Barn find: An Underwood No. 3!
Posted: June 4, 2014 Filed under: Fun Finds | Tags: Antiques and Collectibles, thrift shopping, Underwood Standard Typewriter No 3, vintage typewriter 2 CommentsI stopped by the thrift shop yesterday afternoon to drop off a few things.
And to take a look around, of course.
The shop was so busy that there wasn’t a single parking spot in their lot, or even on the street out front. I ended up parking a block away.
I’d never seen this shop so busy. So I didn’t expect to find anything good.
But then, after I’d had to “excuse me” and “pardon me” all the way through the shop, I finally saw something awesome in the narrowest aisle. On the floor.

A diamond in the rough. Very, very rough. It’s sitting on a vintage steel typewriter table that belongs to Janeray.
An Underwood No. 3 typewriter!
Over the rainbow, not exactly over the moon
Posted: April 27, 2014 Filed under: Fun Finds | Tags: thrift shopping, thrift store, vintage, vintage sewing notions 2 CommentsYou know yard sale season has arrived when the shelves of thrift stores start getting a bit empty. Last Saturday all the glassware was clear, all the dishes were boring, and even my favorite store with its perpetual Saturday-40%-off-bric-a-brac sale was a dud. Total dud. How is that even possible?
So I hit all the off-the-beaten-track stores run by hospitals, nonprofits and nuns. They’re the only local stores that carry old sewing stuff–fabric, notions, patterns. That’s where I found an assortment of little goodies.

A rainbow of vintage trims. Fancy some pink piping on a pillow? Kelly rick rack on an apron? So many possibilities!
At this stop the woman at the checkout in front of me had three laundry baskets full of toys. Expensive toys. The nun asked if she ran a day care. Nope. She was buying them all for her cockatoo! I wanted to see her house so bad. Can’t you just imagine mountains of plastic stuff with a bored bird perched on top?
Flea or thrift? Flea or thrift? Don’t make me choose!
Posted: April 13, 2014 Filed under: Flea market, Fun Finds | Tags: Fire King, Flea market, Gay Fad dishes, Golden Nugget, Golden Nugget Flea Market, Japanese scarf, paint by number, Steubenville Fairlane, thrift shopping, thrift store, vintage, vintage Christmas, vintage ribbon 9 CommentsYesterday ManRay and I did a marathon of shopping starting at the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville NJ. I haven’t been there since last summer and was surprised by how much the market has changed. At one time it was considered the preeminent antiques market on the East Coast.
I hit the after-Christmas sale at the thrift shop
Posted: December 27, 2013 Filed under: Fun Finds, Vintage tablecloths | Tags: Christmas, Fire King, tablecloths, Textile, thrift shopping, vintage apron, vintage tablecloth 1 CommentAnd this is what I scored! Read the rest of this entry »
Romance of the Stars, or, What’s wrong with thrift stores?
Posted: December 17, 2013 Filed under: Fun Finds, Placesettings | Tags: fine china, Romance of the Stars, thrift shopping 6 CommentsMy heart got broken by Romance of the Stars. (Pass the Kleenex! Cue weepy Hungarian violin in a minor key!)
What’s so wonderful about Romance of the Stars?
<sigh>
Ah, it’s a fantabulous mid-century atomic starburst pattern! It was love at first sight! Read the rest of this entry »