Violets on the Tea Cups

Last month when I was in Indiana, Rachel had a gift for me. She said it was a thank you gift for helping her with her blog. I was so excited to open it up and discover a cup-and-saucer set to add to my violet tea set collection. It's the cup with a pedestal between the sugar bowl and cream pitcher. Isn't it beautiful?

My collection started in 1995 when my mother brought me the tea pot from England. Later she gave me a cup-and-saucer set that coordinated but was actually a different brand. Over the years the collection has grown piece by piece. I first started blogging about it in 2008, at which time I had the tea pot plus three cup-and-saucer sets. I've found several pieces at thrift stores or garage sales, but the ones I treasure most are those given to me by special people in my life.

Sentiment aside, I have a hard time choosing a favorite piece. I think it's so much more interesting to have an eclectic set, than if they all matched and were purchased at once.

Vintage China

 For several years I've enjoyed collecting random pieces of pretty vintage china when I find it at a garage sale or thrift store. Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know about my eclectic violet tea set. Other than that the only full set of china I have is a set that Mother gave me that originally belonged to my great-grandmother.

I have treasured Granny's china and enjoyed displaying it and using it, but the pattern is not one I would have chosen. I like a delicate floral pattern. In fact, my favorite piece (other than the violet dishes) is a sweet little bread-and-butter plate I picked up for 50 cents about 3 years ago.

Imagine how thrilled I was this morning to discover a full service for 8 of that very pattern at a Salvation Army store we just "happened" to go in!

The set included dinner plates, soup bowls, salad plates, dessert bowls, and cups and saucers, plus a serving bowl, a cream pitcher, and sugar bowl. There were only 6 cups, but 8 of everything else (except the serving pieces, of course.) The price marked was $52.10. The dishes were all stacked on a counter so I thought maybe they had been spoken for. I asked the lady behind the counter who told me she had just put them out.

Lyle had given me some money a few weeks ago that he said I was to spend on something just for me. I had been hoarding it for just such a time. As I stood deliberating over it, the manager announced over the loud-speaker, "Our special today is 25% off brick-a-brack items..." That's when I noticed that the price tag was labeled "brick-a-brack!"

"This would be 25% off?" I asked the lady.

"Yes," she assured me. "It's labeled brick-a-brack, so that counts."

"I'll take it!" I declared.

She offered to wrap it and box it up for me while I continued to look around.

I went to find Lyle. "I just bought a set of china dishes," I told him. He knows my fondness for pretty china.

We were casually wandering through the furniture department when I spotted a hutch.

Lyle said, "I guess you need that to put your dishes in, don't you?"

It was marked $80. Mmm. I didn't really want to spend that much.

"Furniture is 50% off today," Lyle told me.

"It is?!" I guess I had been so tuned in to the "brick-a-brack" special that I tuned out everything else.

 So I got my dishes for $38... and the hutch to put them in for $40.

My "new" dishes coordinate nicely with Granny's china (which includes service for 6) so now I have enough dishes that I can have up to 14 guests and still set a pretty table! Before, any time we had more than 2 people for dinner I had to either use every-day dishes or paper-ware.

Naturally I had to come home and rearrange the living room to fit the hutch in just so, and then arrange all my pretty dishes in it. What fun!

How about a cup of tea?

Summer Saturdays

The past 2 or 3 summers I have managed to convince the Man of the Place that a fun "date" is to take me garage-saling on Saturday mornings. We pick out the "Saturday only" garage sales listed in the Nickel's Worth, he programs Rhoda (our GPS), we stop at the ATM and then our favorite coffee kiosk, and we're off. Some weeks we find very little. Other weeks we spend our full "allowance" (usually $40-$60). It doesn't really matter. It's just fun.

Yesterday was our first garage sale expedition for this summer. As we waited for our coffee, he asked me, "What are we looking for?" Umm... well... I'm not really sure. I'll know it when I see it. But... umm... clothes, if we can find any that fit... and umm... well, you know, pretty vintage dishes and stuff. Can't you imagine how excited the man is to set off on a shopping trip with such a vague list? He kinda smirked at me, but good-naturedly followed Rhoda to our first "destination" (that's what she calls Garage Sales).

