Yard sale treasures

Two Saturdays ago I was able to leave Maren with Daddy and go out junkin' by myself for the first time this season. I checked the online classifieds to see if there were any estate sales in my area and found a listing for a sale that advertised tons of vintage kitchenware. Hello! Luckily, it was not too far away (most estate sales around here are in the older parts of town, which are quite far from me) and I made that one my first stop of the morning. It was amazing--the kind of sale that I literally dream about. The owner had a business selling vintage kitchenware on eBay but was moving in with her boyfriend and couldn't take it all with her. I was there on the second day of the sale and there was still a ton of stuff and by then, she wanted it all GONE and was more than willing to deal to get it out of there. Music to my ears! I grabbed a box and set to digging.I hit the kitchen first and was immediately amazed by the amount of dishes and glasses for sale, and at the cheap prices! I was tickled to find this vintage strawberry tablecloth (it's a Startex--still has its tag) for only $2! It has a small hole in one corner but the colors are nice and bright.

I also started grabbing vintage painted drinking glasses. There were probably two dozen, some in sets and some singles. The two in the middle are Anchor Hocking and match the juice carafe I already own. They have great Halloween colors! The little one on the right was by itself and the color combination is unusual (pink, yellow and burgundy?) but I couldn't leave it there! Can you guess which one is my favorite? The turquoise and red one on the left, of course! Also in this photo are strand of red mercury glass Christmas beads, a pink Royal Haeger candlestick (marked 75¢!) and a bunch of vintage millinery lilies of the valley from another sale.

Here are the other glasses I bought--this set of four with stripes in pretty pastel colors. I think I paid maybe $2 for all four! I'm not sure what the pale green ceramic square piece in front is--doesn't look like an ashtray, but I'm not sure. The white milk glass bottle in the back is an old Pond's cold cream jar and was 25¢--it has a great metal lid with shabby red roses printed on it. The poodle in the middle is a Christmas ornament from another estate sale, and the vintage Hazel Atlas tulip sour cream? container in the back was 25¢ at yet another sale. In the middle of the photo is some pretty green vintage seam binding and a pile of Trader Vic's swizzle sticks.

Also from the kitchenware sale: the aqua planter, round dish, and a pile of vintage colored metal icicles to hang on a Christmas tree. The cute vintage playing cards in front were from the same sale as the lilies and the seam binding. The Victory cookbook in the back was $1 and is from 1945, while the Solitaire cookbook is from the late 1930s. I also found 3 of the old jars with zinc lids for $2 each at a different sale (and narrowly missed out on buying 11 more zinc lids for a quarter each...that made me sick).

The vintage ornaments were from the kitchenware sale, as was the vintage printed dishcloth. I also found a pretty pink & aqua tablecloth at that same sale but it has a large stain in the middle. I've already soaked it in Oxyclean once but the stain didn't budge, so I'm going to get some Biz and try again--hopefully then I can get a photo. The item in the top right corner is a vintage satin hankie holder. It's so pretty! I bought it from an elderly lady who said it belonged to her mother.

And the last photo--a vintage Christmas apron I bought from the hankie holder lady. It looks like it was homemade from a printed panel and it has old prong-set rhinestones in the centers of the poinsettias.

I had such a great day! That kitchenware sale was to.die.for. In the basement were rows of shelves just filled with stacks of mid-century kitchenware of every kind. Amazing! I looked and looked for my beloved Lu-Ray but all I found were three saucers. I wonder if maybe there had been more the first day but it had been snapped up by the time I got there. The basement was a mess and there were still boxes that hadn't been unpacked--who knows what treasures were waiting in those!

I'm still in Utah (it's actually Sunday night, I just started writing this yesterday morning so it will show up as a Saturday post) but we leave for home tomorrow (Monday) morning. I hope to post again on Tuesday with a giveaway, so be sure to check back then!