Sorry, sorry, so SORRY!

Well, I went to the auction last night & had a ton of fun (too much fun??), but I didn't end up video Patrick auctioneering after all.  Sorry about that!  His next auction is on St. Patrick's day, and I promise-homise-nomise (when we were kids, my sister Kim & I use to say that when our promises were REALLY sincere!) that I'll video him then & post it on the blog.

I sat in the front row with my friend, Jan, and I was starting to get nervous that we were going to get kicked out for having so much fun!  As always, I didn't hesitate to buy my share of the auction.  Most of the stuff we buy now goes directly on the shelves in our new barn, ready to take to an upcoming show, so I don't get a chance to bring it in for pictures. 

Of course a few cherished pieces come inside with me, so that I can love them for a little while before packing them up for a show.  It is hard not to "fall in love" with pieces though...this happens quite often, and then they naturally become part of the family.   I'll have to blog on that some day...antiques that we bought to sell, but fell in love with....

One of my favoite things that I bought at the auction was a whole box full of Victorian milk glass pieces.  Here's a picture of a few of the pieces.  This stuff makes me weak in the knees!  REALLY!  When I saw this box at the auction, I nearly passed out then & there.  Oh my.  I love this stuff.  It is sooooo OLD & sooooo PRETTY - goes GREAT with the shabby chic look.  Sad to say, I will have to resist falling in love with it, as I plan on taking it all down to Marburger.  Boo hoo.  I must be strong, I must be strong.

Another great buy was this lot of French children postcards from the early 1900's.  They are so cute!  I've been collecting these for quite some time (I think I have close to a hunderd), and will be taking them down to Marburger as well.  ADORABLE!

That's all for today.  Happy birthday to our good friend, TOT!  LOVE YOU!

Good bye & God bless you all!  Karen

more FUN WITH FUNERAL BASKETS!

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a real nice weekend!  Both Pat and I were busy with projects for our upcoming shows at Marburger in Round Top TX, followed by the Country Living Fair in Austin.  We're really looking forward to both shows.  Can't wait to see all of our friends down there, and it would be so cool to meet some of you at those shows, too!

Well, I guess I left you in suspense long enough (hahahahahha!)...here are the other funeral baskets I promised to post. 

These first two baskets I'm going to be showing you are in our living room on either side of a window.  They're both quite large and I love, love, love them!  The first one here has a robin's nest in the center with 3 old glass chicken eggs inside.  I rescued these eggs from an old chicken coup that was getting torn down.  These milk glass eggs were used to encourage hens to lay their eggs in a specific spot, sort of a training egg.  It was so cool to find these under layers and layers of crates, nesting boxes & feed bags!  The 2 smaller nests on the briar branches are little wren nests, I think.  They are so sweet.  Patrick usually finds them for me out back in the dead of winter.  I love to put them in our Christmas tree when I'm decorating!

The basket on the right side of the window is square with a really tall handle.  It is actually woven with strips of celluloid.  Very cool. 

I got the large starfish at an esate sale just recently.  They were only a dollar each!  You never saw someone grab something so fast!  I don't know the name of the girl in the picture, but she looks so pretty in her hat and white ermine collar coat.  I love adopting ancestors like her and giving them a home.

It turns out that this next basket isn't a funeral basket at all!  My good friend Tot, told me that these shallow baskets (like the little pink one I blogged about the other day) are really Victorian fruit baskets - one that you'd get at the market with a variety of fruit from the orchards in them.  I love the chippy white patina on this one...my little Victorian milk glass pieces & white coral look so cute displayed in it. 

Lastly, these baskets hanging up in my closet are my "spares", 'cause you never know when you might need more, right?!  Actually, I do use them at Christmas time.  I cram vintage  Christmas gift boxes in them with old paper mache santas, vintage iceskates, etc.  I'll be sure to post some pictures of them next Christmas for you.  It sure is hard to think of Christmas with spring on the way!

Well, that's all for now.  We're going to an auction tonight for a little fun-fun.  Actually, Bonnie & Patrick will be working at the auction.  Bonnie is one of the girls that holds up the stuff to be auctioned and Pat will be the auctioneer.  I'm going to try and video them in action, and will add  it to our blog either Tuesday or Wednesday.  You have a good day & God bless!  Karen

My Affection for FUNERAL BASKETS!

Well, who doesn't love a good old funeral basket, right?  I fell in love with these old baskets a few years ago and have been collecting them right & left ever since.  Our house was becoming sort of over run with them, so I've had to say good-bye to a few, but have kept my favs.

I'll admit I was a reluctant collector at first, especially when I found out that these pretty Victorian baskets were called "funeral" baskets - kind of creepy.  After looking through a lot of Victorian photos (another obsessive collection!), I noticed that these baskets were also used at weddings, birthday parties & graduations, so that took the "creepy" right out of it for me and I plunged right into another collection.

I can't remember now, when or where I picked up my 1st one.  I don't even remember which one was my 1st one, but here are a few pics of my favorite ones!

Most of these basket will have a metal or paper mache insert that would have held a soaked sponge to keep the flowers fresh.  If a basket is missing the insert, like the one here to the right, you can just fill it with shredded craft paper.  I love old sea shells & old photos, so I use my funeral baskets a lot to display them. 

The second basket I'm showing has a nice large shell with a picture of my mother when she was 2 years old.  Oh my gosh, she was cute!!  She's nearly 80 now, and I'm telling you, she is still a cutie pie!  I have an old oval frame just resting in front of the picture, because I didn't want to cut the picture down any.

These small baskets sit above our oak buffet.  I love the smaller ones just as they are and don't usually add anything to them accept shredded paper.

