Traditional
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At Your Service
The trick to enjoying your sterling silver serving pieces, says Cindy Staley, co-owner of English Antique Imports in I-40 Antique Center, is to keep it readily accessible. Staley doesn’t hide her sterling away for safekeeping, or to use only for special occasions. And she advises clients not to fret over it either. “What many people don’t realize is that the more you use silver, the less high maintenance it is,” she says.
Kept within easy reach, sterling silver can become a part of your daily routine, and even enhance your everyday life—gravy ladles can be used to serve barbecue sauce, champagne coolers can hold fresh flowers, and toast racks can double as letter holders. “Be creative,” Staley suggests. Since each piece was made with a prescribed function, like biscuit barrels and pastry servers, silver is ideal for easier entertaining. Plus, the act of regularly washing and drying it with a soft cloth will buff away tarnish, caused by sulfur in the air, and lessen the need for tedious polishing.
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Colorful Cooking
Fresh Green
Andersen’s casement and double-hung windows in the Eco-Excel line of products feature an energy performance package. Caldwell Lumber, Wynne; C.J. Horner and Company, Hot Springs; Davis Cash Lumber, Clinton; El Dorado Glass and Mirror, El Dorado; F.L. Davis Builder’s Supply, Greers Ferry, Heber Springs; Heritage Window & Door, Russellville; J.T. White Hardware & Lumber, Jonesboro; Lumber One Home Center, Mayflower, Stuttgart; Meek’s, locations statewide; Pine Creek Lumber, Hindsville; Windows, Doors & More, Bryant
Jeld-Wen’s custom wood windows offer energy efficiency in a myriad of styles. Batesville Building Products, Batesville; Lumber One Home Center, Mayflower, Stuttgart; North Arkansas Glass, Mountain Home; Pro Millwork, Hot Springs; SCI Millwork, Harrison
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The ABCs of Collecting
ABC plates don’t just hold food—they also serve up an education. “They were made to teach children about values and life,” says collector Neil Palmer of North Little Rock’s Crystal Hill Antique Mall. Rimmed with the alphabet and decorated with maxims and inspirational sayings, ABC plates transformed every meal into a learning experience.
First produced in the 19th century in Staffordshire, England, they were later fashioned in the United States, mostly in the Ohio region, and contemporary-looking versions are still in production today. Palmer’s white earthenware collection holds true to the plates’ Staffordshire roots, originating in the late 1800s when prominent potters like A. Shaw & Son and J. & G. Meakin exported their goods around the world.
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A Pet-Friendly Pad
Pattern Power
History in Pieces
It’s not simply the quilts that North Little Rock collector Jan Smith loves. It’s the stories behind them as well. Hand stitching and unique patterns are a reminder that each is a personal expression of the woman who made it. Dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, each also says something about the time in which it was made. “I can just imagine a woman sitting down and working on one of my quilts after a long day of chores,” Jan says. “They didn’t believe in idle hands back then.”
Before television or radio, quilting bees served as a popular social outlet. Friends and neighbors would gather to compete against one another to finish a quilt or to join forces and complete it together, the purpose being to socialize and have fun while being productive and saving time.
Quilting bees were also an opportunity to exchange decorative quilt blocks, likely scraps from clothing, feed sacks, or any other fabric they could find. After piecing the blocks together in a desired pattern, the next step was to add cotton batting as a filling for warmth between the decorative blocks and a single backing layer. All three layers were then stitched together, which is the actual quilting process.
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Party on the Patio
Lakeside Illumination
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