Its the Berry Best

As some of you know from past posts I have been a collector all my life. As a child I had things I 'kept'.....dolls, Breyer horses, Disney story records..just to name a few. LOL my parents storage closet in the basement is half full of my childhood 'keepers' As I got into my teens thoughts of my 'Someday Home' crept in and I started my Cookbook collection. I was really into decorating at that time too so thoughts of what my 'home' would look like popped into my head. A Sears catalog was cut up as decorating swatches.... while the other girls were cutting paper dolls and taping pullouts from the 16 Magazine to their walls........ I was cutting out furniture, bedspreads, lamps, and taping them on my wall as an inspiration board. Sadly none of those swatches made it thru time...it was changing every time a new catalog would come out, but one thing always stayed the same....I always wanted a red and white kitchen. It was always a happy combo to me. I don't know why, I grew up with the harvest golds, avacado green, and  harvest brown....heaven help me I still like those colors..and yes the 80's blues and muaves. Anyway, as a teenager if I found things old or new, with red or strawberries, LOL..seems they're all vintage now..man I'm old....
I collected them in anticipation  of my 'someday home'. I started with dishes in the late 70's and early 80's.
Corelle's 'Strawberry Sunday', 20-pc placesetting, was one of my first purchases for $12! That tells ya how long ago it was..it wasn't a sale price!!!

         Alas, it's been a discontinued pattern for quite a few years. I found it at the Red Roof Outlet Mall in Pigeon Forge. It wasn't in any of the stores up here.

I use it every day and believe it or not I've only broken one plate. Yes...they say corelle is unbreakable, but when it is dropped from the cabinet to the corner of a stove, to the floor...it will shatter.

There was also a Mikasa outlet store and one day I found a pretty kitchen set with a simple cream and red pattern by Studio Nova called Country Kitchen.........................

Sorry the pic is over exposed, but you can see the pattern.

I have the spice bottles, double butter dish, and mixing bowl. I haven't seen any of these since the 80's, I've checked on Ebay and the Studio Nova site...no one has any other pieces.

In creative inspiration, I made this wall hanging in the late 70's early 80's from a peice of finished lumber, molding scraps and gingham fabric...............

I drew the pattern, carved and wood burned the design, then hand-painted and stained it.

It was the first piece I made for my 'someday home'.

 It would become the motif for the whole kitchen.

   Enough about early collecting.....I went huntin again and bagged some unusul finds recently.

 I found something cute this past weekend........................

A 1940's treasure.....a  vintage wooden shopping reminder board......it has all the grocery items you could think of, but it is missing the little pegs that go in the holes. No problem I can make my new ones ;)

I know, no strawberries, but it was too cute to pass up, and these  wall decor pieces...........

The one the left depicts a corn shucker and on the right, an apple press. They are hand-painted pot-metal and on the back is stamped Homeco 1978. I think these'll go outside on my back kitchen porch wall. Oh, you haven't seen my back porch? I'll have to show you sometime. LOL, no bare wall is safe with me it is one huge canvas waiting to be filled.    

Remember my front porch wall                        

I couldn't end this post without showing what my

  Mom and Dad found while went out  antiqueing the other day and  surprized me with when  they  got home......................

They are 1940's ceramic creamer and sugar. I have a Fitz and Floyd pitcher that works well the them.

This is the berry best!

Well, guess I'll go clean off the kitchen porch  and take some pictures so you can see what else I've been up to.

Whoops, I just realized it's Wednesday!! It's Rednesday!!

Before ya go why not pop over to Susan's It's A Very Cherry World

      HERE   to see all the red hot summer finds this week!