Thrift Score!

Love my new Corningware pieces. The top piece is a fairly recently discontinued pattern called "My Garden". I liked the butterfly. I also have a thing for novel Corningware pieces. I usually sell the Cornflower Blue & Spice O Life pieces I come across. They seem to have much more of a collector fan base than Corningware in general. But I keep the cute, odd, not-quite-vintage pieces I come across, like these guys.

I love love love the bottom piece, "Strawberry Sundae". It's one of those patterns I would snap up if I ever found the matching Corelle. It came out around the same time as two of my other favorites, "Meadow" & "Wildflower". These patterns share the same non-patterned pieces, like saucers & bowls. So if I ever find plain lime band, they technically match all 3 patterns.

Pardon the non-flattering photo, but this was my single biggest one day Pyrex thrift haul! I couldn't believe it!

First I spotted the old style, unnumbered primaries. Just the two of them. Then I saw the Strawberry Sundae Corningware. Then my husband picked up the yellow hostess bowl. And I was like "GO GET A CART!!!". And my husband about set down the piece of Corningware in his hands. And I whisper-screamed "take it with you!!!!!" because my arms were already full of Pyrex and I realized that I was also seeing a 2 quart flamingo baker hiding in a basketweave holder and I couldn't even grab because my arms were so full! 

Oh my God, I was so pumped full of adrenaline. I was a 'roided out Pyrex athlete gone wild! It was all I could do to wait for hubs to get back with the cart. I set everything down, giving it a chip/damage check. Then turned around to see 4 discontinued Cinnabar Fiesta dinner plates on the shelf directly behind me!

NO. STINKING. WAY.    Pyrex, Fiesta & Corningware in the same trip? Are you kidding me?

I walked around. Rechecked the dishes isle twice more. (Can't hurt, right? Specially on a day like that!)

In the end, I paid an average of 5 dollars apiece. Not terrible, but not yard sale prices. I'm okay with it though. I didn't even realize at the time, but that's the first time in 3 years of collecting that I've even seen a flamingo baker in person. I know flamingo and lime green are considered the most common of all the colors, but all I've ever found in real life have been the lime and a Desert Dawn yellow. And I've still never seen the smaller size one in ANY color. So not common to me, I guess you'd say.

And finally, the original intent was that we were going out to a Saturday night auction. I didn't have too high hopes because neither my husband nor I saw anything in the preview that was of strong interest.

This was my one buy of the night, a 7 inch beaded edge Fire King jadeite bowl. These were sold as 3 piece sets, open stock and as 6 piece kitchen sets with jadeite shakers and a grease jar topped with a tulip litho. This is the largest bowl of the 3 piece set, but relative to other bowls it's pretty tiny. (Think a 402 Pyrex bowl). I have the matching shakers, so slowly but surely I'm working up to the complete range set.

Hope you are finding awesome thrifty scores!

Happy Hunting!

Christy Jordan's Southern Plate Magazine

I first learned of Christy Jordan when I saw her on an episode of Paula Deen, who, if you can believe it, razzed Christy about her Southern accent. (If memory serves, Christy is from Alabama).

Her recipe for Splenda Cream Cheese Pie has worked its way into regular rotation at my house. It's the jam, seriously. And one of those simple, simple recipes that is actually fantastic as opposed to just lazy. Haha.

I read her site for a while before I came across her Pyrex Hoarder post. (And she promises a Part Two in the future. I'm looking forward to it!

Oh my. Look at that kitchen.

Pyrex Friends, she's definitely one of us. Here, she tells the story of family pieces that started her love of vintage kitchen.

And on this page, she gives some tips on what to look out for. I was also glad to read her warning that many of these dishes were made before dishwashers were common in the kitchen, so hand wash these beauties if you want to keep them looking shiny and new.

And one of the things I love most is that she's a fan of it all. Not just Pyrex. The rest of the magazine features Fire King, Glasbake, Hazel Atlas, Federal, etc. It nice to see other glassware getting some attention as well.

Anyways, I just wanted to make a post about this magazine while it's currently on newsstands and easy to pick up.

Happy Thrifting!

Big box of happy

 This was my one thrift store find this week, a nifty Pyrex coffee server set with holder.

From a picture of the original box, I learned that this was called "Kaffee Klatch". It was a promo item December 1959. Check out a cool original ad here.

