Vacation thrift finds!

Well, it's a rainy day here at ChezQT and I am neck deep in canning projects. This time of year is always crazy with the garden produce coming in nonstop and getting ready for back to school, plus trying to squeeze in all the fun stuff I wanted to do with the kids. So that's my excuse for not blogging a lot lately.

But I still thrift and collect when I can, so here's a sampling of some of the stuff I picked up lately!

We recently spent a week and a half at our cabin upstate. One rainy day up there, I cleaned out a lot of the stuff we don't use and took it to a thrift shop in the local town. I dropped off four big trash bags full of stuff! And the bonus was I got to shop at the store too, and this is one little shop that hasn't yet succumbed to the high prices of the big chains. Nothing in the store was more than $2!

You can bet I was super excited to find Pyrex on my vacation- I was going through withdrawal at this point, and these were just what I needed! The snowflake divided dish (with lid!) was $2, the flamingo plate was 25 cents and the turquoise vegetable bowl was $2 at a flea market (more on that later!). I already have the snowflake DD, so this one will be for sale. I'm trying to resist collecting the Pyrex dinnerware, so will have to let the plate and bowl go too (eventually!)

These little handled crocks are GlasBake and were 25 cents each. I think I will keep them up there for a while, at least through the fall when I will use them for soup!

This orange ball pitcher was (yep, you guessed it) $2! I will be taking it to the booth.

The pottery vase was $1 and will be a nice addition to the collection of white pottery I already have up there. The two saucers are Taylor Smith Taylor Cathay.

I love this hand painted cookie jar and it was only $1! It's really big, like a gallon size.

But probably the best score of all was this vintage suitcase. I went up to the checkout with my arms full of (mostly breakable) stuff and spied this off to the side, under a pile of other things. I had to ask if it was even for sale. The ladies were so happy someone wanted it- they said it had been there for weeks- that they almost apologized for asking $2. I packed it full of my treasures and they all made it home safely, and in style.

Oh, and the table all these are photographed on was a flea market find. It's an old farm table I bought at the flea market for $5. The oilcloth was definitely too far gone to save, but the table underneath has a great patina, which I will show you in a another post!

Some recent flea market finds

Just because I've been really busy doesn't mean that I don't make time to shop! I've been going to yard sales and the occasional flea market in search of great treasures for the shop. (Even though I've been neglecting my shop something terrible these days, I have still been buying stock. Just have to list it!)

It's yard sale season around here and I have probably been to a few dozen over the past couple of weeks. But it is getting harder to find good stuff, definitely. Most of the time it's cheap modern junk and when I do find some vintage it's often overpriced. *sigh...* I guess we're too trendy! :)

The only real good thing I found at a yard sale was this:

A 1940s Bakelite weather station for $2. It works great; I've been wanting one of these for a long time, but didn't want to buy a new one. This one has style! We actually use a barometer quite a bit for fishing; it's usually not even worth going if its over 30 (as it is today!) 

I actually bought the weather station at the same estate sale as the Giant Lamp- they've been having a yard sale about every 2 weeks trying to get the place cleaned out. I bought a couple more items of clothing there, but that was the only yard sale I went to that I even bought anything at.

We also have a weekly flea market here that even though it's close, is quite hit-or-miss as far as quality goes. I hadn't been yet this year, but I'm glad I stopped by this weekend. 

I found this great vintage tablecloth. I don't think I've ever seen a palm tree-themed one before, so I snapped it up for $3. (I don't care that it's 54" square and doesn't fit my table. :P)

I love vintage aviation stuff, especially flight bags. I found this one from BOAC (now known as British Airways) from the 60s. I had to have it for $3, and it's a keeper. I know I need to sell some of this stuff, but not this- it's the perfect size for overnights and is just so classy. I have a vintage plaid flight bag that I actually take as a carry-on when I fly; its amazing how much I can fit in it and how it always makes people smile when they recognize it. Same deal with this one!

Trash-picked Tuesday: A third vintage suitcase

Longtime readers may recall that I have a set of mint green Samsonite suitcases, the larger of which I trash picked about 10 years ago.

This weekend, on my annual birthday thrift store crawl, the trash-picking gods (if there could possibly be such a thing, LOL) smiled on me once again and I found a third green suitcase in the set!

At my favorite vintage clothing store this was parked outside, marked "FREE"! 

Well, I love me some bargains on vintage clothes (more about that Thursday ;), but I cannot pass up free stuff, especially something that is part of a set I already have.

I'm not sure what is the proper name for this style, but I believe it is something like a hard-sided garment bag. The two halves are not hinged, but rather come apart. There are clasps along the other three sides to hold it together, and on the inside there are collapsible rods to hang your suits.

It wasn't in the greatest of shape- the lock had been drilled out and it had some mildew inside. But after a throrough cleaning and a good airing, it's definitely usable.

Maybe over a couple more years I can finish my curbside set of suitcases with the hatbox and matching Bermuda green traincase!

(And after a quick cruise around eBay and etsy, I'm gonna have to score them for free, because I sure can't afford what they're asking for these anymore! Yikes!  And double yikes!)