Tragedies

My only Fire King Tulip teacup is no more. And the Cosmo (?) below it had a nice, big chunk out of it. I have several of the Cosmo, so it's not as sad to me as the Tulip, being as it was my only one.


Self, do not move breakable things around before you've had coffee. Lesson learned.

And this loverly Pyrex Friendship 473 casserole is anything but a tragedy. But the price kinda was.


It cost 18 dollars + tax. I think that's too much money, but I never see Friendship around here. Case in point, I saw this exact casserole complete with the same opal decorated lid for sale about two years ago. I scoffed at the $16.99 price tag and walked away. Next time I was there it was gone, and I haven't seen another one since.

Strangely, when it comes to Friendship, the only things I've seen enough to consider halfway common is the Cinderella bowl set. I've almost completed two sets of them, without really even meaning to. But I can't come across the regular bowl set to save my life.

Both Friendship & Horizon Blue are two really good candidates for buying online (hint hint, hubbie :-)



Happy Thrifting!

I accidentally stopped at the thrift store

And what did I find? Why, it's more stuff for me to buy! (always the way it is when you need to NOT be spending money)

I audibly said "No way" when I saw this Bromwell sifter. The paint is in really nice shape, but it was truly filthy when I first got home with it. This picture was taken after a bath, but it still has ancient flour clumps in every tiny cranny that need some extra attention.

Still, it cleaned up well, and I was happy to have it for $2.99.

Oh my gosh, look at this kitty bank! Just look at it. Who could resist a green kitty with morning glories (?) on its belly? Not I! And for 99 cents, no less!

Some of the other items I bought include my third(!) mint-blue-totally-80's Tupperware sifter (and despite how much I use these, I think I need to evaluate just how many of these suckers I need in my kitchen).

Inside the sifter is "Heartland" flatware made by International China. Another totally 80's pattern. I have a ton of pieces, but not silverware. These are still in individual bags, unused. Just spoons and knives though- no forks- so I've got my fingers crossed I'll find some forks to go with them.

Heartland is one of those patterns I was very reluctant to embrace collecting for a long time. It must have been a local favorite though, because I've seen many groupings & complete sets for sale over the years, and I've picked up tons of individual pieces along the way. Now I've got all I want in the more common pieces and it's the oddities I'm looking for. Unfortunately, when I see a  good serving piece I don't have, often times they won't sell it by itself. They made a ridiculous amount of go-alongs as well, including matching small appliances & tables linens.

Hope you are finding thrifty treats & tasty treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Introducing the Pyrex Mini

Woo-hoo! Pyrex!

I never cease to be amazed when I find Pyrex at the thrift store. Even more amazing when it's pieces I don't have already.

The little 080 has seen the inside of a dishwasher. But amazement of amazement, it came with a lid. 2 dollars - a price I could live with.

The other two pieces took the rest of a ten dollar bill. Literally, my husband and I pooled together our last available cash -right down to the last penny in my change bag - to pay for my goodies.

(Don't fret, it's not all our money. It's just all our "fun money". So, for another week, I'm fresh out of "fun", lol!)

This plastic tray is marked Biodrak, Made in Greece. I'm ashamed to say I don't know what kind of flowers are on it (Gladiolus, perhaps?). It's dark in the picture but in better light there's something very 1970's Polaroid about it. It's getting added to my storage rack of "I probably shouldn't have bought this but it was cute/weird/otherwise couldn't pass it up oddities and strangeities. (I think I just made that last word up)

Oh, and speaking of making things up, I've got another one. I love the little Pyrex 080's (like the pink one pictured above). They just don't have a cute name to go with their cuteness. The individual oval casseroles are called "pixies". Shouldn't the round individual casseroles have a similarly appropriate designation?

Well, since 080's are a miniature version of 023's & 024's, I think I'll call them "minis". Pixies & Minis. That sounds good to me. Spread the word if you agree.  ;-)

Hope you're having a great week!

Happy Thrifting!

Fun Friday finds!

My husband's schedule has been upside down and inside out lately (mostly for unpleasant reasons I won't go into here). But on the bright side, since we've been working hard, we played even harder! We managed to go to almost all of our every-once-in-a-while antique and flea market spots all in one day.

And since he was off on a Friday, we got to hit some yard sales. I was sooo excited - I almost never get to go to yardsales! At one, I was followed around by a very affectionate kitty that took an instant liking to me. She was so little and sweet & reminded me of my sweet kitties when they were babies. <3 br="">

I was pleased with my finds. It's not a lot of stuff, but I really like what I found. And I only spent a couple of dollars.

The watermelon mouse is a bank I paid a quarter for. So cute!

The ornaments are 70's-ish unbreakable plastic. Wish they were more like the mega-fragile 50's diorama style that I literally never ever see around here. Oh well, still cute & they'll look cute on the tree.

And the salt/pepper/sugar set was too darling for 2 bucks. I have an unintentional vignette of vintage red items inside my Hoosier-style cabinet and this set fits right in.

Our next stop was a flea market antique trading post. Last time we were there, I scored my fantastic Hazel Atlas turquoise Ripple set. And this time - Another set I collect!

These are Anchor Hocking Lotus snack sets. The material they're made from is glass, but it's so thick and beige-y that it tends to look ceramic. I've never seen original packaging for these, so I can only assume that like most snack sets, they were sold in sets of 4 - a bowl and snack place each in blue, green, yellow & pink (that also photographs as a peach color, but I believe there's just the one shade in the set).

