UTTERLY DISGUSTED!

Today I made a visit to my favourite local Hospice charity shop to be greeted with the news that they and four other branches had been broken into over the weekend and the safes had been stolen along with there contents.....words fail me.

What stunningly beautiful gifts!

I was feeling pretty miserable as I haven't had a lot of luck with 'finds' since my last post. :o(  
However,  today I have received a truly beautiful gift from my sister in law Joy, (who makes some of the MOST wonderful sugar craft flowers and cakes) and when she came for a visit earlier today she gave me this....

Aren't they georgeous?

A view from above. 

(the flowers are proudly placed on top of my glass topped coffee table which has a display area below, which is why you can see some cat plates underneath).

Close up of an Amaryllis

Dancing Ginger Lady and Spider Chrysanthemum

Delicate Hydrangea flowers

and completing the close ups fantastic Begonia leaves.

I feel truly blessed to receive such a stunning gift.  Thank you SO MUCH Joy.

 :o)  :o)  :o)

(There is another gift of some fabulous sugar craft lillies featured here.... http://secondhrose.blogspot.com/2010/04/blue-and-white-obsession.html)

I also saw my other sister in law Jackie today, and she gave me a load of fabulous Bramley Cooking Apples - freshly picked from her garden....

I feel some rose hip and apple jelly coming on..oh, and apple pie of course!

Thank you too Jackie :o)

Thank you for visiting, I really love to read each and every one of your comments.

                                                                        Best Wishes

What have tea pots, cookies, Christmas and chess have in common?

They are all things I found this week!

I've had a fairly good week bargain wise.  Here's a lovely china tea pot I found - I think it's a really elegant shape and glory of glories it pours beautifully without dripping from the spout!  (Yes, I know that should be a requisite of a tea pot, but it's odd how many drip).

It stands about 8" tall and sadly has no makers marks at all.  This photo does not show how the handle splits into two at the top like a branch.  Feels good in the hand and good on the pocket at only 90p.

Christmas in August?  A 'good old' Woolworths Santa and Snowman salt and pepper set to be put away until December.  £1.50....not bad as a novelty.  I'm sure they'll raise a smile over Christmas lunch!

 

and of course....

Okay, so I haven't played chess for about 18 years....and then I wasn't very good anyway - but could you have resisted this set cast with mythical figures?  Especially when you know it was only £4 including the Learn Chess book!  (Yes, I'll have to read the book first I guess.)

This cute mirror which stands about 14" high was only £1.  I'm a sucker for mirrors and I love gold...looks like another hole in the guest room wall! 

(Just a couple of my ginger jars in the reflection - blue and white of course!)

Here we have an (American) addition to the recipe books for 50p.  Love that the previous owner had written comments on a lot of the recipes like 'Yummy!', and my favourite one 'Got too dry the next day' with a sad face.  The next day?  Do cookies last that long?

Lastly - and please forgive me if I've posted this before... but I couldn't find it. 

I got this Wedgwood teapot a couple of months ago - during my 'pressured' period when I didn't post.....

It's beautiful, my favourite teapot ever!  A large cream melon shaped one, which as you WOULD expect pours without a drip - in their 'Queensware Weekday Weekend' pattern.  I could hardly believe it was only £2.50.

Hope you all have a good bargain hunting weekend folks :o)

A special 'HELLO' to my new followers, sending a very welcome to my blog.

Best wishes to all - and thank you for visiting.  Don't forget to let me know you came by leaving a comment please as I love to read them.

Come dine with me.....

Last night we had dear friends over for dinner.  I tried to keep things fairly simple, (you see I'm probably a closet Hyacinth Bucket! ) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_Bucket)  as I do like to have a well laid out and presented table.  Here's a peek at the results....

I laid seven places as one of our friends had their grand daughter Charlotte staying (I placed a smaller 'wine' glass out for her so that she wouldn't feel out of place with her alcohol free drink).

