Pyrex Mania

Vintage Pyrex is one of the most collectible kitchen items with so many women. And not everybody collects them in the same manner. Some will go for anything in a pink pattern. Patterns don't matter, the fact it is pink is what matters.

And on the flip side of the pink collector is the turquoise collectors. They want any of the patterns in this shade. Butter prints, snowflake, even some patterns of vintage that are not Pyrex go into their collection as long as the color is right.

Then you have the collectors who want to get every pattern in each category such as casseroles in various shapes and sizes in any pattern.

Then some want to collect it in any pattern in any style.

And then some only collect the most rare of the rare. There is a casserole dish, Lucky in Love pattern, with a lid that is so rare that most collectors thought it was a hoax. It was apparently a promotional piece that was made in 1959 with a small limited amount of them made. It was listed on Pyrex patterns and hisotry websites, but no one ever seemed to have seem one in person. Until 2017. In August of that year, someone dropped one off at a Goodwill store and it went on the Goodwill Auction site.  I saw it the day it was posted for auction at a starting price of $9.00.  I checked on it every other day or so. Then the price had excalated to over $800 in bidding. I was hooked. I checked every day (sometimes 2 or 3 days) and was watching the last 5 minutes of the bidding where it sold for a whopping amount of $5994.00 which cause the Pyrex world to go nuts. 

My love and collection is in whatever I see that hits my fancy. I love the mixing bowls, Cinderella bowls, fridgies, casseroles, everything. And I'm not set on one color theme or pattern. I just love what I love, especially when I find it at a bargain. Now you can go to many sites and just buy whatever you want if you don't mind paying whatever the asking price is plus shipping. But for me, there is no thrill in that. No different than running to Walmart to pick up p.j.'s. I get my thrills from a.) it being a bargain and b.) finding it "in the wild" in antique stores, thrift shops or yard sales. Nothing beats the thrill of seeing just what you want unexpectedly at a price that is considered a bargain. Currently, here is my wish list of things I would love to stumble on in my hunt. Keep in mind, I don't care if I have to build my collection piece by piece until I get a set. That's what makes it fun for me. Well, here's my current wish list items.....

 

Aren't they all lovely? Guess it's time to pound the streets trying to find some good bargains.

Things that caught my fancy...

In random searches on the internet, I stumbled across some things that caugh my eye. These little bowls that look like chickens are from the 1960's. They are Glasbake, made by the Jeanette Glass Company. 

I see this every Christmas on Pinterest and think I want to make it. But I can't paint straight lines, much less squares. I guess I could just pain them off white. 

This is the #1 Pyrex mixing bowl set on my wish list right now. One local antique store has them for $175 but I refuse to pay that when I know I see them other places for $12 - $20 per bowl. So individually they can probably be found for less than $80. I'm a patient person on my Pyrex wish list. It's no fun collecting if I just buy it and spend way too much money. I am more about the hunt and the joy of finding a bargain.

How cute! Talk about super simple craft. And my son has pine trees like crazy in the woods behind his house I am sure. And I already have the little noses in wood.

You know how everybody is doing the 3 tier shelves and I do love them. But oh my gosh, 3 tier baskets!  I actually have a basket like that bottom one. Guess who's is going to try to make this? ME!

My son has a tons of wood behind his house so I am sure I can go nab some acorns. I won't go too deep in the woods though because he also has bears in the woods. But getting these and painting them would be so cool. I would put them in a pretty little candy bowl just for looks.

I have posted this about 3 years in a row as something I want to do. I can never find cable knit mittens except online and they are $20 - $30. I don't even pay that much for my gloves that I wear. I think I may look at some thrift stores this year.

These are so cute. They are nothing but fabric in an embroidery hoop and then "prettied up" with jute and felt. 

Last fall, I made some of these and sold them for $5 each. I made $150 in 3 hours after I posted them on facebook. I used some of that same paper and jude and beads. But I never thought to make the paint on the handles look vintage. Going to make some more soon and do my paint like that.

