Score!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love yard sales.

The things you can find, both useful and not, quality and cheap, new and old, there are all sorts of items! I especially love when they're big with a variety of stuff, even boxes you need to dig through-- those are the hidden treasure finds!

A trip into town yielded a yard sale on a Monday (?!) which was quite large, inside of three storage spaces. I happened to be solo, which meant no children begging for toys-- of which there were plenty of, and I was able to quietly hunt. The only downside was I had only $2 cash in my pockets, oh, let's hope I find something that doesn't cost too much! And I did! An old shoebox full of embroidery thread! For exactly $2-- what luck!

(Sorry for the blurry photo) Once home, I went through the box and arranged by color and brand of thread. Most of them were J & P Coats, a few DMCs, some Peri-Lusta Filo, a couple of Bucilla, and A.T.CO'S Silkine Red Star brand.

I love the label of the Red Star Brand. I have never seen this brand before.

Digging further, I found this old Bucilla embroidery pattern of a basket of flowers and on the back..

..instructions on how to do some of the stitches.

Love this old A & P needle book.

Can you see the spider web pattern on the foil? Love!

My best guess at the age of this stuff is from the 50's, as dated evidence of a newspaper ticket showed up. Can anyone remember when the daily paper cost 5 cents and the Sunday paper was 15 cents? 45 cents a week?? I pay $2.50 for a Sunday paper now!

The thing I found most fascinating, was threaded needles left in nearly every color thread.

 

This was obviously someone's working project that was never completed. I love this idea of leaving the thread on the needle and sticking it in the label of the thread, then using another needle with another color. That seems so much easier than pulling the thread out of your one needle and re-threading with new thread, often losing the other color or it gets tangled. This would be so convenient, especially with a project that causes you to change colors often and not having to re-thread  every time. Plus, the needle keeps the label from falling off the thread. I think I'll adopt this practice for my own!

No wonder there were several packets of needles that were nearly empty!

Don't you wish you could still pay 19 cents for 12 needles or 30 cents for 16??

~

Yard Sale Finds

We haven't been yard sale-ing much this summer. When we do go, I try and make up for lost time and hope, hope, hope that each yard sale I stop at, something good pops up!

Pickings have been so-so, but we did get lucky and found these adorable doll beds!

 They stack to become bunk beds and the girls really love playing with these.

We've talked about making blankets and pillows but there's so many other projects going on, we haven't gotten a chance yet. Probably later, during the colder months when we're all cooped up in the house, those long-awaited projects will get started. For now, they swipe their old baby blankets from the closet and fold them over to use for their dolls.

Want to guess how much I paid for them?

Two dollars!!

Score!



Yard Sale Finds

I'm not going to complain, but dang! The weather sure has been uncooperative for gardening! Constant raining and chilly temps make it very frustrating. I'm appreciative of the rain, though, grateful that our well should be nice and filled by now, and everything around here is looking green and lush. We drive slow over the bridges to see how high the rivers and creeks are and whether or not they have flooded their banks.

Yard sale season is getting off to a wet start with the rain, and lucky for us, our favorite church holds their yearly yard sale inside the gym. This sale is huge, with rows and rows of tables and organized, too! They give us a head start with the sale starting on Friday. I always find something there-- clothes for the kids, books, toys (not that we need anymore of those!), kitchen stuff... Last year I scored a couple boxes of canning jars.

We did alright this time, not so much kid clothes this time around. Seemed like there were more older kid clothes than the younger set, but as we were going in, there were several ladies who had arms full of bagged clothes walking out the door, so maybe they beat me to it. I picked up some vintage sewing notions, a school dictionary, 3 vintage drinking glasses, a few clothes, cloth napkins, books, and my favorite find: a vintage chinese checkers game.

Still in the original shipping box which was sent from Sears, but no date. I'm guessing 60's? I haven't had the chance to do my homework on this yet.

Regular checkers on one side...

Chinese checkers on the other! Great graphics on this set! I love chinese checkers. I had a set when I was a kid and I wonder if that's what set me off on my love of marbles, too? But my favorite game with marbles? Oh yeah! A winning combination! This is a nice set, there are two inner drawers on the side sandwiched between the games, one side holds marbles, the other holds checker pieces. Some of the pieces are missing, but I can find game pieces to complete the set easily.

