Musing with Max

Musing with Max

February 2, 2014

Magnificent Obsessions

I am absolutely head over heels obsessed with dishware/china. Just love them. I own eight sets of dishes. Yes, I know, sounds indulgent...and maybe it is but I can't help myself. In my defense though most come from thrift stores and sales so it's not as if I'm spending copious amounts of money on them, that would just be sick. There are the everyday dishes,

shown here with one of Frank's fabulous egg breakfasts. I got these from the Ross-Simmons catalog years ago, it's a service for twelve and was very well priced. I like their lovely Greek motif and that they are white.

Frank gave me the beauties for my birthday one year.

He got them at Pottery Barn, I love them in the Spring time and early Summer when the green starts to show.

These are my "I can't afford Wedgewood but let me fake myself out" dishes. I got them at Conran's at Astor Place in NYC 30 years ago when we were newlyweds.


Here they are holding a Salmorejo soup. I love them, they are probably my favorite. They, however, seem to be quite abundant (which is fine)... a little story. My sister in law's brother who was a soul mate had the same dishes, bought at Conran's somewhere 30 years ago in NYC. When his light was extinguished his mother inherited the dishes, I then gave my brother and sister in law a set when they celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary. All together we have 24 place settings. Family reunion anyone?

These I found at a thrift shop near my old house where we also found a whole bunch of fabulous furniture,






they are incredible. Shaped like leaves with a whole bunch of different colors that I have an enormous amount of fun playing with, several serving platters and bowls; they were displayed in an etagere and I asked, "how much?" he said "hm mm, $60.00" I then counted 60 pieces, sold! Perfect for Thanksgiving.

What I call the Summer outdoor dishes, I detest paper plates and paper napkins, so I bought 12 of these for buck a piece and 12 of the smaller ones for the same price

same with the matching wine glasses, how can you go wrong?

These wacky little dishes are from the local thrift/antiques store,


I call them the Amish dishes since they have this adorable farming motif with farmers and milkmaid outfits. We went to go for a look to see what was in store and the minute I saw them I couldn't see anything else. I said no, I have plenty and then we came home. I then said to Frank " I can't stop thinking about them, am I being an idiot? " He looked at me and said "I own 10,000 records" I ran out the door..they were $40.00, set of 6 with cups and soup bowls.

Then there are the dishes we got at the junk shop that was in the next town over owned by the Cuban lady who was closing down, who said if you wrap them they're yours for $30.00. So I used them for one of my other obsessions


for his birthday dinner.








My mother's china.


Don't even get me started on linens.

Oh, one more....


Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

11 comments:

  1. I think that's cool to have so many dishes. Do you have all out and available so you can pick which ever one suits your mood that day?

    I'm the same way with bowls; I have a bowl fetish. I especially love them if they're handmade. I drink coffee out of a bowl, water out of a bowl, I usually eat dinner out of a bowl. I can't explain it; I just do it.

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    1. Yes, they are in shelves in my butler’s pantry which is between the kitchen and dining room. I’m of the mindset that you need to use everything all the time, not just special occasions so they are not just sitting there. I love water out of a bowl!

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  2. What fun--I think it's a wonderful thing to collect. I love the way each set has a story and that you can use them for different kinds of occasions. I love all of them, but the leaves are my favorite.

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    1. The leaves are really something, and combining the colors is a lot of fun. I actually have some combinations written down because I’ve liked them so much!

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  3. :) ¡A mi me pasa lo mismo pero con las tazas! Aunque pensándolo
    bien también me encantan los platos, me gustan tus platos verdes para la primavera
    y el del salmorejo. Tengo un par de platos favoritos y mi marido siempre me los pone cuando
    prepara la mesa.
    Un beso!

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  4. Platos, tazas...toda vajilla, me encantan. Es dificil no comprar mas, pero donde lo guardo, ya no tengo donde asi que hay que aguantarse :)
    Huy, y la mantelria.....que divertido.

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  5. Amelia, me too! I LOVE dishes and cups and glasses (I don't care for silverware, though, strange, right?). I like to pull different sets out for different seasons to mark the changes. It's fun and the different patterns/colors change the mood in the house too. I love your selections. They are all different and beautiful. I particularly like the ones from the Cuban lady. I like the shape and pattern.

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    1. I'm not much into silverware either. I had our everyday and then our wedding gift silverware and that was it, I then inherited my Mom's. I do go a little nuts with serving utensils though that I find in antiques/thrift stores. The dishes from the Cuban lady are allegedly hand painted, each, and it's a service for 8 including serving dishes and two different types of bowls. How could I possibly walk away from that?

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    2. Funny, me too, I LOVE serving utensils! I have a lot of them, different size, forms, colors, you name it! I guess I like to have just the right serving utensils for whatever it is that we are serving.

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  6. I love the leaf plates - fab colours! You have a great collection - and really good that they all have their story, and that they are used. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. The leaf plates are really something, and all the colors aren't depicted in these photos, maybe they need their own post! They remind me of Majollica.

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