thrift store spoils, ch. 17: Couroc hummingbirds, Porky Pig, and the SS Norway

I'm back after a month-long blogging hiatus. My reasons? Lots of work (I substitute teach)and several snow days (meaning that my kids have been home to trash the house and get in my way). 

And on a much less trivial note, my Kentucky Mamaw died last month. I spent about a week driving to North Carolina to meet up with my parents before driving on to Kentucky and back for the funeral. This Mamaw, my father's mother, was the one I've referenced who spent most of her lifetime on a farm. Among other talents, she maintained her own veggie garden, she quilted blankets (mostly with 60's or 70's fabric), and she churned her own butter. When she got much older, she moved into an easy-to-maintain duplex and, later, on to an assisted living home. Mamaw was 95 when she died. 

Mama asked me whether there was anything of Mamaw's that I'd like to bring back with me, an item to remember her by. My mind immediately went to her aluminum cake cover and carrier. I can't count how many times it was used by Mamaw to serve my brother, my sister, and me one of her three-layered cakes. My aunt and uncle were able to locate the vintage item in Mamaw's garage, and it's now in my kitchen.

I'll use it to store plates of brownies or cookies. Goodness knows I'll never match her in the art of cake making. She knew her stuff.

And on to my latest thrift store finds—I bought this beauty at my favorite GW last month. 

This jacquard tablecloth was made in Austria. My photos stink, I know. But the second photo shows a bit of the detail on the wide border. After I iron it a bit, I'll photograph it better and list it on Etsy.

At the same GW, I found these vintage-hip hummingbird lowball glasses. They're by Couroc—vintage 1950s, I believe. And they're in perfect condition. I'll list them on Etsy as soon as I figure out how to ship them without it costing a fortune. They're quite weighty.  

Yes. I now have yet another mid-century magazine rack to add to my collection. I just love these things. So handy-dandy.

On the way to Kentucky (and we went the backish way—via highways that took us through small Appalachian towns rather than by the more impersonal interstate), Mama and I took note of every Goodwill or Salvation Army store we passed. (I think I've mentioned before that Mama has recently contracted a Pyrex obsession, causing her to stop in at thrift stores as often as the rest of us do?) On the way home, we visited every store on our list.

Of note here is the fact that my brother is an architect who does work for Goodwill in Kentucky: he has both designed rehabs of old buildings for Goodwill offices and/or stores, as well as drawn complete from-the-ground-up plans for them. One of those GW stores Mama and I visited was his creation. Cool!

And at one of those Kentucky stores, I picked up this Glasbake milk glass "Mom" mug. I grabbed it, because I've already sold a pair of similar mugs ("Grandpa" and "Grandma") on Etsy. We'll see how well this one does.

Okay. So it's time to crowd my post with more photos of mugs. What can I say? I cannot pass them up.

This Enesco mug is dated 1978. Garfield was so big back then. (I remember!)It's listed on Etsy.

This mug by Inhesion features artwork by Maria Ryan, as well as her signature. On the bottom of the mug is the name "Cat n' Mouse," which I just don't get. What does "n'" mean?
And? Nope: one too few apostrophes. 
An? Nope: not only does that not make sense, but the apostrophe is in the wrong place.
I've listed this mug on Etsy (cat folks love their cat mugs), but it bothered me to include that incomprehensible name.

This milk glass mug featuring a sweet pastoral scene was manufactured by Anchor Hocking. I have yet to list it (needs a better photo!), and I've yet to research it. The design leads me to believe it's vintage 1980s, though, but I can't be sure.

And I just love this mug. (The blues! Oh, my.) My understanding is that this was sold (or given?) as a souvenir aboard the Norwegian Cruiseline's SS Norway in the early 1980's. I researched and found that the ship was dismantled in 2008. So there will be no more. I thought about keeping this for myself. But, for now, it's listed on Etsy.

I picked these items up here and there: a Longaberger candle crock, a brass owl (with an old Walmart sticker on the bottom?), and a Tupperware ice tea cup (Uncle Si-style). I've already given the cup to my college freshman daughter.