It turned out to be a good day for bargains. We got a nice 2-person swing for the backyard (like a porch swing, only on a stand), a vintage floor lamp for the family room, some books, games, and puzzles for Becky, some jeans, hand-towels, and a nice purse-- all for less than $50.

But my favorite find?

This sweet vintage plate and three pretty hankies for a grand total of $1.25!

This is what I'm really looking for at garage sales. Just a wee bit of vintage loveliness to add to my "parlor" decor. I love finding just a bit at a time like this, because then it doesn't cost very much, plus I don't end up with more stuff than I know what to do with.

Want to read about more garage sale finds? Visit the Garage Sale Treasures meme @ My Life on a Taffy Pull.

Animal Collectibles

A couple of years ago for Christmas my parents started a collection of Schleich animals for Becky. She really enjoys her collection and would add to it with every bit of pocket money she ever received if we would just let her! We think it makes it more special for her to just get a few occasionally, so we told her she can't buy them for herself. My parents bring her one or two every time they come, and she usually gets a few for Christmas and her birthday. She treasures each of them.

A few weeks ago, I happened across a giveaway of Schleich animals on Have Sippy Will Travel. It was a collection of 7 animals that Becky didn't already have. Samantha offered several ways to enter and I think I did them all! I knew Becky would be thrilled if I won. I didn't tell her I had entered, though, until I got the notification a few days later that I had actually won! (Thank you, Samantha, for the great giveaway and for making the extra effort to get in touch with me.)

Becky was very excited to add to her collection the Water Buffalo daddy and Calf, the Warthog Family (complete with both parents), and the Lion daddy and Cub.

When my parents came this time they brought her the Kangaroo. And then she used some money PaPa gave her to get the Lipizzaner stallion. (We let her get just one since the money was a gift.) She loves to pore over the catalog to think about what animal she might get next. Her collection is steadily growing.

Friendship Tea

 I love the way God brings special friends alongside to encourage me just at the time I need it most. One day last week I received a package in the mail from my childhood friend, Denise. I haven't seen Denise in... oh, 20 years or more... but we reconnected online about 3 years ago and have stayed in touch sporadically since then. However, it had been awhile since I had heard from her. Her family has some health problems, so I was sure she had been busy with that. But when my daughters carried the package in to me the other day and I saw the return address, I just knew it was going to be something special!

And I was right! The box was filled with bubblewrap with this note on top:

Merry Christmas, Karla!
    Enclosed are three different tea cups with violets that I have collected for you! The collection was started when I briefly left my husband's hospital room for a break and visited a favorite thrift store nearby. There the snack plate with tea cup was spotted. A thought of you brightened my dreary day and the collecting began!
    Tea for one is fun... but not as much as tea with three! So, I thought I would wait to send it until I had enough for you and your girls! Yesterday, I finally found the third one!
     Enclosed are some homemade Buckeyes from the Buckeye State~ sweets from where you and your Sweeties first met!
     I trust you had a wonderful Christmas that 2011 will be the best year yet!
Love,
     Your Childhood Friend,
          Denise

 

 I have to say, that quite made my day! And gave me just the lift I needed! I loved unwrapping and admiring each beautiful piece to add to my eclectic violet tea set. My girls were just as charmed as I was.

Thank you, Denise, for such a lovely gift... and especially for your words of encouragement!

Schleich - review

Last year at Christmas-time my parents hit upon the perfect gift for my animal-loving daughter. They carefully selected several animal figurines from their local farm store and wrapped them up individually for her, then put them all in a larger gift box. Becky had so much fun unwrapping and discovering each animal-- which have provided many hours of imaginative play since. My parents were so impressed with the quality of the animals that they bought one for several of the other grandchildren as stocking stuffers. The other grandchildren, who aren't quite as into animals as Becky is, absolutely loved them as well! So "Grammy" got a catalog which each of the grandchildren has pored over and marked with their favorites. Now Grammy has an on-going wishlist for several special occasions to come!

