Made in Holland? Not Really!

The moment I read "Made in Holland," I know I am dealing with souvenirs. 

We still bring Dutch Treats to our American friends and family. As I never kept track of who received what, I am sure I have repeated some blue/white cuties in the 35 years since I first made those trips over the "puddle."

On Saturday we visited one of our favorite Dutch second hand shops "Het Goed." As we still need a couple of pieces of furniture in our newly remodeled Beltway apartment, we first checked out the furniture. My hub was on a roll, and he found two good rotan chairs that we can use as "extra" living room chairs. At 10 Euros each, I can whip up some new filling for the ecru pillows. And they cleaned up nicely!

Then he found these two petite cornflower pans from Corning that were popular in the 1960's.

For 75 Euro cents, who could leave these cornflowers behind.

Then he found these:

All are perfect to take back to the US as souvenirs.

In search of Pyrex ( preferably European), I found the following:

Top left is an old, light blue Flameware saucepan 832-B (Made in U.S.A.) from the 1940's. 

Top right is a Sovirel France bowl probably made in living memory (vintage).

And I found a cup and saucer like a breakfast set we received as a wedding gift (Eschenbach Bavaria-Germany) in 1980.

Nothing on this table costed more than 1.50 Euros each. In fact, the cup and saucer were 75 Euro cents!

"Vintage" Verses "Made in Living Memory"

I still have trouble distinquishing "vintage" from "antique." But yesterday on BBC's television program "Flog It" I heard a great way to define old stuff--made in living memory.

From now on in this blog I will use MILM (made in living memory) to identify my vintage finds. I will also probably expand the living memory part to my mom's memory back to the late 1920's. 

As we are presently at the Beltway Apartment in The Netherlands, here is a chair that was left behind when my sister-in-law and her hub moved out last summer. The wooden part was almost white from wear and tear. According to my SIL, it had been in her family for almost 40 years. 

I polished it up to be a brown piece, but I left the "bandage" on the right arm post.

Free is good! How cute is this chair? Even with the bandaged arm!

Laundry Room Gallery

The areas above and behind our utility sink in the washroom were left bare when we built our house seven years ago. A couple of years ago, a tile setter put in the backsplash with some of our leftover bathroom tiles. But still there was something missing. A shelf and towel rack. I had one! Bought many moons ago for practically nothing and still safe in my collection of "maybe will come in handy/too cheap to leave it in the store."

After fiddling and faddling, my husband installed the shelf. Perfect fit! And now I plan to use it. Maybe not for hanging wet towels, but as a little art/junk display area. My latest Heart Art has found a place there, too. 

Looks useful with the dust cloths, doesn't it?

Glassware found behind my neighbor's house. She gave these to me, and I finally got around to extracting all the mud. Think her husband had found them behind old deserted homes in our area.

Old Dr. Pepper bottle. Can you believe my Dutch hub likes Dr. Pepper?

Look carefully! This is an old RC (Royal Crown Cola) bottle. Wonder how many Moon Pies were eaten with this cola?

French's mustard jar. I threw away the rusty, crusty lid (oops!), and there is a huge chip on the F.

My favorite Dutch hand crocheted window treatments. Bought many, many years ago for a pittance at the Catholic charity shop in Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands. More old bottles and ball jar lids from my collection.

(By the way, I like to party with the following:

http://thriftermakerfixerfarm.com

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com

http://cityfarmhouse.com

http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com

http://www.ellaclaireinspired.com

http://www.thecottagemarket.com

http://www.blackbirdhasspoken.com

http://missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.com)

Secret Auction Entries

Last Saturday our local Beauregard Master Gardeners group had their first annual Spring Garden Festival. 

Two of my At Vintageous creations were offered in the Silent Auction.

This garden totem bird feeder.

And

This table ornament/ bird feeder totem.

The two items on the left of the Silent Auction table are mine (Wetcreek Designs).

I have no idea if either sold. But they were made of mostly vintage glassware (and, yes, that is a 2 year old Perrier bottle) and did not cost over $2.00 each to make.