Get tea in your favorite cup and come on back and click here for musica! It’s Dishes Day! But first . . . say Hello Kitty. ♥
I promised Em, one of our girlfriends, who’s doing some redecorating, that I would show another photo of my chair . . . she’s looking for this fabric, or something like it, and I don’t remember where I got this. If any of you decorators out there know what pattern this is, please leave a comment here for Em!
I had several requests, so I thought I’d show you my dishes today! We have to start with my kitchen cupboard because it’s like a toy for grownups! My dad drove out from Arizona with his tool box and his dog, to help us move into our house. The first thing I asked him to do was to take off the cupboard doors so I could see my dishes. This is how it’s arranged today, but it’s gone through many changes: When I find yellow glasses, out goes the clear ones; I find pink dishes, out go the purple ones. Pretty much everything came from yard sales and antique stores. (You notice there’s a bowl full of kitty toys there. They’re everywhere.) ♥
That’s a Johnson Brothers “Rose Chintz” teapot, a Martha’s Vineyard decorative plate, some of my Beatrix Potter people, an antique no-name brown transferware cup (with a singing bird on it!), my purple Windsor Ware china, some of my preferred fake fruit, topped off with my pink “Two Fond Hearts” plate!
These Minton cups belong to one of the girlfriends now . . . when my cupboards were full, I donated these to the Vintage section in our web store–I know they went to a good home! I hope she’s having lots of tea parties to show them off! ♥
More cups, most of them have no manufacturer or pattern names on the bottom; great shelf for display, useful too, not deep so it doesn’t take up too much space.
Salt and pepper shakers, perfect for every occasion! 🙂
Very old Minton creamers and teapot (no pattern name is on the bottom of this set of dishes!).
I love to mix old and new for informal tea parties. My Emma cups mix so well with antique dishes!
This little gem was all alone on an antique-store shelf when I found it; no name on bottom, no saucer, but look at it! Abigail Adams probably drank out of it! It should not be living alone!
You can mix your eras too . . . This yellow earthenware Oven Ware bowl perks up the Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz.
Love to mix and match dishes, some are one of a kind, but fit right in. This sauce bowl is English, Myott Son & Co “Swing Time” — and it’s the only piece of it I have.
Copeland Spode and Emma Bridgewater — those English people really know what they’re doing!
A little mish-mash of small cups, flower salt and peppers, and one of my pride and joys, a tiny Japanese tea-for-one set.
This china has nothing on the bottom! I think it should be famous! So pretty on a summer table outside under the arbor! ♥ Makes you want to have a dinner party!
Adorable green bird salt and peppers which were a give-away here a while back. The bottoms twist off!
Gold-trimmed acorn plates make cake and ice cream positively elegant!
I wash the few dishes I own that have gold trim on them by hand because I’ve heard the dishwasher might wash it off. These are “Tuscan fine Bone China, Made in England.”
Pretty dishes, so inspiring, you really must have tea!
Just a little bit of everything in this old hutch. With colors and patterns like these, how can anyone not fall in love with dishes?
Some of you probably recognize this cup; it’s part of a tea set I designed for Lenox. They’re not being made anymore, which seems to be the same thing you can say about everything these days! One of the fall-outs from the economy, at least as far as I’m concerned, are all the products I designed that never got made. Especially dishes! ♥ I’ve never been able to show these designs before . . . another good reason to love the computer and blog world! This domed cake plate was the one I loved the most . . . one of the victims of the changing economy, but now, blog worthy!
I designed lots of things for the wonderful 250+ year-old China maker, Wedgwood that, unfortunately, never saw the light of day, until today!! Back around 2002, Wedgwood asked for a complete collection of everything! Sugars, creamers, cake plates, butter dishes, dinner plates, mugs, tea pots, vases, jars, dresser trays, ice cream bowls, baby dishes, hanging plaques, glasses and accessories too, and pitchers . . . I love dishes so much, this was a dream job!!!
I drew and painted lots of ideas; here’s an earthenware milk pitcher and a hand-painted glass lemonade pitcher with a bird on the lid! Who would not want this!!?
The economy started changing around the time I was painting these and, unfortunately, Wedgwood never made them (heart breaker — but I worked with really nice people at Wedgwood–it wasn’t their fault, just a sign of the times!). I designed clear-glass formal candlesticks, and these green casual candlesticks. Many things had back, side and top views; this candlestick came with my removable crystal bird bobêche. I wanted everything to feel a little bit vintage and have wonderful details. (I’m sorry, but crystal bird bobêche??? Is this not a must-have?)
I designed lots of glasses too, all kinds: etched, hand-painted with little flowers, cut and colored; and I named them; this champagne glass was “Sabrina.” Doesn’t she look like a Sabrina? You have to use your imagination to hear the clear ring she would make when toasting — to see the sparkle she would have made when held up to the light, how the cunning little champagne bubbles would have drifted to the top to tickle your nose! I also designed a tall, thin, etched, green ice-tea glass I called “Katherine” — there was also “Ingrid,” and “Audrey.” I named them after old movies and movie stars.
This is a whistling tea cup. When it’s filled with liquid, you can blow the bird whistle; it gurgles and sounds like a chirping bird. Not made. Hello?
Of course, I had to make a red-lidded jar! I had a whole line of these jars in all sizes, for cookies and sugar — the tall one for pasta had a red-striped enamel lid.
I used lots of words; for example, there was a set of eight cups, each one was a different shape and size, and each had different quote on them; I called them “conversation cups” because I thought they would get people talking around the table.
I guess I should stop! I could do this all day, but you get the idea! It was a very fun job, and now that I can finally show them to you, it was all worth it! We can pretend! But onward and upward, it’s another day!
(P.S. If you liked the music today, it’s from the Movie Midnight in Paris, which, if you haven’t seen it, I think you would love!) Hope you enjoyed Dishland! Byeeeee! ♥
Hello I just wanted to thank you for such a charming blog and website it is my shot of comfort and joy daily! Your kitten Jack is adorable, i was watching David Suchet in Hercule Poirot yesterday , and his moustache is the same as Jacks!!
Quite amusing, check it out
Cheers Denise from wintry Winnipeg!
I will!
These pictures were like looking into my soul, my own china hutches and kitchen…I couldn’t believe it! ( I still have doors on my cabinets though its pretty dusty here.. in central Washington) I had to repent, because I actually loved dishes too much and collected far too many, but adopting our 2 children has since slowed my collecting….. yes,oh yes, Old Country Roses, Johnson brothers, Rose Chintz, Lady Carlysle ( Royal Albert ) Blue & Red spode…my heart is already palpitating!
🙂 Our dishes get a little abuse from the lamb chop frying and chicken stock boiling — I do have to stick them all in the dishwasher a couple of times a year, but I think it’s worth it!
I love your ideas for dishes…I too, have a fetish for beautiful dishes! When the economy picks back up, please re-consider trying again with your wonderful designs and let us know…thank you SB!!
Oh My Goodness! What a delight to find that I share a “dish fetish” as my daughters call it, with such a delightful and talented soul! I, too, have dishes for every season. I keep promising to STOP looking at the magically delicious shelves of china in stores and flea markets, but somehow they simply call out to me. And it WOULD be rude to NOT stop by and take an appreciative peak, don’t you think?
I agree with the others – love your inspiration! Would love to look at (translates to ‘have’) some of these beautiful pieces that never made it to market! But let’s keep that our secret…
How did I miss this little bit of heaven – a blog about dishes!! Two of my daughters inherited the love of dishes from me. By the time they are my age, they won’t be able to close their cabinet doors — another good reason to take the doors off completely, I’d say. I also love the music with your “visits.”
Oh my gosh! The domed cake plate is enough to make me lose my breath!!!
Would have loved to have it!
You are so right! I covet it!
