Mad Hatter - move over.

After Christmas, I was in the Vinnies at Dickson, when I spotted a teapot in my pattern.

So I had to get it. But there were many reasons why i should.

1. It was in my pattern and to leave it behind would be wrong.

2. It had $5 on it, and they were having a half price on Bric-a-brak sale, so it only cost me $2.50.

This presents me with a problem. I now have four teapots, and one coffee pot.

Is this too many, I hear you all ask? I say not, and Taph, says it’s no coincidence that they are in Hat Boxes.

Some days you can get so lucky

Over the past few weeks, it felt like every weekend involved a trip to Tinys Green Shed in-order to collect some more free clothes. This last weekend was no different.

With the Thrift-mobile filled we headed for home, but the car made a detour via the Narrabundah Vinnies.

While Taph was busy going through their knitting and sewing patten, i had a quick flick through their mens wear, and continued looking at their suits. I picked out this one suit and had a look at it. Fine wool and in a size that should fit me. I tried it on, and it idid fit me. Not only that but it came with two pairs of trousers.

Now, I do own a couple of suits, however they came from Lowes, so they are a little cheap and nasty. Here was a perfect chance to upgrade.

The suit cost $35 and this got us a discount voucher for our next visit to a Vinnies.

Later that day we were down at Gungahlin and we paid a visit to that Vinnies. We found another suit there that fitted me, and they only wanted $10. However, we could not find any labels on it that said who was the maker, the style and size.

However when we looked at the lining in the strong light coming in through the window, we saw those magic words in it. Pierre Cardin.

In disbelief, we checked the Price again. It was still $10. We checked the other stuff in Taphs hands. They came to $10. This means we could use the discount voucher we had been given earlier in the day, and bring down the purchase price to $15.00.

So for $42.50 we got a Pierre Cardin suit and an fine wool suit. Both suits need to have the legs on the trousers altered and one suit needs the sleeves shortened, but still they are bargains.

When we were outside Taph and i looked at each other and said "Cue maniacal laughter".

Op-Shopping on Family and Community Day

On Monday we were faced with a public holiday in Canberra but across the border it was a normal working day.

Hooray Taph said. Let’s go op-shopping across the border.

So we piled into the sub-zero, and set a course for Queanbeyan. Our first stop was the Red Shield Store on Morrisett Street.


Fate seems to shine on us as we got rock-star parking outside the door. However the fate gods left us as there was nothing there that followed us home. However, they do have a good supply of 4xl and 6xl Mens S/S Shirts.

We did a short walk to the Salvos Store, and all we found there was a Country road linen shirt and a jar.

Feeling that the Frugaling gods would shine on us at our next two stops, we moved the car closer, and were rewarded with another Rock-Star Car Park.

Taph picked up a jumper, and a vintage knitting patten. I found a CD for the Collection.

But our luck ran out at Bargin Hunter, and we left empty handed.

We had a quick Brunch at the Central Café as we shared a Big Breakfast.

A quick visit to SpotLight for some needles, also turned up some bargain wool.

We were finished in Queanbeyan by 12, so we set course for Cooma.

Our first visit was to the Red Shield store. For the grand total of $10 we got a shirt each, a Tupperware mixing bowl, some genuine Croqs and a selection of knitting patterns.

We headed down to the Vinnies and got a Book, Shirt and knitting pattern.

We decided the day was still young, and Adaminaby was 30 minutes away. The cruise control on the Sub-Zero got us there well before closing.

It is easy to find, there is one main shopping street, and it is supporting the Snowy Mountains Museum.

We had a lovely time inside. I picked up a pair of xc-skis for $5. The Bases are shot, but I will use the bindings on another pair of skis.

Taph got a pure wool jumper, Tupperware rock and serve, Cheese knives and a cook book. All up this cost us $11.50.

We took the back road home via Namadgi national park. It is a lovely road, but don’t do it if you are in a hurry.

Oh My God Moments

In my search for a new dinner setting I have had several "Oh My God, Oh My God" Moments when i have found items in my search for the new dinner set, but i have had two recent events that are worth putting up here.

The first was while up in Sydney with Taph. In the vinnies at Summer Hill, i spied this little collection of Johnson Brothers china on the shelf. And even better it was half price. There were four cups, eight saucers and six dinner plates. I left four Cups and Saucers as part of a "catch and release" program, and took the Plates and the other four Saucers.

Then a couple of weeks later on another visit to Salvos in Mitchell i suffered a major OMG moment. On at Table, just inside the door, was a Johnson Brother Setting for eight (including the Dinner plate, Breakfast plates, Side (or salad) plates, Cereal Bowls Cups and Saucers, Teapot, Sugar dish, Milk Jug and a Gravy dish and Gravy Plate. These were all new, still with barcodes stuck on them and most also had boxes (like i said it was a major OMG moment).

it was not for sale until the following morning when it would be sold to the first person who was able to get to the counter and say i want to buy these, and according to the shop assistant, it had caused a considerate interest.

I made a quick phone call to my Father (whatever used we do before we all had mobile phones) and he and mum came out to have a look at it too. Their decision was they were not going to try and get it, but if Taph and I decided to use our bulk to Jostle, or even Maori sidestep, the other buyers in the mad rush to the counter, then they would take them.

I felt it would be fun to go and see how much interest there was in these pieces, but ended up sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast instead.

Stop Press: I found some pieces in my patten that came up on E-bay, I decided that i should scale back the search to a watching brief (if i found any bits in op shops i would get them but otherwise i had enough) however the search for matching bits would continued. On a recent visit to Vinnies in Woden, Taph found a Johnsen Regency Platter.

