Thrift Share Monday and vintage linens giveaway

I haven't done much thrifting recently in large part because I've been furiously purging my house of "stuff" (in particular I've been focusing on my problem area, a project that I'll share in this space soon) and haven't made the time to hit up yard sales or stop in any of the local thrifts.  That's not to say that I haven't done any thrifting at all, but it does help explain why it has been more than a month since I've published a Thrift Share post.  It has also been more than two months since I've held a Thrift Share giveaway, but that has less to do with my sporadic thrifting than the fact that I was determined not to host another giveaway until I got all of my previous giveaway goodies out in the mail.  This took me an embarrassingly long time.  Happily, I've finally taken care of that last lingering package and I'm back to share some thrifting love.

I've picked a few recently thrifted items - and one not-so-recently thrifted item - to share with you today.  The first is this sweet little Pyrex cinderella bowl in the black and white gooseberry pattern.  While it would have been ideal in pink and white (to match the only other piece of Pyrex gooseberry I own), I was excited to find this one.  It is 2 1/2 quarts and ever since purging these bowls I have been without a cinderella bowl this size.

A friend of mine is getting ready to start her first year in the classroom after a career in business and then being at home full-time with her girls.  She will be teaching the fifth grade and asked amongst friends if anyone had chapter books on a third to seventh grade level that she might include in her classroom reading nook.  Some of the books you see here were from my (almost entirely thrifted) book stash and others were purchased specifically for this purpose at one of the local Goodwill stores.  And in case you were wondering - yes, this photo is taken in a bathroom.  I transformed an unused bathtub into a book nook for my kids (another project I'll share here sometime soon).

Finally, this item is a proverbial blast from the past.  I bought this Smurf nightlight as a birthday gift for Princess Wonder several years ago, long before the resurgence in interest in all things Smurf courtesy of the movie released this summer.  I bought it not so much because of the Smurfs - in fact, I still would have bought it without the Smurf figurines - but because its inherent sense of whimsy just felt right for my little dreamer.  It is marked underneath with "By Josh & Shirley '82" - thanks, Josh and Shirley!

And now, onto this week's giveaway.  I even promise that it won't take me two months to mail it out to the winner.  As part of my recent house purging, I've let go of A LOT of crafting items.  As I've shared in the past, I am challenged by aspirational clutter (you know, that cool stuff that you're going to use someday). Well, these vintage linens fall squarely into that category.  One of my goals is to re-learn how to sew with my sewing machine - something I haven't done since I was in middle school home economics.  I am inspired by so many cool projects I find in books and on the blogosphere and I picked up these vintage sheets and towel to use in some unknown and undefined sewing project.  Now I am passing these along to someone else who might actually use them in some way.  If you are interested in these, please just leave a comment between now and midnight EST on Friday.

I am linking up to Selena's Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl.

Happy Monday, friends!


"Clutter-clearing is modern-day alchemy."  ~Denise Linn

Thrift Share Monday - Lego love

I haven't done much thrifting these past several weeks, but on the way to our family reunion over the Independence Day holiday we happened to drive past a yard sale with a lot of toys so we hooked a U-turn and went back to see if they were selling any Legos.  I didn't see any out with the masses of other toys, but I asked the gentleman running the sale if he had any and he proceeded to pull two big bags out of the back of his truck.  As I mentioned in this post, ours is a family of Lego fans - Running Man and E2B especially - and the vast majority of Lego bricks that we own have been thrifted.  Although this often means purchasing incomplete sets or sets without building directions, the beauty of Lego is that you can easily find instructions for any set packed back to 2002 online.  Also, with enough random bricks and partial sets, it is fairly easy to find most missing pieces that you might need.

It was clear when I was first looking at the Legos - which the seller dumped into a box for me to get a better look at - that there was at least one set of Star Wars Legos in the mix (it turns out that there are significant portions of three sets) along with some plates and pieces from an Indiana Jones set.  The seller offered the lot for $25.  I gladly paid the asking price and loaded them into our vehicle.  In the week and a half since then, E2B has been feverishly building every chance that he's had.  That, my friends, is $25 well spent!