After my trip to Kentucky and on my way home from Mama and Daddy's place, I stopped in at a GW in Salem, Virginia, where I bought this set of Lenox Ware melamine children's cups. I grew up watching Warner Bros. cartoons on Saturday mornings, and I loved the stuttering Porky Pig. 


And to quote this iconic character: That's all, Folks!

Oops. Thanks to Sir Thrift-a-Lot and We Call It Junkin for the opportunity to link up!

thrift store spoils, ch. 16: Dixie Dogwood, Otagiri, and more Pyrex

My mom has caught the Pyrex bug. (I own some of the blame, I'm sure.) Unfortunately, though, she says there's not much of a Pyrex inventory near her home in the North Carolina mountains. So I took pity on her one morning this past week (while she searched Pyrex listings on Ebay) and ran into a few thrift stores I don't get to visit very often—just for her. And I she got lucky.

The following photos are those that I texted her while in the stores, the photos that asked, "Do you want this?"

At my first stop, a SA, I struck yellow. This unnumbered primary bowl was in super condition and priced at only five bucks. A no-brainer.

Primary serendipity! At the next store, a GW just down the road, I grabbed this green 403 for her. It was in pretty good condition, too.

Then I moved a couple of aisles over.

And there sat more primaries. The red 402, God bless it, was way beyond refurbishing, so I recommended (via text) that Mama pass on it. The blue 401, though, I thought had promise.

I wrote to her saying that, despite the scratches, the bowl was a nice enough one for $1.96. But here's the deal: When I got home and washed it, I learned that those weren't scratches after all. Instead, the whitish stuff is some kind of film, which I hope I can remove with some product and a little bit of elbow grease. We'll see.

 

Also at that GW, I got Mama a divided lid for $2.96. (She's even collecting lids now.)

And this is one of two manger scenes I found for her. She has been collecting these for a while. (I take no responsibility for this obsession of hers, by the way.) This cute handmade ceramics project is dated in the late 1970s (about the time Mama and I also had some ceramics fun—when it was quite the thing). It stands only about three inches tall.

At my last stop for her, my favorite GW, I found this Butterfly Gold Cinderella (the vintage 1972-1978 release). It wasn't in great shape, with that dull finish and lots of little scuff marks. But it was priced at $2.96, so I convinced Mama (still via text) to get it. When I got home, I worked on it just a little. I was able to get rid of the marks with Bar Keeper's Friend, but it's still dull. I'm not sure whether I should have gotten it. We'll need to work on it a little more.

And I found her another lid.

And this is what her haul looked like after I washed things up a bit. It was a pretty primary day for her, for sure.

And for myself? I did okay.

This is a bad photo, I know. But I've already washed and packed my new Santa away for next year. (This is the photo I texted to Mama.)  Christmas was 75 percent off that day, by the way, affecting the prices for my Santa and Mama's nativity scenes. And like Mama's nativity scene, my Santa is hand done.

Of course, I had to buy some mugs, all of which are now listed in my Etsy shop. This one is by artist and author Suzy Becker, and it's signed and dated 1991.

I'm so over folk country, but some folks have never abandoned it. And, hey, for some, it's new and retro! So I picked up this mug by Potpourri Press. It's dated 1990. And it oozes that folk-art-country-late-1980s-early-1990s style.

And I say you can't go wrong with an Otagiri mug. Isn't it classic? This one was made in Japan.

I just love these melmac fondue plates, made in Japan. Dijon mustard yellow? Oh, yeah. And they'll coordinate just fine with the plates I found in the summer.

And lastly, I bought this set of 12 bread-and-butter plates, thinking that they might be Blue Ridge Pottery, although there was no making on the bottoms. (I was going to list them in my shop.) Turns out they're actually the Dixie Dogwood pattern by Joni China, which is fine, too. In the end, though, Mama wants them. And that works even better for me. They'll look right at home in her kitchen.

That's all for this week. Hope everyone is having good thrifting luck!