Oh my gosh, Susan, I noticed your little plate hanging that says “When two fond heart as one unite, the yoke is easy and the burden light”…………well, I have the exact same one in the same colors. I remember buying it in a little shop that was underground where I worked on 6th Avenue in NYC and I would walk through there to get to my train for home. I also bought another one with it that has a white background and on the front in brown is a cottage with a castle far away in the distance and a path and trees and it says “As I was wandering oer the green, Not knowing where I went, By chance I saw a pleasant scene, The cottage of content.” I remember I bought them together just before I got married in August of 1968…..almost 44 years ago and they have moved everywhere with me since I treasure them. Wish we lived closer and could share things like ideas and recipes!
Gail & Joe Buss, Beverly Hills, Florida
I have the cottage of content too! Love those little things.
Do either of you know the manufacturer or any info I could use to help me find one to treasure myself? The verse on carrying the yoke (Matthew 11:30)I heard while dating my now husband while in high school, and I would love to find one of my own. It brings back such wonderful memories of our years together. TYIA for any info!
I find them every so often when Joe and I are out and about . . . and we put them up in the vintage section of my web store. Keep your eyes peeled because we really try hard to have them.
I adore vintage dishes! Especially when they are mix and match! Oh how I wish those dishes and cups you designed had been made! They are so charming. I would have bought them! I’ve been a fan of your work for a long time, but just now found your blog and so happy that I have!
Hugs,
Michelle
Good morning Susan,
I don’t know why but I just keep coming back to this page, I just love looking at your china, I have such a love and passion for it. I’ve been collecting china for years, mostly English china, but if something very pretty comes along and catches my eye, home it comes with me. I need my husband to build me a large hutch as yours, or go to Brimfield to find one, I have so much to display and when its out in view it tends to get used more. I’ve been slowly picking up Rose Chintz and Winchester by Johnson Bros. the pieces blend so nicely together. I also recently picked up one of your teapots, which is just the most adorable little thing ever! I really hope someday, someone starts making your designs in china again….those would certainly be in the heart of my home. 🙂 – East Longmeadow, Ma.
I think I know why you go to the china page …. I go there too, there is some sort of unwritten inspiration in the colors and the beauty, don’t you think? Just looking at these old things makes me feel better!
Oh yes, you are so right! It’s so hard to explain the feelings that I get when I see that special little teacup, the shape, the colors, the pattern and just wondering who owned it and what conversations were had when it was being used. A hutch full of beautiful dishes is like a garden of flowers, I could just stare at them and “drink” in the beauty.
I’m the exact same way with old quilts . . . drinking in the beauty!
Susan, I have a question for you about Johnson Brothers Rose Chintz. I was at a T.J. Maxx store the other day and they had some pieces there (cups, luncheon plates and bowls). On the bottom it said “England Made” not “Made in England.” Do you think these would be the ones made in China? It didn’t say “Made in China” anywhere on the bottom. Just curious. It’s the same pattern and I was thinking of picking up a few pieces but not sure if maybe I should hold out for older pieces from an antique store.
Wow, if they’re at a TJ Maxx, they aren’t old. But what I would do is this: if you like them, it really doesn’t matter what it says on the bottom. You made me curious so I went to Wikipedia to read about modern Johnson Brothers.
Sneaky! I knew that they were new pieces at TJ Maxx but wondered if there are certain lines still made in England. Thanks for the link! The link states that English production ended in 2003. I wonder how they can get away with saying “England Made” and not stating “Made in China?” Well, I think I’ll be patient and keep my eyes open for older pieces. LOVE the pattern!
I don’t know! I didn’t make sense to me either. It’s fun hunting for the older pieces, and every once in a while you might walk into a store and find a whole set at a reasonable price. Mine was only $250 — and was a full set for ten. It can be done, and on the day it happens, your feet don’t touch the ground! 🙂
That was a good question Karen, as I’ve seen pieces at T.J. Maxx myself, I actually have picked up some of those because I love the pattern and the price was so good. I mix them with the old pieces that I have found at tag sales or even on ebay. I don’t mind, as long as I love them and they look beautiful thats all that matters. I even mix other patterns with them.
Thanks Susan for the info on the dishes…very informative. East Longmeadow, Ma
Hi Susan,
I have always loved all your artwork, printing and darling pictures of flowers, birds, hearts and general other items. I have purchased almost all your calendars you ever created, when I could find them! I have almost all your books you have published, including address books and yearly date books. I have bought over the years all your stickers you created. It is becoming increasingly hard to find your stickers, except on your website! You are, in my estimation one of the very best artist’s there is today, and I want to thank you for your continued contributions to us who Love you so much. I really enjoyed reading through the segment on Old China Dishes and How to clean Silver, and all of the other drop-downs. When I need a quick pick-me-up, I turn to your website. I keep all your Willard’s to re-read. I really loved viewing all your china pieces in a close up fashion, and seeing all your other do dads. Just wonderful, love it, love it, so thanks again, Susan!
Sandi from Las Vegas, Nevada
Hi Sandi, that was so nice to hear. Thank you!!! Glad you’re here!
Hi Susan, I have been a fan of yours since the first book and over the years (18) have carried your paper products in my little store, Mary, Mary… I am wondering how to buy your stickers wholesale, so I may carry them again. A whole new generation of women now enjoy you and your incredible art. Thanks so much for being there.
No one is making my stickers at this time Lee, sorry!
Good morning Sue,
I’m back here again! Just love this page. Might you have any suggestions for getting tea stains out of tea cups? I remember something about cream of tartar being boiled for a minute in the cup but I think thats more for mugs not delicate tea cups. I drink my tea out of Rose Chintz cups like yours so I thought as a seasoned tea drinker yourself you might have some great ideas. Thanks for the carrot cupcake recipe too, I’ll be making those for Easter. Have a beautiful, warm, sunny New England day! It certainly is a gift. -East Longmeadow, Ma.
I have made a paste of cleanser and water and rubbed stains out with it — it works. Just the way I do it, not sure if it’s the “right” way.
Thankyou!
Ladies, have you tried Bon Ami? A very gentle powder [“guaranteed not to scratch”] for precious items. Been around over 150 years, I think. Our great-great grandmas used it, I’m sure – just be sure to rinse all items very well – but you will be amazed at how much improvement you’ll see. Glass – especially – will be sparkly shiny!
I wanted to just say that your images are amazing. Sadly I agree with you that this economy has sadly changed so many things. I came across your site while researching some old dishes I have. I didn’t find my answers on your site, but I enjoyed it very much. I love old dishes and vintage looking kitchen things. My daughter Olivia (age 8) is here with me and she loves your artwork. She’s a beginning artist herself. She’s taking pottery classes.
I have had success using baking soda to get stains out of cups and mugs.
Good to know.
Oh my goodness! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the Shawnee elephant pitcher sitting contentedly on your shelf. My mother had one and always used it for milk at the breakfast table when she served bananas, milk and sugar. (Did anyone besides our family ever enjoy this decadent treat?)
I was at an antique store with a dear girlfriend one day and lo and behold I saw the very same elephant and told my girlfriend the same tale I’ve told you. And don’t you know what I unwrapped at my next birthday? There were squeals and hugs and tears of joy! So now I have a sweet elephant pitcher of my own and a little piece of Mom to go with the sweet memories…and bananas, milk and sugar.
Thanks for the memories, Susan. Your blog (and products) are a joy and bring a bit of sunshine, relaxation and happiness to every one of my days.
Christy E in south Texas
What a wonderful surprise!
Susan,
I would have been first in line for your Wedgwood dishes! I hope you get a chance to do this again!
Dear Susan,
You have created the blog of my dreams….what an incredibly talented lady you are.
