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I felt so awful about having crummy photographed images from the lovely Animal Children, who just deserve better than that. I've completely updated the original post with scans (courtesy of a new scanner!).
And there's a couple of new pals I couldn't resist adding to the post, too.
That boar boy?! C'mon.
So, this pup is the lucky treasure I was yammering on about in my last post.
It's a really, really good 30's-40's quilt with beautiful fabric choices and a very sweet level of shabbiness and mends and things. It's also backed with a rather unexpected seashell-colored worn cotton that is a nice thing to fold over.
The madcap replacement patches where it has been mended are my favorite thing about it (as pictured on the right).
I also love the color-families the quilt-maker chose for different areas.
Reds & Pinks:
Pale & Deep Blues:
And (my favorite) Aquas, Greens & Blacks:
I've gathered up a nice little stack of old quilts over the years, and while my embroidered "State Birds of America" quilt is still my favorite find (I would post a link to a picture of it, but Typepad's not doing links right now for some reason), this newbie is very certainly one of the best ones I have.
Cozy season, come along whenever you want.
I had really good old-things luck last week at a place I never have any luck. I suspect that maybe I had the good luck specifically because I was talking such smack about the place on the way there.
Lo and behold, that beautiful parrot tray jumped into my hands, and so did the chipped metal lunchbox (which reminds me of my early 80's childhood somehow). An armful of dresses in the nicest prints...they were just falling into my lap. I stacked all the dresses & things up before I washed them, since they looked so pretty all together.
I didn't even show the best thing I found that day, because it deserves its own post.
Pictures of that best thing, very soon!
I recently found this sweet, simple Summer dress in this little shop, and I wanted to be sure to wear it a few times before the Portland Fall sets in for good. The print is so perfect to me! And though I think it's probably from the 70's or later (not eras I usually collect) those scattered peonies made it so good, I couldn't resist.
Summer is at the end of its wick here, and it felt like it only just arrived. It's not my favorite season, but the quick way it comes and goes here is hard to get used to. I need to wear all the light floral dresses a few more good times before it's time for tweeds and wools!
Animal Children: The Friends of the Forest and the Plain
I found this copy of Animal Children at Powell's last week, and very nearly jumped for joy. It was a really, really good price, too - so that made me all the more pleased!This book is the only one in the "Little anthropomorphised Items/Creatures" series (like Bird Children, Flower Children, etc.) that isn't written by Elizabeth Gordon. It is illustrated by the same person, so the images have the same kind of beautiful madcap quality the others do.
Here are some of my favorites of the animal children :
(I think Bobcat & Lynx might be one of the weirdest illustrations of all time)
(Prairie Dog & Deermouse are suspiciously similar!)
I saved my favorites: The Bears, The Reindeer (those pinks & greens!) and The Bats for last. That bat in the big black hat is just the best. I wonder if Marcel Dzama has seen it? I think as a noted bat fancier, he might appreciate a bat in a cowboy hat.
Here are some of the little things I took home from a really fun, really good treasure-hunting morning with Ms. F. We kept doing the frenzied running up to each other: "Oh my god! Look at this for you!" thing that is a sure sign of a good old-stuff-hunting day. There was so much to love and sift through, I could've come back with bags and bags and boxes and boxes if we'd had the time and the space!
The Eiffel Tower blouse is probably the most special treasure I got that day (Francesca grabbed and thrust it into my hands with enormous, excited eyes) and it's now all altered + taken in to fit me nicely. Also high on the special-o-meter, the Little Jack Rabbit book is from a series I didn't know about by the author of the Billy Bunny books (which are some of my very favorites!) And that Snow White + Rose Red was snapped up because of the incredible color, and, of course, that excellent bear. The gingham dress is probably 80's pretending to be 50's, but I think it's going to be so sweet with cardigans this fall.
The best photo I've spied recently.
