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

Glorious Paperwhites, So Easy, So Pretty!

This is the first time I have ever grown Paperwhites indoors or out.

I have always thought they were so pretty on display.

Thought I would give it a go this year.

I went on Youtube and watched a view videos on how to plant them. Youtube is wonderful! You can find out how to DIY just about anything. 

My friend gave me the perfect dish she got at a garage sale. I Ordered these bulbs off of Amazon. They came 10 in a pack. I also found some in the grocery outlet stores.

Got my soil out one Sunday afternoon right before Thanksgiving put the soil in the dish all the way to the top, 

set my 10 bulbs root side down on the surface, scattered some small rocks around and watered just up to the base of the bulbs. It was all right there in the package instructions.

Set the dish with the bulbs on my kitchen table where it could get sunlight. My kitchen windows are on the west side. The sun doesn't really come in until afternoon. South facing windows are probably the best. Nonetheless the little bulbs started sprouting what looked like claws and kept going. I carefully watered the roots once a week. 5 weeks later I had beautiful blooming flowers just in time for Christmas.

I did have them on display on my kitchen table. I no longer have a formal dining room. They looked beautiful there. After the 1st week they got so heavy they started to fall over. I have since tied them up with a ribbon and that has been just fine. I did have to move them off my table and into my entry foyer due to their scent. Unfortunately they really stink. They are very over powering with kind of a stinky sock smell. This was disappointing. I use my inside garage door to come in my home so I don't notice it too much. Coming in the front door is another story. They look beautiful and I do love them in my entry way so I plan on starting another batch in a different container this weekend, this batch will be passing on in another week or so. This has been a rewarding experience which I am very happy I tried.

Would love to hear your experiences with indoor bulb planting!

Partying With:

Weekend Wander #107 While He Was Napping.

Tweak It Tuesday #22