I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

Happy thrifting, friends!


"There are all sorts of things embodied in the LEGO brick - geometry and mathematics and truth and proportion and shape and colour...It is a faintly spiritual activity that everybody connects with."  ~James May

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

Thrift Share Monday and Couroc giveaway

Congratulations to Lisanne, the winner of last week's giveaway for the groovy vintage skates - I don't have a brand new key for you, but the skates are all yours!

This past weekend was full of final soccer games of the season, family visits, birthday parties for loved ones, and picnics, so I didn't manage to fit in any yard sales.  I did take a little bit of time while I was "kid free" last week to drive down to the Goodwill outlet to prowl around for some hidden treasures.  As tempted as I was by a number of things that I saw, I only picked up a few items.

This vintage geology experiment kit was still wrapped in plastic.  Why someone felt the need to maul the box by ripping it open at the lower right hand corner in order to get a peek at the contents is baffling.  Fortunately I believe that most of it is still here.

I left the room after photographing the box for this post and returned to find E2B enthusiastically checking out the contents.

I don't think that any of these materials have been used, but clearly some of the liquids have evaporated over time.

I have several boxes like this that I really enjoy - the tile evokes a sense of time and place that speak to a quiet place.

E2B read about stamp collecting in a book at school this year and has been faithfully collecting his own stamps ever since.  At the bargain price of 25 cents, I knew that he would get a kick out of flipping through it.

I just LOVE cast iron cookware.  I received my first cast iron skillet from my parents a few years ago and it is, hands down, my favorite pan to cook with.  I'm always on the lookout for cast iron while thrifting and I'm really hoping to find a griddle to replace the electric one that recently died.

This one is just a little guy, but I have a variety of sizes.

A little touch of practicality - this will come in handy for keeping drinks cold when we're out and about this summer without having to drag along a big cooler.

And now onto this week's giveaway, this small vintage Couroc owl plate.  Ever since so many folks commented about the tray and glasses I left behind at a church rummage sale last month, I've been thinking about sharing this little number with another Couroc/owl fan out there.

If you'd like to win this plate for yourself or as a fun treat for someone else, please leave a comment on this post by midnight EST on Saturday evening and I'll draw a winner by next week's Thrift Share post.  I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl.

Happy Monday, friends!


"If you don't own a cast iron skillet, it's well worth the time and money to invest in one.  You can find them for sale...[at] thrift stores, flea markets, or you can scour the tag and yard sales for one that might look as if it has seen better days.  If the pan is rusty or encrusted with grease, buy it anyway.  Don't worry!  I'll tell you how to get that new or old one into shape so you can enjoy it for a lifetime of fat free cooking.  You'll be able to pass the pan on to your own children and grandchildren."  ~ whatscookingamerica.net (cast iron cookware page)

Summer Fun Thrift Share Giveaway

For the second week in a row, I'm a day late with Thrift Share Monday, but Tuesday isn't too far off the mark so I'm just going to roll with it. Congratulations to Ryan for winning last week's giveaway for the mid century teak snack trays!  You can check out her thoughtful, honest, and periodically self-depracating posts about life and family over at her blog The Woven Moments.  She has an engaging writing style and I always look forward to what is coming next (one of my favorite posts - and one that I think every new mother, or friend visiting a new mother, should read - can be found here).

I haven't done any new thrifting between last week's Thrift Share post and today (I will share some goodies from recent thrifting adventures that I haven't previously posted, though), but I have been by Goodwill donation centers several times.  This past weekend Running Man challenged us to clean out the garage.  Although it started as a family affair, I have to shamefully admit that most of it was stuff that I had accumulated from one place or another and shoved in the garage to deal with "later"...procrastination, the bane of good intentions.  After soccer games wrapped up on Saturday Running Man, E2B, and Princess Wonder dragged everything that was just sitting on the floor (insert properly abashed look here) out into the driveway. I don't have any before pictures of the garage (they were too quick for me), but here is a picture of the embarrassingly large quantity of stuff once it had been dragged outside.

