Return Flight of the "Round Robin"

So this week, I bring to you the exciting conclusion of Spring Cottage Decor Swap 2008. Last week you folks got to see the outgoing package in our round robin event. And Friday I received an amazing package from my swap partner on the Cottage Living boards--- SusieQ. I thought it would be nice to showcase it here today.


What was particularly touching, I felt, was the amount of thought put into the history of the various items. Susie knew I was a vintage girl, and certainly put the package together accordingly.

If you'll recall from last week, the swap participants were to include something to enable old-timey correspondance (not email! haha), and some sort of textile.


I thought the ink bottle was a particularly clever way of meeting the "old fashioned correspondence" criteria. (Also it sort of takes the pressure off me to write by hand because I have really horrifyingly bad handwriting. I mean "bad" to the point that sometimes even I can't read it. )


Says Susie:

"The ink well is made by S.S. Strafford and is circa 1890's. It began as clear glass and changed to amethyst over time from the UV explosure. Some people call it 'sunware.' Apparently the manganese in the glass changes it from clear to amethyst when it is exposed to the sun over a long period of time."

It makes you wonder a bit just how many letters were written with the ink from this pretty little bottle, what sort of stories those letters told, and over what sunny location that desk had presided. (And I love that purple!)

Susie also included this lovely Royal Albert cake plate...


A gal after my own heart, Susie is up on the history of this, as well:

"The cake plate is of the American Beauty series from the Royal Albert China Company. I don't know too much about the company other than that they were formed in England around 1894. I believe the American Beauty series was produced between 1927 and 1977. In 2002, the company stopped production in England and moved it to another country. So the "Made In England" backstamp is more desireable."

I'm guessing, by the spatter style of the gold trim around the edge, this piece might have been made in the 50s. I have some other pieces of china with that style of trim from that period. It will be excellent with a couple of Royal Albert chintz teacups I'd gotten in the late 90s.

Anyone want to pop by for tea and cake? (grin!)

Susie also included some lovely fresh (and French!) yellow-green linens-- napkins and placemats. There are a ton of them here, which is excellent because I'm short a few from some of my other sets-- and mixing and matching the colors is just my style!


Lastly, the package included some fabulous smelling hand-made soaps, and a big ol' gorgeous dark chocolate bar. I have so far held back a whole 48 hours from totally mowing on the chocolate bar, but that probably won't last very long. Dark chocolate is a real favorite of mine.


So that about wraps up our round robin for Spring. Next week, I hope you'll join me as we take a look at the history behind some Edwardian postcards-- and examine a little bit about the actresses that appeared on these beautiful hand-colored photos. You'd be surprised how much information is out there on some of these ladies of stage and silent screen. (I know I was!) Sometimes a postcard is so much more than a postcard.

• If you missed the tour of the spring garden this last Treasure Box Wednesday, you can find it here.

And I do hope you'll join me for this coming Treasure Box Wednesday, as we go gleeful over Depression glass refrigerator containers, vintage sheets, handpainted vases and more!

Round Robins and, er, Round Robins

A couple of times a year I participate in a decorating swap on the Cottage Living forums. The ladies there are super-nice and even though our tastes range from streamlined utilitarian to country to cabin-rustic to Shabby Chic, we all have a lot in common-- we all like a house to look and feel like a home.

So this spring "round robin" swap was a fun challenge. We were supposed to think "fresh" in our choice of items. "Fresh" as in clean air, cut flowers and newly budding trees-- and not in something designed to make the other person blush, in case you were wondering. We were also supposed to include one textile for the kitchen, one handmade item and something to help enable old-timey correspondence.

My swap partner, however, had indicated that she didn't have very good handwriting, (I know how that is myself!) and that she already had a lot of notecards she didn't use. She shared that her kitchen was in country blue and yellow, and she had a teacup border on a wall.

So this is what I went to work with.

The textile part was easy. Blue and yellow being abundant in choice, I selected a crisp new oven mit, a pretty apron in blue with yellow sunflowers, a nice hand-done tablerunner, and even thrifted a set of curtains (new in the package) with blue and white dishes on them. (I thought it might go with her teacup border, or could be used for the fabric.)


To further her teacup theme, I added four pretty yellow sandwich plates and a yellow printed cup and saucer...


You'll also see in the pic above a small blue and gold item... This is a cute little vintage address book -- perfect for a purse-- that I found and freshened up with a bit of paint. The book was a bit scratched to start with-- a bit too shabby and less chic. You can see before and afters here.



The final touch was two color-coordinated notecards, one bearing this cheerful bird friend... Yup, he's a round robin, all right.

Now because the swap itself WAS a "round robin" this meant my swap package would go to one person, but a wholly different person would be sending to me. I think the person sending to me has gotten tied up with other things this season-- it's been a really busy time of year for us all. So should anything arrive to round out this swap, I'll be sure to post.

But amusingly the swap almost didn't stop here. You see, in spite of the fact I sent my package just one state away, I waited two days... three days... four days... Still the package didn't arrive in the hands on my online friend. I was starting to think it had been rerouted to the Bermuda Triangle. Worse, I had been stupid enough to not have tracking on the package-- because again, it seemed to be such a simple transaction. Who could have known?

So because it certainly wasn't my swap partner's fault the postal service had a serious oopsy along the way, I'd started trying to pull together a second package. I thought you might enjoy seeing the cute Pyrex bowl and teacup I found for it...



I'd had no luck finding textiles to go along with them, but it turned out just as well. As when I returned home from shopping and checked my email, I had a joyous message saying the package had arrived. That was day five from when I'd mailed the thing, if you can believe it.

At least my swap partner didn't think I was some kind of fibber! :)

Well, anyway, that's the scoop on the latest swap. So like the red, red robin, it's time for me to go bob-bob-bobbin' along.

I hope you'll join me again this week for Treasure Box Wednesday. And if you missed last Wednesday, that post can be found by clicking here.

Hope spring is treating you well so far!