A Little Something

I just could not get myself out the door on Friday. There was a handful of sales, but widely scattered and nothing of interest in the pictures. And while I've always considered that what I've spent on gas to go to sales was a fair trade-off for the finds and the fun…right now, not so much. Whee – look at the numbers flying by on the gas pump! Did it really take only about 29 seconds to pump forty bucks worth??

But on Saturday there was a sale on the west side of town that looked good. Appeared to be a midcentury modern home (there are some beauts over there) with some cool stuff. So off I went, timing my arrival – I thought – for a bit after the early arrivals would be out of the way.

I was appalled at the half-block-long line still waiting to go in (though I appreciate that they were keeping some control on the number of people inside, since the mask mandate was lifted yesterday and almost no one was being careful). But I found a parking place right across the street (someone must just have left), and it was warm and sunny and a chance to chat with folks and admire the 7 month old baby exploring the lawn grass. Waited, and inched forward, and waited, and waited, and inched…

And then of course there was nothing I wanted. Everything I'd seen in the pictures that might have been of interest was gone, gone, gone. The first arrivals must have been a herd of locusts…or dealers. I guess it was a good chance to practice stoicism and to remind myself of the satisfaction of NOT spending anything!

There was another estate sale nearby that had started on Friday, so I swung by…just in case. I was greeted with “Everything is half price today!” which is always nice to hear, and even though there wasn’t a ton of stuff left, I found more than I did at the other sale. I added a DVD to my ever-growing collection

and picked up a fun tray.

Of course I did not notice the crack in one side until I got home, but no biggie. A little wood glue,

a clamp,

and while not invisible it's better and will serve my purpose.

And…half price!

That’ll Be $5.50 Please

When you do the same activity over and over, it’s always interesting when a new detail appears in all the sameness. I've gone to a gazillion sales over the years, and in the time I've been blogging, some standout moments were the day I bought and sold King Kong, the time young Maggie danced for me, the Saturday morning I brought home an eight foot long sofa in a Honda Civic. Or this past Friday, when Lysa and I encountered the first campfire-in-a-garage I've ever seen. 

Which, while charming (as flickering flames generally are) struck careful old me as possibly a bit rash – with the bowl standing on a wooden stool, and - before I gently commented on it - a box full of various aerosol cans and a roll of paper towels right beside.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to three sales and when I got home and totted up my buys, I realized I had spent the same amount at each sale: $5.50. I'm pretty sure that has never happened before. My friend Marcia’s reaction to this news was an incredulous, “You spent $16.50  in one weekend?” (She’s known me a long time!) Well, yes, but I got some good stuff!

One sale netted 5 movies – 3 Blu-ray and 2 DVDs. (Have you ever seen G-Force? Superhero guinea pigs…hilarious.) 

Another had something I was just about to resort to buying new: a wheelbarrow to replace the one I've about worn out. 

The fifty cents went for a white long-sleeve t-shirt (I know you can provide your own image!), always a useful item.

And the third sale provided a pair of minty green crop pants, 

another t-shirt, 

a festive boiled wool vest, 

and three pairs of adorably cute shoes.

I was going to be semi sensible and only get the red and blue shoes (two bucks a pair) but then the nice lady threw in the black ones for free. How could I say no?

Segue to this weekend. I didn’t buy a lot, but I was amused to realize when I got home that I had spent…that’s right, $5.50. The fifty cents this time went for a lovely plate that I suspect is pretty old. 

And the $5 went for a treasure.

I've been watching for linen tablecloths, because I have a yen to try out linen sheets and I figure I can easily repurpose tablecloths. (Actual linen sheets are hideously expensive.) I was planning to sew two or three together with flat overlapped seams, but it's been ages since I've found even smaller ones for a decent price. Or at all.  I'd started to wonder if I've already bought every piece of linen in Salem.

Lysa and I had almost finished perusing a sale with a lot of vintage ‘collectibles’ when I walked by a couple of young women pulling things out of a box and exclaiming over them. When I realized it was vintage textiles they were looking at, I moved closer. We all admired the lace curtain panels, and the long dresser scarf of tatted lace. None of them had ever heard of tatting (sheesh, I am getting old!) so I explained about the tatting shuttle and fine thread and how when your grandma tries to teach you to tat you get all tangled up in that thread and cut off the circulation to all your fingers. (Maybe that’s just me.) Then one of them picked up something white in a plastic case, glanced at it, said, “Oh, Irish linen,” and put it back in the box.

