Category Archives: antiques and collectibles

pondering christmas decorating…

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So this turned out to be an un-Thanksgiving for me and I actually sent my people to my mother’s without me. I have had a 3 day mystery headache…NO I DO NOT HAVE COVID! (Already neurotically tested as we all still do these days.) But today, after 2 Advil, 2 Tylenol, and French Press coffee I am up for a little while with the headache doing a dull roar in the back of my head. I really love Thanksgiving, so I was bummed to pretty much sleep through it.

But headache or not, I am thinking about the Christmas decorations. I watched a Christmas movie last night that had way too much fake garland. It was everywhere. Enough to make you dizzy, and I love Christmas decorating.

But I have only one chunk of imitation Christmas garland. It goes outside on a bench. I do not use real garland any longer, inside or out. It gets dried out too fast. I also just don’t like imitation lit garland inside. Maybe in other people’s homes it works, but definitely not my own. It is just not my aesthetic. What I do use for garland, is a little more old-fashioned. Some say home spun. Wool felted garland. I happened on this quite by accident a few years ago. I just love the old fashioned look of it.

I also love giving wool felted and quilted ornaments as gifts. They are durable, festive, and kid friendly.

In addition to felt garland, I also like rag garland for Christmas. Bits of fabric and burlap. It’s fun! It’s also simple and evokes a happy Christmas simplicity.

Where have I sourced this garland, both wool felted and rag? Everywhere. Locally at different places over the years. And on Etsy, Ebay, Wayfair, and more. It’s gotten popular again and this year I have seen it on Food52’s website, Pottery Barn Kids, some on Amazon, but unless they say what country it’s made in, I don’t buy it. I try to stick to US made. I also like the UK made wool felted garlands, but they can be more expensive.

Why do I like these wool felted garlands? And the rag garlands? They are warm. They aren’t standoffish, untouchable Christmas decorations. They kind of draw you in. I also like the “flag” garlands. My friend’s mom and aunt used to make those. I like a pretty Christmas, not an untouchable ice queen Christmas. I like the nostalgia of Christmas, and love vintage ornaments, so these garlands accomplish that quite nicely.

As I said, I want to decorate each Christmas so that it is warm. I want you to remember a happy echo, not something just randomly and decorator inspired. I think you achieve that each Christmas by collecting what you love. My friend does this in part with all her Christmas putz houses and her very vintage Annalee Christmas decorations. She also shares a love of German kugels with me.

Now something else I love? Wool felted Christmas mice. I seem to have accumulated a bunch of them. Life’s Patina always has amazing ones for their Holiday Open House (which has sadly passed already) and the Smithfield Barn. As a matter of fact, the Smithfield Barn has them at Gas Works in Frazer, PA right now.

Wool felted mice are also all over eBay and Etsy. They are fun and have whimsey. I tuck them into my trees. I have also found them this year on Amazon. And a website called Craftspring which I have never tried, has some wonderful felted ornaments. Even Target has some squishy felted ornaments, although I am only finding a few worth buying. The German Christmas Shop USA has some terrific felted ornaments.

That’s it for me today. Just pondering Christmas.

did someone say christmas?!

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Christmas. Yes I love Christmas. And now that all my bulbs are in my garden, I’m starting to think about Christmas decorating. Right now I am thinking about what to do with Kugels.

I love old German Kugels.

In 1848, the first glass ornament, a kugel, appeared in Germany. The kugel was a large hollow ball ranging in size from 1 inch to 18 inches. Smaller ones were used for tree decorations. The blown, molded, figural glass ornaments that we are familiar with today evolved from the tradition of blowing kugels. These ornaments were not sold in America until 1880….Kugel is a German word that means “ball” and can be used to describe any type of ball-like object. Collectors used this term to describe any early thick glass ornament with a decorative cap. Early Kugels were too heavy to hang on tree branches; instead they were suspended from the ceiling. Soon after their invention, the Germans decided small Kugels should adorn tree boughs in shapes such as grapes, berry clusters, apples and pears. F. W. Woolworth is given credit for bringing Kugels to America in the 1880s.