I just love the glasses, nice and plain 'n purchased from Woolworth's years and years ago.  Each glass is placed on a gold coaster.

Our lovely blue and white dinner service is a family heirloom from my Husbands side of the family, made by Till & Son of Burslem, Stoke on Trent Trade name Tillson. (sadly, there is no patterm name on any piece) I decided against using the whole services as I used my recently aquired hostess trolley,  I find it a boon, if only for keeping the plates and dishes hot - which in turn frees up a lot of space in my (very) small kitchen!

Here's a closer look

(You will also see some of the plates on the welsh dresser behind me on my profile photo)

I used my simple gold beaded napkin rings, and used my favourite Viners blue handled flatware.

I purchased a set about ten years ago in a closing down sale for a song, and I've kicked myself ever since for not buying another six place settings.  I keep searching but haven't found any more yet :o(

I missed taking a photo of the place mats, but they are Rose Boquet by Royal Victoria with matching

napkins. See this link for the pattern http://www.replacements.com/webquote/ROVROB.htm

The linen cloth is a favoutite of mine, from a charity shop of course...I'm certain it was under £5.

It doesn't show on my photo, but I use a silver table protector underneath it (often seen in the background of my charity shop bargain photos!).  You may have noticed that I used battery operated tea lights, I made the descision as Charlotte is only 7 years old and I would hate for any avoidable accident with an open flame.

The menu I (finally) decided upon was:

Starter - Potabello Mushrooms stuffed with Palma Ham, home grown tomato, onion crisps and mozzerella, topped off with (home made) bread crumbs  and parmesan cheese.  Served with a side salad with home made balsamic dressing.  Here are some of them awaiting their turn in the oven!

Perhaps they look a bit boring, and my intention was to do the before and after shots but at this point things in the kitchen got a little hectic and the camera was forgotten!  When they were crispy and golden on the top and the flavours had devoloped properly they tasted good!

 So you'll just have to imagine the main course....

I cooked pork fillet stuffed with sage and a row of whole apricots, wrapped in home cured streaky bacon.  With this I served home grown boiled potatoes with mint, carrots, cabbage, brocolli and home grown runner beans (donated by my dentist!)  With roasted potatoes, sweet potato and butternut squash.

Our sweet is a firm favouite with my guests - my version of Ina Gartens Fruit Crostata

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/summer-fruit-crostata-recipe/index.html)

I use peaches in brandy, local raspberries and blueberries, served at room temperature with a choice of extra thick cream or custard (Creme Anglaise) I would normally offer a choice of two or even three sweets but time constraints this weekend scuppered those plans!

We had wine with our meal of course, and as we are all usually too full to face cheese and biscuits so I missed out on those but serve either tea or coffee with after dinner chocolates.

I believe a good time was had by all.  I hope you've enjoyed my lastest ramble!

Thank you for your time, please - don't be shy leave me your comments - good or bad and let me know you've visited.

Bye for now - best wishes to all :o)

I've been at it again!

My name is Rose H, I am a collectorhollic. 
Can anyone help me?  Is there a self help group out there?
Why did they open a charity shop within a five minute walk from home?   The ladies keep asking me to help out in the shop - but I'd need a full-time job to support my habit!  (I'd also need to move to a MUCH larger house!)

However, I've got another few treasures to share with you.....

I love kitchenalia and have quite a few antique jelly moulds.  I found these two yesterday at the 'expensive' charity shop in the village where I live.

This one is quite heavy and deep.  It's about 8" wide and 6" deep.  It doesn't have a makers mark at all.  I love the deep scrolls on the top.  I paid £5 for it.

This one 'fits' inside the larger mould.  I bet a jelly made in either of these moulds would look fantastic! Still no makers mark on this either, and it cost £4.

Now, you know I've got a 'thing' about paperweights too - here's the one I found yesterday.  It has no makers mark, just the pontil mark on the base.  It reminds me of a jellyfish! It is about 3.5" across and stands about 1" tall.