I had other vintage chinese checkers game boards up on the wall in the dining room, but then the blue corner hutch took over that space and they came down. I haven't found a new home for them yet... maybe the living room? *eyeing wall appreciatively*

I also found this: an Oil Paint by numbers of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. I've always loved that painting and, if I could afford it, I'd buy the real thing and hang it on my bedroom wall. Guess this is the next best thing and, at $1, it's in my price range! Now if I can find some time to actually paint it... Evelyn has a paint-by-numbers kit, maybe we can paint together while the other little ones are playing outside?

It rained the rest of the weekend, so no more yard sales to go to. It's chilly here, the temps never got above 60 and I actually asked Andrew to start a fire for me. I don't think we've ever had a fire in May! It's looking like another overcast day, but at least it's not raining. I have errands to run in town, so I better skedaddle!

Sideshow

Every year, the same people hold a yard sale and I always look forward to seeing their address in the newspaper advertising their sale. First, they sell great stuff. I suspect they either own an antique shop or lease out a booth at an antique mall, because they are meticulously priced with item numbers and such a large variety of choices. We always find good stuff to bring home. Second, they have peacocks!

It's a beautiful area they live in, about 10 miles down the road from us. A great old farm house, I'd love to peek inside! Lots of land, cool barns, gardens and peacocks! It's so fun to see them and hear their calls. The kids really enjoy watching them and it's one of the few sales we can go to and know where the kids are!

There was a nice group of peacocks in the garden area and in the back there, one of the males had his feathers up in full display.

Here's a cropped close-up of the above picture. Andrew and I were explaining to the girls about why the males were more colorful than the brown females you can see in the foreground, then we started ad-libbing: "Hey baby, look at me and my lovely feathers. Don't you want a handsome feller like me on your arm? That's right, I got it and I got it good. Let me turn around and give you the full scope of my fan here. See that baby? I'm working it! You know you want me! I'm all that and a bag of chips!"

Wouldn't that be nice in real life? The men all dressed up and parading in front of us ladies, begging to be chosen? :o)

The kids chased this one around and he hopped through the fence to get away. Wait til you see the views on the other side of the fence!

Oh! If I lived here, I'd never move! Such a great place to go to for the afternoon-- nice people, good stuff to dig through, peacocks for entertainment and gorgeous views to soothe the soul. They usually host a yard sale twice a year and I am already looking forward to the next one! :o)

~

Recent Finds

I don't live in an area with a lot of thrift stores, which for someone like me, could be a good thing. In our first apartment, we lived in an area with thrift stores nearly every mile or so. We'd spend our days off scouring the shops looking for whatever struck our fancies. Here, yard sales rule! While we haven't been hitting them heavily this year, the few we have gone to, we've done well. Here's a few of my favorite finds:



I picked up this Fire King dish in the Summerfield pattern for free. Yes, free. They had fishing lures in it for 25 cents apiece and I just wanted the dish. When asked how much for the dish, she let me have it. Ooooo-kay! I'm not gonna argue! Sadly, a couple of days later, the dish got knocked off the shelf and a chunk of the handle chipped off, but it's still usable. I won't be able to turn around and sell it, but I'll probably use it for holding craft supplies or something.

A recent sale had loads of boy clothes in Peter's size and I had fun rummaging through clearly-marked bins for warmer winter clothes. Usually, clothes are piled up and you have to check each tag for sizes, and I dread going through those-- I have limited time and if Peter is with me, he's usually running off or struggling in my arms to get down. This sale had them neatly folded and sorted and I really appreciate that. I scored a bunch of tops, bottoms, long sleeve pajama sets, and some shoes for Peter. When I got home, I found that two of the pajama pants had bad elastic waists. The rubber rotted and no longer had any stretch. An easy fix and I had elastic on hand, so a quick sit-down at the sewing machine and they're good as new again!