Next up - Pyrex! Where have you been?! :-)

Here's the story. This was purchased at a hole-in-the-wall shop just about 2 miles away from my house. I hadn't stopped there in a while because the owners were rude and crazy overpriced - a fatal combination in my opinion. The place just became junkier and crazier-looking as time went by.

But the other day hubs and I noticed that it looked cleaned up. Figured it went out of business. But there was a sign saying New Owners. So we stopped in. Pretty much the same inventory, but more orderly.

Everything here was purchased basically as a boxed lot, for a nice price that had me doing a happy dance for the rest of the day.

Oh Cornflower Blue, I don't want to collect you. But the more of you I handle, the more you set off my hoarder tendencies. Charlie Brown ARGH!!!!

The Owls Are What They Seem

 Tell me now, hoo could resist an owl family reunion? I have no. idea. where I'm going to put all these, but I have time to figure it out.....with this so awesome Owl Clock!

Oh my gosh. There are not even words to describe how special. Haha!

Poor littiest owl on the right is missing an eye, but I'll just say that it's trying to wink at me.

And it works! So happy about that. The battery chamber had corrosion, so I wasn't sure it was going to, but oh yes, I now have a snazzy owl clock that keeps time just fine. Love it!

I needed some good finds to restore my belief that good stuff is still out there for prices I can afford!

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

My day yesterday

A mix of sweet & hot banana peppers, Fiesta bowl full of salad-sized tomatoes that I didn't feel like dealing with yet, lol! My camera battery decided to die before I could photo the Tupperware strainer filled with fresh picked basil.

3 dozen (mostly hybrid varieties, but organically grown) tomatoes, washed and ready for blanching

I'm also growing a small variety of heirlooms, but they aren't close to ripe yet. I've learned the hard way that if I don't plant a fair amount of hybrids, I may not get much of a yield at all. This year has been fantastic for tomatoes so far. I've picked probably 6 dozen so far off about 15 plants.

And here's the Happy Ending picture. 4 jars of refrigerator pickled banana peppers. I threw in some nasturtiums just for color. Also to freak my mom out, who thinks eating flowers is just utterly bizarre. These are in the nifty heritage blue commemorative canning jars, which I think are just the cats pajamas :-)

3 freezer jars of Poor Man's Pesto. I call it that because I'm a cheapskate who makes it out of the regular cheap block of Parmesan cheese. I also use sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. And whatever kind of olive oil that I have. I'm not a stickler for EVOO. I'm sure I'm committing food blasphemy, but it's a perfectly tasty sin, in my opinion.

And finally, 3 quarts of crushed tomatoes. I've got it figured that a dozen reasonably large tomatoes will yield a quart of crushed tomatoes.

It's humbling to do so much work to only have 3 quart containers to show for it. Well, that and a 1 quart Tang picture full of juice that I forgot to photograph. I don't know what I'm going to do with that yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

I was glad to put so many of my favorite Pyrex bowls to good use. Having kitchen stuff you love definitely takes some of the drudgery out of housework. Also doesn't hurt when your housework tastes good! :-)

Hope you're having a Great Day!

Themed thrifting & a Completed Set

Do you ever have those days at the thrift store where everything you find either matches or has the same theme? Sometimes I think it's because items were donated from the same household. But other times it's incredibly random. Yesterday almost all my finds were from different thrift stores, but still ended up being a shade of blue.

From left to right- the heart bowl is Anchor Hocking, and I'm assuming it's from the 80's. It was 50 cents. It's one of those "I shouldn't have bought this" items, but...but....but... 50 cents. Thems yard sale prices. Plus I think the hearts are kinda cute? I see these kind of bowls from time to time and usually don't have such a hard time passing them up because the pattern is super Meh.

Excuses, excuses :-)

My husband found the mug for 39 cents - which I believe is Hazel Atlas. Unmarked, Cornflower Blue go-along pattern. There's mixing bowls in this pattern known to be Hazel Atlas - hence the attribution. My husband has eagle eyes for good mugs.

And finally, on the right, the smallest size of the 1980's-style Pyrex clear bottom bowls. 99 cents. Which means I can do this:

I think it's funny that this bowl set is getting featured so much on my blog here when less than two months ago I probably would have passed on them altogether. And how funny that they all nest, despite being from what I believe is 4 completely different bowl sets.

