Sale-ing, Sale-ing..... a Great Haul

One of my favorite things to do in the summer season is to venture out on occasional Saturday mornings and go sale-ing. Yard sales. Estate sales. Oooooh.... I get excited just thinking about the thrill of the hunt! Armed with nothing more than 2 rolls of quarters that I'd saved (that's $40), I set out at 9:00 a.m.

First stop was an estate sale here in Murray which was being run by the family (not an estate dealer). I picked up a potting bench, a Dymo labeler (working, in box with refill label tapes) and a brand-new (packaging still on) heavy-duty wok. Six dollars total. Then I headed up to the Avenues area of Salt Lake City. This is an older area north of downtown, and it's a highly desirable area to live in. Old homes, mature neighborhoods on steep, narrow streets. Always good pickin's for treasures and I just was feeling good vibes today!

The estate sale started at 10:00 a.m. and I was the first one in the door. Quick scope of the living room showed no vintage paperweights and a scope of the kitchen showed no cookie jars (both of which I collect). .But there in the bedroom.......BINGO!! Linens. Hankies. Vintage Clothing. Lace. OMG. So, let me share some of my finds!

First up (above) is the Christmas stuff I snagged. The green piece is silk, all the pom-pom trim is vintage (and highly resellable - is that a word? - on Ebay. If I don't use it myself), and the two ornaments (the Santa and reindeer) are vintage. I love Santas (particularly Father Christmases) and really love reindeer! The flannel in back is probably only 10-20 years old, but there was a lot of it and it was clean, so I grabbed it for next to nothing.

Above is a daisy doily which needs a serious soak. If it doesn't come clean (and maybe even if it does), I may raid it for the motifs. The black lace is a vintage scrap, and the needlepoint (I think) peacock was too cute to pass up. I'm going to frame it and hang it in my studio - I need color on the white walls!!

I also grabbed these two aprons, probably from the Fifties or Sixties. A mother and daughter set. The smaller one has feather stitching on the waistband. The pocket of Mom's has been mended. I collect vintage aprons and sew and sell reproduction aprons. This patchwork on point really intrigues me!

Above is a scarf that reminded me of the Turkish scarves that the women embellish with needlelace oyas. This is NOT a fine scarf, nor is the trim fine and stiff like the oya flowers, but I do believe it is needlelace. The trim colors are rather wonky against the scarf, but this would make such a fun, bohemian-style wrap. As if I'd ever wear it...... ;-)

This is a lovely group of goodies. I got two pairs of vintage baby booties - one with blue trim and one with pink trim. I passed up several vintage christening sets. The loveliest dress was badly stained and the other stuff was very simple and overpriced. I did pick up all the interesting cutter linens I could, as I like to use those in pillows, tea-towels, aprons and other creations. (I'll probably post some pictures of that in August). But I digress......

See the fan above?? It is very delicate wood, carved into a rose pattern. It was the single most expensive purchase of the day. I bought it specifically for my CQI group Secret Sister. Now, if she reads this blog, I'm giving myself away. But hopefully she either doesn't or will forget......... I won't send it for a few months, hehehehe.

The lady of the house had a collection of hand mirrors. I picked up this circa-Fifties plastic mirror. Isn't it cute?!? She was also a collector of Japanese things (the fan is Japanese). There were two kimono (badly stained and only one was silk), lots of Japanese house shoes (those white things with two toes), wall hangings, yadda yadda, but nothing really, uh, NICE.


And look at those two cute hats!! Got those at the last yard sale I hit for $1 each!! One is actually more of a tiara. The hankie to the right of the two pink doilies is silk. Check out the vintage lace!!!!!!!!!!

And last but not least - the rest of the hankies. The mostly cream-colored one on the right is silk. The embroidered figural hankie is badly stained, but the embroidery is clean and intact, so it can go into a project. I love collecting the monogrammed hankies. I have lots of "H" hankies, a majority of which came from my late mom, Helen. Those I'll keep, but who knows what I'll eventually use this one for..........

There were a couple other things I nabbed as well today that I didn't take pictures of, but all in all it sure was a good haul!!! Now I've got to get back to saving my quarters so I can go out again before the Sale-ing Season ends!!