No Pattern Required

Check out the fabulous new dishes!!  Tom and I got these from my parents for our anniversary which is coming up on Thanksgiving Day.

They say on the bottom: Mikasa Elite Narumi Calibou. From what I can find out, this is from the time when Mikasa was primarily an importer.  This pattern was produced by the Narumi company in Japan and imported into the United States in the 1960′s.   My parents picked up this set for $25 at a flea market this summer.  My mom said she bought it for two reasons, the first because it is blue, but the second reason was that she couldn’t walk away from the salt and pepper shakers.  I can’t blame her, they are pretty fabulous and I am very excited about the gift.  They aren’t exactly the same blue as my kitchen, but I still LOVE them and the pattern. Oh, and my parents!

Here are some super cute atomic offerings right now on Etsy!  I adore that razor!

I just adore vintage embroidery patterns, so I decided to put more up for this week’s Vintage Crafty Saturday.  This is also from the great stash that my mom got for me for my birthday.  Thanks, Meem!

I didn’t have time to get out the smudges caused from creases in the paper, so be sure to ignore those when you are tracing for transfer!   Pretty cute pitcher, huh?  And I just love the expressions on the little glasses.

I think these are little custard cups frolicking somewhere.  I am not sure where, but they sure seem happy to go.  I am not sure, but I think that little one in the back tripped, or maybe it is just unhappy to be left so far behind!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see a lot of knives in embriodery so I was excited by this one.  Once again, I apologize for the splotches on it!

Hope you enjoy the patterns!

This is the ad for the greatest MCM Estate Sale in Michigan. Just trust me when I say there is an ENTIRE HOUSE filled with mid-century modern pickings, and every single one of them is fabulous.  Russel Wright bedroom set, Dunbar sectional, Herman Miller clocks. Gah!

Go to the ad, check out the pictures, come to Michigan and get some great furniture. I am still working on Tom so we can get out to that sale, but I am dying, DYING over this stuff.

By the by, I adore the little round pillows on that sectional!

Thank you Sara, for letting me know about this sale, and torturing me!

Time to learn about some table settings!  I recently picked up this great book on table settings published by Better Homes and Gardens in 1968.  Tom and I found it in a box that had some vintage cookbooks in it and I had to pick it up. Since I am thrifting today with one of my friends (don’t worry, I’ll take lots of pictures), I thought some vintage tablesettings would be perfect for today!

The pictures are so funky and cool in this book that I just had to share it.  Since there is so much stuff, I thought I would post one “idea” at a time for you guys. Don’t want to overload you on table setting advice!

The first couple of pages deal with choosing tableware.  The basic idea: Match your dishes to your home decor. They suggest a floral pattern to “permit you to serve meals in rooms of varied color schemes with the possiblity of maintaining some relation between dishes and the decor of the room in which they are used.”

Wow.  I didn’t know dish patterns were such serious stuff!

Click on the pages to zoom in!

Hello, all! So, what do you think of the progress on the new theme?  Do you love it? Hate it? Think I should go back to the old theme?  The only thing I am really struggling with now is that the width of the center column in this theme isn’t as wide as the other, so my old posts are having problems fitting into the new format. Also, I wish I was better at personalizing themes, but what are you gonna do?

Anyway, here is a super cute set of dishes I saw recently at the Cat’s Meow in Bay City.  Tom (who is THE Hubs by the way, I finally decided to use his real name!) gets upset enough when I bring home one dish, let alone a whole set. So I just decided to bring home a photo when it came to these dishes.

Here are a set of really sweet tables I saw at the local ReStore not too long ago.  The wood wasn’t quite the right color for our place (sometimes amazing original woodwork isn’t so great – like when you have to try to match it).  The tables were too gray instead of the light, warm honey color of our woodwork.  But I did love them so. And I think they were only $15 a piece. They didn’t last long, so I am sure they were a great score for someone.

