Community Sale

It's that time of year again for a community-wide sale I look forward to all year. The hubs and I have gone for at least the last 5 years running, but only last year did we buy the preview tickets that scored me one of the most exhilarating one day hauls I've ever found.

I was worried this year's sale couldn't possibly live up to the expectations I was trying not not to have. But happily I found some super great stuff!

Friendship lasagna pan for 2 bucks! Yes please! I'm half ashamed to admit this is my 3 one of this piece. (Does it make it less bad that I paid a lot for the two I had already?) And I have to tell this story here because I think it's so cute (and frightening to me at the same time).

Two years running, my husband has gone off in a slightly different direction than me, and both years he had his hands full of Corningware when he was standing right in front of awesome Pyrex I wanted and he just completely didn't see it. Last year it was two pink gooseberry round casseroles and this year it was this lasagna pan.

I had the buggy, and when I came around the corner, I saw my husband loaded down with Corningware in his hands, and directly in front of him on the table was this dish. And right smack in between us were two adorably cute Millennial kids that looked like what I think of as the quintessential young Pyrex collectors. I literally almost shoved into them with my cart, because I am that insane person who could, in court, plead temporary insanity for Pyrex.

Out of the way Millennials!

I have officially declared my husband to be "distracted by Corningware". When I tell him this, he gives me the most sad, guilty, tried-my-best expression and I feel like I am scolding a puppy. My life, I tell you what.

Lids that are like gold! Space saver lid for two dollars, two large refrigerator dish lids and one medium for another two bucks, and 4 dollars for the Spring Blossom large oval casserole.

Toy finds. Small bundle of Fisher Price Little People for two bucks and an old tin toy house trailer for a buck. (I later found a car that may or may not be the right one for it that didn't make its way into this photo session. So yay for making a 'set'!)

My husband picked these up. No idea why. Just thought it was precious that he wanted little elephant salt and pepper shakers. Love.

Then finally on the way home I stopped in Goodwill and found the McKee sailboat measuring cup for $1.99. Just when I completely give up on GW, I find one awesome thing that just keeps me coming back for more. In truth, I probably benefit most from all the other pickers in town being somewhere else! Had to take a picture of it with my only other ships piece.

I'm very pleased with what I found. By all in all, things have definitely seemed to change. Prices are creeping up for just basic things, like lids. There was more Pyrex at this sale, but it made its way into other peoples carts before I ever saw it. There seemed to be far fewer vintage items, more new stuff. In a way, I was glad I don't collect as broad a variety of vintage stuff, because items like lunch boxes and thermoses were priced at full antique store level.

These days, I feel like everyone I see is a picker of some type. Some faces I recognize after years of seeing them around once in a while but not connecting the dots. Lots of folks seem to show up for these sales only to sell their wares in a yard sale at antique store prices. Which is why I'm not wild about yard saleing around my area.

I'm not kidding when I say that around where I live, you can often find a better deal in a nicely staged, air conditioned antique store than you can a yard sale or flea market. The store dealers (at least, SOME of them) seem to want to move items, keep their booth rent paid, when lots of the yard sale folks seem content to put a ridiculous high price tag on their items and move them around from yard sale to yard sale, never selling them. I've seen Pyrex bowl sets at the same yearly yardsale with the same taped on price tag for at least the last three years running. It beats me why people are like that.

But then again, with prices rising like they have, maybe eventually that will be what passes for a fair price. Ugh!

All in all, I'm happy with what I found. Even if it didn't quite live up to the hype of last years craziness, it sure did let me down gently. Lol!

Hope you are finding fantabulous treasures where you are!

Happy Thrifting!

It's a sickness

You know it's a sickness when you like something so much you just keep buying it again and again. That's how I felt when I bought home these canisters from one of my favorite local antique stores.

Coffee here has seen better days, and the sugar canister is missing altogether. I already have the complete set of these as far as I know - which is flour, sugar, coffee, tea, and a cookie canister the same size as this largest-sized flour canister. I've never seen any sign of anything else, like spices, salt, pepper or a grease jar. But who knows, they could still be out there. Anything is possible!

