Part 2 of The Estate Sale Saga

You may want to have a look at last week's post to see "episode 1" ~ estate sale-ing. 

A couple weekends ago, I went to one of those estate sales that are "memorable". These are the ones that stay stuck in my memory because of the sheer enormity of "goodies" found in the rooms of this home which someone has vacated. I discovered that the person who owned this home was an antiques dealer who did all the big shows - Rennniger's in PA and FL and the Brimfield Show in MA.

Sometimes the homes are vacated because the past owner has moved to a smaller abode, or into an assisted living situation, or perhaps, has passed away. Usually their heirs will take, as a remembrance, some of the treasures left behind. They, then, make arrangements to stage an estate sale by choosing a local company to manage their sale. The usual arrangements are: the managing company earns a certain and lesser percentage of the sale and the heirs, the remaining percentage. Oftentimes, whatever is left over at the end of the sale is donated to an organization like the Salvation Army or Goodwill but other times it goes to a second-hand store.

As I have mentioned before, there are some that have made a deep impression on my memory. This one was one of them. I was not even aware of the sale until day 2, at which point everything purchased was given a 30% discount. This sale was scheduled for a Thursday, Friday and Saturday (which is pretty common). When I found my way over there on Friday, there were still cars and trucks clogging the street, the house was still filled with shoppers and overflowing with "goodies". Trucks, because much of the case goods furniture is purchased by antique shops which descend upon a sale like this one with large moving van trucks to transport chests, bureaus, mirrors, tables, chairs, etc. to their shops. This is a good thing for me, because they create space in the house so I can actually see the things I want to upend without having lots of large furniture blocking my view.

The house was a ranch style - so just one story plus basement (which is where I discovered the wringer washer in last week's post). When I arrive at a sale, I usually head directly to wherever I think the linens might be. Sometimes I have to ask where they are. Usually, I find them in a bedroom or linen closet. Not so in this house. I entered through the living room. Next were all the bedrooms - no linens. Then the kitchen and dining area. Still no linens. Passing through the kitchen, I see the basement stairs (which I'll descend later) and a sun room next to it (and behind the garage), one step down from the kitchen. In the sunroom is where all the linens were. And, oh!, what a treasure trove.♥♥♥

I found lots and lots of hand crocheted doilies, pillowcases with hand crocheted trim, new Irish linen hankies with tatted and crocheted edgings. And several of the most unusual and beautiful bed sheets I've ever seen. The sheets are the finest cotton but the crowning glory of these sheets are the top hems. All manner of skilled needlework embellishing the hems. 

I have already laundered them and dried them outdoors on the clothesline. I will attempt to sell them as is. They are in pristine condition. 

One item, which I thought was a sheet but is a tablecloth (so you can imagine how big it is) does have some damage which I discovered when I laundered it. It had some rust spots which I treated successfully but I did notice a teeny tiny hole in it. I don't know if this is a result of my laundering or if I bought it like that. Therefore, this piece will be used to refashion into something else. This piece of linen has a gorgeous, deep crocheted edge all around the four sides. It has other needlework in the middle - cutwork and embroidery, all white on white. 

This is one issue with estate sales - usually the lighting is not the greatest and space is at a premium. It is very difficult to stretch out a sheet or quilt to see what the condition is in a cramped, dark space and with other shoppers breathing down your neck waiting for you to put the item down.  

I did purchase a couple other things besides the linen. A couple antique books, postcards, an antique knitting bag and crocheted collars. All I did for the collars is launder them, then take pictures of them with a strapless top, making a new use for them as neck "jewelry" rather than the demure, little accessory they were, at first, intended to be. 

I'm still reveling in the warm, fuzzy feelings I get from my good fortune of falling upon such a huge bonanza. And to top it all off, I went back again on Saturday and the discount was 50% ♥ 

Recycling - Upcycling - Reusing - Repurposing

My castteam-mate, NaNa, from NaNa Things blogged this week about how anxious she is for springtime so she can go "hunting" without coats, boots, gloves, etc. Where she's free to dig, dig, dig in relative freedom. Here's her blog.

http://www.musingsofavintagejunkie.blogspot.com/2013/02/anxious-for-hunt.html

I even have a special purse I bring along with me when I go on this type of outing. It's a tiny little thing, flat, cross body. It fits my license, a couple dollars, a credit card, even a pen and tiny notebook - plus has a clip for my keys. It doesn't dangle behind me like my big black purse, whacking everything in a 3 foot radius. It stays right up close to my body.

The "hunting" of which I speak is:  hunting for good, sale-able vintage wares. NaNa sells hers in her vintage etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NanNasThings

I generally re-purpose estate sale finds..

We've both been to the same Volunteers of America shop in the past few days. Read about what she bought, on her blog.

I bought a men's dress shirt. I wanted to re-purpose it into the back part of a pillow cover. The buttons on the shirt make a convenient slot to slide the pillow in and out for laundering purposes.The front of this pillow is also an up-cycled textile. This one was rescued at an estate sale, where often times one will find all the household linens spread out on a bed in one of the bedrooms. When I come upon a scene like this and there's all kinds of crochet work, embroidery, and lace, I almost begin swooning, I am so overcome. I am tossing linen into my reusable bag with wild abandon.

