Howdy Friends!

 It was a busy weekend 'round here but I got in a quick trip to the VOA plus a visit to the Monticello Antique Mall.  I have been wanting to get over there since Laurie posted about sharing space with Amy for the holidays.  I spotted the pretty cardinal above in one of her photos and was delighted to find it was still there waiting for me.  I don't know which one of you gals was selling it but, oh happy me!
The rest of my finds were from the VOA.  And just what is that peeking out of the bowl??

Well Howdy folks!  The VOA has some bins of bitty toys they sell for 6/$1 and this little hand-puppet was peeking up at me just so.  I don't think he is Howdy since he has glasses and no freckles but I'm thinking he might be Dandy Doody or Grandpa Doody.  No matter, he is vintage and who could resist those googly eyes!

For Spill Or Not For Spill...

 ... that is the question!  It seemed I wasn't the only one who hadn't heard of these until Laurie educated me so I looked through my collection of bird figurines.  Be sure to pay her visit because she is celebrating her 1000th blog post with a give away.
The one on the bottom right is the one I bought the other day and you can see how much more sense it makes for matches than for flowers.  My friend Carol gifted me with the one on the left several years ago.  The angle of the opening never made sense until I tried it with "spill".  Perfect!

 These short ones seem a little too tall for matches and a little too short for flowers and a little too new for spill.  Hmm..  I did some more research and came up with some images here.

I also found articles here and here.  Clearly, spill vases were not all bird figurines.  I also have a little cornucopia that probably qualifies, too.The jury is still out on the two short ones pictured so please feel free to weigh in and please let me know if you find another resource for information.

Birdies and Tiny Treasures

 I got out to one estate sale today, my first one of the year.  When I spotted this robin figurine at about one-quarter the price I would have expected, I swooped it right up.  A sign from the picking gods that this will be a good year for junk??  I hope so!  And you can never have too many birdies, that's what I say.  8+)

 This is the rest of the loot.  You can click the picture bigger to get a better look at the buttons.  There were all the usual suspects including some carved mother-of-pearl, iridescent glass, rhinestones and a pretty little cut steel.  I have resolved to try my best to NOT rescue every vintage linen I run across.  I make a lot of work for myself with the cleaning and ironing and they really don't sell very well.  I couldn't resist this one little heart-shaped one since it is so  near Valentines Day.  Machine made and no stains.  No worries.

 These were my favorite buttons in the lot.  I have never seen glass rhinestones this tiny. Glass rhinestones set in teeny, tiny glass buttons.  Amazing!

So why did I buy this, you might be wondering??  My younger son collects vintage woodworking tools and he has been wanting an old hand-crank bench grinder.  Last weekend he and I spent the afternoon going through the antique malls in the Sellwood neighborhood.  He was able to point out a few things so I would know what to watch for.  My back ached for two days after all that standing on the concrete but an afternoon with my boy - priceless!  I hope this was a score.

Fun Finds

I headed on over to the VofA this morning, because that's what I do, and I scored a couple of fun finds. First is this adorable little birdie figurine. I already have 40 or 50 but I can never resist another one. Just too cute to pass up!
The porcelain doll parts we in one of those poke-sacks I love to sort through. You bring it home and it's like a whole new treasure hunt discovering the little bits an pieces that were hiding behind each other. These doll parts were mixed in with some floral stuff I really didn't need more of (LOL!), several tubes and bottles of beads and some fancy containers of glitter. Love those ballet slippers!