Thrift Store Find: Mata Ortiz Tejido textured bowl by Reynaldo Quezada, Mexico

 

Recently we were thrift shopping in Portland, and thinking we were done, we wandered down an aisle we'd already covered and headed toward the door. Something on the bottom shelf caught our eye. Looked like Oaxacan pottery. We almost missed it, but could it be what we thought it was?

Actually, it was better than that. It turned out to be a Mata Ortiz Tejido textured bowl, signed, by Reynaldo Quezada, Mexico. We learned a few things about it, most importantly the Quezada family had several prominent makers, and the piece had significant value. At first, we found a couple for sale online, then we found a sales record from 2016.

All signs seemed to point in the same direction, and now we have the piece available for sale in our Etsy shop. To learn more about it, click here.

more Christmas in August

 

In our last post, we talked about a wonderful set of vintage Riddell grumpy Santa mugs. We didn't intend to have "Christmas in August" as a blog theme this month, but the other day Linda discovered this wonderful set of 15 vintage plastic blow mold NOEL candles. That's something to crow about!

Each candle is about 10 & 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches diameter. We did a lot of searching and found very few examples like it. There are plenty of NOEL blow mold candles out there, but few with this simple block font. Each candle has an opening in the bottom, presumably where a light would go.

Such a rare find! We almost fell over when we found them. Good eye, Linda! The set of 15 is now available in our Etsy shop. To view the lot, click here.

1951 Riddell Grumpy Santa Mugs

 

We were driving around our neighborhood some time last year, and there was a sign for an estate sale. The house was just a few blocks away, and it was full of stuff, but still slim pickins for the types of things we would normally collect. 

We were on our way out, and Linda saw this set of 1951 Riddell grumpy Santa mugs near the exit. Eight of them! She did a quick Google search, discovered they were rare and very hard to find, and could sell for upwards of $50 apiece. So, we scooped them up, paid and made a quick exit.

The mugs are now available in our Etsy shop, along with over 500 other unique handmade and vintage items-- and this week we're running a 30% off sale! To visit our shop, click here.

mystery bowl

 

We found a mystery bowl the other day while we were out thrifting here in Oregon. Now we are trying to identify it.

The stoneware bowl has a glossy, raised drip glaze and exposed stoneware. The glaze appears to be cobalt with white, and the exposed stoneware looks like it has a very light, clear glaze.

There is a stamp on the bottom, which appears to be AG. We tried searching for it, and did not come up with any comparables.

Have you seen anything like it before? Do you know of a maker who used an AG stamp and produced this type of work? We are intrigued, and want to know more. Any clues from our readers would be greatly appreciated!

house quilts in the house

houses on quilts - it's a thing!

Our friend Julie Silber recently curated an exhibition of house quilts at the Iowa Quilt Museum. The exhibition, open June 20th to September 10th, is called "Welcome Home. A Celebration of House Quilts." We saw photos of the exhibition on Facebook, and there was a familiar quilt on display.

house quilts now on display at the Iowa Quilt Museum

The wonderfully graphic schoolhouse friendship quilt from New York State (far right in exhibit photo) was once part of our collection. In fact, it was one of the first quilts in the collection. I'd forgotten all about it. The quilt was sold to a friend and fellow collector years ago, before my wife Linda and I met, so she never got to see it. The quilt has wonderful inked signatures and dates, some with locations noted. 

Seeing the exhibition photos reminded us, we have a few house quilts of our own. One is a traditional house block quilt from the 1970s, very boldly made with solid multicolor fabrics. Our nickname for the quilt is "Levittown, Pennsylvania - after the big paint sale." 

The house block is a standard way of presenting houses on quilts, but there are plenty of other ways. A velvet Victorian period crazy quilt top (above) has a little red house in a field of crazy patchwork. Another quilt from around the same time period is made with hexagon shaped patches with buildings, presumably houses. Fancy houses, with lots of windows, large doorways and chimneys!

Quiltmakers are very resourceful. If they want to put a house on a quilt, they'll find dozens of ways to do it. Believe it or not, I made a quilt with a house on it. It was a small quilt, made for the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Small Wonders challenge. I made the quilt because my Mom was planning to visit, and I wanted to surprise her by having a quilt on display. 

The quilt was called "House of Wonky" and it was loosely architectural, made with batiks, and irregularly shaped. And yes, Mom was very surprised! Most surprising of all, it had a blue ribbon for Viewer's Choice and a "sold" sticker on it. It was one of the first and only quilts I ever made.

One of our absolute favorite house quilts is a 1930s pictorial quilt from Ohio. It came to the collection several years ago from our friend Shelly Zegart, and it is truly iconic. There are so many ways to include houses in quilts. We look forward to seeing more photos from the exhibition in Iowa, and hope lots of people will go see it. For more info (Iowa Quilt Museum) click here.

mysteries - the Peruvian painting

 

vintage cubist painting, signed by "Flomi" - but who is Flomi?

Lately, it seems every trip to the thrift store produces a mystery. We love solving these mysteries, but a lot of the time we probably didn't nail it. 

Google Lens is a pretty good tool. It works using image recognition, so the search results are only as good as the "matching" images online. The tool is available on computer and on smart phones. We searched Google for the painter, Flomi, and found very little. No real matches. We searched in Google Lens using the image, and images of Peruvian paintings came up. That led us to believe the artist could be South American, or from Peru. 

Another object we found recently is this polychrome decorated "sgraffito" or scratched surface pot, which appears to be Native American. We tried image searches, but with far less success than the painting. I guess we will list it using a physical description. Same for a copper bowl and wood carving we thrifted this month.

copper bowl, possibly from Northern Africa or the Middle East

primitive wood carving with fish, origins unknown

We could probably devote this entire blog to mysterious objects. Maybe it would help us identify them. If anyone out there knows anything about a Peruvian painter named "Flomi" or any of the other objects here, please leave a comment and share what you know.

Sauvie Island

 

We went to Sauvie Island today. Collins Beach, where the breeze is light and the clothing is optional. We didn't take too many pictures.

We packed a cooler with some smoked salmon, shrimp poke, fresh fruit, water and coffee drinks. On the way, we stopped at Mickey-D's for an Egg McMuffin and some coffee, then headed to our favorite spot. Collins Beach is on the Columbia River, and it is one of just two clothing optional beaches in Oregon. The beach is sandy and the whole island is a natural viewing area. We saw a trio of bald eagles and several osprey. 

Our Tommy Bahama umbrella from last season still worked well, and a new one we found recently at Costco. These umbrellas screw in to the ground and are very secure when it's breezy. They also tilt.

There is a view of Mt. St. Helens from where we were sitting. We could also see Mt. Hood on the drive.

After catching a few rays and light snack, we packed up and hit the road before rush hour. It was a nice day to go to the beach.