{Estate Sale Temptations} That One was WAY Too Crowded!

I don't know what was going on at the estate sale we stopped at on Saturday. The house was way too small to hold that many people and the other shoppers were mean in a way I've rarely seen. This isn't Black Friday shopping and what they had in the house wasn't worth getting nasty over. 

I was asking my oldest son to get these off of the wall when an old man told us to get out of his way. (I don't think that's how that's supposed to work!)

Cross stitchers have been using these vintage metal trivets to frame small pieces and a friend asked me to keep my eyes open for them. I tried texting, but didn't get an answer before leaving the sale. That's okay, since if she hadn't wanted them I'm sure I could foist them off on someone else. It's easy to find one or two at this price, but never a whole wall full! 

There was some milk glass, but it was on a high shelf in a room full of people and I didn't need it anyway. 

What I did need was this bag from the Creative Circle, which was bulging with old needlework stuff. I couldn't tell quite what was in there, but for a dollar I wanted to find out. 

There were little mini sample kids from Creative Village Stitchery. The instructions are printed on the inside of the paper envelope. Not something I've seen before, but they're definitely the sort of thing I'm drawn to. 

Did you know that Avon made needlework kits? All that I got were the instructions, but now I've got something new to look for. Those bees and owls are right up my alley!

Has anyone ever tried to recreate a crewel piece from the diagram that came with the kit? I'm sure it can be done because where there's a will there's a way!

Old Handwritten Recipes

The weekend before last, I hit the absolute jackpot when it comes to vintage recipe boxes. There must be at least seven hundred index cards in this box, all of them with handwritten recipes in someone's spidery old cursive. There are also some that were done on a typewriter, and a scattering that were cut out of magazines and newspapers. 

My husband and I had followed an estate sale sign out into the middle of nowhere, without success. The next morning, we saw an ad on Craigslist that directed us to the same sign, which now had another sign telling us to turn and go another eight miles.

It was an interesting sale with lots of canning stuff and kitchen stuff and lots of artsy stuff.  Not the kind of sale that I dream of finding, but this made it well worth the sixteen mile detour.

And  did I mention that I got it for a dollar?

{Estate Sale Temptation} Pearl and Earl in PINK!

You know how sometimes an idea makes it into the corner of your mind and just won't leave? That's what happened with the black and white applique plates I found back in February. A few months later I found the original pattern in an old craft pamphlet. 

And on Sunday I found another set of the plates.... 

They're way too pink for my taste, but it was the last hour of the last day of the sale and everything was super cheap. So they live with me now and if I find another inexpensive pair they're going to live with me, too.

This time it wasn't a game of "was there a stitcher here?" because there was needlework in just about every room. Someone did embroidery and latch hook and crochet and crewel....

There were also some amazing old craft books. I don't know why I needed one on sewing for the house during wartime, but I wasn't going to leave it behind.

For three bucks, I got the booklets and an old unused scrapbook and a whole stack of damaged embroidered linens that I'll make into something else.

And the plates.

Most of the house had brand new carpet but the kitchen and this downstairs room still had their original flooring. Just look at that carpet! I'm guessing it's from the same line as the stuff I grew up with, only less vivid. 

I've seen people saying that estate sales are over for the year, but I checked old blog posts to confirm that I go to them year round. Which makes sense -- houses have to be cleared out and sold and sometimes its not in the best of weather. Do you stop looking when it gets rainy and cold?

I Found the Pattern for Pearl and Earl!

Remember these two plates that I saw at an estate sale and didn't buy?

I  found the pattern! Or what I suspect is one of many versions of the pattern since the one I found was published in 1959 and I've seen a sources that dates plates like this to the 1920s.

It's honestly not much of a pattern at all, is it? I couldn't bring myself to spend a dollar for the plates I found, but now I'm wanting to make a set of my own. And a bunch of other things from the same book that would have been completely reasonable in their day but seem a bit silly now.

{Estate Sale Temptations} The Ship in the Kitchen

I kind of want a picture of a sailing ship in my own kitchen....

I don't know what it was about this house that we visited during an estate sale last weekend, but I absolutely loved it. The structural issues were obvious and I know it would be totally impractical to live in, but it felt welcoming and the massive kitchen was its absolute best feature.

I only took the one picture because it was crowded, but the whole house was like that. Lots and lots and lots of clutter, but the floor plan was kind of amazing. And I have to keep reminding myself that I had a yellow kitchen for almost ten years and hated it for the entire time...but maybe mine was the wrong shade of yellow?

Earlier in the week, I found this at one of the local thrift shops and convinced myself to leave it behind. 

