Etsy Gift Guide

Jewels 1977, a writer for Hubpages.com notified me today that she just did a Holiday Etsy Gift Giving Guide and included my shop. Thanks so much Jane - Here is the link to her guide...

http://hubpages.com/hub/Looking-for-a-Unique-Gift-Try-Etsycom

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Jane's Etsy Shop - She makes fabulous jewelry... http://www.jewels1977.etsy.com/

Vintage Quilt Tops

I scored the most awesome vintage quilt top off ebay. It is a random, no pattern really, crazy quilt type top. What makes it even more fabulous is that it is lined with vintage feedsacks and floursacks. Well, you guessed it, I promptly laundered it and fashioned the first of four pillow covers that this awesome quilt top will yield...barkcloth, silks, cottons, wools, just a true vintage fabric sampler. I am in love!!!

For this one-of-a-kind pillow cover and more vintage textile treasures, please visit my shop at

http://www.catnapcottage.net/

~~~Thanks for visiting and Come Again Soon~~

At the Cottage...

There's a place I go when I want to relax, it is The CatNap Cottage. Yes, it is really a place - it is a quiet and comfy environment, like stepping back in time - everything is old and welcoming. So get yourself a cup of tea in your favorite teacup and browse through these rooms at the cottage. I decorated it with thrift shop and antique shop finds, some things I painted, like the floor. It is painted a cottage white - the rugs are fabulous and the tole trays too. I just love it and want to share it with all my friends....

My bedroom at the cottage - vintage rug off ebay, dresser and mismatched mirror I painted white, vintage lamps from a friend, old black tole powder box and oval painting on the wall dates back to Civil War . Love BlueBoy, Pinky is on the other side of the bed. Vintage clock from antique dealer in Moultrie, GA. Doilies given to me by a friend. Bedside Table, was pink, and, you guessed it, I painted it white. Love the little book tray on the bottom - back when people read more and watched less tv. Bed is late 1800s from an antique store. Naps are fabulous in this room!!

Love this rug - from 1930s - 40s, I think. The table was given to me by one of my friends. I reworked the milk glass lamp to make it work again and picked up the painted suitcase from an artist in Moultrie, GA.


There are two of these lamps, one on each side of this deco style dresser that I painted white - my favorite lamps at the cottage - Just love them!

The project that I thought I would never finish. Purchased at an antique store for $45 - Took it apart, painted it cottage white, redid all the upholstery in this fabulous toile and ticking. Fireplace was red, painted it white - do you sense a theme here? LOL

Back of the chair - hammered all those little tacks myself!Fabulous Rug off ebay for $1250 - my favorite rug ever!!

The Wall of Tole Trays - Some of my favorites, most of them are Nashco. I am a sucker for painted trays, boxes, etc.

My shabby secretary - it is full of my favorite vintage plates and china teacups. Bet you can guess what the drawers are full of.....vintage textiles, mostly tablecloths and pillowcases!

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Hope you enjoyed browsing through the cottage today - thanks for letting me share it with you!!

Time to Make the Biscuits

Nanny kept a wooden bisquit bowl under the counter. It had flour in it and was covered with a floursack. When she made bisquits, she would add flour from a sack. She then made a hole in the middle, put in a handful of shortening (lard in the old days), and added some milk. She melded the mixture of milk and shortening with her hand until it was just the right consistency. She then started to spin the mixture around, picking up the flour from the sides and bottom of the bowl until there was this perfect bisquit dough. No bisquit cutters used by her - she then would knead it and when it was just right, she pinched off a piece and rolled it around in her hands until it was a nice ball. The perfect little ball of dough was then placed on a greased "bisquit pan" and smooshed down with the knuckles of her hand. Every bisquit she made literally had her handprint on it.

I was just tall enough to stand at her right hand and watch curiously as she magically made these perfect bisquits appear. She would give me small bits of the leftover dough and I would make tiny bisquits and bake them in the summer sun on large rocks in the yard - I was in such a big hurry to grow up, wish I had more of those days now.

Pillow Made from a Vintage Floursack

This pillow and more can be seen in my shop - http://www.catnapcottage.net/

Down on the Farm - Vintage Graphics

Don't you just love vintage feedsacks, floursacks and grainsacks...Everytime that I see one, the memories flood in of time spent on my grandparents farm. It is amazing how much influence that just being there with my grandparents and experiencing the hard work, wonderful meals of homegrown vegies, and stories of life in previous generations has had over my life - it is a part of me. I recently made some pillows with floursack towels that feature feedsack graphics - I surely loved creating these - hope you enjoy them too...

Time to feed the chickens...

Gotta make sure they get their nutrition - we need good eggs!

The pigs need chow too.....

Lots of nutrition so they grow really big!

More of these can be seen in my shop at http://www.catnapcottage.net/

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I was always afraid of the mother hens, so I did not get too close, but my sister Lori would pick up the biddies and mother hen would chase her around the yard - It was quite a sight! She wasn't afraid of the mama pigs either, she would get in the pen with them and go right past the 300 pound sows and pick up a little piggie - I just watched cautiously, warning her, from outside the fence - Such great memories!!

Vintage Barkcloth

Ok, those of you that know me, know that I am completely in love with vintage barkcloth, all sorts of patterns.....1930s florals, 1940s tropicals, the midcentury atomic and geometric prints from the 1950s, and the mod and flashy colors and patterns from the 1960s. I just cannot help myself, I love the different textures and the sturdiness of it. So utilitarian and so beautiful.