I have a thing for vampires. No idea why, just always have. Not that I want to be a vampire or get bitten by one, but I guess it's just the mystery of the unknown. I devoured Ann Rice's Vampire series when I was a teen, then I dove right into the Twilight books (but I don't care for the movies), and right before we canceled our satellite, I watched an episode of True Blood on HBO and was just a teeny bit disappointed I wouldn't be able to see what happened next. I always meant to check out the books, but never remembered the author's name or the original title of the series. Lo and behold-- the entire Sookie Stackhouse series for 70 cents! That's 10 cents per book! And I don't have to wait to read the next one either! I've already read 3 and they are so enjoyable, something I can really sink my teeth into! (har har) I'll have to see if I can find the True Blood series on dvd.. hmm.


I saw something similar to these in a magazine ad: skeleton salad servers at one of those pricey home goods stores for $20 a set. They were so cool! Andrew and I love Halloween and we're getting ready to start pulling out the decorations and get into the spooky spirit. The only thing I didn't like was the price tag, so I knew I'd never go to the store (which is far away) or even bothered to check online for one of those. Then we went to Target the other day and found these at half the price. Pretty similar to the ones I saw in the ad, though I don't have the magazine anymore and I'm too lazy to check online. I don't need them, but they're so cool and our salad tongs did break over the summer, so technically, we do need them. But really, I was just excited to spot them! They were the very last pair left, except for some cheap-o plastic ones, but I wanted the metal ones; they're sure to last longer. I'm looking forward to the next time I make salad for dinner so I can use them!

Any good finds for you lately?

-

Highs and Lows

High:

All summer long, the yardsales have either been slim pickings or we haven't been hitting them with our usual ferocity. But the last couple of weekends, when we happen to go out and spot a yard sale on the way, have more than made up for the summer's misses.


On our way to the next big town over, we spotted a yard sale at a house that has not had a yard sale in the entire 5 years we lived here. It's a round-ish style house so I always look at it as we go by. Anyway, it wasn't a whole lot of stuff, but I saw this basket with yarn and other goodies and when I asked, the lady said it was $4 for the whole thing. Good deal! A lot of the yarn is new and it had 3 sets of knitting needles, a couple of knitting pattern books, a teach yourself to knit booklet, and some crochet thread. Evelyn has been learning to knit on those knitting looms and so getting cheap yarn for her to practice with is great!

There was one skein of this wool yarn and I claimed it for myself. Evelyn asked me to show her how to knit with the needles but I only know how to do one basic stitch. I used to make those little washcloths from cotton yarn and that was quite a while back-- at least 15 years or so. I had to really struggle to remember how to do that and the little teach yourself to knit booklet wasn't too clear with the instructions, or at least, not how I remembered it. I finally figured out the basic stitching and I have been knitting a little here and there. I'm thinking gift for Christmas, if I can keep it up.

***

Low:

I need to find a good, used fabric cleaner machine. I've been hoping to spot one, but no luck so far. They cost about $100 new and we don't have carpet except for in the apartment, so we'd only really use it on the couch. Either that, or we need to keep an eye out for a good, used couch. While Andrew was busy doing one thing, and I was busy doing another, Peter got into the fridge and dumped a nearly full gallon of milk on the couch. -sigh- It's still dripping milk an hour later. Even if we get a cleaning machine, it won't get into the insides of the couch, so it looks like our best bet would be to get a couch. Or else we put up with a stinky couch. -sigh- My plan was to wait until all the kids were over the age of 5 and then get a new couch, but this puts a little wrinkle into my plan. Not too sure what we are going to do about the couch. If money was no object, I'd get the couch reupholstered, but it's an issue, so what to do, what to do?

Maybe we'll get lucky again and score a couch at the thrift shop. There was a nice one there at the same time I saw the table and they were only asking $50 for it. It's gone now, but we could afford $50. Well. I guess we'll just clean up the couch as best as we can and see if it starts to smell in the next few days. It's not as hot now, so that helps. Rancid milk is not a pleasant smell.

***

Andrew is busy outside and I'm busy on the computer, so I better go and make sure Peter isn't busy getting into mischief.

