This week's finds

I'm happy to report that I found myself some more Pyrex and other goodies this week.

I found this Terra casserole at a SA.  No lid (and I have no hope of finding one in this pattern), a bit scratched and a chip on the rim but I coudn't resist for $1.99.

I did a round of thrifting again on GW's 1/2 price day this week but no luck on finding any vintage items, but did find some good toys for the baby so all was not lost.

There was one estate sale I was planning to attend on Saturday morning but got an email from the estate sale company saying that it was starting on Friday instead.  I wasn't able to get there until almost closing time but was able to score a Pyrex cake pan for $3 and a cute vintage ice cream scooper for a quarter.

This allowed me to go to a different estate sale in the morning and it was a good one!  Here is all the Pyrex I scored:

There were so many Pyrex canisters I was in shock.  I took only about half of them (anticipating my husband's reaction if I brought home more).  I already had the 444 and 441 of the Verde, and the 442 was quite scratched, but for the price, I could not resist.    A friend also recently found a horizon 444 and was going to give it to me but now she can keep hers for trading.  I was happy to find the lemonade carafe, since I've been on the hunt for one and had recently left a lidless one (for $2.99) behind at SA.  There was actually also a larger one with orange slices but sadly it was broken  :( 

I also picked up a neat set of dominos with dragon pattern:

So you're probably wondering what I paid for all this (along with a few small random things not worth mentioning)...a whopping $12!  Not bad eh?  :)

Of course I pushed my luck and went to a church sale afterwards that was more than 1/2 hour drive away because they made it sound like a huge sale.  I was kicking myself afterwards because the pickings were super slim even though I got there right when it opened.  They only had 4 rows of tables in one room whereas the other ones I've been to have taken up multiple room and even multiple floors of the church.  I didn't want to leave empty handed after all that wasted gas so I decided to rifle around to see if I could find anything.  I did pick up a couple of random things.

Who knew Esso made DIY candle kits?!  It was only a quarter so I figured I'd add it to my craft supplies.
 

This set of coasters caught my eye.  The foam backing was so old it was crumbling off but I can easily add some felt.  It was only 50 cents for the set.

Also stopped by a yard sale on the way home and picked up these interesting figurines.

I do need to stop buying things just because I think they're cute.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with these.  How often do you get buyer's remorse?

Check out other fun finds at ATG's blog.

I'm back!

Ok, I finally figured out the problem I was having with blogger and now I can post again :)

Here's a few pieces of Pyrex I found last Friday (another GW 1/2 price sale!).  I was very excited to find this golden acorn oval casserole.  It's mismatched with a divided lid but I needed one of those so it worked out perfectly!

Also found this red 402 to complete my primary set (at least until I find one in better condition).

It was found in pretty bad shape but I worked some magic one it...you can read about the transformation here.

I also hit some rummage sales on the weekend.  Found this cute Mickey carafe for a friends whose kids love Mickey.

I find the Pyrex store 'n see canisters super handy so I was happy to find this one for only a quarter.

I also scored a yellow fridgie in great condition (but no lid) for only 50 cents!  I put it to use immediately, which I love to do with all my new Pyrex finds
.

I am very happy to finally have my very own copy of the Pyrex collector's book (a belated mother's day gift)!  :)

Blogger hates me :(

I've been trying to post since the weekend and every time I try to upload a picture, it gives me an error message saying "server rejected"...anyone else have this issue?

Back to the Antique Mall

Went on my second ever trip to antique malls a few days ago with a friend.  It is so much fun seeing all the lovely vintage things.  The high prices are both good and bad; for the items that I already have, it was fun to see what a bargain I got on my pieces in comparison, but for the ones that I don`t have and want, it`s very very sad.  Not everything is priced sky high, in fact it was very interesting seeing the price differences between different booths.  I was able to find a few reasonably priced Pyrex pieces that I was happy to pick up because it`s not too likely that I`ll find them thrifting.

My first friendship for $10.

 Some more butterprint!  :)  The medium fridgie was $9, the butter dish was $8.50 and the 403 was $7.

I think I spent more on gas driving there than on my Pyrex...the gas prices these days are just so crazy!!

Parade of 444s

I have to admit I prefer the cinderella mixing bowls to the regular ones.  The spouts are not great for pouring batter (as I experienced last night making banana bread), but I love holding onto them like handles.  I'm always so paranoid about breaking my Pyrex!

I was lucky to find two 444s this week.

First was this Verde at GW, in mint condition, for only $4.04 (I love it when the "good" pricers are working).

