Melmac Memories

I love scouring the internet to find vintage items that I can search for at yard sales and thrift shops. I know it would be just as easy to buy them on Ebay or Etsy when I find them, but that's not the point. It is not the ease of purchase that I am seeking. It is finding that hard to find bargain in an out of the way place. It's the thrill of the hunt. I am not such an avid collector that I have to have everything I see in my particular collection. I am more of a "if I stumble across it and the price is right and I like it, I'll buy it" type of person. 

So here are some recent online finds that I may start looking for. The first is Melmac dishes. Of course, growing up with these dishes I didn't see anything special about them. But now I remember eating lunch on them, serving my children their pb and j sandwiches on them, Daddy eating his supper from them. So now I want a set for daily use. Here are some pretty patterns I found. This daisy pattern is unique plus I love the light avocado green that brings back the 60's and 70's.

This is probably one of my favorite patterns. I am really into pastels right now. 

This is another favorite that I would love to stumble on. 

This is a cute pattern. Lots of color going on and I love anything with flowers. 

This is very unique. You see lots of blues and pinks in pastel vintage dishes, but rarely do I see lavender or purple.

I like this with the background is woven looking. That is pretty cool.

These pink ones are just absolutely precious.

Another item I would love to find are vintage powder dishes. My Grandma Garretson had a pretty dish on her dresser that had her talcum powder in it. It smelled so good and I remember stopping by her dresser and lifting the lid many a times. I would love to find one to put in my bathroom. Here are some I saw that I liked. 

I would love to find one of these Fenton Glass hobnail dishes.

This Westmoreland Milk Glass one is pretty, too.

I really, really, really like this one. How feminine and delicate looking.

And one more thing I am looking for our vintage candy dishes with lids. I have found quiet a few that don't have lids, but I want them with lids. This one is cute. It is clear which I would really rather have milk glass or color, but I do like this style. 

This one is unique. It has seashells on it. I could put it in the grandchildren's room and keep M & M's in it for them. 

I think about everybody in my family had one like this in clear glass at one time or another. I haven't seen one in colors before. 

This one is probably my favorite. I love the style and I love the color. This would go on my desk filled with Junior Mints. 

This one is a pretty one for milk glass. The lid doesn't seem to fit just right, but that could just be the way they have it for the photo. 

I know I want one with a lid, but truth is I have been scouting this one out at local antique stores for quite some time. I want it for my nightstand to keep Hershey kisses in. I want the blue/green Carnival glass color. I have seen it several places but the price is always a little higher than what I want to spend. The cheapest I have found is $8.00 and I'm thinking that since these are not seen at yard sales or thrift stores, I may just have to bite the bullet and fork over the $8. I want it that bad. We will wait and see. 

Well, there are my wish list items for the day. I hope that sometime over the weekend I can hit some thrift stores or antique stores.

Red, white and blue

I am going to take the day off today to start the holiday weekend. I haven't had a four day weekend in a long time and I am really looking forward to it. I'm not sure what all I'm going to do with four full days, but I know I am going to enjoy it and try to get some relaxation in.

 

I would like to spend some time just laying out in the sun and reading a good book. I need to buy me a new chair for the back yard so I can do that. I may run and get one today.

I know I will be going to church on Sunday. We always do a special service on Memorial Day to honor our veterans and many of our members who still have their military uniforms wear them that day.

Monday is always a shopping day with my daughter and her mother-in-law. We are going to Tanger Outlet Mall this year. One stop I will make will be the Donna Sharp Outlet. I am in the mood for one of their purses but can't decide what pattern or style I want. I am really liking this pattern for summer. 

Hubby gets his work schedule today so I have to wait and see what he works before we decide what we will be doing for the weekend. I am hoping he is off Sunday so we can go somewhere after church and then cookout for supper that night. 

We live within 5 minutes of the Smokies Baseball Stadium. They are always having fireworks displays on the holidays. We can here them really good and when we set on the front porch, we can see them over the tree tops. So I'm sure we will be enjoying fireworks over the weekend.

All in all, it should be a pretty good weekend. I miss not having the family here for the holiday, but my son and his family spend time at the lake for the weekend and my daughter and her family normally have cookouts and fireworks at her brother-in-laws sometime over the weekend. So it will just be me and hubby. I am going to try to make a Butterfinger cake for the weekend. My daughter-in-law gave me the recipe but I haven't had a chance to make it yet. 

I hope each and everyone of you have a relaxing, fun-filled holiday weekend. 

Snack Plate and cup

I have been seeing a lot of snack plates with cups on vintage dish sites. I would love to have some for those days when I just want a cup of soup and a sandwich for lunch or a little snack with a cup of hot chocolate. Or a piece of cake and a cup of milk. So I set out to see what is available in vintage. Now just to decide what ones I want for my collection.

I love the color of this one.

This is a Fire King pattern like what used to come in oats. 

I like the simplicity of this one. I have several platters in the restaurant style. 

I like the rectangle clear glass shape. This would be cute for snacks with punch. I have a great punch recipe that you can make by the cup. Just fill 2/3 of your cup orange pineapple juice and 1/3 with some 7-Up or Sprite and a spoon of orange sherbet. It is delicious. 

You know I am becoming obsessed with wheat patterns. I don't have a clue why, but I just love this pattern. 

When I saw this one, it made me realize I would like to have several different sets of snack plates so I could use some for holidays. 

