recent charity shop finds

I thought it was about time I did another one of my charity shop purchase round ups as I've managed to score a few lovely pieces recently.

First up are these vintage Christmas bauble decorations. I'm generally not a christmas bauble person but I fell hard for these. I love the bright colours and that the glitter looks like it might have been added by a previous owner.

There were quite a few vintage christmas baubles for sale that day so it was tempting to buy more (there were some seriously kitsch, pastel coloured ones!) but these were definitely my favourites.

Next up is this gorgeous Royal Winton Grimwades pedestal bowl which was surprisingly difficult to photograph. I swear I'm turning into a sniffer dog for Royal Winton pieces. It's like I can sense their presence. I just *know* it's that brand before crossing the room or even picking up the item. (Yes, I need to get out more.)

I was extra delighted to find that it's an older piece, somewhere in the 1930s, judging by the circular backstamp.

Whilst I'm on the topic of awesome backstamps, I found a Meakin Glamour Jade dinner plate last week. I already have three Meakin Glamour Celeste dinner plates (the blue colourway) so I'm delighted to have a different colour to join the plate family. I love the gentle, frilly edge on an otherwise plain plate.

Moving away from my china backstamp obsession, I came across this 60s(?) pattern for a whole 40p after rummaging through a pile of dressmaking bits and bobs in a charity shop. Don't the ladies look super stylish? The pattern is in my size and the lady on the right even has my haircut so basically I'm destined to make that dress.

I also managed to find a vintage mirror (the ones which hang from a heavy chain and have angled corners) from the local second hand furniture shop a few weeks ago. I've been keeping my eye out for one for quite a few years but they've either been chipped, scratched, full of woodworm or overpriced but this one is in really good condition and didn't cost very much, somewhere between £5 or £10. Delighted! It's not hanging up at the moment, hence the lack of photographs, as I'm one of those losers in their mid/late twenties who's living at home. One day (hopefully, eventually..?) when I have my own place it'll hang in a hallway.

Has anybody else been having great charity shop luck recently or found something they've been lusting after for years? Do tell!

Pyrex and pastels

I haven't baked anything over the last week as I've been on holiday visiting family and friends in Glasgow but I thought I'd share some of my most recent charity shop purchases.

Two more Johnson Brothers Cloud pieces to add to my collection: a medium sized jug and a gravy boat with its original dish.

I was also delighted to find four Sprayware pudding bowls a couple of weeks ago for a mere 5p each! I've seen pieces like these before on ebay, when I've been casually browsing retro pyrex, (on a side note, why do Americans have far prettier pyrex? It's not fair!) so I was delighted to get my hands on them.

I'm aware not everybody likes pyrex or sprayware, but personally I like their retro charm. The hexagonal shape of these bowls really appeals to me.

Still on a pyrex theme, my sister in law bought me this little sugar bowl a while ago. For some unknown reason, whenever I see bowls or containers about this size I have visions of them filled with buttons.

However I'm thinking I might use this as a little used teabag container because, let's face it, those little teapot shaped dishes are way too small if you drink lots of tea throughout the day and empty glass jars aren't as pretty. I could just put used teabags straight to the bin but that would be way too sensible wouldn't it? Plus I sometimes like to reuse my teabags.

On a side note my laptop decided to stop connecting to the internet last week (amongst other suspicious things) which is a bit inconvenient. Thankfully this post was more or less written up last week and my brother doesn't mind me stealing his computer to catch up on blog reading. Fingers crossed my laptop is fixable! I'm so clueless with techy stuff.

Recent utility china finds

When my sister-in-law texted me asking if I wanted some utility china the only natural response to give was "YES!" She found a stash of Johnson Brothers Greydawn and Grindley Peach Petalware at a charity shop for about a fiver and since she's very nice she decided to split it with me.

I am now the proud owner of tureens, cereal bowls and a gravy boat. I've also got more large (soup?) bowls and those odd but useful in between sized plates.

I actually found the yellow Grindley tureen separately a few weeks ago but decided to lump it in with this post. I'm not sure if the lid goes with the bowl as it doesn't fit very well and I'm convinced it's a different shade of yellow, but it only cost about £1.50 with another tureen bowl so I'm not complaining.

The Johnson Brothers Greydawn tureen might just be the cutest tureen in the world. I love the handle on the lid.
 

Is it sad that I feel so refined now that I own a gravy boat?

I think I have finally ticked off most things I want in terms having a fully functioning, mismatced utility china dinner service. I'd like to find a few more dinner plates, preferably Woodsware, as I'm very fond of my Jasmine Woodsware dinner plate. Not sure where I'm storing my new pieces though as my box of utility china delights is full, but I'm happy admiring them at the moment.