(The pontil mark is the left when the glass blower removes it from the blowing pipe)

I keep seeing all the great cloches shown on a lot of blogs, and I have only found expensive antique ones on ebay that are way over my budget.  I found this covered cheese dish last week and thought that I could make a display in it.  (I'll have a think and experiment with some things and show you the results when/if I'm happy with it.)

I thought that £2.50 was quite reasonable.  It stands about 6" high.

This small wooden easle was a snip at £1.50

I knew just the thing to display on it....

The cat print looks SO much better now than just propped against the wall!

And finally.....

here's a couple of photo's of two of the orchids that are in bloom at the moment.  I thought they were so beautiful I just had to share them with you :o)

The first one has been in almost constant bloom since September last year, as soon as one flower spike has gone over another one has been ready and waiting to take it's place!  There's ten blooms on this spike.

The spike is smaller on this plant, but the frowers have more of a pattern in them.

Sorry that the photo's are not perfect, but as I've already said before I'm no photographer!

Thank you for joining me and my ramblings.  I hope you've seen something you like :o)

Bye for now, see you all again soon.

A few additions to the collections.

Hello Guys 'n gals.

As promised a few more bargains to add to the collections.

(To have a better view click on any photo to enlarge.)

A pretty floral dish approx 4" diameter from Royal Albert Country Roses collection £1

A lovely Spode plate £1.25

An old original sweetie jar, in really lovely condition for £1.25

Not quite sure what I'll store in it yet though.

A Buddahs head about 6" high £4.50 - (now you know I like Buddahs)

It kinda fits in with this wall mask I got last year, I'm sure it was only £1....

Probably a bit too gold coloured for some of you, but I like gold :o)

Then yesterday I found this lovely mounted tabby cat print for £1

I splurged out £6 for this hand blown flask just about 4" high

the colours are not done justice on the photo as there are golden flecks in it.

and lastly here's a little German hand painted pin dish I got a couple of months ago for £1.50

The little birds and bugs are so beautifully depicted I just fell in love with it :o)

I hope you like some of the goodies.  The Buddahs, bird dish and cat print will be displayed in our guest room.  The blue and white plate in the dining room.  I'm not quite sure where the Royal Albert Country Roses will end up yet.  The sweetie jar is on the kitchen work top until I decide what to store in it.

Thank you for joining me and reading my ramblings again.  Hello to my new followers - great that you've joined me here, I appreciate it!

Best wishes

Catch-up, chickens, carpet bowls and bargains.....

Here I am again....at last :o)  I hope that life is FINALLY back on the right track again now (fingers crossed).  From the 1st of June until 1st July I have attended the Doctors or Hospital 16 times with either my Husband, Mom or myself :o(  So I'm so glad to be blogging again :o)

I've had plenty of time to think what to feature (lol) and I've decided to show you my carpet bowls, a collection started by my Daughter buying me some as a gift.

I got the lovely old basket last week for £2 from my usual charity shop - before that they were in various dishes about the conservatory..

As you may guess a large majority of them are blue and white!  None are old or antique, but I love them anyway :o)  I'm pretty sure that they were around in Victorian times and really used for indoor 'Carpet Bowls'  The only real antique ones I've seen were way out of my pocket though.  I suppose I've made this collection over about the last five or six years.

Then, I had a look around and remembered all of those great Roosters that our American cousins love so much; and realised that I'd got a few too :o)  With the exception of the Rooster they are all in the kitchen...

(sorry, a little blurred)

The four large ones are on top of my wall cupboards.

The smaller brown one is Portmerion Oven to Tableware, a gift from my Sister in Law.

The blue glass one was purchased many years ago from a shop in Camelford when we stopped off on the way to a Cornish holiday.