Needless to say, we were very excited to be selected to review the Schleich brand for the TOS Crew. I hadn't told Becky ahead of time that we would be getting a package, but when it came she immediately recognized the brand-name on the packing tape. Mean mom that I am, I drew out the suspense awhile longer, telling her that package was for me, and she couldn't open it! After a few minutes, I cut the tape and drew out the animals one-by-one and gave them to her. I had wondered if we would get any duplicates to what she already had, but we didn't.

We received an okapi (the funny-looking dude in the back with the long ears), a gnu and gnu calf (looks a little like a skinny buffalo), a donkey, an Asian elephant calf, a Swabian-Hall piglet, a Dartmoor pony, and a Przewalski's horse.

Becky was especially thrilled to re-unite the new donkey with it's baby, which she already had in her collection.

Included in the box was a catalog of all the animals available. Becky had an older catalog that I picked up several years ago, but she had literally worn it out from paging it through it so many times-- as in, it was falling apart! She's put in plenty of time with the new catalog already, and can tell you exactly which animals she owns and which ones she would like next.

I didn't take the time to look them all up, but this is a picture of her complete collection, as of now. Of course, her birthday is coming up... so she's hoping to add to it. We'll just have to see!

I have been impressed with how realistic and durable the animals are. Great as toys or collectible figurines, either one. The only thing I don't like is that the scale is not the same for all them. (See how the German Shepherd in the middle of the picture is bigger than the baby elephant?) However, that does not bother my daughter at all.

Schleich animals are available at local retail stores. Around here I've seen them at Target, Fred Meyer, and D and B Farm Supply. Prices range from $2-3 for the smallest animals to $15 or so for the larger ones. I have also seen various sets available as well. There is a store locator on the Schleich website.

"A Young Girl's Dream"

If you've read my blog for very long you know I have a small collection of vintage dishes... just odds and ends I've picked up here and there. Most don't have any sentimental value. I just think they're pretty.

One of my faithful blog readers is my Aunt 'Lene who blogs at Meditations and Memories. She also collects pretty dishes, but she's been at it a lot longer than I have! Last summer when I went to Louisiana for my grandmother's funeral, Aunt 'Lene gave me this pretty Norman Rockwell plate. She has a whole collection of them on the wall of her dining room but she wanted me to have this one. She said it made her think of me and she thought I would like it. She even let me look at her other Rockwell plates to see if there was another one I would like better. There wasn't. She was right! This one was my favorite!

So she told me me the story about it. She had seen the plate advertised in a magazine, 25 years ago or so, and just loved it. So she splurged and bought it for herself. She said it reminded her of a trip she made by bus when she was a young lady. (Aunt 'Lene, correct me if I got the story wrong!)

It's a limited edition plate (though not particularly rare) with a date of 1985 on the back. That must have been about the time Aunt 'Lene got it... and it was the year I was married. So that makes it even more special to me!

Right now I have it on a shelf with other dishes in the living room. I plan to eventually hang it in the bedroom when I finally finish re-decorating in there. I think it will look neat with a vintage suitcase and some old linens nearby.

Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage Thingy Thursday posts.

Liberty Blue

For the last couple of years--ever since we moved into our "new" house--I've been collecting a few eclectic pieces of old china for the living room shelves. Not a complete set of anything, just pretty pieces I come across at garage sales or thrift stores. While I was at my parents' house at Christmastime I was able to add a few pieces from my past. Here's the story:

When I was growing up my dad almost always had a secondary job in addition to pastoring. In 1976, when I was 10 years old, he worked at the A&P grocery store. We liked that job for him because he often brought home really cool stuff that the store was discontinuing. That year, in celebration of the Bicentennial, A&P carried this set of Liberty Blue dishes as a special promotion. You've seen those types of deals. Buy so many dollars worth of groceries, get a certain piece of china for a really cheap price this week. At the end of the promotion, for some reason, the store had a whole bunch of the little dessert bowls leftover, plus, apparently, a cream pitcher and salt-and-pepper set, and I don't remember what else.

Mother had the idea that we girls could start our hope chests with these dishes. So we did! I think I had a dozen of the little bowls. No plates (the plate in the picture is actually a different pattern), no cups and saucers, just these few odd pieces.

