My Vintage Soul

Happy Fourth!

 

I hope your Fourth of July is a happy (and a dry) one!

Projects

When I go to a sale, and I'm tempted to pick up another fixer-upper, I try to remember that I already have more "projects" than I have time.

For example, I still need to spray-paint that Christmas tree stand that I found by the side of the road in late December. It's in the garage, next to the closet organizer that I want to re-cover, which is by that big piece of chalkboard that I picked up to finish yet another project. You get the picture, don't you?

And here's another little thing I want to do. It's part of a transfer for what is the world's cutest clothespin apron. Now I have to find some transfer paper (or is it tracing paper?) and the time to embroider it. And then I remember I don't ever hang clothes out on the line.

Maybe I should start with something much, much smaller? In the hopes that it may be more do-able?

How about this? I found it in a box of ornaments, and because it doesn't look like much, it was free. Do you know what it is? I did, because I have something similar and because I saw the same thing on Magpie Ethel's blog.

Of course now I have to figure out where to find a tiny paper mache head. And that's another project, isn't it?

Happy Dance on a Furlough Friday

Is it possible to do a happy dance on a Furlough Friday? I didn't think so. After all, on a Furlough Friday, I'm taking a day off without pay. And that doesn't make me happy but it's what I have to do.

But a good sale (or two or three) makes me happy. And today, they made me do a happy dance. Here's why.

Sale No. 1

  

It was the best of the three, filled with my kind of mixture of vintage crafts and Christmas.

Here are some closeups.

 

These are some sort of package tie-ons with tiny glass Christmas bulbs in the center. I've never seen ones like this before. All 10 were a quarter.

 

Someone went a little crazy with the glitter on these deer but I think I might give them the Magpie Ethel treatment. Those metallic holly leaves are just like the ones I used to buy at Northway Acres.

 

Bottlebrush trees, silky ornaments and Japanese beads (pink!) in their original packages.

 

Honeycomb tissue balls and bells, plus some crepe paper. I think everything in this photo was less than $1.

 

Some cute egg cups that I'll turn into something for Easter, plus an even cuter Gurley candle. All for 50 cents.

And from sale No. 2.

 

 

Wooden carts for Easter and sleighs for Christmas. I'll have to get creative. Any ideas?

And finally, Sale No. 3.

 

Hats! Actually millinery flowers because I don't wear hats. But there aren't four of them. There are three. The two on either end are actually one hat. I'm not sure why anyone would cut a hat in half but she did. Could she have been sporting a Princess Leia hairdo and needed a hat for each cinnamon bun? Or maybe she was trying to make one hat stretch for two kids? Whatever the reason, I got this one for half price. Yes, another reason to do a happy dance.

 

More Patterns & Barbie Revisited

I found a few more vintage patterns at a recent estate sale. These designs are for leisure but I can't imagine wearing that shorts thing on the left. It reminds me of an adult romper suit and I get queasy just thinking about the restroom implications of that type of attire.

Maternity tops that make you look bigger than a house. Can't you bet that the woman in yellow, who's looking so longingly to the right, is wondering if she'll ever be skinny enough to wear those "Very Easy to Make" Vogue dresses?

And speaking of skinny, this same sale had a bunch of old Barbie clothes from the early 1960s. I only looked because the prices were outrageous. Seeing them made me remember that recently I had picked up two mini Barbie catalogs at the flea market's Quarter Table. I think these catalogs, which were from the early 1960s, were included when you purchased a doll. Mine, unfortunately, have lost their covers. 

 

 Something for lounging and something for the fashion-forward bridesmaid.

 

I think the sale actually had an original Suburban Shopper for sale, minus the telephone. It was around $20. Back in 1961 or '62, it sold for $2.50. Doll not included of course.

 

I actually remember a neighborhood kid having the After 5 ensemble because I remember that hat.

 

Enchanted Evening is a classic, isn't it?

 

And so is Solo in the Spotlight.

 

Finally, here's Ken, looking like the nerd that he really was, particularly in Sports Shorts. He is, however, just a little bit dreamy in Dreamboat.

Hit and Miss in Fulton

Welcome to Fulton, New York, where it snows a lot (even more in Syracuse). In fact, there's so much snow that city officials feel compelled to remind the locals not to ride their snowmobiles on the city streets.