Dishes are my emotional obsession…I have no idea why but as far back as I can remember I have simply adored vintage dishes. This page of your dishes is completely enchanting. Your creations intended for Wedgewood are so beautiful!!
I am thrilled to have stumbled upon your space here , it is like taking a vacation to Utopia for part of my day. I am looking so forward to my next visit. Thank you for every page, every word, every image.
You’re a doll Shirlee, so happy to have you here!
oh oh my just gorgeous designs, I want one of each……….:(
Hi, Susan — Your website brightens my day! I love your Old China Dishes photos and thoughts… I am so curious about the blue-rimmed Minton cups and saucers with the multi-colored blossoms. I read that you don’t have them anymore, but do you know the name of the pattern? I would love to search for some of these… they are exquisite!
No, so sorry, I don’t remember the name, only that they were Minton! I still have some plates at home, and could look if I was there! Maybe if you look around on Replacements.com you will spot it! Sorry.
Bridal Registry Girl here again. If you know the manufacturer and pattern name – OR if you take a picture of the pattern you are looking for and send it to Replacements, they will gladly search for items for you. If you fall in love with a pattern at a flea market or tag sale for example, send photos and you might be surprised at how much of it they may already have. Depending on the age of course. When my Irish immigrant great-grandmother died, I was gifted with her 1906 wedding china – believe it or not she still had most of the 12 place settings [after 4 children of her own and bunches of grands and greats]. We were able to fill in some missing pieces [several saucers, a bread plate I think, a sugar bowl and lid] do through Replacements. I also copied and saved photos of all the individual pieces I have for my own pattern – Royal Worcester Evesham Vale – for insurance purposes. They are a really wonderful service for china addicts like me. Hope this is helpful…
It is, thank you Janet!
I found it — Queen Anne! I emailed Replacements.com just after asking about it here last week, and I received an answer within a day. I, too, have purchased from them in the past — quite a few years ago. They do have a number of Queen Anne pieces available. Too FUN! Thanks for all of the suggestions!
That’s it! Good for you for finding it!
I just want you to know that you are a “kindred spirit.” I love the fact that you are not afraid to “rescue” a single, beautiful dish and bring it home to love. I too have a sweet little cottage that is often lovingly called a “dish orphanage”. I see one lonely, sweet little cup and know that I will find just the right spot in one of my many china cabinets. Luckily for me, I have a very understanding husband and two beautiful granddaughters who also love dishes…May they inherit and enjoy Grandma’s treasures! I almost cried when I saw your designs for Wedgewood. How beautifully detailed and authentically you. I love, love, love the whistling teacup. My heart is broken. My only prayer is that someday your designs will be realized. They speak volumes about your heart and your work.
You doll! Thank you Debra!
Love, love the dishes and all that goes with them. I remember the whistling cup from my childhood. My mother loved dishes and collected some from everywhere she went. My siblings and I have all her dishes now to share with our children. Such memories are ties to the patterns and celebrations in our lives. Thanks for sharing your love of fine and ordinary objects in your life. You enrich mine and cause me to pause and be grateful.
I had to write since I just got back from England and Paris and found you’d been in Enlgand when I was. Instead of going to the Lake District again as we’d originally planned (loved, loved it years ago) we stayed in London for the Diamond Jubilee (briefly saw the entire royal family on the barge in the Thames Flotilla! )To hear the London Symphony playing Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks on a barge preceding the Queen’s was one of my most thrilling moments. While we missed the Lake District I loved reading your blog about it and you were there when we would have been had we not changed plans. As a dish fiend myself I did manage to safely pack a stunning antique cup, saucer, and cake plate in my carry-on only luggage.
Though I didn’t hear the music on this blog for some reason I laughed when I read it was from Midnight in Paris. Though we only spent 2 days in Paris I dragged my husband and his sister five miles through the student quarter to the steps of St. Etienne-du-Mont where Owen Wilson starts his magical journey in that film! The church bells even chimed, and though we waited and waited no vintage car drove up the charming Rue de la Madeleine. The film is a must-see. My girlfriends and I dressed in 20’s style to see it (my second viewing in the theater-a 1920’s movie palace in Hawaii)
I think I might have just stumbled on to a little bit of heaven! I can’t stop looking at this blog of old china dishes. It looks as those my cabinets have been pasted onto your page! I have so many of the same dishes, lots of red transferware, anything with a little bird on it or a saying and if it’s blue and white, I’m sold on it! A closet of shoes does not excite me like vintage, old china. Thank you so much for your beautiful pictures. Wish you were the girl next door, I’d have you over for tea with my favorite Burleighware tea cups. Thanks! By the way, my son’s name is Willard named after my dad and my grandfather…..small world.
Small world. And love your dishes already!!
Ahhhhh, still love this blog… and I am dreaming of some hutches to collect dishes in. I had to give away most of mine due to moving and not wanting to break them etc. So I shared the joy and gave to others. Now I am in one place, for the time being and can start the hunt again! This blog reminds me we can start anytime and it can be mismatched with beautiful pieces we love… Ahhhhhh again! LOL!!!
The hunt is so much fun!!
I want to tell you THANK YOU for this amazing and beautiful blog that makes me happy; there is all i love in it.
God bless you
Love from Spain
XX
So nice to hear, thank you!! Say hello to beautiful Spain for us!
Ms. Susan, I have been looking all evening for the name of your Johnson Brothers purple(ish) (maybe more burgandy?) china…I love the Rose Chintz, but I have an obsession with the purple ones! I LOVE the creamer with the little apples’s on the lid. I cannot find it on Replacements, etc. b/c I can’t find the name of it 🙁
I have a sugar bowl with an apple on the top . . . it’s the only piece of it I own, and all it says on the bottom is “Copeland Spode, England” — no pattern name. Odd! The purple is Windsor Ware by Johnson Brothers, England.
I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! I am now on a quest to find it…I won’t stop till’ I do! (Or, at the very least find a new china pattern to start collecting 😉 )
Hi Susan, I had to tell you how much I enjoyed your dishes. May I come live with you? Your house seems exactly as my sister and I would decorate ours. My husband is an out of sight person and could never handle the collections so I must live vicariously through you, but that is throughly enjoyable.
Maybe you could have just one cupboard. He could have the whole house and you could have one cupboard? A hutch!
I would LOVE to find a piece of china with the saying “Stay is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary.” by Louisa May Alcott
Have you ever found any that you could place in your online store?
I designed a cup for Lenox that had that very quote on it. Maybe you can find one on Ebay?
Hi Susan,
I love your Johnson Rose Chintz collection. Can you tell me if they are
new or vintage.
I’m currently starting to collection Johnson Yeovil and have a few pieces
but love your Rose Chintz.
Rosemary
I found a set of the old stuff in corner of an antique store in CT — wasn’t even looking, but the price was so right I had to get it!
I love your whole collection! It is too bad your collection wasn’t made. The drawings are amazing.
I know, some of them I really wish I had!
How have I lived this long and not know about this blog. I have just spent the most delightful afternoon with you. It is so good to know that I am not the only one with a dish addiction. I just pulled out my Johnson Brother’s Autumn’s Delight. I rotate dishes by the season and it is like having a whole new set as the season’s come and go. I love doing tea parties for young and old, boys and girls. Recently a friend’s 14-year-old son said we needed to have “a proper tea, but not fancy.” (I have done a “pull out all the stops” Butterfly Birthday Tea for his younger sister earlier this summer. He was the waiter. Something less fancy suits him. Again, what a delight to find this on such a gloomy day!
I already love that boy! Nice to meet you Cyndee!
Your Minton creamer looks like Royal Doulton’s Lady Carlyle pattern.
I purchased a set of tea cups with tray at a discount shop in San Marcus, Texas for a friend’s birthday long ago. The teapot is gorgeous also.
Blessings,
Sherrie B
Your Wedgwood designs are wonderful….hope they will call you back and put them in production. Well deserving of it!