Patrick found this one in an old house he was cleaning out.  It's a really good basket, and probably my favorite.  I don't know the little girl in the picture, but I loved her sun bonnet, and thought she needed to be with some sea shells.

I got this adorable pink basket at an antique show we were doing in Baltimore.  The last day of the show was so slow - hardly anyone walking around at all - so the dealer beside us and I just started trading our stuff!  I had been eyeing up this little cutie the whole time and was thrilled to get it!  It's just the perfect size for my little sand dollars!

(-: Are you sick of funeral baskets yet, or should I go on? :-)

Well, I'll tell you what.  I know you have other places to be & things to do, so I'll blog more funeral baskets on Monday - same bat time, same bat station. 
See you then! 

Enjoy the race on Sunday!  God bless, Karen

Feelin' a Little Droopy

For Valentine's Day Patrick gave me a beautiful bunch of long stem pink roses, and I've been enjoying them all week.  I was really surprised at how long they were lasting, but the other day when I looked at them their lovely heads had drooped over and they were spent.  I felt much the same way, as I had woken up that same day with a bad cold.  I felt so achy & droopy that I could only keep my eyelids open about half way.  I decided not to fight it, and just slumped into my favorite chair with my soft Beacon blanket pulled up tight under my chin.  My Nyquil induced slumber was rudely interrupted by the distinct sound of scissors cutting something.  I kept hearing, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, SNIP!  Annoyed, but too tired to check it out, I drifted back to sleep.  A few minutes later, I could hearing someone tip-toeing across the floor - You've got to be kidding me! - I thought to myself - don't these people know that I've got to get some sleep??  I struggled to raise my one eyelid open to see what all the "commotion" was about, only to find that my husband had snipped and arranged all of my spent roses on to a beautiful old cake plate and was placing them on the coffee table to cheer me up!   Bonnie was close behind with a steaming cup of Campbell's chicken noodle soup.  Ahhhh, wasn't that sweet?!   I'm going to try to remember to do the same thing the next time my flowers bite the dust.  You get at least one more day to enjoy them!

THANK YOU BLOGGERS!

As some of you know, yesterday I posted my very first blog.  I was OVERWHELMED with all of the encouraging responses & gracious welcomes from the kind folk of Blogland! 

Thank you so much to you all, you made my day! 

I do hope you'll be able to stop by more in the future...you're always welcome!

Yesterday would have also been my father-in-laws 82nd birthday.  He passed away close to 20 years ago, and Pat & I were only married for 2 years  when he died, but what a guy.  I really wish I could have know him longer.  He was a one of a kind guy, with a big heart, and I've never met anyone like him.  Here are a couple of pictures of him.

This was my father-in-law's baby picture, taken in 1930...wasn't he a cutie???  I have it tucked into a Victorian magazine wall rack with large shells & shredded craft paper.  I love displaying old photos around our house.  I'll be adding more to our blog space in the near future.

This next picture was taken in Brimfield MA in 1979 and put on the cover of Brimfield's "Weekend" newspaper.  The title of the article was, "The Last of the American Gypsies".  He and my mother-in-law were among some of the very first antique dealers at the J&J show there in Brimfield.  I believe they had booth numbers 2 & 3.  Now Patrick, Bonnie & I load up our "gypsy wagon" and head to Brimfield as well, but we set up at the New England Motel, booths 87-88-89.  Come see us at the Spring show - it's so much fun and there are so many awesome treasures to find!

Patrick has this picture hung up in his new garage.  He spent a lot of time in his dad's garage, working together on old cars, trucks, tractors etc., so having it hung up in Pat's workshop is special to him.  I know that he learned a lot from his dad, and they had some good times together.

Well, happy birthday Papa Kenny, we miss you!

MY 1ST EVER BLOG!

Hi all!  This is my very 1st blog ever.  My husband, Patrick has always been much more computer savvy than I, so he's always been the one to blog in the past about our upcoming antique shows, etc.  I've always been afraid to try, but he showed me how a couple of minutes ago, and I couldn't believe how easy it was!  Now I can say that I "blog"!  I'm so proud!

I'm adding a picture of us, so you can meet us.  This was taken at an antique show in Madison-Bouckville, NY close to 4 years ago, so our daughter Bonnie is much taller, and just as cute as can be with her new braces.   I look older, not as skinny (but I'm working on it!), and the highlights are gone (replaced with a really bad haircut - that I'm desperately trying to grow out before we head to Texas in just a few weeks - grow baby grow!)   Pat always looks the same (good!).

For some reason we don't take a lot of family pictures...okay...I'll admit....I think it's because I don't like my picture taken.  Yes, I'm going on a limb here, but  I think that's why.  When I get good and bold I'll take & add a more recent photo of us (loosing 5 more pounds ought to do it!  and of course I'll have to wait until my hair grows out! - oh I can always come up with an excuse!)

Well, that's all for now.  I'm notorious for my good intentions gone bad, but I do hope I become an avid blogger.  By the way, my name is Karen Kenny...nice to meet you! 

'Antiques Coming to Cowtown March 9-10 DFW'

'Antiques Coming to Cowtown March 9-10 DFW'

Country Living Fairs 2012 Video Clip - Country Living

Country Living Fairs 2012 Video Clip - Country Living

Thanks Country Living Magazine

We were very blessed to have our names mentioned in the March issue of Country Living Magazine.The article is about collecting starting on page 45 (we are on page 48) We expect a great show in Austin at the new spring Country Living Fair and urge all to attend. If you get a chance  jump over to countryliving.com/fair and watch the video and you will get a chance to see the booth we had at the Colombus Fair.