The Week in Thrifting: May 11-17, Part 2

As I said in Part 1, the second rummage sale we went to was a HUGE affair.  I wish I had gotten pictures of the venue and the number of people who were there.  Apparently the church hosting the sale (only about a 5 minute drive from the house we have lived in for several years) has this same sale every year and we hadn't heard about it!

The church itself is on a huge compound-like piece of property with a school, a meeting hall, the actual church, a large metal barn and the parsonage.  The sale was being held in the large barn and the grounds outside it.  They had so much stuff they must take donations all year and store things just for this sale!  There were couches and dressers and bedside tables; a dozen hanging lamps, entertainment centers, and TVs.  There were refrigerators, washing machines, tables, chairs and even more furniture.  It was incredible and their prices were great!

They had sections each for toys, housewares, books, valuable/collectible items, sewing and crafts, outdoors and fishing, office, and probably a few more areas I'm not remembering.  We actually went there two days in a row and bought some things for full price and some for half price.

 

I found a 6 Qt West Bend Lazy Day Slow Cooker for $2.50.  I know it's 40 years old, because my parents got one for a wedding present.  It's missing it's cord, but if you are a regular reader, you may remember that my Dad found one back in February.  I've just started looking for monkeypod items, and this bowl was 75c.  The Pyrex restaurant mug was 25c.

They had a large box full of Corelle dinnerware in the Spring Blossom pattern, which I collect.  Someone else was going through the box and took most of it, but she discarded the only thing I wanted: the salt and pepper shakers.  Score!  They are a little scuffed, but I have been looking for them for years, so am thrilled to have them for 50c.

This very nice set of Pyrex bowls in the Homestead pattern was marked $25.00.  That's a very reasonable price, but it's not a pattern I like.  When they were still there the next day, Mom couldn't resist the $12.50 price.  They will probably be given to someone as a wedding present.

 

They had a special room for the jewelry. silver plate and art glass.  They had about 30 pieces of silver flatware, and I wanted to buy them all, but wasn't sure about the price, so I only bought two forks for $1 each.  I am, of course, regretting that decision.  After I got home I found out that was a great price, so I hope they have some again next year.  The Beatrix Potter buttons were $1.00.

 

I bought the jewelry on the 2nd day for $4.75.

 

I especially like this Boulder High School graduation charm.

 

We found two board games.

 

The white crocheted baby blanket was $1.00.
I will stitch some colorful flowers on it and give it to one of my friends who is expecting.

 

This flower-filled calendar tea towel was only 50c.

I hope I can get the stains out.

 

This souvenir bandana was also 50c.

My Dad surprised me by buying a sewing machine.  I don't mean he bought me one as a surprise.  I mean I was surprised that he bought one for himself!  He wanted a heavy-duty one for sewing leather, canvas and denim.  They had a number of machines for sale, and he picked out a Singer Fashion Mate 237 for $35.00..

I don't have a picture of his, but here's a picture of one from an old ebay sale.  It was made in Italy in the 1960s and is an excellent machine.  He went back on the last day and got a table that fit his new machine for $10.00.

I also got another Rolykit, some knitting supplies, flashcards, two Beatrix Potter tins for craft storage and some lovely bookplates, all for $6.00.

When we went back on the last day we picked up quite a few things for 25c-50c each:  a framed cross stitch piece for someone with a blue room (not us), a steel jell-o mold for a friend, and a Singer buttonholer, because Dad likes the box...

 

...a bunch of magazines and booklets for crafting...

and a stack of books for cutting...

 

a couple of hymnals...

...a Newberry award winning children's book.
(This is the one that famously beat out Charlotte's Web in 1953 and has been largely forgotten since.)

This book will likely end up as cards and/or envelopes.

I love the cover art for this book and think it will make a great journal.

 

This is an interesting book for the graphics alone.  Here's the paper jacket... 

the cover...

and the facing pages.  I especially like these.

The book is signed by the author, a local man who wrote a number of books about the history of the Pacific Northwest.

I don't know anything about this book, other than it appears to be a children's book from the U.K.  But for 25c I liked the book jacket art.

