Found: FBC

I found my FBC.  Do you have one?

In the olden days you might have used it.  It might have been on your table and never moved off until it had to be washed and refilled.

Give up?  Need  a different view?

A French Butter Chest dates back to the 18th Century.   It was a way to keep your butter from becoming rancid.  The inner cup holds 1/4 pound of butter.   You put enough water in the larger outer cup so that it is 3/4 full.  Invert the butter filled inner cup into the water filled outer cup.  The unglazed inner cup will hold the butter in place whilst upside down.  You add more water as the butter is used..and change the water weekly.  A marvelous way to store butter before refrigeration!

My French Butter Chest was a gift from my Baby brother and his wife a long time ago..they must have been thinking of me and how I like quirky gifts.

I found this in the back of a cupboard yesterday..I can report that all the cupboards have been rooted out and everything inside washed and disinfected.  I must wash the exterior of the last bank of cabinets..and then I am done.  The end is in sight! :)

Dish Hoarder

I admit it..I have a dish problem. I like dishes..I have a hard time resisting them…I think some of them are calling my name at garage sales.

 

I have a drawer full of old dishes..I got this set for Christmas back in about 1983. Every year they become older..I rarely use them..sometimes the soup bowls if we have lots of people for supper.

This is what the dish drawer looks like normally..the salsa dish was a gift from Riley after we took care of him ( he is a Sheltie that lives on the lake).. I am not sure where the cookie plate came from..most likely Jo..it is a pretty wildlife plate and I use it for cookies.  The tin blue creamers can be used as cups for little kids.  I am still looking for a cover for the clear butter dish.. and I like my glass measuring cup.

I  love all my drawers..nothing better than drawers. They are heavy duty.. Far Guy built all the kitchen drawers and cabinets for me..and I helped.

The flannel valence is up..looks warmer to me.

The dusty dishes are no longer dusty.

Having open shelves in the kitchen is sometimes a pain. I have more sets of dishes there..a tin set, a set of Fiesta, a set of Cobalt Blue Avon dishes most likely collectable too..and a set of Loon dishes  Thanks goodness all these sets are just place settings for four!

I took lots of photos in the kitchen, after the drawers were clean I photographed the contents.

I have several more sets ..a set of China for 20..when will I ever have 20 people in for dinner?  And many sets of real antique dishes that are packed away in boxes.  I am fairly certain I am a dish hoarder..what do you think?

I am still in the kitchen..slaving away..onward and forward to another bank of drawers and cabinets.  I am happy to have two thirds of the kitchen completely done.  I have eight more days until lollygagging can continue:)

Old Dishes

I always look for dishes at garage sales.  I look for depression glass dishes to round out either of the sets that we will leave for the girls.  I look for the dishes that my Mother had when I was growing up.  Sometimes I find dishes that I am not looking for.

My Mother started a set of dishes for me before I was married.  She got them as a premium at the grocery store, it was one of those promotions where you could get plates one week, cups and saucers the next week. Back then I think they were 19 cents or 29 cents each, you could buy extra serving pieces every week. Pieces like a gravy boat, salt and pepper shakers, a creamer, a sugar bowl, platters and serving bowls.  I had a five piece place setting for eight back then. (I used to take them out of the box in the bottom of my closet and envision them with stemware on a beautiful table..shining in the candlelight.  Just me and my prince charming enjoying a formal dinner. Me in a floor length diaphanous gown that matched the blue in the fine china and he in a riding suit..and his dashing horse tied right outside the door of a forty room mansion..dreamer.)

Since those dreaming days, little by little I have added to the collection and have place settings for twelve. 

Until the other day.  I was at a garage sale and there was a box of dishes for ten dollars..eight place settings that were almost complete. They were missing the small bowl that was part of the set, but I believe I have extras packed away. Someplace. Now I have almost enough matching dishes for twenty people.

Far Guy looked into the box of dishes and he said “ Are you starting a new set of dishes?”  I answered “ No. This is the same set that we have had for forty years now.”  He does not remember them, although I know that I have used them for many family dinners over the years.

These are Vintage Fine China Japan 6701 Grape Vine and at the replacements website a five piece place setting sells for 32 dollars..so I think I did pretty good.  Someday one of the grands will hit the jackpot in dishes:)