An Auction Sneak Peek!

I attended the mid-summer auction at Alex Coopers, strictly sticking to the North Gallery where all of the bargains are, and came home with a wagon-load of goodies! I have to admit that I spent a little more than I had planned, but there weren’t a lot of people at the auction, and the lots were being hammered down at very low prices.

As usual, I went for the blue and white china,

and some transfer-ware.

I found three fun pieces of French china.

I haven’t had a chance to translate them yet, but they seem like they’re satirical plates.

In addition to these pieces, I got some great silver-plated footed trays, and more silver pieces, a partial set of Limoges Haviland china, some brown and cream jugs that you can see in the top image and a pair of Staffordshire dog figurines. And some other things!

By Monday, a lot of these pieces should be on my Etsy shop, so check it out.

The Auction Rooms

As I mentioned the other day, I am heading to the auction on Saturday at Alex Cooper in Baltimore. You’re welcome to join me, as long as you don’t bid on anything that I want (HA).

Cooper’s has a gallery auction that is much more fast-paced and free-wheeling than the auctions in their main rooms. They sell about 100 lots per hour, and it’s the less expensive goods that are on the block.

But you can still get some great bargains on fantastic items regardless! Might I remind you of my sweet little blue settee with the down/feather cushion, picked up for a mere $20 (+18% commission + 6% tax). Still…

I had downloaded and printed the North Gallery pages, which listed about 300 items. I read through the items, and highlighted the ones that looked promising. I then went to the auction house and wandered through the gallery, checking out each lot that was there. I paid particular attention to those I’d highlighted, but also made notes on other lots that looked good.

After that, I went to the main rooms to see what was there and found some great pieces, although most of it is out of my range. As my friend David says, we like bid that are “insultingly low” and we often get the pieces we want.Do let me know if you’re planning on coming Saturday!

Oyster House

When I was in college, we used to take the speedboats over to Virginia and buy cartons of smokes, because the tobacco tax there was about a third of what it was in Maryland. So when I saw an article about a fascinating house on the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, I knew exactly where they were talking about. It’s at the far end of the Northern Neck, a long drive down History Highway, generally paralleling the Potomac River.

The land down there is flat. Marsh flats, scrub, tall pines, piney points, desolate but beautiful. This land had been scraped clean by the oyster industry, and the new owner had thousands of native plants and hundreds of trees planted to bring back its natural beauty.

Because many of the visitors choose to take the water route to the house, particular emphasis has been placed on making that entrance dramatic.

The house is sited at one of the widest points in the Bay, and you can’t even see to the Eastern Shore from this point.

Because of the rising seas, as well as high water from hurricanes coming up the Bay, the house has been raised on more than 100 pilings.

I can attest to the amount of wildlife and waterfowl that’s along these shores.

To read more about this amazing property, click here.

Good Bye Emu!

For the past three months, my friend Debbie’s been keeping her friends entertained with the numerous exploits of her baby emu, Ethel. I wrote about Ethel here. Deb lives in a beautiful city townhouse – the real kind, built in the 1900’s, with tall ceilings and gorgeous woodwork. She’s also an animal advocate extraordinaire. And she’s got quite the menagerie – a few little Chihuahuas, a bunch of chickens, a Great Dane, and of course, the emu, Ethel.

But the time has now come for Ethel to leave the bright lights and big city and head off to a new adventure – in New Hampshire. But how, you might ask, will the emu get there? Deb is driving her the 10+ hours to get to a new home.

In preparation for this trip, Deb bought Ethel a harness. I can just imagine the conversation at PetSmart:

Deb: I’d like to buy a harness for my emu, please.

PetSmart: I’m sorry, your what?

Deb: Emu. My pet emu. Her name’s Ethel.

PS: What’s that? An emu? I don’t think that we carry emu supplies.

This is Ethel, just 11 short weeks ago, and now she’s more than 25 inches tall and sitting on Deb’s lap.

  You can see how tall Ethel is in relation to the tabletop!It’s been such fun watching all of the hilarious videos of Ethel and her Great Dane pal, Emma, running up and down the path in Deb’s yard, Ethel learning to climb steps, and Ethel guarding the back yard.