Has anybody else found any nice china recently? If you fancy seeing more utility china I'd recommend visiting Vintage Sheet Addict and The Vintage Knitter as they have found some lovely pieces.

A collection of jugs

Last month I found a new addition to my utility china collection, a Jasmine Woodsware jug.

I paid £8 for it, which is a lot more than I usually care to spend on one item, but it was so pretty and I've had so many bargains on other pieces that I figured it evens out. On a side note, look, I'm wearing nail varnish! Quite possibly the first time I've painted my nails since secondary school. It felt weird but I like the colour, especially against the yellow jug.
 

After taking the first photo, I wondered how many utility china jugs I owned, so I found them all and took a group photo!

 

Then I wondered how many jugs I owned in general, so I took another photo!

 

I love the variety of shapes and styles I've accumulated (so far...!)

 

Pretty details.

 

 

I didn't know I had so many, and there is still a couple in storage with my kitchen stuff from uni days. I wonder what I'll do with them all? Sit and admire them I assume.

Meakin plates and pastel loving

Two weeks ago I came across three Meakin Glamour Celeste dinner plates for 20p each. I was very excited for two reasons: they are the first Meakin Glamour pieces I have come across on my charity shop travels and secondly, they're dinner plates!

I now own four dinner plates including the Jasmine Woodsware plate I found in April. Woohoo! Who would have thought I'd become so excited over dinner plates?

I set my new plates in a pile with other plates from my utility china collection and I must admit that I got quite excited by all the pastel shades and frilly edges.

Oooh, isn't that lovely? A pastel feast for your eyes.

Where do I store all this china when I currently live at home I hear you ask?

A fair amount of my china is stored on a bookcase which I blogged about here and my cake stands sit on my chest of drawers as they're too pretty to have hidden away. A few favourite utility china pieces are kept in the kitchen to use but the rest is stored in a big box. It has got to a stage that I need another box as the lid no longer fits on!

Although it's a shame not to see it displayed properly, I love the massive jumble of pastel china goodness in my box.

I also get a little thrill looking through it every so often, knowing that one day it will be used regularly in my own house.

Would it be worth unpacking it all for a massive group photo? I must admit I feel tempted.

Perfectly peach

I came across a little stash of Grindley Peach Petalware last month in the charity shop. It was one of those situations where I was browsing the shop, thinking there was nothing, but then caught sight of a little cardboard box underneath a table.

It was a cardboard box of pink utility china wonders!

Pretty peach.

I really love the shape of the handle. It fits my finger perfectly making the cup really nice to drink from.

Five teacups and saucers, two large side plates (or twiffler plates?) a milk jug and a sugar bowl. For how much?

60p!

I have more new china to share soon so keep your eyes peeled fellow utility china fans!

Recent finds and lemon obsession

Oh dear it has been almost two weeks since my last post! My only excuse is that I'm settling into a new work routine. Don't worry, I've still been baking.

I know images of daffodils and cupcakes with mini eggs have been doing the rounds in the blogosphere recently, but surely a few more image won't hurt?

I've baked lemon cupcakes three times in the last two weeks, all with lemon curd centres, YUM! If you have been following my blog for a while you'll know that I love lemons in baking. I can't get enough of the zingy flavour and cheery colour.

I also felt it was time to do a little charity shop "haul post". First up is my Jasmine Woods Ware dinner plate. Yay, I've finally found a utility china dinner plate! What is on my plate I hear you ask...... lemon chicken! Mum has become slightly obsessed with making it. What can I say, my family loves lemon.

I also found four Grindley Petal Laburnum soup plates and few weeks ago. I can't remember their exact price, somewhere between 20p and 50p each, so pretty good. Although I like how practical and simple the Woods Ware design is, I do love the frilly edge on the Grindley design.

Last but not least I found two pyrex dishes for £1.50 which match mum's big casserole dish. Mum's dish used to belong to Granny but she gave it to us after ours exploded after an unfortunate toad in the hole incident....

Has anybody else been having success in the charity shops recently?

Biscuits and bowls

I found four dainty Grindley Peach Petalware bowls in a charity shop for £3 recently. To say I was excited was an understatement. As much as I love all my green, blue and yellow utility china I don't have much pink. The only reason I didn't blog about them sooner was because I couldn't decide how to display them. After all, I'm not particularly sure what their function is. Mini dessert bowl perhaps? It was only when I had a sudden craving for biscuits on Thursday that I decided they should be biscuits bowls.