This doesn't even include all of the play equipment that we had stored on shelves and in drawers (much of which found a new home after the weekend). 

This is only one of several piles that was destined for Goodwill or the free/too-good-to-throw-away section of the local dump.

When all was said and done, I took three trips to Goodwill, one to the free section of the landfill, one to a family member's house to share goodies like a wagon and trike that my kiddos had outgrown, and - trying to purge with a purpose - I ventured to a variety of other places that I thought could make good use of the many things we weren't using.

Now that I've shared my junky garage clean up, onto those previously thrifted finds I promised.  The first is this little saucer.  It is a bit hard to tell from this photo, but the leaves on the flowers around the edge are green and robin egg blue.  I am a sucker for robin egg blue on vintage dishes - it just makes me happy!  I bought it because I bought a pair of tea cups some time ago that I had hoped would coordinate with this saucer, despite the fact that the patterns are different.

I'm not crazy about the design, but I really dig the colors!

They look okay together, but I think that I need to keep searching for a better match.  Does anyone know what either of these patterns are?

I found all of the books pictured below during the same trip.  Fostering empathy and compassion in my children is one of the most important things that I think I can do as a parent so I'm interested to check this pair of books out to see what they have to offer.

"A Thousand Small Sparrows: Amazing Stories of Kids Helping Kids" (you can read the story about Sparrow Clubs USA here) and "Starting Small: Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades (from a training kit for early childhood educators by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Project)

These are a blast from the past - I remember the Mr. Men and Little Miss series by Roger Heargreaves from my own childhood.

Miss Intrepid is a particular fan of this series, so I was thrilled to find these three.    One of them might remind me of her just a bit (I'm looking at you, Little Miss Chatterbox!).

This next one was one of those finds that made me stop in disbelief - and then rush to the shelf in excitement - when I saw it.  I first read about the Tightwad Gazette on Apron Thrift Girl's blog.  After seeing this post I checked a copy of this three-in-one volume out of the library and really enjoyed perusing it.  I couldn't get through it in the time allotted to me as a borrower and I have been keeping my eyes open hoping to find a copy for myself that I could look through at a more leisurely pace.  So, as you might imagine, I was thrilled to see it sitting on the shelf at the thrift - I fully expect to recoup my $3 with some of the thrifty ideas just waiting to be discovered inside!

"The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle" by Amy Dacyczyn

And now for this week's giveaway - a pair of vintage roller skates made by the Globe Skate Corporation in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.  They are in excellent condition and I bought them about a year ago at my local Goodwill thinking that I could teach the kids to skate.  Fast forward to this past weekend when I found them, used only once in all that time, during our purge in the garage.  Could I use them to teach the kids to skate?  Absolutely.  Is it likely to happen?  Despite my best intentions, probably not.  Plus, we're not the most coordinated bunch around here, so in the absence of anyone expressing a serious interest in learning to skate we'll not risk any sprained ankles for the summer.  Which leads to this week's giveaway.  These skates are really fun and funky and I want to pass them along to someone else who can put them to good use this summer, even if that means using them for purely decorative purposes.

The skates measure approximately 3" wide and the length can be adjusted from about 8"-11".  The red leather straps appear to be original and are in great condition.

I tried to do some research on the Globe Skate Corporation, but other than eBay and Etsy listings for other vintage skates, I came up with a blank.  Does anyone know anything about the company?

Gratuitous red wheel shot because they're beautiful and they remind me of the wheels on the roller skates of my youth.

The simple mechanism on the bottom of the skates that allows you to adjust the length.

