Had some fun at the thrift shop yesterday

[eleny]

My husband has an interest in early American history. Early last year I found this lamp of a Minute Man at the thrift shop. It even had it's shade. And then yesterday I found this plate showing three men playing a game perhaps in a tavern's private room. At the bottom it's inscribed "A Critical Moment". Neither is very old and they have their chips. But I love 'em.



I haven't been thrifting in some time and heard "the call" yesterday. I also found two bags of vintage rickrack, sewing trims and a bag of older 100% wool yarns still in their wrappers. Also three wool sweaters, 2 soft yellow and one multi lavenders. Those I'll put in the washer to make felt for crafting. Nice to find lighter colors for a change.

Also a set of 8 coffee mugs that are pretty cool. They're on the heavy side, a good size - chocolate brown on the outside/black on the inside. Hubby has broken some cups lately. He was banished from using any hand crafted mugs. These thrifted ones can can bumped off his desk and I don't care. We'll have plenty of replacements. He's happy to be out of the doghouse and so am I. Peace reigns in the valley! :D

[NMDemDist2]

1. I'm so jealous!

the only two things I miss from Phoenix are Costco and awesome thrift stores

:cry:

[eleny]

2. It's the thrill of the unknown more than anything, isn't it

You two need an excuse to have a big town day!

[NMDemDist2]

3. Tyger has promised to take me thrifting when I go up to the State Convention

what a great hostess eh??

:rofl:

[eleny]

7. If it works out for you this August - hee-hee!

[NMDemDist2]

11. there's no way

only 3 spots for women from our area which includes the southern half of the state

It won't be me :cry:

[eleny]

12. Well, some day we'll get together and then we'll go thrifting

At that point there won't be any pesky convention to take time away from fun! :woohoo:

[NMDemDist2]

13. I'm still planning a trip to NV this year and maybe taking a side trip

Colorado way :evilgrin:

[grasswire]

4. wheeee!

A couple of weeks ago the shopgoodwill.com site had a chess set with cartoony figures of Washington, Jefferson, etc. etc. as the pieces. I thought it was hilarious.

I pick up bicentennial commemorative things because a family member was born in 1976 and I'm building a little collection for him. Things are really cheap!

[eleny]

8. I see the '76 stuff every so often and yes it's reasonable these days

And it's getting older by the day. A nice time to be collecting it.

Back then, my aunt got my mom a set of glass cannisters with some '76 motifs etched into them. I used to keep them safe in my china cabinet but decided to use the two small ones on the bathroom counter. Frankly, I enjoy them so much more now that we use them for cotton balls and such.

Happy hunting!

[Longhorn]

5. A few months after my daughter moved to Denver

I went up to visit in May. She lived in a basement apartment and it got very chilly down there, even in May. She had tried to find a space heater but they were no longer stocked since it was, after all, May. So I popped in at a thrift store just a couple of blocks from her place and bought her three of them for $3 or $4 apiece. They had electrical sockets everywhere so it was easy to make sure that they worked. She put one in her bathroom and one in her bedroom and kept the third as a spare.

This was in the shopping center near Lakewood where Evans deadends. I can't remember the name of the north-south street. I got there a few minutes before they opened and couldn't believe the crowd that was waiting! :)

[eleny]

9. I bet it was Sheridan and Evans

You did good!!!

Wednesday, my hairdresser was telling me how good a place that one is. Her sister got a fabulous couch there for $50. It had a tiny rip and some pet hair on it. But her sis is an interior decorator and does all kinds of handiwork. So she'll freshen up the sofa in no time with some new covers. And my hairdresser got her stereo there the other day for $20. Now I definitely have to scope it out!

[Longhorn]

14. Yes, that's the one!

If I hadn't flown to Denver, I could have gone crazy! :) They do a nice job with organizing and laying out the stuff so you don't feel like you're rummaging through a big box. No wonder there was a line getting into the store on a Saturday morning.

[eleny]

15. Sounds like I need to plan to go on a weekday mid morning

Thanks for the word.

[grasswire]

6. because we all like to live vicariously.....

...through each other's treasure hunting, I'll share my finds from last Friday at the Eagles Lodge twilight rummage sale.

A vintage eelskin pocketbook that's so, so sweet, and beautifully made. The interior lining appears to be kid -- extremely soft. It's in excellent condition. $5.

A vintage tablecloth in soft green tones and browns, with dogwood blossoms and robins. Just perfect for thoughts of spring, and in near mint condition. $5.

Vintage books for $1. Mystic Seaport cookbook (I'm loving it!). Stephen Foster Treasury. A biography called "Hungarian Rhapsody"

Better than usual post cards with art deco style floral illustrations. Morning glories, roses, lily of the valley, etc. Fifty cents each.

I was an hour late getting there, dammit.