~ Kugel History/KugelHouse

My first Kugel belonged to my maternal grandmother’s father, my great grandfather Peter Mathias Scheidhoff of Lancaster, PA. His Kugel came from Germany via other family, not F.W. Woolworth. My Mumma gave it to my mother, who then gave it to me. It kind of started an ornament obsession for me. So now I have a few. And I hang them from the dining room chandelier for Christmas. I use felt garland and suspend the Kugels underneath on heavy fishing line. I acquired a few more at a Christmas sale over the weekend. I was really lucky and they were reasonable in price because they can be really, ridiculously expensive.

I also really like the Lenox porcelain snowflakes. Not the new ones, the ones that were made when Lenox was still a standalone company. I have been collecting them for years and if I don’t hang them on the tree I hang them on a chandelier in the hall. I hang them with thin red or green Christmas ribbon.

I received my first Lenox snowflakes as a gift years ago. My neighbor Lea was moving west to get married and gave me hers. She had a friend at that time who worked at the Lenox outlet somewhere in Bucks County, PA. Since then, I have found a few more here and there and also this weekend I found three more.

I am not a big Lenox holiday ornament person I know some people really are but I do love these snowflakes because they’re just pretty.

My last find for the vintage ornaments of it all were three more Mercury glass birds. My main Christmas tree are birds and pinecones and woodland creatures. And icicles. Glass icicles. Some people like metal icicles, I do not.

Now my husband is adamant about no Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. I will admit that I have a couple little Annalee guys out. I found them in my vintage ornament travels too, recently.

So I guess the Christmas Chronicles have begun at least in ideas. Do you collect vintage Christmas? Tell me!

Ho Ho Ho 😝

a beautiful saturday in marshallton

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Yesterday was the celebration of Humphry Marshall’s 300th birthday and Marshallton was alive with happiness and history. It was so much fun!

These are the events I love. A pretty day spent with friends and family walking around a wonderfully pretty and historic village. I went around lunchtime and we started with lunch at the Four Dogs Tavern (fabulous), and then we explored. This way, I escaped the politicians who like to appear at fall events during election season.

I was a little disappointed the blacksmith shop was closed but thrilled that the Merchant of Menace was open!

I had a lovely afternoon. Enjoy the photos. I will also note that we are supporters of the Marshallton Conservation Trust.

hot tip

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I am a tea drinker as well as a coffee drinker. And I like looseleaf tea. Which means when you brew it you have to strain it unless you want to drink all the little tea leaves. You need some kind of a tea ball if you’re doing just one mug or big cup of tea for yourself. I also think brewing looseleaf tea just taste better than tea out of a tea bag.

My favorite tea strainers and tea balls are the ones that come from Germany. They are vintage or antique, and they are woven like a little baskets, hence the basket weave description.

These tea strainers come in brass and silver. But over time they can get quite dark because no one has cleaned them and also the tannin from the tea stains them.

I use and collect these whimsical tea strainers. Sometimes I even sell some because you can’t keep everything. But cleaning them up sometimes can be a bit of a bother. But the whole idea of using something that is going to sit in my tea cup as it strains, makes me think more holistically and chemical free as far as cleaning the actual strainers. So I use the old baking soda and tinfoil method.

I literally put the strainers in a mixing bowl of hot water lined with tinfoil and loaded up with baking soda. And then I just let everything soak. Sometimes I do it overnight and it’s fine, other times I have to do it over the course of a couple of days and change the water and baking soda out for fresh. And then I wash everything and polish it up with a soft cotton cloth.

It might not get shiny bright as if I used silver polish or brass cleaner, but I think that’s better for my cup of tea and me as far as ingesting chemicals.

Anyway that’s your hot tip, and if you’re wondering what tea company I like to buy a lot of my tea from that is looseleaf, it’s a company called Golden Moon. I discovered them completely by accident a few years ago and their teas are very good. I also like Scottish blended teas but they’re hard to get here.

mice

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Now see, that title. Mice. Bet you think I am talking about real mice? Nope. Felted mice and a nice memory.

I have a bunch of wool felted mice. Mostly for Christmas. But I have a few other cute ones that I tuck here and there because they just make me smile.