Sincerely,
wsmith
You are sweet to say so! Thank you Wanda!
hi Susan i cant stop to see the wonderful stories and amazings drawings that you have.. hope some day you do it, and i will buy some wonderful dishes from you. i love to buy old dishes and use too. i have a collection tea cards from you. and i just love your draws. thanks again for all your eye tresures. huges matty.
You are so welcome Matty, thanks for your sweet comments!
My friend Joyce just told me about your blog. Of course, since I love dishes so much, I started here and what a pleasure going through these beautiful pictures! Can’t wait to look at your other posts. Thanks for sharing them, Susan; I love your creative designs and heart-warming thoughts!
Nice to meet you Ann! Tell Joyce thank you! 🙂
Adorável este site ! Maravilhoso ! Parabéns !
xoxoxo!
Oh, I’m in heaven with all of those wonderful dishes! About 6 months ago, I cleaned out all of my wonderful hodge-podged plates, dishes, cups, etc, in favor of plain white ones from JCPenney! Now — I’m going back to collecting! Thank you, thank you!! And, I could sit and look at your blog ALL DAY long!
I also love the whole gardening section! Wish I had room to plant a white picket fence, but I’m making all kinds of plans for my back yard, now!
The collecting is so much fun!
Loved this blog when it came out, still love it! What is it about old dishes? Loud sighing looking at your pretty dishes! xoxo
The color, the gleam, the softness of the edges, the noise they make when they click together, the scraping sound the fork makes when scooping up the gravy, the cup sound, going into the saucer, the hand-paintedness, that they come from many countries, that we have to search them out and they become our own discoveries, to name a few…. dishes, most beautiful things!
OMG! We are such kindred spirits; I am a “dishaholic/china fiend” also! We even have the same ” Two-fond hearts” plate but mine is white and brown. On the back it has printed “Crownford China Co., Inc. Straffordshire, England”, does yours? I enjoy your wonderful quotes; you give me daily inspiration. God bless you in 2013. -A. McD
Yes, mine’s made by the same company! Thank you Annette.
I have spent the last two nights reading your blog archive. I still can’t believe that I didn’t know about you. I have ordered a calendar online and I’m going to carry them in my store for next year. I don’t seem to be able to see anything else available to Canadian retailers.
I digress.
I LOVE your art, your sentiments and recipes. I am also a huge Beatrix Potter fan. I really wish they had manufactured your beautiful dishes. Wow. I would own the whole set. Maybe someday they will.
You newest fan.
Erin
So nice to hear Erin! Pretty soon I’ll have a brand new book for your store!
Hi Susan,
I love seeing all these beautiful dishes and reading all the comments from women with the same love for Chinaware. Every space in my house is filled with cupboards full of Chinaware,old and new,it’s an addiction.My family say ‘don’t you have enough already’ when I see again some plates or teacups I would really love to have 🙂
And I say ‘no,I don’t’ 🙂 I love Emma Bridgewater too,and Laura Ashley dishes and Brambly Hedge(that is dishes from England with little mice,so lovely).So shame Wedgwood never made this collection of your beautiful designs ! You’re a wonderful artist and your designs make me happy 🙂 Thank you for that 🙂
Marion
Thank you Marion! I’m laughing “no, I don’t.” Me too.
Dear Susan–I am a quilter, I’ve taught piecing for 25 yrs. It is a “sickness” for me I just dream about what I’m going to do next while working on the current quilt. Now I am piecing a blue and yellow basket quilt and dreaming about a red and white one.
Thank you for your blog, I check it out every day or two. Pam
I understand the sickness perfectly, my life-sentence is tiny little watercolors! 🙂 And LOVING quilts!
Dear Susan,
I have followed you for years and years! I “lost” you for a while and then just found your 2013 calendar and could not resist picking up one (well, really 3 – one for me, my sister and my best friend). I realized you have a blog and when I looked at it, it felt like reuniting with a long lost friend.
I LOVE the dish designs you had planned. Thank you for sharing them. If ever you could make the bird whistle tea cup, please let me know-I would like a dozen!
You are an inspiration in more ways than you can imagine. Edie
Happy to see you Edie! I know, that bird whistle cup, it’s pretty darn wonderful . . . oh well, where is Stoke on Trent when we need it!?
Your Minton cream and sugar pattern is Pink Cockatrice. Lovely.
Dear Susan,
I am enjoying your lovely website…thank you for it! In some of the photos here, I see a lone, (Japanese-style?) blue and white teacup. Can you tell me about it? Who makes it? It is one you have painted before and is so pretty. Thank you for your time! Katalin
There’s nothing on the bottom of it! It’s tiny, bigger than a doll’s teacup, must be from a child’s set. Precious thing. They say you can’t take it with you, but I’m going to have to take that cup!
Thank you!
Susan,
One more thing! In the fifth photo from top, there is a sweet pink-and-white pitcher to the left of the elephant pitcher. As well two pink-and-white teacups sitting on top of each other, in the far right of photo. Can you please tell me about these three pieces? Many thanks, Katalin
I can but everything is in the kitchen — I will have to bring up that posting to see which things you’re speaking of — then go write things down and come back, please remind me — as soon as the book is done I’ll do that for you!
Hello,
Your website is lovely! I have one of the same old mixing bowls you do… the big one with the pink stripe!
I recently came to acquire a lot of Johnson Brothers Game Birds china. This pattern was discontinues in 1976.
All of it is a cream colour. There are oval dinner plates, side plates, bowls, and mugs (45 pieces). I also have a gravy boat and a sugar bowl with a lid. And, I have two large covered casseroles, one round and one oval.
I am having a hard time determining what this may be worth.
Everything is in excellent condition, in fact the casseroles have never been used.
Any help would be very gratefully appreciated.
Selling dishes second-hand is really all over the place price-wise. Take a look at replacement.com and you’ll see the higher end of the pricing. In a nice antique store you might see them for maybe (and this is without really seeing them) around $500 or $600. But in a flea market situation, you might find the whole set for maybe $125. That’s not to say their actual “worth” — they’re worth however much you love them!
Kate, you said you acquired Johnston Brothers game bird china. Is this by any chance the Pheasant china? I am in desperate need of the covered casserole…would you be able to help? Thanks, Helena
Hello Helena — I didn’t know you could add comments to old blog posts! I wonder if you mean the Asiatic Pheasant pattern? It is an old pattern and Johnson Brothers does use it – or DID, anyway. But, I have been stockpiling the light blue Asiatic Phesant since the 1980’s when Conrans had a store here in White Plains, NY! I have since collected a few pieces in light pink, too, just because they are so SWEET! My settings were made by Burleigh in England. I have occasionally bought a few pieces directly from their website (burleigh.co.uk — hope it’s OK to include that link!) but the shipping can add up. Perhaps you can ask them for a local supplier? Good luck! (And, “Hi Susan!”, if you’re reading this, too!)
Thanks for replying Lorraine and for the tip – but it’s not the Asiatic Pheasant I’m after! It’s definately their “game bird” pattern. Appreciate your efforts!
Thanks for replying Lorraine and for the tip – but it’s not the Asiatic Pheasant I’m after! Appreciate your efforts!
my husband and i have recently started collecting old china, we have found some very nice sets, as well as single pieces. when i saw thought you collected English china i got excited i was hoping you could help me identify a tea cup saucer that i found. on the back it has a crown emblem and says crown staffordshire made in England. the date on the piece is ’50. the saucer it self is green with a gold trim, lined with white flowers and green leaves. the centers of the flowers have a yellow and orange color to them. any help you could give me would be great!
Here is where you can start looking … you’ll probably find your pattern name. You can also look at photos here . . . There are so many places to look on the Internet, makes it so easy!
