Pyrex finds!

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

As mentioned in my last post, I have been finding and acquiring some really nice pieces of Pyrex. So, my apologies to those of you who do not share my fascination with dishes; this post may not interest you. Sorry!

But for the rest of you afflicted with Pyrexia, we will carry on:

I don't know what I ever decorated with before I had Pyrex. My friends and family always are shocked by the fact that I have so many pieces of Pyrex that I can created color themes with them. Hehe. Frankly, I'm sort of shocked I can do that too. Fall themed display? Why yes, let me get out all my red, yellow, orange, and black bowls and casseroles.

The black and white casserole on top was my most recent Pyrex purchase, it's a JAJ (English Pyrex) Haymaker. My son saw a picture of it, and begged me to buy it, because he wants to be a farmer, and it depicts people loading hay into a wagon. And when a nine year old boy tells you to by dishes, you listen. So I did, and promised him he could have it when I die, lol.

I don't think I've ever spent that much on a casserole dish, and probably will never spend that much again. Because you all know I am cheap and would much rather find my stuff at thrift stores.

So this stuff I actually thrifted. Much more my style! The big yellow bowl is called "Pineapple Party" and actually fades from yellow at the top to orange on the bottom. It is really pretty. I got it at my favorite thrift on a Thursday, then stopped in at a nearby rummage sale for the orange mugs and blue mason jars. "Pineapple Party" is actually a chip and dip set, with a smaller bowl and bracket. I didn't have much hope of ever completing the set until I logged onto the Pyrex trading group and saw someone had posted the small bowl for trade the very same day! We worked out a deal and I had the set put together in just a few days. It's funny how things can work out sometimes.

I also made another great trade that week and was able to acquire one of my most wanted Pyrex pieces, a Saxony casserole. I traded a couple things I had thrifted for it, so the cost to me was reasonable. I doubt I would have ever bought it if I hadn't been able to trade for it.

This last group is one of my best ever recent thrift finds. I am lucky to have quite a bit of Friendship by now, and every single piece has been thrifted. Including this 475 casserole, I have all the 470s but the 474. And the orange 442 means that I am only missing the 441 and I will have all the Cinderella bowls. Add to that the divided dish and a couple of the much sought-after red pixies which I already have, and I am well on my way to finishing that pattern. I am determined to thrift it all.

Happy hunting!

Halloween Haul!

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

Well, school is back in session and I thought I'd have so much time to blog and list things in my Etsy store, and...nope, that just hasn't happened! I honestly don't know how some of you guys do it.

But as usual, there is always time to thrift and yard sale, while the yard saling weather is still good. And I have to say, it has been very good to me lately. I live in a great area for yard sales with lots of old people in older homes, who are now in the process of down sizing. And of course, that means I am upsizing, or acquiring more stuff! Hehe...

Last week I was on my way to a church rummage sale (which was pretty much a bust, all I bought was a 50 cent planter) and stopped at the most amazing yard sale and I hit the jackpot!

Look at all that vintage Halloween!!!

I have never seen so much all in one place and here it is on my floor!

Some of these honeycomb paper decorations are amazing- check out the scarecrows and owl!

And there was Pyrex and pixies as well! That tan stripe 401 is just what I needed to complete my stack of stripes. I never find cute pixies around here, so even though these are not in perfect condition, they are most welcome.

I've been having a good run on Pyrex lately as well. A few pieces found at the thrifts, but mostly trading for some really good things- a future post coming up on that!

Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple photos of Halloween here at ChezQT!

I got only one new blow mold this year, but it is a good one- the one on the far left.

If you look closely, you can see that some of them are wearing "costumes" aka fake mustaches courtesy of my kids. We had a little fun with faux facial hair this year.

Since I had a bunch of new fall colored Pyrex, I set up a display of that this year. I used that creepy oil painting I picked up a while ago for the background, and added some spray painted curly willow branches (my brother has one of those trees in his yard) for a 3D effect. 

This year's big finds were mostly vintage paper decorations. (Thanks to Mick and the Thrifter Sisters for getting me hooked on those! :) This honeycomb ghost was NIB until we hooked him up to our chandelier...and added another fake 'stache. 

And this pumpkin from last week's haul has found a home on the back of our front door. 

Happy Halloween from ChezQT!

Seeing Double

Funny how time flies, isn't it? Seems like just yesterday I was apologizing for not blogging much...

Anyway, I've been having some really great luck at the thrifts lately, and when I went to put things together to photograph for this post I noticed I had lots of things that were alike.

(And yes, I am still having difficulties with my camera, so these shots are not the best!)

Two tooled leather handbags. The one on the left I thrifted today for $7 and it came with a matching coin purse. The one on the right was a yard sale find for $3. 2 for $10!

