...the end of a lovely weekend

I hope your weekend has been as lovely as ours here in Connecticut - it was a perfect New England autumn time. The air was crisp and breezy and the skies were sunny and bright and there was just enough nip in the air to need a sweater. My favorite kind of weather! I don't know why autumn is my favorite season, but it is. I also like spring - but autumn is my favorite.

Hopefully you got a chance to visit Gabriela's Marie Antoinette event for the past five days at her blog. If not, you have missed some wonderful stuff - great information, fun film clips, gorgeous photos, and visits from various artists who create Marie Antoinette inspired art (and, ahem, yours truly was one of the guests!). If you haven't attended yet, click the button below and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! There's also a giveaway happening with a delightful Christmas ornament - a clear orb that contains a complete Marie Antoinette scene! Go read the rules and enter!
I must admit that I find this doll quite amusing. It's a real "ejector head" Marie Antoinette doll! And it comes complete with a removable queen costume that reveals the guillotine frock that she wore on the block. Somehow this just tickles my funny bone. As does ...

Marie Antoinette Head Pops. Somebody has a very dark sense of humor ... and I love it! If you have never visited Shakespeare's Den to shop for the bizarre and unusual, you owe yourself a shop stop!Shopping this weekend was quite an excursion! I ran across this marvelous French Louis XVI Commode a Vanataux which has been ebonized and has white marble top. The bronze frieze on the front is plated in gold and the drawers are all satin upholstered. I surely thought this would be lovely in the study.
And to sit beside it, this 1810 English Regency and Parcel Gilt Bergere. I know some people don't like to mix their French and English treasures. But I like the eclectic look. I can see this chair beside the commode and looking quite at home.

Of course, for light in the late afternoon before it's time to turn on the electric lamps, I would like these late early 19th century neoclassical candleabras of bronze and marble. With so much black and gold, I think I will have to put ruby red candles in the holders - that will spark things up!


And then when it's time to turn on an electric lamp, I would have this charming 1880 French spelter light with bronze finish. Where once behind the isinglass window a candle glowed, now sits an electric light bulb. I really think this is an enchanting piece ... and it would not only fit in my gilt and gold study, but it would fit in almost any other room as well!
I don't really have any need whatsoever for a dressing table. But. Really. How could I leave without this beauty? It's an extra large (almost 7 feet high) Late Victorian dressing table that has been painted - and heavily inlaid with mother of pearl. It's a real knock-your-socks-off treasure!

Seeing this piece made me catch my breath. Circa 1900, this extraordinary, palace-size French Empire Revival armoire dates from circa 1900, and measures 98" (8 ft 2 in) tall, 60" (5 ft) wide and 22" deep. It features extensive and massive bronze mounts throughout by the French bronzier Leon Kahn, who according to Sotheby's was a leading bronzier working in France in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The pediment has neoclassical guilloche, reed and tie, and foliate motifs. The frieze and side panels feature patera, rosettes, and egg and dart motifs. And the center door has putti and swags, lion mask, and lower panel with classical mask, arrow and drapery and foliate motifs. The sides feature floral and geometric parquetry inlay and marquetry inlay depicting flaming torches, surrounded by bronze mounts with foliate and tied ribbon motifs. The cabinet rests upon four enormous animal claw and ball feet. If life was fair, I would own this ... heck, if life was fair I would LIVE in this!


And our final find of the day was this perfectly exquisite 18th century Venetian painted armoire. The second photo shows the mirror borders around the paintings on the door panels, which are on canvas. Wouldn't this be the uber-ultra-magnificent storage for all my Marie Antoinette inspired art supplies?! I think so. I wonder who I could talk to ...

I actually got some work done this weekend. I got three quilts completed and listed in my etsy shop. Two are art quilts, which are my original designs and one of a kind. The last is a utilitarian piece that showcases fabrics from the Wizard of Oz line that was produced a couple years ago. I bought a lot of it, but didn't have much use for it, really. I don't really make quilts that call for Wizard of Oz fabric. But I finally broke down and had a lot of fun playing with traditional blocks and arranging them in a way that was pleasing and showed off the nostalgic fabrics.



Before I take off for the evening, I want to leave you with this poem, which I found particularly provocative.

I Show Up Twelve Years Late For Curfew

I appear cold, muddy, unstable in the foyer.

My parents are polite, but stiff, like a French host family.

They have new children, who have new toys

which make intergalactic noises in the night.

Their eyes are brown with gold flecks, not like mine.

They either can't remember things or don't care

that I hate tomatoes. Over dinner, my mother asks

my middle name. When I tell her, she says "oh, yes?"

Trying to feel relevant now is a bit like

touching my own mouth shot full of anesthetic,

or forming the word "bouche" while drunk.

I survey the unnatural ocean of their new blue carpet

and try not to chew like a starving person.

This is my family, these people so inept at things like

memory and monopoly, I feel like a trickster god

hiding my funny-money under the board.

Copyright (c) 2009 Karyna McGlynn All rights reserved

from I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl

Sarabande Books

Whew - that was a close shave! It's almost time for Dexter! Enjoy your evening everybody - and thank you for spending part of it with me! I hope you had time this weekend to make something beautiful!

♥´¨)
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(¸.•´ (¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