Then I found this daisy at VV, for $6.99 plus tax.  I was able to clean off the black crud but sadly it left some staining.  But still in pretty good condition.

Can't wait to use these for our summer BBQs! 

Pyrex filled Mother's Day weekend

I was able to squeeze in an estate sale very early Saturday morning. I found a partial primary mixing bowl set.  It was very grimy and a bit scratched but at $7 for the set of 3, I couldn't pass it up.  They cleaned up pretty good.

I also stopped in at a church rummage sale (love them!) and found a constellation divided dish.  The lid has a big chip but for $1, it was still a steal and hopefully I can find a replacement lid some day.

I also met someone online who was downsizing her collection and generously offered to sell me what she had to offer at the prices she paid.  Happy mother's day to me!!  :)  I paid $47 for all of this, plus she threw in a lid, some forest fancies and homestead she was planning to take to GW.

On Sunday, I finally got my mystery auction lot that I blogged about before.  Mainly I was after the snowflake pieces.  They turned out to be a bit more scratched than I had hoped, but they were not too bad.

Also included were homestead mixing bowls, DBD blue 401, two Glasbak divided dishes and some other random glassware. 

I love my new snowflakes but I don't think I'll be buying anything else sight unseen (except for a couple of poor quality pictures online with no detailed descriptions). 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

 

Researching treasures

I love coming home to find out more about the vintage things I find, almost as much as I love finding them in the first place. 

Today, I stopped by a rummage sale.  It was probably the smallest I've been to and I didn't find any vintage Pyrex so I was disappointed at first.  But since I had already paid for parking (which I was not happy about doing in the first place), I figured I might as well take a look to see if I could find anything to salvage the trip.

I've always been partial to the blues and this square bowl caught my eye:

 Here's the bottom showing a stamp that says "3335 Soholm Bornholm Denmark Stentoj".

Turns out that Soholm was a ceramics factory founded by Herman Sonne Wolffsen and Edvard Christian Sonne in 1835, and was closed down in 1996. First I thought "Stonetoj" was the name of the designer but it actually means stonewear.  This appears to be part of the most well known "blue series" designed by Einar Johansen, who worked for Soholm between 1958 to 1966.  I found this exact piece on a couple of online auction sites and it seems to be worth between $30 and $60.  Pretty good considering I paid only 50 cents  :)

Another piece of blue pottery, that I spotted under a mug, was this pretty pitcher:

Here's the mark on the bottom:

I thought the mark said "Meadowcraft", but it's actually "Meadowcroft".  It was a pottery based in Meadowvale, Ontario, that was started by Sandy Metcalfe in 1966.  He started by making honey pots for his home made honey.  They became so popular he decided to go into the pottery business.  Sadly, it closed down when he started having heart troubles in 1974 and he passed away in 2005.  On the website www.canadiandesignerresouce.ca, his daughter posted comments on his work and mentions how she would love to have some of his pieces.  I thought that was so touching, so I posted a comment for her to get in touch with me if she wants this pitcher.  I would love to reunite her with her father's work, which she helped with as a little girl.  Just writing about this makes me tear up!

On a much lighter note, I forgot to post one of the other freebies that I picked up at the estate sale I went to earlier this week:

It made me chuckle  :)

Oh, and I also forgot to post about this little fridgie that I picked up under the "no fridgie left behind" policy:

The lid and the bottom says "Balkan's Yogurt Maker".  It seems there's some debate whether this is Fire King or Anchor Hocking.  Either way, it's super cute and I'm using it to hold my salt.  Picked it up for 50 cents from a GW on half price day.

Speaking of half price days, I also went to a couple of GWs today.  Found a Pyrex canister:

It was only $1.01 after the discount!

Also found this super cute and very old looking pitcher:

It had a lot of caked on grime but cleaned up beautifully.  Love the pattern and the christmas-y colours.  It is huge and I paid $2.02 for it.  There are no marks indicating the maker and my random google searches are not coming up with anything.  Anyone have any ideas?!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!  :)

I love estate sales!!

I find estate sales fascinating.  Seeing all the things a person accumulates and what it tell you about that person.  I stopped in at an estate sale which started today (which I thought was unusual since they are mostly on Saturday, or maybe the odd Friday). 

