'                

Colorado monthly online newsletter

Spring and Summer, 2013

Free Newsletter   Search   About

 

Home

 

Visit our archives at:

Garden

Escapes

Architecture

Antiques

Cooking

Health

Outdoors

Books

 

FrontRangeLiving.com -> Home Design

THE LADIES OF LAST CHANCE -- The Last Chance quilters, who banded together in 1926, are reckoned to be the oldest continuous quilting group in Colorado. Once a week, as few as four, as many as 12, arrive. Potluck casseroles—from macaroni and cheese to salads and dessert--line up, poised for lunch. With ages ranging from 23 to over 90, the Last Chance ladies huddle around a stretched quilt.

Collecting

THE ART OF SCIENCE -- Leaf through a collection of 18th and 19th century botanical prints and you’ll journey through a garden of delights. Scarlet, ruffled roses. Crisp, organza-thin anemones. White wild roses perched on slender green tendrils. Hummingbirds flashing gilded heads. Raccoons sporting rascally expressions--each hair tinged delicately in ochre and black. For centuries, botanical prints and illustrations have married art with science.

Collecting

SNAPSHOTS IN TIME: SAVING AND COLLECTING HISTORICAL PHOTOS -- Chief Wolf Robe from the Southern Cheyenne sits for a portrait in Washington D.C., June 1909. Light has fallen on his face and shoulders, and through a 19th century discovery called photography, saved his presence. One hundred years later, we are transported as onlookers to another location and time during a remarkable moment--perhaps revealing a shocking truth.

Antiques

SILVER: A GRANDMOTHER'S LEGACY -- "There were so many exciting periods for silver and every one of them is absolutely fascinating," says Marie Brown, a Boulder antiques dealer, "The study of silver can take the rest of your life." People like silver--for its beauty, history and inherent value.

Collecting

HAPPY TRAILS -- As any Colorado history text will tell you, life in the pioneer West was dangerous, paltry and meager. How is it that out of this hardscrabble life came one of the most colorful styles ever to be called American? Horse trappings braided and woven, sturdy spurs punched with filigree, leather saddles tattooed in florid swirls, embroidered shirts, vividly dyed scarves, carved buckles, fancy-stitched boots. Hollywood may have stretched the limits of outrageous ornamentation, but the roots of flamboyance were always there.

Antiques

ANTIQUE LACE AND LINENS -- Embroidery and lace terms fill the room--French knot, punch work, cutwork, filet tatting, bobbin lace and spider weaving. There is also drawn work where the seamstress actually removes threads from the fabric. A 'forbidden' stitch appears on Chinese embroidery. Needle workers, usually young girls, went blind in its execution and so it became forbidden work by Chinese Imperial command.

Antiques

POTTERY BY THE PEAKS -- Colorado Springs beckoned to Artus Van Briggle in 1899. The Ohio-born artist came in hopes the salubrious mountain climate would restore his health. Unfortunately, the quest proved elusive for the talented painter and potter, who died in 1904, at age 35, of tuberculosis. But although Van Briggle's life was cut tragically short, he left behind a rich artistic legacy.

JUDGED BY ITS COVER -- Hold a book of poetry by Katibi of Nishapur in your hands and you might guess where it originated. The design resembles the intricacies of a Middle Eastern carpet. A fluid, stylized script floats delicately in ink, gold leaf and blue lapis lazuli. The date is 1605. The place is Persia. It's one of the beauties in the University of Colorado Special Collections room. If you've ever wanted to collect books, we'll take you to this unique room. Also, a fine press books dealer will tell you how to get started.

FESTIVE FIESTA: When Eleanor Crandall's mother gave her a set of Fiesta dinnerware, it was received gratefully but not enthusiastically. Eleanor tucked the dishes into a back cupboard. One day she  opened the cupboard and realized why her mother had loved this colorful, cheerful Depression-era pottery.


 

Printing Problems? | Privacy Policy| Contact us

Copyright © 2000-2010 Front Range Living, LLC