The mice at the top my friend Kristin found for me. They are obviously for Christmas, they are Santa and Mrs. Claus mouse.

Yesterday at the preview for Life’s Patina fall event I bought two more felted mice. Halloween mice. One with a giant piece of candy corn, another in a cute little witch’s hat.

When I was taking the picture of the fault of mice this morning to send to a friend to show them, I have a little flash of a memory. And it would’ve been the mid 1970s to the late 1970s. I was inside a little store in Bryn Mawr.

The store was called Katydid and key was next to Parvin’s Pharmacy. Katydid was a cute gift store. And up around the counter area towards the front of the store and behind them on little shelves were these little collectible mice that so many of us had back then.

These were literally little fur mice they were made in West Germany I think the company was called The Mouse Factory. These little mice had all sorts of different outfits and costumes, and they would even come in your school uniform.

My friends and I all had these little mice. My sister and I had a bunch of them and we put them in our dollhouse. We had this really cool doll house that my father found in an attic of a house being demolished in Society Hill when we were really little and he restored it.

Anyway, I love those mice. And the flashback to the memory this morning made me realize this is why I like the felted mice.

Thanks for stopping by.

why not visit dishfunctional in their new malvern location this weekend?

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Dishfunctional isn’t in West Chester anymore. I open with that, because they were there for so many wonderful years. BUT Dishfunctional does have a terrific new location in the Lincoln Court Shopping Center in East Whiteland.

The store is long and wide inside and well lit. And full of so much fun stuff! Not just the china and crystal they are known for but so much else! They have some wonderful art right now too! My personal favorite? This amaze balls piece of Mick Jagger by Denny Dent. It’s huge, but very cool.

I found four extra dishes of the Johnson Brothers’ “Friendly Village” vintage ydishes I like to use in the fall and winter sometimes. They are hard to find, and were only $5 each which is an amazing deal!

I spent a lot of time looking through the store. It’s all very clean. Other things they have right in the front of the store I love is some fabulous antique cast iron lawn furniture. Also very reasonable in price and good shape.

Dishfunctional is located in the Lincoln Court Shopping Center. 225 Lancaster Avenue, Frazer, PA.

Tuesday through Saturday
10:00 am until 6:00 pm
Sunday
11:00 am until 3:00 pm

Check it out!

back to visit brandywine view antiques in chadds ford

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Brandywine View Antiques is one of my favorite places, so I thought I would give them a little shout out today. I have been a customer for years, I am not compensated for mentioning them on this blog, I’m just a happy customer.

They are three floors of fun and outside for great garden accents. They are one of my favorite resources for vintage garden finds. They are also one of the best places to find vintage and antique mirrors and I think they are a wonderful accent for any home and everyone should have at least one.

And I adore the owner she’s good people. If you don’t find them here in their store you can often find them places like Clover Market. They are definitely worth the drive!

Location:
1244 Baltimore Pike. Chadds Ford, PA 19317
Hours:
Wednesday – Sunday: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. (610) 388-6060|lisa@brandywineview.com

the ship inn has sunk: a microbrewery coming next

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Chef Robert Irvine tried to save The Ship Inn. But The Ship Inn has finally sunk:

Le sigh…. I wish the successors much luck but there are SO many brewery places in the area. Actual fine dining is lacking.

Screen shot from Internet – from Restaurant Impossible episode.

According to the Loop Net listing it is indeed under contract.

The new company going into the grand old colonial gal is called VK Brewing. Veteran owned.

Soooo…time will tell. I hope they honor the past of The Ship Inn. Of course I like others wonder what will happen with all of the memorabilia and historical bits?

Chef Robert Irvine tried to bring a horse to water but hey you can’t make him drink. I won’t miss the now former owner yelling at his employees on the dining room floor at the Ship Inn. Here’s hoping they keep him off of the dining room floor at Duling-Kurtz the other place he and his wife own.

Welcome to the area VK Brewing.

wow! those old tricks sometimes work, the furniture edition.

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Once upon a time my mother had these mahogany nesting tables. Then one day on a whim, years ago, she got rid of them. She’s been lamenting their loss ever since. So imagine my delight, when a set just like the ones she sold showed up at a local estate sale.

