Estate Sale Treasures

It has long been my desire to be able to visit Estate Sales on a regular basis. I'm pleased to announce that time has arrived. Dan and I have been available to visit Estate Sales the past three weeks.

We are fortunate to live by several retirement communities: Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand... you get the picture. In our area the sales are primarily scheduled on Thursday/Friday. As an added bonus, neighbors in those communities also hold their garage sales and yard sales on those same days.

The first week out we scored big time by finding a framed piece featuring a personal letter signed to a friend along with an official photo autographed by a former Vice President. We are taking this to Antiques Roadshow when we go in August.

The second week we came away empty handed. But yesterday I found lots of treasures. I collect glassware. I don't set it away to gather dust however, I use every piece I purchase. My normal source is the Goodwill Store. But I now know that Estate Sales are loaded with the stuff. You have to be careful though, as much of it is way overpriced.

I also collect vintage linens (preferably handmade). You can find these scattered about my home. Here's what I brought home yesterday (please ignore my smeared oven control panel):

I'm going to cross-stitch a piece for the lid of the fishing basket and place it in Dan's office.

 I also plan to cross-stitch a piece for the cigar box, but will not paint or stain it outside or inside.

 It has cool labels on it that I don't want to cover up.

The jar in the rear (left) has an engraving of a cabin in the woods.

 I plan to use this as Christmas decor in Dan's office. 

The tiny bottle is going to be a toothpick holder.

I saw a cool table runner on Pinterest made of doilies sewn together.

I have many doilies crocheted by my grandmothers and don't want to alter them.

So I'm buying up doilies at the sales to make a table runner with. 

Stay tuned!

These are handkerchiefs. The photo is terrible. 

I tried to take a closeup, but it's even worse. 

They are very delicate and the colors of the crocheted edges are just beautiful.