What a long, strange trip it's been!

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

Well, summer is flying by and I realize I haven't been around here a whole lot, so we have some catching up to do! I spent the last week thrifting some spots I don't normally get to, so I have a lot to share.

My kids were at a day camp down in the area I grew up in, so after dropping them off at 9 am I got to check out all my old favorite shops. So I got myself a plan and made sure to hit the biggest stores first and then the smaller stores later on. (Camp pickup was 3 pm) Most of my good finds at the larger stores were Monday and Tuesday morning. After that, meh... it amazes me how some of these stores can be so huge (one must be close to 20,000 sq.ft- a former big box store) and have so little quality merchandise. Or perhaps that is just the age we are living in and the good stuff is getting harder to find (I know it!)

Anyway, on with the show!

This is my haul from that first big store on Monday and Tuesday mornings. As you might have guessed, it's mostly Pyrex. But I am super stoked about the blue Fire King Kimberly mug- I have a collection of one of each of these in every color and this was the last one I needed. It's taken me a couple of years to find one in the wild, and I almost resorted to Etsy a few times. 

The black Pyrex mug was one of about eight in the store- I only bought one, just to have (again) one in every color, but now I am wishing I had bought them all. They look amazing with my cinnamon colored ones and would be great for Halloween displays. Speaking of Halloween, the cat thingy is a flashlight but it is missing its innards. It's not very old either, but definitely has that vintage look, and for a buck, it cam home with me. The Terra bowls are part of my 'leave no Pyrex behind' strategy and will probably go to my booth. The Verde 443 is the start of a new collection- I just figured out that I have all the Verde fridgies, so now I must collect the bowls...sigh...

These were from my next stop. The opal hostess bowls were probably yellow at one time, but I can't find any trace of color. I'll hang onto them to mix into other displays- I have found that even though opal (aka plain white) Pyrex really doesn't do much for me, it looks great mixed into displays. The milk glass tumblers depict Jack and Jill tumbling down the hill. They are actually made by Hazel Atlas and were part of a children's dinnerware set. I can't really imagine the thought process that went into designing these for children. I know my kids would be wondering what the heck happened to Jack and Jill here...someone online referred to them as 'CSI cups' :)... but the sheer oddity of them was enough for me to add them to my collection.  

At the same store later in the week I found this awesome camp blanket. It is a really strange size- twin width but XXtra long. It came in handy already when we went to a chilly outdoor movie on Friday- we could wrap it completely around the three of with room to spare. I love finding camp blankets because they are beautiful and useful at the same time. I think I have close to 10 now, the only problem being they take up quite a bit of storage space, so I just keep piling them up on the beds. Who needs comforters?

These are my finds from one of my all-time favorite church thrifts. They get good stuff and they price it well. No $19 Pyrex here! The enamel bucket is so amazing, I have already adopted it as my housecleaning bucket. I feel like a Depression-era housewife... cool stuff like this just makes ordinary housework a little easier! (See my ironing post on this topic here) I also found an incredible vintage dress from about the same era in the store. I always wonder if things like this were donated by the same person.

This little child's tea set is so cute and perfect condition. Each cup/saucer set was just 75 cents! (Did I mention that I love this store?) The primary blue fridgie was $2.50 also. And yes, that is a Vera tablecloth! Once it gets a good Oxyclean soak to remove some yellowing, it's headed to the Etsy store.

I think I might be the only person of my generation (except maybe Mick from Everyone Goes to Micks!) who knows what that weird metal thingy is. I'll keep you in suspense about that until later! Lately I have been finding a lot of Ekco Eterna/American Tempo flatware, which is fine with me because it's easy to sell in my Etsy shop. The milk glass mugs are Fire King and Federal and are headed over to my booth. The beaker is my only Pyrex lab ware purchase- I will use it as a vase I guess.

 

On my way home from that store I stopped at a yard sale and picked up these pieces of Pyrex. The large yellow was the last piece I needed to complete another Primary set, since I sold the one I had in my booth last month. Last month's sales were amazing, so I am feeling really good about that part of my endeavors. I just found a snowflake 043 for my personal collection in my last post, so this one will go to the booth as well.