Once i pay off some debts I will be buying some bits from the US sellers on E-bay.

Another Trip to Sydney.

Taph and i made a recent visit to Sydney.
As we were leaving on the Sunday, we were surprised as we noticed that a Vinnies was open. This we felt this shop was worth a visit. when we went in it got even better as they had a half price end of summer sale.

They also had a advert saying that a number of vinnies would be open and also having this half price, end of summer sale. So we programmed Susan and set of with the goal of visiting as many as we could before closing time.

We did ok, and were able to visit four shops before they closed. My main find, well you will have to wait for the next blog post to see what that is

Taph felt it funny that the last time we were in Sydney we also stumbled onto a stack of vinnies having a half price sale, and this time we stumbled onto some other stores having a half price sale. We are hoping this patten holds on our future visits to Sydney.

Growing My Johnson - The second pilgrimage to Sydney.

One day while surfing the net I revisited the Peters of Kensington website. I had not visited their site for ages as i believed they were out of Regency White Patten. However i was wrong, for there, on their site was a listing for a setting for four.

It was not the fact that they had a setting for four on their web site, but when i was there before, i thought i had bought their last set, and if they had found another set, then what else did they find. I felt this was worth checking out.

So several weeks later Taph and i set off for Sydney. Our first stop was to the Tempe Salvos Store. It is a massive store, well by Canberra standards, and Taph and i left with armfuls of stuff.

Leaving the shop we saw the Google Streetview car going down the street on the opposite side of the road. so when Streetview comes out we will have to check and see if we can see ourselves in the photos.

Our next visit was to Sydenham. I wanted to visit the Wine Society shop there as i owe my father a couple bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label, and i wanted to see how much it was there. Taph wanted to visit the Bonds outlet shop, which is 50 meters away.

Walking back to where we had parked the car, we saw a sign for a garage sale. We had to visit it. as it was in the direction of our next stop, and we felt it would offend the op-shop gods if we did not. Taph had some luck and picked up several Storage bags.

Our next stop was at Victorias Basement in Alexandria. When i was in Sydney before they had some accessories in my Johnson Brothers patten, so i figured it was worth a visit.

From there we headed to Peters of Kensington. They had some stock, in the Regency White patten, but nothing that took my attention. However i figured i should not waste the trip and picked up four more coffee mugs. They also had some coffee mugs in my parents patten (Summer Chintz) so I made a quick phone call to them, but they said not to by any as they had enough coffee mugs.

As we drove away from Kensington, we saw a Vinnies Store in Kingsford that was open. We had to stop in and after parking the car, we walked past a Salvos family store around the corner from the Vinnies. When we got to the Vinnies we discovered that the Vinnies shops in that region were having a half price sale.

This resulted in us going to the Vinnies store at Maroubra. Needless to say after visiting that many op shops in one day, we returned home that evening with a boot.

We picked up many items that day. Some of the most notable were:

• Vintage sheets for fabric stash $4 at Salvos,
• 4 x Ikea storage bags $2 at garage sale, and
• several half price tops for Taphs Mum and myself at the various Vinnies we visited.
  

My Johnson is Still Growing

It was a fortunate turn of events that saw me in Woden on Friday afternoon, with a few hours to kill. With this in mind I paid a visit to the local op-shops. My search of Salvos did not turn anything up.
However, when I visited Vinnies, it was as if the op-shop gods were smiling on me. For there, sitting on the table out back was a Johnson Brothers Regency White dinner setting. It was complete setting for five and had eight cup and saucers. It must have began life as a setting for eight and after some pieces were broken the owners decided to retire it. I was lucky to find it before someone else found it.
And I got it at a price that brings the project back on budget.
This bring the Johnson collection up to:
Dinner plates 9
side plates 17 cm 10
side plates 18.5cm 4
cerial bowl 7
saucers 16
cups 16
coffee mugs 4
Teapot 1
sugar bowl 1
milk jug 1

And I still have my pilgrimage to Peters of Kensington to go.


What I found at Vinnies Woden.

Growing My Johnson.

I have been doing the search for the pieces to grow my Johnson collection with, and i have had quite a few false positives as i spy plates that look like the set i am searching for, only to turn them over and discover that they are completely the wrong thing.

On their own the "Sheffield Bone White" looks like a "Johnson Brothers Regency White", but when you put them side by side you can see they are very different.

My reactions when finding these pieces (and one set) has ranged from an "oh dam-it" to one occasion where it took every bit of my self restraint to stop myself from smashing the pieces in disgust.

The plates at Salvos jammo

Having said that, if you are looking for replacement pieces for a Sheffield dinner setting in the Bone White Style;

• Vinnies Gungahlin have a setting for four (well they did last week),
• Salvos Jamison have 7 dinner plates (but one is very chipped),
• Salvos Phillip have a dessert fruit plate,
• as does Aussie Junk in Mitchell.

Oh well my search continues, and i hope this post helps in yours.

A quick update. Here is a photo of two plates found at Aussie junk.

And Salvos Belconnon have two cups and saucers.

M-Yass or MY-Ass

I saw a photo of this sign on the net several years ago. You would have thought Macas would have fixed it by now, seems as how it has that double-entendre thing going, but it is still next to the road between Goulburn and Yass.

When Taph and I saw it on our recent Goulburn – Yass opp shopping trip, and we could not resist taking this photo.

And for the record, MY Ass is not open 24 hours.