What took me so long?

I don't know why I wasn't before, but now I am just enchanted by ironstone. I have started amassing a small collection in the hutch in my dining room, and every time I walk by it makes me happy. I know lots of people have collected ironstone for a really long time, but I am just getting started. Isn't it interesting how your style and what you're drawn to evolves over time? In the house we lived in when we first got married, the kitchen was all about color and my Fiestaware dishes (which we still use on a daily basis, but aren't out on display). In our last house, the kitchen was more French country, with roosters and rabbits and reds and golds (most of which has been relocated in the bonus room in our new house). But these days, I'm drawn to ironstone, tarnished silver, rust, and black and white. I am in love with the cabinet I found in Billings over the summer, and I would say this cabinet and its contents are a good representation of my aesthetic now.

I am not an educated collector and don't plan to be really. Some of my pieces have an "official" ironstone stamp and others don't (because they aren't, but I still love them). When I was in line at STD paying for the gravy boat in the top left cubby of the cabinet the other day, a man walked by and said, "Nice boat." And then he came over and looked at the stamp on the bottom and told me it dated to the 20s or 30s if I remember right. I noticed him start working in a booth I have bought a few of my pieces in at great prices, and I should have gone over and talked to him but I didn't. I haven't spent much on any of my pieces, which makes me like them even more. Little finds, you know?

I am planning to hang these platters in a collage on the wall in the dining room, but I think I want a few more and I don't want to start putting nails in the wall until I have a better idea of how the arrangement will end up. I found one of them yesterday at Spring Creek. My sweet husband took me to the tearoom and already wants to go back for more of the chicken salad.

We also stopped by the Fall Open House at Leola's and I got this little metal dog. And who should I run into but Debra of Common Ground, who I feel like I know through her blog and all the thoughtful comments she posts to mine. I saw her talking to someone and I thought I recognized her from her picture, and then I heard her talking about blogging, so I knew I just had to go up and see if it was her. It was! It's really cool when your blogging world and your outside life come together and when you can peek in at the lives of other people who like the same things you do, like ironstone and little dogs and tattered books and clocks. I'm always inspired to hop up and head out to the markets to find more of what I (we) love.