And thanks, as always, to Sir Thrift-a-Lot and a living space for the opportunity to link up.


 

thrift store spoils, ch. 15: Dansk, polyester, and Pyrex

About a week before Christmas, I saw an oval tray by Dansk at one of my regular stops. It was in rough shape, but I knew that it only needed some replenishing oil. It was marked five bucks, though (more than I wanted to pay), and it looked like it had originally come with a couple of serving bowls of some sort, which were missing. Three more times before Christmas (yep, I stop in too often), I picked the thing up again, pondering it, but all three times I left it there.

Then over Christmas and while visiting my parents in North Carolina, I had thrifter's remorse (sound familiar?).


So the morning after driving home, I was back in the store. I beelined for the shelf where I'd last seen it, and (Yay!) there it was. When I brought the poor thing home, it looked like this:

But I got after it with my handy-dandy IKEA replenishing product, and looky here:

Pretty nice, huh? I figure I have enough thrift store bowls sitting around (or stored, Lord knows) to take the place of whatever serving bowls originally sat on both ends. Loving my first Dansk tray!
 
Back to North Carolina—in an Asheville GW, I found a groovy-but-nasty enamel cast iron skillet with a teak handle, made by Copco. There were a couple of places where some of the enamel had chipped off, but the thing was orange, so I was compelled to buy it. At home, I applied lots of BKF and more of the IKEA replenishing stuff. Check it out. 

It makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich, by the way.

Also in North Carolina, I found these cute juice glasses.

They're by Arcoroc (France), and they're sweet. I do think it's weird that they're decorated with onions and mushrooms, though. (Can you juice a mushroom?)

And I found this tablecloth (handmade) for a steal. Mama thinks the fabric was originally used by Henredon Furniture on one of their pieces. Henredon used to build furniture in Mitchell County, North Carolina, until they had to close up shop there about 10 years ago. You still see their high-quality fabric and ornate and gargantuan pieces here and there in the area, though, because they used to have a great, largely unadvertised outlet store on the premises. I still have fabric around my house, bought back in the day. 

Anyhow, the tablecloth was orange, so I scooped it up.

Speaking of fabric, I bought this several weeks ago. It's blue; it's houndstoothy; and it's vintage polyester. Simply beautiful. (Can't you imagine sewing the best woman's pantsuit ever out of this?) My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I will make throw pillow covers for our bedroom with this fine vintage fabric.

Back home, I bought these bread and butter plates in sage. They're Harkerware by Russel Wright, like the charcoal ones I found a couple of weeks ago. They're already listed in my Etsy shop.

I also picked up this perfect Pyrex Butterprint 503 fridgie. Always love that torquoise!

I have a thing for vintage iced tea glasses. Libbey made the turquoise polka-dot one, Anchor Hocking made the black and red carriage one, and I have no idea who made the green and white early-American one. (But I do already have several others in that set, God help me.)

I bought more coffee mugs. (Duh.) The New York mug is a Jay Joshua design (not so old), and the beetle mug is by Tyrrell Katz (vintage, like, 2013?). You can't see it clearly in this photo, by the way, but John Lennon is included as a "beetle."

And that Wife/Hug mug, made in Japan, is kitschy-cute, indeed. I've already listed it on Etsy.

I haven't eaten meat in years, and I rarely serve it. But I had to have these utensils. They look like the ones Alice would have placed on the table for that blended Brady family.

And last, here are some goofy odds and ends. More Tupperware. Yay! And I'm always up for fun and inexpensive planters. Come this spring, all three of these will be filled with sweet, tiny Hens and Chicks.

Oops. I almost forgot an update: I wrote about some overpriced mugs/cups that I've seen for two years now at my favorite thrift store in Mama's town. Well, they were still there this Christmas. Proof.

Sending much appreciation out to Sir-Thrift-a-Lot and a living space for the opportunity to link up!

That is all for now. Happy, happy thrifting, y'all.

thrift store spoils, ch. 14: Couroc, Marimekko Oy, and Harkerware

Just to start us off—what I didn't buy:

Yep. Gross.

