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[blank]Boy! was I pleased to roll out of bed so early this morning ….. just look at this fantastic light! I screeched to a halt to take some pictures of the sun emerging through the morning haze and creating this rather wonderful orange halo around the trees.
Even if I had found nothing at the fairs, it would have been worth getting up just for that![blank]
[blank]Once home I quickly assembled the treasure I found this morning, lined up in front of some plants I have to plant this afternoon …[blank]
[blank] Some nice transferware, a sweet salt and pepper, a couple of paintings, 6 rather wonderful teacloths, some ticking and a couple of champagne buckets.
Enough to make me happy and still get me home for breakfast …[blank]
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[blank]Can anyone guess what these old china eggs were used for ? ….
As usual, you are welcome to contact me if anything interests you[blank]
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[blank] Hope you are having a lovely weekend
thank you for reading me[blank]
49 comments
Hmmmm….aren't those sock-darning eggs?
How do I know? I use one regularly.
Just for the record….my paternal grandmother was, for 25 years, the matron of a boys' orphanage. Oddly enough, my father grew up in the same orphanage (my grandmother was a scandalous divorcee) and my mother was a genuine orphan there (albeit she was, as you might guess, in the girls' building). When I and my 2 brothers were growing up, we would (as you would predict)constantly show up with yet another item of clothing that had to be mended. My grandmother would raise her eyebrows and say "Hmmm….I'll show you how to do it yourself, but I'm only going to do it ONCE", and she'd sit down with us (by the time we were six or so) and DEMONSTRATE how to sew on a button, replace a zipper, whipstitch a torn jacket lining, etcetera.
Consequently, we (like any of the thousand&one; boys who'd passed through her hands, so to speak)knew how to sew perfectly well before we were ten…..and I recognize a darning-egg when I see one. Am I right?
Curiously,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Love the loot especially the silverware and the linen. Love to know if David is correct. Sounds like the perfect answer to me.
Hi Sharon. I'm not sure if these were used for this particular purpose, but I know that ceramic aggs were put underneath a broody hen for a few days to make sure that she definitely was broody. Not sure if it's still done, probably more high tech nowadays! Beautiful sunrise photo, and I love the painting of the vase of flowers.
Amazing post!
Cute story re the darning eggs..I didn't even know..
Wish my initials were CT:)
My gosh those flowers in the background are stunning! Everything else is great too but boy do I wish I was lounging in that background! Thanks for sharing!
Dear Sharon ~ this is so wonderful ~ the light of the early morn gorgeous ~ can't wait to do this with you in just a couple of months!! The still life is quite lovely. Is it in good condition? And I love the wine cooler that is ribbed ~ quite smart!! What to do? Can you tell me more about them?
Thank you once again for your amazing posts ~ they never disappoint!!! You're quite amazing!! All my best to you Sharon!! xoxo
BP
Oh wow, what a super haul. Love it all. Hugs, Marty
Le prime due foto mi hanno ricordato uno dei miei film preferiti…Orgoglio e Pregiudizio!….Bellissimo film e bellissima la tua immagine!
Come sempre oggetti preziosi qui a casa tua!
un bacio dall'Italia
Sara
Oh my goodness! My initials are CT. Any way I can purchase those enchanting hand towels? I live in New York
City, and you can find my contacts at my blog, Secondlivesclub.com I promise I will give those towels a second
(even third) life. Love your beautiful, inspirational site!!! Please get in touch.
nice story David, but nope, they are not for darning socks!
xx
It sounds good I know, but – much as it pains me to contradict a dear reader! – it isn't the right answer
That's it Julie! Either to check if she is really broody, or simply to encourage them to lay in the right place!
Congratulations!
xx
Farmers used the eggs in nests to get their pullets laying and sitting. Believe it or not, some hens are better mothers than others.
The sock-darning eggs I've seen, used by my grandmother, each had a little stem or handle, to give you something to hold on to. Guessing that your new eggs are to keep the chickens happy and perhaps encourage production.
You are such a bad influence! 🙂 I found a gorgeous dark blue glass vase at a thrift shop the other day, which led to a couple of other small purchases, and I found myself thinking "Loot shoot"!!