The White one was a parting gift from my best friend when she left for Australia about 19 years ago.  It was kept very busy on her kitchen surface filled with eggs as she made the most astonishing birthday cakes.  (Thanks Lyn - still miss you)

The old brown one is a family piece that I've known all my life, first at my Nan's and after she died it lived with us at home.  Mom gave it to me just after we married and set up home, I too used it for my eggs for some years but moved it up to the wall cupboards to keep it safe.  The smaller ones are kept on a window sill with my cobalt glass

Sadly I broke the tiny ones' base when cleaning one day....still on the look out for a replacement ;o)

Here's the 'flock' together!

I LOVE the rooster!  I found him in a charity shop a couple of years ago, and he only cost a couple of pounds.  He stands about 18 inches high.

A close up of my 'family' chook!  Lovely old amber glass - I suspect it is a Victorian original.  It has a few chips on the base...but hey I'm a bit battered too and I'm not nearly as old!

And my lovely white chook.

This was found yesterday, just thought it's great. (50p) 

(Sorry Sandy - just couldn't part with it!)

Hey ducky!  I found this today in the charity shop.  He's about 16 inches long and 13 high.  It took my eye and cost £4.  I love (real) ducks too, but this one is my first...Oh no! Not another collection.

The damask fabric I've used as the background was purchased from a charity shop in Market Drayton earlier this week - there's about 6 yards of 60inch width upholstery weight with the price tag of £2, yes this REALLY was a bargain.  (I may pass it on to my daughter who makes a lot of costumes) .

Here's a few of the things that I've got over the weeks that I haven't been posting...still had my 'therapy time' in the charity shops!  (Will add a few more to my next post).

A silk orchid plant in a heavy urn - very life like for £1.99.

I have quite a few real orchids, but I find that they are only happy in our guest room and study.  I can put this one anywhere I fancy :o)

Just couldn't leave this 'bird cage' behind!  Would you?  the price tag was £1.99.  It stands about 18 inches high.  Here's what I did with it......

Okay, I own up to a weird sense of humour!  Thought feathers and a cat was a little wacky LOL!

(I did think of sticking a few little feathers around the cats mouth, but decided against it.....)

Okay, a little strange and random I know - a rabbit head.  It looks like it was probably a lid from a tea pot.  I went on another trip to Dagfields about a month ago and found it there, who knows why but I liked it!  £2  http://www.dagfields.co.uk/
It'll come in with the Easter bunnies next year.

A couple of gold glass beaded  candle shades I got on Thursday from a Stafford charity shop.  They were complete with the candle holders (but I don't like them) a fortune at 90p the pair!

A wasp trap - just needs a big bung for the top.  (My husband has a bad reaction to wasp stings, so I thought this was sensible).  Another Market Drayton bargain £2.

Here we have almost a full set of Elkintons silver plate flatware - someone beat me to the teaspoons and for some reason there's only 5 each of the dinner and desert forks.  After a quick clean by soaking them on a sheet of aluminium foil with washing soda crystals sprinkled on and boiling water added the chemocal reaction removes all the tarnish - NO RUBBING!  I got them today for a total cost of £11.  Still a bargain I thought though.

I can see these making an appearance at our next dinner party!  (Sometime this month)

Lovely paper lanterns (x5) all unused and waiting for me!  £3.50  3 x blue and 2 x white ones.

Now, this is a great extravagance for me.  A cream with gold pin stripes Wedgwood table lamp with a duck egg blue shade.  £25 (!)  I don't even know where I'm going to use it yet - just had to have it though.  Classy eh?

And Finally!  Something I didn't find - My Mom did.  The most FANTASTIC recycling I've ever seen :o) An old fashioned copper washing 'posher' made into a table lamp - how inventive..I just had to rewire it and find a shade. (Lamp, £8 from a local antique shop, shade £2.50 from my Market Drayton haul).

I hope you've enjoyed this extra long post as I've tried to 'catch-up' a little with you all.  Thank you for sticking with me, I'll try to keep up with the blog again.  Please leave your comments - I read and appreciate every single one of them.  Oh! Welcome to the new followers - great to meet you :o)

Very best wishes to you all.

P.S.  Happy 4th July to all American readers :o)