I'm off schedule with my posts, so allow me to quickly wrap up the latest events of note:

• I've sold nine items in my new (and still modest) Etsy shop, including that naughty kitty-cat mug by Taylor & Ng. Someone commented on my last post about how easy those are to sell, and I guess she was right.(I feel better now that it's not associated with my name. Weird, I know.)
• I have to research the Ebay auction process some more, because I'm obviously clueless. I did sell three Starbucks mugs a couple of weeks ago, though: I made a decent profit on an Istanbul City Series mug; I made a little profit on a classic mermaid mug; and after losing money on shipping costs, I barely broke even on a Christmas mug. Oh, well.
• My Craigslist listing for the Stendig chairs garnered nothing but a couple of scam inquiries. I may try to list them again in the spring, or I may just keep them for myself.
• As noted in my last post, my mom has developed a taste for vintage glass ball ornaments—particularly Shiny Brites. So I now keep a lookout for those wherever I go.

And that's where I'll start today—with the loot I found for Mama this week.

The three single ornaments are Shiny Brites (they have some blemishes, but I got all three for a buck), and the boxed ornaments are by Coby. Mama is now into the pinks, so when I texted her with info and a photo from the store, she told me to grab them. And, what the heck, grab the red ones, too.

And this is my Christmas loot from the same trip. The Marimekko Oy mug by Pfaltzgraff is vintage 1980's, I think. The winking Santa mug is by Holt Howard, and the five tacky garland packs in the back still have their Kmart price tags. (I'm thinking the garland isn't all that old, and I've never ever used this stuff. I'm ready, though. Love the rich color.) 

The rotund Santa in front is kitschy cool, but I don't know what it is. Note the holes in him, please. There's also a big hole on the bottom of him. Mama suggested that he was once used for some kind of scent or incense? But we don't know. Any ideas out there?

At my favorite GW a couple of weeks ago, I found these six Russel Wright Harkerware plates (bread and butter, maybe?) in charcoal. They're substantial in weight. Really nice. I'm not yet sure whether I'll keep these or list them on Etsy.

I also bought this mid-century modern styled compote thingie. It's made of somewhat cheap materials, but I love its lines and the look. I'm keeping this baby for myself.

I've found a Couroc bowl and a Couroc plate at my GW, but this is the first tray I've found there. Oddly, my GW throws the Courac items in with the plastic stuff. So while I'm hunting through the useless dollar-store throw-aways in hopes of happening upon either Tupperware or melmac, I occasionally find one of these beauties. The inlaid wood on the cardinal's perch is lovely up close, by the way.

I have no idea what this flower is. I do know that it's metal and that there's a magnet on the back of it. It was so cool, though, that I couldn't leave it sitting on the thrift store shelf. I'll think of a purpose for it later.

And now to the mugs that I felt obligated to buy:

Another Marimekko Oy mug by Pfaltzgraff. Again, I think it's vintage 1980's, and it'll soon be listed in my Etsy shop. (Too late for this Christmas, unfortunately!)

 

This mug celebrating Clarksville, Indiana, was produced by Louisville Stoneware. (I'm originally from Kentucky, so I have to love Louisville Stoneware.)  I'll list it on Etsy. The second item that I sold on Etsy was a Louisville Stoneware nativity plate, by the way. 

 

This Sandra Boynton mug with the smarta** comment will be listed on my Etsy shop.

 

And I love this groovy mug. Hey—it's orange! On the bottom is printed one word: Daisy. Duh.

(Apologies for the crooked image. Hope it's not making anyone sick.) I found this copper stand—originally intended for a fondue pot, I suppose? And I loved its style, its nifty legs. So I bought it.

 

It's now a hip mid-century modern plant stand. (And it's only crooked in the photo.)

I'm linking up with Sir Thrift-a-Lot, Thrifter/Maker/Fixer/Farm, We Call It Junkin, and a living space. (Sending out many thanks to them for the opportunity!)

Happy thrifting and a peaceful Christmas to y'all! 

And that is all for now.