Steubenville Pottery: Do You Know It?

One of my weaknesses has always been dishes.  I don't go in for the fine china like Lennox or Mikasa.  I like the everyday stuff and particularly pieces from around 1940 or so.  And I'm rather fond of the potteries in the Ohio Valley.  Most of these are long gone but their wares are their legacy.  This is a dish from my mother's house that I've always loved:

It's a luncheon sized plate.  I've always liked the colors and the shape.  I have about 5 of these and perhaps six of a smaller, round size from the same pattern. I've looked and looked for more of them.  I know it's an old Steubenville Pottery pattern.  Here's the mark on the back:

I've searched antique malls, flea markets, yard sales, eBay, all without any luck.  I can't even find reference to the pattern name.  I've registered the picture with Replacements Limited....no luck. I made flyers with the above pictures and my contact information and handed them out at antiques malls from here to Columbus, Ohio.  No luck.   I've scoured the internet.  No luck.  I've considered that this may have been a pattern given out in boxes of detergent or some other product and perhaps that's why we always had so few.  I never remember an entire set of these being in our kitchen.  So, on my "bucket list" is a trip to Steubenville.  It isn't that far from Columbus (where son #3 attends school) but we have never seemed to take the time to make the little side trip up there.  I've spent time in other old pottery towns in the Ohio valley and I know that there are most likely people who worked their entire life in the pottery and could take one look at my picture and answer all my questions.  They may even have a few matching pieces.

So, my appeal is.....if any of you out there have ever seen this plate or other pieces that would match, please let me know.  And if anyone knows the pattern name or even a lead on information on older Steubenville products I would love to hear from you!

News From the Nest: More Pictures!!

I was able to get some better shots of the little ones today!  Mama was off her nest and I caught the babies napping:

Then she came back and the most active one decided that he should have a snack:

If your new to this story the background is:  a few weeks ago a robin built a nest in this tree right outside the window of my sewing room.  I've had great fun watching her mind her eggs and now her young.  It has really been special!

A New Welcome Mat

I found this at Lowe's last week and just couldn't pass it up:

......for the Dorothy in all of us.

A Mother's Embroidery

Today is Mother's Day and since I've posted several times about my own mother, I thought I would write a post today about my mother-in-law.  My mother-in-law was known to me mostly by my husband's stories and my few short years of time with her.  She was truly an amazing woman who overcame quite a bit of adversity in her early life.  She was a dedicated military officer's wife and handled the uncertainty and mobility of that life with grace, loyalty and pride.  Somewhere along the line she taught herself to embroider.  I have a few pieces of her work hanging in my house.  Look at the incredible detail and perfection of the stitches.

Sadly, by the time I met her she had lost her eyesight and could no longer continue her hobby.  She faced her blindness with the same strength and grace that defined her life.  I didn't realize the depth of her needle skills until after she died and we were cleaning out her apartment and I realized just how very much the loss of her eyesight had taken away from her.  I'm glad these pieces remain.  Belongings are often a very temporary thing in the career military family with items being purged at every move.  These exemplify her elegance and grace.  Her story tells of her tenacity and strength.  I'm privileged to have known her even if only for such a short time

Craftsy Block of the Month: May

I struggled with this block more than I should have.  I think the main problem was my expectation.  The block was referred to as a "spool" and that's what I wanted mine to look like.  But it only looks like a spool when you have certain color combinations and I couldn't quite figure out what combos were best.  Also, given the way you do the cutting, the colors will be reversed in half the blocks.  I finally just wanted it to be over and ended up with this:

Here are all the blocks so far in their approximate location on the final quilt.  I"ll probably move the "spools" around a bit:

Craftsy Finish: Low Volume Tiles

This is the second project from the Craftsy class Inspired Modern Quilts taught by Elizabeth Hartman.  I'm really enjoying her lessons.  She has a great teaching style.  This project is made of 12 blocks that each contain 12 different fabrics cut into 12 different sized blocks.  So there are no two identical pieces in the entire piece.  It ends up measuring about 30" x 40".

I decided to try to make this binding using the Clover bias tool.  It worked well, but I wish I had gotten the next size up.

I'm a bit confused about the function of this piece.  It's about the right size for a crib quilt, but the composition doesn't seem to a child's quilt.  So for now, it will just be part of my "collection".  In case my artsy photo on the chair doesn't provide a good overall view here are the front and back straight on:

News From the Nest: We Have Babies!!

Late yesterday morning Mrs. Robin's eggs hatched!!  I was able to see her feeding them only one time and snapped this picture which isn't the greatest.  You can see a worm in her mouth that she fed to the little ones if you are able to make the picture larger.  I could count two "robinettes", but there might be a third in there.  She still spends a lot of time on the nest and they seem to spend most of the day napping.  I'm going to try to catch feeding time again and get a better picture.  It would help if the sun would come out to improve the shot.  The baby birds blend in with the nest so they are extremely hard to see in the picture.  And once they start their chirping I should have a better idea of when to go to the window.

This morning is cloudy but sunshine is promised this afternoon, so maybe I'll be able to catch a good picture!