I came to Fulton on Saturday with high hopes for its annual east-side garage sales. I was hoping that several sweet little old ladies were unloading some of their treasures at dirt-cheap prices. Maybe when I thought about something sweet, I was thinking of the Nestle factory, the first chocolate manufacturing facility in the United States and where the Nestle Crunch Bar was invented. The factory, which takes up more than two city blocks, was  open for 102 years until it closed in 2003. I don't think that Fulton has been the same (or smelled the same) since.

And I was certainly encouraged when I saw this in the local paper.

But a half-dozen sales later, I hadn't turned up much good little old lady stuff. Just a lot of junk. I think I knew why when I saw this.

Camou. And lots of it. Maybe the sweet little ladies of Fulton are afraid to have garage sales. Maybe they're hiding inside with all their stuff?

But it wasn't completely bad. Maybe a 4 on a scale of 10.

Here's what I did get:

 

Some Sewing Susan sewing kits ($1.50), Merry Christmas sign (a dime; I spray-paint them, add more glitter and put them on wreaths), ceramic angel and a Santa (both marked Japan, each a quarter) and some vintage-looking flocked Easter chicks ($1).

I was just about to write the day off, when I found this, but it wasn't in Fulton

 

 

No, it was after I had driven 23 miles back to Syracuse and less than three miles from my home. Two sisters were cleaning out their mom's stuff. I bought all the ornaments plus the drummer boy and the knee elf, both marked Japan, for a whole $2.

The moral of the story? Well, it isn't that I should only junk close to home. That's no fun, and I enjoy my road trips.

 It's that you can find good stuff near and far. Any day anywhere can be hit or miss, can't it? Of course it's always best to feel like you've had more hits than misses at the end of the day. And on Saturday, I did.

Popping Peonies

Finally, the peonies are popping. They've been a long time coming this year, probably due to cooler temperatures and more rain than usual. But they're well worth waiting for.

And so too, I hope, will be my little excursion on Saturday. I going to Fulton, about 20 miles northwest of here, for its annual east-side garage sales. Of course I'm hoping for more GOL (that's good old lady) stuff, although I have a feeling I may have to wade through a lot of NASCAR collectibles and other assorted ticky-tacky stuff. Wish me luck.

Pick of the Patterns

Rummage sale or garage sale? It's a tough choice, especially if they're both good. But if I had to choose, I'll always pick the rummage sale, because that's where I tend to find more good old lady stuff (anything vintage) instead of bad old lady stuff (Anna Lee dolls, dollar store resine figurines and stretch pants.)

Case in point: This box that I found at a recent rummage sale. Yes sir, that's a whole box of vintage patterns for $2, which some old lady must have been saving since at least 1965. Let's look inside.

An abundance of blouses.

Impossibly skinny suits.

And skinny dresses. Did these women ever eat?

Only when they knew they could cover up with a skirt that took at least six yards of fabric.

A fun skating dress on the left, but frankly questionable attire for picking grapes on the right, which is what the gal in the checked dress is holding in her gloved hands.

Nightwear for mom and daughter.

And although this looks like a pattern for young buys, someone also saw it as a makeshift memo pad. It must have been a guy because no woman would write on a pattern that in 44 years might actually be collectible. For the love of Pete, get a real memo pad or a scrap of paper. And call Helen Dice.

I Love A Parade

Especially when I can see it. But this was my view for at least half of our Memorial Day parade. Who was this woman and why was she suddenly in front of the spot that I had been sitting in for more than 30 minutes?

And why did this oblivious grandma become the oblivious dancing grandma after this little band marched by, playing some jazz tune. After she danced, she began to visit with the people behind me. Her purse whacked me not once but twice in the head, without any apology. That's it, I told Mr. VS, she's going in the blog. And so she is.

Eventually she moved, just in time so I could see this.

Yes, that is a pig in a shopping cart, and, no, I have no idea why it was in a Memorial Day parade.

What I came for was this: My daughter's marching band. That's why I love a parade.

My Last Garage Sale?

I have this love/hate relationship with garage sales. As much as a I love going to someone else's (if it's a good one), I hate having one of my own.

I hate that I'll invest at least a week, cleaning, pricing and arranging items, knowing  I'm going to wish I had just given what I don't want directly to charity.

