Oodles and oodles

On to the next sale

I still have not found a home for all the stuff I bought last Saturday. The clutter is getting on my nerves. I didn't take pictures of everything that I brought home. You're going to have to imagine all that Christmas stuff, plus this stuff, plus more, and put that in the middle of a house that on the best day is barely big enough for two teenagers and their parents. (On the worst days, no house is big enough for even a single teenager and me, but I am pretty seriously lucky that they are few and far between.)

No reason for you to remember this, but I had already purchased one of the big red Pyrex bowls earlier this summer and encouraged everyone to do the same, because they're such a great shape and size. The nice folks having the sale had a whole set, in the box, so I followed my own advice and bought them. I love the little ramekins. Shara and I had briefly discussed whether a lid that she had fit the bowl, but from the looks of the box, the bowls didn't come with lids. It was still amazingly nice of her to ask if I needed it. I tell you, people are nice.

There was a box of sewing stuff to sort through (bliss!). There were a ton of transfers, most of which I've never run across before. Patriotic ones ...

the ever-popular Dutch motifs ...

a home sweet home sampler and - heed my warning! - something so cute it can't possibly be good for us:

kitty housewives! With housedresses and polka-dotted aprons! There's a motif for each day of the week. What are the chances I'll embroider not one but seven dishtowels? Almost none, but if I did, it would be these.

 

There were tubs of buttons to sort, and a tangle of embroidery floss and crocheted bits that yielded ...

pretty handmade edgings and ...

tiny, adorable crocheted bags. What should I do with them? It just seems like they have a higher purpose than sitting on my dresser. Or not. Since they're hardly big enough for my keys, using them as handbags doesn't seem like an option.

What I didn't take pictures of: a complete set of Pyrex casseroles, a huge box of greeting cards, a glass refrigerator dish marked "Food Saver"  and a 1943 map of my town that shows the location of every house, including mine. It was as if the people having the sale knew everything I liked and went and got it out of their attic.

Tomorrow I am hoping to go to a sale that was good to me the last time I went - it's like a slow-motion estate sale - and Saturday to a monthly flea market that was wonderful in July. So I'd better get my stuff cleaned up, because if I bring in more, somebody's going to have to move out, and I have a feeling my family is going to suggest that it be me.

Christmas crafts that didn't catch on

Just so you're not thinking that everything I drag home is wonderful, here are a few other objects that came out of the giant box o' Christmas decorations:

Snowman made from whipped topping and margarine tubs.

Christmas wheelbarrow made with popsicle sticks and a checker.

Hollowed-out styrofoam ball with Santa and tree.

Safety-pin and bead assemblage topped off by fake Barbie doll head.

And you thought the clown ornament was scary.

Toil and trouble

My first Gurley big witch candle came from a church sale last summer

A couple of weeks later, I found another one. It was at that sale I realized I had the ability to spot a Gurley witch candle from a long distance. I got out of my car, squinted into the barn where the sale was being held and said, "Hey, I think that's another witch candle." Everybody has a special talent, they say.

I found two more at that Very Good Sale Saturday.



There were a bunch of Gurley turkey candles with them in a box. 

It's occurred to me that maybe I don't need four Gurley big witch candles. But I like how they all look together. Kind of like, as soon as you turn your back, they're going to find some way to get in trouble.

I put them in a box with the other Halloween candles and took the box down to the basement, where it's nice and cool. If I hear any cackling down there, I'll know where to look.

More stuff and a new word

So Sarah was wondering why I needed two men and a dolly to load my car Saturday. For one thing, the family that was having the sale put every Christmas object they ever owned into a box big enough to hold an oven. I'm not exaggerating. It barely fit in the hatch of my Subaru. There were lots of ornaments, which you saw, and some fun stuff, which you see here, and some really bad stuff, some of which you'll see in a post later this week. (Working title: "Christmas crafts that didn't catch on.") I like the elves, but mostly because people are keen to buy them.  Those handmade beaded ornaments are not my cup of tea at all, but they made me think of a new word: tchotchkesque. Too knick-knacky. Too tchotchke-like. It rhymes with Kafkaesque, if you want to use it in a poem or something. It's pretty hard to spell, though, so I'm not sure it's going to catch on.



I liked the bottle brush wreath enough to give it a trial run in the dining room window. No, I haven't started decorating for Christmas. I took it down. Oh, and I used a random number generator (a real one, not my husband) and picked Kim at Happy@Home as the winner of the vintage Christmas ornament. Never fear, there will be more giveaways, I'm sure.

