Heading Under The Bridge

Last Friday as I was leaving work and heading up to do our antique show

I decided to make a quick stop and take a picture of this.

This is the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan

It connects Pt. Huron to Sarnia, Ontario Canada.

Above the bridge is Lake Huron.

This is where the St Clair River begins and flows down towards our house.

At night the lights on the bridge are blue.

There are two spans; one going in each direction.

As I was taking a picture across the river into Canada, I spot this.

This thousand foot freighter.

It's so big, I could not get it all in the picture.

Sure is a beauty!

Making its turn.

There it goes....

Heading under the bridge.

Take care, everyone

Janice

Show Dazzlers

Here are the pics from our show.

This was not a primitive show exclusively, so we brought a mixture of items.

An early 1900 buffet with blue transfer ware and some Shawnee elephants.

A 1940's grouping of chairs and telephone table.

A farm table with a 48 star hand stitched flag.

A tole painted candle holder, lantern, mirror with hat brush

and patriotic book round out this Americana theme.

A kitchen grouping being displayed on one of my personal quilts.

This one is hand stitched from 1926. 

A fun grouping of items.

This mirror is a Victorian towel holder.

A mission coat rack with some late 1800 bloomers.

A brass spittoon on a prim table.

A prim dresser with a red pump turned into a lamp.

Also a vintage wire dish rack and enamel soap dish.

Some prim items with another 48 star flag in an early whiskey jug.

Quilt rack, pair of metal children's chairs and an early metal sign.

Plus a wrought iron plant stand, fan and wood crate.

Bob loves his wood boxes.

A two sided metal ice cream sign, crock, herb drying rack and another wood box.

Another wood box and a two board display of barbed wire.

 I never realized there were that many different kinds of barbed wire.

Last but not least.

A butter churn crock with wood handles and a few rug beaters.

Well that is it for another antique show.

Our next outdoor show is next month

in St. Clair, Michigan.

St Clair is the next town North along the river from our store.

Close to home next time.

Take care everyone

Janice

Monday Montage

I try to keep the Monday Monday to displays around my house and store, however with today's montage, I just had to show a little of the hometown pride I felt while watching the parade in the small country town of Sandusky, Michigan where we were at for our antique show this past weekend. 

This particular fire truck came from my mom's town of Port Sanilac, Michigan.

Almost every town represented themselves in the area.

What's a small town parade without a tractor or two... 

Or three. A few of the locals told me that this town has a lighted tractor parade at Christmas and it is really neat watching all of them lit up and decorated for Christmas...

I just may have to mark that on my calendar this year.

And of course the local high school marching band is a must for every parade!

These young adults played very well. I could have sat and listened to more songs.

Following this group of policemen carrying the flags, came a procession of veterans.

Everyone stood and started clapping their hands for them.

This gesture made both Bob and I get teary eyed.

The mounted police. I have always loved horses. On the farm I would get on my favorite named Star and ride around the small side pasture bareback with no bridal. I had to get on her by climbing on to the feed rack outside while she was eating and then get on her back. She was so gentle. Sometimes grampa B would yell at me to get off of her before I got killed, but as soon as he was out of sight...I'd get right back on.

I'm not so sure what this contraption was. It had two big wheels and a red canopy.

It  was constantly going in circles. I wonder if the driver was getting dizzy.

The Shriner's in their funny little cars. Too cute!

Well, that does it for this montage.

Tomorrow pics from our tent at the show.

Take care everyone

Janice



Antique Show

For all my Michigan and nearby blogging friends. Bob and I will be doing an antique show this Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 until 4:00 in Sandusky Michigan...not OHIO...but our Ohio friends and any others who would like to take the drive, come on up or down and visit us!

This is an outdoor event being held on the grounds of the State Police Post right on M46.

Come see us if you can. There is also a craft show adjacent to our location on the same highway.

I will try to take pics and post later.

Take care everyone!
Janice

Etsy Dolls

I have just listed three dolls on my Etsy: Primsbythewater

Making their debut

Please Welcome

LIBERTY

(ONE OF A KIND)

ROSEMARY

PENNY

(ONE OF A KIND)

All are waiting to be adopted to very nice homes.

Possibly yours.

Take care,

Janice

Monday Montage

A Tisket, a Tasket.

Here are Some

Of my Baskets

This heart shaped rustic basket was hand made. I only use this for display.

This little beauty is from the late 1800's.
 I display it in between both my 2 blue slip gallon crocks.

