Of frogs, beach glass and other things.

I thought I'd share some photos of recent vacation finds.

First, the frogs: This stone frog [for arranging flowers] will make a perfect scissor stand once I cut and thread a bit of foam through the bottom to protect the scissor tips. And to keep it from being lonely, here is this charming primitive wood carving of a frog. I love wood carvings of animals, especially those done in a primitive or folk art style, and I am always on the look out for one. I have a wood carving of an owl and now this frog. I hope to add to my menagerie on future vacations.

This was a good year for beach glass ... in quite a contrast to last year, which was a good year for oddly shaped shell fragments. Some of this lot of beach glass will be discarded as too new or too sharp edged but an amazing amount of it is older glass [you can tell by the thickness and color] and has been in the water long enough to have the rounded edges and muted colors prized by collectors. I have vague ideas of using my beach glass to make scissor fobs, jewelery or charms to be used in my stitching. I have quite a collection of silver and copper cap fittings in my jewelery making stash. I'll have to play with my collection of shells, glass, charms, semi-precious stones and fittings till I come up with some interesting combinations for fobs to commemorate my stays in Maryland.

It was also a good year for other kinds of glass: depression glass and art glass.

While at Royal Tea, I spotted this amber tea set and was charmed by the oval saucers. I have four place settings. I also picked up four amber glass sandwich plates at Nice and Fleazy. They are not an exact match but then I like to mix and match my tableware.

I fell in love with this purple goblet decorated with, of all things, three grasshoppers. I tried to get a close up of the grasshopper detail, not entirely successful but you get the idea. I think I'll use it as a flower vase or maybe just as an unusual display piece.

And then these small salt bowls in cobalt blue caught my eye. I could use them for salt and pepper but I'll have to get some of those tiny, tiny silver spoons the Victorians used to use with these little bowls. I know where I can get some and will have to make a few calls later this afternoon anyway

And on another topic entirely: In viewing the photo on yesterday's post, I just noticed that the angel I am stitching for Twig's round robin looks like it is giving you all the finger in a most unangelic manner ... I promise that that impression will be corrected once I have done all the back-stitching. And speaking of the angel, I am progressing on her quite nicely. I have finished the surplice, wings and face and have only the underskirt and a bit of back-stitching left to do. I anticipate finishing up the project this afternoon. Next on the agenda is my Christmas ornament for my exchange partner. I have selected Christmas Lace by Ink Circles from the Dec. 2007 Gift of Stitching issue. It is simple but elegant and will lend itself well to a beaded trim finish ... since I am in the mood to play with beads.