Stunning

So what time did it start raining on Friday morning? Oh, about half past the third garage sale. Dang it! We had a lovely sunny day as we started out in the convertible.

The number of sales is decreasing with the change in seasons, so we headed a little further afield than usual. First two sales were on a country road, next door to each other. We didn’t spend much time at the first, but Judy and I both enjoyed chatting with the lady at the second place. She raises alpacas and spins and knits. I had noticed an interesting item in the pictures of their sale, and it was still there…and at a price I could live with.

A cool sculptural bird bath.

I removed the metal flowers that were in it

and substituted a rusty metal crow silhouette I’ve had for years.

I’m never sure how my husband will react to things like this. In this case he not only quite likes it, he wants to get it powder coated bright red to make it a focal point in the yard.

Since KK couldn’t be with us this weekend, we picked out a pair of earrings we thought she’d like at the next sale.

The sale where it started raining. I hustled out of the garage to get the lid up on my car. I always wonder whether it might have stayed nice if I hadn’t put the top down. Being in charge of the weather as I am, you know.

One of our stops was an estate sale in a retirement community in the south end of town. We enjoyed looking around even though the person’s taste had clearly not been close to ours. I did pick out a couple of iced tea spoons for KK, since she collects them. I was sure she’d have bought them if she’d been with us, and at 50 cents each they were about the most reasonably priced item in the house.

They responded quite nicely to some silver polish.

I did see one other item that interested me for possible resale, but couldn’t get myself to pay the marked price. But I did ascertain that prices would go to half on Saturday. Standing in line to pay for the spoons we enjoyed seeing the vintage hats another lady had found. I think she was a dealer from the number and variety of items she had. As we chatted about the hats, she pulled out a glass goblet to show us. “This is called a such-and-such piece,” she told us (sorry, I absolutely cannot remember what she called it!) “and it’s worth about $600.” We expressed amazement at her score. She shrugged a little. “No one can know everything, but I know glass.”

Saturday morning I put that sale back on my list to make a return visit, fingers crossed that the thing I’d been interested in would still be there for half price. My SIL Linda was visiting and we had a perfect sunny day. First stop was a church rummage sale. I spotted a set of eight of these vintage glasses for a quarter each and grabbed them.

I don’t think they are rare; my family had some when I was young so they can’t have been expensive. But it’s fun to have midcentury glassware to use every day, and we split the set so we each have four. Linda found another vintage goodie, a Fire King peach luster casserole with lid. For 75¢!

I was elated to find this bag of blue glass slubs

to decorate our faux stream with faux water sparkles.

We hit another sale or two, then headed for the estate sale. I dashed off to see if my item was still there. Took me a minute to find the right room, the floor plan of that house was not what I would call straightforward. But find it I did, and hooray, it was still there!

Now, just as the dealer lady the day before had said, no one can know everything. Sometimes you have special knowledge; hers is for glass, mine is for things that librarians and teachers use. Like a die-cutting machine.

A nearly new Accucut machine in fact, which I know retails for several hundred dollars. Plus a box of dies, the least expensive of which would cost you $50. A die cutter lets you cut out multiple sheets of paper at a time in your chosen shape, and they’re used in decorating bulletin boards, making bookmarks and nametags etc. I’d love to know why this person had her own. There was no indication she was a scrapbooker, and anyway they generally use small, much less expensive cutters.

I had checked eBay sales when I got home Friday to make sure there’s a market. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to make a nice profit on this item. Which is so darned heavy that a nice man shopping in that room volunteered to carry it to the hold table. We put my stuff down and headed back into the house. “I’m looking for my wife,” he said. “I’m looking for my sister in law,” I said. “Maybe they’re together!” Eventually we both found our people. Mine was in the room with the vintage clothing, which I had glanced at on Friday but considered too expensive.

But now it was half price day. And we had a ball. The first thing I picked out was a vintage hat that the dealer had missed. Okay, confession time – I was going to give it to Judy but I’ve fallen in love with it! I put it on and kept wearing it while we went through the clothes.

Yes, of course it’s silly. Good silly!

Linda ended up with a silk jacket, and I bought a winter-white Pendleton blazer

               

and a handmade wool tabard, probably from the Sixties

and – a tuxedo!

Planning to resell this in the spring near Prom time. There was another piece we both just loved, a handmade brocade  Sixties coat with a matching purse. I think the woman who had these clothes must have had a seamstress to sew for her. Several pieces were handmade but had no tags which I think they would if they were from Hong Kong or some such. And there were no sewing supplies in the house.

The fabric of this coat wasn’t anything I would use so I passed on it, but we kept pointing it out to other shoppers. I told one lady it would look great on her, and she said, “But I only go to Home Depot!” We assured her it would look stunning in Home Depot. She kept shaking her head, but as we were standing in line to pay for my stuff, out she came with some items, including that coat! “I think my daughter may like it,” she explained. But I’m going to keep an eye out for really stunning ladies in Home Depot from now on.