I love estate sales!!

I find estate sales fascinating.  Seeing all the things a person accumulates and what it tell you about that person.  I stopped in at an estate sale which started today (which I thought was unusual since they are mostly on Saturday, or maybe the odd Friday). 

When I went in, I was greeted by a few very nice ladies.  They asked if I was looking for anything specific.  When I mentioned that I like crafting supplies, they said that most of it had been given away but there was some sewing supplies downstairs that they could show me after I looked around.  As I wandered around the livingroom and dining room, I didn't spot any Pyrex.  Since the ladies with chatting with me casually, I decided to ask if they had any colourful Pyrex bowls or dishes.  They said they only remember seeing the clear Pyrex items but led me into a kitchen to take a peak.  They opened a large drawer, and right behind a stack of clear Pyrex baking dishes were a set of butterprint cinderella bowls!  They asked if that was what I was looking for and I quickly answered "yes"!  I asked how much and my jaw almost dropped when they said $10!  SOLD!!

I also asked if they had any glass teapots.  After showing a few non-Pyrex ones, the lady lead me to a box near the front door and pulled out a Pyrex caraf and announced that this was the free box so it was all mine if I wanted it.  Of course I did!  I later found a smaller Pyrex caraf in a box of stuff that was being sold as a lot for $2.  When she saw me pull it out of the box, she said that she would just give it to me since it matched the other free one...can you believe it? 

I went downstairs with the lady to see the sewing supplies.  There were boxes full of stuff.  At first she quoted me $30 for everything but I really didn't want all of it so I said I would pick out some of the stuff.  She ended charging me $12 for a large vintage sewing box, a box full of zippers, a huge bag of thread, and other random sewing stuff.

I also found these pretty earrings in a box of costume jewelery near the sewing table and she charged me only $1.  They're like clip on earrings excepts the backs screw on.

My favourite find of the day though were these amazing dolls.

There was a row of them on one of the couches.  I found out that the lady made all of them and used to sell them for about $100 each.  Her work is just exquisite!  Look at all the details:

 I just adore that little bumble bee!

 This is the bow on the back of her sun hat.

 Little buttons on the ankle straps of her shoes.

 Little mushrooms and a lady bug in her basket.

 

There were even little pom poms on the top of the baby's hat and both ends of his scarf.  I love the rainbow colours on the girl's dress.

Look at the wheels on the baby's buggy!

I just totally fell in love with this lady's work and I would have taken them all home if I could.  In the end I picked the two I loved the most, though it was super hard to decide.  I will be giving them to my mom as part of her mother's day present.  My mom is a super crafter too...sewing, knitting, beading - you name it she does it.  I think she'll just love them.

So this is what I got for $50:

As I was leaving, I was encouraged to take more stuff from the free boxes so I did.

I love these crocheted hangers.  Cute and also very practical for dresses and blouses that slip off of most hangers. There were tons of these and I would have taken them all but I didn't want to be too greedy so I only took about a dozen.  Imagine all the work and they were giving them away. 

I also took 2 corningware cradles, a thermos and a putter game/ashtray.

It took two trips to the car, even with some help, to load all my goodies.  What a satisfying hour of thrifting!!

The lucky streak continues.

There were so many church rummage sales, estate sales and yard sales near me Saturday morning I was honestly stressing about which to go to and in what order, since many of them started at the same time.  I also had very limited time since I had other plans for the day, so I had to skip a vintage sale promising Pyrex that was more than 1/2 hour drive away. 

I've been super lucky with finding cool Pyrex flameware! These were both from a church rummage sale for only $1 each!

Found this lime cake pan there for $1.  It's a bit dishwashered and scratched but the inside is still nice and it matches my new loaf pan.

 

Found two vintage aprons for $1.

 

I got a pair of pretty lace curtains in perfect condition for only $1.  The price tag was originally marked at $4 but someone decided that was too much, scratched it out and put $1 - lucky me!  Love the scalloped edge details.

Went to an estate sale as well.  I spotted a pink 404 but someone had put it aside already.  I did eventually find the 401, which was pretty scratched but for 50 cents I had to take her home.

 

Also got a Pyrex measuring cup for a quarter.  I thought it was very interesting because it didn't have the typical red markings - the markings were all in raised glass.  Seems practical because the red markings often gets worn away with time.  The glass was also particularly thick.  I wonder how old this little guy is.

 

At another church rummage sale, I found a Pyrex caraf for 75 cents, a butterfly gold salt shaker for a quarter and a country festival storage jar for $1.  The two large glass jars behind the Pyrex are unmarked but I like the lids with the round knobs at the top so I bought them for $1 each to store my flour and sugar.  I also got two set of metal measuring cups for $1 to use as scoops (but forgot to include them in the picture).

 

Picked up a package of vintage rick rack and trims for $1.  Is it just me or does vintage rick rack feel much softer than the modern ones?

It was a very productive 2 hours of thrifting!  :)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and found some goodies!

Check out all the cool finds at ATG's thrift share Monday.

Major Pyrex haul!

My baby decided he didn`t want to nap yesterday morning, and since it was half off day at GW, I decided to do a round of thrifting.  My plans were actually to find some lids for my recent acquisitions since lids are often priced at $2 or more, which is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.  Funny thing was, I found no lids (very unusual) but some great Pyrex pieces (which almost never happens on half price days)!!

Check this out!

I found the two baking pans at one GW. 

