Collect: Yellow Ware

It's time to stop rearranging the yellow ware and get to work this morning...

But decorating is so much more fun than folding laundry and scrubbing the tub.

Oh well... Wednesday, here I come!

Antiquing in Iowa

A few weekends ago, we took a Saturday day trip to Walnut, Iowa, about 2 hours away. It's a tiny little town just off of I-80, with a population of only 900 people or so, but it is LOADED with antique shops. Seriously, loaded. There are no less than 15 antique shops, and once a year they put on a huge antique festival on Father's Day weekend. It is known as Iowa's Antique City. It's sure not much of a city - just a row of shops along both sides of the brick main street - but it's definitely a great stop for anyone who likes antiquing. My husband and I ate lunch in a little family-owned bakery (which had it's own selection of antiques in the back room, as advertised on the front window!), and spent the rest of the day wandering in and out of all of the shops.

My favorite by far was The Granary Mall. It was a higher end antique mall, with lots of dealers that specialized in some of my favorite collectibles.

Their ironstone collection was insane! Rows and rows of those big, beautiful, white ironstone pitchers. Just gorgeous. Pitchers this size were priced between $100 and $150, which isn't out of the ordinary, but certainly not a bargain, so I settled for taking some pictures.

There was a small selection of antique pewter which, of course, caught my eye. And then there was the yellowware...

Antique yellow ware was obviously another one of their specialties. Just look at this display case, filled to the brim with beautiful old pieces... And this was just one case of many. Amazing! The Granary Mall has a wonderful selection of all kinds of primitive anitques - great old painted cupboards, crocks, baskets, and wooden ware... way too much to take pictures of, and not enough good light to do it by! I was tempted by quite a few things, but ended up just buying an old wooden spoon. But it sure was fun to look! We'll be heading back in June for their big antique show.

Kitchen Antiques

Ok, I confess... I have a little bit of a "thing" for primitive kitchen collectibles. Wooden bowls, stoneware crocks full of rolling pins and wooden spoons, butter molds, butter paddles, antique yellow ware, bread boards, spice cabinets with little drawers... I love them all. They add so much warmth and history to a kitchen - a room which can easily become overpowered by microwaves, coffemakers, and sleek, shiny, professional-grade appliances (not that my kitchen is in any danger of that last one).

Here's a sampling of some of my favorite kitchen antiques from my own kitchen...

 

Want to see even more kitchen collectibles? Check out my "Collecting - Wood" and my "Collecting - Yellowware" boards on Pinterest!

Yellowware at Christmas

On the premise that everything looks Christmas-y when you surround it with evergreens, the collection of antique yellowware bowls on my kitchen shelves got their own small dose of holiday cheer. I just love the smell of fresh-cut Christmas greenery... It reminds me of Christmases when I was a kid, and my mom would bring in armloads of fragrant trimmings from the pine trees that surrounded our house, and tuck them into every little nook and crannie of every shelf and mantle and chandelier around the house. Sadly, my greenery is artificial. And I only have four sprigs of it. Oh, well... At least the yellowware is festive.

I recently struck a deal with my mom and traded her for this wide-banded bowl (above) . I've admired it in her house for months, and last time we were home I had something along that I used to bribe her into parting with it.  I had bought a primitive antique wood checkerboard on the road trip there, intending to sell it in my shop, but it looked perfect on her livingroom coffee table. So we made a deal!

Here is an (iphone) picture of the checker board in the shop. It is so charming and obviously handmade, with separate blocks of wood cut, carved, and painted just right so they all fit together to create the game board. I had to drag myself away from that fabulous green blanket chest, too. So many gorgeous things that don't fit in our little car... Sigh.

But, speaking of road trips to Ohio... it's time to get serious and finish up the laundry, pack up the last few orders that are going out tonight, and get ready for another loooooong drive home. But for Christmas, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Merry Christmas from my home to yours!