Pyrex in Action - Blue Delphite 501

I've always been partial to vintage Pyrex refrigerator dishes.  This is the blue delphite that was sold in Canada. I made home made sweet potato chips with freshly made guacamole today!

Project -- Vintage Felt Applique Tree Skirt

Christmas day has passed but working on next years felt tree skirt has begun! I have spent the past few years collecting vintage goodies to design and construct my own vintage felt tree skirt. I've aggressively sought out vintage felt, trims, sequins, beads and spangles just for this project. I have never done any felt applique and have been waiting years to give it a try. Here are some pics of what's happening. I've decided to just enjoy designing and completing the ornaments without too much planning. Later on I'll just pick and choose which ones will make it to the skirt.

Half of the fun of making something in a new medium is learning about the process. I love the research and planning stages.

I will finish the red/gold today.  I am just doing whatever comes to me.  I want to enjoy the process and not fret too much over the design.

Time for some Finds!

We've been going out, finding some treasures and some practical things.  My most exciting piece is probably the 9.5" minty Cathrineholm bowl I got for a great price.  Hubby has been working on his tiki collection. Most Pyrex is for my trade list or reselling at a fair price to locals--gives me an excuse to continue to pick it up! But I still leave A LOT behind!

Vintage Pixie Gets Bath and a New Set of Clothes!

After looking long and hard--I found a couple pixies on line.  These had all the things I was looking for in pixies, cheap(!), small and really sweet faces.  Here is one that I gave a bath and made a new set of clothes for.

 

Didn't measure this guy, but I think he's about 5" tall.  You can see how terribly faded and dirty he looked.  

 

Marks on his dirty little face.  

Off with his clothes!  Boy,his clothes sure were a different color way back when!

There was no way to remove his head from his body, so I had to cut away his sleeves.

Bath time...

Ah!  Much better!

Serious glue was used on the cap/his head.  Part of the fabric just wouldn't come off no matter how hard I tried.  I opted for filing it down with my wire wrapping files.  Then there was pattern making, felt cutting and voila!

He looks like a new man!  One more pic!

Ain't he cute!  I used a wool blend felt I had.  Wish I would have had woven wool felt, it would have been softer, but oh well, sometimes we have to settle with what we have on hand.  I also trimmed him up with some reclaimed vintage ric rac!  That was fun!

Bed Linens - Mixing the Old with the New

Every now and again I buy some new covers for my comforter.   I don't get new ones often, so adding other textiles like vintage pillowcases is fun, inexpensive and lets me change things up a little.

This a pair of vintage pillowcases I picked up more recently at an estate sale for 50 cents for the pair.  They have embroidered peacocks with crocheted trim.  I have always loved embroidery and have done some myself as well.  I purchased the duvet covers and matching pillowcases retail--they were advertised as children's, but they reminded me of the linens in Hyacinth's bedroom on the British comedy TV show Keeping Up Appearances.  I don't know how it happened, but when I started thrifting again and picking up vintage stuff, I got bit by the pink bug! Not sure how many sets of pillowcases I have picked up, I'll guess no less than 8 to 10 pair.  I look forward to changing my linens as I get to look through all my pretty pillowcases.  The previous embroiderers and owners of these cases would be pleased to know how well taken care of and treasured they are!

Embroidered Vintage Pillowcases - Ironing is no Fun!

I'm sitting down sipping the rest of my coffee that went cold.  Found myself ironing this morning.  Though I dread ironing, I can't help but iron the bed linens.  I hang my linens (I have an indoor line system for the rainy season), and yes, I iron them.  I just love slipping into a bed of freshly ironed bed sheets!  Since we are both quite fragrance sensitive, I wash with soap nuts, oxygen bleach and baking soda resulting in linens that aren't masked with perfume but smell fresh as the summer breeze!

I haven't been looking more recently for vintage pillowcases--I have a lot.  I do check now and again just out of curiosity and now that I don't want them I don't see them.  Funny how that happens to me a lot.  Anyway, here are some of the pillowcases I picked up.  I was getting these for $1.99-$3.99 a pair.  I cook them in oxygen bleach in an old stock pot and then run them through the washer and they come out beautifully.

I had to re-embroider much of the flowers and foliage on the lambs case, but it was worth it.  I use these pillowcases for the extra pillows on our bed.

Busy Bees and more!

It was a fun day thrifting and going out to lunch.  The weather is beautiful!  I was good and spent about $6 on the following.  It was stuff I just refused to pass up!

I have a weakness for textiles and these two vintage bee towels are painfully cute!  And we know my Pyrex weakness.  Hubby came to find me with this snowflake refrigerator dish (including lid) at 99 cents, well that's enough to make any Pyrex addicts day!  Salem North Star saucer at 49 cents. I have some of the hottest 50s pottery patterns and one Hopscotch sugar bowl bottom.  I don't NEED any thing else, but I just had to have this one North Star piece!

While I'm here, I'll add a barkcloth curtain I bought on line.  I deconstructed it and am considering resewing it into a valance.  This fantasic pattern is labeled as "Cynda".

