Op Shop Tieke Tour

I love days that take you places you didn't plan and that's what happened to me today. I woke up planning to do uni study and perhaps a bit of house work. Instead I ended up in the car on a 'tieke' tour of op shops around the northern beaches suburbs of Sydney.

Op shops in this area can be rather expensive ... especially once you reach Narrabeen. So instead we stayed south and explored Manly, Balgowlah and Forrestville ... and found some bargains :)

This beautiful crochet doily was in Manly with a price tag of $5. 

$5!! I couldn't believe my eyes. It would cost a lot more just for the cotton, not to mention the time it takes to make such an amazing piece. It reminded me of doilies my grandmother made. She favoured the 'pineapple' design.

While searching the op shops, John and I head straight for the crockery section first. For a while now I have been wanting to make up an 'odd' dinner set of random plates ... I was thinking of having flowers as the common feature as I inherited a few pretty china violet plates from my grandmother. While I love them, John is not keen on a full set of china plates :)

However ever since being introduced to the vintage Johnson of Australia stoneware by Zara I have started to collect them. And the bonus is they appeals to both John and myself. While we have found a few random plates in our search, today we struck gold!

An 'almost' complete set of Johnson of Australia.

It is a huge frill when you are looking for something specific and find it. It is an even bigger frill to find it at a bargain price! Turns out this little op shop in Forrestville was having a 50% off sale! So we bought this lovely collection for 60 cents a piece :)

Naturally I put it to use straight away. I swear dinner has never tasted better :

Luv Neen