This is very cute. I love the deep cups for my veggie soup. 

This blue and corn pattern is cute. It has that vintage look to it. 

This is so retro looking that I just fell in love with it. 

Another Fire King pattern. This one is called Rose Crest. It is very pretty. 

This is a unique pattern. It looks vintage like it could be 50's or 60's. 

One more Fire King that is similar to the patterns found in Mother's Oats coffee cup freebies. 

And look at this set of melmac platters with cups. I would have loved to have found something like this. You can see where the owner paid $2.00 for the set of four. What a bargain. 

These would be pretty for fall. I love the leaf shape of the plates. 

This is another pretty one for fall or winter. I love red barns and covered bridges so this would be right up my alley. 

And my very favorite for Christmas. Would just love to find this set somewhere. Makes me want to curl up with a good book, a donut and hot chocolate. 

 

Do you own a snack plate and cup set? What pattern is yours?

Thoughts for the weekend

I am considering what to do and where to go this weekend. Hubby is off today so we are heading out this morning (weather permitting) to the Farmer's Market at Market Square in Knoxville, TN. We normally find some great buys there. One lady makes the most fabulous home made breads and pound cakes. We always get something from her booth. There is a variety of veggies, plants, flowers, crafts, food and music. It is a very festive atmosphere every Wednesday and Saturday, May through November. 

Of course, I love going to the Turkey Creek Public Market. Outside you will find lots of fruits and veggies with sample abounding. But inside....inside you will find shops and booths and great deals. Goodwill has a HUGE booth that features tons of glassware and kitchen collectibles. You can sometimes find some great vintage finds in their glassware section. 

I have lived here for over 20 years and have only went to the Great Smokies Flea Market a few times. I just simply forget about it being there, even though it is right at exit 407 in Kodak. The inside is loaded with lots of booths and specialty items. But outside is like a giant ongoing yard sale. I haven't been since I started collecting vintage items but I have been told that Pyrex shows up a lot at reasonable prices in the outside booths. Over 200,000 sq ft all total.

I know one thing I want on my list this weekend of things to do and that is to visit the reopening of Old Time Pottery. I love that store. It burned in a fire several years back and was never reopened. Now it is. I am sure there will be bargains galore. I love going there for all the kitchen glassware. I had an awesome cake stand that I got there many years ago and would love to find another one. 

Monday will be my annual trek to Tanger Outlet Mall with my friend Sherrie. I may shop for tennis shoes at Sketchers that day or I may look for some new flip flops at Totes or Crocs. The again I may try to find me a new Donna Sharp purse. Who knows I may end up just window shopping.

I know I want to make a visit to Jo-Ann's. Since I am on a new craze for Yo-Yo's, I want to get some material to have on hand. They are having a good sale on several of their types of materials and I have a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase (even sale items). I went there the other day with no coupon and still saved 40%. I bought 3 different pieces of material in 1/4 yard lengths that will make tons of Yo-Yo's and it was only $2.50 total for all of it. 

I need to make a trip to McKay's to trade in some of my paperback books. Not sure if I'm going to squeeze that into this weekend or not. We'll see. 

What brought that on?

Many of you know that I am not a cook. I love to bake, but do not like to fix a meal at all unless it is absolutely necessary. But I made breakfast for supper last night. Hubby was at work and I was trying to decide what I wanted. 

It all started when I was looking in the cabinet and spotted this Corelle platter that Mom had given me. 

I wondered what I could fix that I could put on the platter and have some supper ready when hubby got home. So I thought some good sausage and bacon would be nice. Plus the leftovers would be good for breakfast for a couple of days. So I fried some sausage and some bacon on the griddle.  

He likes Southern Style Grands and I like the Hungry Jack Buttermilk Flaky biscuits. I had a small can of each so I just went ahead and baked them both and put them on one of my favorite platters. 

I fried me an egg (which I have only done about 10 times in my life) and I got the edge just a tad crispy but that was okay because the inside was perfect, just a tad runny like I like them. I think you call it over medium. It may not look perfect, but my supper was delicious. Not bad for somebody who doesn't like to cook. 

I had been talking earlier that day with Mom and we got to talking about her new love of making yo-yo's. I had pulled her some sample ideas from the internet and she was teaching me via telephone how to make them. So I wondered if I could make them. I loved some of the ideas I saw (visit Bee's 31 Gifts for some more ideas of cute crafts to make with Yo Yo's.) I had ran to Joanne's earlier in the day to get some material so I could try my hand at making one. I picked out some patriotic material to make a little pin to wear on Memorial Day.

I cut out two circles. I used some lids to my Pampered Chef bowl.

Then I gathered my thread, needle, and scissors.

I made the Yo-Yo's. This was my first one. It isn't perfect. I am not sure if my stitches were too big or too little and I forgot to ask Mom how close to the edge of the material I should go. But since I'll be covering the middle with a button, it's not too shabby for a first try and for being coached over the phone when I am more of a visual person. 

The second one turned out better but I forgot to take a picture. I realized after I was done that the big circle should have been a little bigger. There is not a lot of it showing behind the little one, but being my first try, I don't think it turned out too bad. This one was my test one. I will make another one tonight for my Memorial Day wear. But I loved doing it. I have found a new craft I can do and that is fast and easy ... two requirements I need for crafting with my short attention span.