Please allow me to share with you a mini history of barkcloth fabric......In the late 1930s American designers and weavers introduced their version of barkcloth to the world. Their designs reflected what was popular in décor at the time. Florals, and especially tropicals were the earliest motifs. By the 1940s, barkcloth was one of the most common fabrics in the home. It was pretty much made to be indestructible. It was used to cover furniture, make window treatments and other home and personal accessories. (Next time you watch an old movie, look at the draperies in the background.) The vat dyes came first, then the screen prints. Just about any design imaginable was available... tropicals, leaves, birds, romantic scenes from far away countries, old fashioned scenes, wild abstract shapes, children's prints, animals, subtle and delicate florals...All in beautiful vivid colors cheering up our nation during and after the war. During the 1950s, barkcloth was absolutely indispensable! By the 1960s, more and more manmade fibers were used in décor items and in the early 1970s barkcloth quickly disappeared. There has been a rise in interest and reproductions have been made, but they do not hold a candle to the original vintage designs and textures.

It is amazing to me that this fabric has endured, so when I find a piece, I grab it, and restore it to its glory and stash it away for maybe a pillow, or just to take out, look at and put back away. Yes, I am a vintage textile junkie!  Below are a some of the pillows that I have crafted with vintage barkcloth. Hope you enjoy...

Mid-Century Amoeba



Mid-Century Abstract

1940s Tropical

Mid-Century Botanical

This pillow was featured in Real Living Magazine last August.

1940s Tropical

1940s Glen Court

This was a very popular pattern, it came in lots of colors and textures.

1940s Tropical

1930s Floral

I hope you enjoyed the post today, I love sharing about things that I love - thanks for stopping by and if you see something that you like, check my shops. If you are looking for a particular pattern, send me an email, I may have it or something like it - Have a blessed day!!

Dixie Highway Yard Sale 2008

What an action-packed 24 hours...we left out Friday afternoon heading north on Highway 41, destination Dalton. Our plan was to catch all the yard sales on the right side of the road going towards Dalton, spend the night, swim in the pool and get up and head back south on 41 catching the other side of the road on the way back. Well, needless to say, that plan was soon abandoned, as we began stopping on both sides of the road.

There were hundreds of yard sales over about a 120 mile stretch of the Dixie Highway (Old 41) from above Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face all the way south through Cartersville and beyond. Never in my life have I seen so many people selling their wares, lots of junk and the ocassional treasure. Some people were traveling with large trucks and pull-behind trailers for carrying their treasures home.

My first purchase was a sweet set of cow salt and pepper shakers (Japan). I actually stopped to purchase those when I was flying home in the car from work to get packed for the trip. I took 41 through town and just had to stop at just one before I got home. Who can resist that sign - there may be a treasure there. On our second stop, I scored a pair of Hull Brown Dripware Coffee Mugs.

When we reached Calhoun, to my surprise, there was a vintage chenille double peacock bedspread hanging on a porch waving in the breeze like a flag. We could not get the car stopped fast enough. It was not for sale, but we got a wonderful story for stopping to talk. It belonged to her mother and she was just adding to the festivity and frenzy of this three-day event.

We made it to Dalton, ate, swam, soaked in the hot tub, slept and got up and started on the second leg of our journey Saturday morning. We went north instead of south and went on for hours before we noticed we had gone the wrong way. Glad we did, found a place where all the vintage double peacock chenille bedspreads live. Finally met someone who has more bedspreads than me...LOL.

Our trip was SO fun, although the heat was 95 degrees plus (unseasonable weather for North Georgia) and some of the sales were on asphalt, but it was worth every moment. We met so many neat people, two ladies that had actually run the tufting machines and made chenille bedspreads in their younger days. Definitely on the calendar for next year. Some of my treasures....


Vintage Hull Pottery - I have never seen any green before - the lady that I purchased it from said that it was made in gray also.

Vintage Hull Pottery - Pair of Brown Dripware Coffee Mugs -Buy of the Day!

Vintage Pyrex - Spice of Life Pattern - I actually still have a casserole dish and one of the cannisters in this pattern that we received for wedding gifts in 1978!

Vintage Raffiaware - Pair of Tumblers - I just love the cantelope and banana colors on this pair!

Vintage China Teacups and Saucers - Those of you that know me know that I love trees and cannot resist anything with a leaf or a tree on it!

Vintage West Bend Bean Pot - For Good Ole Baked Beans in the Oven!

Vintage Ceramic Belle of the Ball Planter (Japan) - She is perfect and adorable!

Vintage Cream Pitcher - I believe this is transferware - The lady that I purchased this from made chenille bedspreads in her younger days, she ran a double-needle machine that made the loops.

Vintage Capedemonte Style Ceramic Dish - This is one of my favorite items - It is just so pretty - only has the one little chip on the edge of the rosebud - very unusual for a piece this old!!

Vintage Chenille Bedspreads

Vintage Chenille Bedspreads...takes me back to time spent at my grandparent's farmhouse. Waking up in the morning in the back bedroom (no heat), sandwiched between my two sisters, in an old double-sized iron bed with so many quilts on top of us that we could barely move. I can still remember how icy the sheets were when I slipped into bed at night and how my feet barely touched the frozen floor as I ran for the living room in the morning. My grandmother had chenille bedspreads on her beds and very utilitarian quilts. Function before form - on the farm you made do with what you had. Many items they used were made from feed sacks and flour sacks (including the quilts). My first post is a tribute to my grandmother, Ilene. Hope you enjoy these vintage beauties....

Circles and Dots - Mid-Century Flair!

Plush Chenille & Pink Roses - Sweet Cottage Style

Fluffy Pink Daisies - Like Icing on a Cake!

Fluffy Salmon Botanical - Arts & Crafts Style

Plush Plush Plush - Just Plain Eye Candy!