Monday, February 28, 2011

Today I'm going to show you some more of the treasure we discovered on our great op-shopping adventure last Friday. Let's start with something pretty...




I love old tablecloths almost as much as old tea towels and for the same reasons.



See.
And not just Australian ones although they are probably my most favourite. How gorgeous is that wattle! (it smells delicious too-a bit like honey) I like the way the map of Australia looks like it comes from the pages of a child's colouring-in book.

I might as well stick with the touristy theme...


I have never been to Exmouth, it's a l-o-n-g way from Perth and I've only driven through Geraldton. Exmouth is obviously a good place for a spot of fishing and one of Geraldton's main attractions is the Windswept Tree!

We also found  a few trays with more of an international flavour...


These were all one dollar each AND we left a pile behind for the next lucky person!

Now perhaps you can help me with the next thing?

My poor old camera (and lack of skill) is clearly evident in these snaps! Sorry. On the back of this little scoop(?) it says Denmark and there is a picture of what I'd describe as a hill with three rings around it. It also has the monogram Mj and a funny N-shape with a line through the middle. 2900 of these were made and ours is number 147 so I suppose it's not worth terribly much but I'd just like to know something about it. Please drop me a line if you do. (And thanks for reading through this) 

Now, one more thing found on Friday

It's a bread slicer. This one is made in Germany but they were also made in Ireland too. Love the colour. Love the word Toledo. Hate my kitchen bench top!!!

More of our finds tomorrow. I hope you found some lovely treasure on the week-end. 

Here is today's tea towel...

   

Saturday, February 26, 2011


Have a lovely, lovely weekend everyone. (I know the quote on the tea towel is a bit sanctimonious but you know where I'm coming from...and I had to show you this one eventually anyway) See you on Monday.

Friday, February 25, 2011

A present from Skegness.

Today I hit op-shop pay dirt! My husband had a medical appointment in Rockingham, a suburb of Perth we never go to. It's quite a long way from where we live so we decided to make a day of it and check out as many op-shops as we could before his appointment. And there are heaps of them! We came home with our car full of treasure, so much great stuff, that it's going to take me days to show it all to you!
Here's a sample...

New cat on the block. Love his tie.

 These say Good Health!, Mud in Your Eye!(my favourite), A Votre Sante!, and Here's Luck! 

Langley. Made in England.

Too sweet to blow your nose on...
I wonder what happened to Monday, Thursday and Friday?

My daughter has two others in her bedroom. I like the little space for her name.

Pyrex. Snowflake.

I love the story that I heard from the old lady in the op-shop about this Pyrex pattern... she received the whole dinner set for her twenty first birthday. Over fourty years ago! And gave it to her own daughter on her twenty first. How lovely is that. Little stories like this are very special to me.

Well that's all (for now) folks.
Just today's tea towel to go, and out of them all it's probably the one I like least. I nearly didn't include it but here it is...


Just a quick reminder that the Vintage Life Market is on this Sunday if you live in Perth www.vintagelifemarket.com.au/

Now, nighty night...

Sweet dreams.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

I've been a busy girl today so I'm posting this later than I usually would and it's also going to be lighter in content too. Sorry. I'll be more organised tomorrow. Hopefully... 
Here are some snaps of the treasure my husband bought back from Melbourne. Courtesy of his Great-Uncle Mac and his Aunty Claire. It's a slightly unusual collection of stuff...

Horned vases with winged feet.
Weird but I like them...

I love this little ramekin the colour, the lid, the label underneath...

Sweet Pooch.



Chipped, cracked, glued together but still lovely.


Marc Newson Mugs.
Thankyou Qantas. These are probably the only thing by Mr Newson I'll ever own! I can't believe my husband "stole" them! He says he thought I'd like them...I do.

And here's what I found today

Western Kids. Caprice Australia.

Pretty two dollar lampshade.

Rose "coloured" glasses.



I'll end with a tea towel


Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I popped into a couple of op-shops this morning while I was was out and about and this is what I bought...


