Flea market treasures

Here are my little treasures from our trip to the Montsweag Flea Market two weeks ago.

Two tea towels: The Christmas-themed one is no doubt from China, but it'll come in handy when the holidays arrive.

The ecru linen one with tan open-work embroidery is a beauty, I think.

The two doilies are lovely examples of crochet, and to think I paid 50 cents each for hours of work!

The doll on the right is my latest handmade doll with a dress made from a handkerchief.

She wasn't made by the same doll maker, I'm quite sure, because too many details of the body are different, but clearly it must have been popular at some time in the past to make small cloth dolls with handkerchief dresses.

She now sits beside the handkerchief doll I found at Montsweag in May. $1 for the one on the left, $5 for the one on the right. Again, unreasonably low prices for someone's handiwork.

I tried googling "handkerchief dolls," hoping to learn something about their history, but the dolls I located on the web are made much differently from these two. These have very delicate arms and legs; the others are more simply constructed.

Montsweag closes Columbus Day Weekend. I'm hoping to resist the urge to go back just one more time.