Here is a beautiful kelly green couch that was at the local Goodwill.  I did cry a bit over this one.  Hubs wasn’t too thrilled when he saw it, and it really didn’t go into any of our color schemes, so I can see his point.  On the other hand – it was green! Kelly green! And practically brand new. Ah well, such is life!

And last, another great item from ReStore.  I loved this cute green chair.  I thought Hubs would really like this one, but once again, refusal. Not that I am getting down on him. If it were up to me, our house would be packed to the gills already with stuff. It is probably good that he tempers my enthusiasm. And, I know if I really, really want something, he will cave. I just wish that something would have been this chair!

I am totally crazy about Melamine/Melmac dishes.  I have started collecting any splatter mixing bowl I can get my hands on, but there is also a whole WORLD of dish sets out there.  The best part its, for the most part it is fairly cheap, and it never gets broken during shipping!

Here are four wood grain melamine bowls by Boltalite from RetroChalet.  Love the maker’s mark on these!

A 19 piece turquoise and pink set from thewoolgatherer.  Looks like Boontonware to me! These match the amazing set I just bought at Goodwill the other day.

An amaaaaazing orange color on this three piece bowl set from solticehome. Hub’s favorite color!

See you tomorrow for Mid-Century Menu!

Hi Everyone!  Here are my latest thrifting finds, brought to you by the letter “K”.  Why the letter ”K”?  Because when Hubs sees all of these on the blog, he is going to kill me!

Seriously though, I am visiting my parents this week in Wisconsin, which is a good thing because I need a break from thrifting.  Selling thrifted things on Etsy and eBay is great IF you are dilligent about listing things every day.  I have kind of been falling off lately, so I have been buying more than I am selling. Oopsy.  

So anyway, here is a great pastel melamine dish group that I got at the local Goodwill last week. It wasn’t as cheap as I would have liked it, but I couldn’t leave it.  I have recently developed a fondness for melamine that cannot be denied, and I snatch up little pieces whenever I see them.

Most of the above set is delicious Boontonware.  I love the cups, and the plates and saucers have square insets in them, which I adore.  The minty green bowl and plates don’t go with this set, but looked so cute colorwise that I let them slide.  I thought this would be perfect for a summer dessert set, especially for the three season porch.

Hopefully Hubs agrees with me….

The next this is this amaaaaaaaazing lemonade set that I found at…you guessed it…the local Goodwill. It was priced at $5.99 for the whole set, and I rather would have gnawed my own leg off than walked out of there without them.

The gold rim is perfect on everything except one glass, which is a little worn on one side.  This is one set that probaby will end up getting sold eventually, but for now it is going on top of the cabinet in the kitchen to be enjoyed for the summer.

Now this piece is something.  I bought this great carafe at a recent estate sale for 10 cents.  Yes, that is correct. 10 cents.  The people there priced stuff to MOVE, and it was one of those sales where you loaded up your arms until you couldn’t carry anymore, checked out, and then went back again to make sure you didn’t miss anything!

I thought this was a 1970′s carafe, until I stumbled upon this picture  on Flickr from American Vintage Home on Pam from Retro Renovation’s new Mid-Century Modern Red Geraninium photo pool.  The photo is from 1955, and it has the EXACT SAME carafe in it.  Exactly. That. One.  I was stunned. Amazing!

Here are a few more things from that estate sale and a recent auction.  The hobnail glass pitcher was bought at said auction for $1, and the blue soup bowl and nut chopper were bought at the same estate sale as the carafe.  You don’t want to know how much those two were. Let’s just say I bought an armload of stuff at that sale for $1. Enough said.

Anyway, I am going to be posting remotely from my parents place for this week (which is why I felt safe enough to post these things, since Hubs is hundreds of miles away) to help them sort through things as they get ready to move back into their house. For those of you who don’t know, the first floor of my parents house was filled with water last year when Wisconsin flooded.  My Dad and my brother have been working hard to repair the damage, and they are finally ready to move back in after almost a year of extensive gutting and construction. Wish us luck!

Oh, and I miss you tons, Hubs!