Once home with my haul, it all gets examined to determine how to launder it. I love hanging it out of doors to dry. Another reason why we want winter to be over and done with.

The front of my pillow cover is one end of what was once called a dresser scarf. Both ends of this glorious piece of linen were embroidered with a colorful bowl of flowers. Many artful stitches were used in it's execution. I so respect the skill of these embroiderers, crocheters, and needle-workers of old and am sad that their labors of love are often are so unappreciated - I just have to rescue them before they languish  in a landfill.

Since the original articles are no longer in fashion, I re-design them into something that is in fashion. And, voila !! The treasured heirloom has a new life.

Vintage Finds - Redesigned

Vintage finds, redesigned. This is my catch phrase for my sammysgrammy etsy shop. This inclination has been a part of who I am for so long, I don't remember when it started. I just remember always remaking, repurposing, redesigning from my earliest childhood. As a 12 year old, I redesigned my grandmother's sewing machine cover to be a skirt for the vanity in my bedroom. Even the dressing table was a reuse of a maple desk. In my naivete, I thumbtacked the skirt to the table. It looked so "girlie" and that was exactly my intention. I was a very happy 12 year old about my room. I actually still am on the hunt for items I can repurpose. Quite some time ago, I came across a white chenille bedspread at an estate sale. I bought it. My intention was to make one of those maxi length swing coat/dusters from it but I could never bring myself cut into the fabric and desecrate it's beautiful purpose.

You may know about the kind of weather we've been having in the northeast of the U.S.A. this summer. Blistering temperatures and no rain. I desperately needed a lighter than air bedspread. I can't sleep without covers but this summer, I wanted those covers to be thin, light, cloudlike, a whisper. I thought of the stashed bedspread. It was exactly perfect. The backround for the chenille design was a very thin, sheetlike fabric. I laundered it and dried it on the clothesline in the backyard. It smelled beautiful - like the outdoors. Then brought it in and put it on my bed. Alas, it didn't fit and didn't look good. I have a queen size bed. When this bedspread was manufactured there was no such thing as a queen size bed. There were singles and doubles and baby cribs. That's it.

My vintage bedspread did not drop down on the sides long enough. And it was enormously long lengthwise. In circa 1940 the happy homemaker made her double bed by letting the bedspread edges all drop approximately the same length all around the bed. Therefore the sides and foot of the bed all looked uniform. The huge amount of fabric remaining at the head board was used to wrap around the pillows. Voila! the bed was made. In the 21st century, we dress beds totally different. We don't cover pillows with bedspread. We actually highlight pillows, covering them with shams, adding lots and lots of them to make the bed look a bit like the bed of the princess in "The Princess and the Pea" story book. Therefore I cut off the extra length of the bedspread. I will make a pillow sham from it one day. Next, I needed to add depth to the sides and bottom. After much design-think, I decided on tulle. I purchased double the length of the 3 sides I wanted to extend. I stretched out the entire 7 yards of tulle and folded the 54" width of it in half and pressed it with the iron. I then had 4 layers of tulle.

I used 2 packages of clear elastic to gather up the skirt, stretching the elastic and sewing with a zigzag stitch so that when I released the tension on the elastic, the tulle automatically gathered up. The final step was attaching this gigantic tutu to the sides and bottom edge of my vintage bedspread. Now it fit my bed in a manner that pleased my eye. It is perfect for these hot nights. I'm in love with it........

Recycled Christmas Cards

>
There are so many uses for those wonderful Christmas greetings you receive each year. It would be a good habit to just get a BIG box and save them because you never know what kind of an idea you'll imagine in the future.

In the past I have made gift tags with them and the best book marks ever. But yesterday, while doing my work-out walk in the mall, I passed by a furniture store window and something I saw in the window of a furniture store sparked this idea.

I am an inveterate estate saler and I buy things that tickle my fancy. I've had this ancient rusty old iron receipt piercer forever and never really thought of any good use for it. But now it is the base and tree trunk of a little Christmas Card tree.


I sat at my kitchen table with my stash of Christmas Cards from years past and cut out six pointed Stars of David. Then I jabbed them onto the receipt holder, curling the points a bit with the scissors, piling them up, making smaller and smaller stars.....until.............voila!!! a little Christmas Tree made from stars cut from old Christmas cards.

It needed a star on top. I rummaged through my jewels and found the perfect rhinestone star earring.

Here's a close up shot of some of the card stars.



At the moment I am thinking of some ways you could adapt this idea to fit the type of reusable goodies you have around the house. How about using a tiny clay pot for the base, sliding a knitting needle in the hole in the bottom. Then stacking your Christmas Card stars on the needle to fashion your very own tree. How about drilling a hole in an old children's alphabet block, perhaps glueing a pencil into hole and building your tree on that base? Let your imagination soar..............