The Package has been Retrieved

My husband and I were having a lazy Sunday.  Usually we get to the super market pretty early, but on this day we almost didn't even go.  Sitting around was just too much fun.  After doing the weekly shop we stopped by a mini mart that does really good fruit and happens to be next to three charity shops.  Right away in one of the windows we spotted a tower of yellow china, mostly Woods Ware Jasmine, but  a bit of something else, we couldn't tell what.  The most exciting part was that there were 4 Jasmine coffee cups.  My husband likes the larger cups and we've only got one.

We tried the door, it was 10 minutes before closing time, and it was locked.  We hung out a bit to see if we could get the person inside to let us in, but it was fruitless.  We were devastated.  This would have made such a nice addition to our collection, but we knew it wouldn't be there the next week.

So that evening, as soon as my mother in law came over for dinner, we jumped on her and asked her to pick it up.  The next morning my husband called her early, to make sure she remember to go there first thing.

My fingers were crossed, my palms sweaty.  I haven't been finding huge amounts of stuff recently and didn't have much of anything left to post about.  The blog NEEDED some new fodder, I needed to feed my addiction, and my husband needed a cup more suited to his large hand.

Then I got at text from my MIL: The package has been retrieved.

I have the best MIL ever, really ever ever ever!

So what did we end up with?
Woods Ware Jasmine - 4 coffee cups, 1 coffee saucer, 2 cake plates and 2 side/dinner plates

And the mystery plates, well they were Barker Bros Primrosa.  I'd never heard of it, but I looked it up and it seems like this pattern was made from the mid 1930s.  We ended up with 3 coffee saucers, 2 small plates and 4 side plates. This might not all be pictures because we've been using it since it came through the door.

Look how much larger the coffee cup is compared to the tea cup!

Here's the Woods Ware Jasmine selection:

I think that there must be loads of different brands that can be considered Utility China.  At first I was only sticking to certain brands, but now, while everything will still be vintage, its more important to me to keep the look I want than particular brands.  Therefore, these Barker Bros pieces will have a permanent home with me. just look at the slight angles, how could I not be in love?

As you might remember a while ago I complained about not having much two toned china and then I managed to find a handful of pieces.  And, you might remember that I complained about not having found much utility china recently, and then I found this major haul.  Apparently my wishes come true when I post them here.  Therefore, I'd like to mention that I'd really like to win the lottery.  I'm just putting that out there.

Anyone ever heard of Barker Bros before?  Have any info for me?

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations.

Flowers and a Fight

A couple of weeks ago I went with my husband and MIL to the Hampton Court Flower Festival.  Overall we had a lovely day.  There was so much to look at, I don't think its possible to have seen it all!

It was a bit chilly, but luckily the rain held out for the day.  We brought snacks, but still had lunch there.  We had forgotten to bring our ground blanket, but would have spent some time sitting on the water if we hadn't. 

It wasn't just flowers either.  We found some lovely sausages and had fun tasting all the different types of food.  I also got some addictive spicy honey mustard!  And we bought some flowers, of course.  

It was very crowded.  Well, not just crowded, but full of people who thought that they were the only person there.  A lot of people had little pull cart things and had no problems running over your feet or giving us dirty looks when they cut us off.

My hands were full of flowers and my MIL was grabbing another pot when a woman came up and basically body checked her.  There was plenty of space, she couldn't have missed my MIL.  I had lost all patience with be pushed around at this point and very loudly said something like, I guess people don't know how to say excuse me here. 

The woman turned around and started calling me names.  I just don't understand.  She was blatantly rude, I called her out on it, and instead of saying , your right I'm sorry, she called me all sorts of horrible names. 

This prompted my MIL to call her names and it got ugly.  But then we bought our flowers and left.  I thought it was over. 

I wasn't so lucky.  The woman was standing right next to me when she told someone that a rude American had yelled at her.  I was livid.  I spoke up again and said you mean me, after you shoved my MIL?  Of course I called you on it. 

 At this point my husband was next to us and it just continued.  What the heck has gotten into people?  I know that I shouldn't have called her out on it, but maybe next time she won't shove someone to get some flowers. 

Do you think people should be called out when they are rude?  I know that places are crowded and that there will be some pushing, I do ride the tube every day so I'm used to a crowd.  Its the blatant and downright unnecessary rudeness that really upsets me.  I think that its getting worse as well.  What is happening to the world? As for me, I'm going to try and keep my fat mouth shut next time.  Its just not worth the fall out. 

Despite the incident, we did have a lovely day and will definitely be going back next year. 

Car Boot Bootie

The weather this summer has just been horrendous.  This has meant that we have spent very little time at car boot sales.  Well, the weather and my husbands dislike of mornings.

A couple of weeks ago we did manage to visit a huge one though.  It was a beautiful day out and there were tons of stalls and other shoppers.

At one stall, in the middle of a pile of worse for wear looking clothing, I found two jugs.  You see, I don't have very many jugs.  (Ha ha ha)

Up first is a cream colored Alfred Meakin jug.  According to the Potteries website this mark was used from 1937 on.  I like the handle and the curve of the lip. 

 

Next up is another cream colored jug, this time its by Johnson Brothers. Once again I'm a sucker for the curved handle and the pattern around the lip.

Anyone else having less luck than usual due to the challenging weather?  So this wasn't a massive haul, but things might change if I'm good.  Maybe just maybe.  

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations.

Happiness is Homemade

I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking recently.  I have a bunch of recipe books, but have also been using the same internet found recipes over and over again.  I don't want to take the chance of losing my favorites so I needed a book.