We also picked up a set of encyclopedias for crafting and some Tupperware lids from the free box.  It was a very productive sale.

On the way home, we stopped at another yard sale.  The people holding it had a booth at one of the local antique malls and were liquidating some of their stock, so I spent a few dollars.  

The Archie comic is for a friend who collects them.  The Osterizer blender recipe book is from 1953.  The Sewing book has some fun illustrations and may prove useful to me, and the chalkware fish from 1969 has a few chips, but I love her.

Isn't she darling?  I've been wanting chalkware fish and mermaids for several years now and she's a great first find.

Look how cute her original companion was!
(Picture courtesy of PassionateKitsch on Etsy)

But the best thing we found at the second sale was a working treadle sewing machine for $35.00.  The day before we found it I had been reading about turning a treadle sewing machine into a spinning wheel, and wondering where I could get an affordable machine.

This is the Indian Head Spinning Wheel.
 Now I can have one of my own.
Imagine my delight and surprise when the unplanned sale that we just saw a sign for turned up something I didn't expect to be able to find in my price range for a long time.

The treadle table and machine went into the garage for storage before I could take photos of it but it is a National SMCO table and machine that moves freely, no rust visible on the base or machine and it appeared to have all of the original accessories and even an instruction manual when I perused the drawers of the table.

It's taken a while to make this post but these two sales have some of my favorite things I've thrifted so far this year.  Has anyone else ever had such a serendipitous find as that treadle table? What do you think is the best find here?

Thank you all for reading.

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Thrifty Gift Basket Ideas

Remember the trip my friend Rachael and I took to The Bins last month?  You can read about it here.

We were searching for some raw materials to use for an annual fund-raiser my church does.  Every year members of the congregation make up gift baskets for Mother's Day and auction them off.  The proceeds go for scholarships to send people to our church camp.

I thought you might like to see what we made.  Remember the green book with the nice library binding?

I used the cover for a blank journal.

I kept the pocket in the back just for fun.

I made this set of coasters using sharpie markers and alcohol.  Aren't they pretty?  I will be writing a post later showing how to do it.   I also decorated a glass candle plate in the same colors and added a jasmine and coconut pillar candle.

These were all part of a Meditation themed basket.  It also contained a large mug, an assortment of bagged and loose teas, a tea diffuser, and a gift certificate for 2 lbs of coffee roasted to your preferences by a friend and her husband.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the finished basket.  I just didn't have the time between assembling the basket and the start of the auction.  This basket was the hit of the auction and quite a bidding war broke out. Some people REALLY love their coffee.

Remember this shadow box frame?

I spray-painted it white...

and used mod podge to add a piece of scrapbook paper to the back and waterproof it.  Then I glued the back on to turn it into a tray or shelf for use in the bathroom.

It became part of a bathroom basket that included my homemade body scrub (coconut oil, sugar and cinnamon), 6 crocheted face scrubbies and a crocheted "loofah" bath pouf, all made by Rachael, 3 bottles of Revlon nail polish, a bottle of nail oil I blended myself (apricot, baby oil, and orange essential oil) and several face masks.

I bought these pieces of silverware to turn into herb markers.

I already had these Currier and Ives pots that we got at the bins 5 years ago, so I filled them with herb starts.

Basil

Mint


Lavender


 Rosemary

The pictures are a little fuzzy, but that hides the bad job I did with the stamping (and that I misspelled lavender, oops).  This was my first try.  I'll get better, right?



These all became part of this kitchen basket.  I made some Tunisian crocheted washcloths and a trivet/hot pad.  I added a jar of my Mom's spice rub for vertical roasted chicken, some decorative recipe cards and a piece of vintage Tupperware: a "Sweet Savor" for storing syrup or cream.



I added the Tupperware because Mom and I made this.

It's a travel recipe notebook.  We used a vintage Tupperware brochure we found at an estate sale.  We laminated each page, so they could serve as dividers, making six sections for recipes, and filled it with about 100 lined pages.  The pages of the brochure actually had some handy information about how long you can keep foods and what freezes well, etc.

I carry a notebook with a similar purpose to this in my purse.  I can take my recipes to my friends' houses when I cook for them and I can share my recipes when someone asks me for one.
 I hope whoever received this notebook likes it as much as I like mine.

