Feeling Blue

I spent a couple of hours today running around gathering items to assemble my girls' homemade Halloween costumes. But it wasn't all work and no play as I was able to sneak in a little treasure hunting for myself, too. And remember how I was on a Harkerware tear the last couple of weeks? Well, I didn't find any Harkerware today but I did uncover some more blue and white china to add to my collection.

I wouldn't say I actively collect this pattern shown below, but when it falls into my lap I usually pick it up. I don't even know the name or maker, but I do know it is classic and elegant and very pretty. My mother gave me her collection of dinner plates, some cups and saucers, and a couple of serving bowls long ago but I don't think she had any other pieces.

A few years ago, the bowls were lost in a sad accident. But I have also been able to slowly add to my remaining collection: a few bread and butter plates, and a beautiful gravy bowl. 

And today, I spied this coffee pot:

It's hard to know for absolute sure, but I think this is the same pattern. I know there are a few out there with blues that are ever so slightly different. But this seems a pretty good match.

My blue streak didn't end after this find. I also found a couple more pieces to add to my collection of turquoise and white mid-century pieces.

Here is a pair of salt and pepper shakers, aren't they cute?

And at the same shop, I spotted four matching cups.

I have a few pieces of this pattern: a small pitcher, a larger pitcher, and maybe a couple of other things that I am forgetting. My husband is not going to like it if I start getting hungry for more! For some silly reason, he feels that I have enough china already.

But how can I resist?

I just got a bad case of the blues.

A Plethora of Plates

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long! I've been missing this blog an awful lot. It's one of my creative outlets and when I wasn't able to check in on it, I was definitely out of sorts. I'm rather embarrassed to confess this, but I'm not the most tech-savvy person and for reasons I'm unable to determine, I've been unable to create a new post. So glad I got a bee up my bonnet and tried again today one last time before giving up for good. And today was a good time to try because I have some fresh new finds to share.

I was able to pop into two shops today and in the first one I found a small stash of vintage grey Harkerware plates in the Chesterton Grey pattern.

I'm feeling like this is my pattern du jour because when I was briefly in Philadelphia earlier this month, I found the matching salt and pepper shakers....however, sadly, I left them in my friend's car. We shall judge just how good a friend she is by seeing how long it takes before she sends them back to me! HINT, HINT!

In addition to the salt and pepper shakers, I already had the gravy boat in this color. I also have a number of pieces of Harkerware in a very similar deep teal green pattern called Corinthian, which I absolutely love, but I'm really digging this rich dove grey right now!

Speaking of Harkerware, my friend Lynn came up my way over the summer and brought me quite literally a trunkload of Harkerware! Her generosity astounds me, what a lovely gift and I will treasure these pieces. As I believe I've mentioned on the blog before, my collection began so modestly and unexpectedly when I inherited an old Cameoware bowl from my mother, who inherited it from her mother. It used to sit on our dining room table and quite frankly, I didn't think too much of it when I was younger! I felt it had seen better days and indeed it has. Ironically, it is the bowl's "well-loved" appearance that warms my heart now, and I began to pick up a piece here and there in antique stores. This was before I cut out the middle man and began to hunt for these things in thrift stores. Over the years, I collected maybe ten pieces. And then I met Lynn! She has her own interesting story of how she ended up with a basement full of Harkerware, but suffice it to say, she is generous and thoughtful and when she found out how much I love Harkerware, she passed along the bulk of her collection to me. Here is a just a sample of what she gave me this summer--get a load of that awesome deco canister!

But back to today, when the china gods were smiling on me and I also found a couple of other pieces from patterns I collect. Here is a slightly worn plate in the Mar-Crest Daisy Dot pattern. I have many service pieces in this pattern but have never come across a plate before. The store actually had two, but the other one was even more tired looking and had a large repaired crack. This one will be fine for display behind some of my other pieces to fill out my collection.

