My Thrifty China

Please join me and the other wonderful bloggers at these two party's today. 

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ for Tabletop Tuesday

and

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

It seems I just can't get enough of this fabulous china!  Yesterday I had to take my son out for an eye appointment and last minute school supplies.  While were out that way, my mind started screaming you must go back and get those other pieces!  You will not have this opportunity again!  So back to the resale store I went with my helper and picked up some more china to complete the set.

I got the 3 extra salad plates I had not originally wanted.   They really aren't in that bad of shape (for the price I'm paying at $2.50 each) and as it turns out they are stamped the same as the other ones I have. 

You see, there are two different stamps that I have seen on the Franciscan Ivy patterns so far.  Most everything I have is stamped like this;

However some pieces, (my salad plates) are stamped like this;

I didn't realize my salad plates do have the different stamp until I got home the other day after noticing they were different in the store, so that's also why I originally did not get them the other day.

The different stamps represent the age of the plates I guess, since this pattern has been around for so long there must have been a change in the stamping pattern.  Anyway, I decided to add the sellers last serving bowl, sugar bowl, and gravy boat to my collection. 

Serving Bowl came to $7.50

Sugar bowl came to $6.74

Gravy boat came to $6.23

This was a freebie!  It had a tag if you need it, take it!  I think she must have just put that out cause I surely would have noticed it before!  I am thinking I may need it!

Now all this adding on has caused me to rearrange the kitchen china cabinet again!  I am so running out of space and really want a hutch for the dining room, but I'll have to wait a bit longer on that.
Here's my newest swap around.

While we are looking at china cabinets let me show you one of my antique pieces in the dining room.  I use this as a hutch to store my crystal.  It really is a desk!  I like the way this looks in here and currently really need the additional storage.

On the top two shelves I keep my wedding crystal

And the bottom two shelves are filled with various other crystal items.

As you can imagine I am constantly changing out the vignettes on the top of this.

This is the way I have this set up right now.  I'm not crazy about the candle up on the little shelf.  I always feel like I need to display something on that shelf but can never find quite the right look.  It usually is empty, which works too.

On the very top I have a serving bowl, coffee pot and smaller blue bowl.  I also added my sailors most recently in the background.  I love the colors of this vignette!  One thing that has stayed the same for years on this piece is my peacock feathers.

For some reason I just absolutely adore them on this piece of furniture.

Hope you enjoyed visiting with me today and seeing my latest thrifty finds and a few vignettes.

Please be sure and leave me a comment if you come by!

Have a great day!

Mary

I got the blues..again!

Yes, that right, I'm feeling blue again and it's not all of the pretty blue color variety!  I just can't quite kick this bug to the curb!  Why is it when you are feeling awful it seems everything else goes wrong too?  I don't really want to be a whiny baby but please indulge me this time.


Let me give you the rundown of my weekend blues.  On Saturday I decided to try and rework a lamp I had added some glaze to that I wasn't satisfied with.  Originally the lamp was gold tone, and I added a Burnt Sienna glaze..way to bronzy!  So, on Fridays runabout I picked up some Mocha glaze.  I thought I could just add some on top of the other glaze to tone it down.  Well I did.  No difference, so I added some more, and this is what I ended up with.

Still too bronze, I am absolutely NOT satisfied!  I really don't want to start all over again.  Wondering at this point if an off white glaze will help. Urgghh!

Up close, it's hideous!  However, I ran out of time on Saturday to go any further.  This was a good thing because I really needed to take a break and rethink the direction to go with this one.

I ran out of time because I needed to get things ready for our Saturday evening adventure.  We were supposed be going for an evening raft up with other Sailing Club members to watch the birds.  Every year, we have Purple Martins that migrate to one island on our lake in the evenings to roost throughout the summer.  It is quite a spectator event to watch!  They are here from July through September and fly all about the area but then around dawn each evening all gather on one island to sleep for the night.


I had prepared several finger foods to share and pass amongst the boats as did others.  I also pulled together a few extras to set a table scape on our cute little cockpit table.  Here are a few things I had pulled out to use along with some trays not shown.

I was so excited about this evening and could hardly wait to get things started.  Unfortunately right at the time we all gathered at the club at 5:00pm the rains started.  At first it seemed it was going to be a light rain and we would be on our way.  Then as we were debating on leaving we saw storm number two on the horizon.  So we broke out the finger foods, beer and waited.  I didn't even pull out my cute decor, I was so bummed and just not feeling it.  Finally, the rains stopped and only three boats of us that stayed and waited it out went out for an evening sail. 