-

Feelin' (Not So) Blue

Memorial weekend around here means 4 days of yard sales, so went spent a few hours each day hitting the sales, looking for that elusive vintage metal bed. No luck on the bed, but we did find a few other things.
Like this blue corner hutch. Ain't it sweet? The blue is growing on me and I like how it pops with the yellow wall behind it. I'll be taking off the hearts on the bottom and I'll try and color-match the paint to touch up the spots here and there. It was ~only~ 20 bucks! A steal for solid wood furniture!

At another sale, we picked up the items you see on the shelves: sweet vintage tin cake carrier with an asian design on it, promoted by Uneeda Biscuit Co*., which later became Nabisco (*see bold lettering). A near mint vintage Fisher Price clown car pull along toy (I'll sell that later), and a cookie/candy tin to add to my collection of english-made tins. At the same yard sale, I found some extra nice children's clothing for Fall/Winter for only 50 cents apiece, and a brand new Discovery Toys Labyrinth game. Looking forward to playing that with the kids.

At a different yard sale, I scored 11 of these great Hazel-Atlas half-gallon canning jars! $7 for all of them and I'm pretty pleased about that! They sell half-gallon Ball jars brand new for about $10 each around here. I don't actually can with these, but I use them for juice, teas, wine and syrup in the fridge. I'm really trying to use less plastic for food storage and these jars will sure come in handy for that.

The last yard sale we went to felt more like a museum than a yard sale. I didn't have my camera with me at the time or else I would have taken pictures. Everything was vintage and in near-mint condition! The people must have spent years collecting the stuff, and they were either down-sizing their collections or running out of room and something had to go. There was a sweeeeeet mustang for sale that Andrew drooled all over, garage-kept and in perfect condition; lots of mint vintage games and toys, christmas decorations, collector's items models and posters and more. We enjoyed looking at everything, and I picked up a couple things-- chinese checkers in the original box, a box set of children's puzzles and christmas tree metal icicles. I think I could have easily bought more, but I have my own basement full of stuff that I need to get rid of.

I passed up on a lot of pyrex bowls and other glass dishes... I love them, but I really do have too many bowls. I sold quite a few of them on ebay and I still have more I need to whittle out and keep only my absolute favorites. We'll be having a yard sale of our own this summer, for sure!

Find anything good lately?

~

Lighting Up My Corner

Yard sale season is starting up around here and I am raring to go! We didn't get out much last summer-- money, gas, money; but this year promises to be a little bit better and I have plans to go yard sale-ing! I already had some good finds at the yard sales last Saturday, and I found this little gem of a lamp:

It's the nicest glass lamp I've seen in a while and I just love it! It was in a box all jumbled together with other stuff and when I pulled it out, it had $3.00 written on a piece of tape stuck to it. I picked out something else and asked the guy how much, and he shrugged and said "a dollar?" Sold!!

Not bad for 50 cents, eh? Look at the pretty detail in the base.. I thought I might need to rewire it, but the cord is sound and it looks like someone else rewired it 20 years ago or so... So all I needed to do was find a shade for it.



Perfect! I have been looking for just the right lamp for my nightstand, and have been changing out the lamps for quite some time now. I think I must have gone through 6 or 7 of them so far, none of them feeling quite right.

Here's a corner shot.. I think it looks perfect!

It takes me quite a while to decorate, I have to live with the space to get a feel for it and then I can decide what I want to put there. I still have a couple of items I want to hang on the wall, but I need to finish them first. It is slowly getting there!

-

Find anything good lately?

Too Much Stuff!

We're having a yard sale. Today. Tomorrow. And Saturday, too.

Whew! How is it that we acquire so much stuff?

No pictures, because honestly? I'm quite embarrassed about the amount of stuff out there.

We piled all the "sale" stuff in the basement near the door and now, with everything out, I feel like I can breathe down there again. It felt claustrophobic, sorta.

I hope we sell most of it. Because really? I don't want to bring it back in.

Then after the sale, I swear-- no more crappy stuff allowed in the house!

Sweet old guy came to the yard sale, today. Asked how much for a wine bottle opener. 25 cents I said. He held out his hand with a bunch of coins and I picked out a quarter. He gave me two extra dimes and when I looked at him quizzically, he told me it was my tip. Then he bought something else that came to $6 and he gave me $7. When I tried to give him his dollar back he told me it was my tip. I need more customers like him! :o)

Flea Market!