And this platter might look somewhat familiar to my long time followers. I have bushels of this Taylor Smith Taylor pattern (beautifully named Ever Yours Boutonniere) in the turquoise color way, and actually never knew it came in the less common yellow as well until a couple of years ago when I found a couple of small bowls. The yellow pattern is called "Golden Button." I wavered on whether I should bring this home, but my son decided he really liked it and said I should so I did. I am pretty easy to convince!

And that about wraps it up for today. I will try to jump back in and get you caught up on some of the wonderful finds I've collected over the summer. Until then, happy hunting!

Nothing Beats a New Thrifting Buddy

I'd have to say most of my friends just don't get my "thing" for vintage. In fact, I'd go so far as to say most of my friends probably whisper behind my back about my thing for vintage! But then I have those precious friends who not only get it, but they share my great love for it.

I'm lucky that I have several dear friends who totally get it and love to go on treasure hunting trips with me. Unfortunately, most of these friends live back in my old neck of the woods so getting together isn't quite as easy or frequent as it once was. Which makes finding a new thrifting pal a thing to celebrate! Over lunch last month, my friend Elizabeth expressed an interest in tagging along with me sometime, and I jumped at the chance to show her the ropes. I think our day long excursion was a success--we both found some cool things--and I hope this was just the first of many outings that we can share.

But on to the finds! First up is a large oval platter in the Ever Yours Boutonniere pattern by Taylor Smith Taylor to add to my Ever-Growing collection. I love, love, love this pattern and especially adore this platter. I had this platter once upon a time but it was crushed by our movers (insert tears). I try not to shed too many tears when disaster strikes because I always have hope that I will find another, and although it took three and a half years, I did.

Here is another find that will go on immediate display:

In case you don't recognize it, it is a Marcrest Daisy Dot lidded crock. I have several of these, in varying sizes. I just love the warm brown glaze.

It must have been a good day for china finds, because I also scored a gorgeous blue and white Harkerware gravy boat in the beautiful Chesterton pattern.

Among my other finds were a cartful of vintage books, some of which are tagged for use in an exciting project that I will be working on soon, some for my kids, and even a couple for me. And this cute little storage container that I can use to organize smaller pieces of jewelry for my Etsy shop. It is always nice when I can repurpose things to use for my shop rather than buying new.

But quite possibly the best find of the day was my new thrifting buddy! :)

A Tiny Haul

"Haul" is a little bit of an overstatement, I admit, even when prefaced by the word "tiny." But I did score a few things over the holiday weekend that I thought I'd share.

You know I'm always on the lookout for pieces from the several vintage china patterns I collect. It seems to be getting harder and harder to find any--the china shelves are usually a shadow of what they once were! But I was lucky enough to spy these coffee cups in the Dixie Dogwood pattern by Joni. They were missing their saucers, unfortunately, but I picked them up anyway.

If you remember, last fall I excitedly reported that I found a gravy boat in this same pattern. At the time I posted, I thought that it was my only Dixie Dogwood gravy boat. As it turns out, I did already have one, but one good gravy boat deserves another and well, let's just be upfront about it and admit that now I have three Dixie Dogwood gravy boats. And no, I don't know why anyone would need three, but I do know there is no way I could have left it on the shelf!

Something else I've been looking for turned up this weekend. A couple of years ago, I found a beautiful glass punch bowl. Not the usual overdone and fussy style, but a clean-lined and simple punch bowl with a gorgeous glass ladle and 12 matching cups. I've always wanted to find a few more cups to match, but had yet to spot even one. Again, patience pays off, because I found four additional cups this weekend, and of course, into the cart they went.

One more vintage treasure that caught my eye was this covered aluminum cake pan. Now, I have two vintage covered aluminum cake plates, and I use them often, but a vintage covered cake pan is something that I've been wanting to add to my collection. This one was perfect, a nice smaller size and in pretty good shape with no dings.

My favorite part was the manufacturer's mark, I just love this script!

Last but not least, I picked up this not-so-vintage puzzle--and not a moment too soon! The next day it snowed and I enjoyed a lazy afternoon with my sweet children putting this together. Well, almost together...that sky is a killer!