Treasure Hunting

Summer is the time for yard sales. Some people call it junking, I call it treasure hunting!

I haven't went treasure hunting as much this summer as I usually do, because I'm trying to cut down. A person only has so much room for treasures before the rooms start to overflow. And my rooms are now overflowing.

I have bought lots of books at yard sales. Old books, new books, writing books and children's books. I love books!

Here is something that kinda falls into the category of books. It is a Princess Diana Paper Doll book. None of the dolls or clothing have been punched out, it is intact and dated 1985. I paid 25 cents for it. I came home and just out of curiosity I went to the Kovel site and saw where they listed it as being worth $80. Now finding someone who will pay that much for it is another thing. But I couldn't believe that when I saw it.



You all know I love milk glass. I posted my collection of it a while back. Well I found this hobnail 72oz pitcher for $2 and I couldn't pass it up. I love it. It was made my Anchorglass.



Here are some bowls I've purchased this summer at yard sales. I love bowls! I have quite a few of the bowls like the one on the left. I have them in different colors and I use them all the time to put veggies in at the kitchen table. I really love them. The two light pink ribbed bowls are small mixing bowls without their lids, they were made by Anchor Hocking. I don't know anything about the little peach colored bowl, but I thought it was very pretty and I think it is old, too. I paid 25 cents each for all of these.



Here is an autumn leaf stacking bowl (I think people call these jewel tea). It is without a lid, but I love the pretty autumn leaves and I only paid 50 cents for it. Two old salt and pepper shakers to add to my collection, a green wood handled fork, a wood handled crinkle cutter and the pretty thing on the right is a yellow flowered vintage hat to add to my collection of old hats.


And here are a couple pieces of what they call "poor man's silver". They are aluminum. I'm not sure what the one on the left is called but the other one is a handled candy dish. I have a lot of these hammered aluminum "pieces" and will post about them in the future.


In addition to all these things my husband bought 20 shirts at a yard sale over the weekend! I tried very nicely to talk him out of all of them, but to no avail. They were very good quality shirts, though, but I just don't know where he's going to hang them all. We don't have a walk in closet!

I have also bought more vintage aprons and vintage tablecloths this summer. Oh, and I got an enamelware baking pan with lid this weekend also.

What have you all been buying this summer? Any treasures you want to tell me about?

vintage kitchen utensils

Granny Sue gave me a post idea with her blog quiz about her vintage kitchen utensils.

For show and tell Friday hosted by Kelli at There's no Place Like Home, I decided to show part of my collection of old kitchen utensils.

I love vintage kitchen items. I can't pass up any at a yard sale, road side sale or thrift store. They are so pretty and the wear on them makes them all the more attractive. It shows me that they were used by our apron wearing ancestors that cooked meals 3 times a day for their hungry, hard working families. The country wasn't filled with fast food places back then.

Here is an assortment of mashers. I love the wooden ones on the end. I was told they were potato mashers, tho one time on an episode of the Waltons, I saw the girls using one to stuff sausage through a grinder.

And here is my colorful assortment of jar and can openers.

I think my grandma baked bread at least once and maybe twice a day. I'm sure she used items like these until the paint was worn off of them. As a matter of fact she may have used that exact rolling pin, it is very old and hand made, my mother gave it to me to use after I was married. I have put a lot of wear on it.

Here is my collection of ice cream scoops. I'm not sure if the 3rd one from the left is an ice cream scoop or not, it is very heavy and I thought it looked like one, so I included it in my collection. The 3rd one from the right is the one we use all the time. Do you have one like it?
I love ice cream ( I eat the low fat vanilla yogurt ice cream sweetened with splenda -it is a Kroger brand and it is delicious)

Well as you can see by some of my collections, I can't pass up these neat things, especially since I usually only pay 25 - 50 cents a piece for them. I even get things when I don't know what they are.

Can you help me? I'm not sure what these are used for, I have an idea, but not sure. I think the people who made these old items were very ingenious.
Help! What are they?

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my kitchen collectibles.
What's your favorite old kitchen items? Can you help me identify mine?