barb, a reader of this blog. The darling chick egg cup was also sent to me by a reader – Judy.

Okay, in looking back through my blog to identify the names of the readers who so generously sent me egg cups, I see a few I’ve left out. Just have to find where I’ve ‘placed’ them. So I’ll be showing a few more tomorrow!

I posted about this next item on IG because my sister doesn’t do Instagram, but I had to hold off on the blog until the package arrived at her door, which it did – yesterday. Two years ago – yes, two – my sister handed me her Maggie Rabbit pattern/kit and asked me to make it for her because she didn’t have the time. I brought it back home with me.

And it sat.

I was eventually consumed with guilt and needed a project – I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything lately, I blame my need to read about Trump and his crimes – so I pulled it out. I have to say it was incredibly satisfying to make and I felt a calm come over me that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. (Since November 9, 2016, as a matter of fact.)

Here she is, Meredith’s Maggie Rabbit:

I found myself talking to her when I was making her. I was the kid who talked to my stuffed animals and my dolls and I still do.

I even brought my Maggie down from the bedroom to keep her company.

Mere’s Maggie is on the left, mine is on the right. I did a better job with Mere’s; having one already under my belt helped. This is a kit from Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, and it came with the pattern, felt, fabric, embroidery floss and yarn. She still makes the pattern, but no longer includes the supplies. While I was posting it on IG, a former student of mine named Michael, who, along with his husband, is a new father to a lovely little baby girl named Everly, said “I want one for my girl.” And he does. He also said that ‘”Aunt Claudia has to deliver it in person.” He lives in Los Angeles.

So I’m hanging onto the pattern and I will order the necessary supplies.

The best thing was that I knew Meredith would be completely surprised because she had most likely forgotten about the kit. She had. She was, I’m happy to say, thrilled to receive her Maggie. Just in time for Easter.

Happy Friday.

Filed Under: bunnies, collecting, egg cups, Meredith 41 Comments

Eggscellent

March 29, 2018 at 10:33 am by Claudia

Rain is on the docket for today and tomorrow. The gray skies get me down, but rain will bring green grass and buds on the trees, so I can’t really complain.

And we continue:

Another little niche in the house where I stash more egg cups. By the way, I counted them yesterday. I have more than 70! I don’t have all of them on display, but most of them are.

Starting from the left: from my blogging friend, Linda – this guy has a salter in his tail; the next two are from Japan, a little boy and a cowboy; the wooden egg cup was a birthday gift from Don and Scout, the next two I found online, I don’t think they’re old, I just liked them; and a cottage ware egg cup from England.

Another view of the cottage ware egg cup; the next egg up is from Devon and was a gift for my blogging friend, Mary; the Chambéry egg cup from France has two groundhogs in the design, so you can see why I wanted it; and the last two are plain, utilitarian egg cups that I’ve had for quite a while. Last year I made the bunny egg cozies for them. Mom and son.

Tomorrow – all the egg cups that are scattered here and there around the house. I’ll gather them together and photograph them.

If you celebrate Easter, what are your plans for that day?

I’m feeling better every day, but I’m still coughing off and on. If I feel better on the weekend, I might head into the city to spend some time with my honey. Having him here for one day spoiled me! I miss him. The cottage alway seems less homey when he’s gone.

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: collecting, Don, egg cups 45 Comments

Egging Me On

March 28, 2018 at 10:10 am by Claudia

We’re in that in-between time here in the Hudson Valley. It looks like the worst of winter is gone. It’s slowly getting warmer. But the landscape looks bleak.

It will be a few weeks before I can begin cleaning up the garden beds; that leaf mulch needs to stay there a bit longer to protect the plants. The waiting game has begun.

But I’m sure happy that winter seems to be on the way out the door!

More egg cups. It’s so hard to get a good photo of this little shelf that I found years ago in an antique shop. It hangs on a wall in the den, between two windows. There’s a table and lamp in front of it. And it gets very dark in that corner. Thank goodness for photo editing options!

Full transparency: this little shelf holds some of my favorite egg cups.

On the top shelf – One of my largest egg cups, a guy with a top hat. The head is a salter and is lifted out to access the egg cup. This would have been one of a pair of egg cups, one for salt and one for pepper. I suspect the little cherub next to it is really a toothpick holder, but I have made it an honorary egg cup because it’s so adorable. Then there’s Humpty Dumpty, with an egg that Don brought back from Prague serving as his crown.

Middle shelf – One of my favorites, the bunny artist painting the egg. (Middle-of-the night bidding war.) Next, a pig getting ready to dine on an egg (made for Tiffany). And then, one of my 1939 Walt Disney dwarfs, Grumpy.

Bottom shelf – Three more dwarfs: Dopey, Doc, and Bashful. And some little wooden ducks/chicks that I found in an antique shop several years ago.

The search for the remaining three dwarfs and Snow White is ongoing. It’s taken me 16 years to collect the four that I have!

In other news…Don told me the ‘critic’ from the New York Times  got so much backlash about his/her review of Escape to Margaritaville, that he/she felt compelled to write an op-ed defending the review. I don’t mind saying that I laughed gleefully when I heard that bit of news. It’s alright not to like something. We don’t all agree. But to write in a mean-spirited manner, to make it personal? That’s not what a respected critic does. That’s not what anyone who calls themselves a critic should do.

I cancelled my subscription over this one. I was already on the fence about it, due to all the “Hillary’s emails” crap they published leading up to the election, but this sent me over the edge. Bye bye, New York Times. And that sorry excuse for a critic can kiss my tush.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: collecting, egg cups, Escape to Margaritaville 26 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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