We went to the local flea market on Saturday. I can't tell you how much I love that place! It has grown over the years and now there are also a ton of little cafes that pop up. These little cooking trailers that travel from place to place and they set up tables under a canopy so you can eat in the shade. One of them was all mexican food and I really want to try them one day.

Before we had kids, a bunch of these cars would have made their way home with us. Hubby loves old toys and cars and through him, I have learned to appreciate them as well. We have a nice little collection of cars, so no more for us.

I love the pattern on these punched tin cabinet doors. If the price was right I think this may have been mine on the spot, but they were asking a lot and at this point, I don't need any more furniture. We need to have a big yard sale of our own and clear out some stuff in the basement. But still.. if money was not an issue, this would have looked nice in the dining room with the yellow walls.

Don't you just love, love, love this chair?! Oh my gosh! This is so cute! I gushed over this-- a bad thing to do if you want to haggle the price down-- and it was a perfect fit for all the kids, but we don't need anymore kid-sized chairs. It was just so cute, though! Had it been an adult-sized chair, then that would have been a different story. I can just see that by my bed, sitting down to read for a bit, or using it for my future sewing room.

None of these items came home with us, but the girls all scored a bunch of barbie dolls to replace the ones the dog chewed up. There is always that one booth, though, that sells over-priced barbies and the girls beg and plead to get them, and then Hubby and I have to practically drag them away, kicking and screaming, looking for another booth selling barbies for $1 or less. They have to use their own money to get them so we are trying to teach them the value of money and looking around some more before buying the first thing you see.

Flea markets are so much fun! We get to go out and see all the stuff people bring out and it's a little history lesson sometimes for the kids. You never know what you'll find and we like that aspect of it.

Happy Happy Happy!

It's a gorgeous day here! All week long I'd been looking forward to today. The Husband is off today and we planned to go back to the strawberry farm we went to last year for some strawberry-picking. Plus, it's Memorial weekend, so yard sales are in full swing! The local paper is chock-full of yard sale ads with some sales starting today and some all the way up till Monday.

On our way to the strawberry farm, we saw several yard sales and picked up a few things here and there. The kids had to take a bathroom break, so we stopped at a well-known farm stand and after we all relieved ourselves, we took a look around. Kind of pricey-- I guess it's more of a tourist trap/farm stand than it would be a place for locals to shop at. They did have some fun things for kids to do, though and we got a cute picture of all 4 of the kids in one of those murals where you stick your face through the hole.

Oldest is the lamb, Youngest the goat, Baby is the pig and Middle is a sunflower. Kind of hard to see her, but she's there.

We picked 27 pounds of strawberries! As soon as we got home, I made a batch of strawberry jam, 9 pints worth, and then froze 2 gallon-size bags of berries. I'd like to try to make strawberry sauce for pancakes and ice cream, and then make some strawberry yummies like bread, shortcakes, rhubarb-strawberry pie, smoothies.... Mmmm!

I've got good news to share! I made my first sale over at my Etsy shop!! Whoo-hoo! I haven't posted any more items yet, and this sale have given me some encouragement to get busy and post more sale items.

I can tell this is going to be a great weekend! Hope yours is great, too! :o)

Welcome to Almost Heaven

You know how some people like to travel to far off and exotic places? They hop a plane or a train and go to see mountains or beaches or far away cities where no one speaks your language? I don't need to do that. I have all the beauty I need right here.



We had the most perfect weekend-- well, half perfect. Hubby had to work on Saturday so I went yard sale-ing by myself with the kids on Saturday. Then Sunday we all went out again and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.



We never went farther than 30 miles from where we live, and the views along the back roads are simply breathtaking. Add to that the blooming redbuds and dogwoods and it rivals any greek ruin. There's a reason why West Virginia is called "Almost Heaven". If you like John Denver, you can start singing his 'Country Roads' song now.




The John Blue Bridge. I know, it's green. But it's called John Blue. They're going to tear this one down soon and replace it with a stronger, boring concrete one. I'll miss this bridge when it's gone.



