We think, therefore we blog

Sometimes I just like to surf on a subject and find inspiration. My favorite topics are antiques, vintage and collectibles (plus sailing and living in Mexico, but that's another blog). This morning I've added more than a dozen new blogs to my list (scroll down and find it on the right), and you're invited to visit them all, when you've got a free hour or two (it took me an entire morning). Some are about brick-and-mortar antique shops, others are online sellers, and many are collectors who enjoy writing about decorating their homes in old stuff.

If you've been thinking of starting a blog on any of the above subjects, and you need some help with your design, check out ShabbyBlogs.com for a selection of absolutely free art elements… everything from backgrounds to buttons to blinkies, pretty post dividers, even page headers in your choice of funky or elegant motifs from Megan and her webmaster brother Kaleb.

Here's a button I like a lot…



And this is an example of a blinkie…



There's a detailed, easy-to-follow instruction page, so you can experiment and play with charming bits and pieces to dress up your page.



At Megan's own blog, you can get acquainted and learn more about design, how to use code and tap into your inner artist. She's promising "even more designs, freebies and tutorials" to make your blog fabulous. If you appreciate her generosity and creative spirit, send her a comment! Like all of us bloggers, Megan loves feedback and if she hears from you she might just write a feature about you!
© copyright 2009 shabbyblogs.com. All rights reserved. Floral stamps by Rhonna Farrer.

A sad loss for Kalama

The historic Heritage Square building in Kalama was destroyed by fire June 10

Owners of Heritage Square Antiques in downtown Kalama, WA called us this morning to report that their historic 113-year-old wood-frame building burned down June 10. What a sad loss! It was reported that the cause of the fire was next-door neighbors tossing an ashtray out their window. The store and its contents, a fine collection of antiques, was totally destroyed.

The fire was filmed and made available on YouTube.

Superb style in the genes

When exquisite taste is genetic, why not partner-up in antiques? Arlyne Meyer and Michelle Cardwell, the mother-and-daughter team at A Moment in Time have opened a second antiques store in the Niles District of Fremont, CA, where they'll feature fine furniture, pictures and mirrors. The new store, A Moment in Time Too is at 37312 Niles Blvd, and the phone number is 510-790-6300.

They'll also continue with their original location at 37396 Niles Blvd, where the emphasis is on exquisite hand-painted porcelains—the largest collection on the West Coast!

Quilts, Crafts and Old Radios in Aurora

"If there are no quilting bees in heaven, I'm not going."

from Jean Kirkpatrick's Aurora: An American Experience in Quilt, Community and Craft

If you're in Oregon and you love quilts and early crafts, don't miss the current exhibit at the Aurora Colony Museum which brings to life settings from popular author Jean Kirkpatrick's full-color book, "Aurora: An American Experience in Quilt, Community and Craft." Displayed are not only handmade quilts but artifacts contributed by a number of Aurora families, creating vignettes of home life in the Aurora colony of the 1800s, which lived communally and developed skills in a number of crafts. The exhibit continues through June 6. Shown here is one of the settings illustrated in the book and recreated in the exhibit.

Tomorrow the last Flea Market of the season will be held in Aurora, in the American Legion Hall at 3rd and Main, 9am-4pm.

And radio aficionados should stop in Aurora next weekend, when the Antique Radio Show and Sale will take place, also at the American Legion Hall, 9am-3pm. The Northwest Vintage Radio Society will present a big display of vintage radios.

Blunders and Absurdities

At last it can be told: the new edition of Cochran's Collector's Guide has been uploaded and is ready for your perusal. The paper version was distributed about six weeks ago, and can now be found in any of our advertisers' stores, from Washington State to Arizona.

The new cover is pictured here on our home page, at upper left. Please keep in mind that the cover is green this year; it's important that you make this distinction because the previous edition, with a cinnamon brown cover, has the same year imprinted on it. Yes, we made a big mistake, and will be living with it for the next year. Endless phone calls and emails: "Um, did you know the new book has the same date on it as last years?" One shop in Washington actually dumped all their new books at the Palmer-Wirfs Show, thinking they were the old edition. (sigh...)

I've taken to reading this quote every so often just to remember that life goes on, even after the most egregious of errors. And will get better, if we don't dwell on the past.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

So take a look at the Guide's online version by clicking on the Contents button above. We still have a little tweaking to do, and the links have not yet been activated, but I'll have them done before the New Year. And may your holiday season be serene and joyful, and take you into the New Year in high spirits.

Window Shopping

With Thanksgiving only a couple of weeks away, antique stores are decorating for Christmas and planning big open house festivities for that weekend. Windows are being dressed in their holiday finery, and while it's too early to bring on live Christmas trees, the artificial trees are turning up everywhere.

Niles Antiques on Niles Blvd. in Fremont, CA has one of the most beautiful window displays I've ever seen: uncluttered, dramatic and with penguins and a polar bear instead of the usual reindeer and elves. Well done, Ron and Madeline!

By the way, Thanksgiving weekend marks the Niles Merchants' Open House, followed by their Christmas Tea and Tour the first Saturday in December, both sponsored by the Niles Merchants' Association. And on December 12, Niles Main Street is planning a Holiday Home Tour.

It's a Wrap!

...well, just about, anyway. The 20th Annual Cochran's Collector's Guide is going to press, and within a couple of weeks it'll be available in all the stores listed, as well as the shows in our 24-page Events section. Here's the cover, so you'll know what you're looking for.
All my favorite colors. Inside are some new towns that haven't appeared in the Guide before, such as Coburg, OR and Templeton, CA. A large number of individual dealers in malls decided this year to strut their stuff with Associate Listings, so not only do you get an overview of a store's merchandise, you get an idea of some of the specialties you'll find there. Many stores submitted photos, so when you're driving around looking for them, you already know what they look like, saving yourself time and gas.

By January 1, our webmaster Jim will have the entire edition uploaded on this website, so it can be viewed by anyone with Internet access.

It's a big job, but after 20 years, we think we've got a handle on it.