A trip is not complete with a few yard sale stops, right? Donna and I stopped at two sales on the way home from the storytelling conference in Ohio, and I came home with some good finds. The photo above shows some of them: a tin tea caddy from England, an American Pattern Glass butter dish in the Portland pattern (yes, I’ve already looked it up!–made around 1900),  a pretty handpainted cream and sugar set from Germany, a bowl full of safety pins that cost less than the pins alone and the bowl turned out to be a Fenton piece, a Pyrex Friendship Bird mixing bowl with a red and yellow pattern, three Fire King flame stackable coffee mugs,

two large gilt dresser mirror trays, a really nice set of Anchor Hocking amber swirl salad bowls,

 an American Pattern Glass goblet in the Narcissus Spray pattern (made around 1917)

and quite a few other things, including two glass-topped end tables for Donna. Her car was quite full with our suitcases, storytelling stuff and these treasures but we had a very good time. I was excited to find more pattern glass; that gave me an intriguing search this evening and since I was too tired to do much else, it made for a nice evening’s browse through my pattern books and the internet trying to track these down.

Copyright 2007 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Recently I’ve been finding some pretty pink kitchenware, like these Libbey glasses:

Linking to these friends today: A Vintage Green, Colorado Lady, Apron Thrift Girl, Her Library Adventures, From my Front Porch to Yours and A Coastal Charm. Check them out to see lots of great thrifting finds and vintage items!

And I came home with all sorts of fun finds. Taking the slow way home can be dangerous if you like to stop at thrift shops and such places. Here’s some of what I came home with recently:

Two of my favorite finds were a cotton bedspread embroidered with flower baskets and a book called The Story of the Lily of the Valley. It’s a romance I think, but I just like the cover and the title. The metal switchplate is cool, and it will find a place here at the house. I liked the bird nests book and the Little Golden Books too. The crystal clock needs a battery (like the other half dozen I’ve bought!); the wedding cake jar needs cleaning but it has gold trim which is a little different from others I’ve seen. The amber bowl is 60′s or 70′s and the little dish inside it is apple shaped, so cute.

And last, a half-bushel basket with a nicely made cotton liner with a lace edge. I enjoy seeing work like this; someone took an everyday item and made it beautiful. Isn’t that what crafting is all about?

Not shown: many things. I may post more this week. Right now I need to get this lot off the table and into wherever I need to put it. I hope your thrifting adventures were productive this week.

Being on the road a lot last week meant many opportunities to do some looking in resale and thrift shops. So of course I looked. And found. Here’s some of what I found last week:

A good, but not yard-sale good, price on these white swirl mixing bowls. I have wanted some of these for a long time and finally found some in my price range. I’ve sorted through my other mixing bowls to make space for these two. I have this memory, perhaps from childhood, perhaps not, of applesauce spicy and warm in a bowl like this and have wanted to have one to put applesauce in ever since. Now I have two.

This cutting board intrigued me. I found it in Morgantown, WV. I suppose someone brought it home from Germany? Or is it Swiss? Or maybe it came from the Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Isn’t this bowl gorgeous? Found this one in Sistersville last weekend. The color is rich and the quality of the glass is excellent. I wonder if it’s Blenko? I searched for one like it online but did not find anything. If you know who the maker might be, let me know.

I just loved this red Baby Ben travel alarm clock. It works great. It’s in perfect condition, just needs a bit of cleaning up. At less than $1, I felt like I’d won a major score with this one.

These platters were my real deal of the week, I believe. This pattern seems to be rare and popular. Made by a company called Tepco, it’s restaurantware and quite heavy. The bowls are a pattern called pretzel and aren’t really valuable but I have several pieces and plan to put them all in my booth as a set. The platters are on eBay and two have already sold at my rather high (I thought) Buy It Now price.

Bright and cheerful Lemon Heritage items were sold by Sears as part of a dinnerware set. I was tempted to keep them but went ahead and listed them because honestly, I have nowhere to put them. I do love yellow, though.

I found this Anchor Hocking bubble pattern berry set for a real song. The luster of the marigold iridized finish is really something. I’ve listed this on eBay but it may end up in my booth if it doesn’t sell.

In my booth, green has sprouted. I stopped in today on my way home and it seemed like a few of these things were gone from the display. I added rabbits here and there along with the green to add a touch of springtime.