This is our newest club members, new to sailing too, they were awesome!

Here we are smack dab in the middle of the blue hour.  I did not touch this photo up a bit, isn't it beautiful?  Now if you think that one is good, just look at this next one.

This is one of our more experienced sailors, I can't wait to forward this photo to him.  He does photography too and will flip.  I didn't touch this one up at all either.  When I saw that cloud shining behind the others I knew it was going to be a great shot.  Just beautiful!

Here we three are again...

...as we sailed into the night.  It was quite a lot of fun but of course we missed the birds that night.

Then on the way home while unloading the car my cute NEW blue hurricane lanterns fell out of the car on the driveway.  Luckily they did not break, but the top on this one is quite grazed.  Urrrghh!

Between the rain, humidity, and socializing I pretty much lost my voice Saturday night and am still feeling the effects of this bug.  Sunday it was time to add this to my dose's of Tylenol and Sudafed.

 

After getting nicely medicated, I wanted to get started on my new pillows. So upstairs I went to my craft room, aka, spare room, junk room.

 

I started with the yellow pillows.  Yes, I cut my fabric on the floor!

I was making quite a nice little mess, but was getting terribly hot!

I broke my two last needles on the sewing machine, was sweating like crazy and frustrated with all the crap mess around me.  What was I thinking?  I didn't feel good and the heat was getting to me.

  Did I mention the upstairs unit on the air conditioner went out again.  We had someone come out and look and supposedly do a quick fix but it will need a major repair. We are leaking freon. The quick fix was supposed to last us another month but it didn't.  So the repair man will be here again this week.  Here is the temperature upstairs this morning.

Yes, that says 83*.  Not so bad your thinking, well, that's not in the heat of the day!  That is this AM, it only gets higher during the afternoon.  Definitely not good sewing temperatures!

I did manage to finish one yellow pillow!  I started with those first because they will look great with my blue pillows for the rest of the summer.   One down and three to go yet!  LOL!

I guess I will be off to the fabric store for more needles today, or someday this week!

I am hoping it can only get better from here right?  Now if I just would too!

I am joining Sally today @ http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

for Blue Monday

and Susan @

 http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

for Met Monday

 

Hope all of you are feeling well, staying cool, and NOT feeling so blue!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mary

More dishes and fabrics

Yay!  I finally started feeling better on Friday.  This meant I actually felt like (had to or I was going crazy) getting out of the house.  I'm still not 100% as I spent a good bit of last night being awakened by my own coughing.  I'm too tired to attempt Garage Salen this morning but really shouldn't after yesterdays shopping spree anyway.  Time to watch those dollars a little closer now.  Here's a peek at some of yesterdays buys.  Dishes, dishes and more dishes!

  Luckily for me, I still have some of my spending cash on hand from the few days I worked the "so not me" temporary job.  I am trying to be wise about how I will spend this money I earned the hard way.  After thinking it through, I decided I really wanted to add on to my Franciscan Ivy dish collection.  The last time I was in the resale store that I bought them from, I saw that the owner of the booth had added more dishes and still had them at 75% off.  I really felt like I needed to strike while the iron was hot.  Who knows when they will no longer be available for that price, so this store was my first stop yesterday.  Funny how things like that can grow in urgency when you are stuck at home.

I added 6 more dinner plates, bringing my total of dinner plates to 10 now.  The plates came out at only $3.00 each after 75% off.  I still have one more side of my husbands family to try and track down whatever happened to the family's set.  My niece who doesn't have them, was thrilled to know I bought some.  She wants me to bring these out to use the next time we all get together.  She said it will bring back great memories for everyone of Grandma, my husbands mother.  Isn't that just the sweetest thing!

I also added 8 bread and butter plates, as that was all she had.  I don't have any of these so that was new to my collection.  They came out at only $1.50 each.  Too good to pass up!  I wasn't crazy about the salad plates that she had on hand so will need to add more of those later.  Maybe she will put more out but it's doubtful.  The store owner said the booth owner caught a good bit of grief from her husband about her pricing those dishes so low.  LOL! 