I made chocolate chip cookies/biscuits and more oaty biscuits. The latter went so hard this time that they could chip teeth! Despite this they were finished first. Perhaps people enjoyed the challenge of eating them?

I really enjoyed making biscuits for a change and not too many got stuck together, hurray!

The chocolate chip cookie recipe is from my Mary Berry Baking Bible (again!) but I'm starting to feel guilty about the amount of recipes I'm sharing from her book so I'm going to urge you all to buy it if you don't already own it. I cannot recommend it enough.

New teapot

If I could wear this on a chain around my neck Gollum-Lord-Of-The-Rings style, I probably would as it is definitely worthy of "my precious" status, and I've certainly stroked it enough times to look like a crazy woman. (Guess which films I've been watching recently!)

Funnily enough I found this beautiful Johnson Brothers Greydawn teapot on the unluckiest day of the year, Friday 13th. I finished work early so I took a wander around the charity shops and there it was, sitting on a shelf with a £3 sticker. Not so unlucky after all.

I enjoyed my first cuppa from her with a fat pancake (shop bought, but still nice). I think I'll have to do a photograph of my utility china collection soon as I'm gathering quite a healthy stash!

Did anyone else have a lucky Friday 13th this year?

Beryl ware and pyrex

I found four, oval Beryl ware plates at 20p each in a charity shop last week. I don't know whether they're oval dinner plates or serving plates. Either way, I enjoyed eating Heinz spaghetti and toast on them last week. Here's an up to date photo of all my Beryl ware.

Although I'm delighted with my growing Beryl and Jasmine stash, I'd really like to find some Iris. I haven't come across any so far. Does anyone else find that they end up with way more of one style/colour than the other?

I also found a little pyrex jug in another shop for 10p. At that price I couldn't leave it behind.

I can easily see myself collecting loads of pyrex too but even I recognise that I need to reign myself in somewhere!

Unfortunately I haven't baked anything since the beetroot brownies but I do have lots of baking plans for the next week or so. Fudge is at the top of my list, I fudging love fudge! Christmas is fast approaching so I need to get a wiggle on with my Christmas baking.

Recent utility china haul

I was in Glasgow for a couple of days and this is what I managed to pick up in the charity/second hand shops.

Two yellow Jasmine Woods Ware sideplates (actually bought in Golspie not Glasgow). Yes, I know I have more sideplates than what is considered healthy (see here and here) but I don't have any of these. Who could resist their sunny yellow charm? I love them for their stylish backstamp alone. I think they're seconds as they have a couple of flaws but at 25p each I'm not complaining.

*sigh, this picture would be so much nicer had I ironed out the crease*

I found this lovely Johnson Bros Greydawn soup/dessert bowl. There were actually two but the other had a massive crack through the middle so I decided to leave it. Sadly I'm still no further in finding any dinner plates. I'd love to track down some Greendawn or Rosedawn but ultimately I'll take whatever I can find!

However I finally got my greedy hands on a little Woods Ware teapot! She (I've decided it's a "her") is in perfect condition and pours brilliantly; I can get just over 3 cups of tea from her.

Although not utility china, I found this gorgeous little Royal Winton jug too. It's not in perfect nick (has a tiny chip on the bottom and a couple of flaws in her glazing) but definitely very pretty and useable. It also has the same 1930s backstamp as my rosebud teacup and green cakestand but I haven't discovered which pattern it's from. If anybody does know then please let me know because I'm a geek.

Has anybody else found any pretty china this week? Go on, make me jealous.

More yellow Utility China

I can't believe my luck! Honestly, this is almost getting ridiculous, not that I'm complaining. I was in town with Mum this afternoon and decided to have a quick snoop round one of the charity shops and I left with a set of yellow Johnson Bros china: 4 cups and saucers, 4 sideplates (yes, I am aware I have A LOT now), 4 dinner(?) plates (they're still quite small) and 3 pudding bowls. Unfortunately one of the bowls has a small crack but it's still pretty.

And the price of it all?

£1!

Definitely worth celebrating with a bag of chocolate buttons.

I also found this glass dish with a little lid in a pretty pink. I can't decide what to keep in it. Maybe hairclips/bobbles, special bits of jewellery, buttons? It also cost £1.

Lots of lovely things for only £2. What a bargain! I have a pretty healthy collection of green and yellow Utility China now. Need to gather a few more pieces of blue and pink next.

It's my birthday on Monday so be prepared for some glorious photos of cake and loads of Utility China in action. I hope you're excited because I certainly am!