I have early childhood memories of driving up to the Portland thrift shops with my mom and grandma. We stopped going when I got older, then I was pregnant with my first and we started the tradition again in a quest for cheap maternity clothes... I got a kick out of taking my kids up there when they were the age I was in my earliest memories of those stores. And now my oldest is an adult. We've been thrifting for a long time!
It's a two hour drive from our current home to the thrift shops of my childhood so I was only making it up there once a year, if that. Now I belong to a stitching group that meets up in Portland once a month and if I'm going to be making the drive anyway....
Red White & Blue is my favorite thrift store and the one that I remember most vividly from my childhood. (Except for Finders Keepers, which was cavernous and wonderful and terrifying and sadly closed a few months back.)
These days, I'm not looking for baby clothes or board books. I'd be happy if I found some vintage needlework kits, but I'm mostly thrifting for the entertainment value, to see the things you're not going to find anywhere else.
Like these two....
They're about half life size and sooo different from the inflatable Santas you see in everyone's yard these days. I wonder if they'll find a new home.
This double knit crazy quilt made me squeal a bit. It's even uglier than the one Grandma made and I would've brought it home except for the price. Double knit polyester quilts are the perfect thing to snuggle under in drafty old farmhouses during the coldest months of the year.
I wanted this bowl, but convinced myself that I had absolutely no need for it. Then I was putting the pictures together for this post and realized that, with those holes, it could be a yarn bowl. Maybe I'll stumble across another one someday.
It's old stitching that someone cared enough to put in what looks like a very new frame. So why's it in the thrift shop now?
I thought for a spit second that this kit was the quilt on the package, but it was just the bibs. I would've bought the quilt and finished stitching it, just because Raggedy Ann and Andy.
If you've been thrifting for a long time, do you still go to the same stores?
I love going to the thrift or antique stores, but haven't been able to take the time when so much is demanded of my time these days. And I might just be tempted to "buy" something and bring it home with me. My house is enough like a thrift store right now, so I do not need the temptation. I do enjoy seeing your finds as you wonder around.
ReplyDeleteThere are few if any decent thrift stores in my area. I would love to find some needlework kits or yarn, but I have yet to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI live in a different area now but I first learned of thrift stores from my mother she bought work shirts for my father who was a house painter and she also bought Arrow brand shirts and put the Arrow label from them in JCPenny brand shirts to save $$ as my father was very proud to say he only wore Arrow shirts .....he never knew.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the state right next to you - Washington. The thrift store I love to visit when I am in town is Value Village (Valoo Villash) as we have nicknamed it.
ReplyDeleteNow I live in the city of Ladybird fame and shop at the very Thrift Town featured in the film. woot woot