Robins and Robinabilia!

Is there such a word as Robinabilia?  That is collecting anything to do with the little red breasted garden bird we know and love and which adorns so many Christmas cards not just here in the UK but  all over the world.

My mother, Marion, had a small collection kept in a simple ring binder, of stamps, cigarette cards, tea cards and postcards, together with Christmas cards and a few random articles about Robins.

Cigarette and cigar packets, tea packets and other packaged food items often contained cards making up sets on various subjects, including birds!  You could buy albums in which to keep these and there was of course an incentive to buy more products to try and complete your set!

  Together with a handful of little ornaments, these form a rather charming little collection. Although I'm certain other collectors of ornamental china birds may have far grander displays, this is for me a  fine example of a small selection of items put together by someone who always loved to watch the birds from her window!
A robin was the subject of my Christmas card design made in 2014 and shown on the Seasonal page of my website, together with other Christmas card designs.  I used a variety of suitably coloured stamps to created the robin in the centre and British and US stamps  to make the borders! Cards are available direct from my studio - you can contact me via e mail : markwickrachel@gmail.com for full details.

Quilt collection at the American Museum ... and on US stamps

The American Museum at Claverton, Bath has a wonderful collection of hand made quilts from early 1800s to modern times. You can get in very close to examine the intricate work which is on display in the Quilt room and regularly rotated to ensure that the quilts are maintained and preserved at their very best.

I'm hoping to combine my interest in stamp collage, with making my own stamp quilt, but in a much smaller size, suitable for framing, having been inspired by this great collection. I have a large amount of US stamps which will be just perfect - just hope I've got as much patience as the American quilters obviously had!

The stamps shown below depict one of the quilt motifs seen at the Museum.  I also came across other memorabilia in the museum which has been the subject of US stamp issues and will feature these on a different post.

Embroidered detail from a patchwork quilt  on display in the American Museum in Bath

I was pleased to see this design as I had recently found a set of US Stamps depicting this popular basket motif
(see below)

Nine patch quilt

I'm always interested to see fine hand-crafted items and these quilts are very special!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you received a card ... but if you didn't here's one specially for you!