The flamingo square pan was not in good shape but I thought the glaze on the outside looked ok and a good scrubbing would save it.  Unfortunately, after cleaning off the grime, I realized that this poor girl has dishwasher effect and I couldn`t get rid of the discolouration on the inside.  Oh, and there`s a big scrape on the glaze that I suspect happened after it was donated because there was no dirt caked into the scrape...how sad!

That`s ok though, I only paid $1.25 for her and she has a new life as a cute tray for my 501 and 502 fridgies.

The green baking pan turns out to be a Heinz promo utility dish and is quite minty.  It was priced $3.03 so at half price, I ended up only paying $1.52 for it.  Score!!

I also stopped by a neaby VV and found Woodland Pyrex teacups.  I actually didn`t realize Pyrex made tea cups, I thought there were only corelle coordinates for tea cups. I paid $1 each, plus tax.

On the way to another nearby GW, I saw a rummage sale sign and I quickly pulled over.  It was being held in a nursing home and the parking lot was jam packed!  I didn`t realize they held rummage sales on Fridays.  This turned out to be really great one with tons of stuff.  I found 13 of these torquise autumn band Pyrex sauce dishes:

I found out from the lady running that table that there had been matching cups and dishes but they had been sold already (sadly).  There was also a huge stack of grey band and grey autumn band dishes, but they were not in great shape so I left them.  I paid $1.25 for all 13 of these sauce dishes.  Now when I have a sushi party, everyone will have a pretty little Pyrex dish for their soy sauce.

My best finds of the day were at the second GW I went to.  That place was so crowded I honestly didn`t think there would be anything left.  But a quick stroll through the housewares sections and I found these:

 
That`s right, not one but two large designs casseroles!!  And they were only priced at $5.05 each, which meant I paid that for both because it was half price day!!!  I also found the flameware teapot and large perculator.  For all four items, I paid just over $8...talk about a steal!!!!!

It was so surreal I thought I was dreaming!

Since I found two designs casseroles, I decided to give one of them to one of my new Pyrex friends who had just gifted me with Pyrex the day before.  It turned out that she had been looking for the large designs casserole for some time because she had the small one already.  I was so happy that I could return the favour!!  It was giddiness all around.  :)

Do you share the joys of Pyrex or thrifting with others?

First trip to antique mall and gifted Pyrex

I went to an antique mall with my new Pyrex friends yesterday.  It was so much fun!  There were so many booths with Pyrex that I felt kinda overwhelmed.  Some of the prices were insane (almost $70 for one casserole!).  Sure made me feel super proud about some of my great thrifty finds!  Even some of the more reasonably priced Pyrex was still a bit more than I was willing to fork over.  I ended up getting 2 pieces of snowflake:

I paid $10 for the bigger one without a lid and $15 for the smaller one with the lid (though it has a chip). 

I came home with a lot more Pyrex though because my new friends, who have been collecting Pyrex for a few years, decided to give me a bunch of Pyrex to help me with my collection! 

Nicest people ever!!!  I'm having fun sewing some gifts for them. 

Don't you love it when common interests (i.e. love for Pyrex) brings people together?

Spring Pyrex

What is more cheerful than a daisy divided?!  :)

Found this beauty at a VV a few days ago for $7.99.  Bought a few other things and used my 25% off coupon.  

Have you signed up for your VV super saver card yet?

Thrifting Jackpot!

It was a busy Easter weekend that left little time for thrifting.  But I did managed to squeeze in one estate sale and a yard sale.

The estate sale was that of a designer who had moved and was downsizing.  I arrived 15 minutes after the sale started and there were already over a hundred people in the house!  I missed out on some great stuff but still managed to get a few of the things I wanted.

I've always hated the fireplace cover in our living room (gold with a sliding metal mesh screen) so I was really excited to see this in the preview pictures of the estate sale.  As soon as I got in the house, I searched through all the main rooms and the bedrooms but this was nowhere in sight.  I asked three employees before one said that it was in the upstairs bathroom.  I probably only got this because it was hidden away since a few people mentioned that they had wanted it when they saw me dragging it out afterwards.  This lady sure had a ton of fabrics.  I wished that I could have taken all of it home, but managed to control myself and only bought $10 worth. 

My BIGGEST SCORE EVER was found at a yard sale I popped by.  It was an hour after it had started and only a couple of people were milling around.  At first I didn't see much but then I spotted this:

I thought to myself "no, it couldn't be", but it was - a Le Creuset french oven!  I gingerly opened the lid (expecting to see all sorts of scratches and staining) but saw this:

I asked the guy how much he was asking for the pot and he held up one of his hands with fingers outstretched and said "5 bucks".  I was so surprised, I had to repeat the price back to him to get it confirmed.  I also kept looking back at the pot to make sure that the Le Creuset mark was still there.  I'm still in shock!  It is marked "26" inside the lid so I believe it is the 5 1/2 quart .

I also bought 10 small skeins of merino wool and cashmere yarn for $5.  Not sure if it's enough or the right weight for the birthday present I'm planning to knit for my mom but it was so soft and I couldn't pass it up for the price.

Still enjoying my Le Creuset high!  :)

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Check out all the goodies others have found at Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday.

Pyrex goodies

It was a great week for finding Pyrex - must be all the spring cleaning happening.  Here are the rest of my Pyrex finds this week:

This was $6.99 plus tax at VV.  I love it so much!

The Shenandoah was $1.25 and the mugs were $0.75 at GW (1/2 price day) and horizon was $2.99 plus tax at VV.

Keeping my fingers crossed that this trend continues!!  :)