I got in touch with Marysza of Marysza Handmade to see what she could make for me.  After a handful of emails and a TON of fabric options I ended up with this lovely handmade book. 

Isn't it brilliant?  There are five tabs, but I'm sure I'll never be terribly organized about it all.  I love the black sheep fabric.  Marysza must have sent me 30 to choose from and they were all really fabulous, but this just seemed more fun some how. 

Marysza doesn't just make books, she's very talented and I would recommend her creations to anyone. 

Now which recipe will be the first to go in?

Blue Love

Hi everyone!  I hope everyone is having a good Monday.  I also hope that by the time this is posted the sun has discovered England.  I would just about give anything right now to not want to turn my heat on at night!

My collecting has been slowing down in a dramatic manor.  Not for lack of effort though.  I keep hunting eBay, I keep visiting the charity shops when I have the time and I visit Spittlefieds every week.  For whatever reason there just isn't as much to be bought, and what is there I already have or find it to be out of my price range.  I really hope that over the next few weeks my luck changes!

Despite my whining, I have managed to add a few nice pieces to my collection this week.  From eBay I found another mini Johnson Brothers Greydawn teapot!

I now can't tell which one is the the cutest little tea pot in all the land.  What I do know, is that they need to have some pink and yellow join them as soon as possible!  (Just don't tell my husband!)

At a new stall at Spittlefields I found three Woods Ware Iris teacups and saucers, and they came with a sugar bowl!  All of this came for a total of £7!  I was very excited.  I have enough Woods Ware teacups, but I didn't have an Iris sugar bowl and Iris is the most under represented color in my Woods Ware collection.

 The odd thing about Iris is that there seems to be multiple shades.  The group I bought is the light, almost green blue version.  However I do own some of the darker blue version.

 I like both shades, but its easy to see how very different they are. It's almost like having a fourth Woods Ware color to collect.

 Here are the two little sugar bowls, the one I already had was Beryl.  Now they can be friends.  My god, I am losing my mind!

I hope that everyone else had a lucky week in thrifting, and in life in general!

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations.

Two-Toned Love

Hi everyone!

Last week I waxed on all lyrical like about how I can never find any two-toned Grindley utility china.  Well apparently the way utility china works is that if you ask you will receive.

First up, from eBay I won this lovely Grindly Lupin coffee pot.  Its a small one, but oh so very pretty.

And then, and then, I found this amazing Grindley Petal mini teapot at Spitalfields!  I tried to chat up the vender as I bargained her down a bit (it was well over priced).  I would have liked to have told her that I collect  this stuff and ask her if she often has it, or just let her know that if she brings it, I will buy it.  However, she wasn't having any of it.  In fact, she was rather off putting.  I think that under normal circumstances I wouldn't buy from her again, but you know that I don't have that type of restraint.

So here it  is, my entire two-toned Grindley collection, including a piece that I've yet to blog about.  It was just an over-cite really.  For whatever reason I didn't take its picture with the rest of them and now its way to dark for me to get anything good.  I'll just use it as a teaser!

Last time, besides whining about the cost of two-toned Grindley, I also brought up showing pictures of the backstamps.  I love it when I read other blogs and the backstamp is included.  It helps me to compare what I have to what others are looking for.  Plus I like all the little designs.  Do you find them to be interesting, or do you just skip over them?  Do you find that is odd that my jug is bigger than my coffee pot? 

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations.

Thrifty Monday

Hi Everyone!  Posting here is my favorite thing about Mondays!  I'm only a few weeks away from a quick trip to Barcelona and Mondays make me feel like its closer for some odd reason.  It will be my 4th trip to Barcelona and my husbands first.  Plus, its his birthday!

First up I have this beautiful Grindley Vine Petal Jug.  I just cannot get enough of two toned utility china.  It's a pity its so freaking hard to win on eBay, and forget finding it in the wild!

Unfortunately, it arrived with a crack wrapping from the spout all the way down one of the sides.  I didn't pitch a fit with the eBay seller because he had packed it really well and I didn't feel that it was his fault.  Also, I wanted to keep it and while it isn't usable it is displayable and no one will be the wiser.  Except for you, but you won't tell, will you?

Just an added backstamp pic for those who like that sort of thing.  Well, I like it, and its helpful for me to keep it all straight and not to double buy. 

Next up is a lovely Johnson Bros Goldendawn jug.  This thing was just calling my name.  Every Thursday I go to the antique fair at Spittlefields Market.  It's only a few minutes from my office and I really look forward to it.  I find something every month or so.  One of my favorite sellers is a guy who has boxes and boxes of crockery.  It's a mess and some of it is even broken.  My lunch hour isn't enough time to go through it all, so I just scan each box from the top very carefully.  This jug was just sitting on top, waiting for me to hand over my £1 for it.  I took it home, cleaned it up, and introduced it to some friends.  

 Whats weird about this jug is that it is almost identical to a Grindley jug I got off of eBay some time ago. The only real difference is in the shape.

 So do you like my fraternal twins?

I'm beginning to think that I need  some sort of system to keep track of my collection.  I have quite a lot now and I don't want to buy the same thing twice.  I was thinking of an Excel spreadsheet, but I'd love to hear any ideas you might have.  How do you keep rapidly growing collections straight?

I’m going to link up with Her Library Adventures and Flea Market finds, Magpie Monday at Me and my Shadow, Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl and Thrifty Love over at Cap Creations. 

See you next week!