 
The only trouble with vintage gift tags is that I can never bear to use them. They're just the dearest little things.



I think I might save the top one for Cadbury's owner, who has mentioned her love for brown dogs.

New additions to my non-collection collection of manger animals. It's a non-collection because the only requirement is that the figure needs to be old. They're all different sizes and styles. The non-collection includes a small camel, a giant goat, and now a sheep that's bigger than a cow. They all show up in the tattered cardboard manger, and the fact that they all look so good together, despite their different backgrounds, just seems right somehow.

Karma

On many other fronts, and without going into a lot of depressing detail, let me just say that this week could have been a whole lot better. However, on the vintage Christmas front, I could not have asked for more. You know what they say: When life gives you lemons, try to hit a good yard sale. I had time to go to only one sale today, and thankfully I picked the right one. It took two men and a dolly (the kind with wheels and a handle, not a toy) to load my car. That's probably not the kind of information I'm going to share with everybody. Or at least not with my beloved husband.

Cardboard Christmas houses might be my very, very favorite holiday object. It's a tough call (ornaments? wrapping paper? cards? Gurley candles? bottle brush trees?) but they are way high on the list.

I love this pink flowered ornament.

I also love the giant snowman that lives next door to her. I may have found my favorite ornament of all time, however.

This one.

Santa says: Don't forget. Leave a comment here by Sunday if you want to enter the ornament giveaway.

Where it all began

My yard-sale purchases sometimes make me gleeful or giddy, but they don't usually make me teary-eyed. Today, one did.

I bought a bundle of sewing booklets for a dollar. Most of them were Singer Sewing Library booklets from the 1960s. It wasn't until I got home that I realized this one was in there:

My very first sewing book. I got it the year I got the little hand-cranked sewing machine on the cover. I still have it, of course. The first picture on this post is the inside cover of the book. See the case the sewing machine came in? I still have that, too. But somewhere along the way, I lost my copy of the book.

I spent hours reading it. I learned to sew lines and curves like the ones on the left, practicing with pieces of brown paper that my mom cut from grocery bags. I memorized the list of sewing tools I needed. I loved shopping at the notions counter with my mom. My affection for a fresh pack of straight pins and a new spool of thread started then.

I admired this crisp white collar ...

and this smart ribbon belt, but I don't remember making either one.

This apple pincushion looks so familiar, though, that I'm certain I must have attempted at least one of them.

I've been trying to buy more things lately that I can resell this fall. But this baby book is awfully sweet.

And so is "Creating Charm When Sewing for Girls." Sigh. I might not be able to part with them. But I know for sure I will not part with the little book that taught me how to sew.

Don't worry; the clown is packed away

You poor things. I thought that after the horror of yesterday's post, I'd better show you some pretty ornaments. So here's Santa ...

and here are some snowmen. I think out of all of the ornaments I got last weekend, that little snowman in the center is my favorite. He's got the nicest pearly finish, and the sweetest expression.

And I think this brings us to the end of our tour of the giant box o' ornaments. I'll draw a name for the giveaway Sunday night and post it on Monday - and if the sales are spectacular this weekend, maybe I'll have something different to show you soon! I haven't been able to keep up with all of the e-mails this week, but it's really been nice to hear from so many of you. Thanks for all of your sweet comments. I can tell you this for certain: There are lots and lots of people who love vintage Christmas ornaments!

You asked for it

It's not like I didn't warn you. I told you the clown ornament was creepy. And I was right, wasn't I?

All wet

I'm desperate for the weekend to arrive. It occurred to me this evening that the week wasn't going so badly because it was Thursday already. Then a couple of hours later it dawned on me that, indeed, it was nowhere near Thursday.  It was TUESDAY.

The weather isn't helping my outlook. Every day is unpleasantly humid, then the thunder starts rumbling, then we get a downpour. However, I have a hard-and-fast rule about the weather: Unless your house is sliding into a river or being blown off its foundation, you don't get to complain. Period.  It's just that if these daily deluges don't end pretty soon, I'm going to need ...

a boat.

Hey, not like I need to remind you, but leave a comment on this post if you want to enter the ornament giveaway.

Beautiful music

More ornaments from Saturday's haul. I've seen mandolins and drums before, but never a harmonica. If you want to get in on the ornament giveaway, pop over here and leave a comment!