Goodwill Goodness

The urge to go to Goodwill has been nagging at me the past two days so I gave in and went.
Look what I found!

What do you think? 1880's? 1890's? There are no markings that would give me a a start on dating it. She has a hairline crack in her middle and most of her gilding is gone but she's still beautiful. I fiddled with the picture settings so the swirls and curliques would show up. She had a twin but the poor thing had a huge chip on the rim. I hardly ever go to Goodwill. Our seems to have more than its fair share of over-priced, worn out junk. I lucked out today though. This little treasure was .75 cents.
The candle holder was a gift from my Mother. I spent several days with her this week and we had a blast thrifting. I'm saving that post for this weekend as I have a ton of pictures to take.

I do have one picture from our thrifting spree I can share right now.
It looks like Hull but there are no markings. I just thought it was pretty with its combination of pink and green. I love pink and green.

And this is the reason why the little table I used in my setting is bare of its usual hand crocheted coverings.

Meet Pearl. Pearl is a Snow Bengal mix that I rescued. Feral Mamma cat moved her and two siblings into my garage. One disappeared, one suffered a horrible demise (if you don't mind we won't go into details) and she was the only one left. I managed to catch her and after 3 months she is quite happily domesticated. She loves to hide under this table and claw at the lace (and any passing feet) so it has been put up. I took it out long enough to take my shots and she very quickly discovered me. Why is she licking the lace? Goofy cat.

Better Late Than Never

Sorry for the skipped week, life interfered with my best laid plans. So,where was I? Ah yes, what do you call a sale that has neither garage or yard? A rummage sale? A tag sale? Occasionally a lady will set up shop behind an old abandoned gas station here in town. There's plenty of grass and trees for shade but nothing fancy in terms of display. It's all packed in battered cardboard boxes so you have to bend over and dig. Most of it is your average junk but my search yielded a few unexpected treasures.

Desert Ware platter

I almost missed this little gem. I found a smaller matching platter in another nearby box. They don't look like much but in my studies I am learning that anything vintage pottery is usually a find. I found the platter on the Internet listed for forty dollars. What did I pay? You guessed it, a dollar. I paid the same price for its little sister. They are a cheerful sunny yellow and they make me smile.

Anchor Hocking Wexford Footed Cake Plate


I'm on love with this piece. I am slowly amassing a collection of Wexford pieces. It is in perfect condition and just waiting for its debut on the dessert buffet during the holidays. Do I really need to say how much I paid for it? LOL! Perhaps I need to rename my blog to The Dollar Queen.

Amber Glass Pitcher
My youngest daughter loves all things amber glass and she was quite thrilled to get this for her birthday. One of these days I'm going to quit using it and pack it with the rest of her collection. Do your grown children use your home as a storage unit too? The picture isn't mine, I stole it from an e-bay listing. The day I photographed everything it was full of Crystal Light so it didn't get its picture taken. It has a lovely ribbed handle that feels really nice in your hand. Of course it was a dollar!

Homer Laughlin Plate
This came from a different sale but it was in a cardboard box too so it continues the theme of finds in a box. There wasn't much left at this particular garage sale so it was the only thing I bought. The Queen of The Dollar strikes again!

I Saw My Future

Today I went exploring around Ft. Wolters. Ft. Wolters is an Army post that is most famous as a helicopter pilot school during the Vietnam War. Now it is an Industrial Park with the majority of its WWII buildings re-purposed. I took a side street at random and arrived at the most amazing and unexpected place, Kathy's Collectibles. I walked in the door and fell in love. I also instantly saw what my house will look like in 20 years! Kathy is a retired Air Force spouse and she told me the contents of her shop represented 21 years of buying to furnish her newest home. She told me that when they were stationed somewhere new she would pack it all up, put it in storage and leave it there. Once in her new home the collecting would start again until it was time to move then she would pack and store. She has 4 rooms of vintage and antique items plus she showed me her upstairs show room, her storage room and the room where she is STILL unpacking boxes from storage. Wow!
I plan on making another trip this weekend or next and I promise to remember the camera!

My First Blue Monday!

I was looking at other Blue Monday bloggers and realized "Hey! I took some pictures of blue stuff this weekend!"
So without further ado meet my blue.
Who doesn't love blue and white china. I'd wear it if I could. This little treasure is currently at home in my dining room keeping the "hand painted periwinkles" company on the bachelor chest. Kudos to those who can identify where "hand painted periwinkles" came from.



What do you call a sale where there is neither a garage or a yard involved? Paid 50 cents for this one. Sorry for the cut off picture. By the time I came to this one the heat had really done me in. Is summer in Texas ever going to be over?

I love birds and I fell in love with this little guy.


Crown Staffordshire. Local thrift shop. His feathers really picked up the turquoise of the tablecloth but in real life he is blue-jay blue.

At Last! The Booty!

I picked this lot up a few weeks ago. I spotted this particular garage sale while driving through a neighborhood. There were no signs posted, I just caught a glimpse of an overflowing driveway and movement. All very good signs of a garage sale!
It was late in the morning and starting to get hot so the owner was in a deal making mood. My kind of deals too, most everything was a dollar.
Please excuse the lack of artistic presentation. Sweat was dripping in my eyes and the mosquitoes were feasting on my calves.

A Godinger silver-plated cake stand with a grape theme. One dollar :-) The pattern on the surface is a reflection of the oak tree behind me.

I would post a closeup but the insert picture link isn't cooperating!!! Oh, my bad. The upload window was hiding behind my active window, dratted thing.
Ok, on to the closeup

It's a little tarnished. It has some weird hazy funk on it that the Wright's is unable to remove. One of these days I'm going to have to break down and buy some more Maas. Best stuff around for polishing silver IMHO.

An Imperial candlestick. Cool and only a dollar. (The upload window tried to hide from me again but I was onto it this time!)


Look at this little precious! It contains tiny hor d' ourve picks. A dollar, of course. (And a sneak peek at one of next weeks items.)


This one broke my dollar streak but when it says quadruple plate it means old so I plonked down three dollars. Whoa! Watch it there big spender!
Wilson quadruple plate tray. I'm not sure how old it is,the styling looks Art Nouveau to me.

Closeup. Aren't the little daisies divine?

The lady running the garage sale confided to me that it was worth some money. Mmm, not so much after being used a key holder. The silver is scratched and pitted. A shame really.

All in all it was a productive Saturday morning. One things for sure, I am definitely learning my china, silver, glass and pottery. After I bring something home I hit the Internet to see what I have.
The turquoise table cloth was a 50 cent garage sale find from when I lived in Weatherford. I don't know why but I found a lot of table linens at the Weatherford garage sales.

Ok that is all for this week. Next week a Wexford cake plate and an unexpected pottery find.