I never did care for a busy pattern on dishes, so I didn't think these were especially pretty, but I did think it was interesting that each piece featured a different patriotic scene. The little dessert bowls have Betsy Ross. For some reason the cream pitcher and the salt-and-pepper shakers both have Paul Revere. I found a list of other dishes (and scenes) in the set at Robbins Nest, and I was just amazed at the prices! Which brings me to the second part of the story.

Like I said, I wasn't real crazy about these dishes, but I did use the little bowls for several years when I was first married, just "for every day" and of course, some of them got broken. After we had been married 13 years, we were packing up to move from Kansas to Idaho. My mother came to help. We had a garage sale and got rid of a lot of stuff, the way you do when you move. I stuck these dishes in the garage sale box, but I guess my mother decided they were worth saving. I didn't remember that at all.

At Christmastime (just past) I noticed that she had two of the little bowls sitting on a shelf in the bathroom with shells in them. I assumed they were some she had from the left-overs Dad brought home all those years ago. I thought how neat it would be to have them for my "dish shelf" so I decided to ask her about them. "Mother, you know how you've said that if we see something in your house that we want, we should just ask you for it? Well, I'd like to have those two little Liberty Blue bowls that you have in the bathroom."

Her immediate response was, "Why, of course! Take them!" So I moved the shells to another dish and washed the bowls. The next day she came in carrying a taped-up envelope box from the basement. "Karla, look here!" I went to see what she had. This was the box of "treasures" she had "rescued" from my garage sale almost 12 years ago. In the box was another bowl, the cream pitcher, and the salt-and-pepper shakers! (The rest of the stuff in the box I still didn't want.)

I was happy to have these nostalgic pieces back in my collection. And my mother is just gloating that she thought to save them... especially after I showed her the current price of these dishes!

Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage Thingy Thursday posts.

Additions to my violet tea-set

My eclectic violet tea-set is growing! Last summer I added a cup-and-saucer set I found at a garage sale, and then in March I received another cup-and-saucer set in a tea swap I participated in. So then I had the teapot plus 5 different cups-and-saucers.

A couple weeks ago I found this cute little demitasse-size cup-and-saucer at a thrift store to add to my collection.
Later, I couldn't pass up this pretty violet saucer for 75 cents at a garage sale, even if it didn't have a matching cup!
I just tucked it up under another saucer for now.
Who knows? I might come across a stray cup sometime that doesn't have a saucer, and then those two pieces can be partners!

Thrifty China

I like watching for odd pieces of pretty vintage china at garage sales and thrift stores. I'm somewhat frugal when it comes to collectibles, so I don't collect anything expensive or very valuable. Just cheap pieces that I like.

A few weeks ago I found 2 large soup bowls with a gold-filigree-on-dark-green border that I thought were pretty. They are a very practical size so I was happy to get them for $1 each.

This past weekend I found a similar saucer for 75 cents. As I was buying it I thought about how fun it would be if it happened to match the 2 bowls. I had to laugh at myself when I got home! The saucer had a red border... and I had completely forgotten that the bowls were green!

But they look pretty together, don't they?
I also got this red transferware saucer at the same garage sale for 75 cents. Actually, I'm not sure that it's a saucer. It's probably a bread plate, but it's the size of a saucer.
Then I stacked them all together with another bowl and a lidless sugar bowl that I had added to my collection last summer.
I use my pretty dishes occasionally... but mostly I just enjoy looking at them.

A Tea Swap

This is a shout-out to Diane @ Little Birdie's Nest! Back in the fall she hosted a "Falling Leaves Tea Swap" that I participated in. I had a lot of fun putting my package together with fall themed basket of pumpkin spice tea, and some crocheted coaster doilies that I made of fall-colored thread and other goodies. I was disappointed when I learned that the package that was sent to me had been lost in the mail, but those things do happen from time-to-time... so I didn't think too much about it.

However, Diane did! When she found out I never received my package, she put together one for me! What happened was not at all her fault and she wasn't at all obligated to make up for it... but I think she must just be a very thoughtful person.

