Recent Store Additions

Good evening sweet friends.

Bob and I spent quite  a few hours re-arranging our store

Mere days before his surgery.

Since Memorial Day was just around the corner when we did this,
we opted to do our front windows in a red, white and blue theme.
Bob will not be able to move furniture for 12 weeks, so we figured
this would be good thru July.

I so love old doors.
All of our interior doors of our house are old.
In fact Bob bought them from a 1800's house that was being torn down.

What a fun idea to place on a porch.

More outdoor goodes.

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Don't you love this prim cabinet?

Our store is located near the river and since we like to please
all of our customers, we always feature a nautical area.

More primitive goodies.

A few more.

The graphics on this seed bag are awesome.

For our Romantic Country customers, we feature
many painted furniture items.
This one is painted a pink with glass knobs.

A early red scrub box with a burlap coffee bag.

Hope you enjoyed peeking into a bit of our store.
If you love to camp, our Algonac State Park (Michigan)
is along the river and our store is a mere 7 minutes away.
If you are ever in our neighborhood,
please do stop by and see us.
Back Porch Antiques
550 Broadway St
Marne City, MI  48039

Recent Store Addition Blessings To All!
Janice

My Mother's Day Gift

Good morning sweet friends.

Would you like to see my Mother's Day gift,

Anniversary present, Birthday present,
Christmas present, Valentines

and every other holiday Bob could think of

when he surprised me with this on Mother's Day.

I have wanted something in this part of our kitchen for awhile now.

In fact I even finally asked Bob if he could make some 

type of furniture piece to stick under this window.

He did not disappoint...

and he did not even have to make it.

He bought this scrub bench and it fit perfectly.

I placed my lye soap  on the second shelf.

The spot on the left is the residue from soap placed long ago.

Added more lye soap, a black pantry box and scrub brush.

Mashers on top and a wood bucket and crock

 to complete my gift.

I think Bob did a good job in purchasing this gift for me.
Even though it was for all of the holidays combined this year....
so he says right now anyway.  :-)

Then just before his surgery he also decided to take out one of the rugs
in the store and it fit perfectly in our kitchen.

Guess what Bob... I don't think I will be letting this go back to the store now.
Shadow told me he wants it to stay here now too!

Wishing all of my friends a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!
Let us take the time to remember those who lost their lives
so that we are able to be free.

Scrub Bucket Blessings To All!

Janice

A Kitty Playground

Good evening sweet friends.
Bob's surgery went well and all of the cancer was just in the prostrate,
which the surgeon completely took out.
He is resting now in the hospital and will be back home tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
It has meant a lot to us both.

Bob was able to finish his last project yesterday.

So far only three of us like it though.

Bob, myself and Ace.

Our new kitty playground Catio is finished.

Ace exploring his new digs.

I showed Bob some Pinterest pictures,

and this is what he designed for our kitties.

It is 4 feet by 10 feet.

8 feet high by our house and 3 feet high at the other end.

Bob made boxes and ramps all over at different heights.

He even hung a basket,

which I have to buy some outdoor fabric to make a pillow.

Ace loves it!

We will open the window  when we want our kitties outside.
No evening escapades though as we have wild animals here.

Hey mom and dad,

did you build this just for me?

Cause the other guys are still not out here.

Now if Peepers and Shadow would just get the hint,

this new playground was not just for Ace.

Hey Peeps and Shadow...are you guys gonna let Ace have all the fun?

Stay tuned for other cat sightings...we hope.

Catio Blessings To All!

Janice

May CupboardScape

Gosh Geez Goodness.

Here it is almost the end of the month

and I completely forgot to do my 

May CupboardScape.

Since May is the month of Mother's

I wanted to feature sewing related items

to commemorate both my gramma B and mom's

love for sewing.

Gramma B actually was a seamstress.

My mom taught me how to sew.

The framed piece in the back is a real

pattern for making this dress from 1891.

It is framed under glass,

and the pattern pieces are printed on heavy paper not tissue.

The detail on each pattern piece is just amazing!

This piece is off an industrial sewing machine.

It is the bobbin holder.

It holds three bobbins.

One on each side and one on the top.

(top one shown in previous picture)

This Stillwell sewing machine was my gramma B's. 

See my wooden hoops in the background...

and of course one of my many jars of buttons.

Bob and I went on a buying trip this week.

We got back last evening.

The only one we will be able to do for many months,

as his surgery is this Wednesday.

We were able to score many many items for both our store

and of course myself as well.

We worked 4 1/2 hours last night and another 3 hours this morning

getting everything re-arranged in the store.

Since Bob will be out of commission for many months,

we wanted to re-do every space we have in the store.

I will show pics in a future post.

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

It is actually nice today and love having the windows opened.

May CupboardScape Blessings To All!

Janice

Bootiful Hooking

Good evening sweet friends.

I could not believe it was actually snowing here yesterday.