Good morning, Susan. Just had to tell you, because of your delightful blog and all your charming photos, I’ve just purchased an old open-front, step-back china cupboard for the express purpose of displaying my Johnson Brothers dishes: Rose Chintz (in spring/summer) and Friendly Village (autumn winter).
You are such an inspiration to my decorating style. Since I found your blog (I already had your books!) I’ve been “prop shopping” to style my home in sort of 1930s England before the war and English countryside. Come the holidays, I plan on adding seasonal embellishments to the cupboard like you do. Is it Christmas yet!?
Your influence has made millions of us Anglophiles — we’re all subscribing to English Home and British Country Living, right? Tea and cats (“Kathy,” “Will,” “Tommy,” and “Leaf” are my kitties), cottage and garden, quiet mornings with English pastoral music (and Beatles tunes) on the CD player, dog art, candles, ferns . . . ahh.
Thank you from all of us; you make us smile every time we open your blog, whether it’s a new entry (did she write today! did she write today?) or an older one. We can’t wait for the book to come (we all pre-ordered, didn’t we?) and you know what, I bet if you got a tour of England together you’d have more takers than you’d know what to do with! Something to consider . . . .
Making your own world just the way you like it. That’s one of the the secrets of life. It can always be done, no matter how much money there is or isn’t. Always. I just love it, Nora! Makes me so happy to hear it. We have actually considered taking “everyone to England!” Catching Joe in a moment of weakness! 🙂
Perfect timing, Susan, I just bought a Johnson Brothers “Winchester” platter on eBay after rereading all these entries — it DOES go with Rose Chintz! Now for the glassware, what shall I hunt for? Yellow? Pink? Green? Blue? I found a great paaaale browny-green to go with the Friendly Village collection.
Tell Joe it’s time to think about spending the rest of your lives in England.
Can you imagine, you take a boatload of people — an entire cruise ship, or three — to England for a tour and all of us immediately head for the nearest “estate agent to make enquiry.” The Branchophiles have arrived!
Clear too, with etching. We have talked about living in England. We could get an old empty town 🙂
I love it! “An old empty town.” I’ll bet there are a couple available.
Clear etched. That’s what I’ll look for at my favorite consignment and antiqueing spots. Thank you, Susan, for the advice and the chat. Have a great rest of the morning and this afternoon . . . go work on Joe, will ya. ((grin))
🙂 I’ll try.
Susan,
I have always loved and collected beautiful china with numerous patterns. Like you, unknown patterns with no name on the bottom are the prettiest. This weekend I was visiting a Thrift shop here in De. and found a treasure. There was a teapot, with lid, a sugar bowl, with lid, and creamer, and 5 cups and saucers to match. It is made in Japan, with gold colored band and pale blue with blue birds in Japanese theme. I am so excited. I love it, and this blog. Happy china hunting.
Sounds gorgeous!
Love this blog. I have been collecting dishes for years. After viewing your blog I have decided to display some of them. I started out when My mother gave me her mothers old dishes. I treasure them. She had fourteen children, (no twins) and these dishes tell a great story. Hope you are able to see the beautiful drawings become reality. It is a shame not to create such beautiful things for all to see and enjoy. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Paula! How wonderful you have your family’s dishes!
Just doing a google search for some very old dishes with pink roses on them and I happened upon your blog!
Just lovely!
This blog post has been so enchanting! And I just love Nora’s comments and ideas! Its so nice to read what others think and do … I am so inspired now. I dream of going to England some day and I must get myself subscriptions to the magazines mentioned here. Just wondering if you’ve read any of the Beverly Nichols books? I will be quite surprised if you have not!
Oh yes, Down the Garden Path was wonderful!
Good morning,
Once again on this late August day it has turned hot and humid in the Northeast, namely Pa. I am a true devotee of Victoria Magazine and have subscribed to it for years and saw your ad for your new book A Fine Romance which I am going to order. I have to tell you I love your website and am going to e-mail it to my daughter in Ohio who has a very demanding job but would love your website also and needs a diversion from the” hurly burly.”
I have to tell you I love, love, love your collection of china and have many of the same pieces. When my husband and I built this house 11 years ago we converted a half bath in to a closet for all of my china. There were 15 china packs in our garage that had to go someplace so we had a carpenter come in a build a great, substantial closet. I love it. In the years since I have given things that belonged to my mother to the girls in our family and my sister has all of her Lenox wheat pattern fine china. I have her favorite tea cup that sits on shelves built in, in the living room. Although this is a more modern house than we had before, my collection of china is beautiful in the living room. I even have a plate of a Turkish tile I carried all the way from Istanbul years ago. It made it in the center of my suitcase, the middle of my clothes, through India, Pakistan,Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan.
I also love your book list and there are a few new authors therefor me. Have you ever read any Rosamunde Pilcher? Her book, The Shell Seekers is my favorite book and also my sister Nancy’s and my mother’s.
There is lots to look at on your website and it will keep me busy for a very long time. There’s some good Christmas shopping there as well.
Thank you so much,
Jo-Ellen Claphanson
So happy to meet you Jo-Ellen, and your daughter too! xoxo Come back soon!
I just found your web site today. I love your dishes and all the beautiful photo’s and blog writings. I found myself engrossed in reading every page. Thank you for sharing your photo’s of your design, truely lovely! I know I will be back for more. Hope you continue to share your thoughts and photos. 🙂
Welcome Rhonda!
You are a kindred spirit ! I have a collection of cream pitchers that have lost their sugar bowls. They seem happy on the shelf with others in the same boat 🙂
Love your website. I just discovered it after reading, “A Fine Romance…..”
Welcome Marie, happy to have you here!
Hello Susan,
So glad to have found your blog/website! Have loved your artwork and books for many years. The last two days I have been devouring all your lovely “home” ideas. Love the glassware and dish ones. I started collecting blue and white dishes after working in the china section of a now-defunct department store. I was able to purchase Noritake ‘Elegance in Blue’ on china club plan. So glad I did because only a few years later it was discontinued…sigh. Anyway, luckily for me any type of blue and white dish seems to go with it, and my collection continues to grow, with ‘picks’ from thrift stores and antique stores. My white hutch is full to the brim, so I started hanging the less valuable ones on the wall. Now I need more wall space!!! Heaven forbid I stop collecting, HA!
I was also very excited to see your new book. I visited England in 2004, and can’t wait to go back. My favorite places were the Cotswolds, and the Lake District. My favorite town – Grasmere!!! Wish I’d had the time to see Beatrix Potter’s home, but alas, next trip…
Keep shining your light, I love your spirit…
Thank you Lynndelee! It’s good you saved something very special for next time! Grasmere! Oh my goodness!
Hello Susan,
So happy that you made the star bobe^che’s. I was so excieted to see the star ones made. Now I am in hopes that you make the birdie one you designed on the blog. You could make them and put them in your web store. I’ll buy 2 sets. Guess I will have to be surprized in case you can get them made. I can’t tell you how many years I have followed you since the 90’s. Still cherish all my Willard letters you sent to me before the blog ever came along. I have all your books and cherrish everyone.I grab my tea every morning and go straight to the blog and see what is new for the day.This makes my whole day so special. I feel so alive after I check in everyday. I even re-read old blogs when the new one is not up yet. I never get enough of Susan Branch ever. I am an ocean-beach girlfriend also. I live in Maine and so want to come to Martha’s Vineyard just to bump into You and Joe. I am trying to make plans to go to the camping ground there and stay a week or two next summer. This has been on my bucket list for a long time. Imagine… meeting the amazing, sweet, loving, caring, wonderful you, Susan. I come from 8 children in my family also .I am #2 from the top. 6 girls, 2 boys. Mum made homemade food everyday. She even made our bread from scratch. I think I have been collecting as long as you have and think we are about the same age, not sure I was born May 21st, 1954. I love and collect Lighthouses and seashells and all the things you collect also. I can’t wait to collect seashells from Martha’s Vineyard. After my first husband past away I met and man that was formally in the Coast Guard. Also was a former Lighthouse Keeper of WoodIsland, ME. As you might know, I sweeped him off his feet Like Joe did you. You can see the two of us on the web site Friends of WoodIsland and go to news on the top. Go to FOWIL newsletters and click fall of 2007. There you will read about us and we were posted all over the world. Cliff made it possible for us to get married out to the Lighthouse. Had to go by boat like you do to go to Martha’s Vineyard. It was a beautiful day. Happiest ever. You and Joe should come to Maine in the summer and go on one of the trips out to the Island and climb the Lighthouse. It’s wicked good fun. It is being done all new. It’s a must see. All by donations and funds raised. It is so beautiful. So that’s why I would like to congratulate You and Joe on your 25th and glad you shared your romance and trip to England with all of us. I want to say I am so proud of you and all you give to all of us girlfriends out here each an everyday. Keep up the fantastic work you do . I wish You and Joe Love and Happiness forever…….Love Linda.
