Monday, August 22, 2016

Before and After Silver Haul


I had a meeting in a town about an hour and a
quarter away from my house earlier this week
and on the way home I stopped at a thrift shop
for a look around and found a pile of old silver.
I imagine a family emptied out someone's home
and sent it all to the thrift shop.  Probably many
of these pieces were wedding gifts back when
people got silver for their weddings.  There were
so many cool pieces, a huge circular tray that
must have been 2' across, coffee pots, creamers,
footed water pitchers...  and I didn't buy anything.
NOT ONE THING!  I thought, oh, you have so
much already, where will you put it?

And then I regretted it.  I thought about it all
week.  I really wanted the huge tray.


This was our wedding anniversary weekend and we
were out of state all day on Saturday so I made a deal
with Mr. Wonderful.  I said if we got up early on Sunday
 and got all of our outdoor chores done, could we head
back down south and see if any silver was left?  He was
up for it and off we went.  Of course many of the good
pieces were gone, including the huge tray.  But I did
pick up 10 pieces.  And I got it all for $20 which is the
weekend limit I usually set for myself.  So it was a score!

I polished it all as I was watching the final Lewis on
Masterpiece and now it is all packed away in the china
closet.  I think we will have a silver themed Thanksgiving
and Christmas this year!

Sunday, August 7, 2016

World's Longest Garage Sale ~ Underwood Typewriter


Went out for a Sunday drive and hopped on the World's
 Longest Garage Sale route for a while and scored a vintage 
Underwood typewriter for $10. I have been looking for one to 
go with the "brush with fame" secretary desk and Bank of 
England desk chair that was another score! All with be photographed 
together once we take over a kid room as our new office/library. 
Wonderful wants to know if Underwoods are more collectible 
after House of Cards?


Saturday, May 21, 2016

Silver Haul!


It's that time of year when the garage sales start up and 
I'm always ready to go treasure hunting.  A church near 
my house was having a rummage sale and I stopped in to
look around.  I saw this bag of silverware marked $5.


The first thing I noticed was this server that was
sitting on top of all the other items.  I thought the
rest of the bag was probably filled with assorted
forks, knives and spoons but I was interested in the
server.  In an antique store this item alone would 
probably cost at least $15 so I figured $5 was a 
good deal.


When I got to the car I looked in the bag and laughed.
I guess someone else likes butter knives as much as
I do!  I use butter knives often and not just for butter,
when I serve triple cream brie or other soft cheeses
or dips, I like to give each person their own knife.
When I was a little girl I always liked to use the butter
knife from my Mum's silver set ~ it just made the meal
more special.

While watching a movie this afternoon I got them all
polished and looking beautiful.


They are mostly silverplate but I did find some 
sterling.  There are even a few that match
 ~ not that that matters...


I love the little shields on this set of 6, perhaps I
should have them engraved with our initial.


These two will go to someone I know with the
initial B.


There was even one M ~ made just for us!









Friday, May 6, 2016

Mid-Century Atomic Snowflake


While I was out treasure hunting recently, I came
across this Mid-Century Meat Platter by Inland Glass.
I took a photo and sent it to Kate saying, "too bad you 
are a vegetarian, this would have been perfect for you."
She asked, "would I have to use it for meat?"  I figured,
no, you could serve anything on it so I got it for her.
This is not just a perfect find because she likes this sort
of style but also if you notice the edging is in black and
gold and Kate is a proud Purdue graduate and those
Boilmakers are wild about their school colors.  This
pattern is known as the Atomic Snowflake which I
find wildly amusing.  It is so Mid-Century.  I'm (luckily)
too young to have had A Bomb drills in my childhood
classrooms, we only had firedrills.  But I remember my
siblings talking about air raid drills where they were 
told to get under their desks.  Ah ~ the good old days!


It also came with a stand so you could keep your
dinner warm with candles under the platter.  I guess
it's good Kate is a vegetarian since our modern tea 
light candles don't fit...


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Spool Cabinet


A few years ago Mr. Wonderful and I were strolling
through an antique store, which is what you will find
us doing most weekends, and we came upon this lovely
spool cabinet.  I love these things and this one was in
good shape and the price was reasonable.  I told Mr.
Wonderful that I had always wanted one and he said
since my birthday was coming up soon we should get it!
I didn't argue with this.


As luck would have it I was at Me Time that week and 
a couple was visiting the shop from Florida, they had
a tin of old spools of thread and wondered if anyone
could use them, the owner of the shop pointed to me.
Wow!  What a lucky coincidence since most of the 
spools in the tin were the small size that I needed to
fill my cabinet.

I look at it every day and love it!


Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Snippy: Vintage Electric Scissors

A Blast From My Past!


I went to lunch with my sister Trishie today and we were
talking about some old stuff in our lives and she mentioned
Snippy.  I hadn't seen Snippy in decades.  Snippy is an
electric pair of scissors that was sold as a safe alternative
to regular scissors though the thought of little kids with 
electrical appliances can be a bit unsafe in my mind.


Trishie says Snippy is probably from the late 1950's, so 
before my time.  I know I inherited Snippy sometime 
in my childhood and I loved him.  He is cute as the 
dickens and I loved using him when I was little.  The
best part is, though Snippy is going on 60 years old,
he still works!  They don't make 'em like they used to!

Snippy will now be displayed in my studio with my old toys.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Dutch Treat!

Lessons Learned


I found this adorable spice rack when I was out
treasure hunting on Saturday and I didn't buy it.
If I did I would have gone over the budget I set
for myself for each weekend, so I passed on it.
I found it in an antique shop that is over an hour 
away from my house and on the ride home I was
telling Mr. Wonderful how much I really loved it.
He said he liked it too.  So now I am in non-buyers
remorse.  How many times have I said, if you see
something you love, get it while you can!  
And I didn't...
I went to over 10 antique or thrift shops that day
and only spent $5, I got 3 small blue willow bread
plates and 3 candlewick glasses.  
And all I could think about was, yep, you guessed
it ~ the spice shelf.
Wonderful happened to be off today and we 
decided to head back to the far away antique
shop.  We were crossing our fingers that Murphy's
Law wouldn't act against us and have us show up
to find the shelf was gone...


But no, luck was with us and it was still there.
We had thought it was German but when we 
googled some of the words we found out it was
Dutch!  Even better, I have a thing for kitschy
Dutch stuff ~ I bet that comes from growing up
across the street from my Dutch neighbor, Mrs. C.
I should have known it was Dutch just by the 
painting style.  I'l have to consult with Mrs. C's
daughter, the Delft expert.


I love that someone wrote the English translations
on the back of the drawers.  The person got some
of them correct, some were written in Dutch and
some of the spices had the names mixed up. 
I find that to be adorable too.