Another Yard Sale, another good find...

This week was my aunt and uncle's retirement auction. I went there, hoping to snatch something of value to me. I was not disappointed. I found this oval shaped enamelware dish that used to belong to my Grandmother who passed away years ago. O, was I happy! Since I already collect enamelware, this was precious.

The next thing I looked at buying was an old blanket of some sort, used to put under a mattress or possibly on the floor. It was very heavy and I would have no use for it. The only thing that attracted me to it was the fabric cover which looked very vintage. I walked away and later came back and it was still there! My aunt saw me fingering it and said, "That is made of feed sacks". I asked what was in the inside, because I had some sort of hunch it might be valuable to me, and she said an old quilt. That did it! I picked it up and was very happy to pay 5 Bze for it. I couldn't wait to rip open the cover to find out just what was hidden inside. I wondered, if the outside cover is made of old sacks long ago, then how old is the quilt that's inside???

This was the outside cover. I want to open the seams so I can use the pieces individually.

 
 This was on the inside. A stitched together heavy piece of quilt...or as I would discover, quilts!

 

After removing the cover I undid the stitches that held together the inside piece. As I opened it, I discovered layer upon layer of an old quilt made with colorful fabric pieces. To my glad surprise, not just one quilt was used, but another one that looked even older, and another piece of something with an interesting shape that I do not know what it would have been used for!

 This baffles my mind. What do you think it could have been used for??? I will be sure to try and find out...

The nicest quilt. Ain't she a beauty? A shame to cover it up for so many years, but on the other hand, good for me as this way it stayed preserved to a certain extent. I will try to fix the damage of the cut off strip somehow which you cannot see in the photo. Some blocks are quite torn but most are intact. I think I even see fabric in it that could have my mother's dresses when she was young, as she has saved up a small square of every piece of fabric that was ever used to sew her a dress when she was a girl.  How neat is that! She even wrote down what year the dresses were made, so I can see how many she got in one year. Not all that many, and many were made from feed sacks...The good old days that we know so little about. How times have changed!

 A few blocks from up close.

Wow, wow, wow.

Here is the next quilt, the older looking one. It had been patched over in the worst places which I tore off because I wanted to see the quilt in its entirety. This one is worn worse than the other one, so I might just cut some patterns from around the outside and make myself a small quilt or wallhanging out of it. First, I want to know the history before I go ahead and do something like that though.

 here are some closeups of the blocks used on the quilt. Very neat.

 This would have made a gorgeous dress for any little girl. It is my favorite color in this quilt.

I considered myself very lucky. It was well worth 5 dollars to me! The only sad part is the quilts have both been cut to fit into the cover, so now I need to find a way to restore old quilts. I have been thinking about gluing the pieces together, or sewing them together; I am not sure which I will decide to do.

I plan to make another visit to my aunt. My guess is she will be very surprised to see all the old pieces. I have so many questions to ask. Hopefully her memory floodgate will open wide!

Who made the quilts?

Who used them?

Are they all made of feed sack fabric or other fabric?

Would my Grandmother or even my Great-grandmother have used any of the fabrics?

Were they wedding gifts or other special gifts?

I wonder if the women that quilted these quilts came together with horse and buggies for the quilting? These old quilts would have so many stories to tell if they could talk, and I hope to be able to get a hold of some of them before they are lost.

Here is the update!!!

Decorating with Jars

Jars. I like jars. In all shapes and sizes. I find using jars a very economic yet perfect way to decorate a house. Lately I have been looking for different ways to display jars, and today I want to share them with you. 

 Tea light candles in baby food jars! Last saturday my daughter and I went yard saling again, and as I have said before, I always peer into those boxes marked 'free' cause I just never know what I will find. This time it was a bunch of baby food jars. O yes!

 We also tried this one: flowers in a baby food jar. I painted the lid gold, stuck some flowers into a small piece of sponge foam that I painted green and glued to the inside of lid, and voila. A very pretty little gift for any pretty little lady, and so inexpensive. And, your flowers are going to stay pretty and clean, protected inside the jar from dust and humidity, which can be a problem here in Belize.

 When I saw a similar soap dispenser, I got busy with my own, as I had a few of those empty blue jars on hand. I have been on the lookout for ways to use them, and this fit perfectly in my bathroom, where I already have a blue quart jar with shells. It is a much better dispenser than the cheap plastic ones you buy with soap. I did use the cheap plastic bottle to fashion this one though. I melted a hole in the center of the white lid that goes on the jar, and used the top of the plastic bottle to insert into the hole from the inside, and then screwed the dispenser on. Easy enough! I am thinking this would also make a great gift. One could just use a clear jar, and use colored soap.

 Here are two jars I was very excited to find during last yard sale hunt...they turned out pretty neat after a good washing and painting the two lids a lovely golden color.

 Perhaps having Dilmah tea in them makes them appear even more attractive?...

 Jars for photo frames. That is a new one for me, but I LOVE the idea! I had to try that one instantly, and it was a hit I thought.

 How about a bunch of buttons in a vintage jar? I have it sitting on my vintage (and only) sewing machine; it looks right at home there. I like this jar because it has my year number on it: 1976. If I was American I would like it because it has the liberty bell on it. It actually says 1776 on top and 1976 on bottom. 

 Assorted marbles in an emptied candle jar.

I am sure there are many more ways to decorate in jars. I will keep my eyes open and add them as I keep prettying up my house!