Two pieces of enameled cast iron. Why yes, that is a Le Creuset dutch oven. For $10 at a thrift store? You bet I'm carrying that thing around till my arms are ready to fall off. (And the best part of it is, that while it is well-used, the previous owner used it to make something vanilla- even after a good scrubbing it still smells like vanilla- yummy!) The red frying pan is a Griswold from the 30s- mint condition for $1 at a yard sale.

Two adorable FireKing casseroles. The one on the left is hand-painted Gay Fad and the one on the right is Swiss Chalet. Both in mint condition and only a couple of bucks each.

I was just thinking I'd like to make madeleines and the next day I found these two pans for 50 cents. 

I love the details on them:

And of course I found some Pyrex! Two pieces of bakewear, a lime 023 and a Desert Dawn round cake pan. I have never seen pink DD in person before- it's beautiful!

And two more pieces of Pyrex, a snowflake space saver (with lid!!!) and yellow hostess (with lid!!!). On the right is a super cool ice bucket- the bullet shaped piece completely separates from the stand. (Why, I don't know, because it wouldn't stand upright, but still, so cool...)

OK, not doubles, but multiples! I hit the mother lode of vintage paper decorations yesterday. The turkey is a Beistle (also my second one of those in a couple of weeks), as are the Pilgrim cutouts that take me back to my own Elementary School days. The Halloween pumpkin and Trick or Treat sign are flocked- remember those? Haha, now I'm dating myself...anyway all of it set me back a whopping $1.80!

Finally, an estate sale worth writing about!

So, it's blisteringly hot around here. I can't remember the last day it was under 100. Perfect estate and yard sale weather! NOT!

But I had a real hankering to find a bargain, and lately the thrifts have been an unqualified bust. And yard sales haven't been much better. But I decided to head out anyway and I'm glad I did!

I found one estate sale advertised about 15 miles from me in an area I haven't been to much. And the ad mentioned Pyrex, so I was definitely going to check it out. As the thermometer reached into the high 90s by 10, I packed the kids into the car and hoped our A/C was working! (It was.)

It was a pleasant and easy drive, and when we got to the sale I was shocked to find that we were the only ones there. With the kids, I don't usually have the ability to get to estate sales early, and I definitely don't want to fight the crowds with them in tow, so I always wait until after the early rush. I'm not sure there was any rush at all with this sale- it seemed like we were the only folks who even knew about it, even though it was well-advertised. I guess the heat was a factor, but it didn't bother us.

First thing I headed for was the Pyrex! I bought the Golden Pine Space Saver, with lid and cradle for $10. I have a rule to just buy any Space Saver I see, especially if it has the lid, and this is a nice one. I can't wait to get out all my Christmas Pyrex and put this one on display! The Pink Daisy 043 is my favorite size Pyrex and I love using them, but this one is so nice I might never use it. The Butterprint 472 casserole is my first of the 470 series. Didn't I just mention in my last post that I needed that, and lo and behold... 

She also had the 471 and 473, but had them marked as a set for $25. That's too steep for me- why this one was priced at only $6 I don't understand, but it's mine. (I would hazard a guess that the lady was looking up prices on the internet and found turquoise Pyrex goes for more; apparently she didn't get to the part where the turq. on white Butterprint goes with the others...) I also left behind a Golden Tulip promo with lid and cradle for $20 and a set of primary bowls (minus the green) for $20. I didn't love the tulip and have an unnumbered primary set, so at those prices they're not a bargain for me.

The rest of the stuff was awesome and great prices: 

These HoJo motel glasses were 25 cents each. If my kids were older I would put these out in my bathroom as everyday drinking glasses ;)

This chalkware planter is huge and also only 25 cents. I know it will sell fast in my booth, and at almost 100% profit. Whooo doesn't love owls! (sorry!)

This quirky Christmas centerpiece was also only 25 cents. Not my style, but again, someone will love it.

These vintage Halloween treat bags were in the FREE pile! There are 25 of them- totally headed to Etsy.

My son took some of his own money and bought this souvenir desk set for $4. He is going to resell it in my Etsy store, so watch for it! He's got a great eye and is very motivated to make some money reselling- I might have some competition in a couple of years if I train him right! I love the Marlin graphics on the flip calendar and the tiny seashells- he picked a great piece.

Vintage wrapping paper for 25 cents a roll. Every time I find some it sells fast.

This lamp was so cool and only $5. The base is handmade but the shade is killer.

And this last find was pure serendipity. For the last few days I had been thinking I should have a mug tree to display some of my vintage mugs near my coffee maker. I hadn't even had time to go out and hunt for it or search Etsy, and one literally fell into my lap. When I asked the guy in the garage of the sale how much he wanted for it, he just gave it to me- said he already rescued it from the trash pile and just wanted someone to have it. It has great patina and I love the orange color. Perfect, and perfect price!

Save the Vintage!