It was a delight to open the box and find a box of chamomile tea, a pretty vintage apron in spring green with a rose applique pocket, a set of rose-colored napkins, 2 pony-tail elastics, some tea-time recipes...
...and best of all, a violet cup-and-saucer set! Diane must have read back through my blog to discover that I have a mix-and-match violet tea-set! This makes 5 violet cup-and-saucer sets in my collection, and each one is distinctively different. I love it!

Thank you, Diane!

My Calendar Plate

My mother always uses her "good china" for special occasions -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, company dinners -- and when I was a little girl, any time the table was set with Mother's good china, I had the privilege of eating from this "special" plate. See? It's a calendar of my birth year!
I have four siblings and none of them had a "special" plate. One time I asked Mother where my plate came from and why the others didn't have one.

"Oh, it was in some stuff Grandmother had... and since you were the only grandchild born in 1965, she gave it to you."

It wasn't like Grandmother to buy such things for gifts for the grandchildren. She was much more practical than that, and besides her gifts were usually hand-made. I wonder if she received it as a gift for Christmas 1964 and when 1965 was over she "re-gifted" it to me? Or maybe it was in a box of stuff she got at an auction?

In any case, it was my "special" plate and so I got to eat off of it on special occasions. That's why the design is beginning to wear off. It's amazing to me that it has survived all these years without getting broken!

Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage Thingy Thursday posts.

Vintage Hankies

I like collecting small vintage items, so when I came across this bundle of old handkerchiefs this summer I decided they would be a great start to a vintage hanky collection! I have enjoyed looking at them and using them for decorating. Some are printed and some are embroidered. I was especially fascinated by the tiny Pluto child's handkerchief.
I remember my mother always had a pretty hanky in her purse when I was a little girl. I wonder if she still carries one? (Mother, do you?) Update: She does!

"I had to look to be sure, but yes, there is a blue print hankie in my purse right now. Kleenex just aren't always enough!"

A couple of weeks ago when I posted about the Junior Elf books I told about making hanky babies in church. Someone asked how it was done, so I decided to make a "tutorial" because everyone ought to know how to do this!

First, fold the hanky in half crosswise to make a triangle:The next step is to roll the two narrow points toward each other:Then, fold upper layer of the bottom corner up over the rolls, while holding the lower layer down.
The lower layer gets folded up behind the rolls.
The rolls are the twin babies, and when you hold the corners, you can swing the hammock and rock the babies to sleep!

For more vintage goodies pop over to Confessions of an Apron Queen for Vintage Thingy Thursday.

Vintage Crochet Patterns

As an avid crocheter with an interest in "all things vintage" I was delighted recently when a friend of mine let me go through her crochet patterns and borrow any I liked!
My friend is in her 70s and enjoys crocheting as much as I do, so we often compare projects and share ideas.When I mentioned that I had been enjoying making crocheted flowers lately, she was sure she had some patterns I would like. And she was right!These are the covers of some of the books I borrowed. Aren't they just delicious? The cover price on most of them is 10 cents! Can you imagine?
Which pattern do you like best?

Vintage Library Blessing

Being the book hound I am, I couldn't resist this quaint framed blessing when I came across it at a garage sale this summer:
I just love the verbose pompous wording! "O God, the Lord of all knowledge, mercifully bestow thy blessing upon this library that it may be protected from fire and all other evils; grant that at times it may congruously be enlarged and that all those who resort hither officially or for the sake of study, may advance in divine and human knowledge, and in love of Thee through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."

I especially like the part about, "...grant that at times it may congruously be enlarged..." And anytime you would like to "resort hither officially or for the sake of study" just let me know!

The interesting thing about this piece of art-work is that the wording was printed (on a printing press) but the "O", the scroll, book, flowers, border, and "Amen" were painted by hand. I wonder how old it is? And I wonder where it originally hung?

It's hanging in my office/library now.

Violet Teacup

Remember my mix-and-match violet tea-set? I found another cup-and-saucer to go with it! That makes four... and each one different. This one's not quite as pretty as the other three, but for $3.50 I'm not complaining!
Isn't it fun to collect something just a little out-of-the-ordinary and then find a piece for your collection at a very reasonable price?

Just thought I'd show you the latest addition as part of Kelli's Show & Tell Friday.