Books. ;) I aspire to have a library.

Do craft supplies count? ;)

I would love to get into collecting milk vases/milk ware. Love that stuff!

I collect regional cookbooks, Italian cookbooks, pens for writing, Reed & Barton Florentine Lace silver, crystal prism balls that sparkle, cut glass, stitch items, tinkerbell items, goofy items and pluto items, tea pots, china, dolphins, crystal Christmas ornaments just to name a few. Linda

hmm aside from plants and seeds..

i collect yarn (i crochet)its just like hoarding seeds
but takes up more room lol

mini glass bottles,animals,eggs etc. (dogs are my fav)

perfume

i'll pick up strange looking rocks and minerals here and there b/c i love to toss them around the garden and flower pots.

i dont collect books,or scented candles but seem to have a ton anyway so not sure if that counts! lol

Money. Just can't seem to collect enough of it though.

There's the Before Kids collections
Dolls: antique and old, the repro's I made
Doll Stuff: furniture, clothes, doll sized toys
3-D Stereoviews: pictures, glass slides, viewers, magic lantern slides, Viewmasters and pics, cameras, etc.

After Kids collection
Boxes of happy meal toys, Nathan's hotdog bendables
Boxes of lego's
Boxes of hot wheels
Barbies
Beanies
S'more figurines
Florida/tropical Christmas ornaments
Girl scout stuff
every baseball team shirt my son ever wore(ok, I need to thro these out......someday)
OK, that's all I'll admit to. What a pack rat!

I collect old majolica pottery.
I have a pitcher from England that dates from 1880.
Seems that they made it with lead. After killing off a bunch of people the factory closed down after only 10 years.
Andpeople tossed out allot of it

I even have a few new ones that I like.

D`Ann

Books
Oil paintings
Frames for paintings
anything I can use in the yard

Friends, I collect friends. Can seem to get my fill of them! I have so many I can't even count!

About the only thing I collect anymore is Memories.

Vintage linens! The top, removeable section of my old steamer trunk is full of them as well as three drawers of the dresser in the spare room.
Antique tools to hang on the walls of my hallway.
Old dishes with pretty patterns on them. I hung a bunch of smallish plates on the soffets in my kitchen with a large platter and 2 large plates hanging over the kitchen sink.
Old pottery and pretty hand blown glass vases and pitchers.
Antique maple furniture! My entire house is filled with maple furniture!

Roosters! Lots of interesting statues, metal, wood, glass, ceramic, and a cool folding room divider with hand-painted Roosters (thank you Kat!).

Books, all kinds.

Lisa

I love to collect recipes even though I only make about 50% of them. I also collect wine, paintings (oil, acrylic and watercolor) and SHOES!!!

Pamela

I collect Star Trek and Star Wars stuff, NY Yankees and Green Bay Packers stuff.

Sillybugs, I crochet, too, and the yarn just multiplies by itself!

I read a lot and I can't pass up a bookstore without buying one.

Pamela, wine never lasts long enough in my house to become a collectible!lolol

Julie

Raggedy Anne and Andy!Too many to count.
Old farm stuff,wagonwheels,crocks,watering cans,
old farm BELLS!
Bird Houses!
small lambs,
gnomes
handmade doll houses
wicker suitcases
old windows and shutters
frogs for the garden
Glass Floatee balls
Felt jingle bell Christmas elvesand old choir boys(the porcelain kind heehee)
BLUE BOTTLES!

GP are your felt Christmas elves Annalee? We lived about an hour south of the workshop in NH. I had a few I think they are still packed.

OH MY I have an Anna Lee Christmas collection I started for my Mom, Marcia! When she passed away, my best friend kept up the tradition with me. I started with my Mom the first Christmas I was in Florida and she was in Michigan, by giving her something new each year. Mine date back to the 70's. I really need to have them cleaned. Do you have any recommendations of how, where, to get the older dolls cleaned up. I am not working, so if anyone knows of a way to clean them up delicately at home and preserve them longer, I'd love to hear it! They are yellowing with age even though I have them well protected in storge. I need to get Dennis to build Santa a new rocking chair. His lost a rung over the years and is cracking. Thanks Marcia for reminding me of something very special to me that I collect, but usually only think og at Christmas!

