Thrift Share Monday

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the Couroc owl plate giveaway from my last Thrift Share post is Denise over at ratty daddy dinkdum where she and her daughter, Beth, blog about their crafting adventures making fun and funky scrappy scarves.  As you can see from this post, Beth is a big fan of vintage owls so I know that their mother/daughter team will be excited to receive this little beauty.

While I didn't post much at all last week, I did manage to fit in one quick trip to Goodwill and I found something that I've been hoping to find for the past several years.  (More on that in a moment.)  What I have been doing a lot of this past week is rolling up my proverbial sleeves and purging things from the house - I look forward to sharing my progress over the next couple of weeks.

I know that I am not alone amongst thrifters when I declare that there are certain items for which I have a particular affinity - those things that will make me stop, look, and admire them even if I am not making a purchase. For me, this includes vintage Pyrex (especially bowls), vintage and antique serving platters, unique serving bowls, pottery, wooden housewares, knitting supplies, books, cast iron cookware, wool blankets, just about anything that is robin egg blue, and items of an unusual nature.  I happened to run into many items from my list of favorite things at the thrift this last week.  I am sure that I am also not alone in my recognition that more often than not I should simply admire these things and not bring them home because I don't need more stuff.

Here is some of what did NOT come home with me.

This appears to be the Pyrex Bramble pattern and it is one that I had not seen before.

In addition to this bit of vintage Pyrex goodness, I found a number of other vintage casserole dishes on nearby shelves including more Pyrex, FireKing, and some unmarked pieces.  I collected them in one place for the picture below and found myself asking another anxious shopper if she could wait for just a moment to take something from the pile while I photographed it.  Once I explained that I didn't plan to buy any of it and pointed her in the direction of the other Pyrex piece pictured above, she relaxed (after "joking" that she thought was was going to need to start a brawl to get what she wanted) and let me snap this regrettably blurry photo.

I saw an elderly woman proudly showing off a piece that matched the unmarked green dish above to a friend.  When I mentioned that I knew where she could find a companion piece she was thrilled to add it to her cart.  I may not have taken any of this home, but it was fun to help two fellow thrifters find things that thrilled them.

Although these plates, which looked completely unused, caught my eye (they very much reminded me of this set I put up for a Thrift Share giveaway last month) I left them on the shelves for someone else to buy.  They were very cool, but also very likely to end up in a cabinet at my house where they would remain unused were I to bring them home.

Like the other plates, these were made in Japan.  Instead of teak, though, these are made of suzuki wood.

I did find several items that made the cut and ended up in my cart.  The first is this super soft angora yarn made in France.  It still has the original price tag of $16.50 on it - I paid $2.25 and look forward to incorporating it into a knitted gift for a loved one.

Although it is a bit hard to tell from this photo, the yarn is a light green color.

I enjoy being able to share baked goods with others on pretty vintage plates - if they make back home to me that is fine, but if they find a new home where they are enjoyed elsewhere that is great, too.  This one begged to be brought home because of its simple design and lovely blue color.

I don't know that I'll keep this little wooden bowl, but I plan to use the scoop for loading birdseed into our feeders.

E2B was particularly enamored of this find.  My plans to find the bowl a new home may not be successful if he has anything to say about it.

 I was lucky enough to find these two pieces of handmade pottery.

This vase was made by a potter here in Virginia - I look forward to filling it with flowers during these long, hot summer months.

I see a delicious stew served in this to warm us when the weather turns cool later in the year.

And then there's this - the piece that I've been hoping to find for years.  This is a Cathrineholm enamel bowl.  (If you are unfamiliar with this iconic design, you can read a bit more about it here.)  I have been admiring this sort of enamelware from afar in the blogosphere and each time I visit a thrift store, or stop in at an estate sale, or go yard "sailing" on a Saturday morning I keep my eyes open.  This may be my favorite find of the year not only because it is something that I have been searching for, but also because it is this incredibly lovely blue color.  Most of the Cathrineholm pieces I have seen in photos are green or blue and white - I never even knew that it came in a blue on blue pattern until I stumbled across this.

I've decided to forgo hosting a giveaway this week, as I still have several previous giveaways waiting to be mailed off.  Not to worry, with all of the purging going on around here I will have more goodies to share in coming weeks.  In the meantime, I am linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

Have a wonderful week, friends!

"Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?"  ~James Montgomery