Linked to:

Funky Junk Interiors
The Shabby Nest

Family Treasures

After my Grandfather passed away a while ago, the aunts, uncles and Grandmother did some housecleaning, and I made sure I would not miss the event. I always want to see what goes into the 'junk' box, and did I have fun rummaging through it...

old cards...

A 1968 Rand McNally road atlas. I have searched google a few times, and can not find any book like it online. I am not sure why that is. I will just pretend that means they are rare, and it is extremely valuable... :)
 

The best find, two old plates. One is ceramic, the other enamelware. Both are cracked.

An old yeast container; I remember my mother using yeast from tins like these. It was not instant yeast, but the kind that had to soak a while before you could use it.

This reader is one my mom picked out for me. She knows I like old stuff...thanks Mom. Jessica loves reading it. Does anyone of my relative readers know, (and is brave enough to comment ;) was this Grandfather's reader when he went to school? I would love to know!

It is a canadian reader filled with lots of good old-fashioned stories and pictures.

An old book that has lovingly received a fabric cover.

And oh, the old letters and envelopes and books that any vintage collector can use!

This one is amazing. I got several short papers, school papers I believe, with the most beautiful hand writing I have ever seen. They must have really focused on neatness back then. Isn't that written with a fountain pen?

This must be how they learned. I also found this penmanship notebook. Not only were the students learning penmanship, but at the same time facts as they copied the sentences over and over...

The book has some blank pages in the end. Maybe I should get out a pen, and try my hand at it; see if I am better now than when I was in school...I was terrible.

...what's important is the memories of my Grandfather that I took with me out of that box...

Teacups and Roses

I have a teacup collection. It's not very big, but every cup is precious and behind almost every one I could post a story of how I came across it. I also can't resist buying decorations or fabric with teacups or teapots when I see something I 'need'. 

 The cup with the pink wild rose is perhaps my most special one. We lived in Iowa at the time I bought it, but I bought it in Winnipeg while visiting my family there. Wild roses grow in Iowa in the ditches in summertime, and how we enjoyed them.

So naturally, when I saw this beautiful cup and saucer, I had to buy them!

 I once told my mom, who likes to visit thrift stores, to keep her eyes open for teacups. She did, and brought us two lovely ones on her last visit here. Then my sister found out I like teacups, so she gave me these two cute lil cups she had picked up in Tawain, where her husband went to school. Aren't they just adorable? (Hi Susie, come on over sometime and we'll have some chinese tea.)

 This little night light was just not going to remain hanging in our store for someone else to grab. I had to snatch it while it was available. It adorns my kitchen at night.

My bare windows above my kitchen sink were needing something to dress them up real bad, and I found this at the store. It fits the window real well, and adds the perfect touch to my country kitchen.

When the weather is rainy as it often is lately, and it gets stormy and overcast, there is nothing better than turning on some lovely music, and brewing a cup of coffee or tea, and sipping it from one of my special cups. My daughter loves to join me when I do.


 I took the above photo at the end of the dry season. The below photo looks amazingly different after some rain. The rain cleared away a lot of smoke; the smoke was worse than it has ever been in the history of this country. Fires are usually made by people clearing land.

I love the rainy season. Sure it means I have to hang my laundry in the basement to dry, but that is ok. If I hang it out in the rainy season I risk being attacked by fire ants, as they are worse during the wet season, so the basement is not a bad place to hang laundry. There are many other reasons to like it; clear air, thunderstorms at night, green grass and trees, and an excuse to drink hot tea and coffee...I am sure there are more.

I think I need a cup now!

Vintage Enamelware

Yesterday there was another yard sale, which meant more fortune for me! I have been collecting enamelware for a while without realizing how much I was accumulating. Now, I am thinking all I need is an old cabinet painted white, and I will have a lovely display. 

The flower bowl to the back left was my Grandmothers. It seems to me it was a soup bowl, but it being so long ago, I can hardly recall anymore. The cup to the front left also belonged to her; the handle is broken off. 

The little cream pitcher to the right is something my mom passed on to me. The bowl to the back right, the candleholder, and the two huge cups toward the middle I picked up from yesterday's sale. The candleholder and bowl were free. :) The rest of the items are garage sale finds over many years. I have green enamelware as well, but decided only to show the white here.

I welcome any suggestions for displaying these items, if you have any ideas.

Yard Sale Find

Yesterday I took Jessica along to a yard sale. In case you haven't noticed, I am a bit of an antique freak, so I have to go check out all antiques. I don't think many people around here care that much for old things, so I sometimes get lucky.

(1 BZE $ = .50 US)

  A complete old-fashioned marble checkers game. The children love to play it. I thought it was a good buy

(especially since I checked ebay and saw people are asking $60 US for these!!!...)

Two more teacups with saucers to add to our collection.

 An old wooden handmade box.

Some great books for our little bookworms. I can buy the workbooks here and I think I will just do that for our little bookworm students.

A gallon canning jar: $5.00. I love jars, especially these old ones that are becoming rare!

'Some of the best things in life are free', right? Or, 'one woman's junk is another woman's treasure'. I usually look in the FREE box for stuff, in case this can happen. I was very much pleased to find all these vintage hankies tucked away in it. A steal, isn't it! Especially since Jessica has started her own collection...

It was definitely worth going, and I can't wait for the next one...