This is really an enjoyable read! I like Cindee's collection of FRIENDS the best, and memories! but I fall into many of the other slots, too..love antiques, have a bunch of Precious Moments that family and friends have given to me over the years...then there are my mom's porcelin birds...tons of angels...anything I can get my hands on that my woodworker friend makes...oh...and glassware! One cannot have too many sets of dishes! ...my biggest collection seems to be DUST !!!!!!

Cindee here is a link to their web site. You can contact them to ask about cleaning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check it out!

My elves are probably from the 50s I get them at garage sales. I hate buying anything new,,,,except PLANTS!I have seen the AnnaLees and they are cute.I decided to back off on the Raggedys and wouldnt you know.Saturday I hit a yard sale with Raggedy EVERYTHING!!! Got a Welcome Raggedy Friends sign,a rusty Anne that says I Love Andy,etc.and some more Raggedys for the Christmas Tree.I love Andy too since I have 4 grandsons and no grand daughters.
I forgot to add Milk cans to my first post, I now own 7.

This was a great thread! I like the Analee link. I have 3 of them; 2 are from the 1960's and the other is the New Year's Eve 2000 one.

I collect Boyd's Bears, too, but had to stop. I have too many of them.

Isn't it funny how we find things to collect?

coffeemom
Ive seen those T Shirts turned into pillows and also framed. Don't throw them out. Maybe a quilt some day!

Hi all! I have been enjoying this thread so finally decided to speak up. I have been a "collector" since childhood. And Cindee, I too collect friends. I have two dear friends that I have known since Jr High that I see about once a month.
My latest collection is vintage planters McCoy type. I can't pass up a GREEN one! Not all of mine are in perfect shape but they are displayed on a shelf that is high enough to hide the hairline cracks/chips. I started putting ivy in them and they look so nice I think. Then there is my rediculous amount of Hallmark ornaments, precious moments, dishes (especially leaf or acorn) books, fabric, antique items, my son's old t-shirts (and yes, I have made one quilt for his cub/boyscout shirts) I am now in the process of weeding through this caos and purging! Glad to see other collectors but I think I actually am in the hoarder level.
Kat

I collect McCoy too, but my weak spot with them is the matte white planters and vases. So, Kat, we could go antiquing together and not be fighting over the same pieces!

I'm a quilter so where ever I go I'm looking for pieces of fabric I can use. I currently have enough fabric for several hundred quilts. One day I may even use some of it.

Bunnies. Mostly garden bunnies, but a few glass ones too. I like the ones that look stylized or natural, like stone or concrete. Not the cutesy ones wearing bib overalls and carrying buckets filled with flowers. Clothing does not belong on a bunny. One of my prized possessions is an antique wooden bunny marionette - but I have no idea how old it is or if it's worth anything - I simply love it.

Apparently I also collect shoes and cats, judging by the numbers of them I see around the house.

Oh yeah, I also collect projects. I have several. I rarely finish them, but I'm great at collecting new ones.

Kate

What a great thread. DH and I have basically quit 'collecting', although we can't quit collecting books, and the dust certainly collects without having to spend a dime on it. What I mean by basically, is that we are not out looking for things to add to our collections. I feel I really have enough, and our little place won't hold anymore.

