(SOMEWHAT) RECENTLY THRIFTED

1// American Airlines California travel magazine from 1965

2// stencil set from 1918 

3// framed silhouette

4// stars (forever a sucker for old packaged office supplies)

(all from estate sales)

I haven't been going to thrift stores and estate sales that much lately, but I have picked up a few really cool things. On my birthday there was an amazing sale in Chesapeake that I got to right as it opened. It was one of the best sales I've ever been to, and I didn't even buy that much. It was just amazing to look at. 

The man who owned the house was an incredible stained glass artist and his workshop was unbelievable. It was packed with every tool for woodworking, welding, printmaking, and glass working imaginable. On top of other things I had no idea what they were for. I found this stencil set under a pile of wood and immediately knew it was one of my best finds ever. It is a complete set with two sizes of numbers and letters and the original brush and ink. I think the box is my favorite part though. This is my favorite type of thing to find. 

RECENTLY THRIFTED: TOBACCO FACTORY BINS

These bins are the only thing I got at the Porstmouth Flea last weekend. The woman selling them told me they were old bins from a tobacco factory. The primary colors are what got me, but I also really love the metal detail on the edges. I don't know what I'm going to put in them yet, but I'm hoping I'll work them into my show display sometime.

RECENTLY THRIFTED

Okay. These two Arlene plushes are the weirdest, ugliest things I've ever bought at an estate sale - maybe anywhere. This estate sale I went to a few weekends ago had a good-sized closet filled with Garfield things - clocks, phones, stuffed animals, figurines, slippers. It was kind of incredible. But for some reason these two spoke to me. And I couldn't separate them. So now instead of having one unsightly, long-necked pink cat that I never thought I would own, I have two. It tickles me for some reason. I like how their necks crook in different directions. Douglas hates them.

I picked up this little scrap of vintage fabric at the same sale.

RECENTLY THRIFTED

These were all found over the past few weeks. I haven't been doing a lot of going to estate sales and my usual thrift stores since Douglas left, but every once in a while I really feel like looking around.

I got super lucky with this yellow American Tourister vanity case - I love the color, the inside is spotless, and it has the tray. This kind of suitcase is something I can't turn away from if it's a good one and the price is right. They're always useful. I love the design of the cards in this French card game - hoping to figure out some way to display them. And I have always loved Shirley Temple - Bright Eyes is one of my favorite movies, and it she makes me think of my grandmother.

So for my occasional bouts of looking around, I've done pretty well. Have you had any good finds lately?

HELOISE FROM A TO Z

I picked up this book at an estate sale. It was on a table full of sci-fi books and, while the daisy dotting the "i" sold me, it's actually a really handy book. It's the same idea as this book I've seen around, but it's listed in alphabetical order and covers a impressively wide variety of things. 

Some tips are outdated or things I've already found through searching on the internet, but some of them are pretty useful. And some of them are odd and charming and things you wouldn't need tips for that often. It was an unexpected, good find. I've looked a few things up and found myself flipping through the book for a few minutes after. 

Here are a few tips that made me smile:

Neck Brace Cover-ups: Wearing a neck brace can be dreary and after awhile, you need to cheer it up. Cover the collar with colored knee-hi stockings that match your clothing. 

Alarm: Finding Snooze Button When You're Half-asleep: Stick a self-gripping fabric dot in the snooze button and you'll find the fuzzy button with your eyes closed and one hand still gripping the pillow. 

Hose $aver: If you put new panty hose into the freezer for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, then allow them to thaw, they don't run nearly as often. 

Turtles: Feeding: Turtles are very messy eaters. Keep the tank clean by feeding them in another tank.

Plastic Strawberry Baskets: 1. Playpen for small dolls. 2. Place over damp area in carpet so it can dry without being stepped on. 

This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't share with you the photo of Heloise on the back of the book. Look at her. She knows so many things.

AUSTIN FINDS

1// 2// flashcards/Bingo card from Uncommon Objects // wooden card holder form Take Heart
3// 4// poker chips and holder from Uncommon Objects
5// typography book pages from South Congress Books
6// wooden flourishes from Uncommon Objects

These are a few things I found on my short trip to Austin last month. I was excited to find the little poker chip set for Douglas - rarely do I find anything old and cool that he will actually be able to make use of.

