Because I Said So!!! Mom Knows Best!

Now I know I just did a review about
how I have too many dishes and not enough space
in my cabinets and places like my next review are
the reason why. When I find items that are not only
beautiful to behold but useful and constructed
from pure quality products and made to last a
lifetime or longer, I just can't pass them by. I
do not have my Grandmothers collection of China
and plates and heirlooms to pass on to my children
for my Mother and I never gave them a second glance
when we were younger and she took that as sign we
did not appreciate them and to be honest I guess we
didn't, so she found homes for all her items with
people she knew would love and cherish them as she
did and gave my Mom and I the cash instead. At the
time we really didn't care for she did all this
many years before she passed for she was one of
those old people who would point to everything in
her house and say, "When I die, that will be yours!"
She started around 50 for I remember her saying
that all my life and my Mother says she does too,
so pretty much whatever she said and did about
wills and what she was leaving to who we just shook
our heads and said that's nice. When it really happened
though and she was gone we both regretted that choice
for yes, I didn't really care about some Butter Dish
but as long as she had it and as much as she loved it,
the dish was no longer just a Butter Dish it was her
Butter Dish and therefore an extension of her. If I
knew who she gave items to now I would go chasing them
down but again, at the time I didn't care. What I learned
is when I see something I love to get it and cherish it
and pass on that love to my own children or at least,
the very least, imprint its importance to me on them
so someday when I say, That Bread Plate will be yours
when I am gone," they won't tune me out like I turned
Grandma out and that plate has a chance to be part of
our family history.

Now my Grandmother loved her dish collection
and Antiques to the point of obsession and even went
so far as to have my Grandfather build a room on the
back of the house for her complete with China Cabinets
built right into the walls. I am not that bad, plus
John can't build a pre-folded card board box but I
do have a cabinet and so does my mother and neither of
us started to fill ours to after she was gone but I
hope she would be proud. I have a couple of Pieces my
Grandmother still had left for China Adoptions must
be tuff with millions of pieces of china looking for
a good home, some pieces can spend their whole lives
in a group chest just waiting for adoption and she
must not have been able to place these pieces. My mother
and I split those for it didn't really matter us both
being only children and then I had Andrew and he was
an only child for 16 years it seemed History was
doomed to repeat itself for China is just a place
he once tried to dig to when he was little and he
would not know the difference from one dish to the
next and Ceramic, Porcelain and pottery mean even
less. He does have a Gold Watch that was my Grandfathers
that keeps him going! I didn't care though and started
collecting on my own and pretty much shocked even myself
when I first heard the words and if you touch my good
dishes I will break your legs come out of my mouth! I
thought I was channeling my Grandmother though no leg
breaking went on with her, just guilt trips and passive
aggressiveness. My Collection grew over the years and I
have a little bit of everything and love to find a
new Cup or plate to add. Sometimes I find items that
remind me of my Grandmother and sometimes I find items
that strike my own fancy for it seems I do have a little
bit of original taste when it comes to Pottery and
Ceramics and China. I DO have good dishes and I do
forbid the boys from touching them and like my
Grandmother who rocked at the details of Dinner parties
and Holiday Gatherings, I pull them out for such events.
I would love more then anything to get one of the Cabinet
style Chests for the dinning room. Maybe one of the
Mission styles for I can show off my dish collection
and not just store it till I have a use for it like
I do now for I just don't have room in the China
Cabinet for a complete set of Dishes. I would also
love to add more sets for as much as I love my Purple
Glass ones I would like some with a Holiday pattern,
one with a more formal pattern and one for larger
gatherings that have a more whimsical feel to them. My
Purple are beautiful but I feel they are more for an
intimate dinner then a large Dinner party and the funny
thing is when Grandma was alive I could have cared less,
clarinet was as China as I got! I think my tastes have
matured and I can't help but to want to increase my
collection when I run across places like my next review.