What a gorgeous comment Linda. Loved every word. Thank you so much!
Hello Susan….just recently discovered your website…and so glad I did! I’d like to share with you a rather unusual way that my friends and I made old and new dishes our lasting connection to someone who moved away from us. Just before her departure I hosted a dinner party and everyone was asked to bring a plate. Some chose a dish that was part of their own china. Another brought a dish that had been part of her mom’s best china and most of us selected a dish that we thought represented our friends love of antiques. Dinner was served on these dishes. When the meal was over, our friend was told that she was to take all the plates to her new home on the Cape. If she ever got lonely she was instructed to pull out one of the dishes and have dinner with one of her old friends! Off went the plates and our friend! However, she put the plates to an even better use!! Every spring she places them all around her gardens like a china edging! People passing by stop to take pictures of her property…all trimmed out in a colorful array of gorgeous plates.She’s surrounded by old friends and has given joy to many who pass by her home!
Isn’t that fun? So creative! Once my girlfriend Margot gave me an old dessert plate where she’d written a wonderful quote around the edge. I don’t know what she wrote with, I’m sure there is some sort of china plate writing utensil at Michael’s Crafts, but it’s still one of my treasures.
Johnson brothers victorian christmas pattern..specifically the dinner plate. have they stopped making this pattern?
If it’s still being made, it would be in China because Johnson Brothers is no longer in business — but the old stuff can be found in lots of places. Try THIS. Good luck!
I find myself checking my “Susan Branch” blog every morning in hopes….she might have had time for a “little” taste of heaven… dishes, quilts, kitties, clothesline art, dishes dishes dishes…glassware, old bowls…and simple little clutches of flowers tucked in tiny little glass vases or bottles… what a true blessing… it is such a lovely and heart-deep experience to read and look at pictures that… depict my inner soul… Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder..I thank you for “seeing” and sharing the beauty that is my life-blood… we are truly “rich” when we embrace the world we live in and ALL its treasures… one little teacup that speaks (literally) to our own heart.. Thank you Susan Branch, God has given you such wealth of soul… and you have given and continue to SHARE your treasures … your insights and soul… You are much appreciated…may you always know.. you have saved many a (soul) that was dying …………. this is one of my favorite quotes.. “A kindness no matter how small… is EVER wasted..” your kindnesses are however… BIG.. thank you from Evangeline.. nestled in the BlueRidge Mountains of NC..
You are so sweet Evangeline! Thank you for being here!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. Just read, for the first time, this particular post. WHY WHY WHY did they make the unfortunate decision to sack the notion of producing your Susan Branch glass / pottery creations? Yes, yes, the economy and all of that. BUT!… The whistling tea cup? The picnic candlestick? The cups and dessert plates with individual sayings? Crikey! I want all of it! Any chance they might reconsider? They are bonkers to let your designs go to waste… seriously. Bonkers! You are amazing!
And we were this →← close! Bonkers, was my reaction too! The whistling teacup! Do they not know? 🙂 Oh well, then I guess some sort of internal politics or business decision reared it’s unartistic head and put the kibosh on the whole thing. I like having the drawings though, you just never know! xoxo Thank you for the sweet vote of confidence Catie!
Susan – you are such a blessing to so many of us. I’ve been a devout fan for many, many years and love visiting your website for an escape from the crazy world. Tonight for the first time I looked at this blog about your dishes – what a gem!! I love old dishes, quilts, painted furniture, English cottage stuff, love it all! I have a set of Staffordshire Blue Calico dishes that I got in Anchorage, Ak. when I lived there – it’s my favorite. One of my favorite greeting cards of yours has a teacup in that pattern – it’s the card that says something about “barbarians”. Can’t remember what it is – I wish you sold it in a box of notecards. I buy your cards whenever I can find them.
Thanks for all you do that inspires all of us to continue living with true appreciation for the beauty in our everyday lives. You are wonderful!!
God Bless.
Susan,
I love these dishes. I also love your website.
Have a Merry Christmas!
To the Branch family, Happy holidays !
Love Jamie and Patricia
I LOVE alALL YOUR DISHES! I love pretty dishes-jars, trinket dishes, everything-I love all the old things you’ve collected but from reading your blog-are you telling me I could have bought dishes designed by you but they never actually made them? I was so excited when I first saw your designs then so disappointed as I continued reading. How could any dish company not want to make dishes from the beautiful designs and ideas you have for things? I could see sets that would somehow end up being able to mix and match with everything you ended up making. What is wrong with these companies? I want to buy your stuff! I don’t know the first thing about licensing or anything but I wish you’d sell dishes and jars and storage containers etc-plenty of us would be lined up to buy them.
I did design a tea set for Lenox that was on the market for about an hour (feels like) before they changed hands or went under or something happened. And yes, those other designs were never made. It would be fun!
dear Susan, I was wondering if you could tell about the china dishes with the blue green band and around it and with the little flowers. I think that it is such a beautiful pattern. Do you know what company made them, and the name of the pattern? I would be happy for any information you may have about that pattern. Sincerely Alice
I’m sorry but I really know nothing about them … they have nothing written on the bottoms, I just thought they were beautiful.
Just purchased a set of Johnson Bros. Winchester pattern at a flea market. Are they dishwasher safe? They do not say so on the back and I am would like to use them as my dishes but I don’t want to wash them by hand. Thank you for any advice.
I put my old Johnson Brothers in the dishwasher and they are fine. Mine is a different pattern … but try just a saucer or something tiny and expendable.
I have a full set of Winterling china from Bavaria, Germany that was my mothers. I remember when my aunt sent it to her in the late 50’s or early 60’s. It is white, with a silver (gold maybe?) ring and it has gray and black cattails or wheat-looking long thin reeds, with a black bird flying over the reeds. Can anyone out there help me with the name of the pattern? Each piece is numbered and it’s lovely, but I have no use for it. I remember that we got it out and used it one time only. Thank you!
I love old English pottery and china too! I have a serious collection of Royal Winton chintz, along with other mid-century china pieces that all blend so well together and are good friends to each other. Kitties, tea, a beautiful room, warm wood fire, and a really good book … what more could anyone ask of life? Gosh I just found you today and look, I’m already obsessed.
Kindred spirits meet here in dishland Dana!
I finally arrived at your blog after years and years of enjoying your books and other items, and after reading “A Fine Romance”, it occurred to me that you “might” have a website! Oh Boy! We love all the same things and now I am obsessed with your blog! I love and collect old glass itemsand china too. By the way, the lovely Minton Pink creamer and teapot is the pattern “Cockatrice”. Someone else may have commented on that already, but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy every bit of what you share, we are kindred spirits in so many ways. Thank you!
