The Sunday Junk, a Buried Treasure and Some Catching Up

 A little more junking last Sunday and this is the LAST post where you have to endure the sepia photos since I finally figured out the white balance problem with my camera - WooHoo!!  Lots of lace plus a few other treasures from the VOA.

 I don't think this high chair is especially old but old enough to be neat.  That will go in to the stash for the imaginary antique mall space.  The yellow pot in the seat is Frankoma and headed to Etsy as soon as I get around to it.  I have been doing pretty good on listing things this week so we'll see if I can stay on task.  This is a holiday weekend so that will help - no estate sales to distract me and Division Street Antiques is closed for their annual picking trip east.  I will still hit the VOA since one of the clerks keeps telling me she is going to bring in her mother's button tin for me.  The aqua pot is marked Over Serve Ware and I remember my mother having some of them.  I think they were premiums in oatmeal or something like that.

 I collect Forest Green and Royal Ruby and don't often find a piece with the original paper label.  The modern metal candlesticks in the background have been languishing on the shelf at VOA for a while.  I have been eyeing them because I think they would be great stands for the Styrofoam heads I made in this project but didn't want to pay the price they wanted.  They were 75% off on Sunday so home they came.

 Down in the bottom of the poke sack of lace I found a button treasure!  You just never know what you might find in a poke sack.  If I see a few things I'm interested in then I swoop it up.

 Marked Austria on the back and not something I have ever seen before.  An unexpected buried treasure!

 I promised I would show my favorite buttons from this post and I didn't forget this time. You can click the picture bigger.  The ones on the left side are glass and the ones on the right are plastics.

 I haven't worked in my altered quote book in quite a while so I took a time-out for that last week, as well.  I saw these words on Pinterest and don't know who to attribute them to but loved the thought!

This summer has been SO unusually hot for Portland that I haven't been spending the time in the garden that I would like to so things are looking a little rough.  I did grab an opportunity the other day to do a little pruning and open up this path.  I read somewhere that every garden should have a "woods walk".  It isn't very long but this is mine.
Whew, all caught up!  Where is this Summer going??

Friday and Saturday Plunder

 My junking on Friday and Saturday wasn't re-letter but I was able to gather some plunder that made me happy.  I hit the SST, Division Street Antiques plus one estate sale.  It was advertised as a digger but really wasn't.  I did come away with a nice button score and a big pile of embroidery floss.

 The NOS pillow case set, glass apothecary, crochet napkin holder and 60s vase all came from a quick trip to the SST on my lunch hour Friday.  I need to Google about Blenko glass and try to figure out if this is the real deal or not.  Do any of you collect Blenko or know about it?  It will be added to my DIL's colored glass collection.

 The very crusty old typewriter and the keys are from Nina and Joe's (Division Street Antiques).  It was a last chance purchase before they head east on their annual month-long buying trip.  It is still sitting on my work table because it weighs about a MILLION pounds and must be made of lead.  The keys are not frozen but it is in pretty rough shape but will still make an interesting display piece.  For $6 it can be a doorstop!

 A few little bits picked out of the button sack.  The napkin holder was brown from age but some Oxy worked it's magic and it is ready to add to someone's blue cottage kitchen..

 I have so many keys already and it is time to start passing them along.  There are some really neat shapes in this batch..

 There are some great buttons in this lot and I promise I will not forget to photography my favorites before I put them away this time.

I was delighted that these buttons were clean and had very few strings.  Clearly a button-saver who respected the buttons.  A woman by my own heart!
I went out again today but that will be another post.  I really need to put myself in time-out until I get some of this stuff listed!!

Kathy's Play Day

Last Saturday I took a whole day to just play - which means blowing off the housework and just junking.  It was great!  I hit two estate sales, the VOA and Nina and Joe's.

I'm sorry if these pictures are a little garish looking.  I'm having issues with the white balance setting on my camera and trying to figure out where I'm going wrong.

A sweet set of Westmorland candlesticks, a dried corsage and a couple of crochet hot pads to add to my collection.

The candelabra is just pot metal but that doesn't detract a bit in my eyes.  The old cobalt jars are proving more challenging to clean that I expected.  Love love the blue velvet pillows!

Oh my gosh - a little girls vintage blow-up  pink crinoline.  I haven't tired blowing it up but just as pretty, either way.

A very vintage bunt cake pan, a tape measure for my collection and a plastic box I bought just because of the jadeite color.  The blue and white check are pillow cases and they have already been re-purposed on my patio chairs.

I have a collection of those old brass hose nozzles.  Go figure.  I didn't get a good close-up in any of these photos but that iron thing below the candlestick is my THIRD cobbler's shoe anvil.  We all know what that means.

There is the toe of that cobbler's tool again.  A tray of tiny perfume bottles because I can't resist them and a lone Made in Japan duck S&P without its mate.

A "Millie" goat with her kid, grazing on a vintage green hankie and under a cloche, to boot!

Vintage lamps make me weak in the knees.  I haven't decided yet if these will be moving on or just staying with me, at least for a while.

One VERY filthy vintage Brownie camera that I already have a plan for.

This last photo is really awful due to the white balance issue but it is a pair of great white quilted pillow shams that are already listed in my Etsy.
Man, that was a fun day just plucking the junk!

A Few Fun Finds

 The junking last weekend was all in the neighborhood but I still scored some fun finds.  Nina tossed the thimbles and other sewing notions into a baggie and GAVE them to me.  How lucky am I!!  More about the tape measure further down.  The chippy white shelf is turned on its side so it will stand up for the picture.