Today is was back in the low 60's with rain this evening.

I am officially hooked on hooking!

This time I decided to make a Halloween candle mat.

I drew out a simple design and hand cut my worms to a 1/4 inch.

Wooly worms in orange, black, green and white.

I work on this latest creation during lunch when I can.

I added a little bit of dimension to the eyes and nose by hooking in a strip of green.
Loving this black jack-o-lantern.
Starting to also draw out my Halloween designs for the store.
Bob has agreed to cut the fabric after his surgery...
since he won't be able to do much of anything else.
Sitting around is going to drive him stir crazy.
We go see the surgeon in the morning for pre op and post op instructions.
Surgery is next Wednesday. 
A big thank you to everyone for all of the well wishes for Bob.

Bootiful Hooking Blessings To All!
Janice

Garden Delight

Good evening sweet friends.

Well this is what Bob and I have been doing each evening

until dark this past week.

We only had one rainy night off as a reprieve though.

Bob dug out the path that use to be grass.

He piled all of the grass into the wheelbarrow,

and my job was to put the loads....many loads

of grass onto a pile in our backyard.

Also I was doing half of the planting.

He did the other half.

The red vine is a honeysuckle.

The hummingbirds are already coming to it.

WOOHOO!

A dwarf white honeysuckle is in front.

We picked out rocks at a stone quarry near us

to create this half moon.

Then planted a Halo Dogwood and Chocolate Chip Ajuga.

Blue grass was planted just outside.

I love this grass because it is non invasive and stays this height.

  

Bob made the door trellis last year.

Our poor wagon did not make it through the Winter.

We noticed the wood in the bed had rotten through,

so now we have to take it apart, and Bob will get more wood

next year and try to re-create it.

The pathway is now flagstone.

Bob put the slag down first and then put the puzzle together.

He did a fine job don't you think?

I then carefully took out the slag in certain spots,

added dirt and planted both wooly and green thyme.

Still have the seating area to finish...next pic.

Part of our new seating area with a birdbath and cement bunny looking over it all.

The Eastern Redbud tree was delivered and planted yesterday,

along with 2 yards of organic mulch.

Bob and I barely finished mulching everything

before the thunderstorms rolled in at 8:30pm.

We have three more shrubs to plant this weekend some time.

Pictures taken from the Internet of a Redbud tree.

We chose this tree for its purple Spring flowers

And Heart shaped leaves.

Plus it is a small tree that only grows to 25ft.

Now Bob is working on one more project before his surgery.

Hopefully he can get it done and I will show you all.

It is suppose to rain tomorrow here,

so I will just do my normal Saturday chores

of washing clothes, cleaning and grocery shopping.

Oh and I also have to take Ace kitty to the vet for his checkup.

What are your plans for this weekend?

Garden Delight Blessings To All!

Janice

Stone Fruit

Happy Tuesday my friends!
Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.
It was a busy one for us.
Mikayla's 9th birthday party was Saturday,
and every day this weekend and even yesterday
Bob and I have been working on our yard until dark.
Trying to get everything done before his surgery.

So today I decided to write a post about stone fruit.

Stone fruit is not made from stone as you may think.

It is actually made from Italian Carrara marble.

Early pieces began to appear in the Victorian Era.

These will be hand carved and muted with age.

Some are even pitted and may have lost some color.

Fruit was mainly carved, however there are some fine

examples of nuts that were made too!

Most made to size, while others a bit smaller.

Just remember the earlier pieces would have had a wood stem to them....

which most likely have been broken off.

Grapes would be hand wired together to the wood stem individually.

Cherries would also be wired together.

The main reason why it was called stone fruit is that when you
put it up to your cheek it will be cold to the touch.
I personally like to do the weight/ color test.
Heavy and muted.

My pear is a newer version as the stem is not wood.
Newer pieces are also brighter, lighter and air brushed
instead of being hand painted.
I don't mind purchasing the newer Italian made fruit,
however buyer beware as these are now made in China and Mexico.
The fakes as I call them are much bigger, and weigh less
than their Italian counterparts.
My reason for not purchasing online.

See the pitting on the apple to the left.
It is old compared to my pear on the right.

Again pear on the left...no stem old.
Red pear new.

Peach and banana old.

Put together however, they look like they are all the same era.
Remember the red pear on top is not old.
The black compote is from the 18th century.
I love the fruit inside.

Fruit slices such as peaches, watermelon and even plums are rare.
Because of this they can command high prices up to $1500.00 for one.
If I ever get my hands on one though, I would definitely keep it
for my newest collection.

Its been a dreary rainy day today.

Left work early for a dentist appt.

Finishing up 2 crowns...yes I did say two.

Its going to be a take out Chinese dinner tonight...

and no garden work as it is too wet outside.

Hope everyone enjoys their evening!

Stone Fruit Blessings To All!

Janice