Blue Panda Quilt & Misc.

Another lovely day and another lovely quilt, albeit a small one. Another trip to one of my favorite antiques stores led me to this lovely little one that I simply couldn't resist. I will admit that I am not over fond of applique quilts, not sure why, they just don't seem to appeal to me like scrappy quilts. Maybe it's the replication over and over, I'm not sure?! But all of that flew out the window when I saw this quilt stuffed under a pile of throws and dragged it out of its hiding place. When I unfolded it and shook it out, this quilt was just so cute, I just wanted to cuddle up under it, by a warm fire, with a good book immediately. Even if it was a hundred degree's outside. I may have to start calling this my, "Hug a Panda quilt!"
While I was in the store I also found some other items of intrigue, so couldn't resist getting them too.

     Just 64" x 80" but so full of fun. I thought the panda's just adorable.

 Nibbling away at their bamboo, they are so nicely done, I just want to hug them.

 Only this bit of damage on one corner, easily fixed, and it will be right as new.

 I could see from the damage that this had poly-fiber batting, so I knew it wasn't very old. I found one online, that had the identical panda blocks, just the blue fabrics were different. The seller had purchased it while on a trip to China in the 1990's, which makes this barely vintage, but I don't care, I still love it and it was far less money than the internet quilt, so I still feel good about buying it. A quilt made with care is still a fine quilt no matter where it is made, tho this seems to be produced for the tourist trade.

This quilt is very lightly quilted, with only quilting of the outer edge of the little bears and two flowers in each block. It is very light and will make a very nice lap blanket.

Of all the things I saw in the shop, besides the lovely panda quilt, this lovely old carving fork just seemed to stand out to me. I don't usually buy cutlery, but this carved horse I found really rather good. As it was under 20 dollars I thought it would make for a nice display item in my new house. When I got home and looked it up online, I was seriously surprised to find that it was made of carved walrus ivory and dates from the 1880's.

Here is the walrus ivory cane handle I found online, which is so identical to the horse head on my carving fork, I believe it was carved by the same person. It is the same even to the tiny glass eyes. The auction house gave this an estimated value of $400-$600 dollars. Now grant you theirs is a cane and in better shape, but just finding the same carved horse, and what little information I did, was delightful to me. I only wish I knew who carved it and where?! The guy was really good.

Here's a handy pocket sized medical instrument kit I found interesting. I could tell you what each implement was used for, but then you might lose your lunch, so suffice it to say this would have been used in the field, during a battle, or for dissecting bodies afterwards. Many a doctor or med student would have carried around one of these too. Unfortunately, only one of the tools has the same name matching the name on the snap on the outside of this kit. Which leads me to conclude this kit was made up of odds and ends of doctors medical implements. Still, it is interesting all the same.

This particular case was made by Spencer Lens Co., of Buffalo, New York. Spencer Lens Company was founded by Herbert R. Spencer (1849-1900) in 1895. The company was the continuation of the firm established in the 1840s by his father, Charles A. Spencer (1813-1881), who is considered one of the first American microscope makers.
In 1935, it was bought by the American Optical Company, and became a subsidiary. For several years after the acquisition, the Spencer Lens Company continued operation under its own name before becoming known as the Instrument Division of American Optical Company in 1945. Thus my kit dates from 1895-1945. No doubt someone who knows these things better than I could narrow the date.

One thing I am always on the lookout for is old sewing needles. Some of the finest needles to sew with can be found in antique stores. I find modern needles to be a great deal inferior to these old needles. I was in luck and found this delightful bunch of Clinton needles dating from the 1940's -50's. I shall definitely put these to good use. Probably in repairing some of my quilts.

Last but not least I found this lovely darning egg. I do love sewing notions of every kind, and this one looked like it had darned many a garment and sock. I admire the woman, who must have had mountains of darning to do, from the wear I see on this egg. Maybe like the old woman who lived in the shoe, she had so many children, she had too much to do, and some of them, like me, were very hard on their clothes?! Sorry Mom!