 When we were on vacation in Cali I saw some boxes similar to this in the Victorian Closet in Amador City.  I loved them and picked one up and turned it over and quickly (and gently) set it back down at $150.  I did NOT pay $150 at Nina and Joe's.  It will be staying with me and is sitting on my dresser.

 A glass rolling pin and a roll of very sweet kitten wallpaper.  The rolling pin is still sitting here waiting for me to make up my mind between filling it with buttons or with lace.  The wallpaper will be heading to Etsy.

 A bundle of beautiful old lace still waiting for it's turn in the kitchen sink.

 Vintage thimbles and a pack of tiny metal pups.

This tape measure is one of my favorite finds because I have never seen one like it.  I hope you can click these pictures bigger so you can read it.  It is wider than most at about 1".  It says Formfit Figure Tape Measure for Brassiere or Girdleiere Sizes and dated 1949.  How it works is a mystery but I am not it the market for a girdleiere so no worries, it will just be added to my collection.

I Went Back

That seldom visited thrift store coughed up a pretty good score the other day so I decided to put it back on my radar for a while and see what happens.  Shara at MonkeyBox has named her Super Cheap Thrift (SCT) so I have decided to do the same.  This place is the Super Skanky Thrift - because it is...  SST!

This gorgeous plate is marked Krome-Kraft.  It will be headed to my Etsy when I get around to it.  Please don't mail me a hot pad that says " A Round Toit".  I have tried that and it doesn't help. More on the grease can further down.

Pretty hankies, who can resist those!  Yes there are a bunch of doilies in these pictures and yes, I know I am supposed to be sworn off because nobody but me likes then.  Everything was half price that day and I lost my mind.

Plastic doilies, now that's another story.  Everybody likes those and these ones with a really open design will be great stencils.

I was standing at the checkout when I looked over and noticed a jar of buttons.  How could I miss that with my button radar??   Yes, there were a few treasures hiding in the jar!

I have no idea why blogger decided to turn this photo sideways.  I posted a picture of those vintage hot pads on Instagram after I cleaned them up but I am still learning.  Is there some way I can set it up so I know when someone leaves a comment or do I just have to keep checking back?  That is kind of impractical for me since I work full time but I'm trying.  Advice anyone??  I am buttonsaver, just like on Twitter.

Okay, the grease can...  It is brand new!  My mother always kept an old shortening can on the kitchen counter next to the stove.  When it got full she threw it out. It was mostly bacon grease and she would dip it out and re-use it to brush in her cast iron pans.  Eggs fried in bacon grease - those were the days!!   I love that this one has a strainer in the top for the chunks.  I asked her once, why do you have that??  She said she didn't know, it was just what her mother did.  Years later I did a little research and learned that, beyond being frugal, it was because all types of grease were rationed during WWII.  If you wanted to purchase lard or shortening, you had to turn in an equal amount.

This set includes a matching salt and pepper shaker - I ASSUME.  One of the red lids is missing and they are packed in there so tight that I haven't been able to figure out how to get them out without bending them.  Maybe that is why the set is unused!  I might just pry them out and keep this one for myself.

A Long Time Ago aka Last Weekend

 Windows Explorer has categorized these photos as being taken "a long time ago" so I am apparently a little behind.  These treasures are from LAST weekend.    Windows Explorer needs to have a little patience.
Everything except the pile of t-shirts came from Division Street Antiques.  Gosh I love that place.  A leather suitcase for my collection for $7.

 They had a cigar box filled with MOP buttons waiting for me.  In cute little plastic boxes - bonus!

 I took the time to thumb through the stacks of vintage postcards and found some new rose cards for my collection, plus a few of those old sweetheart scenes.

I was delighted finding this set that tell a little story.  They haven't told me the story yet but I'll be ready when they do.
The t-shirts came from the VOA and they are fueling my latest project.  That will be another post, hopefully not from "a long time ago".

An Unscheduled Junk Stop and What I've Been Working On

 A couple of weeks ago I signed up for Karla Nathan's Nature's Blessing book swap.  There is a link over on my side bar, as well.  After her second post of inspiration pages, I couldn't resist!  I didn't have a clue what I would do but the pages aren't due until September 30th so I figured I could think of something by then.

 Inspiration came when I made an unscheduled junk stop last week.  There is a thrift near my office that I seldom go in to.  They have delusions that they are also an antique shop and when they think they've "got" something they price it accordingly and mostly inappropriately.  Anyway, I needed a break from my desk and it was handy.  I managed to score the big yellow Pyrex bowl, a poke sack of old lace, a velvet souvenir pillow cover and a big stack of unused vintage greeting cards.  Most are the glittery kind and all have a garden theme.  Game on!

 You can click the pictures bigger for a closer look.  We were to make 6 folded pages and leave half blank-ish for the recipient to journal or embellish.  I ended up up making 8 so Karla will have one to keep for herself and a spare in case she needs it.  These are the fronts.  The photo at the top of the post is the back sides with the vintage cards.

These are the open pages.  I used vintage ledger paper, postage stamps, scrapbook paper, vintage wrapping paper, buttons, paper flowers, vintage book illustrations, ribbon, stickers, labels and some library pockets that were for a video library.

 Each pocket contains a pull-out tag with vintage ledger paper on the back side.

 The scrapbook paper I used is a Tim Holtz design. Oh, I stamped some birdies, too.  I almost forgot that.

 I covered the sentiments on the cards and added a vintage illustration to the completely unfolded card to encourage journaling and additional embellishment there, as well.

In case you wondering about the poke sack of old lace...  That very wrinkled piece at the bottom of the photo is a vintage collar. So now you know what was in my sink this week, too!