I made a few other changes in my booth too–I carried in 3 boxes full of stuff and there is still room for more. In this area the additions were the aqua kerosene lamp with a clear shade that has gold flowers in it, a lot of jewelry and a stack of plates, along with the Air Force clock and the amber hanging candle holder and a small oval braided rug.  Several things were gone when I stopped today so I rearranged again. I’ll go back later this week to add new items.

That’s a bit of what I found. How about you? Anything interesting this week?

Linking to:

We have to make our trips count. If we have to go to town, we try to accomplish several things, not just one. It’s a habit for country people; if we need gas for the tractor we’re going to wait until we need milk or something else. Then we’ll add in a stop at the library and whatever else we can to make the most of the money we’re spending on gas. I bet most of you do the same thing.

Yesterday was Larry’s regular appointment with the VA doctor in Charleston. I’d stopped at the ReStore, Habitat for Humanity’s resale place, on Tuesday evening and found a little gas heater for the greenhouse we’ll be building next month. I also noticed a lot of doors and windows–we plan to build this greenhouse using old windows and other salvage and I wanted Larry to look at them with me to see if we could get what we needed for a reasonable price. So that meant I needed to go with him to Charleston (which is 50 miles from here).

He dropped me off at a big thrift shop–and he was gone 2 hours! Do you know what kind of damage I can do in two hours? I combed that place pretty thoroughly, I can tell you. Lots of finds, a couple mistakes (do you ever do that? Something looks great but when you get home you find the chip or the stain or it’s not what you thought), but overall it was a worthwhile stop.

When he picked me up we headed to another small church-run shop. There I found some good vintage linens and some vintage dishes (Daisy by Indiana Glass–5 grill plates). Then we headed to ReStore. We looked through windows but then I saw the sliding glass doors. The windows were just too pricey, but the doors–not full doors but individual panels–were just what we needed. We could get 3 foot by 7 foot door panels for $15-20 each. It doesn’t take many of those to make a wall of glass. We also bought a good storm door with a sliding screen for the entrance, and an antique interior door for the log cabin room we’re building. That door had the neatest hardware, a handle with little flowers all over it and old hammered hinges.

I found a small 9-drawer cabinet for the bathroom (one drawer missing but that makes a nice cubby for all sorts of things) and boxes of decorative tins that I will sell on eBay. I wondered about the tins–they had pallets of them? So what was the story? Did the truck wreck? The boxes were waterstained, so had a warehouse flooded?

There must be some story behind all those tins ending up at the ReStore–as there is a story behind every thing they get. I was enchanted with a fireplace gas heater that I could just see in the room we are building. Larry wasn’t as enchanted with it so we came home with it.

When I got home I found inside one of the drawers of the pink cabinet a very pretty cameo and silverplate box. The hinge pin is missing but I’m sure I can fix that.

We ended up with 6 glass panels, the interior door, storm door, and the other things for $137.00. We have all the glass we need for the greenhouse now except for the roof, and just need one more door. The greenhouse will be built against the garage so we only need three sides. Larry is going to build a block foundation for it, then we’ll build frames and slide the glass panels in, caulk them along the seams, and trim them with wood so they look good on the outside. The roof will be partly glass, and I’d like to use something that will open for a vent. Still working on that part. For this year the roof may just be plastic sheeting until we find what we want.

We were tired when we came home but we worked on the used washing machine we’d got the night before and after a lot of fiddling around, got the loose part back in place and hooked up the washer. It works like a champ and look new inside and out. I have a lot of wash to catch up on today!

And after all of that, I worked on eBay until after midnight. Yesterday and today are free listing days so I try to take full advantage and get as much listed as possible.  These finds are from earlier in the week and I was cleaning them up last night. Haven’t got them listed yet, though, as I concentrated on listing some things I’d had for a while.

As you can imagine, we were late getting up today and I am moving slow. It’s a good day for resting, cloudy and drizzling. So I am working on the grant applications, packing a few eBay things and taking the day as it comes, one thing at a time.

I hope you had some good finds yesterday. Be sure to check out Colorado Lady’s blog to see what others found!

A few more finds–yes, I do love colored glass

Back to grant writing!

It was a cold icy Saturday but we headed into town anyway. We didn’t get far though before we got stuck–on our own driveway. We were talking and Larry was just dawdling up the hill when we realized the car was spinning and we were not moving forward anymore. Oops. The ice was a thin slick layer and we thought it was melted off. Not exactly. It took only a few minutes to got moving again, though. We kicked the ice to rough it up, tore up a small cardboard box I had in the car and put pieces under the tires and off we went. All-wheel-drive is great, but not perfect.