I'm not sure this small Cobalt is from an all-cobalt set or from a gradient blue set. At first I thought it was a primary, but I'm not sure about that either. Of the two versions I've seen pictures of, the smallest bowl varied from green to red. For some reason, it appears they changed the color order of the bowls depending on whether you bought the 3 bowl version or the 4 bowl. 

Oh Pyrex. You're so tricksy.

Next up, my not so exciting finds, a Tupperware colander/strainer in a mint blue shade. I have a few of these already but in harvest gold, so the mint color is a nice change. I use these things constantly! They are one of the most utilized, most frequently washed items in my kitchen.

I take them down to the garden with me to pick vegetables & berries, then viola, easy to rinse. And if I'm extra lazy, I'll just pop the whole thing in the fridge until I'm ready to deal with whatever I've picked.

The fridgie lid was exciting to me until I noticed how chipped it was. Frowny face. It's still a lid though, and I'd rather have a chippy lid than no lid at all. I smooth out the dangerous parts with sandpaper. There's a small 3 grit pack I buy at Target that does the trick. It's not the prettiest fix, but it makes the lids useable and washable without having to remember to avoid the chipped part.

And finally, I believe these are Depression Glass, but I've yet to look them up. I'm not sure if I'm keeping them, but they were too nice to pass up.

Have a safe & happy 4th!

Thrift, Flea & Antique Scores

Now this is outside my normal thrift stuff, but really, who could resist a Bruce Lee calender for 49 cents?! The cashier complained that calenders were supposed to be 99 cents. I thought that making a big deal out of two quarters was silly. Who knows, maybe they priced it half off because half the year is already over. Hmmphff.

Anyway. The man is a sexy beast. I'll look at him alllll year long. Haha :-)

Next up, from Bruce Lee to ......chickens???

Yep, someone obviously had the same taste in kitchen decor as I.

The ceramic items are 1980's-90's items I collect. The pattern, I've recently discovered, is called "Country Calico"  (thank you for mystery-revealing original package ebay auctions!). I have quite a wide-ranging collection - from tin recipe boxes & canisters to ceramics, tile sets, cups, etc. But these items are almost never marked. Not with a name or even a manufacturer. It's only through original packaging I've discovered the actual pattern name. When they are marked, the marks vary from JSNY  to Artmark, to the ubiquitous "Made in Taiwan" sticker.

The Pyrex bowls are antique store finds. The turquoise 402 set me back 14 dollars. In great shape, just one inch long scratch keeping it from being totally mint. I cannot, will not, and shall not pass up a turquoise (or pink!) mixing bowl I can afford. If I end up with 5 sets of each, so it is.  They are my very favorites, and the way prices are climbing, I won't be able to afford them in the future.

So hoard now while the hoarding's good, yes?

The yellow Pyrex bowl is one of the clear-bottomed 1980's-90's bowls, from the period of time that opal glass was replaced with clear. 

I haven't had much interest in them until I recently found the large two-tone pink in Goodwill, and the two-tone blue just a couple of days later.

When I saw the yellow bowl yesterday, I realized it would nest perfectly between the two I had at home, so I paid 7 bucks for it. Which I believe is a few dollars more than I paid for the other two bowls combined. 

Clear bottom Pyrex bowls. I believe all 3 of these are from different sets, but for now, they work.

Hazel Atlas Apples & Strawberries. Late 1930's Kix cereal giveaway

These were by far my best deal of the day. A flea market find for 4 dollars. One of the apples is missing a lid. I'm not terribly optimistic I'll find a replacement, but sure-as-shootin I will find one the minute I donate the bottom. It's still useable for what I had in mind for these.

I'd like to get a Fiesta utility tray/napkin holder (looks like a very shallow brownie pan). I don't actually have one of these, so I don't know how well it'd work out, but I'd like to see if one of those would hold 9 or so of these, and I could use these as individual jello containers. The tray would serve as a nice accessory to keep these guys all together in the fridge while they are setting up, I think.

Somewhere in the dark and dusty archives of this little dish blog is a post where I found my first two of these and how I said I wouldn't mind finding a whole bunch more of them. (Edit: This is where I was talking about them :-)

Well, that day came! Might have been two or three years ago, but here we are! 

Hope you are finding thrifty treats and treasures!