I've also picked up one lone tea canister in this turquoise color that has silver lettering. In person, I've seen (and have) white lettering & silver lettering. But in pictures I've seen gold as well as black. And as far as colors, I personally have pink, turquoise, white and pale butter yellow. I also had an avocado color once upon a time. In pictures I've seen what appears to be bright yellow and red colorways.

I seem to have luck finding these unmarked canisters. Must have been local favorites. I've learned from the fabulous blog Farmgirlpink.blogspot.com that these canisters are Stanley Home Products. Always great to solve a vintage dish mystery!

I picked up these two Glasbake pieces the other day. I adore the bird pattern. I'd only ever seen in on blogs before now. I suspect this pattern was only available as bakeware. I've never seen any evidence of mixing bowls. I think - but don't know for sure - that several Glasbake patterns were only sold as a box set of bakeware with different variations on what all came with. I think this particular pattern might have come with glass mugs.

I wish Glasbake held up as well as Pyrex. Some of the patterns are really great. I just don't think the glass itself has survived the years with nearly the prolificness of Pyrex.

And finally, a couple more thrift store treasures. You can never have too many refrigerator dish lids. It had a chip I smoothed out with super fine grit sandpaper. I also picked  up this small round Horizon Blue casserole. It was 6 dollars at the thrift, a price I was so not thrilled about paying.

And after I washed it up and put it in my daily users cabinet, I noticed I could make this little configuration here.

It's like a fantasy primary set! The colors of course are a bit off from the original primary bowls, but I couldn't resist putting them together. From top to bottom here are Horizon Blue, Friendship, and Daisy, just in case you are like me and get confused about the solid color pieces.

Well, that's all for now.

Hope you're junk runs have been productive and cool!

Happy Thrifting!

The Pioneer Woman Jadeite Cake Stand: Discontinued version versus Timeless Beauty redesign

On a lark, I decided to check ebay for how much the discontinued Pioneer Woman jadeite cake stands were selling for. Originally, when I bought mine, these were just shy of 20 dollars in the store, but since they were discontinued so quickly, it seemed to start a buying frenzy on ebay for them, and last time I had checked, there were several sold between $120-150 dollars.

Back when they came out, I bought all 4 they had in the store at the time, with the intention of keeping two for myself and giving one each to my mom and mother-in-law for Christmas gifts. But when I opened them up and checked them, one of them was cracked. I returned that one and gave one to my mom.

I went to another Walmart within the week and found one in good condition (I checked before I even got out of the store) to replace the one I'd returned, only to be denied purchase at the register.

That was frustrating. I don't know why they wouldn't let me buy it. The register just wouldn't allow the item to be purchased.

I kept tabs on that page of their site, as well as their facebook page, curious about what happened and when/if they'd get more in. Many customers posted reviews and complaints similar to mine, such as cracks or places where the glass was glued badly. The packing material was pretty scant and it seemed like many were arriving to the store already broken.

Walmart posted on their facebook page that the item was discontinued and a redesigned version would be available in the Spring.

So when I randomly checked a couple of days ago on ebay, I noticed there was a new version. I looked it up on the Walmart dot com site and they have it for sale, only now it is 10 dollars more and a bit different.

Here are the boxes side by side:

The box is slightly taller. Inside is much, much better packing materials. Styrofoam in between the two pieces and all the way around it, unlike the original version which just had cushioning in between the pieces and on the top and bottom of the box. I'd actually trust this new one to survive shipping. I don't think you could buy the original one online and have it shipped from the site? I don't remember now. It might have just sold out online before I could get one.

But as for the actual cake stand, mine is a darker green. On the box itself, I noticed they've changed from calling it Jadeite to Timeless Beauty. No mention of jadeite whatsoever on this new one. My husband, who likes to surprise me by remembering random facts I've read in glassware books, immediately said "looks like Skokie green", which is a darker shade of jadite produced in the 1930's by McKee glass, rather than the more famous shade popularized by Anchor Hocking's Fire King line.

