100 Collections

I was wondering what to write about today when my delightful birthmother called. After reading my blog she wanted to know exactly WHAT my 100+ collections are! So now I know what I'm writing about. I just toured my house with pen and paper and came up with a list. I think it is important to specify that I like cheap junk and I almost never pay a premium price for anything. I don't by on Ebay. I just come across things and if they're cheap enough I'll buy them. I'm not hung up on condition -- all that damage puts otherwise expensive items into my price range!

Note: There are photos at the end if you wear out during the list or want to just skip it altogether!


I must explain that there are different types of collections in my world:

There are things I actively collect (like 40's pottery and Fiestaware).

There are things I would buy more of but they're usually out of my price range (like vintage doll dressers and vintage toy kitchens).

There are things I ended up with three of (and three makes a collection!) but it doesn't have to go any farther but probably will if I find a good piece for cheap (like egg cups and heart sachets).

There are things that I will always buy when I find them for cheap because I always use them (like small glass bowls and picture frames).

There are also things I gather because I use them for projects (like vintage chenille bedspreads which I make into baby quilts and vintage printed table cloths which I embellish denim jackets with).


I won't try to break the list down into these categories because it would require too much thought but I will star the favorites and qualify the little, accidental collections with (3) because that's how many of them I have.

The most prevalent of my collections are vintage pottery which fall into several categories:

*1. matte white Haeger vases (I have about 100 pieces. Some of these are in the bathroom remodel photos I posted previously.)
*2. McCoy vases and planters in any color
*3. blue and green vases
4. pink vases
5. yellow vases
6. black vases
7. olive green vases
*8. blue and white china
*9. Mexican Talavera pottery

Beyond the pottery obsession:

*10. vintage thermoses (I bought two at a garage sale one day for 50 cents and then one at the next garage sale for a quarter and I've been hooked ever since!)
*11. small silver pieces (bowls, creamer, suger bowls)
12. silver pitchers
13. silver frames
*14. wall-hanging crosses
*15. pendant crosses
16. wreaths (I like to have one for every season and holiday)
17. letters (I have every letter my birthmother has ever sent me in the 24 years she's been in my life except for a few that were destroyed somehow. Some great-grandchild is going to find a treasure trove in the attic someday!)
18. vintage decorative aluminum tableware (it's still cheap but gaining in popularity!)
19. Incoming correspondence
20. Outgoing correspondence (I keep copies of everything I send out. The great-grandchild will be delighted again!)
21. doll dressers
22. anything with lots of little drawers - spice drawers, apothecary drawers, lingerie chests
23. the aluminum grilles off old screen doors that have an initial on them (probably my weirdest collection!)
24. heart sachets (3)
*25. HEARTS (but not heart jewelry)
26. red metal things (I have shelves, a basket, a napkin holder, etc)
27. vintage hats (mostly my grandmother's)
28. dress purses (mine, my mother's, my grandmother's, my former mother-in-law's, and my daughters. Because of this collection I took the same little white beaded purse to the prom AND to my wedding!)
29. vintage ceramic birds
30. vintage ceramic fish
31. international dolls (my grandparents started this collection for me when I was little and always brought me dolls from their travels)
32. James Michener books (my favorite author)
33. Shakespeare in paperback (I was an English major)
34. Mysteries of the Unknown Time-Life book series (I have 3 of the 26 volumes)
35. pitchers
36. miniature chairs
37. little children's chairs
*38. vintage globes
39. vintage photographs of the ancestors
40. a photograph of every place I've lived
41. flower frogs (they hold flowers in vases)
42. vintage Mexican Easter baskets (I hated them until I saw a collection in a magazine -- now I want a collection too!)
*43. sign letters and numbers
*44. the number "4"
45. photographs of the number "4"
*46. oil seascape paintings
*47. sand from beaches around the world (both from my travels and from friends)
*48. dirt from important places (like from my childhood home and from the hospital where I was born)
49. vintage clocks
50. antique bottles
51. antique ink wells
52. quilts
*53. vintage floral bark cloth
54. vintage cameras (3)
55. vintage photographic slide boxes (3)
*56. vintage framed floral prints
57. vintage dog paintings (4)
58. picture frames
59. annual Christmas ornaments for the girls (every year I buy them an ornament related to something they like or are interested in that year and then I write the date and the explanation on them)
60. vintage silver Christmas balls (when I find them in dumpsters -- which is often!)
61. doll kitchens (3)
62. vintage post cards
63. vintage suitcases in a particular style (3)
64. washboards (I only have 2. One belonged to my grandmother. One I'm keeping for the girls because it belonged to Matt's grandmother.)
*65. vintage picnic baskets (great for storage above the kitchen counters!)
66. matchbox cars (when I find them in dumpsters which is often)
67. marbles
68. pez dispensers (the girls get them in their Christmas stockings every year to remember Matt's Aunt Honey who always gave them to the girls)
69. Mardi Gras beads (not really a collections but I corral them into a big glass pickle jar when I find them around the house which, for some weird reason, is often!)
*70. rose bushes
*71. iris bulbs
72. old cabinet knobs
73. vintage lace
74. vintage-inspired lace tops (4)
75. memorable bathing suits from over the years (yes, I know this one is weird and I hate to admit it)
76. favorite old t-shirt logos (to make into a quilt someday)
77. my clothes museum (the outfit I wore on the first day of my first "real" job, the dress my mother got married in, the top I delivered Tessa in, things like that)
78. decorative balls (I use them all the time for staging)
79. play balls (I have a big salad bowl where I throw al the balls I find around the house)
80. kilim bags
*81. mercury glass
*82. utensils with wooden handles painted red
*83. utensils with wooden handles painted green
84. vintage suitcases
85. costumes (I have a cabinet full of dress-up clothes that the girls always loved playing in)
86. shells (who doesn't!)
87. rocks
*88. heart-shaped rocks (copying my birthmother's collection)
*89. enamel refrigerator drawers (esp. PINK!) and containers
*. wire freezer baskets (they make GREAT storage baskets)
91. jellow molds
92. vintage metal souvenir state trays
93. Noah's Arks stuff (even before I had a step-son named Noah!) (3)
*94. colorful ceramic bowls (and white ones too)
95. blue-green Mason/Ball jars (4)
96. egg cups (3)
97. white embossed fruit-pattened dishes (We use them daily. I buy individual pieces when I come across them and then it doesn't matter when they get broken)
98. apothecary bottles (5)
99. cigar boxes
100. vintage jewlery boxes (3)
101. wire-work (pen cups, letter holders, baskets)
102. vintage metal trays
*103. buttons (this collection was started by my grandmother)
*104. fruit crate labels (vintage and reproduction)
105. vintage tole-painted trash cans (4)
106. glass juicers
107. glass insulators
108. zippers
109. rick rack
110. pink depression glass (5)
111. vintage door knobs
112. bottle caps
113. old printer's type
114. match holders (one from each grandmother and one that's mine) (3)
115. vintage chenille bedspreads
116. decorating magazines
117. decorating books
*118. painted wooden stools
119. vintage handkerchiefs (I used them to embellish jean jackets)
120. vintage costume jewelry (I make magnets out of old earrings and broaches)
121. dominoes (they just look cool in a jar)
122. dice (they look cool in a jar too!)
123. vintage cans with labels (oil cans, coffee cans -- I found a dozen or so in the well house at the cabin that had been there since the 50's and put them all up on a shelf in the "boy bedroom")
124. stuffed Muppets (must have a collection to commemorate my childhood!)
125. pill boxes (most of them were my mother's)


There are also other collections in the house that I contribute to:
1. stars (Tessa)
2. nutcrackers (Tessa)
3. ceramic birthday figurines (Tessa)
4. MONKEYS! (Tessa)
5. rabbits (Tessa's birthday falls on Easter sometime)
6. stuffed animals (all the girls)
7. ties (Mark)
8. weights and measures (Mark)
9. Coca Cola stuff (Mark)
10. orange things (Mark)
11. milk bottles (Mark)
12. antique bottles (Mark) (we bought a box of 25 for $11)
13. glassware (Mark) (single glasses he likes)
14. rubber animals (When Emily was about 2 she got one for $1 every time we went to the grocery store. They have been the favorite bathtub toys ever since!)

I'll add more when I think of them below:
Yikes! 126. Fiestaware! We received 12 place settings and some serving pieces as wedding gifts. I had a few vintage plates and saucers and salt shakers. I continue to seek out more pieces (new or vintage).

Lest ye envision my house as being completely overrun by collections, here are a few photos to show that everything has it's place!

1. A few of my globes. The rest are out on a staging project.

2. The sand and dirt collections.

3. A screen door grille.

4. The melding of his collection and mine: his ties and my blue and green vases!