Some of our collections are:
Tools ~ woodworking, etc. by DH
Bears ~ DH's from when he was a boy, one we bought in Switzerland in the early 70's, an antique one he gave me one Christmas, others that have been appealing to me, have one sweet Boyd's bear from a teddy bear swap, and a little (3-4 inches tall) crocheted bear that I made who is wearing a hat and has a little colorful earring in her ear.
Hearts ~ still collect them when I see them in the shape of a rock, leaf, etc. DH made me one out of a hunk of Melaleuca tree that came down with either Frances or Jeanne.
Baskets ~ some are pine needle baskets made by DH's grandfather and some of those have paintings in the bottom done by his grandmother. Also have some pine needle basketwork framed oil paintings done by them and a few other odd pieces.
Cookbooks ~ I have over 300
Cobalt glass and other colored glass
Stained glass windows
Bird figurines
Paintings ~ Oils and watercolors of all kinds of subjects
Yarn, threads ~ I love to crochet and knit
Flamingoes ~ have several figurines and one plate
Have a few McCoy vases, one piece of Majolica, a plate that looks like a begonia leaf (I think), two Precious moments pieces, one given to me and the other I found at a local flea market for 50 cents years ago. Let's see, we have a few ceramic, wood, and stone little dogs, started as DH's collection when he was a kid. Have a few women figurines, fruit and veggie stuff. I'm sure there are a few other little collections, I just can't think of them right now.

Of course, seeds, plants and garden stuff I can't quit collecting. Anything to beautify our little compound. We are working on de-cluttering our place though, because we have so much 'junk' that the good stuff gets lost. It feels good to weed out stuff, inside and out.

Happy collecting to those who are still collecting. May we all enjoy the things that make up our collections. They have memories and they are part of who we are.

FlowerLady

My mother always used to say that we could call it 'collecting' if we wanted to, but if you had more than 2 or 3 collections then it was really 'hording' :~)

after PAYING for pavers, I have a new hobby. Keeping an eyeball out for old pavers!

hi guys and gals....hope all is well w/ everyone.

I love talking about collecting things!! I collect Lladro (thanks to my great-grandmother); Swarovski crystal (thanks to my grandmother); watches (I love me some watches!!); and pens. I have a beautiful Pelikan pen that a friend gave me and I recently acquired an older Mont Blanc that is great.

Jamie you've been missed! How are the fur babies? And your gardens?
Marion

I collect blue-and-white china, mostly plates etc that we use everyday. Cookbooks, mostly about bread baking. Kitchen stuff that I find at estate sales and can't resist. That's slowed way down since I'm out of room for it but I love the "what's this?" things. I have old Florida tourist souvenir plates like my grandmother used to collect. Turkish copper kitchen ware like gelatin molds and large platters. Can you tell I like to cook and to eat?? So much of it has come from estate sales, I feel like it's having a second life with me.

I'm always looking for something interesting to put in the garden.

Oh, and I guess I collect border collies since my sister says "one of something is unique, two is a pair, and three is a collection" and we have three.

It would be so much fun to visit each other and see what we all collect in person. Even if I'm not personally interested in it I love to see what someone else is passionate about, that does make it interesting to me.

Suzanne

Suzanne ...you are so right !
It is so much fun to see how people put things together both inside and out. We have a number of things that I display proudly in our living room that I got on " garbage eve "

So if you are ever in Jupiter.................
:) D`Ann

I collect Pitchers. My mom started the collection before I was born, but I have most of it now. I especially like big old crockery pitchers that you can see serving milk or tea out of at a country table.

I collect plant books. Books mostly on Tropical Plants, Gardens, Botany, Houseplants. Old gardening books are fun too. A few gardening mags that did spreads on Tropical Backyard Gardens.

Tropicalfreak

Hi
Both my wife and I collect junk .Recently cleaned out a closet that was so full had to pry the door open lol. 3 items were worth saving. Most should be called trash rather than junk.
Now if it's valuable we need it or it's useful we break it ,lose it or, store it where it can't be found again.
Found my granmothers crystal cake plate which crossed the prairie in a covered wagon, withstood several fires some floods and even an indian attack without damage . I managed to put two cracks in it while moving from the closet to the kitchen.lol I'm immediately giving it to the grandchildren so they can finish it off !! gary

I WOULD collect cookie jars. I think they are so cheery looking. I'd put them in a room with floor to ceiling shelves all the way around. Or teapots are darling too or salt and pepper shakers but I could see myself going overboard with that too. One or two or three is never enough for me, I have to have a bazillion.
Barb