Thursday, April 27, 2023

More Store Spring

Hello my friends!
Let's go Spring shop virtually and let me know if you
 see something you like.
I really dont expect you to purchase anything,
just want your comments if you see
something you like.




















In other news, 
part of the changes that are coming.

Well Bob and I decided to put our antique store
Back Porch Antiques up for sale.
Since his stroke he has not come back 100%.
He puts on a good act with customers,
but he worries about his quality of life.
We have never enjoyed going on vacations.
The one time my work paid for us to go
to Kansas City, we were plagued with 
phone calls and issues from folks working the store.
Even the two days we took for our anniversary,
 he got phone calls.
Not sure yet what we will do with the gift shop,
but we may sell that one too.
At least if we do decide to close that store
for a few days, we wont get bombarded by
phone calls...we can just put a sign on the door
saying when we will re-open.



Sandra wanted to know what was holding my
coverlet from my last post.
It is called a blanket crane.
This is a repro.
I found it in a cute little primitive shop in Ohio
one year.
They had them on red, white, gold and white.
I bought in in red.
Wish I could remember the name of the store.
It has been years though.
I honestly do not know when prim blanket cranes
 started appearing in homes.
Real cranes were used for cooking in the fireplace,
not for blankets or coverlets and were made
from iron to withstand the heat.

I also forgot to answer Saundra's question.
No I have never caught an orb while taking
pictures of my home.
One would think I would with all of our
early antiques.
On the other hand, we do have one ghost 
for sure in our house which I believe is a male.
Ask my son & he will tell you we have two.
Either way, we have not been bothered by
any ghosts however many we do have.
They must like how I decorate & feel comfortable here.
LOL

Store Spring Blessings To All!
Janice


Sunday, April 23, 2023

Spring Arrival

Hello Friends!
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend thus far.
Ours has been a rainy one so far.

Today just a few more Spring pics of out mantle
and guest room.




This cross stitch was done in the 80's.







In other news,
Changes are a coming.
Am in redo mode. 

Have been purging some prims I no longer want.
Some are already at the store.
More to come in this week....
including my smaller pull toy horse below.


Well we are off to the stores now to work.
Tundra will be coming with us.
Tim Hortons first.
Tundra told me he wanted his Timbit. LOL

Will be finishing up some Americana goodies
I have been working on in between customers.

Spring Arrival Blessings To All!
Janice





 

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

A Pleasing Progression

 

Good morning friends.


So since I am not a fan of hooking 
mundane backgrounds
like some friends I know. <wink> <wink>


I decided to start working on the other tree and sky
after hooking the horse's rear.
This way the horse...which I really wanted to do,
would have to wait.


I also decided to hook my leaves smaller
as they went up the tree.


My second dog is hooked in white
for our dog Tundra.


I also outlined him like my other dog.


Using up worms, the dog is running on some hills.
Doing what dogs do best...at least Tundra
likes to run around like a maniac at times in our yard.


Working my way up.
Am pleased with this thus far.
If you notice I have been adding
some turquoise in.
I found 6 worms of this color,
so I wanted to use them up.

In other news,
have been doing some Spring cleaning.
Finding prims I have not seen in years,
so some will be off to the store to be sold.

We had Summer weather last week which was nice,
but then Mother Nature came back with rain,
snow and rain/snow mix these past few days.
Am not complaining though as I know many of
my blogging friends got 10 plus inches of snow.

Tonight we are taking my daughter out to dinner.
Her birthday is Saturday, so since everyone is
busy that day...tonight it is.

Well better get back to work.

Have a great rest of your week!

Pleasing Progression Blessings To All!
Janice




Saturday, April 15, 2023

My New Finds

Back in late March I went on an antique trip.
Its been awhile since I actually visited stores,
but I decided to take a jaunt to two of my favorite ones.
Since they are close to my mom's,
I spent the evening with her.
We went to dinner and breakfast before I headed back home.
These are my new finds.
 

First up us this flax roving braid.


Most linen was made from flax in early years.


Next is this courting candle.
Courting candles were used in the 15th & 16th century.
A father would set the candle at a certain height,
for when a suitor came to call on their daughters.
Once the candle burned to the metal,
the suitor went home.
The candle in here is too big for the peen to work.
I will need to hunt for a repro candle that will.
This is only the second one I have seen.
The first one I thought was priced at $12 back 
about 15 years ago at a flea market.
When I handed the man $12 he told me it was 
$1200.00
 I apologized profusely and came home without it.
I have never seem another one since then.
Until now...and I did not pay that much.


This is the peen that lowers and raises the candle itself.
A peen is another word for a wedge.
I love how this one was shaped into a curl.
The white spot is not an orb...just my
overhead light reflecting down.


This is the bottom where the blacksmith
pounded the wrought iron down into the wood
to hold in place.



I was also drawn to this repo picture
of this colonial lady.
My house can go from primitive to
primitive colonial on just the way I decorate.
Lately I have been leaning more to the colonial side.


Finally once I saw this sampler,
I was hoping the price would be what I could also afford.
This sampler was priced at $175. 
Since I knew the owner of the store,
I asked her if she could do better.
She sold it to me for $125.


I was drawn to the colors of this piece.


The reverse letter "P" were stitched on this one.
Which means the earliest this piece could have
been stitched was 1820.


Usually the motifs can tell where a sampler was stitched.
With this one there are many crowns,
swans, birds and dogs.


Unfortunately there is no date, just initials.
Could this be an English one,
or one depicting colonial America?
I am unsure.


This is the back.


Framed in a brown calico with leather
straps nailed to each corner.
Any hoot, I was pleased to bring this home.

Well Bob agreed to repainting our bedroom.
It has been 7 years since we remodeled this room.
I have always loved a blue bedroom for some reason.
Well after my teen years that is.
Then my bedroom was orange, with an orange,
yellow and green shag rug.
Yes my parents allowed it. LOL
Currently our room is colonial blue and white.
New color will be more of a prim blue and beige.
Stay tuned for that.

In other news,
we have been having some Summerlike weather.
We broke a record yesterday with the temp being 82.

Thunderstorms predicted on Sunday,
with the possibility of snow on Monday, UGH

 
Forgot to thank the Blue Eyed Sheep.
I did get in contact with Kris.
She is an hour and a half away from me.
When I have a vacation day, will see if I can visit her.
I could not find any store or info for the one in Romeo.
Maybe it has closed...that one would have been closer.

Have a marvelous weekend my friends!

New Find Blessings To All!
Janice





Tuesday, April 11, 2023

A Homey Spring

WARNING
Long picture post.
I wont bore you with a lot of talk here.
Grab a drink, sit back and enjoy my spring pics 
of our living room.
You will notice where I moved the sampler.
Also you will see some of my handmades tucked in.
 

























Hope you enjoyed my Spring at home pics.
I did forget to include my mantel.
Plus I did one more display for my mom
in our spare room.
Another post will show those.

In other news, Easter dinner was a hit.
It was nice having most of my family here.
My daughter might have covid.
Will know in a day or two as her doctor
ordered a test. Now she said my grandson
is getting the same symptoms. Ugh

Started working on some Americana goodies
for the store. Also am putting the rest Easter away
and adding in more Summer goodies.

Looks like we will be painting our bedroom soon.
Right now it is colonial blue and white.
I talked Bob into repainting it. 
Have a plan on moving things around too.

Well gotta go to work.

Homey Spring Blessings To All!
Janice