So, did you guess what the mystery item was? 

It's a UHF TV antenna from the early days of broadcasting!

 Of course, we don't need them anymore, but I have a place for it on my TV-quarium!

Ain't No Cure for the Summertime Blues

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

Well, summer is here and it brings with it a lot of change. First of all, of course the kids are home. And soooo bored. Hehe, I knew that was coming, so we have plenty of things to do, like 5 different camps for my daughter and my son is opening his own Etsy shop! He is following in his mom's footsteps, but selling things a nine-year old boy thinks is cool. Mostly he is going to be restoring and selling customized bathroom scales, which is a project we started here. Look for the grand opening of JaysonsKustomHouse in a couple of weeks!

For now, I am also trying to keep as busy as I can, and trying to do as much selling as I can in my antique booth and my Etsy shop. So, hey, help me out a bit and see if there's anything you like! Be sure to use the coupon code PIT20OFF for 20% off your purchase!

Maybe it's a coincidence, or maybe not, but I have been finding a lot of blue items lately. Yard sales and thrifts have been very good this month, and I have been finding tons of cool junk and Pyrex, of course.

First up, I found yet another milk glass cake plate. This makes 3 in the last 6 weeks or so. It's wedding season, so hopefully it won't stay in the booth long! And I thrifted my first set of clear bottomed Pyrex- I usually pass on these, but with Pyrex prices on the rise I thought it might be a good idea to get a set now. They are various shades of blue and are very pretty; hopefully someone will love them.

The same day I found this stack of 401s at an antique store. Now, I almost never buy things at antique stores (I mostly window shop- "doing research" I call it) but I couldn't pass up five bowls for $10.  The three primary blues are all unnumbered; two are in good condition, but one is pretty poor. (I'll make that a daily user, maybe I'll dishwasher it into a faux opal?) I am always trying to make up other Primary sets to go to the booth, and can definitely use the good ones. The pink is poor as well, but this is my first pink mixer in the wild, and it will display OK for now. The orange flameglo is pretty good; I haven't decided if I want to keep it yet.

 I also found my first piece of JAJ in a thrift store, a pattern called "Tuscany Vegetables". Altogether, it was a good day for Pyrex, with the clear bottom set, the stack of 401s and this JAJ all coming from two stores that day. Plus, these huge veggie salt and pepper shakers- I love Mr. Corn's jaunty moustache! 

Last week I went to a great yard sale- it almost made The List. (I keep a mental list of the top ten yard sales I've ever been to- this one was somewhere in the top twenty, for sure.) It was my favorite kind of sale- an older person in an older house in an older neighborhood. I bought some Pyrex, some other glass and the coolest lamp.

The Pyrex I bought was this snowflake 043, which came with a lid and is absolutely mint. I almost didn't buy it- it seems that the word has gotten out, even to the little old ladies, that Pyrex is collectible. The sticker on this had a price of $5, which the cheapskate in me thought was too much for a yard sale. Then I came to my senses and realized I would probably pay that or more in a thrift store in a heartbeat. And I didn't have this color in my collection yet, either, so duh...buy it!

And while word has gotten out about Pyrex being hot, apparently Hazel Atlas is still flying under the radar (at least at this yard sale). The pink, turquoise and yellow plates are all HA, as is the matching mug. The green is FireKing jadeite, and get this- they were all 10 cents each!

Then I bought this lamp from the same lady. I used to see these around every so often, years ago and never bought one. But they are few and far between anymore, so I popped. Good thing I did, because they are going for crazy money on Etsy! So guess where this is headed, LOL.... I also found a cool angular fiberglass laced shade, which for some reason I didn't photograph. I have quite a collection of these shades anymore; I never leave one behind that is in good condition and reasonably priced (like 50 cents!). Now I need some  more cool lamp bases to go with them!

Green seems to be a theme of my finds as well- on the same day I bought this vintage tablecloth at a thrift store. It still has its Simtex tag on it. Plus, it is large enough to fit my table- not always so easy to find in vintage linens!