The colours in the stripey crochet blanket are much prettier and brighter in real life. Crochet is the "in" crafty thing at the moment so I find it slightly bemusing that all of the op-shops I go to have heaps of these (some I think, quite sweetly less perfect than others but all involving lots of work by their makers)  and they are always dirt cheap.  This one cost two dollars and it covers the top of our queen sized bed! Admittedly the Salvo's were having a half priced sale on linen, but come on...Anyway for me this is a good thing as I've tried to crochet and I suck at it!

Sometimes the labels on things you buy are more interesting than the thing itself...

Isn't this one great. I love the artist's easel and the font and I also love the phrase "pictures of distinction" It also tells me that the print of the little girl and kitten is called Innocence by an artist called Moter. I'm sure I've seen the same print but in blues instead of pinks have you?
I haven't been able to find any info on Moter, if you have any please let me know.

During my attempted research on Moter I came across two fantastic web sites on Big Eye Art. Prints I've never seen before. I know alot of you love Big Eye pics so here you are:   

I also bought this for my daughter who likes Chinese Checkers. One dollar. No missing pieces. And in a neat little wooden box too.


And here's a close-up of the little shoe lasts. You can't really see them in the top pic. Purely decorative but too pretty to leave and they were only ninety nine cents!


Alot of words today. I hope you don't mind...

Here is today's tea towel

Speaking of tea towels, my husband is in Melbourne at the moment,today he went to Chappel Street Bazaar and saw vintage linen tea towels for sale for sixty dollars!!! Wow! I may never have to work again!

And now I'll end with one more pic of our front garden which I took this morning...




Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I watched this movie on Sunday afternoon

It's one of my favourite films. Have you seen it? Have a look at the trailer, you WILL NOT be disappointed!


Sandra Dee. A rather wooden Troy Donahue (I can forgive him for this as it was his first movie role). Melodrama. Scandal. Adultery. Spectacular scenery. Glorious technicolour. That wonderful theme song by Percy Faith and his orchestra. Beautiful wooden sailing boats etc etc

But apart from all of that one of the highlights of the film for me is the beautiful modernist beach house featured towards the end of the film (it's where the adulterous parents retreat to live-well they are actually married at this point!) Here it is...


I have just discovered that this house is a Frank Lloyd Wright house! No wonder I love it so much! It was built in 1951 and is on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Beach.
I have watched A Summer Place so many times and I NEVER knew this!!! 

One more photo. Look at that copper roof...

Sorry. Can't remember where I found this photo. If you do, please let me know so that I can credit it.

I just wish more movies like this were on t.v. and more often...

Now for today's tea towel...


And lastly remember the little shelf I painted a while ago? Well here it is in my daughters room looking the way she wants it to look!
Yes we are all treasure hunters in this family!

Monday, February 21, 2011

I went to the Belmont swap meet yesterday, it was a very quick trip as I only had 25 minutes to spare between dropping one daughter off at the airport and picking the other up from a sleep-over. Not necessarily a bad thing though as this swap meet is not as good as it once was (too much rubbish imported from Asia these days) which is a shame because I used to find some real treasure there. On occasion I still do like...


I was thrilled to find this tablecloth and paid only two dollars fifty for it. It's special and not just for obvious reasons but also because this wonderful stadium (where I went to Little Athletics for years and where my school athletic carnivals were also held!) has been demolished.
Here it is in 1962 in all it's modernist glory and here it is in a terrible state of disrepair before it was demolished
Perry Lakes Stadium

Sadly it is now a residential site so to me the little old tablecloth is definetely treasure!
Note:the pics of Perry lakes Stadium are from a great Perth architecture blog http://perthsbest.wordpress.com/

As far as tablecloths are concerned I also bought this


and this


Then as I was racing around I spotted  this


Look inside

And here it is all laid out neatly


Amongst all this prettiness, at the very bottom I found this


Real treasure!
(or maybe not...)


Can I be boring and show you the label inside the old beauty case? It's just so lovely


From the same lady I also bought...




And

The little birds are inside old Fowlers preserving jars. Not really my style but for two dollars how could I leave them behind?

Lastly, here's today's tea towel