Yes, these are literally the same tables. Not hers, but the same design and same mid century North Carolina manufacturer. So I bought them. At $48 for three in really great condition, it was a steal.

The tables were probably somewhere in this home “nested”, only taken apart when needed. That’s what my mother used to do. So the top table in this set had some condition issues, mainly from plant saucers or wet things leaving rings or marks. At this point today, a lot of people see “brown wood” and think “oh we’ll just paint the tables.”

But seriously, you shouldn’t destroy beautiful tables like this with chalk paint and other kinds of wood paint. This wood is spectacular and meant to be enjoyed. So what did I do? I dragged out my father’s old home remedy: a paste made of mayonnaise and wood ash or cigar ash or cigarette ash left on the tables overnight.

It really works. We have no smokers in the house so I had to use wood ash from the bottom of the wood stove. The crucial thing is it’s just ASH you use, you don’t want any charred bits or you will scratch whatever furniture you’re trying to renew.

So I did the first coat and left it on overnight. The next morning I removed what was left and took a look at the tables. There were still some pieces of rings left. What I did next was try furniture oil to see if that would just absorb the mark. I like orange oil. It helped renew the tables in general, as I did all three with orange oil, but it did not take up what was left of the rings on the largest table. So I did another layer of the mayonnaise and wood ash overnight.

This morning when I took the mixture off that top table once again, it was like magic and pretty much everything was gone. Next I moisturized and polished them with this stuff I discovered that I love. It’s from a company called Therapy Clean. It’s wood and cabinet cleaner and polish. I found it on Amazon.

The tables look fabulous I think now. And they didn’t require refinishing. Just a little elbow grease and patience. People always used to look at my father like he was nuts when he said that mayonnaise and ash took out rings and a lot of stains. But it’s an old-fashioned remedy that really does work. And again if you’re using wood ash, make sure there are no charred bits or it will scratch.

I hope my mother loves her tables and I just wanted to share this little tip with you. Because while painted furniture can be pretty, it’s not for everyone. I really am not a painted furniture person. I am a natural beauty of real hardwoods kind of person.

Thanks for stopping by.

melangell antiques, house & garden: a beautiful new west chester, pa destination!

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There is a new kid in town for antiques in Chester County and it is in a word: fabulous!

This business is newly opened in an old estate hunting lodge. A rather famous one to local history buffs. Also known as “Wrangley Lodge”, in an amazing century-plus old Arts and Crafts style designed by Charles Barton Keen as part of the original Greystone Estate. This is special to me because one of my very close friends and honorary other mother’s is his granddaughter. And those who know me know I love a good adaptive reuse, and some of my favorite antique stores have been in restored old houses! (You know like another favorite business down in Chadds Ford, Brandywine View Antiques.)

The house itself is magical all by itself. But store owner Laura DePrisco has created a wonderful atmosphere at Melangell. It’s lovely, beautiful, and welcoming. Every room moves effortlessly into the next. As a store it is so well put together and merchandised. There is so much to look at, but it does not feel crowded or cluttered. That is an issue I have with antique stores at times when they feel crowded and disorganized then it’s hard to look at things. And then there are other antique stores where you’re afraid to look at anything because it feels like a museum. This store is just right, and it flows.

Laura is welcoming and has a real artistic eye and an eye for detail. Seriously, every room is delightful. And there’s a second floor too. And that is something I love antique stores — ones that are more than one floor or level in a building.

We bought a few things, including a lovely old landscape oil painting that needed to be framed. So we left Melangell and next stop was my favorite framers, Framers Market Gallery in Malvern!

I can’t wait to go back! I also think it would be a place to take my friends. It would make a fab girl’s shopping night out place! Melangell also has some great pieces outside that would be fun for a porch and garden.

Melangell can be found on Instagram. The shop is located at 1133 Pottstown Pike, West Chester, PA 19380. The shop is opened Monday through Saturday 11 AM to 6 PM. (610)- 624- 4577.

🌟 Please note that I have not been compensated in any way for this review. I am sharing my lovely experience today at this new business 🌟

#ShopLocal #ShopSmall