Planning for the New House

Gosh, it's been forever since I posted anything.  It's been one thing after another.  I have still been thrifting usually once a week, but I have cooled down especially since we have decided to move to a smaller home (and we have more stuff than we need already!)  The house we will be moving to, hopefully by end of summer, is a cute 1965 ranch that has most of its original charm.  We know this house pretty well as it belongs to dear friends of ours who will be moving out of town.  So I am in the midst of planning the renovation and decorating of the new place, as well as downsizing our current household. I decided that with this new house I would start with the windows, in my current home I kinda left them for last, and in some cases never truly finished some to my satisfaction. 

I purchased 4 yards of never used incredible vintage bark cloth on an ebay 'buy it now', it had been listed for about 20 minutes! I couldn't believe my luck!  It has me written all over it!  I'm not much of a seamstress, just a compulsive creative type--and I constructed a patio door valance and two window panels.  Dead set on a very modern clean look, I came up with a way to hide the continental rod making the valance look more like a cornice board.  There was enough fabric leftover that I also made a pillow cover and 2 coasters.  Still an odd piece left...I'll just hang onto it for now.  Got a couple other awesome atomic vintage bark cloth curtains for the kitchen window too!
 
I've named this pattern "Atomic Asian"...here is a close up of one part of the pattern.

Here are the valance and window panels I constructed for the den.  So glad to get that behind me.  Next step will be to settle on a paint color for the room itself.

Better than I could have imagined!

I've been looking at vintage mid century curtains/drapes for months now.  The family room desperately needs something to perk it up. I have all these windows...2 of those high and narrow 6' x 24" types and a 6 x 4'.  Then there is the full light door.  Yesterday I went out with my list of textiles that I need and I couldn't believe (still can't) that I found a pair of drapes I am in love with!  They are so me!  Those of you who know my love of Asian art won't be surprised. They fit with our Ekornes leather chairs, the berber Flor and mid century furniture we have and want.  Two 90" x 38" pinch pleated panels, fully lined and I believe they are all cotton. Drum roll... $7.50!  They were half off!

The drapes are too long and I will have to alter them.  I'm thinking about making 3 sets of pinch pleated side panels out of them. It's going to be a lot of work--I'm no big sewer.  I'll have to get a another pair of cheap drapes just to practice on first.  That will give me time to find the hardware I need.

Did Someone Say Fire King??? Pyrex???

I hit one of my least favorite thrift stores last Saturday.  They had 50% off everything and I didn't expect to find anything.  I find them to have a lot of junk and be very over priced.  Well slap me silly!  They apparently stocked for this sale and look what I found!!!

Not only did I find these beautiful pink and white gold trimmed Fire King mugs, but I got 6 of them!!!  I'm still dancing and singing over this find  Oh wait, let's not forget...for a total of... $2.94!!

Here are a couple more of the 49 cent Fire King mugs...one is the older 1940s "Ivory".  It is a touch larger and heavy (thicker).  Hubby likes these better for himself than the pink.  A very large custard glass salt shaker, more than I wanted to pay ($2.49), Tupperware measuring spoons (excellent condition in my shade of green) 99 cents, and two Irish linen towels that were previously in an antique store and claim to be hand drawn, 2 for 98 cents.

Last but not least, the Pièce de résistance.  One of my favorite Goodwill stores didn't let me down this trip--this Pyrex addicts one most sought after collections--the primary color refrigerator dish set, for $12!  And in absolutely beautiful condition, hardly a scratch and no chips to the lids!!!  I'm in heaven!

Vintage Textiles and Refrigerator Dish

Hubby felt like going to the thrifts today--so I obliged.  I stuck to my guns and bought only things I would actually use.  I found this embroidered table cloth, perfect for using for tea at the booth.  And I ran into an anthropomorphic embroidered kitchen towel!  I've been tempted to buy some off ebay, but resisted.  I found this one today for 99 cents.  I couldn't resist this Federal Glass 40s/50s refrigerator dish.  It has a relief of two tomatoes and a bundle of asparagus on top.  It's hefty and seamless, love it!

Vintage Curtains for my Mid Century Ranch Laundry Room

One of the things on my wishlist is mid century curtains.  There are some pretty neat ones out there, but for Mrs. Vintage-on-a-budget, I've come up empty handed--until now.  I found these on ebay and put them on my watch list days before auction was ending, and 2 minutes before the auction was up, I remembered to go check on them and I decided to bid and I won. 

These curtains appear to be polyester and are a bit textured, slightly shiny, and off-white.  One of the pinch pleats was frayed (which was pictured in the auction), but since I knew I would be cutting them down and removing the pleats--no biggie.  There is a bit more wear than was described, but re-hemming them up gave them a new fresh edge with out destroying too much of the pattern.  I sewed them by hand and did it the day after I got them--determined not to let another project go undone! Now I have to do a little redecorating (an excuse to go on the hunt  for more vintage!)

1950s Ceramic Seahorses and 1960s Towels

Must have some fishy wall plaques for the 1950s home.  Being vintage on a budget, the wonderful array of fish and mermaids on ebay and elsewhere are out of my budget.  The hubby and I kept an eye open at the thrifts and we ran across a pair of banged up but still very sweet Mr.&Mrs. seahorses. 

I hunted for a set of dishtowels on ebay and won this set of new 1960s towels at a reasonable price.  They are handmade from flour sack and were never used.  They got their first washing from me.  After ironing them I hung them from thread.  Both of these collections are on  the walls bordering my patio door.  Phew!  Just found a space for them!