Help! Save the vintage from the Zombies!

More blood-curdling than any horror movie is seeing beautiful vintage clothing ruined by fake blood. While I am all for Halloween and dressing up as monsters (even for adults :) this time of year can be the last hurrah for many vintage frocks. 

Get out there now and cruise those Halloween racks for vintage! It's cheaper than ever (many stores price it at a few $$) and if we don't rescue it, it can end up like above...

I've found some really great items on Halloween racks- this 50s wiggle dress was $1:

This suit- deadstock, still with tags, and now in my Etsy store.

And most amazingly, these Victorian mens shoes, which I just bought yesterday. 

I am shocked to even hold them in my hand. That they even exist after 120 years just blows me away. And that they are still in good enough shape to be worn- the leather is still soft and soles flexible- well, I don't know what to say, except... don't ruin them with fake blood!

Halloween blow molds!

A couple weeks ago, Zootsuitmama posted about her incredible blow mold collection, and asked readers to share theirs. Well, I'm finally getting around to it!

I've gotten a couple new ones since last year. The black cat holding the pumpkin (2nd from left) is the most recent, I think. I love this one. Also, since we changed our living room decor around since last Halloween, I've had to change my usual decorating formula. I still haven't quite worked it out (Christmas will be a bit different too) but I do like the idea of grouping the blo molds all together inside.

Last year I lined them all up on the steps to the front door, and it caused a couple to get a bit faded. Plus, since they're so lightweight they got knocked around a bit. I think it's safer to keep them all in this year.

I've also been doing a bit of thrifting of course- found a few nice things and some Pyrex. I'll be posting about that over at the Pyrex Collective III- check it out!

Halloween 2011

Wha....?????

You might have heard about the freak snowstorm we had on October 29th. I think we probably got about 6-8 inches of snow, obviously not a normal occurrence for this time of year. I can remember seeing flurries in late October but nothing like this:

Yes, my kids went sledding on Saturday and trick-or-treating on Monday.

Sunday we went to a kids' pumpkin carving event .

 It was held at my sister-in-law's club, which featured this cool original 1940s dartboard.

Then it was on to Grandma's for more pumpkin carving. Jayson grew these pumpkins in his garden all by himslef, so it was special to turn it into a jack-o-lantern.

Tinkerbelle and Davy Crockett ready to go out trick-or-treating. The Davy Crockett costume is deadstock 1950s, picked up for a few bucks at a thrift store. It's still plenty big for my son, but in a few years it will make its way to my Etsy store. He was a big hit with all the older neighbors- they both cleaned up on the candy!

And looking forward to the next holiday on the calendar, yours truly bagged a wild turkey last week. I love the idea of providing Thanksgiving dinner for my family. It kind of makes me laugh when I hear all this talk about "heritage birds" vs. supermarket birds. Really, wild turkeys (and venison) are what the Pilgrims ate at the original Thanksgiving. That is our real "heritage", and wild turkeys should be more celebrated than they are. 

Halloween at Chez QT, 2011

These last few years I have really been getting into the Halloween spirit, and decorating up a storm around Chez QT. I think it is one of the few holidays I enjoy as much, if not more, than my kids.

Since my kids are so small (6 and 3) I try to stay away from the blood and gore, monsters and such. They're too young for that sort of thing. I focus instead on generally creepy things, like bugs and naturalistic/decayed things. I'm big on groupings of slightly weird objects as well, like last year's display of stopped clocks (up again this year).

My kitchen sideboard. It's nice to get out some silver and not polish it for a change, LOL. The pumpkin on a candy dish pedestal is a real pumpkin from last year that we hollowed out down to the skin and dried in the oven. It's basically ever-lasting now, and filled with faux leaves. 

I love bugs this year! The branches are curly willow from my brother's tree, spray painted black. We used a lot of them all over the house.

My son found these skulls in the woods- one is a fox and the other a coyote.

More curly willow stuck in a fat lava pot with a mum. This is probably one of the best shots of the new TV aquarium, with its new test-pattern backdrop. (Why I couldn't get a decent shot before, I'll never know...)

I love this idea- reminds me of something out of a magazine. Normally I have cornstalks on the front porch, but ours were all ratty after the hurricanes and not fit for display. Thank goodness for the curly willow! (And did I ever mention how much I love galvanized stuff? The bucket is an old sap bucket I trash picked from a dump in the woods ;) 

Jayson grew all of our pumpkins in the garden this year- it was a very good year.

Also note my Halloween blowmolds, all lit up and happy at night (like some of you are, I'm sure, LOL)! I put orange flicker bulbs in the front carriage lights also- that is such an easy, cool effect, I wonder why more people don't do that.

And finally, RIP Dracula...

While it looks nice and sunny, I turned around and snapped this picture of the cold front coming in!

If that's not scary, I don't know what is!