This weekends vintage McCoy and Shawnee pottery Flowerpot finds

 Hi guys! Sharing the pots I got this weekend buried in the $1 lot. I think the ones above are Shawnee pottery,

 I know the yellow and wine colored ones are Shawnee. I like this pattern.

 This big jardiniere I am unsure of. It looks like McCoy but isn't in the reference book I have. I have another book someplace I will have to find. They have some with this type of glaze, but they pattern is different. Jardinieres have no drain hole and sometimes have a matching pottery pedestal stand.

I loved this blue one, but it is missing a bit of "twig" handle. These both are McCoy.

 These are all McCoy. The yellow one is the same mold as the blue. The middle one here is purple. That is a harder color to find. I have one in my collection like this that used to belong to my husband's Gramma. The cute white one is called a violet pot. All of these except the last 2 went up to my booth in the antique mall. I am probably going to put the other 2 on Etsy as a group. Shipping on heavy pottery is prohibitive..an extra $7-$10 on top of the price for one if it stays between 1-2 pounds.

 This vase I think may be old McCoy. It has a large-ish chip on the inside which is a shame. I may keep it. It has matte glaze and I think from the 1910's-20's. More research needed. I think those are lilies on the top lip.

This is my mystery head from one of the first boxes of dolls I have gotten into. It is composition and I know this type is referred to as "Googly" eyed. She looks like a Campbell's Kid or a Dolly Dingle, but not quite either. Her eyes have clear plastic over them with black plastic discs that roll about when you move her.Hmmm. I am sure she will not be the only mystery doll or doll head! I am off about my day.Have a great week and stop back to see what I have been up to! Julia

Antique sale and Day lilies

 Hi guys! We went to another antique sale this weekend. As stated in my last couple posts, I just bought a trailer full of vintage dolls so I wasn't too gung ho about getting more things. My husband was though and my choices were send him alone and pay the consequence of his unescorted buying, or suck it up and go with.

 The sale was 2 1/2 hours away at an older general store, barn and home. The store was charming. It was on a winding road in a "holler" (small valley) and had been closed since the 80's. Some of the contents were much older than that!

The cases and fixtures were awesome. (Not that I needed cases or fixtures) We were hoping for decent prices, but a LOT of things went high. There were a LOT of locals with memories of the place who wanted "a piece of it" and had apparently plenty of cash. Sentimental buyers are hard to outbid!

 So we bought what we could. I got almost 2 dozen pairs of vintage 1940's new in box leather ladies shoes. I think those will be a fun find. Ed got some things I haven't even got a chance to see yet.

He bought a bunch of gears in the barn that unfortunately were stolen before we could pick them up. Boo. At this sale, the auction company said you could not pick up your items until you paid and I heard quite a bit of grumbling at the end about missing items. The sale people took it off your bill, but it was irritating and disappointing to deal with. Usually you get your things immediately and have a "pile" or load them and pay at the end. They have your driver's license and info so walking off and not paying is not advisable.  Oh well!

LOL..this was my view most of the day. It rained 3-4 times through the day so at least with our things inside, they were dry if not secure. One time it absolutely poured and was coming in sideways under the tents for a bit. I was waiting for a lightning strike or the auction's computers to crash, but we made it through! Never a dull moment. 

 They ran the sale by lot numbers and went in order and you had a list. They put the pictures of the lots up on a large screen, so you did need to go see things first to know what you were actually buying. Not my favorite style of auction! I wandered off in dull spots and took some pics of the day lilies at the house.

                      They had quite a large flower bed.

 Day lilies only bloom for a day (or 2) and then wither.

 They have a lot of buds though and put out fresh flowers for quite awhile.

 Plainer orange ones grow wild in the ditches in places in East TN. This type has ruffled edges.

 These were so velvety they looked almost black in person. (The spots are raindrops)

 At the end of the sale a lot of people had left and they were down to auctioning the things in the basement. They auctioned a 3 tiered wooden plant stand and "all the stuff on it and around it" and couldn't get a bid so I elbowed Ed and he and another lady bid $1 at the same time and the auctioneer said SOLD and said the other lady's bidder number so I thought "Oh well". Her husband came up to Ed when we were loading and said, "If you want that you can have it for $1..I told her we don't need it!" So he gave him a buck and I went down to start loading. I thought it was 4 feet long but it was 6 feet long. It was covered with a bunch of those plastic hanging baskets and pots and there were some terracotta pots. When I started unloading it, I started finding vintage McCoy & Shawnee planters and flower pots..there were 14!

 The bench was a lot older than I thought too.  There were  about 50 or more terra cotta pots I hauled out too. The McCoys are dirty and I need to wash them and see what sort of shape they are in. I did see one was chipped, but the rest looked pretty good! So that is what I am doing this Monday .. cleaning pots! So stay tuned..more pics to come! 'Til next time! Julia

Vintage doll treasure trove

 Hi guys! More pix of the vintage dolls we bought this weekend..ok..SORT OF pix of dolls. Mostly pix of boxes as that is were most of them still are. This was trip 2 and a view of the back of our Explorer. The USPS boxes are from where the former owner had bought them off EBay in the early 2000's. Some still even have the receipts with all the info on them..a big help to me!

 Ed, our 12 year old Jack and I loaded boxes at the auction house for almost 3 hours in of course the hottest part of the day..over 90 degrees! Ed got stuck loading the kiln and molds..over a hundred of them! Most went in the trailer, a few in the vehicle.

 Our trailer is 12 foot by 6 foot by 6 foot... and it was THIS full!

 I did not want to leave them in a hot trailer so we spent last night and this afternoon unloading.