And a little bit of green Pyrex, of course! This is the "Green Salad" promo from 1972, otherwise known as "Square Dot". Normally it is hard for me to get to thrifts right when they open, which I have always assumed is the best time to go. But this day I was able to get there early and found this gem on the bottom shelf. (And I did look all over for the matching salad utensils, to no avail.) It is absolutely mint and I love the color shading. Seeing this online, I never thought I would go for it, but in person it is stunning. For some reason lately, I am totally drawn to the brightly colored Pyrex- like Friendship and New Dots, and this will fit right in. Definitely going to keep this around for a while!

And  how about this amazing fan? I found it amongst the appliances at a thrift store. It was a little more than I like to spend, at $20, but it works great-totally a keeper! I just keep telling my kids not to put their fingers anywhere near it; a trip to the emergency room is not the kind of excitement I'm looking for this summer!

Vacation thrift finds!

Well, it's a rainy day here at ChezQT and I am neck deep in canning projects. This time of year is always crazy with the garden produce coming in nonstop and getting ready for back to school, plus trying to squeeze in all the fun stuff I wanted to do with the kids. So that's my excuse for not blogging a lot lately.

But I still thrift and collect when I can, so here's a sampling of some of the stuff I picked up lately!

We recently spent a week and a half at our cabin upstate. One rainy day up there, I cleaned out a lot of the stuff we don't use and took it to a thrift shop in the local town. I dropped off four big trash bags full of stuff! And the bonus was I got to shop at the store too, and this is one little shop that hasn't yet succumbed to the high prices of the big chains. Nothing in the store was more than $2!

You can bet I was super excited to find Pyrex on my vacation- I was going through withdrawal at this point, and these were just what I needed! The snowflake divided dish (with lid!) was $2, the flamingo plate was 25 cents and the turquoise vegetable bowl was $2 at a flea market (more on that later!). I already have the snowflake DD, so this one will be for sale. I'm trying to resist collecting the Pyrex dinnerware, so will have to let the plate and bowl go too (eventually!)

These little handled crocks are GlasBake and were 25 cents each. I think I will keep them up there for a while, at least through the fall when I will use them for soup!

This orange ball pitcher was (yep, you guessed it) $2! I will be taking it to the booth.

The pottery vase was $1 and will be a nice addition to the collection of white pottery I already have up there. The two saucers are Taylor Smith Taylor Cathay.

I love this hand painted cookie jar and it was only $1! It's really big, like a gallon size.

But probably the best score of all was this vintage suitcase. I went up to the checkout with my arms full of (mostly breakable) stuff and spied this off to the side, under a pile of other things. I had to ask if it was even for sale. The ladies were so happy someone wanted it- they said it had been there for weeks- that they almost apologized for asking $2. I packed it full of my treasures and they all made it home safely, and in style.

Oh, and the table all these are photographed on was a flea market find. It's an old farm table I bought at the flea market for $5. The oilcloth was definitely too far gone to save, but the table underneath has a great patina, which I will show you in a another post!

The Spotting of the Green

Well, pickings have been slim around here in thrifting land. It's been a couple weeks since I found anything worth writing about. But with Spring around the corner, people must be doing some spring cleaning, and I actually found something good today!

I am thrilled to have finally found my first piece of lime Pyrex- a round cake pan. I know these aren't that uncommon, but I have never seen any! As a matter of fact, I haven't seen any solid color bakewear at all recently, and I would love to have a pie plate and square baker to go with it.

It's in absolutely mint condition- appears never to have been used. Quite a miracle, since Pyrex only made lime from 1952 to 1956. The best part was that for St. Patty's Day anything green in the store was 25% off, so I got this for $2.25!

I also found a green FireKing mug (38 cents with the St. Pat's discount), a red Hazel Atlas Moderntone creamer ($1.00), and the cutest tiny mason jar. I am tempted to go back and pick up a set of 6 milk glass mugs that were not Pyrex, but very similar to the Old Towne/Blue Onion pattern. Not identical, but close...very cute- so tempting. I also left behind a Green 403 mixing bowl and a 402 Square Flowers bowl. They weren't in the best of condition, and I'm trying to leave stuff like that for someone else!