Vintage Garage Sale Find...

 I am not really one for garage sales. In fact I may stop by one every year or so. I'm not good at sifting through the stuff and finding something unique that I could use.

Last Saturday was different. My husband and I were driving around early morning and he stopped at a garage sale. I didn't even get out at first and then decided to just look around.

I didn't even get out at first and then decided to just look around.

I didn't find anything, but of course he did. It wasn't really organized and I don't do well with clutter. We were about to leave when my eye caught these two 8x10 framed pictures.

They were marvelous. Professionally framed and the print is on canvas! They are so me! Horse and hound! They sold them to me both for $5! I told my husband to pay the man

and I went home and hung them up!

This dog is just beautiful. Dalmatians and hounds were quite popular in paintings in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. 

He goes very well with my vintage dog collection.

Here is an example of the crackling effect use by artists to give

the vintage effect that was very popular in the Edwardian era.

These pictures are of course not actually from that era, but reproductions done beautifully.

Excellent quality. The frames alone would be expensive.

I'm now encouraged to venture out and see what other treasures  I

can find at garage sales. 

I feel like I'm on the Antiques Road Show (one of my favorite shows)!

Partying with:

TCOH Home Sweet Home #118   

Feathered Nest Friday

 

Vintage Old British Castle Transfer Ware Collection..

It all started with this cup! I have four daughters ranging from 37 - 20 years of age. They all know I'm a vintage plate/dish addict.

 I have a whole buffet hutch dedicated to my Vintage Franciscan Apple Ware and my vintage Johnson Brother's transfer ware is displayed in my china cabinet.

Over the years I have mainly collected the vintage Friendly Village pattern of transfer ware.

I have recently branched out to Johnson Brothers Vintage Old British Castle in red.

All because of this cup below.

This cup is one, of a set of four given to me two Christmas's ago

by my youngest daughter. These cups are the only part of

my collection which is not vintage. She actually bought them at Marshall's.

The significance is not that they are transferware, but the castle that

is featured on them. It is the Ragland Castle in Wales. I have been there, it is actually my family's ancestral castle which still stands today much as it did in the 15th century.

I was able to visit this castle in 2009 with my eldest daughter. It was

such an emotional experience. When we told the guide who we were they brought out the Ragland family book and had us sign our names. Apparently the only descendant's

of the original Raglands of Ragland Castle are now in America.

I was thrilled with this thoughtful gift and promised that I would build on the collection.

Ragland Castle Mommouth Wales 2009

The first item I added is this lovely vintage JB's Old British Castle tea pot.

Circa 1930-1940

What's a teapot without the cream and Sugar bowls to go with.

Found these lovely pieces on Ebay both vintage.

You can see how well the castle is displayed on the front of the sugar bowl.

Tea can't be served without the appropriate plates to serve

the tea cakes on. As you can see that several different Old British Castles are featured as scenes on the transferware. 

The back stamp is always important in collecting authentic vintage pieces. All my pieces in this collection (other than the teacups) feature the Johnson Brother's Crown Stamp which

they used in the 30's, 40's and 50's.

  

I adore large serving pieces of  transferware. To me they

are artwork and should be displayed as such.

This is the last piece I have so far collected a beautiful

15" serving platter that I found for an extraordinary price on Ebay.

Here it is altogether

I love how it looks in my china cabinet on display!

I'm not finished yet with this collection. Only time will tell what I treasures I will be able to add.

Sharing With:

Casserole Queen...

I became known as the casserole queen in the family while raising 6 children. I found that the most efficient and cost effective way to feed this crowd was casseroles. I have at least 10 favorites that I repeated over and over again. The kids never got sick of them. Every once in awhile, like on Sunday I did a roast or baked chicken, but for the most part it was a casserole and salad/vegetable for dinner. My kids are all living on their own now with their own families. It's wonderful when a daughter in law, or daughter calls for one of my casserole recipes. When I go to help for a new baby they always have a list of dishes they want me to make.

It always makes me feel good~warm and cozy.

My casseroles have been favorites at Church Pot Luck dinners as well. Here are a couple of recent casseroles I have made for pot-lucks and dinner just with hubby and daughter.

I made this Tater-Tot casserole for Church Pot Luck recently. I came home with an empty pan.

I love nice bake and serving ware. My favorite has become

Temp-Tations on QVC. Such quality. One my favorite features is

the wire serving basket which makes it easy to take places.

I love these little rooster salt and pepper shakers.

I made this Bacon-Apple-Chedder Mac and Cheese last night for my hubby and a daughter that dropped by.

The Cow baker is another Temp-tations bake and serve piece.

I just served this up with a Caesar Salad. You can see that it

made plenty to send home with my daughter and left overs for

my hubby and me. This is a 2.5 qt baker. 

I had to get this shot because I thought the tail of the cow was

so cute as a handle!

Contact me if you would like any one or both of these recipes I will be glad to share.

Partying with:

Tweaking My China Cabinet...

After Christmas is one of my favorites times of year. I love putting all the Christmas away and cleaning everything up. It's a time to rearrange and decorate. I always feel like my house gets back to normal after three months of decorating, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year I changed up my kitchen/dining area beginning with my china cabinet.

This is my China Cabinet before filled with my Vintage Franciscan Ware.

 

Here is my china cabinet now filled with my vintage Johnson Brother's Friendly Village and other transfer ware patterns.

I found this vintage large platter at replacements.com. The price was right because of a few flea bites. It's vintage and hard to come by so I scooped it up for me for Christmas.

It was just meant to be in this space.

I also found this beautiful Johnson Brother's Old British Castle multi colored smaller platter. This was a true find since it was made in England 1930.  It's hard to come by the multi color. I'm always on the look out for this pattern.

This is the one other piece I have of the Old British Castle pattern in multi colored. This is a medium size serving bowl made in England 1930. My camera is not doing justice to the beauty

and vibrancy of the colors.

Johnson Brother's Friendly Village is a very popular pattern of English Transfer Ware. I have collected this pattern very carefully over the years, so as to make sure they were all back stamped Made in England and not the recently produced pattern which in my opinion isn't of the same quality as the original.

The detail is amazing to me. This sugar bowl is a great example of the quality of workmanship.

I am very pleased with the exchange I made in my china cabinet. I have moved my Franciscan Ware to my buffet which I will be sharing soon.

Partying with:

Tweak It Tuesday #25

 

Home Sweet Home #104