I hate that there's always someone trying to deal on an item that's marked a quarter. Or that someone wants to pay me in quarters, dimes and nickels.

I hate that I have to drive halfway across the county to borrow tables from a friend and then I have to drive halfway across the county to return them.

I hate the whiners that complain that my driveway is too steep when it really isn't that steep. It only seems that way if the only exercise you ever get is going from your easy chair to the refrigerator.

So, if I hate hosting garage sales so much then why do I make myself have one every year or so? Certainly it isn't for the money, because I don't make very much.

Certainly it's the guilt over accumulating too much. And I also think It must be for the entertainment value because other than a garage sale, I really don't think that I could get this cast of characters to show up on my doorstep.

First there was the early early bird who caught me in the garage the night before the sale. For about three seconds, I thought about her sending her away and then I came to my (dollars and) senses. If she was this eager then she was probably in a mood to spend. And she did -- $7.50 for three vintage Christmas items. As she paid me, I asked if she routinely showed up this early for sales. She claimed she only did it if the homeowner, like me, was visible in the garage. She said she never knocked on someone's door to ask for early entry. But later my kids told me that she did indeed knock on our door before I came home from work.

Then there was the creepy guy who didn't seem to understand the concept of what a garage sale is. He came into my garage only to silently stare at the items up on my shelves, the ones not for sale.

The most entertaining characters? It was a tossup between the trio of moms who left their van running because they wanted to hear "Brick House" blast from the radio and the guy who bought all my sewing patterns for his wife. Either he's the best husband in the world or he's making himself a Simplicity maternity dress circa 1992. 

And for the final act, there was the late late comer. She arrived just as I was cleaning up and packing the van with my discards. I explained the sale was over, but she persisted, wanting to see what I had.

So I gave in. I thought she'll look for a minute and she'll be on her merry way. Silly me. She looked for 10 minutes, wanting to peek inside this box and that box. Only after I gave her a few freebies did she finally go away.

On the bright side, I did unload several of my roadside finds, including the globe, the metal step stool and the fretwork table.

But I think it's going to be a long, long time before I have another sale. From now on, I'm going to try to buy only what I love or what I know I can resell. And considering some recent budget tightening, I think I may have to finally conquer my eBay and Etsy anxiety.

 

Our Lady of the Split Personality

 

The church rummage sale started routinely enough -- like a track meet with a finish line marker stretched across the entrance. On one side were the church ladies running the bake sale table and on the other side were the early arrivals, like me, waiting to get in.

To our right (in the old school) were housewares, toys, games, sports equipment, books and holiday decor. You know which way I was going, right?

To the left (in the old gymnasium) were clothes, shoes and linens. I planned to go that way after I found what I hoped to be some great stuff in the school.

And I did. See everything I got for under $1? Quite frankly, I was a little shocked at how low everything was priced. Those Christmas corsages, in their original boxes, were truly a nickel each as was the plastic skiing Santa candy container, which goes for $25 or more on eBay.

A contented shopper, I continued on my mission, stopping in the gymnasium, where I hoped to pick up a sweater or two and maybe a T-shirt. But the prices brought me to a screeching halt: $6 for a sweater, $8 for pants, $7 for shoes? I thought this was a church rummage sale, not a consignment shop. So, naturally, I opened my big mouth and politely asked if there might be a bag sale.

"I'll let you know when I'm running a lemonade stand," was the answer from the woman who apparently was in charge.

A lemonade stand? I wasn't trying to be insulting but, come on, $8 for a pair of pants that you can't even try on? And $25 for a dress that was never really that attractive, even when it was new?

And then the woman added, "I love my church too much to give this all away."

And so, I moved on, without buying a thing, which is why I don't have a picture of my "finds." I actually felt sorry that she was thought her worth as a parishioner was equal to the amount of money that she raised. Unfortunately, at those prices, I have to think that she didn't raise much at all.

Which brings me to why I'm calling this the split personality sale. Over on the school side, they were practically giving items away. And on the gym side, the prices were completely out of line with the quality of the merchandise and the purpose of the sale.

But, now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time to move on -- to my own garage sale on Friday and Saturday. And yes, I'm trying to price my stuff somewhere in the middle.