If you would like win these skates for yourself or a friend, please leave a comment between now and midnight on Saturday, June 11th.  I will randomly select a winner (we've been employing the have-a-kid-pull-the-winner-out-of-a-hat method around here) and notify them by next week's Thrift Share post. I'm linking up today to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday (congratulations to Selena for her five year "blogiversary"!).

Happy Tuesday, friends!

"I have recently taken up two new sports: roller skating and ankle spraining, in that order.  I am getting quite good at both."  ~Miles Kington

Yes - I'm still here and Thrift Share giveaway

Hello all!  I'm pleased to let you know that, contrary to my spotty presence here in blogland during recent weeks, all is well.  I've actually just returned from a trip to Rome, Italy - I am very excited to share details with you about my travels later this week - so this is just a short post to announce the winner of my last Thrift Share giveaway and to post another giveaway.  I realize that I'm about 2 1/2 weeks late announcing the winner of the Pyrex fridgies, but who's counting?  Besides everyone who threw their name in the proverbial hat, that is - though, point in fact, Miss Intrepid drew the winner's name out of an actual hat for me.  My apologies to everyone who was waiting for an update!

Congratulations to Scarlett Fontaine whose name was drawn as the winner of the Pyrex fridgies!  You can check out her thrifting adventures at car boot sales (the UK equivalent to community "yard" sales here in the States) over at her blog Scarlett Loves Elvis.  I personally always enjoy the tidbits of overheard conversations that she shares.  Of course, I have to agree with her that this week's tidbit was cringe worthy.

And without further ado, here is this week's giveaway:

I just love these mid century modern wood and cork snack trays.  They measure about 6"x8" and they look as though they have never been used.  As you can see, they are shaped like fish and I believe that they are made out of teak.  Per the marking on the back, they were made in Japan though their styling seems Scandinavian to me.

How gorgeous is this little guy?!?

It may be hard to see, but "Japan" is stamped on the back of the tail - this is the only marking.

I did a little bit of searching for some information about these, but couldn't find anything other than a listing for another set on Etsy.  If anyone out there knows more about them, I'd love to hear about it (as would, I'm sure, whoever wins them).  I originally purchased them because they called to mind some Sere Wood snack trays that I picked up at a church rummage sale a few years ago.  I don't have any pictures of mine handy, but you can see photos from an Etsy listing that has already closed here.

If you would like to be entered into this week's giveaway for the set of four snack trays pictured here, please leave a comment between now and midnight EST on Saturday, June 4th.  I will announce the winner in next week's Thrift Share post.  Please only enter if you are planning to use these yourself or gift them to someone else as opposed to reselling them.

In the meantime, I'm linking up a day late to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.  Have a great Tuesday, friends!

Thrift Share Giveaway

I've missed posting a thrift share giveaway over the course of the past month or so and I'm excited to be back not only with a vintage Pyrex giveaway, but also to share some of the goodies that I have managed to thrift in recent weeks weeks.  Read on, fellow thrifters, and feel free to post a comment for your chance to win the fridgies pictured at the end of the post.

Over the past two weeks I've had the chance to stop by two church rummage sales, about a dozen garage and yard sales, and one lovely estate sale.  I'm trying to be more mindful about what I purchase - because I like it and the price is good is not enough of a reason to buy something - so I just satisfied myself with taking photos of some of the things that I came across but decided not to bring home.

I am drawn to Couroc trays and own several of them - at least one of which has this very owl.  Although I swung back down the aisle to check out this bundle several times, I decided to leave this cute little find for someone else.  One of the things I like about Couroc is the wide variety of patterns that have been produced.

The glasses almost made me change my mind.  I not only enjoy Couroc pieces, but I dig owls.  I've seen these glasses in photos, but this was the first time I have actually found any.  It was only the recent addition of the glasses below that stopped me from snapping these up.

