Garage Sale Finds

On Friday I went garage saling with Susan, a new friend who blogs at Between Naps on the Porch, and a near neighbor (near in blogging terms!). I have enjoyed reading her blog for a year or two, and last month we discovered that we live only a couple of miles from each other. We hit all the local sales we could find, which turned out to be rather meager for this time of year. But we both eventually found something we needed, or perhaps really wanted.

My find: Two china tea cups, both marked Royal Albert bone china, England. The blue one also says "Starlight"; I assume that's the name of the pattern.

Garage Sale Finds

Heather and I went garage saling again on Friday; she found lots of stuff while I found very little. But that's ok because I found some really great things earlier this spring.First I found a third glass cake plate very similar to two I already have. This one was $1. I love the three little feet on the bottom of this style of plate. I looked online and discovered that my other two plates are circa 1930, while this one is circa 1970. It is slightly lighter in weight.

More nice wood blocks for Patrick's birthday; this set was also $3. These look really fun because there are castle pieces. (There are many, many more blocks in this set; I just didn't feel like spreading them all out. This is a good representative sample of what came in the set.)

A partial box of Preen isn't very exciting, but it was FREE! I couldn't go wrong for that price.

More Vintage Dessert Sets

Today I took a break from wedding preps and went garage saling with Heather. I was so excited to find two full boxes (eight settings) of these "Homestead" glass dessert sets! I got both boxes for $10. Sadly, one box was totally trashed, so I tossed it.

Previously, I had collected 12 other sets, so that brings my total up to 20.

They were made by Federal Glass Co of Ohio. There is no zip code, so that means they were manufactured before 1963. I'm guessing they are from the 1950's. My mom and grandma both had this same pattern. I remember Mom using them once or twice when I was very young.

My favorite way to use them is for lunch, serving a fruit salad or chicken salad in the punch cup. Today we don't usually serve punch in such tiny cups.

Tour of Collections

The Charm House is hosting a "Tour of Collections" today. I thought it would be fun to show what I collect. My earliest collection was china teacups, which began when I was given several as gifts as a young girl. Later I bought a few, and then my mom gave me most of her collection. Now I have about 18 or 20.

Another collection begun early: china teapots. I don't have as many of these as I have teacups, but we use them a lot more. The Professor makes a pot of tea in one of these pots almost every day.

Here's most of my vintage sewing items in a shadow box. The wood darning egg belonged to my grandmother. I have several other collections, but no photos of:
white linens and lace
vintage hankies
vintage baby dishes

silver baby cups
souvenir plates
Christmas angels

I'm also thinking of gathering up some of my French items from our year of living in France. Perhaps I'll make a shadowbox for that too.

Adding to My Collection

I found a cute dish at the thrift store yesterday to add to my collection of children's dishes. This is a type used years ago to keep a child's meal warm. Mom added warm water inside, through one of the holes in the rim.

I can't imagine that the dish is very practical. At any moment a toddler may fling his dish from his high chair tray, smashing the ceramic dish and sending food bits flying across the kitchen. And hot water? Certainly today the child welfare crew would be in the house in an instant, demanding to inspect such a child head to toe. But the dish is still cute. More than $1.48 worth of cute.

May 2008: I spied a child's bowl very similar to this at an antique shop. It was not nearly as nice; the picture was badly worn, and it was priced at $30. A note said from the 1940's. I am very pleased with my find!

New Year's Thrifting

I felt the itch to go browse the thrift store this morning. I wasn't desperately looking for any particular thing, but I never know what helpful/needed/pretty thing I might find. The shelves were loaded! It was great. I found:Vintage books and cross stitch folders. The two books in back were on clearance for .12 and .27. How to Make Something From Nothing is a 1968 book about thrifting! The other is a wedding planning book. I plan to use them both for altered books. Prayers for a Child will be cut apart to frame the prints. The cross stitch folders were .05 each.

An adorable little wood house with vintage, chipped paint. It stands just 2" tall. I have collected houses for years, but most of them are ceramic and cookie jar-sized. This is a nice contrast. Only $1.

A sterling silver cup, just $2.08. It polished up beautifully, and, although it is not a baby cup, I have it displayed with my silver baby cup collection.

A Little More Christmas Decorating

Some additions to my Christmas decorating:

The mantel decorations change from year to year; this year I decided on red candles with greenery.

Tempting the sweet tooth; red-striped candy canes spill over a vintage glass pitcher in the kitchen.

A small portion of my angel collection brightens the dining room.

Swedish handcrafts in celebration of the "old country", the Professor's place of ancestry. I still need to purchase red tapers for the candelabras.

Christmas is Coming

I began our Christmas decorating in the dining room. A cheerful corner, white baby chair with silver and white satin pillow...

My Christmas plate collection came out of hiding in the china cabinet, to be used daily for the entire season. I have 21 plates, each a unique design. Here are three.

Stealing an idea from Maryanne (see below), I made this branch tree. Mine isn't appropriate for the dining room table because we use our table constantly, but it is a perfect fit for the bedroom dresser. A little bit of Christmas sparkle in a room I don't usually decorate at Christmas. Quick, simple, and free. What could be better?

Thrifted Glassware

Clear glass is my favorite because it all goes together and food always looks well in it. Here are a few pieces I've thrifted in the last few months. This interesting rectangular tray seems the perfect size for serving celery. I love it's scalloped top edge.

Next are two glass trays, both similar in style and size. They both have little knob feet on the bottom. Their main difference is the pattern on the top. I wonder if this style was popular for cake plates in the 40's or 50's.

I also love this small pedestal candy dish. It's simple design appeals to me. Cranberry sauce looks very nice in it.

Punch cups and footed dessert dishes, useful for all manner of things. They ranged in price from .07 to .39

My Growing Library

On my recent trips to the thrift shop I found more children's books (I keep looking for The Golden Egg Book but don't find it). Notice my growing collection of Little Golden Books; I love reading them because of the classic stories, and because they are short. I now have two copies of Prayers for Children, but not on purpose; I don't always remember what is at home! I love Eloise Wilkins' artwork of children in this book especially.

Spring Thrifting

Recently, I found a number of old patterns at garage sales and my favorite thrift :

The pattern on the left is dated 1942; the other two have no dates. My guess is the middle pattern is from the mid-50's and the right hand pattern is from the early 60's. I might make the blouse from the 1942 pattern.

Next up are two 1960's patterns. I remember having patterns similar to both of these. I made a green culotte dress in high school, maybe even with this pattern. I will probably list both of these on ebay.

Patterns form the 1970's. The top left pattern was extremely popular in its time, and now a similar dress is back in style. I think I also had the jumper pattern on the left.

What A Find!

My garage sale day wasn't going well. I drove and drove and saw very few signs. When I stopped, every sale seemed to be the same: a small collection of junk. It hardly seemed worth my time or gas to be out driving. I was discouraged and ready to go home. But I saw one more sign and I decided I might as well stop. My view from the street wasn't promising ~ I had seen too much of this today ~ a few scattered tables dribbled with a few trinkets. But once up the driveway I found this beauty. A Scandinavian handpainted tole tray. For one dollar. One dollar! My in-laws have had a similar tray hanging in their dining room for many years. I love the folk designs on theirs; now I have my own.

For My Doll Chair Collection

This tiny rocking chair came from the thrift a few weeks ago. It was completely buried in faded and crumbling dried flowers, which were glued to the seat, sprouting from the arms and back, and generally looking very ugly. I almost missed the fact that there was a rocking chair under there. After I paid my 59 cents I stood over a trash can and pulled all those flowers off. A scrubbing and a cushion gave it new life. It's just the right size for a Madame Alexander doll.