I've been wanting a little metal stove like this forever and ever (to replace one I had as a kid) and this one was only five dollars. The inside was totally rusted out and the top was bent out of shape so I  convinced myself that there will be another one. Or maybe there won't.

I don't absolutely need a little metal stove....

{Estate Sale Temptations} This Time There Was a Stitcher!

Last week I wrote about the sometimes impossible parking at estate sales. I'm not exaggerating about conditions in my neck of the woods. Not even a little bit.

On Saturday, I saw this ad --

Gate won't open until 10:30 each day. About 20 Cars will fit on property, staff will help you park during busy times. If you park on road do so very carefully. We will have signs alerting of the estate sale ahead and that cars may be on the side of the road. It is steep so be careful. There is a lovely little store at the Junction of ----- that you can wait at until gate opens. Address will be posted here, online and on craigslist day of sale but just follow the signs from the junction of ------------. It will be well marked.

I can't think of anything tempting enough to make me deal with that, even if we took the truck and I wasn't driving by myself.

We did find another estate sale at an old farm and it was close enough to our regular route that I took my chances on the parking, which wasn't an issue at all.

They had all the oil lamps...

And vintage baby clothes still in the original boxes...

And two framed birthday poems. I wonder what will happen to those.

There had also been a stitcher in the house, which is what drew me there in the first place. I found lots of nicely embroidered linens in the bedroom and all of this in an attic room upstairs.

Want to see what came home with me? Click on the video below...


This post is linked to Vintage Charm.

{Estate Sale Temptations} Was There a Stitcher Here?

I'm going to have to start using Google Street View to scope out estate sales before making the drive. This was another one  that I couldn't have gotten into with the minivan. Earlier that day, we stopped at another sale and Hubby had trouble getting the pickup into even with four wheel drive engaged. It was a steep dusty driveway and we weren't the only ones challenged by it. 

This was a huge estate sale with outbuildings an an entire house. You can't tell from the picture, but that staircase was a deathtrap. 

The set of longstitch pictures gave me hope that there might be needlework stuff somewhere in the house.

I found another one in an upstairs bedroom. I do try for decent camera angles, but to get this one I would've had to climb onto the bed.

There was a sewing machine, but that was it. I wonder if these were gifts or if whoever stitched them quit the hobby a long time ago. Now and then I'll find a house with a lot of fantastic stitchery but no sign of floss or supplies.

They had my favorite Trixie Belden book in the same format I had as a little girl. Mine is around here somewhere so I didn't buy it.

I hope Dolly found a good home, but at that price I kind of doubt it.

Here's another table like the one I grew up with. I never see sets like this anymore. Whoever lived here kept their furniture for decades.

Do you have trouble with estate sale parking, or is it just me?

{Estate Sale Temptations} Expensive Collections

This one was billed as a "once in a lifetime sale you'll be telling your grand kids about." It was definitely impressive, but I've been to others that were more story-worthy. 

The deceased was a collector and he collected things I never knew were collectible. Like these antique notary stamps. 

They're seriously cool looking, but apparently also worth some serious money. And there were a lot of them. This is one of two big bookshelves.

I don't know what makes these ducks and swans special, but I'll assume that they are. Again, this is only half of what was there.

If I was seriously tempted by anything (other than the antique steam engine models) it was the ship's wheel. There was a ton of amazing nautical stuff.

And a box of Taco Bell Talking Chihuahuas, sill in their original bags. They were ridiculously out of place compared to everything else in the house.

Someday, I'm going to wind up with a pair of old wooden water skis. I started to learn on a pair like these and it was an experience.

The house was small and old and everything inside looked like it had been immaculately cared for over the years. Out in the barn, there were some works still in progress, like these old wall phones.

And there was a set of vintage Disney Book Club books. If I wasn't 99% sure that shelf belonged to the estate sale company, I'd be making up stories in my head about little ones reading them while their Grandpa worked on his projects.

It was a fun sale, and one I'm glad we visited, but I probably won't be talking about this one in years to come. We left empty-handed. I guess I prefer the sales where people haven't been quite so careful with their belongings.

{Estate Sale Temptations} No Lights or Prices

This one was an authentic barn sale with a barn full of random stuff and no artificial lighting to help potential buyers get a clear look at what was in the shadowy piles. I'm only partially complaining about that last bit. There's a flashlight on my phone and I would've used it if I really wanted a better look at something. 

Nothing was priced. I did see some colored dots, but there was no price chart to be found so they weren't helpful. For the most part, it was fun to look at but nothing I needed to live with long term.

I am absolutely sure I could come up with a legitimate use for the rusted out frame of an antique baby buggy. I'm also absolutely positive that whatever that use was, I'd be unable to explain it to my husband and get him to load a rusted out baby buggy frame into the back of the truck.