 I wanted to go through every box but I did not have that time. They were just glanced at to separate the vintage from the newer bisque/porcelain dolls that the former owner had made and all the pieces parts. Then stacked in storage.

 It was SO HOT in there!

 There were some old porcelain heads and some old kid bodies too.

 OK..this one is a bit creepy. I do recall seeing some reeeally creepy ones when I was loading.

 Jack is a bit skeeved out..lol. (PS..these are not the creepy ones..they are still lurking in the boxes)

 Some of these will go on EBay and some to my Etsy shop and probably even some to my booth..divide and concur! (that is a Snow White head)

Some are damaged and going to the "creepy head" box. Some are missing a wig or the wig is a bit "Albert Einstein"..but who am I to judge! I am going to be researching and photographing for quite awhile! 

Totally random pic..I saw this albino stinkbug stomping up the garden hose while I was out there..the markings look like a little alien headed doll in a dress holding her hands in front of her! What a coinkydink! I'll be sharing more doll photos as I go along and other things too, so stop back! 'Til next time! Julia

Girls, Girls, Girls! Vintage doll apalooza

Oh . My . Gosh.  We went to an antique sale this weekend and I think I am now officially "The Crazy Doll Lady" ..or maybe my husband is! I bought a ton of vintage dolls. Most are composition and there are some others. We packed the Explorer and I have to back tomorrow with the TRAILER to get the rest. I don't eve know what all we bought. We went because the antique sale details said vintage dolls and doll parts. I figured I wasn't a doll expert so I'd miss out on most of the dolls, but I was hoping to get the rough dolls and parts to sell on Etsy for art parts or fixer-uppers. Holy Cripes.Did I mention I got a kiln and around 150 molds too? There were tons of Shirley Temple and Shirley Temple "type" dolls and lots more.

I know I got a couple Armand Marseille dolls. I also bought about 50 boxes at the end for one price that I haven't even gone through yet. The auctioneer said they were full of similar old dolls and parts to what I had bought and I could see into the top several on the pile that he was not kidding so I bought them. (yikes) 

This is a large Simon & Halbig baby (no hair or pate) I think they call this a "character doll". "He" reminds me a bit of my nephews as babies. Some find old dolls creepy. I did buy a few creepy ones,but from what I have seen on line, creepy sells..and the creepier the better for some people! I shall try to get some pix tomorrow. Stop back and see what I find..I'll be digging through boxes for weeks! Til next time! Julia

Paper roses

Hi guys! Back to work. I am currently making a bridal bouquet of paper roses. The bride is a reading teacher and provided the papers..Grimm's Fairy tales and Dick and Jane type readers.

The blooms are done and I am working on the leaves and need to arrange them yet. I think they are turning out pretty! We went estate sale-ing this weekend. I was not up to heavy lifting, but I did point and pile things up to buy! Poor Ed was the main loader. I shall try to get some pix of what we got..a few items are already in our local booth! It was fun to get out again. Ed has been yard sale-ing without me and bringing home some doozies. Yikes. Hope you are having a great week! Stop back and see what I am up to next! Til next time, Julia

I am cancer free!

 

I am home and recovering from my hysterectomy last week..riding the recliner mostly. So..here is my story. Earlier this year I had some post menopausal bleeding. I Googled and of course the internet told me it was cancer. I searched for friendlier answers and the general consensus was.."probably not cancer but get your cooter to the gynecologist". So I went. I found out while I thought it had been 2-3 years since my last exam, it had been EIGHT. (Still not believing that but whatever). I had a Pap test and since I had bleeding, a sonogram. The sonogram showed a spot that the Dr. said may have been a fibroid. The Pap test came back "abnormal inside the uterus". Apparently there are different kinds of "abnormals" with a Pap test. So I had a D&C and the results came back cancer. It was like getting hit with a 2x4 out of the blue. They lined up a gynecological oncologist surgeon for me. He told me what type of cancer it was and where it was located and scheduled a complete hysterectomy, uterus, ovaries, some nodes, the works.

 I heard my parish priest say in a sermon to "Ask God through the name of Jesus his son for help" so I did. I re-heard the story of the woman in the bible who had uterine bleeding and had touched the hem of the robe of Jesus and was healed by her faith, I could not do it actually, but I did do it mentally and through prayers. I re-heard the bible story of the paralytic who was lowered through the roof by his friends to see Jesus and how he was healed by his friends' faith. I prayed, my family prayed, my friends prayed..even friends of friends and people who never met me prayed

 I had my surgery last Wednesday. It was the robotic kind. 5 small incisions in my abdomen and my RN friend Susan assured me "You don't want to know the rest!" It went smoothly and since the cancer/surgery floor was full, they hauled me up to the maternity floor for a room. I wish I could have seen my husband's face when he got there. He said they gave him a floor number and he asked the nurses at the desk (of the obviously maternity floor) "Is my wife here?" They asked him, "Did she have a baby?" He said, "Nooooo?" LOL. They found me. The nurses were great and the room I assume was much more cheerful. I went home the next day.

I got a call yesterday from the hospital with my results from the pathologist. No cancer in any of my removed "bits". Zero cancer. Healthy uterus. The nurse said that is extremely rare. I could at this point believe that somehow the D&C "got it all" or that despite all the tests there was some sort of mistake. I prefer to believe in God's healing grace. I am by no means saying I am worthy of a miracle or healing and certainly not more worthy than others who have suffered and died from cancer. I am just telling my story.. that I believe that each of us have miracles happen in our lives daily and that for ME I cannot ignore it. Thank all of you who prayed for me and saved me by your faith. Bless you. Praise the Lord!