This picture doesn't do these glasses justice.  They are absolutely beautiful and I love drinking out them - the kids really like the smaller ones because they are just the right size for their sweet little hands.  These belonged to my paternal grandparents and were their wedding crystal when they got married in 1949.  Sadly, my grandmother passed away in December.  My grandfather recently moved from the home they shared on the river to a cottage in a local retirement community.  He came across these glasses - which have been in a box for about 25 years - in his attic and was pleased to pass them along so that they could be put back into daily use.  I know only that they are called Electra and were made in Europe at least 62 years ago.  I certainly wasn't going to bump these out of my cabinet for the Couroc owls, though I was tempted to get rid of the vintage Smurf glasses that my kids love so much to make room.

Vintage game...complete...priced at just $1?  Ah yes, so very, very tempting!  But after my recent board game purge I decided not to bring this one home.

This vintage precursor to the modern pin ball machine was really cool.  Even so, I don't have a great place to display it and I don't really need one more "cool" thing to collect dust around here.

Okay, these vintage linens were harder to pass up.  They were in great shape and priced reasonably (at 25% off, make that priced very reasonably).

Now that I've demonstrated I am capable of restraint (though Running Man may dispute my claim of self-restraint), I'm happy to share some of the goodies that did come home with me.  This is just a sampling - some of the items I found are destined as gifts, so I don't want any surprises ruined by picturing them here - but I am excited to share just the same.  One of the great things about thrifting is the wide variety of items that can be found. From pieces of Americana to books to office supplies, you never know what might turn up on the shelves of a thrift store or in a box on a driveway.

This box from the Monticello Dairy was a real find for $3 at a yard sale two weekends ago.   Its previous owner was storing (and selling) old records in it and seemed surprised when I asked if I could buy just the box.  I plan to use it for storing books.  Apparently the Monticello Dairy building is still standing - and housing retail stores - in Charlottesville, Virginia but I couldn't find any information about the dairy itself in my initial web search.

This vintage Virginia Dairy bottle was one of two that were at the church rummage sale I made it to on Saturday.  At $5 a piece I bought just the one.  As you can see, it needs a good cleaning, but it will make an excellent vase once it is cleaned out.  My initial searches online didn't turn up anything about the history of the Virginia Dairy.

On the back: "Our SAFETY Code - 1) DRIVE WITH EXTRA CARE  2) WATCH ALL CROSSWALKS  3) SLOW DOWN IN SCHOOL ZONE  4) KEEP ALERT AND HAVE YOUR VEHICLE UNDER CONTROL  5) MAKE SURE ALL IS CLEAR BEFORE BACKING UP"  Seems like good advice for all of us!

They look like they were meant for one another :)

I posted back in March about "The Happiness Project" - a book that I've had out of the library for several months a different times during the past year that I still haven't managed to finish.  At the low price of $2, I was glad to add it to my home library (and save on future library late fees).  "Little John of New England" by Madeline Brandeis was published in 1936 and will join my childhood collection of books in her The Children of All Lands Stories.  One of my goals for 2011 is to explore museums and historical sites around town (#19), so this tour book of Hollywood Cemetery will come in handy.  As soon as I found"The Wishing of Biddy Malone" - the story of a girl who loves to dance and sing and stumbles into a faerie village - I knew that Princess Wonder would love to read it.

The 4" binder looks like it has never been used and set me back a quarter.  The vintage Boston adjustable hole punch (2, 3, or 4 holes) needs a little cleaning, but for $1 was worth a little elbow grease.  The replacement cartridge for my label maker was free and would have cost me at least $12 at an office store.

And, of course, I promised another Pyrex giveaway.  Looking for a new home today are these two sweet little vintage Pyrex fridgies in the butterfly gold pattern.  If you would like to win these, please leave a comment between now and midnight EST on Friday.

Sorry, the inlaid mushroom tray is all mine, but the Pyrex fridgies could be yours!

I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.  Happy Monday, friends!


"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."  ~William Morris