Need I Say More?

Looking Toward Spring

With March right around the corner, I can't help but begin thinking about Spring. Actually, I've been thinking about Spring since the first seed catalog arrived in the mail! It's been a very long and snowy winter.

It soon will be time to put on the garden clogs, the garden gloves, begin cleaning up and preparing for the first burst of spring color. I cant' wait.

Kmart is giving shoppers a great glimpse of spring inspiration with a 40 page 'catalog' of Martha Stewart Everyday Garden items. The catalog, glossy and beautiful is available for free at your local Kmart store and gives shoppers one of the most complete looks at the line.

Inside, you'll find pages of patio furniture and many of the accessories you'll need to make your outdoor living space comfortable and inviting.

Looking Through Stuff

I was looking through my 'Martha-bilia' collection and ran across these fun items.

The letter is one I received after sending in my thoughts on the various Martha ventures of the time. It was a rather long letter that was of course complimentary! It's hard to read in the scan, but they made a comment about my email address.. 'goodthing'

Looking through the things I've collected always brings a smile to my face. One day, I'll open that Martha Stewart Museum.

The origin of mass produced Jadeite (or some spell it Jadite; either is correct) can be traced back to 1930 with the McKee Glass Company. McKee's introduction of jade kichenware and dinnerware marks the first large-scale attempt to introduce jadeite.

Following McKee's introduction of colored kitchenware and dinnerware (most famous of the jade colored dinnerware, the 'Laurel' pattern) the Jeannette Glass Company began producing a similar line in 1932. Much like McKee's line, the Jeannette glass line included canisters, shakers, storage dishes and mixing bowls. Jeannette produced no dinnerware pieces and continued to produce kitchenware pieces through the 40's and 50's.

The vast majority of jadeite dinnerware was made from 1945-1975 by Anchor Hocking under their Fire-king division. Today, Fire-king jadeite is the most collected of the three manufacturers. While McKee and Jeannette pieces are more rare and bring in a higher dollar value, the Fire-king color of jadeite is what most have come to know and love.

In the mid 1940's, Fire-king introduced several dinnerware lines including Alice, Jane Ray (the most popular and available), and Restaurant Ware. Jane Ray and Restaurant Ware were complete lines; one being introduced for retail consumption and the other for commercial uses. Both were very successful and stayed in production for over 20 years.

In the late 40's and 50's, many kitchen and household items were made in jadeite by the Fire-king division including vases, refrigerator dishes, pitchers, mixing bowls and 'batter bowls.'

The current popularity of jadeite kitchenware and dinnerware, at least partially must be attributed to Martha Stewart's interest in the glassware. For more than a decade she has featured jadeite in her cookbooks and decorating books. Her magazines have similarly focused on jadeite in the collecting columns. Her nationally syndicated television show at one time featured an entire kitchen stocked full of jadeite. Because of Martha's influence to the collector, jadeite has often been referred to as "Martha Stewart's Green Glass." Martha herself adopted the name "Martha's green glass" when she commissioned several glass companies including Fenton, Mosser and L.E. Smith to create a group of jadeite colored accessory items which included cake stands, salt and pepper shakers, egg cups, dessert cups, etc. to be sold through Martha by Mail.

In 2008 the collector craze for jadeite has slowed somewhat; but jadeite pieces still fetch a high dollar at glassware shows and antique stores. eBay regularly lists over 1,000 items for sale at any given time with higher world market prices.

My own jadeite collection began in 1997 with one small mixing bowl and has grown to well over 2,000 pieces including those produced by Martha Stewart. While initially wanting every jadeite piece in sight, I've scaled back on the collection to focus on specific patterns or lines. With a complete service for 24 in the Jane Ray line (which includes dinner plates, salad plates, side plates, saucers, cups, bowls, berry bowls, and all the accessory items) I have turned my attention to the Restaurant Ware line - which is heavier, and plain. It's a lot harder to come by, (I think primarily because Alexis Stewart has thousands of pieces) but most that is found is in pristine to excellent condition.

My home collection includes pieces from the McKee and Jeannette companies as well, with a collection of jadeite canisters that were gifts to David's Mother for her wedding. This canister set is extremely rare and very costly when purchased retail. I feel so fortunate to have them in my collection.

Getting Ready for Easter

A Bunny Funny

The First Sign of Spring

With the sun shining brightly all day today, I decided to take a walk outside and take in the fresh air. Much to my surprise, when I moved some of the leaves that covered one of the cutting gardens I discovered the first sign of spring... daffodils beginning to emerge for the season!

Each year, this particular cutting garden bursts forth with some of the first color of spring with about 200 daffodils and close to 100 tulips. It's a wonderful wave of color as the days grow a bit longer and the breezes become a bit warmer.

This has been a long winter.. this little bit of green gives me hope that warmer temperatures aren't too far away!

A Cake for a "Sirius" Celebration

Since I decided to take the day off today (and it was a fabulous day to do so!) I thought I would make a small birthday cake to celebrate Sirius' birthday. It's a chocolate cake with some simple decoration.. he's not quite old enough to read (ha ha ha) so I didn't write on the cake. It's the one thing about cake decorating I HATE... when you have to write something on the cake!

A simple chocolate cake with a buttercream icing.. you'll be able to see in the photo that Sirius tried to take a little 'paw' taste of the frosting!

People think we're a little crazy for celebrating our cats birthday.. but who doesn't like to have a celebration?!