I hate to be the one to tell you.,....but they are not from 1849. And while I am not sure of the size, they look to be nappies, which were smaller and earlier than berry bowl sets. They are an example of American Pattern Glass. I don't know the pattern without some time spent with the books, but the characteristics are of glass made around the turn of the century, or possibly in the post Civil War period. I suggest they were given to the bride in 1902 as new items and the story began because the MIL who gave them was given a set of bowls by her MIL...but not that set. Pressed glass was invented in the 1830's by Deaming Jarvis and the early pieces were very different looking. I am having a little trouble picturing the time line...the grandmother who married in 02....and her mil was married in 1849? fifty years earlier? Are you sure MARRIED in 1849? Perhaps that was the year she was born? They could be from the late 1870's...there were patterns that looked similar made during that era. Any hints as to where in the US they might have been bought? They look a little like what they call "midwest glass" which was made in glass houses in Ohio and Indiana. That sound plausable? When I get time, I'll search my books and we can tell the years that pattern was made and what factory made it. Linda C

Sorry....but they are cheap, often made in Italy sometimes thinly silver plated but more often not, just made of a metal that takes being cast well. sold as "decorative" items, intended to hand in those spoon displays. Likely they are newly introduced to the jewelry store box, just for storage....or to sell them. The knife has no edge does it? And they probably were not intended to go together....just happen to be sold together.

The company that distributes Magic and Decorative Crochet is Realtime Pub. Services out of Danbury CT. I called today, and they have combined Magic and Dec. Crochet into "Crochet Monthly", and they will honor your subscriptions until they run out and they are not taking any more orders for subscriptions. I asked how come I haven't rec'd any magazine since Oct, and the lady said they would be coming out sometime this month. (Seems like Crochet Monthly is only coming out quarterly.) That's all I could get out of their customer service dept. So I really don't know if Crochet Monthly is going to be a dependable magazine or not. Here's the phone # I have for them in case anyone wants to check on their own subscriptions 203-792-4700.

I think that's so beautiful you want to make these memories for your child! Knowing my own decorating and reading the above responses I see a common thread of choosing which holidays and how to decorate coming about organically. Like your child will be making decorations in preschool, and now that you've decided you want to do this your eye will start noticing others' (inc. shops') decorations and what appeals to you. This forum has also really helped me with SUPER ideas about decorating. Like a few years ago kswl had that incredible slideshow of her home at xmas and I fell so hard head over heels ... it totally inspired my nutcrackers (for xmas). And another generous participant posted her beautiful gumdrop tree (again for xmas) which got me going in that candy direction, and I'll tell you I RAN with it! I don't even like (to eat) candy yet I've found it the most magical, perfect way of decorating the trees. Thank you GW! So we're multiethnic (I'm 1/2 Jewish, 1/2 WASP and my partner is 100% Shinto Buddhist Japanese) and we have fun with it. I love love love our Hanukkah waterglobe collection and growing collection of dreidels. I love all the koinobori (carp windsocks) we have for Children's Day (May 5th). I find that for many holidays my decorating effort extends to color-appropriate candies in the living room -- like red & silver kisses for Valentine's, pastel pastilles for Easter. I am NOT a jingoist but I do love red white & blue bunting on the 4th ... on other people's houses. I'm not that motivated, I guess, although this year we did line our front walk with stars and stripes pinwheels. That was fun and made me really part of our sweet little town's festivities. We have Japanese lanterns up in the backyard so they're already handy for Obondori (another Japanese celebration honoring your ancestors), and then because I am a wannabe Mexican I have tons of fun with Halloween and my calaveras / catrinas. My 6 y.o. is *delighted* with the enormous fuzzy tarantula we affix to the outside of his window each year -- the kids love it. This year I went bananas at Target and purchased a string of jack o lantern lights and put them in a tree, and then a cobweb made of orange lights which we plastered on the living room window. I'm not sure who loved all this new stuff more: my 6 y.o. or me. (me)