Thanks for all the fun, Deb and Ethel!

Pin Cushion

I am a lazy cow, and can’t stand pinning pictures to my Pinterest page, so I am asking for you to pin my pictures instead! (This great hedgehog pin cushion in silver is from my pal over at Content in a Cottage.)

I’ve added a button to all of my pictures, so that all you have to do is hover over them and you’ll see a Pin It button. When you click the button, it allows you to pin the image on your page (not mine!). But it’s lots of fun for me to see which of my images have been pinned and it helps me to know the images you like, so I can bring you a better blog!

So go ahead, use me as your pin cushion and pin away with abandon! 

Weekend Update

Thanks so much to everyone who inquired as to how Connor fared during the fireworks. I am pleased to say that he did pretty well, possibly because he was squished on the sofa with me and buried under a mound of pillows. This seems to help a lot when storms come in, or when there are fireworks, but obviously, it’s not a long-term solution.

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If you’re looking for a super easy summer dessert, try the dessert I made for a dinner the other night. It’s called Eton Mess, after the exclusive boys’ school in Windsor, England. It takes five minutes! Because of the holiday, I made it with blueberries and raspberries. Here’s the recipe:

• Blueberries/raspberries/strawberries
• Whipping cream, or whipped cream
• Meringues kisses.
• Sugar

If you buy pre-made meringues, crush them slightly, not to dust, but so there’s still some shape left. Add sugar to the berries, if you want to layer the different berries, keep them separate during this step. Whip the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks, or just scoop it out of the container if you’re using pre-made whipped cream. Layer the meringue, berries, cream, berries, cream, meringue into a bowl/glass/dish. Et voila, you’ve got a simple summer dessert!

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I am adding things every day to my Etsy shop, including some yardage of the Scalamandré La Dame Aux Cameleas Imari on Black that I found stuck in the back of a thrift shop. You can read the story here. This sells to-the-trade for $400/yard, and I am offering it for $100/yard. It’s really a spectacular textile, with 20 colours, each handprinted. The funniest thing about this is that I had never measured the yardage on the bolt, and thought it was about five yards. Turns out it’s about 15.5 yards.

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There’s an auction at my favourite place this weekend, but I am still trying to get details about one of their gallery sales. If you’re interested in joining me on Saturday morning, just north of Baltimore, let me know. One of the lots they’re auctioning is some fossilized sharks’ teeth, which are actually fairly common along the Chesapeake Bay. Bu their estimate, I’ve probably got several thousand dollars worth of these stashed in an old tin, as a result of the collections of several of my older cousins.

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I did a favour for a childhood friend recently, and made her some graphics. She had seen something similar in a catalogue, but wanted them slightly different and more personal to where we live. I found the nautical charts for Maryland’s Atlantic coast and used that as a basis for the background. Then I found some great images on the Graphics Fairy (which you should check out) and inverted their colours… and some other things, and came up with these images.

With some Photoshop magic and some non-copyrighted graphics, I was able to create exactly what she wanted for her house at the beach. I am playing around with some other images like these and might make them into fabric with Spoonflower. If you'd like a personalized image or some fabric, check my Etsy site for a customized creation.

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What did you do with your long weekend? Or your short one?

World Architecture Festival

Who knew? I was reading the Guardian UK, when I spotted a gallery of images of finalists from the World Architecture Foundation. As you may know, I am on the board of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, and while my tastes lean more toward the classic side, these buildings are each interesting in their own way. Take a look:

United Arab Emirates – Al Bahar Towers by Aedas

Netherlands – Kaap Skil Maritime and Beachcombers Museum by Mecanoo (How cool is it that there’s a Beachcombers Museum!!!)

Chesapeake Energy Building 12 by Michelle Jameson (Somewhere in Oklahoma, not on the Chesapeake Bay)

Brazil – Fazenda Boa Vista clubhouse by Isay Weinfeld (Not even going to pretend I get this one!)

Singapore – Diamond House by Alan Tay

Australia – Benson Radiology by Tridente Architects

And of course, the obligatory Zaha Hadid building, since it’s pretty much mandatory for her to be nominated for every architecture award these days.