Happy to meet you here Hopie! Fellow dish-lover and kindred spirit!
Susan – can you help with some detective work? A designer, named Nelly Reynal, made a beautiful pattern called “Oiseaux” dinnerware set, produced in Tunisia …. this set is brightly colored red, blue, or yellow, with birds and wheat shafts adorning plates, coffee pot, creamer, plates….it was shown on a “Midsomer Murders” episode, and “Home Companion” magazine….in fact Mary Engelbreit was able to tell me the designer’s name….I have been in contact with Nelly, but the detective work stopped there…..the pattern is discontinued….my question for you, since you love glassware and china….is there a search engine besides Replacements Ltd., or a company, that do searches for discontinued lovelies? I could email you the photo, too, if that helps…. Thanks again for sharing all the colorful joys!
I really don’t know anyone but Replacements and they are usually so expensive. I tried googling Nelly R. but even “Images” had nothing. I’m afraid no one is giving up the pieces they have to anyone but Replacements. Sorry! I hope you find a source!
thank you …and thank you for bringing so much color, love of history to our world…your observations of our world, your love of music and art and appreciation for people are needed more than ever!!.I am going to send a picture of the Oiseaux pattern through your email address so you can see how those little birds have me held captive….
I looked at them on Replacements and you are so right! Adorable.
I know that this is one of your older posts but I love your dishes (and all of mine as well!) It is really an addiction. I get the blog on my e-mail which you stated today is not the best way. I don’t know how to change that so that I can comment and be involved with drawings, etc. . . . Also, I would like to order some items from your shopping pages but don’t have pay pal and don’t want to put my credit card info on line. Is there a way to phone in an order? Thank you for all the inspiring words, photos and paintings. It is always like having a visit from a friend when reading your blog.
You came here Paige so I think you have found the right spot. Yes, you can call Sheri or Kellee at 805-474-5836 and they will help you. Thank you!
Good Day Susan!
Came to “Old China Dishes” today and really enjoyed stepping into your kitchen and seeing all the dishes you have. Even more amazing are the ones you designed…..my favorite is the whistling bird teacup which I just adore. Also liked the green bird salt and pepper set and your garden dish set. You said you glean out glasses and dishes as you collect more……do let us know next time you place some of your exquisite dishes on your shopping page or better yet maybe Vanna in her pink mule slippers with feathers could select one of your girlfriends to receive a special cup or set of glasses. I especially like purple and lavendar and don’t see them much in stores antique or otherwise.
By the way I got my test results from last scans for cancer yesterday…..it is still there and has grown just a little bit. The oncologist however was upbeat and positive and has started me on anastrozole tablets that you take once a day. It is basically an anti-estrogen tablet that in my case will eliminate the estrogen that is currently feeding the cancer cells I have which will in turn shrink these cancer cells. I will also be taking calcium and vitamin D as I take this drug to counteract any side effects. I’m also looking for calcium rich recipes and investigating those foods that will help combat the side effects.
Thanks for listening and letting me share this with you.
Bless you this day! 🙂
I gave away a tea set a few months back, that was the prettiest thing. I miss it, but I know it went to a good home . . . you can see it HERE. ♥ It’s your positive attitude I love best about you Sweet Sue. xoxo
Thanks for the link to your 12/26/13 blog regarding the Tea Set……you are right…..it is just beautiful! I love how you do giveaways….besides the mysterious, beautiful, well-dressed “Vanna” you take your time to actually announce the winner…..I think that is the mischevious child in you Susan….like me you really enjoy “gifting” others and have so much fun doing so! 🙂
I have been on new med for a while now and am doing great! No side effects……YEAH!!!! This past weekend Dusty and I celebrated my birthday with friends at a Chinese Restaurant on Friday night….they even gave us a big bowl of Egg Flower soup to share as a birthday gift! And then on Saturday Dusty took me out to lunch at a charming Italian restaurant where one of our meals was free and they gave me tiramasu as a birthday gift complete with waiter seranading me in Italian! So much fun! Today is my actual birthday and when I walked into work they my work area was decorated with balloons, streamers and Happy Birthday signs! My co-worker even took me out to breakfast this morning before work so I feel really blessed. You know a year ago this time I was at home convalescing for a month with daily intravenous anti-biotics after having been back in the hospital with abdominal infection the week before.
So I thank God for the opportunity today to celebrate another birthday and another year with Him! He is soo good!
Thanks Susan for letting us all come into your home via your blogs ……you have a most charming and beautiful home filled with the most delightful and joy-bringing goodies! I know you didn’t get all these things at once yet have collected them over the years yet that is what makes them so special.
Have a grand day! 🙂
Happy Birthday Sue!
Hello again From San Clemente, CA! I love your blog, I see all my favorite things here too; glass, china linens…oh so beautiful, so fun to see your collection and inspiration. I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that the pink Minton china set with the little birds you have pictured is called “Cockatrice”. It’s a gorgeous pattern isn’t it? It came in green as well, but the pink you have is my favorite. Keep posting girlfriend! You inspire me!
I love that you have cats! I live with 8 furry soul mates myself: Yogi (tuxedo), Starla (silver tabby), Monkeydo, Rochana, and Sister,Sister (black Bombays), Cappy (Turkish Van), Mamma Missy (dilute Calico) and Kalaya (grey/white). Monkeydo is crazy about those colorful rubber hair bands. I shoot them down the hall and he brings them back. Starla likes toy mice and cat throw them into the air and then catch them again, as if she learned to play alone somewhere. Sister.Sister can catch tossed toys mid air and returns them. Cappy prefers spiral spring toys and live moths, which he hides under the stove. And Rochana, Missy and Kalaya are watchers.
Great little cat family!
Hello from St. Johns, FL. I’ve been a fan for years. Susan, I have all your books and keep them displayed and within easy reach when I need inspiration. This blog is my favorite. I’ve always loved the same things you do: cats, quilts, vintage dishes, pretty linens, cooking delicious meals, etc, the list goes on. We share the same taste in music and books as well. We’re also about the same age. I can’t wait for your next book. All my long time friends have received your books as birthday gifts and cherish them as well. I felt compelled to write and let you know you’ve touched my life and added joy through your kindness and beautiful work. God bless you and Joe always,
Deborah
Aren’t you a sweetheart Deborah! Thank you for those kind words . . . It’s so nice to meet another kindred spirit. Thank you. xo
I wish l knew you personally.l love surrounding myself with
creative people like you.l to am a designer and love to let my mind wonderinto new designs so inspiring.
Your collection is exquisit!!!
Please continue what you love
l will continue checking in on your
blog.
Hazel Henderson
Thank you Hazel!
oh gosh! I didnt know so many others love these dishes and ‘company’ as much as I do! I am 66 and I should be trying to consign what I have but it is so hard to sell them. I came online actually to find a top for my sugar bowl. Maybe you know of the company. All it says on the back is Treasure Chest with a pic of a chest. My mom bought these for me in 1968, when I got engaged. She paid the door to door salesman $5 a week for them. I connot find the company online or anyone that knows of them. Do you? By the way: pink dishes and yellow dishes?? omg I love them too. I just saw a platter today that was a pale pink and didnt buy it. My heart is nervous right now as I speak knowing someone else is going to have it. I think I should go back. Anyway, I would love to be your neighbor so we could use these things and enjoy because I dont know anyone else who cares. Even my children say “aren’t we using paper plates today?” I WANT TO SCREAM!! So nice chatting. Answer when you can. love and blessings to you. Happy tea time!
dee from Palm Coast
I’ve seen that treasure chest too . . . check this out and see if it looks familiar. Yes, dishes just make dinner more fun!