In general, I think the redesign is nice. The top of the dome is much, much easier to lift, and just had a nicer, more stable grip overall.

On the negative side, this one has the glumped-up glue that other folks seemed to have issues with on the earlier version. I was not happy with the difference in color. In general, it's fine, it just stands out. If you're looking for a match to your vintage Fire King, this may not do it for you. Or mine may be unusually dark, I'm not sure? My store only had one out, and the way the shelf was set did not seem to allow for more than one to even be out at a time. So if you're looking for one, I'd flag down an employee and ask if there are more on hand. Or skip the store altogether and order online.

I also wasn't thrilled this one is ten dollars more for essentially the same piece. It's still much cheaper than other jadeite stands that don't even come with a dome. And I really love the dome redesign. In fact, if I could, I'd buy the dome alone to pair with a cake stand that didn't come with one.

Generally, it's the same weight (light) and quality of the original piece, only now it's packaged better and has a nicer dome. The change in price and color is what I personally was disappointed with. I'd love to see more jadeite items in the Pioneer Woman line, but I'd much, much prefer the lighter color that blends with the vintage jadeite I collect.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Birthday Loot

So we went out shopping on the day of my birthday. I was completely happy with the pink Ripple Hazel Atlas dishes I'd just gotten, so I was going to be content if I didn't find another thing. But instead, I found a piece of Blue Barcode Pyrex that I didn't have ( this is the 474 from the graduated sizes 480 set), a duplicate Fire King Stripes shaker (just the one), and an awesome piece of labware that I've only seen in someone's blog when I first started looking for Pyrex and other vintage kitchenwares.

Had to take a picture of it with my other two decorated labware pieces. They are so small and sweet.

And how the world loves to laugh at you sometimes. After paying $ for a Verde baker for my collection, I find this one for $18.50. I bought it. So now I have two of a piece that - if I was being perfectly honest about - I only bought to make "the stack" of all of them. (Assuming I ever find the Butterfly Gold and Rust colored ones in the wild).

And finally, I finished my set of Spring Blossom refrigerator dishes. Can't believe it's take this long to do! I know this pattern is common, it's just that certain pieces have eluded me the entire time I've collected. I've never seen a Big Bertha (a 664) or any of the cute glassware pitchers and carafes, despite the fact that I think half all American households had the entire massive run of either Spring Blossom or Butterfly Gold at some point or another.

So that's all for my birthday loot. I still have some yard sale and thrift finds for another post! Love this time of year!

Hope you're finding awesome stuff!

Happy Thrifting!

Happy Birthday to me and Friendship set complete(ish)

My birthday is tomorrow, but my husband and I got out and shopped a little today. In the last little shop we stopped in (but don't usually find stuff in) this pretty pink set was just waiting for me.

What an awesome little set! This really beefs up my pink ripple collection. And the lady I bought them from had seen what they sell for on ebay, and scoffed at the ridiculous prices, and priced this set much more reasonably. I told her my birthday was tomorrow and that I was thrilled to have this as my present! Really nice antique dealers really do exist!

I rearranged my cabinet and moved my shakers and grease jars to another shelf. So this is what my cabinet looks like now.

Even though this guy is no longer shiny, I was glad to pick him up from another antique store today. My Friendship Pyrex has been really slow to piece together. I still have issues with finding the decorated opal lids on some pieces and replacing others that aren't in the best shape, but I'm happy I'm just one piece away from the whole collection.

In fact, when I started gathering pieces for this group photo, I thought this orange bowl had finished my set until I remembered there's also a decorated promotional piece with underplate that I do not have. So for now my set is complete(ish) and I'll add more when I'm lucky enough to find a new piece. The 503 refrigerator dish is also new, an early present from my husband who bought online. Thanks, honey!

And I've still got tomorrow to shop. I really don't have any money left after today, but I can enjoy the eye candy, right?

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!