This is a basket that the farmers would use to collect their cabbage in the fields.

This is another split wood late 1800's basket that presently is displaying a flag pillow.

This particular one is very fragile and a tad bigger than my other.

 The wood is broken on the bottom in parts, but I still love it just the same.

This vintage locker basket holds center stage next to my 5 gallon crown crock.

These geraniums in their paper bag holder fit perfectly in here.

Last but not least, a buttocks basket on the left and feather basket on the right.

My gramma B used a basket similar to this one to gather goose feathers on the farm.

The lid was needed to prevent the feathers & goose down from blowing away in the wind.

I recently purchased this basket from Amy at
Bumble Bee Lane Cottage
Thank you Amy!
I simply love it!!!


That does it for another Monday Montage.
Bob was working the flea market on his Father's Day.
I was tending the store.

Take care everyone
Janice

Are you ready for a WINNER!!!

Are you all ready to meet your next WINNER!!!. This was so much fun! I loved reading all of your comments.

Before I announce the winner of this latest giveaway, I want to give you a quick synopsis of my crafting years.

 I have been crafting and drawing my own designs since I was 22...which makes a total of 30 years now that I have been creating things. I started off in school as an art major, but decided to get my college degree in Business Management...because at the time, I did not want to be a starving artist. LOL

To let you know a little bit of how my designs have changed...I started by painting wood items that my dad created out of pine. Then I decided to add cross stitch items to his wood pieces.

Then plastic canvas was all the rage; so my drawings changed to create both flat and 3 dimensional plastic canvas designs, as well as still painting items for my dad's wood projects.

My dad and I made a good team together and we went to many craft shows together. We only did Harvest and Christmas shows, but those were our favorite times of the year. Mine Halloween and dad's Christmas.

It was quite ironic that my dad would pass away in 1993 and my family buried him at his favorite time of the year on Christmas Eve morning. His favorite flower was the red poinsettia, and the funeral home was filled with them.

I took a year off from doing our regular craft shows. I did not want to explain to every one of our followers why my dad was not with me...it was hard, but after a year off, I realized I was being selfish to our followers..so I started drawing again. this time however, I started making items from fabric.

I loved mixing and match fabrics together and drawing different faces..and I began creating for all of the holidays, not just Harvest and Christmas.

Bob and I even started a craft website, but working full time and trying to start this antique business, the crafting suffered. 

Now I feel, its the right time again to begin drawing and creating items for others to enjoy again.

So now I decided to start an Etsy account. I will give you all more details when I start selling my wares. Most will be one of a kind items, and all of my followers will have first chance to purchase..as I will post pics of what I add to Etsy...so you all will have the inside scoop, before anyone else...Bob may even add a few small antiques from our shop as well.

Well, now for our lucky winner... I used a random number counter  for this giveaway, and our winner is:

LECIA

from

 FARMHOUSE PRIMS 

Congratulations Lecia!

Please email me at backporchprimitives@yahoo.com to let me know if you would like your peppermint sticks to be in color or black/white, and also I will need your mailing address.

One more thing before I forget. Dani from Eagle's Wing, please email me so I may also send you your free peppermint pattern. If I have forgot to send anyone else their pattern, please let me know.

With tomorrow being Father's Day...I want to wish all those ladies and gents who still are fortunate to have their father's in their lives to have a wonderful day with them. Life is very short, and you never know when your loved one will be taken to heaven.

Until next time.

Take care everyone,

Janice

Monday Montage

Well all I can say is it that it is good to be back at doing Monday Montage again with you all.
After the fridge fiasco, its been a pretty normal week around her. Bob decided to sell some of our things that have been in our garage for quite some time at the flea market today. He had to get up at 4:00 and he was not happy about it...but he did do pretty well and the store is doing great today too!

So this week for Monday Montage, I decided to take pics of some of the various contraptions I have around my house for lighting...so let there be light! LOL

This is a jamb candle because you jamb it into something as I have done so here into the red moulding.

I opted for a flicker candle for this instead of a real one.

I do use reproduction period lighting in my rooms mixed in with hurricane lamps and antique lighting.

This is an antique jamb candle called a miner's lamp. Miner's would jamb these candles in the walls of mines to light their way. The hook was also used to hang where it was unable to jamb.

 There is a specific reason why I had to have this miner's lamp.