RECENTLY THRIFTED

Only one find from this past week, but it's a perfect little thing. I found this for a dollar while thrifting with a friend in Newport News. It's perfect to hold strawberry things.

RECENTLY THRIFTED: CHILDREN'S DICTIONARIES

I usually try to only buy things at thrift stores and estate sales if I can see myself immediately starting (and finishing relatively soon) the project that I intend to use the things for.

I broke the rule when I found these illustrated dictionaries last week at an estate sale. I flipped through them just to look, with absolutely no intention of buying them. And slowly, as I saw the bright, simplistic diagrams and charts throughout the dictionaries, an idea I've had for years creeped into my mind - I've always wanted to wallpaper part of a bathroom with something like these charts. The idea has one distinct source: this bathroom. I saw this tour of tattoo artist Scott Campbell's studio a few years ago, and while I really liked the whole thing, I thought the bathroom wallpapered in shooting targets was just the coolest. I've carried the idea around with me, not really knowing what I would use, but I knew it when I saw these.

So I guess I'm carrying these around with us until we have a house of our own one day.

RECENTLY THRIFTED

1// 2// vintage fabrics from estate sale
3// graph paper notebooks from estate sale
4// 5// Danish needlepoint artwork from estate sale
6// fabric design book from estate sale
7// sextant from estate sale (got this for Douglas)
8// 1980's globe bank from Portsmouth Flea
9// 1950's magazine rack from Portsmouth Flea (sharing a before and after with this soon)

So this needlepoint piece is one of my favorite things I've ever found. The colors and textures are seriously beautiful. I can do simple embroidery and maybe a French knot if I'm feeling really intense, but I can't get over all of the stitches and textures in this piece. This estate sale was in Virginia Beach this past weekend and was advertised in the paper as "sew crazy" - so I knew I had to go...and it turned out to be one of the craziest sales I've ever been to.

The house was pretty big, bigger than average for sales I've been to around here. And it was packed. There were two rooms dedicated to sewing and knitting and crafts. Shelves and shelves filled with neatly folded fabrics, more shelves piled with yarn, hundreds of craft books, bolts of fabric up against the walls. I spent most of my time in these rooms, and I know I still didn't see everything that was there. But I found some fabric that I cannot wait to use and this fabric design book with more information than I ever wanted to know.

I made a quick loop around the rest of the house. The plastic bag I brought in with me on impulse was threatening to split open, and I had to avoid getting pummeled by women charging around the house with overflowing tote bags. It was really crowded by the time I was finished. I took one last peek into the craft room and the needlepoint piece was sticking out from under a basket. I grabbed it, and one of the sale workers told me the woman who lived there made it. I loved it anyway, but for some reason that made me love it a little more, in the most maudlin way possible.

Other than estate sales and the flea market, we had a relaxing weekend at home. Douglas is leaving for a little while soon, so we really enjoy staying at home together when that is about to happen. What did you do this weekend?

RECENTLY THRIFTED

I hadn't been to many estate sales recently and had some luck starting back with them this past weekend. I fell in love with this chair the second I saw it and knew it was my new sewing chair (I was using an old folding chair). It has a bit of extra character because one of the feet was missing and the woman at working the sale tore the bottom off a cane for me to stop it from wobbling. This was after she tried to disassemble several other, less obvious objects for a solution. 

When I first started looking at sales for the weekend, one listed "1000s of yards fabric" and, from that, I kind of pictured rolls and rolls of really bad upholstery fabric. Turns out it was a lady who had built up a huge collection of old fabrics in a storage shed out back. There was a lot to dig through. But I found some stuff I really love, some nice solids, and some linen for screen printing. Did you have any thrifty adventures this weekend?

RECENTLY THRIFTED

1// 2// 3// vintage flashcards and word games

4// little plastic tooth box

5// 6// little plastic sitting lady (from a dollhouse?)

7// 8// Mickey ruler (with useful conversions!)

9// vintage pilot pin

all from estate sales this past weekend