And I am READY! Over the last couple of years I have begun compiling a list of those "wants" that I hope to find. Sadly, Central Ohio is a wasteland when it comes to good tag sales. People are too transient here, so it is really hard to find sales held by old-timers who have been around for decades. They are the ones with all the good stuff. Most of what is found around here is junk and still readily available in big box stores.
But when I visit my sister in Illinois, I get lucky, because she is in a neighborhood full of old-timers and oh the treasures to be found there! Last year I found this lovely old wood frame and brought it home with the intent that I would eventually stitch something to replace the old sepia photo held in place with some rusty brad nails and a piece of water-stained cardboard.
This is what eventually ended up inside. Wool is my current, and probably most favorite ever, medium of choice. So these primitive sunflowers and the hen are done in wool and embroidery. The background is a piece of muslin stained with tea and I love how it adds patina to the piece in conjunction with the frame. The pattern for the hen came from a tin cookie cutter handmade in the late 1800s or early 1900s by my great-great grandfather, thus the S. H. Flory and the date. During the last family reunion I asked my grandmother and her sister to bring their cookie cutters, three in all, for me to trace so that I could use them as motifs in my work. I love being able to tie my past into my present craft and decorating work. And the books on the shelf below the piece are all heirlooms from members of the Flory family or branches that married into the family. Most date to the early 1800s or the mid-late 1800s.
I have several other frames picked up from various sales that need an excuse to again see the light of day. So I guess it is time to break out the new sketchbook I bought this week and come up with some new designs. And it is also time to start scouring the paper looking for just the right area of town to list the first of the spring sales. Then maybe I will find that little table I want for the Fl. Room or the vintage silverware and linens I want in order to pack the perfect picnic basket. Oh, yes! I can hardly wait.
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