Fair City Finds

I have to admit that the charity shops here in Dublin's Fair City are not as good for homewares and kitchenware as the stores in Australia. The thrift shops here are geared more towards clothing and books and usually only have tiny bric-a-brac sections but I have still managed to find some nice things :-)

I love this pretty pair of teacups, Made in England, and plan on turning them into teacup candles for my summer table. They were €1 each.

This cute little rooster crock cost €2 and I use it to store wooden spoons.

This pair of Arcopal France teacups cost 50 cents each. I had no reason whatsoever to buy them apart from the fact that they're so pretty!

Yes I know, MORE duck-egg blue! This gorgeous Carrigaline Pottery bowl cost 50 cents.

This set of teacups and milk jug are by Johnson Bros and cost €4 in total. I absolutely love the retro pattern and am hoping to find more pieces.

This set of 6 soup cups and saucers cost €5, the brand is Tams, made by Staffordshire.

A red JAJ Pyrex Cinderella bowl for €1! This is part of the 3 piece Carnival bowl set, I have the blue bowl from the set too so am only missing the yellow.

I found this gorgeous floral platter in a vintage store in the gorgeous lakeside town of Carlingford. We had a lovely family day out there recently and I am dying to go back.

I stumbled upon a vintage store in the city on my way to an appointment last week, this pretty plate had to come home with me of course, it cost €3.

I may or may not have "found" this Denby Arabesque coffee pot on top of my mum's kitchen cupboard and nagged her until she let me have it :-)

And finally, a Nigella Lawson storage jar in cream, I already have these in blue and pink so now I have a set :-)

I have heard rumours that the best places to go for vintage kitchenware etc in Ireland are carboot markets and parish fetes, unfortunately these usually take place on Saturday mornings when we are busy with kids' activities and family gatherings but hopefully some day soon...

In my kitchen

Today I thought I'd share some nice additions to my kitchenware collection, some from Sydney, some from France, some from here...

I bought this beautiful vintage compote at a little brocante market in Paris on our recent trip. It cost 5 euro, they were also selling the most beautiful matching soup tureen for 10 euro but would have been way too big to carry on to the plane home, sniff..

I found this massive cast iron Doufeu back in sydney before I left but don't think I ever shared it on the blog, it cost 15 dollars in Vinnie's and is perfect for big roasts and slow cooking.

Another French find, from eBay this time. I still can't believe my luck finding these stunning vintage turquoise Le Creuset saucepans designed by Enzo Mari in the 1970s!!! They are in fantastic condition at a great price and the great thing is that postage within the European Union is pretty OK so I can now stalk fab bargains on eBay France to my heart's content :-)

A few more Pyrex cinderella bowls to add to my collection, the green shamrock bowl has been on my wishlist for ages!

I have started collecting the little round Pyrex casseroles also known as 473s. This gorgeous blue and white pattern is called "Colonial Mist".

So far I only have 4 different patterns but I'm patient :-)

These cute little JAJ Pyrex (English Pyrex) casseroles cost a total of 3 euro in Oxfam here in Dublin. The patterns aren't necessarily my favourites but they're great for storing leftovers in the fridge :-)

That's all for now, what fab things have you found lately?

No oil painting...

Let's be honest, tonight's dinner (chicken and veggie pie) wouldn't win any prizes in a beauty contest...

...but it was really, really yummy :-)

Dear Santa...

Well, if my boys can start making their Santa lists early November then why shouldn't I?  ;-) Like all the mums out there, my Christmas lists are generally all about what the kids would like, what to make for dinner on the big day and what we need for decorations etc, so I thought for a change it would be a bit of fun to compile a little list of my dream vintage items. These are things I have been searching for quite a while and have pretty much given up hope of finding out there at a market or in a shop. They may be items I will end up buying for a bigger price tag on Etsy someday or may just stay on my wish list forever...

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First up, how stunning is this vintage Royal typewriter in soft pink, swoon!

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I am still hoping to find one of these Kaj Franck red heart bowls by Arabia of Finland at a flea market some day, it would be so much fun to find one "in the wild", the alternative would be to pay over 100 euro online!

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I am in love with the series of beautiful enamelled Lotus bowls by Cathrineholm of Norway. They come in lots of different colours but the turquoise on white would be my dream piece.

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In my opinion, by far the prettiest of the vintage Hornsea patterns is "Springtime". Pictured here is the canister, it comes in many different pieces, I would love the butter dish too!

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At the very top of my Pyrex wish list is a cinderella bowl in the "balloons" pattern. It actually comes in a set of 2 to be used as a chip and dip set, but I would be thrilled with just one bowl in either size.

Well, that's it! I would love to hear what's on your Santa list this year :-)

Trio

A cute little group of pretty vintage things. A gorgeous duck egg blue Fowler Ware jug, cream gravy boat and cute tiny "Cottage Rose" Pyrex casserole.

The grand total for these 3 items was $8. I love vintage :-)

Pyrex Photoshoot

Today I thought I'd share some photos of my Pyrex Collection, for anyone else out there who loves gratuitous pyrex shots :-)

Over the last couple of years I have culled my collection hugely. I decided just to concentrate on particular shapes that I like the most such as the pie plates, cinderella bowls, littlest fridgies and smallest round casseroles. I also kept a couple of the rectangular dishes as they are really handy for making lasagne and potato bakes. As you can see my collection is now made up of brightly coloured mismatched designs stacked by size (4 different sized cinderella bowls) and style (apart from my yellow and black gooseberries, my only full set). I love how bright and beautiful all these retro patterns look together :-)

Pyrex Hunting

Wow! There is a serious Pyrex drought here in Sydney. I blame certain magazines, who shall remain nameless (FRANKIE!!!) for featuring articles on collecting gorgeous retro Pyrex and hence making it popular and therefore increasing competition!

Despite this I have managed to find some really nice pieces, some online, some from op shops and others through a lovely vintage trade group I have joined.

First up and probably one of my most wanted pieces ever is this fab Butterprint cinderella bowl. I had given up ever finding one "in the wild" and when I saw this online at a great price I couldn't resist, it is in absolute pristine condition!

I didn't even know cinderella bowls came in this beautiful robin egg blue until I was offered this one in a trade with a very lovely collector, one of my absolute fave pieces!

Another cinderella bowl, this one in the "Town and Country" pattern was a few dollars at a market.

My pie dish collection groweth! All of them op shop finds apart from the turquoise which was part of the same trade as the robin egg bowl.

Yet again part of that same trade (best trade ever!!) were these gorgeous refrigerator dishes, or fridgies as they're fondly called by collectors, they are insanely cute!!!

This turquoise snowflake rectangular dish was an ebay purchase, at a very reasonable buy it now price, the perfect size for potato bakes :-)

A lovely friend bought me this gorgeous Anchor Hocking casserole, I had never seen this pattern before and absolutely love it, I am now obsessed with finding more pieces in the same pattern :-)

And finally a couple of Agee Pyrex (Australian made) divided dishes, I had cleared out my divided dish collection as I had way too many and they're a pain to stack but these two are such cute patterns and were only a couple of dollars each so I couldn't resist. Could I?

Now just in case you're thinking "where the hell does she put all that Pyrex" I have recently done a MASSIVE clearout through trading and on eBay. I have decided to concentrate mainly on cinderella bowls and pie dishes, both of which I use regularly and a few other shapes in patterns I absolutely LOVE!!! That's all :-)