The view through the bridge, over the river. Gorgeous rocky cliffs. Downriver is a beautiful campground nestled in the valleys and there are campers and tents parked all along the river. We want to camp there one day when the kids are older and canoe down the river. It'd be lovely to see the views from the water.

Stopping at a road-side flea market, I caught this wasp admiring itself in the mirror. Couldn't resist a shot of it. It stayed there for a good while, preening and cleaning his antennae and legs.

Along Route 50 in West Virginia, there is a stretch of road that has blooming redbuds all along the side for miles. It's a breathtaking view and then when you clear the trees you can see for miles the mountain ranges that Virginia and West Virginia share.

I love, love, love this old log cabin. I can only imagine when it was built and the road was probably a dusty dirt trail. It sits right at the bottom of a mountain and beyond the house the road veers sharply to the right and a steep drive up, up, up. It's made from these huge cuts of logs and the cracks filled with mortar. Still in pretty good shape except for that corner in the back. A car crashed into it and busted it open, but look, it didn't even do that much damage. It gives me a peek inside to see abandoned furniture and odds and ends. How I wish I was brave enough to climb inside and get a closer look, maybe salvage a few pieces of furniture or something, but people up here don't take too kindly to trespassers and it's legal here to shoot trespassers. I'd rather not catch myself staring down the barrel of a rifle, thank you very much.

I wonder what happened to the occupants of the house, where did they go and why did they leave. They couldn't find anyone to buy it? Nobody wanted to live so close to the road? No surviving relatives? Maybe someone could reuse the logs and dismantle the house and stone chimney piece by piece? If I could, I would. I'd rebuild it on the other half of our property and rent it out as a vacation home. Until then, I'll just enjoy the beauty of the old house, tell Hubby to "slow down, slow down!" and crane my neck looking back at it every time we drive by it.

Nails, Bowls and Flowers

How was your weekend? Mine? Let's just say it started out on the wrong foot- literally!

One of the advantages of living in a small town is that when you step on a nail and need to go to the emergency room, the small town hospital on a Friday night looks like this:

empty!

There were only 5 cars in the parking lot and I'm betting they all belonged to the hospital workers. The waiting room was empty and the nurses looked happy to have someone to attend to. Oh, how did I step on a nail? In the process of building our chicken coop, we have to take apart some pallets. One of the wood pieces had an old nail sticking out and it wasn't properly taken care of right away. You can rest assured that they will be now! Went right through my shoe! Ouch ouch ouch! I had to get a tetanus shot. Double ouch ouch ouch!

Saturday, even with a sore foot, I was determined to hit some of the first yard sales of the season. I'm so glad I did! The weekend was totally redeemed with this great set of mixing bowls.

Look at the detail! Lovely raised diamond motif with leaves and columns all the way around and scalloped edges. So nice!

Look at the pink one! Ohhh purty! It's not very often I can find a complete set of mixing bowls that date back to the 20's or 30's like these. Guess how much I paid for the set? $50? $25? Try $10! Eeeeee! Only $10! I could easily sell the set for ten times as much, but I think these will stay with me, at least for now.

We also got some garden planting done, a row of potatoes and peas went in. The coop made a little bit of progress and we did some burning around the edges of the property.

The girls picked flowers for me and there is nothing more lovely than daffodils in a mason jar while eating lunch. Just a little tip: be sure to check for spiders in the flowers before you bring them in the house!

The Yard Sale Gods Are Shining Upon Me!

I had very good luck at a yard sale this past weekend.

It was my first yard sale of the year and I really needed a fix.

I spotted this table in the corner, a yellow tablecloth on it and things piled high on it,

but the stripey green and white legs called out to me.

I lifted the tablecloth and I knew this was going to come home with me--

as long as the price was right.

It changes from a square table to a round one.

In fine shape but eventually I will have to re-do the top,

by way of removing several layers of paint and then repainting it.

The legs are in perfect shape.

I asked the lady, "How much?"

She looked at the stuff on it, made a face and then said, "10 dollars?"

"I'll take it! Add the tablecloth, too?"

I hung the tablecloth on the line when we got home, then it rained shortly after and all those stains you see on there? Gone! I'll wash it and see how clean it gets, but it's a lovely tablecloth, don't you think?