Bits n' Pieces

  I have always loved the idea of collecting something special...but I have also been very hesitant.  I was afraid of ending up with a ton of stuff I could never get rid, like when I was a teenager and thought a classic Winnie the Pooh collection would be the perfect thing for my baby to be...ya, didn't happen.  Styles and personal tastes change but I still have those sweet things packed away in a box, high up in a closet somewhere, hoping maybe that one day it will become my daughters favorite discovery of her mothers. 

 After the classic pooh obsession faded I really put off collecting anything except a few charms here and there for my charm bracelet.  (That's for another post)

That is until i bought a home...

I suddenly began to day dream about the way things could look and the pretty things I could maybe obtain in the future and the first thing I began to search for where antique aqua blue mason jars.  I loved how they could be used for just about anything, candles, embellishments for scrapbooking, pencils, buttons...you name it!  In the spring time though, they become my vases.  I love the old and new feel they bring to our place and the way they can even brighten up the flowers.

 The other collection I had always wanted was my own set of china.  This is all my mom's fault too.  I grew up with a formal setting at special events or occasions and Christmas dinner just wasn't Christmas dinner without a pretty table.  Thanks to her I now receive bits and pieces of it for my birthday and anniversary.  It'll take a while for a complete set of everything but for now I am loving my 8 pearly plates.  Thanks mom!

My newest item to search for these days are antique dollies.  I have a project I want to do and right now I only have  a few of these pretties. Hopefully over the years though I will be able to collect enough to make this anthropology inspired table cloth... 

Each time I pull out the special tablecloth I have reserved for this, I'll add a few on until one day it will be done and I'll get to use it under my new china.

And last but not least, I love to stash fabric. I'll just go into my own room and play with it.  And by play with it I mean pull it out and refold it, put it into possible project piles and come up with fun ideas.  Ideas that will never get done because I have no time, but ideas that are great.  Trust me!  I don't think I'll ever be able to go into a fabric store without getting something awesome...ever!  I am doomed!  My poor husband!

Collections are fun but I think they need to be useful...at least in my house.  I will probably collect a tiny amount of just about everything by the time I die but at least I will have loved it all.  What do you collect?