Labor Day Labors

I may have to adjust my opinion about holiday weekends. I rarely participate in them because I'm retired and don't have the same need for a long weekend as working folks. I also avoid crowds and traffic. For a long time I've considered them useless for garaging as well, just not enough sales to bother with. Yet it was over the Memorial Day weekend I found my wonderful bunny weathervane, 

and I'm very happy with my Labor Day finds!

First stop was only four blocks from home, and the first thing I saw was a section of metal deck railing, just like what I took off the old deck I had removed this summer. I'm hanging onto it for eventual use as a fence along my creek side, but I still need several more panels. I crossed my fingers that this one would be affordable, and it was. Very. As in…free! And they’re even delivering it since it was too long for my SUV. Definitely a score.

The next two sales on my list ended up being drive-bys. I couldn’t even see if there was actually a sale for all the crappy old cars sitting around at the first, and the next looked skimpy and tired. Maybe there was treasure there, but I doubt it!

Onward to one near Bush’s Pasture Park, a beautiful large park in a lovely old neighborhood. Very popular with walkers, and dogs. The car parked in front of the sale was occupied by a large golden-doodle whose owners had stopped to browse. He was very happy when they returned to the car so he could go visit the squirrels. This was the sale where I picked up a cool piece of art. Thought at first it was a watercolor print, but it's actually a photograph. 

Signed and numbered by the artist and very nicely framed, and all of two bucks. I love it with the other two original watercolors I've found recently.

I also picked up a wineglass here (broke one recently). It was priced at fifty cents. When I went to pay I handed her the two singles for the picture and checked my coins, which amounted to five pennies. Hmmm, I said, we can either break another one or I can give you five cents for the wineglass. Which was fine with her! Not sure when I last got anything for a nickel, let alone a very nice wineglass with a beautiful tone when tapped. (I always buy wineglasses by their sound.)

Another quick stop netted a counted cross stitch with one of my favorite sayings, which I have now learned dates to World War 2 and the efforts on the home front to support the war.

One more stop before heading home, where the first thing I saw was a bunch of free stuff. Good free stuff! I picked up 5 trough planters, used but in perfect condition. 

Then I saw canning jars, and grabbed two quart size I know my friend Toni is looking for. Among them was a quart jar of buttons, so I snagged that as well. You know I love me some buttons! I'll go through these soon and sort out the ones I want to add to my stash, and find a new home for the rest. It did my heart good to see them, because all the button jars I've seen recently (usually at estate sales) were quite pricey.

I also picked up a vintage hanky (yes, I sometimes use hankies!) 

and a pink bath towel with an entertaining border. 

From the size of the towel and the label I'm guessing it could date back to the 70s! 

I've been looking for a terry towel to cut up for dish cloths (I put out a fresh one every morning and toss yesterday’s into the laundry) and this will be perfect.

I think they may have had more stuff in their free pile than actually for sale, but my eyes lit up when I saw something I recognized. Several years ago I bought a carved wood jester riding a trike that was made by a Czech master puppet maker, Miroslav Trejtnar. (Alas, the photos of it have disappeared from my blog, dang it, possibly a victim of a hard drive crash a few years ago.) I was absolutely amazed to see another piece by the same artist sitting among a variety of items priced at a dollar. As a rule I don't care much for clown images, but this one I like. 

He rocks from side to side and his beads slide around; perhaps he’s supposed to be a juggler. In any case he is now mine and looks quite at home among some other wooden toys, including a French clown who was originally part of a skittles set (the game, not the candy!)

I came home happy for sure, and am looking forward to future holiday weekends !

 

Just Ask

Friday was damp and chilly, but this guy looked pretty cozy in his box under a table. 

A prime kitty indeed. He reminded me of this poem by Eleanor Farjeon.

Cats

Cats sleep Anywhere, Any table, Any chair, Top of piano, Window-ledge,

In the middle,
On the edge,
Open drawer,
Empty shoe,
Anybody's
Lap will do,
Fitted in a
Cardboard box,
In the cupboard
With your frocks--
Anywhere!
They don't care!
Cats sleep
Anywhere.
 

Neither KK or I expected it to be as chilly as it was, so one of my first purchases was a couple of pashmina shawls, which we wore the rest of the morning. At fifty cents each, no need to be cold!

Both dogs thought laying them on the floor for picture taking was a great idea. Doesn’t Zoë look like she’s ready for a magic carpet ride? 

Fannie was just ready for a belly rub. 

The rainy morning discouraged all but the more intrepid sellers, but there were a couple of estate sales. At the one in my neighborhood, I picked up this MCM piece.

It was filthy, but seemed to be printed on Masonite so I gambled a dollar that it could be cleaned.

And it could!

An old toothbrush, glass cleaner, a couple of rags and about ten minutes was all it took. What an improvement. I'm glad I saved it.

From the other estate sale I snagged this too-cute embroidery. 

Took it out of its oxy soak this morning. All the spots are gone! 

A moving sale netted a new iron, still in its box, for ten bucks. Next to a Rowenta, this is my favorite brand, and I figure if I go ahead and get a backup, then the one I'm currently using will never die. Such is the perversity of the universe. 

The one thing I kept trying to remember to look for was black sewing thread. I ran out the other day, which is amazing because I have dozens of spools of threads. Evidently I use black more than anything. Even though several sales had sewing stuff, there was no black thread.