I had the actual baskets in my room holding beauty products, so I swapped them out for 3 dollar store totes.  As you can see, we were able to put together three gift baskets, without having to spend much actual cash.  I hope this will inspire some of you to do the same when you need a gift or a prize. 

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Ravelry Swap Reveal: Part Three

This is Part Three of the Ravelry Swap Reveal.
Part One can be found here
Part Two can be found here.

I've already shown you the yarn and fabric related items I sent in my swap.  
Remember the theme was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,"
 

so I thrifted this Pyrex mug in the Terra pattern.  I chose it because of the orange and brown color, and because of it's unique shape.  Unlike most Pyrex mugs, this one is very thick, has no handle, and holds a generous 13 ounces.  Besides being a mug, it makes a great pencil holder, or a pot for a plant.  Plus, it's sturdy enough to ship easily.

I also sent a selection of my storybook envelopes and blank cards.

I found out my swappee likes Star Wars, so I cut up some old Scholastic story books based on the original trio of movies.

Then I added some Disney and Sponge Bob, including extras because she has kids.

 

And I made some new ones from a book I picked up at the Goodwill Outlet.

It's full of these really cool satellite photos

printed on nice, glossy paper.  Isn't the color distribution lovely?

She's also a Harry Potter fan, so I went in search of something to use as the cover for a notebook.

I found this paperback book at the Salvation Army Family Store for $1.00.  I just love the graphics.

I peeled the cover off and trimmed it down to make a front and back cover for the notebook, and kept the spine for a bookmark.  Then I went looking for something to use to stiffen up the cover.  I found two pieces of Grafix medium weight chipboard left over from a project I did a few years ago, that were just the right size.

I tested a scrap of the chipboard first with my bind-it all machine and it punched right through it, so I thought I was all set.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I selected a nice piece of scrapbook paper to use for the interior lining of the cover, and used spray adhesive to glue the book cover pieces to one side of the chipboard and the scrapbook pieces to the other side.  Now all I had to do was trim down the edges to make the covers.  

One problem.  Nothing I had would cut through the chipboard.  I thought I remembered using scissors before.  Apparently not, because they wouldn't do it.  I don't know what I used before, maybe black magic, witchcraft and trickery.  I tried the Exact-o knife.  No dice.  I tried a linoleum knife.  No way.  I started calling friends and finally found a Fiskars rotary paper trimmer to borrow, and even it had a tough time cutting the chipboard.  I had to do ten passes with the trimmer to cut all the way through, but I finally got it. 

Then I saw it.  The spray adhesive was loosening up.  Aarrgh!  So I very carefully peeled back the paper in sections, painted a layer of white glue, rolled a rolling pin over it to get out any excess glue, and pressed it under a stack of books.  Then I repeated this procedure for the other three faces.  It was quite a learning process, but I finally had my front and back cover ready to be punched and assembled.

And what did I learn?

                      
                       1.  Chipboard is a pain in the asterisk.

                       2.  Chipboard is a pain...
                       3.  Spray adhesive isn't as strong as one might think.

                       4.  I really should build that book press I've been thinking about.

                       5.  Sometimes the ends do justify the means

Here's the finished notebook.  It was kind of a pain to put together, but it was definitely worth it.  I really like the way it turned out.

The inside of the front and back covers are lined with blue/pink/purple "spray dyed" scrapbook paper, and it is filled with sheets of blank paper.  The back of the bookmark was covered in orange card stock (this time spray adhesive worked).

Here's the back cover.

I had one other item to fit into the box.
I bought a bag of children's books at the Goodwill Outlet some weeks before the swap - 12/$1.00.

This cute little story is about a group of sheep who visit an English Tea House, cause trouble, as you can imagine, and end up lunching on the lawn by munching on the lawn.  I thought it was especially appropriate since I was sending wool, and it was Easter time.

And that's the end of the reveal.  I stuffed everything into a USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Box and sent it off to Texas.  My swappee was very appreciative with her kind "Thank You"s.

I really enjoyed doing this swap, but I'm glad it's finally done.  I hope you all enjoyed seeing it.

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