Greetings Fiesta Friends,

Yesterday was my our second day of being home together for the rest of our lives! I think I'm going to love this. Sleep when you want,play when you want,just get in the car and go for a long mid-day ride together. A milestone much looked forward to in your life,after years of working and raising your children. Of course we plan on having special times together with our children and Grandaughters..but this is going to be just out time now! My husband uncovered his treasure, a mint Coblat Blue 66 Big block Corvette and we headed up Rt.66 to an old mining town for dinner.Driving home with the top down we enjoyed another Arizona Sunset.
I told my husband,it looks like God paints Fiesta colors in the sky. So when I got home I found some of my pictures I have taken over the years we have lived here and scanned a few to let you enjoy.

A little about ME..............

I have collected since 1983,when I found out the pieces I was given from my Grandmother could still be found & came in other wonderful bright colors. So began the quest for more. Soon boxes of Fiesta were being delivered to me at the hospital where I worked & all would gather around & insist I show them every new piece I received. I would be paged, Kathy, "Your dishes are here",and off to Central Supply to get my new box of Fiesta! My main source for adding to my collection was from advertising in the Daze & soon having contacts that would call me when they found something on my want list. I became friends with Florence Ohlendorf, a Fiesta Dealer & contributor early on to the Huxfords book. She taught me a lot about Fiesta & steered me into some very wise choices early on in buying & collecting. Here, where I live, it is a Fiesta barren desert! A few good finds occasionally at yard sales, but we have only 2 shops, no malls & just recently, an auction house in Kingman. It was hit the road or pick up the phone to get any addition for my collection. I also have been lucky to have my husband's Aunt,who lives in Nebraska, as my Fiesta huntress. She has added many great pieces to my collection & she gets a ball out of hunting & bidding at auctions for me in the Midwest. One year she brought me out a go-along Fiesta kitchen stool & 5 boxes of Fiesta surprises. We now try to get back & go hunting with her at least every other year! Love those Midwest farm auctions! That's how I got my husband into collecting Griswold cast iron. I bought him 3 Griswold skillets at an auction back there & now he is addicted to collecting as I am. Which makes for a lot of fun together out traveling. I don't have to beg to stop & shop.

I never set out to collect one of everything in all the colors. I mainly collect the first original 6 colors of Fiesta & mediumgreen. I do have all the relish trays & mixing bowl sets completed in all the colors, except all the Ivory mixing bowls.. Then bought some of the Harlequin animals & loved them & add to them whenever I can find them. I also collect Riviera when ever I find a perfect piece. The Riviera Batter Set was something I bought very early when I started to collect. The Fiesta go-alongs are a special passion & have just about most of them that I want. The ultimate go-along,My Fiesta Cabinet this year:-)

I have always picked up anything paper with Fiesta that caught my eye!

I really never bought any Post86 Fiesta until the introduction of Lilac. I loved the color! My family thought I had really flipped, since it was so unlike my Fiesta 6 original colors I had been collecting. Then the rest was history. I was on a roll with the Post86. Bought the Warner Bros. LT. for my Granddaughters. The Lilac when it was introduced, Sapphire & starting picking up the Post86 exclusives, Sunporch, limited editions & yada- yada. My house is overflowing!

What a wonderful new Fiesta world I have found since being online! Never had anyone here to share my passion with & so life is wonderful meeting & greeting new friends on line. A highlight was a Nov.1998 Trip to Fiestaland. At last setting foot on the home of my beloved dishes & having a special tour of the plant & meeting Dave, JP & Judi. It gave me a total new appreciation for my dishes, it's history & how Fiesta today remains one of the most loved & collected dishes in America. Meeting Joel & Virginia Wilson was icing on the cake. I spent half a day visiting & being treated to a wonderful lunch that Joel cooked as we visited in their spacious & gorgeous new home. Served on Fiesta of course! Joel has a special talent with his Fiesta Exclusives he makes available in his FCQ & at Pottery City. This man has so many ideas,God Bless him, he must be up night & day working on all of them.

I also collect Delphite & Cobalt kitchenware glass. Vintage children's dishes & sand toys & furniture. Catalin flatware & napkin holders & kitchen items. Chatty Cathy dolls. Bright 50-60's linens. Old kitchen cabinets. Mission Oak. Gilchrist Soda fountain items. Western items. Indian pottery & grinding stones. Windmill weights, & farm tools. Old mechanical kitchen gadgets. Blue stoneware. Perfume bottles. Scottish Buchan Thistleware pottery and Scotty dogs. Crystal knife rests..Fostoria Baroque Blue crystal,that was used with my Dad's Moms china I inherited.

From the day I started to collect, we have always set the table with Fiesta. I now mix vintage & use the Post86. Tucking vintage & Post86 away for my 2 Granddaughters. Hoping someday they will find a Fiesta board & post,"These were my Grandmother's dishes" & this is how I fell in love with Fiesta & started collecting.

Well, I guess you can see why I was nicknamed "Chatty Cathy", while growing up. Email me or sign my guestbook. I love talking dishes with other collectors.

May your lives always be surrounded with those things you love, Family,Friends,& Treasures of Beauty.

Kathleen