Our last stop of the day was the one with this Craigslist ad:

FABRIC. Did I sat FABRIC? Quilter's you need to stop by. Bernina Serger 2000. Don't stay away just because you aren't into fabric. Tools. Did I say TOOLS? Radial Arm saw. Oscillating Sander. Tool Dock. If you don't see what you want, ask. It can probably be found.

The lady running the sale was delightful, funny and warm. Her fabric and yarns were in lidded plastic totes, which were all closed when we got there because it was sprinkling (again). “Wait ten minutes,” she said. “The sun will be back out.”  (She was right.) We didn’t wait to start looking though. KK found a couple of pieces of fun fabric for me right away. 

We talked about our fabric and yarn stashes and how they can run away with you. She had never heard the acronym SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) and loved it. Turns out she quilts professionally. She has a long-arm machine and says she does a couple a month for other people. I was enjoying our conversation so much I almost forgot to inquire about thread. I didn’t see any, but when I mentioned needing black thread she rummaged around in a box and handed me this. 

Not just black thread, but really good quality black thread – thousands of yards of it! And when I asked what she wanted for it, she said to just take it, that us stashers have to stick together!

I've never bought any thread on a cone before, not being sure how I could use it with my sewing machine, which has a horizontal spindle to hold the spool. But I tried just setting the cone in front and a little to the side of my machine and threading it, and it works great. So now I don’t have to pass up any thread bargains that might come my way.

I wanted to try out the thread when I got home, so I played with a bit of her fabric and made a little pin to wear. That's a vintage button for his nose.

The backside fabric is from the bag of free stuff I picked up last week 

and the nonsense word was made from the little letter-beads I found Memorial Day weekend.

I think I'm going to have fun with this! 

Small Town, Big Fun

Went down to Roseburg (2 hour drive away) to visit our friends Diana and Dave and go to the Umpqua Valley Quilt Show this weekend. Eye candy galore! Diana and I oohed and aahed our way through the exhibit hall at the county fairgrounds.

We were simultaneously inspired and intimidated by the wonderful work that we saw. Of course some pieces were more amazing than others, but the quality of the quilts was truly wonderful. There was even a little quilt made by a four-year-old during “Grandma Camp!” (Sorry, didn’t get a picture of it, simple squares sewn into a wall hanging or doll blanket, but still…a four-year-old!)

The quilt guild sponsoring the show had a large booth in the back of the hall, and their main display made this old thrifter’s heart happy.

Of course we found a few things and put together an inch – although the lady who took my dollar thought our inch was too short and encouraged me to pick out something else. But I was happy with what we had.

Somewhat to my surprise, that wasn’t the only thrifty shopping I got to do. We planned to head south about 2 p.m. on Friday, so KK and I went out in the morning to see what we could find. Which wasn’t much, but I was happy with this.

 

I've noticed these pet-hair-collecting gloves online (they’re one of those “as seen on TV” items, but I don’t own a television so those are rarely “as seen by me”). Wouldn’t have spent ten or fifteen bucks on one, but for a dollar I was willing to give it a try, and it does a pretty good job.

Fannie turns out to have quite an undercoat and is starting to shed. And though Zoë has zero undercoat her short white hairs get into everything. So I think we’ll get our dollar’s worth. And I did get a good laugh from the literature that came in the box, with its “Important Safety Instructions.” I mean, really? Safety instructions?

And by golly, they left out the only one I think might be needed: Don’t use this glove wrong-side out. Ouch!

Saturday morning Diana and I stopped at one estate sale on our way to the fairgrounds. It was really picked over, guess it had started on Thursday, and I wish we’d been there that day because I think there was some cool stuff. Like a particularly gorgeous stained glass screen that we saw a picture of in their ad, but that was gone. However, I did spent two bucks and left with another addition to my glass-vases-in-the-window collection

a cozy muffler from Ireland

(I've already ignored the ‘dry clean only’ tag; honestly, do people really take something like a scarf to the dry cleaners? Do they think the wool never got wet when it was on the sheep?)

and three containers of miscellaneous buttons.

Probably nothing too valuable in them, though I'm still trying to figure out what these metal buttons depict.

A lovely lady? But, ummm, are those horns among her hair? Frankly, my first impression was Ludwig van Beethoven, so maybe I'll stick with that.

Buttons are in the eye of the beholder, right?

Diana got the real deal of the day though. She’s part of a church group that is upgrading a meeting room where women in recovery can gather, and they need some decent chairs. She was admiring the four dining chairs at the estate sale, which were marked $80. This turned out to be the price for all four, but they have zero budget for the project. The price went down to $40, then $30. We both tried them out and they were very comfy and in great shape, so she decided to get them.

When we got home I noticed a maker’s tag on the bottom of one chair and the word ‘Denmark.’ So I looked them up, and it turned out they are from the Danish company Bolinge, probably made in the Sixties. And worth quite a bit more than $7.50 each! There are two each of these two styles, all with the original upholstery (which I think is wool) and most likely made of teak.

So instead of taking them straight to the meeting room, they are going to try to sell them to someone who appreciates midcentury furniture, and use whatever they raise that way to furnish the room.

Treasures lurk everywhere, don’t they?