Travel Interim

Last weekend I was at the beach, where there was no garaging. Next weekend I'll be in Santa Fe, NM with a friend, hoping to find a few yard sales among the gallery- and restaurant-hopping (but who knows). So I was awfully glad to spend a happy couple of hours this weekend in my native habitat, shopping on driveways. 

I almost didn’t go out, thinking I had too much to do, but I'm so glad I did because I found one of those ‘holy grail’ items you just never see on a driveway.

The first sale was on Thursday. I was on my way to the grocery store and noticed a sign pointing into one of my favorite midcentury neighborhoods. I turned, wound down a couple of curving streets, and parked at the end of a private road. From the first table I picked this up.

We have five guest beds, so another twin sheet is always welcome! I couldn’t resist this 1943 book.

These martini ornaments were too cute to leave behind.

A couple of silk scarves called to me. At a quarter each I had to heed the call.

So much more fun (and less expensive!) than anything I found at the grocery store!

Friday morning I made a short list of addresses and headed out. The first sale was a fund raiser for a family with a premature baby who is in NICU up in Portland. They had many donations from friends and family so it was quite a sale, with amazing prices. (I think they had been given so much stuff that the goal was as much to move it all out as to make money!) I quickly scooped up some sewing notions.

A quilter friend had donated pieces of fabric, and at five for a dollar I was happy to forage. I brought home nice sized pieces of this lovely floral

and a ‘hugs & kisses’ print

I think these two have to be coordinated prints.

And there’s a full yard of this one!

The clothing was mostly in tubs. I pulled out a linen sweater for a quarter, and a silk one for fifty cents.

This fabric of this never-worn linen shirt is just about heavy enough to count as a jacket.

I like the price I paid so much more than the original!

These zinnia seeds were packed for 2012 so who knows if they will sprout next summer (probably too late to try them this year). But I was willing to gamble a quarter.

My contribution wasn’t much, but every little it helps. More cars were arriving as I left. I hope they sold everything and made a lot!

At another sale, my only buy was half a dozen blooming lobelia plants for a dollar. The lady selling them plants hundreds of flowering plants in her greenhouse each spring and fills her own large beds and apparently half the neighborhood as well. She had a few flats left, and I have a few bare spots in my pots where the lobelia had petered out. We had a nice chat about plant lust and how hard they are to resist.

There was one more sale where I bought something. As I walked up I saw a folded wool blanket, cream with colorful strips. I picked it up (weighs a ton!) and started checking the corners for a label, figuring this was probably another JC Penney piece like I have on one of the guest beds downstairs. I stopped breathing when I spotted this.

OMG, a real Hudson’s Bay blanket. It’s one of those things you just never see on driveways; I've spotted a handful over the years at estate sales but they were always very expensive. New ones of the size I found retail for close to $500, and even used they go for up to $350 or so. And this one?

Ten smackeroos.

So yes, it's most likely going on eBay in the fall. If I can get Zoë to move off of it!