There was a cuckoo clock that I kind of wish we'd brought home. It's not quite as nice as the one I found at that auction a couple of years back but it had completely different carvings and would it be the worst thing ever to buy a possibly non-working cuckoo clock for ten dollars? Seriously -- for ten bucks I could have added a battery mechanism and made it working but not as awesome as it once was.

There was also an antique souvenir guidebook to Pompeii that's absolutely going to haunt me. It was in the barn, in a pile of those old Reader's Digest home maintenance books and I'm sure it was from the turn of the century if not earlier. I have no idea how much they would have wanted. It looked too old for me to afford, but it was also in a pile of junky books in the barn....

{Estate Sale Temptations} Paraphernalia, Epherma, and Everything Else

I question whether this one was actually an estate sale, and honestly I hope the stuff being sold had belonged to the woman running the sale. This is how it was advertised --

4000 square feet, Decades of Collections! Complete clearance 

of 2000 sq. ft. mixed media artist studio, wood and metal 

shop, household goods, furniture, plants, building materials 

and tools!

Collections of 40 years of vintage and antique objects utilized 

in my found object artwork (as seen on Oregon Art Beat). 

Tins, boxes, science paraphernalia, ephemera, dolls, industrial 

parts, gears, clocks, watches, game pieces, camera parts and 

lenses, furniture detritus, old toys, gadgets and gizmos galore!

After reading that ad, the boys and I had to take a bit of a road trip. It was exactly as promised, in an old church that I'm guessing is where the artist lived. There were sooooo many tempting goodies, but we left empty handed.

There were a lot of things there my son and I would have loved for our projects, but we're going to have to find them in dusty old barns ourselves if we're going to stick to our budget. And knowing how much time and effort went into bringing all of that treasure into one place, I don't begrudge her her prices one bit.

I keep looking for a croquet set (I have no idea why, but I do) and this one was only five bucks. But for some reason, it wasn't the one. Someday I'll find an inexpensive set and buy it.

And someday I'll find my paper cutter. I had one just like the small one at our old house, locked up in the pantry to keep little fingers safe. In the chaos of our move I don't know if my husband put it in a safe place here or if it was stolen in the break in, which has been annoying me ever since. It could be in a box of my husband's stuff in the barn or shop, or it could have been stolen. Honestly, it could be up in my sewing room under that missing box of hot iron transfers I never did find...

Does anyone else find that table sized cutter absolutely terrifying? I know it's not going to swing open on its own and hurt someone, but I also didn't want to be anywhere near it. Maybe that's a sign that I've seen too many horror movies.

{Estate Sale Temptations} In a Musty Basement

I don't think I've ever had the smell of a basement hit me as hard as the one at this sale did. It was just must and mold, but WOW it was strong.

There were tools and woodworking stuff and bottles and jars down there, probably nothing that couldn't be cleaned up and salvaged. And this hulking chest freezer with a sign warning not to open it if Polly wasn't there.

You can just see the logo at the far end. We didn't know the company that made those trucks my husband collects made chest freezers and we almost talked Polly into selling us this one. We also got a look inside -- I don't know exactly what it was, but I couldn't smell it from where I was standing a couple of feet away, so that was a plus.

The prices at this sale were high and the treasures were in rough shape. All of this wonderful vintage baby stuff was out in the rain.

Can you see the little pink metal ironing board? I kind of almost wanted to bring it home.

There's a snooty chicken crock pot. I wonder how many sizes and colors this thing came in.

Someone who collects old plastic Halloween costumes would probably love these, and I hope that person found them.

I was tempted by the dollhouse and the sewing machine, but they were up by the ceiling and impossible to get a closer look at.

If I wanted to frame those little crewel kits I've been collecting, I could've picked up a whole stack of new-in-box Jiffy frames. But I don't and I didn't.

A huge box of S&H green stamps and an equally huge box of cigarette stamps. That was one of two boxes of Raleigh Cigarette coupons I saw at different sales on Friday. Makes you wonder who saved all of that and what they could have redeemed them for back in the day...and why they didn't.

The big find of the day was this thing...

I'm told that it's a new-in-box carburetor and that they sell for hundreds of dollars. It probably fits that old truck my husband is rebuilding. At the sale with all of the treadle machines we found an air filter that probably fits for a dollar.

I guess the moral of this story is that even if the prices at a sale are completely and totally out of line they may have that one thing that you need and that they've completely and totally undervalued.

There was also this, being used as a doorstop on the rainy back porch.

I peeked behind the paper and it really did appear to be a homemade gravestone. I have so many questions about that.