These were also available in Jadeite & Forest Green. And a couple of odd ducks - a somewhat different mold shape was available in a Peach Lustre/Copper Tint set and a single Azurite bowl (a very, very pale blue that photographs white or grey-ish) - which I'm guessing was a giveaway that would explain its lack of matching plate.

(It's amazing how much vintage glassware once contained a cheese product of some sort. Cottage cheese, pimento cheese. And if it wasn't cheese, it was peanut butter. People sure did love some cheese, peanut butter & free glassware. lol!)

And finally, this was my anxiety purchase. I say anxiety because basically anything over around 20-25 bucks causes me to hem & haw like it was my job. I tried bargaining over this piece because of a hairline crack at the top, on the bridge part that I guess would technically be considered the 'ice lip'.

It was marked Grey pitcher. I knew it wasn't grey when I saw it, because it was..........Celedon!

This vintage Fiesta juice pitcher in Celedon is an odd piece that doesn't pop too terribly often. This lady here is a true fiesta fanatic, and she does a great job chronicling the story of the various promotional juice sets produced by Homer Laughlin China over the years.

I got it for a good price that took the damage in to account. It's currently displayed with my very, very, very damaged Medium Green disc pitcher that was a 15 dollar flea market find. Me & my scratch-and-dent Fiesta treasures. I don't mind the damage, really, so they've found a good home here with me.

Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

Happy Thrifting!

Thrift & Antique Sunday

Today was another one of those days at the thrift where I bought very little, but love everything I got. Two Corningware handles - one of them for a petite pan, yay!

The cobalt mug is brand new, made by Anchor Hocking. I have several of these in clear and they are absolutely my favorite coffee mug I've ever had, so I was glad to pick up this one for 99 cents.

And finally, my two antique store finds for the day - a Friendship red 024 round casserole, and an orange 502 medium fridgie dish from the solid color version of Town & Country.

I couldn't resist doing a color line-up. I think the only color I'm missing in solid colored 502's is Old Orchard brown.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Happy Thrifting!

Tiny Treasures

Here's my whole dollar's worth of thrifting this week.

This glass is so awesome. I really, really wish I had found more! It's part of pattern called Swiss Alpine/Swiss Chalet made by Marcrest/Stetson China. There is also this matching glassware as well as matching Fire King ovenware.

I've come across a mixing bowl in this pattern, just once, in an antique store, for a price a tad bit more than I was willing to pay. I think it was 18 dollars? I hemmed and hawed over it, finally leaving it behind.

Had I had this one little glass though when I had seem that mixing bowl, it probably would have come home with me. I've told my husband on more than one occasion when I've found something cool for cheap that "this is the 50 cents that will cause me to spend 50 dollars". And that's ended up being pretty close to the truth on several occasions.

And this little bear is half of a salt & pepper set. It's holding a turquoise fish flung over his shoulder. Who buys half a salt & pepper set....why THIS GIRL, of course. Add it to my half collection of salts & peppers. Or would that be my collection of half salts & peppers?

Oh, whatever it is is, it's ridiculous of me. Trouble is, my brain can't figure a difference between half a salt & pepper set and one little figurine. So if it's cute (and probably 49 cents), it's probably coming home with me. It can keep company to half a Holt Howard set & half a Lefton China set that I couldn't pass up either.

Thanks, brain. Thanks for those snazzy 'justification' genes. lol!

Have a great weekend, folks!

Happy Thrifting!

Surprise antiquing

This time yesterday I didn't even know the hubs and I were going to go anywhere today, much less to one of our favorite antique haunts that we normally don't visit but maybe twice a year.

There was definitely less Pyrex than in recent years. And it's pretty much been replaced by Corningware. And I'm a fan of Corningware for sure, it's just that on the whole, I'd rather be finding cool Pyrex pieces.

As you can see, two little petite pans found their way home with me. A mid 80's to 90's pattern, aptly named "Pastel Bouquet". At two dollars apiece, that's more what I consider thrift store prices than antique, so they're coming home with me.

The Pyrex bowl set, Woodland pattern, I couldn't pass up. It's really minty and was 20 bucks. Not a great price, but way cheaper than most Pyrex I was seeing. Woodland makes me want to mix up a batch of brownies or chocolate chip cookies. Maybe I like the pattern cause it makes me hungry? :-)

The two pieces of Butterprint made me happy. They came out of a 40% off booth, and I got them for less than 10 bucks total. No lid on the fridgie. The little round 471 is from the solid Butterprint set that is all turquoise on white. I'm still missing most of these somewhat less common versions. I saw the all turquoise on white cinderella bowl set today for an up-chucking price of $120 dollars and to add insult to injury, the largest bowl was chipped. Crazy dealers!

My Best Deal of the day was the Hazel Atlas Ripple plates. 5 of them for 15 bucks! WHOO-HOO!
For the longest, longest time I've had nothing but 1 pink plate and two pink saucers. Then I found the turquoise set, a minty service for 6, all in one fell swoop. Now I have 6 pink plates. Really cool. Love them all so much!

Here's my Fire King Stripes collection so far. I'm missing the larger two bowls - the matching pink & blue. So far, I've found everything fairly affordably, it's just very rare that I find Fire King at all these days. And it's pricey when I do.

And finally, I've had this oval casserole for a few months, but I didn't have the lid. I forked out 6 bucks, just for it. I felt like a shmuck, but at the same time, I know I would have been willing to buy the piece complete for the same amount I paid buying them separate. I saw a few Pyrex lids I would have been happy to have today, but they were all priced at 8-10 dollars each. I'll take my chances that I'll find a piece with a lid for not much more than that.

I was very pleased to get out of the house and get to the antique stores I don't get to go much. It was a nice surprise day out.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend!

Happy Treasure Hunting!