Birthday Thrift Crawl 2014!

Hello Friends, it's good to have you here!

So, last post was the pre-Birthday Thrift Crawl post, and this is the one with my finds from my actual single-day Thrift Crawl. Which actually fell on my birthday this year, March 1st! I got to 6 stores over about 40 miles in 4 hours. I got a bit of a late start because I had to go to my son's hockey game (he scored 2 goals!) and also got to stop in and visit with an old friend before ending up at my parents' house for dinner. It was a good day. And as I get older it's so much less about the stuff, and much more about the experience...but then again there is always plenty of stuff!

So on with it...

This set of Kromex canisters was a lucky find. They were all scattered about the store and priced individually came to less than $5 total. They're in great shape- I took them over to the booth.

Of course, I am looking for Pyrex first and foremost. The Butterprint 401 and the unmarked green 403 are duplicates for me, so they went over to the booth. I have been looking for this green for a long time, because it enabled me to complete an unmarked primary set for the booth- I have had no luck selling them separately so will try it this way. It's in great condition- amazing for being close to 70 years old!

I found the square flowers 473 at my first stop- and it was a gold mine for Pyrex! Also at that same store I found an unmarked opal 403, and a pixie. This is the second birthday thrift crawl in a row where I found pixies, and I have never found them any other time, go figure. 

I also found this sad excuse for a pink stripe 401

...but it was only 99 cents so I couldn't leave it there. And I don't know about you, but I have never seen pink stripes in person, so yeah, I'll bring it home and love it. But look what I found the next week (last week, at a different store)- mommy stripe! And this one is near perfect! Who knew? Pink stripes in the wild!

 I found this cute nursery set as well. I don't know the maker, but it is really sweet, and has all its pieces in great shape. I wish I had this when my son was a baby- and I don't know anyone else expecting a boy baby, so I will probably list it on Etsy or take it to the booth.

At this point in my travels things were really getting picked over. It's not surprising that almost all the good stuff was found early. I should make a reverse trip some time and see if the stores farthest away are good first thing on a Saturday morning...but I pride myself on my ability to find something good in any store, any time. And I think this is pretty good:

It's an oil painting, almost 3 ft wide. No frame, but I can tell by the stretcher and the keys that it is likely pre-WWII (see, Mom, that museum degree comes in handy!) It's not in the best of condition, but certainly worth the $15 I paid. I have a small collection of vintage landscape paintings at our cabin up in the mountains- this will fit right in!

And this is my last find of the trip- a vintage chenille bedspread. But not your average floral or even a peacock. No, this one has 120th INF (Infantry) 30th DIV (division) and the division herald. I have never seen a military-themed chenille bedspread before- they are usually very feminine. So if you are looking for a full size chenille bedspread with somewhat of a different theme, check it out in my Etsy shop! It's in mint condition- not a mark on it. And as always, since you all are such loyal readers, enter coupon code PIT20OFF and you will get 20% your order!

Pre-Birthday Thrift Crawl Haul!

Hello Friends, it's good to see you again!

It's that time of year again- time for my annual birthday thrift crawl! That's when I take a whole day and go to all the thrift stores that are outside my usual neighborhood. It's good to kind of check in on places a bit farther out, just to see what's available. But I never have quite enough time to get to all the places I want to go in one day, so...I've decided to turn it into a week-long event. As in, get to a different nearby store every day this week, and save the long distance ones for the actual day (which was this past Saturday- that's the next post).

I've had some pretty good luck in spots and some terrible luck in others. (Like today- drove 35 miles and came home empty-handed...) But, you win some, you lose some, and you'll never win if you don't play the game!

I got very lucky in the Pyrex/vintage glass department, and that always makes everything better! I found this charcoal snowflake divided dish with lid- it's my first piece of black snowflake found ITW. The only other piece I have is a space saver I bought on ebay. It's in mint condition and I love it!

Can you believe I found a piece of Fry glass at the pound store? Yep, a Fry oven glass (iridescent) pie plate with a 1915 date stamp for about 50 cents! I think it was $0.89/lb, LOL. I have enough pie plates right now (even tho this is sooo pretty) and no oven to bake them in (hint: watch for a stove update soon!) so this one will be for sale I think.

I also found these Hazel Atlas pretties in the discount room of a different thrift- 25 cents each! Two dinner plates and two cereal bowls. I have mixed these in with my Pyrex turquoise band dinnerware and they look amazing!

I found this Spring Blossom 2 473 the other day. I am not a big fan of the original SB, but the redesign is really growing on me. I like the small flowers! I might hold on to this one for a while to use in my spring display; I don't have a lot of green except for lime. The little chalkware duck was so cute, I picked him up for 50 cents.

I found another space saver! This is actually my second Golden Pine SS found in the wild. It's in much better condition than the first one, so I will be holding onto this one and selling the first. I love this design- it's a combo of atomic and nature, so it speaks to me. ;)

I counted up all the space savers I have found ITW and believe it or not, I've found 7, including a starburst and a rooster (with lid and cradle). I don't think I'm any more lucky than anyone else, just persistent, so they are out there, keep looking!

Probably my biggest score in terms of reselling was this lot of vintage eyewear. I got everything here for $8, including the vintage safety glasses and the 1920s round specs. I always look through the sunglass and eyewear bins at thrift stores, because these can pay off big online. I've sold quite a few pairs for 3 figures when I only paid a couple dollars for them.

So that's it for my pre-birthday week thrift crawl haul!

Stay tuned for the next post on my finds from the big day!