My trembling hand reached out for it, trying not to appear too eager. A new-in-package Irish linen tablecloth, a big one, and when I asked, the price was five bucks. Mine, mine, mine! 

This has to be one of the best things I'll find this summer. Besides the price and the fact that it's 100% linen, it's the largest size the company made for the consumer market, 144 x 72 inches. Actually bigger than a king size sheet (though not quite as wide). When I looked up the company name of the maker, I found it has a long and interesting history behind it. The William Ewart linen company started in 1814, and the William Liddell company in 1866; the two companies merged in 1973. Their linens were sold all over the world, I think mainly to hotels and other commercial venues. The Liddell factory provided the linens for the Titanic! Liddell still exists, but it appears that now they weave cotton, not linen, and focus on the luxury hotel market (not my usual home away from home!).

So my tablecloth was made sometime since 1973, and given the feel and appearance of its plastic wrapper, I'm guessing mid-70s to early 80s. I haven’t yet taken my treasure out of the plastic cocoon. Feels like it should be done ceremonially, and I'm working out the proper rites for its emergence into light and air.

I looked on eBay to see if it has any resale value, and it sure does. A similar one (same packaging etc.), also unused but smaller, recently sold for almost $120. Others are listed but unsold yet at closer to $200, and none are as big as mine. But I'm going to stick to my sheet plan. I will really enjoy knowing I'm sleeping on a $200 sheet. It will make me feel like I'm staying at one of those luxury hotels!

 

Happy Hopping

I'm happy to report that the garaging scene here in Salem is looking up. The proof? I managed to spend a whole $1.50 on Friday!

I was flying solo and promised myself that if I started to get too hot wearing a mask, I'd pack it in for the morning. This is definitely not an issue I've ever had in close to half a century of garaging! It turned out I had no problem getting through my list, which I had limited to the south part of town. Most of the sales again were meh, just nothing that needed to come home with me and not much conversation either. My first purchase was this book.

You can see its original bargain price, but that pales in comparison to the 50₵ that I paid! A couple of stops later I picked up a DVD for a buck.

Price-wise, the deal of the day had to be this stack of free magazines.

The real highlight of the morning was unexpected. I was heading toward the final stop on my GPS route, when I passed a house with something in the yard that made me turn around and go back for a better look.

Aren’t these hoops terrific? I've been trying to come up with some kind of inexpensive arch for a trellis over the wide double gates into my yard, so my first thought was maybe this was something I could copy. Turns out these are made from galvanized pipe, which is not something I have the wherewithal to bend. As I was about to return to my car, I noticed a woman in the back yard, so I called hello and she came out. (Holding a colander full of strawberries she had just picked!) We had a nice conversation and she showed me around her garden, including the flock of young chickens and the guinea pigs who live under the deck. She and her husband have spent the last 3 years turning the former lawn into a productive food and ornamental garden. They made the hoop trellises themselves, and she confirmed it was quite a lot of work. Those vines you see climbing up are hops vines, which also grow on their back fence.

It's always delightful to visit someone’s garden. But it was all I could do not to grab those fresh-picked strawberries and run!

Revisiting

Last summer, when my friend Marcia was here and we were waiting for my knee replacement surgery to happen, we naturally did a bit of garaging. We stopped at an estate sale in my old neighborhood, and it was a treasure trove. We had a great time on their driveway, chatting and roasting in the August heat and digging through the many boxes. The sale was lady’s parents’ belongings, and her mother was an extremely creative (and collecting!) person. Marcia came away with an armload of CDs, and I bought music and movies and craft supplies and whimsical doodads. I remember walking away with my arms full for a total of five bucks.

One of my favorite whimsies that day was this tiny vintage piece.

So you may only imagine how excited I was to see that they were having another sale this weekend. I don't usually go back to one I've already seen, but I knew they had only scratched the surface of the parents’ belongings.

Marcia is back in California now, so I took my friend Lonna along to see what we could see. Alas, her luck was not running well – she found a book she wanted that turned out wasn’t for sale. Then she saw something else she liked and had a somewhat unpleasant encounter with one of the pushy guys I think is a local dealer. (There are a handful of these folks who are consistently rude, and I generally try to arrive at sales when I think they will have left.) So sorry, Lonna, it’s not usually like that!

I fared better. On our way into the house we walked by a large Christmas wreath. I noticed it had a price tag. One dollar. Now mine. It's just faux greenery but you can't beat that price. I think I'll refurbish it for next year, but for now it's the total of my seasonal decorating.