And last but not least, Cousin Itt from the Adams Family in strings of orange lights. How cool would that be when trick or treaters come around. 

Well, there is my Top 10 things I am loving right now. Which ones do you like on my list?

 

My little pretty vase

It all started when I saw a post on Facebook where somebody had put an artificial forsythia branch in a Pyrex beaker. Mom had one of those bushes. It sat right outside my bedroom window and was so beautiful. So I posted the Pyrex idea on Facebook. Lo and behold my niece had one that was brand new. She came to visit me and brought it with her.

I tried it with daffodils for awhile because nobody carries forsythia flowers.

Then one day, I was in Dollar Tree of all places and they had a branch of it. I snatched it up and came home and put it in my Pyrex vase.

It now sits proudly on my Baker's rack. I just love it.

 

Weekend Wrap Up

I had a great weekend. Saturday afternoon, I headed out to my two favorite antiques stores just about 10 - 15 minutes from my house. The first one I didn't find anything I couldn't live without. But then the last one, I was thrilled. I love Pyrex and over the year have collected Cinderella bowls and mixing bowls. But I also love the oval casserole dishes. I found this one in the Empire Scroll pattern. This pattern was produced in 1961. You can find it occasionally on Etsy or Ebay for $25 - $45 plus a shipping of $14 and up. It can get expensive. Found mine setting on a random shelf for $12. SCORE! 

I have one already in the Town and Country Pattern and one in a FireKing solid white that belonged to my mom.  But I need more. They are perfect for meatloaf, baked beans, scalloped potatoes, just to name a few good food.

They stack neatly inside of each other. Now I have 3. My goal is a total of 6 in various patterns. I'm half way there. More on that another day.

The next thing I found was this little juice glass. This is from the 1930-1934 time era. It was made during the depression and thus called depression glass. This is the sandwich glass pattern and it came free inside boxes of oatmeal to try to increase the sale of oatmeal during that time. Mom had bowls like this when I was little. Wish I still had one of those. This was just $1.00. I hope to find more so I can have a set.

But the thing that really made me happy was to find this adorable tea for one set. It's not antique but it is unique. Most of my tea for one's are a white background with a small flower pattern on it. Since I'm redoing my office in Victorian colors, this one is going with the color scheme in there.

This is where I sit it for now, but not sure it will stay there. I did pay $16 for it, but most tea for ones are $24.99 and up. So I didn't care to pay the $16. I just love it. 

Well that was my weekend finds. I hope everyone has a great week.

 

Some cute craft thoughts

 I am in the mood to craft but don't know what I want to make. I did stumble across a few ideas that I might do. This first one I have had on my "to make" list for 3 Christmas's in a row. Prior to finding the idea I would see white mittens everywhere. But I can't find them when I get in the mood to make them. I'm going to start looking online in August/September. 

I have a bazillion (well close to it) buttons and always trying to think of a craft project. This is cute for a sewing room decor. The back of the flowers could be felt flowers or just big buttons and some sturdy wire for the stems. Salt shakers like that are $1.00 for 2 of them a the Dollar Store. May try to do these.

And I have wanted to do these coasters for a long time. They are plastic canvas and would be super simple. I have all the stuff. May start on these this week. 

I'll keep you posted....

Shredded Chicken & A new cake

So I got a burst of energy and decide to spend it in the kitchen. I love shredded chicken barbecue sandwiches. I also love coconut cake and I love Dolly Parton. No, she wasn't coming to dinner but I was going to bake a cake from one of her recipes using the new Duncan Hines cake mix she has partnered with them on. First I gathered all the ingredients for all of it. 

Chicken takes the longest so I did that first. This recipe will make enough to feed a family of 4-6 with some left over. Put 3 boneless, skinless chicken chicken breasts in a pan and cover them about 1" over the top with water.

Next add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water.

