Garage Sale Marathon 2009!!

Knowles Seville sugar bowl: too sweet!

You never know why someone is unloading antique China...did it belong to their ex-husband's most beloved aunt, or the sister-in-law from hell? Or, was it the "ex-wife's"? Well--no matter the reason, I picked up all these items inside a single cardboard box for $2. I looked inside once I got home, couldn't do it at the sale. I was pleasantly surprised. Inside was the adorable sugar bowl, and 9 dinner plates, 8 bread plates and 12 saucers. TWO DOLLARS? I figured that if nothing else, these would make a great "plate" garden border like I've seen Kim do at Daisy Cottage...have you seen it?

But I do have a hard time thinking these could be buried in the dirt. Who did they belong to? Did they love them? How many family holiday dinners saw these plates gracing a table laden with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and thick pieces of pumpkin pie?

Last week, when my niece was here for garage-sale marathon 2009, we found plenty of stuff for her apartment, and I picked up a few things myself. We garaged sale-d longer than I have ever done in my whole life. From eight in the morning til seven at night we were runnin' the roads and on the hunt for signs and goodies!

I thought you might want to see what I found. I got this set of queen sized Mary Engelbreit-looking sheets for $4. They are adorable, with a ruffled edge on the pillow cases and on the flat sheet. I've got a project in mind for them that I hope to show you one day soon. They are just like new and a nice heavy weight. Too bad I don't have a bed they'll fit....my guest room is a M.E. sort of room, but I have a twin bed in there, it's way too small a room for one that's larger.

I picked up two pieces of old bark cloth for one dollar apiece. One piece went with my niece, if she likes it she can get several pillows out of it for her mid-century-style couch for her newlywed apartment!

I picked up a gorgeous cream-color queen-sized matlasse' bed cover for $1. I also sent that with my niece to use in her new apartment if she needs it. What a deal, it cleaned up perfectly and is a very nice quality piece!

My photos are a little bit out of order: this is just to show you the ruffle close-up and it's trimmed out in wide white rick rack! Such cuteness!

I got this for a friend that collects this pattern for fifty cents! The piece underneath here is a hand-made vintage oblong tablecloth, one dollar, it's not in very great shape, but I have an idea to turn it into a curtain for my bathroom with the old claw-foot tub.

A close-up of the matlasse' cover and my favorite piece of bark cloth all pressed and ready to go with my niece. Lovin' that aqua!

A new tin sign for fifty cents still in the package!

A huge piece of muslin that is three or four yards long and is eighty inches wide! Very heavy and thick! It was old and from an estate sale and was stained from storage. It cleaned up really well with the Biz/Oxyclean combination and will go in the sewing stash.

A wonderful assortment of wedding card and wedding shower cards from the mid-fifties. I sent most of them home with my niece for her vintage/retro wedding reception. I'm sure they'll make something cute with them. These are the ones she didn't take. CUTE! Twenty five cents!

An American flag mini-quilt that I might be sewing some eyelets on in order to hang it on the porch wall or from the porch ceiling for the fourth of July and other patriotic holidays.

Two big-band albums for a quarter each! Can't wait to listen to them. I love the graphics on that bottom one!

This was a quarter...and I plan on putting eye hooks on it to be able to hang.

Another dependable old iron.. the Black & Decker original! One lone dollar, needs a little steel wool on the plate, it's going to my sister who used mine and told me if I found another one, to get it for her. What a deal!

I got this lil' 1960's era toy truck for a quarter. Why do I get so thrilled when I find something like this? You know where that's going...my little toy room!

A antique pair of skates for fifty cents. I have three vintage sleds from last summer and now I've found three pairs of old skates to hang over those sleds, yippee!

Books for a quarter...old Little Golden Books are hard to resist!

This isn't from a garage sale, but I wanted to show you this little pillow was spotted yesterday during a really quick run through the aisle at a Wal-Mart on my way to pick up a few of the necessities of life. It was too cute and amazingly perfect for my red, white and blue porch. So, I thought I better tell my bloggin' friends about it, in case they had a patriotic spot to park a little cushion like this. Price: $6. The graphics are too sweet: all of the fifty states! (Click to enlarge any photo to see better!) These would also make a great travel pillow, they're little.

My niece already has some of her little furniture finds painted, one was a gorgeous shade of aqua on the cutest little table the most adorable little legs on it that she bought for $2. All of that brings back memories of our starting out with whatever we could find, fixin' it up along the way, and being so thrilled with it.

Autumn found a WHOLE BEDROOM OUTFIT that day at an estate sale for $100!! I think it was early seventies, very good quality and the bed headboard and footboard will make into either queen or full, a nightstand with a drawer and a shelf, a nine-drawer dresser with a huge mirror!! And, she got a mid-century sleeper sofa--the mattress had never been used --for $50 that she'll slipcover and it'll be just grand! She was pretty happy with the success she had that day, she found all of the items she had on her list that day as well as a few things like an antique etched mirror for FIFTY CENTS! I wish I'd taken photos of all of her finds!

Now I need to get busy with all the projects I brought home!