My grandmother used a wooden mushroom for darning socks…
I'm with the broody hens line
Dear Sharon, first of all congratulations! that first photos are the most beautiful images I've never seen. Your plants are super and all that items are charming and beautiful too. You are a great artist.
Hugs from my corner of the world
Marina
Where I come from the these eggs are plaster ones and they are used to teach young hens to lay in the right place and not to do the business elsewhere like in the garden where they're hard to find.
Lovely pictures, beautiful place. Feast for the eye.Dita
Lovely! Now I am curious about the eggs!
I have to agree, the china eggs are placed in the nesting box!
Okay, Sharon…..I was, apparently, wrong. Now, will you tell us just what purpose these eggs served (without, I hope, having to stray too far into "Fifty Shades of Grey" territory, however popular the book might be)?
Concernedly (and, I'll admit, dejectedly…I HATE being wrong)—-
david terry
http://www.davidterryart.com
Loving today's loot!:)
Rita
When I was a girl, my mother used to place eggs like this in the hens nesting boxes to encourge them to lay their eggs in the boxes. I was always the one who duty was to gather the eggs. What memories this brings back!
I think to encourage hens to lay eggs! (OMILORD!! right above me; the same answer!!)
I have never had to use them! We have had chickens for 24 years……..our hens "get broody" all by themselves! A Belgian breed called "millefleurs" and bantams@ (that means miniature!!)
They have a multitude of purposes. The main purpose is to encourage hens to lay. They are also used to encourage laying in the correct place.
They are used if you have hens that eat their eggs as the hard egg puts the hens off egg eating. They are used to keep broody hens, that you need for chick rearing, broody and finally, here in Australia, we use egg weight versions of them to see if lack of eggs is due to a snake or goanna egg stealing the eggs!!
I am rather concerned at David's 50 shades of grey purpose though, the mind boggles over that one!! 😉
What I do know is that my initials are CT! Yes, I'm interested as well. My eyes nearly popped out when I spied those large cross-stitched initials right away. I think they're cross stitched anyway! I'm won't even venture a guess about the eggs but I'm anxious to find out now. xo
🙂
You have to get very lucky to find stuff with your own initials – it's never happened to me yet!
xx
thank you Kellie, June is the best time for the roses
Barbara, it was so so pretty early in the morning, I couldn't believe the light.
I'll email you about the wine cooler and the painting
xx
thanks Marty
xx
Loved that scene in Pride and Prejudice, wonder how long they had to wait to get just the right light to shoot!
xx
Hi Caryl
I'll email you today, looks like the towels are about to travel!
xx
Absolutely Donna, our chickens used to be very bad about laying in the wrong places, these eggs really help guide them
xx
How I love to be a bad influence!!
xx
Yup! I've always seen wooden tools for darning
xx
Thank you Marina, I just got lucky with the light in the morning
thank you for your very generous comment
xx
Exactly right Dita
xx
🙂
exactly 🙂
Not sure about the 50 shades David, when I kept chickens, it never looked that exciting!
Please don't feel dejected, we are all incredibly impressed by your sock darning skills!
xx
thank you Rita
xx
Oh Colleen Taylor….I was just about to say the same as my daughter is CAllie T. !!!! Such lovely loot! Were the eggs placed with real eggs as they boiled?
magnificent sunrise! I'd hop out of bed just to see that– it is loot enough for me.
Loved David Terry's story even if his answer was not correct…how charming.
And please, Sharon, show us where you planted those lovely flowers.
Is it July? oh dear…already??
I thought my Grandmother called them brooding eggs, and she said they were to fool the chickens. My Mom used a light bulb to darn our socks. She did an excellent job. I tried it once or twice, but soon gave up on that, and used it for a dust cloth. I guess that saying "a stitch in time saves nine" so maybe I should have started darning before I needed too many stitches. No one darn socks nowadays, but it would be difficult with our new curly lightbulbs.
That's a lot of loot and if I could, I'd take one of those oil paintings off your hands! What a lovely French day you have spent! Anita
Oh i love that bowl, how wonderful you found it!!! And the silver and linens and paintings, oh!!!!! Delightful!! Suek
What a gorgeous way to start the day. Your photos are beautiful. And you certainly hit the jackpot with all that loot. So many treasures. XO
sent this on to someone who owns CT + Hopefully she will get these + wonderful loot. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com