Here goes . . .
My weekend started out on Friday evening with my 5th Bi-Annual Clothing Swap. Twice a year (usually spring & fall) I invite a group of women to bring clothing they want to get out of their closets. We enjoy tasty food and drink (I made tasty sangria with some of the remaining bottles of our wine shop brewed Wild Berry Zinfandel) and enjoy riffling through each others cast offs to find some great new pieces for our own wardrobes. I scored well and have a new dress, 5+ sweaters, a pair of jeans and a skirt to show for my swapping efforts. It is always a fun time and I love finding clothes (for free) that I may never even give a second glace to at the store a great way to spice up the wardrobe on a student budget!
. . .
Saturday was a garage sale bonanza for my friend Bryony and her 3 year old and I. We hit the annual Rotary garage sale held at Central Middle School - Kelly's school next year. Great finds for ok prices - always got to dig a bit deeper for charity garage sales ; ) I found some cute things which I have already cleaned and put away - sorry no photos - including a lamp, some vintage linens and a steal of a deal on a vintage Pyrex divided Snowflake casserole dish (like this one here - top shelf, left hand side behind the 'S' in the snow garland) for just $1!!!
We also headed up the peninsula towards the annual Dean Park neighbourhood sale (located in a rather posh area just south of the airport) and stopped in at a church rummage sale I had seen signs for the day before as I biked out to see Stephen Lewis speak at Royal Oak Middle School. Our stop at Garden City United Church was successful and I came away with two armloads including some sock yarn and a Fisher Price Happy Apple (thanks for the keen eye Bryony!) - the prize being this quilt for $5!
It is a bit of the crazy quilt style in that the pieces vary in shape. It is backed with yellow cotton and the pieced front seems to be a synthetic rayon - shiny, smooth stuff. There are some rips and tears and worn pieces (like the pink & white polka dot piece) but I think this will be a lovely picnic blanket.
Stopping at this rummage sale was fortuitous as we saw signs for a few other sales. We missed turning at one sign and took the next right instead - this led me to see an amazing find on the side of the road and I asked Bryony to stop.
I ran over to a scruffy looking table and lifted the nailed down cardboard-like top to discover it was hardwood!
I ran back to the car and we immediately tried to squeeze it into the back. It wouldn't fit with three of us in the car so Bruce and I came back later to pick it up. When we did, we learned the story of the table from the woman who was moving and giving it away. Her mother-in-law had been a rather small German woman who made sausage. The sausage maker/grinder was clamped to this table (lots of marks on the table to tell that story) and since she was short, the legs were cut down so that the grinder would be at the perfect height for her. The table is just over two feet tall and hits me about mid thigh. I was hoping it would be a good coffee table but it is too tall.
Instead, after a serious baking soda scrubbing to remove years of sausage grime and to get some sticky bits from the topper off, some elbow grease to pull out about 25 nails and that plastic red
trim, and an oiling to freshen it up, it is now sitting under our living room window asking for an appropriately sized chair so I can use it as a bright and inspiring work table.
HEY, it just dawned on me . . . with the light from the window and the large surface of this table, this may be the perfect sewing table! No more sewing at the dining room table and having to move it and/or eat around the sewing - how great is that?
So, that was my thrifty weekend. Garage sale season is officially here in Victoria with the arrival of warm, sunny spring weather so stay tuned for more!
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