[eleny]

10. You are a kindred spirit!

"the Eagles Lodge twilight rummage sale"

Doesn't that sound like a great name for a novel? And an especially great place to find sales.

I read your posting and kept nodding and smiling. Everything sounds so neat. It's getting a little hard to find the vintage table cloths. People are sewing them into other things like skirts and window coverings. Yours sounds perfect. You don't often see them with birds. And the cookbook is great. When you make something from it, I hope you post over in the kitchen. :) I visited Mystic only once back in the '70s. A lifetime ago <sigh>.

If you get the chance, try and post a photo of the pocketbook. Btw, it's so nice to see it called a pocketbook. That's my lingo. Out here everything is called a purse. They don't know that that's what you use for loose change!

[Duer 157099]

16. What is it about thrift store shopping that is just so satisfying?

Today, as I was headed to a thrift store, I was thinking about how exciting and fun it is, like truly one of the funnest things I know to do. It's the thing I choose to do when I'm anxious or can't seem to get anything else going, it's really almost like therapy or something. And I didn't even get to finished looking at everything today, and only made it to one store!

Yesterday I scored my first Griswold cast iron pan, a #6. I had never handled one before, and was astonished at how light it was! It was fully encrusted with crud, so I've started sanding it down and then will season it. It might turn into my favorite pan, if I manage to season it up well. It's a good size (not too big) and so doesn't take up too much stovetop real estate.

Last week I got a bunch of copper things (I guess I go on *metal* binges, lol) - some hammered copper bowls and trays.

I need to get back into listing stuff on ebay, and lighten my load and free up some space for new acquisitions. I'm good at the acquiring part, not so good at disposing :sigh:

[NMDemDist2]

17. trick on the griswold

if you have a self cleaning oven, put it in there and run through a cycle

the crud will flake right off and you'll be set to go

or toss it into a fire, it'll do the same thing.

as for the thrill of thrifting, i think it's because you can't just go shopping for a specific item. you have to have in the back of your mind a list of things you'd like to find and then just see what the universe brings you.

I wanted a butter bell but wasn't willing to spend $20 on one. it took almost a year and half but one turned up.

or the time hubby went with me as an anniversary gift (he hates it but knows I love it, so he took me) and I spotted a pizza peel in the wooden stuff aisle and told him "I bet there's a stone here somewhere, help me look" and sure enough, three aisle over there it was :bounce:

and the time I wanted to make my stepmom a carousel horse for Xmas, went looking for a plastic hobby horse I could rework and found this instead in pretty tough shape



reworked and a big hit



it's a treasure hunt and who doesn't love that??

[Duer 157099]

18. Heh, that's so funny

I have the same story about the butter bell -- I wanted one, but didn't even want to pay what it would cost on ebay, which really wasn't much, but the shipping, y'know, easily puts anything over $10.

And eventually I did find one at the thrift store, in fact, within a week I actually found TWO, lol -- when it rains it pours. I bet most people didn't know what it was.

That's the other thing, for me, I love finding things and trying to figure out what they are, or finding something in parts at different ends of the store and putting them back together (thrift store managers must love me!). I often buy things that I have zero clue what it is, simply to bring it home and research it and figure it out.

I'll do the oven thing on the pan, better do it soon before summer sets in though and I don't want to turn the oven on anymore.

Oh, I also found a pizza stone at the thrift store, and it was the same situation where I knew if I just was patient, eventually it would turn up, and it did. I have more kitchen gadgets than I know what to do with.

Yesterday I also found an interesting thing called a "Pendant Lamp" made by the "Aqua Survey & Instrument Co" of Ohio, which after looking on ebay, seems to have specialized in marine instrumentation (compasses etc) -- this is in the original box, albeit taped on one end, and is a 6" fluorescent lamp that hangs around the neck and provides lighting in front of you. Downside is it has to be plugged in, but I'm going to see if I ever use it, since light and vision are becoming issues for me, lol. If I don't use it, hopefully I'll get it over to ebay...

OK, now I'm getting the itch, and am going to try to hit a couple thrift stores.

It is a treasure hunt, pure and simple. I think there are people that don't like treasure hunts, though. I don't understand it, of course.

:hi:

[Vinca]

20. Wow! Beautiful job on the horse. nt

[NMDemDist2]

21. thanks! I'm not very 'crafty' and this was my first attempt at such a beast

I was quite pleased with the final result

the eyes were the hardest

[grasswire]

19. hmmm, hammered copper

BE sure to look at those copper things carefully with the thought that they MIGHT be from the arts and crafts period and extra valuable. I have a wall lamp with a hammered metal base that I found at a rummage sale and used for years -- I was thinking about rewiring it the other day and on closer examination realized that the hammered metal is copper, with a lot of patina! The style is arts and crafts. Lord almighty, it might be a winner.

[eleny]

22. Good luck!!!