We had a few errands to do before we went to the junk shops, and we had lunch at our favorite mom-and-pop restaurant, the Downtowner. The folks who run it are avid square dancers and he is a caller too, and at almost 80 years old he is still going stron. Larry had his favorite–brown beans and cornbread and I tried the grilled chicken club sandwich. I will definitely have that again; it was delicious. As we watch our dollars more carefully now we’ve found that eating out for lunch can be cheaper than breakfast. That was a surprising discovery.

So what did we find when we finally got to the shops?

 This little lady is older than she looks. She is dated 1944 on the bottom, with a note saying she was made by “Mom Schmetzer” in Retsil, Washington. So how did she end up in a funky resale place in West Virginia? I don’t suppose I’ll ever know her story, but I can imagine many. Maybe she belonged to a soldier stationed in Washington? Maybe it was an internet romance? How do you think she journeyed so far?

Teabag holders shaped like beehives! They even came with their own little rack. Downside: one teapot-shaped holder is missing its spout. I still think they were a deal, though, and the wire racks are not easy to come by.

My British friends will be able to identify this metal pan. Anyone want to guess what it is? I was surprised to find it here because I doubt there are very many people who use these pans in my area.

This plate lives up to its name! It’s the Happy pattern by Mikasa and it’s a huge serving plate. I have noticed many people collecting these 70′s-vintage patterns, so I picked this one up to list on eBay.

Two pretty flower plates, perfect for spring decorating. I picked up a couple of small wooden display shelves for them too but don’t have a photo of those.

A four place setting of Fair Lady by Sevron. The set included cups, saucers, salad plates and dinner plates, along with a big serving bowl.

Now I am not a collector of statuettes either, but I know that many people collect deer planters and this one is a true beauty–even I like it! The artwork is just gorgeous. I believe this is from Japan, and maybe 30′s or 40′s vintage? Someone who knows better, enlighten me!

I am a sucker for embroidered work so this lovely dresser scarf called my name.

That’s a few of the finds. Many will be listed on eBay, and a few will find homes in nooks and crannies at my house.

Did you make any great finds this weekend?

I’m linking to Her Library Adventures, Boogie Board Cottage’s Masterpiece Monday and Apron Thrift Girl this week. Be sure to visit them to see other neat stuff people uncovered over the weekend!

Some of you have said you like seeing photos of the things I find when I go out exploring, so here’s a few from my recent forays. Some might show up in the next giveaways, some will be for sale on eBay and some will stay right here in my house

These are Tuesday’s finds. Tuesdays are a good day to go looking in this area because seniors get 10% off at the grocery store and at Goodwill! There are a couple of thrift stores in the area that open on Tuesdays too. And since our writers group meets on Tuesday mornings now, I know I’ll be in town, for all sorts of good reasons. (I still laugh when I think that I qualify for a senior’s discount because I don’t think of myself that way, but the calendar says otherwise.)

Here’s a closer look:

Tiny pewter frames, a tole-painted and signed napkin holder, hand-stitched quilted wall hanging, an iridized glass brandy snifter, set of stainless steel mixing bowls, and you can just see the edge of a pack of small Christmas ornaments, and the handle of a Fire-King casserole stand (found for 25 cents–someone had been using it as a candle stand so I had some wax to clean off); and

A crewel-work picture, small white platter, hand-braided small rug, a handmade cup, saucer and plate that have the name “Suzanne” on them (anyone know a Suzanne?), a glass mug with white trees frosted on it,

cute wooden cabinet (needs to be repainted, but still, a wood shelf with wood drawers for a quarter?!), green glass tree jar, frosted deer candle holder, tiny glass ornaments, red and green votives  a pretty pink tea cup and white china teacup (I have a saucer for it), a stained glass garden spike,

a gold wedding jar candy dish, two brass framed pictures, tiny made-in Japan salt and peppers in a basket, 2 pairs of lovely floral curtains (handmade and like new), a soft pastel-flowered dresser scarf, and a silk, signed scarf. A few other things didn’t make it to the photo.

Last Tuesday I went to Wheeling, WV and came back with a carload. Here’s a little of what I found on that trip:

This beautiful jam jar is just stunning. It has a little crack near where the slot for the spoon is but even with that, it’s a beauty.

So that’s some of my recent finds. Have you been out junking this week? What did you find?