After leaving this store I decided to stop in at GW.  Not much there, but I'm starting to recognize the regulars like me.  Too funny!  I also got the location of another GW store across the lake, hmmm!!!

I found these dishes and just fell in love!  If you know me, you know I love blue and green together.  Is that more Ivy leaves too?  They are Pfaltzcraft, but I don't see the name of the pattern on them anywhere.

This is the salad plates.  There were only two of them for .50 cents each.

There were 3 dinner plates but one had a chip in it which was fine by me because I only wanted two anyway.  They were priced at .50 cents each also.

Then I also purchased these cute little serving creamers at, can you guess, that's right, .50 cents each!  I am so excited about this set.  It will be primarily for table scaping.  I have no plans to add on to this.  I can already see a dozen ways I will be able to mix and match these dishes with others I have to create many different settings!  So much fun for $3.00, don't you think!  Who would have ever guessed that the little girl who preferred to play with matchbox and metal cars in the dirt, would grow up to really enjoy playing house.

Eventually, I made my way to the fabric store.  I have been thinking of fall and warming up my space for the winter.  This means changing out the pillows!  I love fabric shopping don't you.

Here's what I came home with, two new red pieces of fabric.  I just remembered the other day that I actually have left over yellow fabric from the club chairs I reupholstered.  I can't wait to use that to make some new yellow pillows.

This is a very poor quality photo (sorry) of the red fabric I purchased, but I wanted you to see the design up close.  I am very excited about this fabric as well.  It feels almost like a velour.  It coordinates so well with the yellow fabric and the green of my couch.  It also picks up the red in my carpet.  I don't have much red around so this is a new direction for the den.  I tend to lean more towards blues and greens in here but I'm thinking that will be my summer den, and the reds and golds will be my fall den.  I can change things up so easily now since I switched out my drapes to a neutral gold plaid that matches the walls. 

Here's a close up of the red floral and the yellow fabric.  What do you think?

I also purchased this check fabric.  It is a red and gold Waverly.  I will use it somehow in this space but am still working out the details on that.  So exciting!  Both of my fabrics were off of the designer remnants rack.  I have 2yds of the floral and 1.5yds of the check.  Even better, they were on sale for only $2.99 a yard.  I can hardly wait to get started on these projects. 

I am sharing my finds at the following parties;

http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/ for Garage Salen

and @ http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Thanks for visiting with me today, hope all is well with you!

Have a great weekend!

Mary

Lemons and Ivy

What an unlikely combination ... lemons and Ivy!  Yellow and Green are my color inspirations for my table scape this week.  I was inspired by these new candlesticks I got last week from a thrift store. 

 I have been told they may be from the Southern Living at Home Collection from way back when.  Wouldn't that be great, especially since I got a fantastic bargain on them.  I certainly think so!

For the rest of my table scape I chose a casual setting, following the lead of these candlesticks.  I am also using my newest pottery barn table runner.  It was a tremendously good yard sale find still new the original tags on it.  I just love the yellow french country look of this runner.

 

I decided to use my large hurricane vase filled with faux lemons and a pretty ribbon as my centerpiece.  This vase was definitely a Southern Living at Home piece I purchased from a friends at home party.  I have the vase sitting on a candle dish from Yankee Candle.

 

I chose to use my newest dishes, Franciscan Ivy Stoneware.

I got a fantastic deal on these a few months ago from a local consignment store, then later found out these were the same pattern of dishes my husbands mother used that he remembered growing up with.

I was lucky enough to obtain several serving dishes as well.  I really love this casserole dish with the lid and handles.

For my glassware I chose to use my green Goblets from Libby.  I have a large set of these and the wine glasses to match.  However,  I am not totally satisfied with using these with this pattern as the green is off from the colors in the Ivy.  I will be keeping my eyes open for just the right shade and style of green glasses.

This votive hurricane shows the green I would prefer to have in my glassware.  The votives were purchased from Old Timey Pottery this year.

For my napkins and utensils I also decided to keep it casual.  These napkins came from the Pfalztcraft outlet several years ago and are folded in a pocket style.  For this look you only need three pieces of flatware.  I just love it, don't you?

My place mats are woven and were purchased years ago from Crate and Barrel's online catalog.

I am very pleased with this casual setting because I absolutely adore simple dining.

Please join Susan @ http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

for Tablescape Thursday.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed my setting.  Be sure to let me know if you did.

Have a wonderful day!

Mary