Monday, December 27, 2010

Etsy makes the New York Times!

Hi All,  there was a story about Etsy in the New York Times yesterday, and I'm envisioning lollipops and big sales coming for all us Etsians  (they even mentioned Vintage!), so I've opened my store early in hopes that someone from NYTville will come looking my way.  (It was originally going to be closed until 1/10/11.)

Just wish I had more in my store right now, but I'm traveling south and just couldn't bring it all with me.  I'll be adding things after I get there, and I'll be putting some of my already-offered things back on in April, but for right now, it's limited (but still nice!)

Happy New Year, everyone, and the best year to follow.



Sunday, December 5, 2010

Holiday Sale at Deer Path Vintage!

Big News!  Everything in my shop is marked at 15% off right now.  Please note that the prices already reflect the discount.

The website "Etsy on Sale" has a new app where we can discount any or everything in our shops when we're having a sale and it shows up on our Etsy pages.  Nice! (They also create a page just for our shop listings--extra nice!)

Please note that the sale ends on December 20, which is also the date I'll be putting some of my items in hibernation until spring. (I'm a snowbird heading south then, and I can't take my whole shop with me, so if there is anything you're interested in, it's time to buy it now.  I will be adding different items once I get to my winter digs, so please keep watching. . .)


. . .Happy Holidays. Stay safe, stay well, stay happy.

Mona



Gorgeous Gift of the Month




This beautiful glass vase was made by Bengt Edenfalk for Skruf Sweden some time between 1953 and 1978. It is shaped like a rustic log round and is in absolutely perfect condition. Each side is slightly different.

Measures just over 5 inches tall. Signature is etched into glass above the Skruf logo.

See it in my shop here.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Hooray! Etsy Coupons for the Holidays

Big News!  Etsy has developed an easy way to provide coupons to our buyers, and I'm happy to be able to offer them just in time for the holidays.

Every item in my Etsy shop is now 15% off with the coupon code HOLIDAY2010.  You can add the code on the invoice page and the amount will automatically be adjusted to reflect the discount.  The coupon is good until December 20, which is also the date I'll be putting some of my items in hibernation until spring.  (I'm a snowbird heading south then, and I can't take my whole shop with me, so if there is anything you're interested in, it's time to buy it now.   I will be adding different items once I get to my winter digs, so please keep watching. . .)

. . .Happy Holidays.  Stay safe, stay well, stay happy.

Mona



Gorgeous Gift of the Month

This beautiful glass vase was made by Bengt Edenfalk for Skruf Sweden some time between 1953 and 1978. It is shaped like a rustic log round and is in absolutely perfect condition. Each side is slightly different.

Measures just over 5 inches tall. Signature is etched into glass above the Skruf logo.
See it in my shop here.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Vintage Cigarette "Silkies" for quilting

I've been digging around in some long-forgotten drawers and I found an odd piece of something I picked up somewhere a long time ago.  I thought it was interesting, but didn't really know what it was, so down it went into the depths of an odds-and-ends drawer.

I finally decided to clean out that drawer today, and this time I decided to try and figure out what it is.  It's made up of two-inch silk rectangles, each depicting a type of flower.  The center panel is made up of fine velvet or flocked geometric rectangles (that seemed out of place to me until I read the history below). They're each attached with flame-stitch embroidery to a 19 x 20 inch blue cotton striped and flowered  back piece.   (I'm guessing it was going to be a pillow top.)

I vaguely remembered something about cigar silks, but they were ribbons that women gathered and made into quilts.  I looked them up on Google and found just what I was looking for!


That site led me to this one:


Wow!  My thanks to quilt historian Laurette Carroll ( and Google) for that incredibly thorough article on textile tobacco premiums.  The pictures are terrific, and it says they're all from her own collection!


Silks and cards from Laurette Carroll's collection

I thought the center pieces on my piece looked out of place, and I wondered why anyone would put them together.  But in Laurette's article she shows the dark geometrics, calling them "flannels".  They were tobacco premiums, too, as she shows in this picture:

Neat--but. . .swastikas?

I can't believe I haven't seen more about this before.  I wonder how many quilts and pillows were made using these little premiums?  (And--uh, oh--how many cigarettes were smoked in order to get this many?)

And I can't believe I stuck this lovely thing in a drawer to moulder for many years when it held a history so fascinating I've now spent hours happily reading about it, only to be craving more!



Sunday, May 2, 2010

Learning Something New Every Day

I admit I'm a little slow on the uptake, but this is ridiculous!  Apparanty Blogger has had an Add-a-Page feature since February, but I'm ashamed to admit I only just discovered it today.

No big deal, except--I've been looking at other blog programs because I wanted to add pages and I thought I couldn't do it here.  What a lot of time I've wasted.

So now I've added an Etsy page and an About Me page and in time I'll be adding more.  This should be fun.

Berenguer Thumbsuckers

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Snowbird brings winter with her!

Alas, my shop, Deer Path Vintage, is feeling a little empty now. That's because I've flown the Up North coop and migrated south for the winter with the rest of the opposed-to-the-cold birds. I couldn't bring my entire shop with me, but I didn't want to close it up entirely, so I've had to limit what is on the shelves right now. I'll be back up north right after Easter, and I'll be putting many items back--besides adding some new old things.
I do love this creamer and sugar set. Homer Laughlin, of course, and anyone who knows me knows how I love HL. I just don't have room for everything any more, or I would keep it, for sure.

Homer Laughlin for Cunningham Pickett, "Cardinal" design

I love these Poole Pottery dishes, too. They're hand painted and each piece is slightly different. I have two dessert dishes and two dessert bowls and I really love the look and feel of them. Poole is as British as Homer Laughlin is American. Vive La Difference!
Poole Pottery "Constellation" pattern - 1952-55


But let me get back to explaining my title. We came south for some warmth, but I think we brought the cold with us. Everywhere we go, the locals are complaining about the weather--record cold this year, and even three inches of snow one day! I keep my mouth shut. I don't want to tell them that it may have been us.

The local kids got the day off, and some of them had never seen that much snow before. They had to hurry up and build their snowpeople before it melted. Which of course it did by the end of the day.

Snow on the palms 1-13-10

A rare South Carolina beach scene


I've been wandering around the thrift and antique shops here and I'm really pretty astonished at the prices people put on their things. I can understand that times are tight and they want to make a profit, but I have to bite my tongue whenever I reach for a tag that reads three to five times the actual worth. A little research would save them from having to live with those pieces from here to eternity!

Mona