The first thing I found inside was this trio of one-inch tall angels. Some of their wings have gotten broken, but I still love them.

My next find was a large framed embroidery for my studio.

You may remember that my focus word for this year is “Mend” – this seemed a perfect reminder. When I got home, I noticed a tag on the back from the framing shop. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was framed in Oklahoma City where I grew up!

Turns out the framers are still in business, and one of their shops is only a few blocks from where I lived. I'm sure I'll never know who the embroiderer was, but I wonder if our paths ever crossed? Whoever she was, the frame was carefully selected to color blend with the embroidery.

I found some cute cupcake papers. At three for a penny, home they came.

In one of the back bedrooms, I found this big (about 2’ tall) papier-mâché bunny who now resides at my house. He was one of the things the creative mother made.

In the other back bedroom, I noticed a really nice switch plate cover, and asked if it might be for sale. The answer was yes, in fact I could just have it, if a screw driver could be located to remove it from the wall. Alas, no screwdriver appeared. I first tried a dime (too big) and then the tip of a table knife (also too big) then they did locate some odd multi-purpose tool but it was too awkward to turn the screws. But I really loved it. So later in the day I went back – with my own screwdriver! Had it off the wall in no time, and made sure that the folks having the sale knew how much I love it.

Of course since I was there again I had to shop again. It was amazing how much had left the house in two or three hours, but much remained. I picked up some movies

including one that might be in Chinese.

I found a very small Yixing tea pot, too small to be practical for use. But a) it was only fifty cents, and b) it looks good with my other Yixing pots. ‘Nuff said.

My last find was another papier-mâché bunny, much smaller than the first. 

I absolutely fell for his hand painted face.

So sometimes you can go home again – even if it's to someone else’s home! Even better, they told me another sale is planned in January, because they hadn’t even started on clearing the garage.

I can hardly wait.

Artistic

The other members of my posse were busy Friday, so I picked a few sales from those on Craigslist and headed out alone. My first stop was the Baptist rummage sale, a jam-packed one where I've found a few things in the past.

This year, when I arrived a few minutes before the opening time, there were only about 8 cars in the lot and a corresponding number of people waiting at the door. We looked at each other a little sheepishly, wondering if we were there on the right day. But they had signs out, and soon a Baptist lady came to let us in, and we all headed down to the church basement to rummage.

One lady literally grabbed teacups and saucers from the ‘better goods’ table, then rushed off to find more treasure. The only thing I saw that I was willing to buy was a DVD. (One more old VHS tape replaced!) 

Perhaps the reason for the low turnout was that it was also the starting day of Salem’s big annual art festival, which draws thousands of people. I say thousands confidently because of the impossibility of parking anywhere in that part of town when it gets rolling. It's also the reason all the other sales I went to were in that neighborhood; folks time their sales to take advantage of festival goers who have to park many blocks away and walk. But it was still well before festival start time and the yard sales were as tame as the rummage sale. One quite posh house yielded this book 

which was published in 1945 and leads you through the whole process of planning your midcentury modern house, including how many bookshelves to include in each room.

A few blocks away I scored nice, brand-new, thick Pendleton socks for the hubs 

and something Judy has been looking for – dryer balls. Hedgehog dryer balls! 

The last sale had quite a hodgepodge of items on the lawn. I don’t usually look at piles of stuffed toys, but I spotted a replica of the Velveteen Rabbit signed by an artist, and when the price was fifty cents did a little more looking. 

The guy having the sale said his mother has just gone into a memory care facility, but that she used to be quite a collector and reseller. “It wasn’t quite to the point of hoarding,” he said, “but she used to go to thrift stores three or four times a day." Further searching unearthed another artist-made toy, a pristine white mohair teddy.

The two of them are settling in with other toys.

But wait, this is no toy hanging out with the rabbit.

Could that be a real live kitten? It is indeed. Please meet Millie.

She is pretty close to perfect; about the only thing we’re still negotiating is how much of a person’s head she is allowed to sleep on (and purr loudly) at night. About three months old, friendly, outgoing, calm, playful…and housebroken. Got her through a local rescue group. The only information we have on her earlier life is that the litter was found in a ditch in Silverton. I think they must have been found with the mother and gone to a foster home that did an amazing job socializing this little one. She’s completely at home with everything that goes on in a house, and when you put your hand down low she comes running to you. She passed her vet exam with flying colors, including making the entire staff fall in love with her.

We are quite smitten.

Even Zoë!