Azerbaijan – Heydar Aliyev Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects

I think the Beachcombers Museum is my favourite. What’s yours?

May the Fourth Be With You!

We’re celebrating Independence Day in the States on July 4th, and with it come all things red, white and blue. I’ve been wearing Sperry shoes since before college, and when I found these last summer, I knew they were keepers! Of course, the red, white and blue colour scheme is perfect, and the fact that they were super comfortable from the moment I slipped them on was even better.

I am not going to go watch fireworks this year, for two reasons:

1. The dog is just a basket-case, and I hate leaving him home alone, especially since we’ve basically had a thunderstorm roll through every day for the past week and a half. He’s just so agitated and unhappy (to put it mildly) and when he’s unhappy, I am unhappy. It’s just no fun for me to be out somewhere having cocktails and watching the fireworks, all the while dreading what I will come home to.
2. Friday is a work day for me! Since I am new to my job, I haven’t accrued much holiday time, and since the weather’s not supposed to be stellar, why waste a day off.

I will put on my Nantucket reds, a blue and white striped French sailors’ shirt and my Sperry’s and have a great day, regardless!

Hope you have a great 4th, no matter where you are!

Charting a Course

When I was at college, I frequently stayed with friends whose house was easier to get to by water than by land. The directions were basically to go upriver and take a left at Tippity Wichity Island. I love navigational charts and topographical maps, and in fact, had an office wallpapered with nav charts when I worked for an environmental organization. The southern bay was on one wall and the northern bay was on the other. If you had to check something, it generally involved someone standing on a desk.

I think that maps are in my blood. One of my ancestors, John Moale, drew one of the first plans of Baltimore, dating from the mid-1700’s.

Maps have always been a classical decorating element, and I frequently see them at auctions, antique shows and ephemera sales, sometimes for very little money. If you can find one that resonates with you for a particular reason, you should snap it up. I tend to look for maps of places where I’ve lived, including London and the south coast of Wales.

I was reading the blog, Elements of Style, and came across the most amazing use of a map, or actually, a nautical chart.It looks like the home-owner had tiles made of the chart of the North Shore of Long Island and Shelter Island. Again, a map which resonates with me, as I spent time in Orient Point one summer. The detail in this map is amazing, and I can only imagine the technical skill it took to make sure all of the tiles were perfect and the map was seamless in its content.

Well done!

Blue Denmark

One of the pieces I won at the recent auction was a Blue Denmark serving dish.

It’s quite similar to my pattern, which is Royal Copenhagen Blue Fluted Half Lace.

The pattern has Japanese or Chinese origins, and it was brought to Denmark in the late 1700’s, where it was first produced by what would become the Royal Copenhagen factories. It was the young factory’s first success, admired even by King Christian VII.

From Royal Copenhagen’s website:

Royal Copenhagen’s very first porcelain dinner service, the Blue Fluted pattern is as graceful as when it was first adopted in 1775 as the very first porcelain dinner service. It takes 1,197 brush strokes – no more, no less – to paint a Blue Fluted Half Lace dinner plate. Meticulous work and gorgeous art always went hand in hand.

The pattern is said to be mussels and flowers, and is complex, but not over-elaborate.

In England, the pattern was adapted by Furnivals Potteries, which was the first English company to produce these Danish wares. There are subtle differences between Furnivals’ pieces and the ones by Royal Copenhagen. In fact, like the Blue Willow pattern, each company which manufactures it, does it slightly differently. Company records suggest that the Blue Denmark pattern was produced from the 1850s with virtually no modification to the pattern or shape until the closure of the business in 1968. However, the name varies slightly. It’s variously known as Blue Denmark, Denmark, the Danish pattern or the Mussels pattern.

In fact, there are two Wedgwood brands that produce this pattern – Franciscan and Mason Ironstone. Royal Copenhagen produced a riff on this classical pattern, shown bottom right, called Blue Fluted Mega, which just shows the smallest segment of the pattern.

It’s great to find such a classic pattern that’s endured for more than two centuries, yet still looks contemporary.