The Schedule That Flew Out the Window

Usually my thrifting week is pretty predictable. Okay, completely predictable: I go out on Friday morning with friends to wherever Craigslist sends us to see what we can find. Occasionally KK and I will make a mid-week jaunt to the Goodwill Bins. I start glancing at Craigslist usually on Wednesday, because there’s now a feature where you can delete ads you don’t want to see again. I discard the ones from out of town or any area we probably won’t be visiting, as well as the ones that advertise themselves as “clearing out the man cave” or “tools, camping and baby items.”

But this week! My whole routine was upended. There was an estate sale that started on Wednesday afternoon near my house, so I went. Oh. My. Goodness. It was the estate of a woman who was a dealer in vintage textiles, and she had an unbelievable amount of antique clothing, quilts, and linens of all description. As well as all the other stuff she had collected. Among which were two mangles (those ironing machines for flat things like sheets) which explains why all the linens were heavily starched and pressed. Boxes and piles of towels and napkins and tablecloths and you name it. And a whole bunch of dealers there on the first day; I overheard three women exulting over all the hardanger pieces they were finding to resell.

I bought only two items that day, for a buck each. A sweet embroidered tea towel with bluebirds (BTW, those rust spots came out completely with an oxy soak!),

and what was probably intended as a pillow top.  It was made with a punch needle and possibly rayon thread, which creates an interesting texture, kind of like a miniature rug.

Love the colors, and when I got it home I realized it works really well with this fabric. I think the punch needle square will be the back of a kimono style jacket.

Millie likes it too.

Knowing that KK likes vintage linens, I took her over there on Thursday. I was confident that there would still be much to find, and that I would see things that had been buried the day before. True on both counts! Lots fewer people too, so we were able to take our time and enjoy sifting through. We both found a few things. My most practical score was this hanger thingie for drying hand wash.

I'm always a sucker for dog items. I guess these are coasters and a holder for them.

I really love the slightly grumpy expressions on the dogs!

Couldn’t resist three vintage lucite or maybe celluloid buttons.

And when I ran across this never-used heavy linen towel with my initial on it, I knew it had to be mine.

So now we come to Friday. Usually KK and Judy and I start out bright an early, but this week Judy was out of town, and KK had a meeting to attend mid-morning. And another friend needed to pick something up from me and could only do it Friday morning. So after she came by, I put together a short list of sales, and when KK’s meeting was over she picked me up and we made it to a few of them. I picked up a large pot for the garden and a pair of fleece gloves for this winter, as well as a couple of really beautiful scarves. The pink one is soft, soft lambswool from Nordstrom,

and the rayon & silk one is supple, gleaming velvet.

Wish my photography could capture the beautiful dark green color.

On Saturday I needed to show my face at the annual plant sale that my garden club puts on, so of course I mapped out a few sales to stop by along the way to the venue. I could hardly believe it when the first thing that caught my eye was this cute set of watering can lights. 

At the same stop I selected a small original watercolor

of a courtyard in Spain.

And although I resisted buying any plants at the garden club sale (too much planning to do in the new yard before I really invest in plants) I did pick up a potted bamboo at my last stop. Though it's not large now, this type gets about 15’ tall, and bamboo is expensive…and this was six bucks.

So, four days in a row of going to sales. I'm exhausted! But I wouldn’t have missed the fun or the good finds. And the icing on the cake was that I overheard a bit of conversation that has to go in my eavesdropping hall of fame: two women sitting in their garage minding a sale, and I heard one say to the other, “So, did you get all the snakes fed before you came over?”