I surely agree with dee…what is more delightful than eating and drinking from beautiful dishes…it causes you to take a deep breath, relax and truly enjoy the repast. That is a societal problem today, everything is disposable. Memories are not made by disposal to be sure, so keep on using those lovely dishes, they are to be used, not just displayed. These are what memories are made of. When we look at your lovely home. Susan, this is what we see…memories in action. Old dishes, glassware, linens, quilts, all with wonderful memories of old and waiting for new ones to be made. To those of us who cling to those beautiful items of old and their memories, I say along with Tiny Tim….”God bless us every one!”
Perfectly said Lin, thank you!
I love your dishes. I started buying teacups when I was 10 years old. Love dishes and fabric, must be the designs I love to hoard! I do use my best dishes and guest enjoy them.
Makes things more festive!
I always love seeing your collections. Your collections of China and cups and saucers and all are the best of all! Sigh…. I’m off just to look at the Johnson Brother’s Rose Chintz China, put it on my Pinterest.
Wedgewood so needs to make your designs. What is wrong with them?! Is there a petition we could all sign? 😀
They have them for everything else, why not dishes! 🙂
It was lovely to see your dishes up close, Susan. Oh to be blessed with an abundance of cabinets like you have. The wonderful thing is you use your dishes instead of socking them away in a china closet! You enjoy them! As for your designs, it was Wedgewood’s loss. I am just sure that if they were to be made, they would sell out faster than anything else has Wedgewood has! I love the greens–it’s not a color I see very often. The cake stand is my favorite, and the conversation cups is a brilliant idea. Frankly, they’re missing the boat, because I know us girlfriends would be buying up your designed pieces as soon as they hit your shopping page! 🙂
Sara
You’re a doll Sara, thank you for the kind words. It was fun to draw and paint them, at least I can do that!
Love the dishes article! My favorites are J and G Meakin’s Tudor Roses from the early 1960s. They are similar to the Johnson Brothers pattern. I use pink depression glasses with them, and boy, do they bring back memories for me and my guests. I find them now at Replacements or yard sales, etc.
Hi Susan,
You are so gifted and an inspiration to any artist, wow. I dabble in watercolors so do appreciate yours. The china evokes so many nostalgic memories. It is another beautiful about our gramma’s. They loved the finer things.
You know so much about china. I wondered if you could give me some advise. I have an 8 piece setting of the blue Castle on the Woods, Johnson Bros. and my sister-in-law is begging for it. It seems to be in everyone’s collection and I don’t know the value. Would you know? thank you.
Keep up your beautiful work it cheers the heart.
Lynne D.
You can find out the high-end of pricing at Replacements.com ~ but if you Google around, you’ll get lots of different prices, but it will help you figure out the value.
Susan,
Thank you so much for the information, really appreciate it. This china is so beautiful, it’s hard to think of eating off of them. Maybe just a little tea party!
Your china display is gorgeous, each set, if photographed, would make a beautiful greeting card . Thanks again.
Lynne
Oh you have to eat off them, it’s the whole fun part of it!
Hi
Your Minton creamer is called Pink Cockatrice. More common are the Green Cockatrice range. I have also got an example of the design in blue. It is a great range.
Anyone seen any Royal Doulton Oyama Blue Dragon? It is really nice.
I love to arrange and rearrange my beautiful little things. You have inspired me to do another round of rearranging. I can’t wait for the weekend to come! A whistling teacup? Oh my, I’m in love with the idea. It is sad I’ve had to live 50 years with nary a whistling teacup in sight. Sigh. Such is life; you realize you’ve been living without something and life is never quite the same again . . .
I have looked at your Old China Dishes site time and again. Dishes are an addiction one wants to have forever! I LOVE dishes! They are like quilts, one can never have enough. I always find a place for another lovely dish or piece of vintage glassware. They are in my bathrooms holding cotton balls, Qtips, and any other items there never seems to be a place for. My kitchen, living room and bedroom also attest to my addiction! But one never tires of beholding their beauty, and their usefulness is boundless. And guess what I found? A set of Victorian pearl handled fruit knives! Yes, and I shall use them too. The Victorians had a special use for all china, glassware and flatware. What a fascinating age in which to have lived! Perhaps that is what brings us back to Downton Abbey every Sunday! Once a week we can enter that wonderful era when even the smallest utilitarian item had a special use.
Egads, I am rambling….on these subjects I am a lost cause! Thanks, Girlfriend, for your contributions to my addictions…Love ya!
I’m a lost cause too Lin!
I have a set of blue patterned Wedgewood China and lots of pieces of pink depression glass that were my grandmothers. I cannot keep them. Do you know of anyone who would want them? I hate to just take it to goodwill. Thanks
Let’s put it up here and see if there’s a bite!
Has anyone inquired about this yet? I would be interested.
Thanks
Barbara cS.m
I found this post by accident &’I love everything.
Oh, please economy turn around. I hope you get the chance to manufacture someday, soon.
All your fans would dearly love to have everything.
Maybe with the publication of your new book, someone, somewhere will make.
What wonderful tea things. I want a tea set so bad.
Barbara. s.
Every so often we find one to put in the Vintage part of our online store, so keep your eye open. Just in case. I try to look for things I know everyone would like when I’m traveling.
When our daughter Emily got married in June of 2012 she had a shabby chic theme for her wedding. We also vacation in new England every summer and scoured many, many antique shops and malls to find mix matched china dishes ( small and large ) to place at the tables for the reception. (we live in an old 2 story log cabin in Ohio) She especially loved the idea that some of these place settings had actually been wedding gifts passed down over the years. After the wedding was over, we kept the dishes and now use them every day remembering the pleasures that come with them. What precious memories!!!
Great idea!
Hi Susan….I was missing you, so I pulled up this post for you old china dishes. Can you tell me the pattern of the blue cup….the one in the picture with the caption….I love to mix old and new for informal tea parties. My Emma cups mix so well with antique dishes! Thanks so much, Hugs, Joy
That’s an oldie and there’s nothing on the bottom I’m sorry to say. Found it in an antique store some years back.
Hi Susan,
I have several of your book and have enjoyed them for years…I moved to Cape Cod in 1991 and somehow found your books shortly afterward! Funny thing is that Recently I had been wondering if you had a new book out…when I happened to come across your newest book, A Fine Romance, at the Osterville Library (I live in the next village of Cotuit!) and just fell in love with it! (I will order a copy soon to keep!) I love your love story and all your travel stories, photos and of course your beautiful artwork. Still reading it and enjoying all you have to share. I have always loved William Morris wallpapers and many Arts & Crafts Designs. I too have a fetish for glassware and China. I have my a grandmother’s collection of 12 different patterns of English China dessert plates with matching cup and saucer. She would collect them on her travels. I love them and keep them in a glass breakfront I see everyday when I walk thru my Dining Room.
I wanted to share with you a favorite find I found in Home Goods of all places! Beautiful China Dessert plates in pinks and white floral. They are made in England by “Wood & Sons”. Have you ever heard of this company? I have searched on line for more. I also found another bowl there made in England signed by “Andrew Tanner” of botanicals which I would love to find more of as well. Do you know of his designs?
Thank you for all your inspiration from the garden to cooking to sewing to celebrating friendship, family, romance, travel and everything else! You are so talented and I thank you for sharing all you do!
Best Wishes to you,
Lauren from Cotuit on nearby Cape Cod
Good Day Susan, I just found your Vintage Dishes post and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also have a weakness for vintage dishes in all their pretty floral patterns and colors. I have several sets, different patterns and add pieces as I find them at resale shops and estate sales to the groans of my husband. Maybe I’ll start a rental business someday. I wanted you to know that I’ve made your Cream Scones several times adding my own flavor variations and have always received many rave reviews, so Thank You for sharing! You make me want to paint more often. I’d love to be able to make a good living at the things I love to do but all the things I have to do get in the way. Love your style, you are an inspiration. Hugs,
Thank you Betty!