Antique Shows - Arthur and Tuscola

In addition to many great primitive dealers at the various shows there are several wonderful artisans and for the first time this year Maggie Bononomi took part. I already had her most recent book but seeing the projects in person is really inspiring. This piece looked amazing on its vintage feedsack background.

 

 Maggie suggested using vintage document boxes as gift containers--neat idea! Here are some of the little things that came home with me... 

A quilt remnant from Maggie and great little sewing box lined with old newspaper pages.

 

The colors and stitching in this little pincushion spoke to me. Both the pincushion and little buttonhole scissors came from the same Indiana dealer.

 

I couldn't pass up this tole painted box. I've been trying to find out more about these boxes and what I've learned indicates that these were probably sold by peddlers in the early to mid 1800's. Most feature a colorful design on a black background. I don't know if they followed patterns but I've seen many boxes with similar designs. I can only imagine what a treasure this little box must have been to its original owner to have survived mostly intact for so many years.