Paint-By-Number Madness - Vintage Thingie Thursday

See these guys? They started it.



Oh sure, they look all pastoral, like they're just minding their own business, gazing over the fence and grazing by the stream. Don't be fooled. They're colluding.

I'm convinced they plotted a way to come home with me. At under a buck apiece, I was easy game. They fairly jumped into my Goodwill shopping cart.



I did paint by number as a kid, sitting at the built-in desk in the alcove of the Cape Cod style house I grew up in. The light on the north side wasn't the best, but I worked on a few of these there nevertheless. I can still smell the oil and see the toothpicks strewn about, miniature paint sticks for those tiny plastic pots.



I sorta sucked at it, but it was a lot of fun.



Who knows whatever happened to those early works? My guess is that they were probably in some state of incompletion when I abandoned them for another pastime, like Creepy Crawlers or stretchy loop potholders made on a loom. Or maybe I just ran out of #9 olive green or #4 aqua blue.



I think those horses knew they would rekindle a fond memory. They told their friends -- first, the little fishing boy, who sent his trusty Irish Setter all the way to eBay to sniff out a thatched roof cottage, flushing out a couple of ring-neck pheasants along the way.



And that, my friends, is how a collection is born.



The doves are the most recent acquisition, but I don't trust 'em. They look like they're up to something.



Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to visit Colorado Lady for links to other fabulous vintage thingies!