My Foyer Plate Displays - Three Ways

My first photo in today's post shows the way my display in our foyer looks currently.
I just decided a few days ago that I wanted to completely change it up!

 I found everything you see at thrift shops, including the Beatles LP, which I framed.
 I love those plates in the center, which I discovered once graced a "House Beautiful" magazine cover back in 1963:

They are the "Lea" pattern, hand painted and made in Finland by Arabia, and I think they're gorgeous. I only found a few, I wish there had been more!
The others with the black and white sort-of abstract pinwheel design are from CB2 (Crate and Barrel), and I think they're pretty cool, too!
Previously, my display had looked like this:

 I had taken some of my souvenir plates and stuck them up there in front of my other plates, from when it looked like this:

Those are my Thomas Kinkade plates.
I still like them - especially because most of the ones I have are Placerville houses - but I just like to do something different once in a while!
(Sorry, I truly do apologize for the terribly poor quality of my photos today!)

Patterns From The Past - And Pattern Boxes

So, I have a wee bit of trouble resisting vintage patterns when I find them, as you may have gathered over the years if you are a reader of this blog.
I just plain LIKE them, and they also remind me of when I was a teenager.

Going to The Quality Shop on Main Street in Placerville and picking out patterns and/or fabric was one of our favorite things to do!

But if you're going to buy a bunch of great vintage patterns, you will eventually need a place to store them, and I happen to think these cardboard pattern storage boxes are the perfect thing:

I had found a couple of them over the years, but now the owners of one of my favorite thrift shops are on the lookout for them for me!
I went in one day and they had acquired four brand new, unused ones!

I was very happy to purchase them, bring them home...

...quickly assemble them....

...and then promptly fill them up!
(Sorry, but no pictures of that, because it was done in the basement and I have very low lighting down there, unfortunately.)
But you'll just have to take my word for it;

I had MORE than enough patterns with which to fill them!

More Oatmeal Cookies - And More Quaker Oats Tins

I'm back today with another post about oatmeal cookies.
Yes, I know  - You may think that I've already written everything there is to say about this subject in my previous post 
but, you see - I beg to differ, LOL!
I baked these yummy little morsels recently....

  ....  because I wanted to try yet ANOTHER recipe!

I had found some file folders in storage that I hadn't laid eyes on in years, and one of them contained recipes.
I don't believe I had ever made the Oatmeal Cookies with the Jell-O Pudding in the batter before. I had tried the Chocolate Chip cookies (many years ago) and I liked them a lot.
I added some cinnamon to the recipe, and then I froze the dough in little balls:

Then I baked them a couple of days later, as early in the day as possible, because it's so hot this summer.

The recipe did, indeed, make five dozen; I ended up with 61 cookies, in fact!

I also came across some more Quaker Oats tins that I had forgotten about.
I found this one in storage with some other tins; it's from 1984:

And the next two were tucked way back in the corner of a cupboard, and I'd forgotten they were even there.
From 1983:

And this one is from 1990:

So, now I guess I'll have to decide which ones I'm willing to part with, because we live in an old house - and there's no way that I have the space to keep five Quaker Oats tins in my cupboards!

Colorful Tiles From Taylor & Ng

I just happen to have found a few of these colorful tiles and tile trivets from Taylor & Ng, San Francisco fairly recently.
They were designed by Win Ng ( Like the name ? I do!)
I love the artwork; it's so original and unique.
I'll start with this one, found in May at a Goodwill in Oregon.
 I almost didn't buy it, but I ended up grabbing it after all.
Too cute and colorful to resist - "Chicken In A Basket"

I've had this next one, below, for a while.
 Most of the ones I've seen are from 1982.
 "Strawberry Snail":

I also found "Doggie Do Good" while we were traveling:

This is a smaller one "Kitty Katfish" -  pretty "kute"!

I believe this one, "Rascal Rabbit" was the first one I ever found:

But then - more recently - I found the small tile trivet and the coffee mug to match!

I was able to find a picture of one other online.
This one isn't mine , "Whopper Whale":

 Aren't they great?

A Few Needlepoint Pictures From The Thrift Shops

I just wanted to share some needlepoint pictures today that I have found at thrift stores.
Let's start with the one below; I just framed it yesterday. I found the unframed piece at a thrift store on our trip in May, and, as often is the case, I had the perfect frame for it at home already:

 ( I think in the photo it looks small, it's actually 8X10".)
I also found this pretty still life recently:

And this cottage scene:

Those two were already framed, but the last one is another where I had a frame that fit the piece perfectly and framed it myself:

Muted colors, bright colors - they're all pretty to me!