Start at medium high heat with no lid. Once it comes to a boil, immediatley turn temperature down to a low simmer. Cover, but leave the lid cracked a little for steam. Once you cover it and reduce the hit, cook for exactly 60 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, prepare the barbecue sauce. You will need the following:

1 Bottle of Heinz Chili sauce

1 and 1/2 bottles of water (measured with the chili sauce bottle)

1 small onion diced or chopped 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons Worchestershire

5 tablespoons ketchup

1 stick Parkay margarine

1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir good then bring to a boil over medium heats. Boil for about a minute then turn heat off and set to the side.

Once chicken is done, you need to shred it as soon as you take it out of the water so it stays moist. (Pour the water out of the pan, wipe it out and set to the side. (This way you will have the pan to put the pulled chicken back into). You can shred with a couple of forks or you can use a mixer. I do a piece at a time so it has room to "tear" the chicken apart with the beaters. Either way you do it, just make sure it is all shredded good so you don't have big chunks in your barbecue.

Put the shredded chicken back in the large pan and pour the barbecue sauce back over the chicken and mix it until all meat is covered with sauce. Put on stove over low heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally.

I like mine for sandwiches on hamburger buns. My husband would put cole slaw on his. My daughter makes it and some of her family eats it as a sandwich; but some eat it over nachos and some on a baked potato. 

While the chicken was cooking, I decided to make the cake. It's not a normal Duncan Hines cake. The added ingredients were different then any cake I ever made, but I followed the directions exactly so I could "rate" the cake when I was done. As you can see, it turned out good. But I was a little concerned because most of my Duncan Hines cakes raise up some above the pan which makes for super moist delicous cakes.

Then I followed their directions and spread the Dolly Parton buttercream frosting. They make a regular Duncan Hines buttercream frosting. But I used the Dolly one. The ingredients were just about the same, but I did notice this is not as creamy or easy to spread as their normal buttercream. But I plunged ahead and spread the coconut on the top in a thin layer like it recommended.  It turned out so pretty.

I cut a piece and look how beautiful. I still didn't think it looked as fluffy as their normal white cake mix.

I fixed me a couple of barbecue sandwiches and cut a piece of cake to have for supper.

Since I make this barbecue all the time, I knew it would be delicious and I was right. Now let's talk about Dolly Parton's coconut cake. All I can say is I am a big Dolly fan and love her music. After eating her cake, my advice is for Dolly to stick to music. It wasn't just "not very good". It was horrible. The icing was so thick and bland that I think wallpaper paste would have tasted better. I was right, the ingredients made a big difference. It was not a normal Duncan Hines cake. It was not moist at all, rather on the dry side. The cake had no flavor. None. So I ended up with a dry cake, with no flavor and heavy instead of fluffy. I tried to be fair and give it several taste tests. But after three bites, I was done. It was horrible. I went on Facebook and posted my opinion. A friend of mine is a die hard Dolly fan. 100% loves anything and everything she does. So he made the banana cake she came out with. He had the same reaction. It was so bad he couldn't eat it. 

So there you have a shredded barbecue chicken recipe you MUST add to your cookbook and a coconut cake recipe that you would be best to avoid.

Fall is falling onto the Hobby Lobby shelves

 Don't get me wrong, I love fall. But I love it during fall. However, if you need some new decor and you stumble onto something, it's okay to buy it. But put it away until fall arrives and it is time to decorate. Having said that, Hobby Lobby is getting their stuff in. I didn't go crazy and buy a bunch because I want to check other places and figure out how I want to decorate. But I did see some things that interested me. 

I don't know what I will end up or what I still have from last year that can work for what I want. But I love having a charger plate in the middle of my kitchen table and then decorate it. I did go ahead an buy the one I found because I don't want to take a chance on not getting it. And it was just a little over $3.00. 

I'll find a pretty placemat or table runner to put under it, but time will tell what my plans will be to set on it.  I also love these items but I have until September to decide what I want to get. But these are in the running..

It won't be long until I have to start narrowing it down. You really need to go to your Hobby Lobby. They are getting in some amazing things.