Emerson Creek Pottery is everything I could have
asked for and more. I know my Grandmother would have
been proud to see me looking through the patterns of
a store that carries such quality, premium, eloquent and
even fresh or contemporary designs. I enjoyed browsing
through their sections and was particularly found of
their Dragon Fly collection. Unlike my Purple dishes
they offer a complete collection and you can have
coordinating serving platters and and bake ware to make
sure your party has every finishing touch for a once
in a lifetime experience you can repeat as often as you
like. Why they also offer Bathroom accents and Lamps
as well as vases and pots for who says you have to stop
at the plates. Think of a table set for a large gathering,
complete with Salad and dinner plates and dessert, matching
salt and pepper shakers and serving items and on the
shelves and tables around the room a lamp, a vase and
maybe even a clock on the wall. In the center of the
table you have a fruit bowl on one end and a large
flower pot on the other that is filled with whatever
beautiful flower is in season. That would be my idea of
perfection for if you come to my house I have all that but
it consists of items pieced together from sales,
thrift markets, gifts and hand me downs and I just never
seemed to get around to compiling a complete collection.
I never found one I liked enough to make the investment.
Now I have and I wondered if they held up and wondered
if they were as practical as they were beautiful. I was
sent a piece for review and right away I was struck by
the weight of the plate. For it size it was quiet heavy
and solid and you could tell that it was meant to last.
The finish was impeccable and the plate was hand painted
and to have such a constant design on hand painting
patterns has always been remarkable to me. The finish
left a glow but not so glazed as where you know it
was a processed piece where the shine is just to glaring
to be created by human hands. I did a hand wash and then
just to be sure, tossed it into the microwave with some
gooey cheese then a Brillo pad and straight to the washer
for I had to be sure my Pattern would last. My greatest
fear it to find an item I love to death, like the Dragon
Fly and invest in a whole collection from top to
bottom and the first time I hit a bump in the road such
as something baked on to the point of excursion in
scrubbing to get it off the pattern comes off with the
dirt. With Emerson Creek Pottery that was not the
case. They make ceramic dinner wear that is exquisite
to behold and stylish enough to be your special set but
practical and durable enough to use every day. Though
I do not plan on using mine everyday, for there isn't
a person in the world who could create a plate that is
Andrew proof for Gravity is his vice and my feelings are
if I save it for special occasions I would not be tempting
the odds. I want my set to last several lifetimes and be
passed from me to my Daughter and then to hers. A dish set
as gorgeous as the patterns they carry deserve nothing less.
I am not even sure why I bothered to test the quality of
Emerson Creek Pottery though for when I was researching their
store and products I found out that they have been featured
in such places as Mt. Vernon, Monticello, and the Smithsonian
Institute. A recommendation like that pretty much speaks for itself!
The owners Priscilla Palmer and Jim Leavitt were inspired by
the Early American Cobalt pieces and have created and perfected
their own technique that is made from Clay they produce on site.
They are not only dishwasher, Microwave and Oven safe they are
also Lead free and hand painted by the finest artisans. They may
keep to the same pattern with their 13 designs they currently
offer but no two items are completely alike and not only do
you receive a magnificent collectible, functional piece
for your home you are purchasing something that is truly one
of a kind. My 41st birthday is in the wings and I plan on
celebrating it with two four piece dishware sets in the Dragon
Fly Pattern I have grown to love to death and for every event
after I will add an item to my collection until I have a
set I will be proud to pass on to my family for I have
some items my Grandmother brought from Ireland to give to
her girls to celebrate her heritage and I can not think of
a better way to pass on my American Heritage to my children
then with a set of dishes that represents the best America
has to offer and is a testament to the quality our country
can still manufacture. Gorgeous and stunning it will last
my Children for many generations to come. Who knows, maybe
some day my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandchildren will
be eating a Holiday meal on Mars and telling of how I
collected this all just for them. Emerson Creek Pottery
was inspired in our history but is made for the future!
Emerson Creek Pottery would like to offer one of my readers
a chance to win one of their fine pieces. One winner will
receive a Personalized Cup of their own. A wonderful item
that comes in one of their famous patterns and made just
for you. To enter just head over to their site and take
a look around then come back here and post what you like
best in a comment.The contest will start tonight and run
to Midnight on March 30th.
USA and 18 and older can enter daily and the winner
will be contacted by email and have 72 hours to
contact me with their mailing information. As always
you can earn a bonus entry by entering the contest of
the day and other ways to enter are posted below.

Emerson Creek Pottery


Extra entries.
Extra entries only count after the initial entry
is completed.

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post that you are. 3 entries,
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4. Blog about this contest somewhere else
and post the link here. 5 Entries Please
post five times.

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