When I went in, I was greeted by a few very nice ladies.  They asked if I was looking for anything specific.  When I mentioned that I like crafting supplies, they said that most of it had been given away but there was some sewing supplies downstairs that they could show me after I looked around.  As I wandered around the livingroom and dining room, I didn't spot any Pyrex.  Since the ladies with chatting with me casually, I decided to ask if they had any colourful Pyrex bowls or dishes.  They said they only remember seeing the clear Pyrex items but led me into a kitchen to take a peak.  They opened a large drawer, and right behind a stack of clear Pyrex baking dishes were a set of butterprint cinderella bowls!  They asked if that was what I was looking for and I quickly answered "yes"!  I asked how much and my jaw almost dropped when they said $10!  SOLD!!

I also asked if they had any glass teapots.  After showing a few non-Pyrex ones, the lady lead me to a box near the front door and pulled out a Pyrex caraf and announced that this was the free box so it was all mine if I wanted it.  Of course I did!  I later found a smaller Pyrex caraf in a box of stuff that was being sold as a lot for $2.  When she saw me pull it out of the box, she said that she would just give it to me since it matched the other free one...can you believe it? 

I went downstairs with the lady to see the sewing supplies.  There were boxes full of stuff.  At first she quoted me $30 for everything but I really didn't want all of it so I said I would pick out some of the stuff.  She ended charging me $12 for a large vintage sewing box, a box full of zippers, a huge bag of thread, and other random sewing stuff.

I also found these pretty earrings in a box of costume jewelery near the sewing table and she charged me only $1.  They're like clip on earrings excepts the backs screw on.

My favourite find of the day though were these amazing dolls.

There was a row of them on one of the couches.  I found out that the lady made all of them and used to sell them for about $100 each.  Her work is just exquisite!  Look at all the details:

 I just adore that little bumble bee!

 This is the bow on the back of her sun hat.

 Little buttons on the ankle straps of her shoes.

 Little mushrooms and a lady bug in her basket.

 

There were even little pom poms on the top of the baby's hat and both ends of his scarf.  I love the rainbow colours on the girl's dress.

Look at the wheels on the baby's buggy!

I just totally fell in love with this lady's work and I would have taken them all home if I could.  In the end I picked the two I loved the most, though it was super hard to decide.  I will be giving them to my mom as part of her mother's day present.  My mom is a super crafter too...sewing, knitting, beading - you name it she does it.  I think she'll just love them.

So this is what I got for $50:

As I was leaving, I was encouraged to take more stuff from the free boxes so I did.

I love these crocheted hangers.  Cute and also very practical for dresses and blouses that slip off of most hangers. There were tons of these and I would have taken them all but I didn't want to be too greedy so I only took about a dozen.  Imagine all the work and they were giving them away. 

I also took 2 corningware cradles, a thermos and a putter game/ashtray.

It took two trips to the car, even with some help, to load all my goodies.  What a satisfying hour of thrifting!!

The lucky streak continues.

There were so many church rummage sales, estate sales and yard sales near me Saturday morning I was honestly stressing about which to go to and in what order, since many of them started at the same time.  I also had very limited time since I had other plans for the day, so I had to skip a vintage sale promising Pyrex that was more than 1/2 hour drive away. 

I've been super lucky with finding cool Pyrex flameware! These were both from a church rummage sale for only $1 each!

Found this lime cake pan there for $1.  It's a bit dishwashered and scratched but the inside is still nice and it matches my new loaf pan.

 

Found two vintage aprons for $1.

 

I got a pair of pretty lace curtains in perfect condition for only $1.  The price tag was originally marked at $4 but someone decided that was too much, scratched it out and put $1 - lucky me!  Love the scalloped edge details.

Went to an estate sale as well.  I spotted a pink 404 but someone had put it aside already.  I did eventually find the 401, which was pretty scratched but for 50 cents I had to take her home.

 

Also got a Pyrex measuring cup for a quarter.  I thought it was very interesting because it didn't have the typical red markings - the markings were all in raised glass.  Seems practical because the red markings often gets worn away with time.  The glass was also particularly thick.  I wonder how old this little guy is.

 

At another church rummage sale, I found a Pyrex caraf for 75 cents, a butterfly gold salt shaker for a quarter and a country festival storage jar for $1.  The two large glass jars behind the Pyrex are unmarked but I like the lids with the round knobs at the top so I bought them for $1 each to store my flour and sugar.  I also got two set of metal measuring cups for $1 to use as scoops (but forgot to include them in the picture).

 

Picked up a package of vintage rick rack and trims for $1.  Is it just me or does vintage rick rack feel much softer than the modern ones?

It was a very productive 2 hours of thrifting!  :)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and found some goodies!

Check out all the cool finds at ATG's thrift share Monday.