 

Unfortunately you cannot see the writing with this picture, but on the handle of this miner's lamp it reads;
HUSSON NOV 17 1803. This is my maiden name. It is not a very common name either, so it is quite possible, this was made by a long lost relative way back when....who knows..but I knew it had to come home to me. It was ironic that one of our fellow antique couples came to Bob and I to ask us what this particular item was, because they listed it on Ebay and was not sure if they had put it in the right category. Bob looked at it first and immediately told them that I would want it...and sure enough I ended up bidding on it on Ebay to get it....They would not have listed it if they knew it was my maiden name, but I was able to purchase it...thank the lord.

This is a make do light that Bob made for me from some barn wood and piece

 of an antique pie safe tin that had seen its better days.

This is a round grater that I use to conceal my jar candle. The glow off the walls is quite pretty.

An electric candle tucked inside one of my trenchers with some angel vine.

A hog scraper candle on an antique hooked candle mat.

Last, but not least; an early tin hurricane lamp.

Well that does it for another Monday Montage. I have many more lights

 throughout my house that I will share with you all another time.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Take care,

Janice

Crab Salad Recipe

Happy weekend to everyone! Its been a strange week here in Michigan. We went from the mid 90's to the low 50's all in one day. I am here at the store wrapping things up for the day and I thought I would share this recipe that I made this past week.

Ingredients:

Imitation Crab or the Real Stuff (whichever you prefer)
Green Onion
Cucumber
Red or Yellow Pepper
Ranch Dressing
Rotini Pasta Noodles
Sugar
Milk

Cook the pasta according to box. Drain and let cool a bit.
Chop up veggies. Add veggies and crab to pasta.
Mix in ranch dressing to taste, with 2 tbs sugar and a little bit of milk to make it creamy.
Chill and enjoy!

With 6 days left, there is still time to get into the peppermint stick giveaway. Tell your friends and fellow blog followers to join in on the fun!

Take care,
Janice

The Quilting Bee

I have always admired old quilts and know first hand the time it takes to create one of these works of art by hand from each of my grandmothers. Grandma H would save every dress and shirt that was no longer fit to wear, and with her favorite cardboard templates, she would create works of art. Painstakingly, she would sew each piece to another until she had her top piece completed. Then she would have her bottom quilt piece which was usually one color or pattern. Then she would sew them together, and  depending on if this was to be a Summer or Winter quilt,  she would add the batting accordingly. Then there was the binding and quilting stitch for the design. All too much for me to handle, but I watched her fascinated by how she placed her colors and the shapes of each quilt block.

I also still remember gramma B being excited when her quilting patterns came in the mail so that she could take her feed sack material and create her works of art too! It was a great marketing ploy by the feed companies at the time, to provide wonderful colors of material in feed as I know my gramma would only purchase the feed sacks that appealed to her.

Unfortunately old quilts have become out of fashion and most of my antique friends do not even sell any in their stores any longer. With the big retail stores providing quilts at cheaper prices, quilts are no longer being made by hand, and no one wants to pay for the quality of a vintage or antique one anymore.

   

( a recent addition to my personal collection)

    

I on the other hand love old quilts! Every time I get the chance to feel one in my hands and touch the material, I gaze upon it wondering who made it and the story behind it....Knowing that our fore mothers who created these magnificent pieces of art did so out of necessity and not for the WOW factor that I get; it still takes my breath away being able to see the workmanship that went into making these heirlooms of our past. 

( was able to purchase this one just this past week)

This quilt dates between circa 1861- 1874. Not sure of exact date. It is a Summer quilt with minor fraying on the edges and some of the hexagons are fading in places. The border is a fabulous purple print, and the...

back is this lovely red and light aqua blue color. The quilting is all done in black, with some stitches missing...but what do you expect for a quilt this old. Being able to purchase such a wonderful old quilt was such an honor, as I was not expecting the person to take my offer...but fortunately for me she did.

Looking at the back of this quilt reminded me of the wallpaper my gramma H had on her wall. It was much cheaper back then to wallpaper instead of paint, and both sets of grandmothers had wallpapered walls in their farmhouses.

This past Sunday Bob and I had the privilege to go inside an early 1800 homestead for an estate sale. Each room still had its original wallpaper and old creaky un-level wood floors. I was in love the minute I walked into it. It was for sale, but alas I believe that whomever purchases it will be purchasing just for the land and will probably tear down the homestead. 

I cannot save every house I see, or purchase every antique, but at least every now and then I can purchase items for my own homestead that have history to them..and if I could have but one wish, that would be for each of my old quilts to tell me their story.... 

Take care everyone

Janice