When I want a melody---

Decor/crafts for Advent Fest

Rescued a hymnal from Hillsdale UCC from a garage sale. The lady felt badly that it ended up in her sale; so she gave it to me. I'll try to get it back to the church where it belongs.
The bling wreaths were $2 for all four. The ornament tree was $5.

This made my day: a musical box from Germany that plays a section from the Blue Danube. $5.
It's made by Steinbach in Hohenhameln.  On the inside of the box it says West Germany, so it's from before 1990. Play the video (below, right) to see how sweet it is. 

Dishes for the 2016 Afternoon Tea at First Congregational in Salem, Oregon. Reserve your tickets now! :)
Dishes set me back $30. 

Wooden candlesticks from Sweden. $1 for all three.
Five books for $1

Where there is tea, there is hope.

Finds from about six garage sales and one thrift store in Seattle this Labor Day weekend.

Wooden Christmas tree candlestick with elf, made in Sweden $1.
Turtle and whale a quarter each.
Scented candle $2
Necklace $3 (thrift store)
CD's were $1 each
Letter game $2
Vera Bradley bag $10 (thrift store)

Tea Cosy 50 cents
Crate & Barrel Jingle Bell Picks $1
Stack of melamine plates to add to collection for church picnic $5
Mug 50 cents (thrift store)
Aprons $2
Infinity scarf (blue floral) $1

Big books were $2 each; small ones ten cents each.
Langston Hughes bookmark fifty cents
Note cards $1.99 (thrift strore)
Card game $1.50

Dishes!

The spoils of last weekend's garage sales.

Eight place settings of these Czech dishes to be used at the afternoon tea of 2016. I paid $12.50

It's blue. It's white. It's pretty. It's only $3.

Gold colored box with chargers $3. My daughter wanted the box. I added the chargers to my charger collection.

Believe it or not, I found another turkey platter with the same acorn/wreath design. It's the exact same one as last week's. This one cost $10 (no chip). I will put them both to good use. Two, red, wire cupcake holders $1 each. Alarm clock tea pot $3. All mugs $2.50 total. CD fifty cents. Homestead kitchen knives $1.50. Christmas scarf $1. Citrus press fifty cents. Assorted wooden spoons one quarter. Mary Engelbreit book $2 (Estate Sale).

Two sweet mugs. The one on the left is by Waechtersbach, Germany. The one on the right is by Otagiri, Japan. 

Something in the air

On Friday, we shopped near the location of a major gas leak. The smell of rotten eggs was very noticeable. Fire fighters, police and the gas company had cordoned off a small area. We were joking that we might land in pieces in a free box if there was an explosion. Not really funny, I know. 

Today, we braved smoky air from forest fires in Eastern Oregon and Washington.
The sky is still very hazy. But none of that kept us away from garage sales.
Here's what we found:

A Ravensburger puzzle for $1
A new Vera Bradley bag for $5
books for fifty cents each, mug for a quarter

cotton tea towel from Scotland one dime, aprons fifty cents each

lot of Clinique make-up fifty cents

box of Yankee Candle tea lights fifty cents.

You didn't know that this Playmobil family lives in a teapot, did you?
Teapot $3; Holy Family $4

Los Angeles Potteries Bread Dish $1
It has a chip and a hairline crack, so I paid exactly what it was worth.

This might be the find of the weekend: a vintage Pepsi tray
with a scene from Coney Island.  Paid 75 cents.

$1 for this wood-mounted Mary Engelbreit mini poster.

Holiday platter $2 (has a chip) made in Italy
and a brand new, sealed Putomayo Christmas CD $1.50

Too much to list!

This week's treasures. 

$1 for all candles in the picture.
CD's were expensive this week: $1 each.
$1.50 for all fabric in the picture.
$2 for the counted cross stitch kit.
$1 each for the large Kirkland conditioner and the Matrix foam.

$5 for the Teapot. I've been good about teapots this summer: this is only the second one I bought.
It's sitting on a stack of 8 square Crate & Barrel plates. I paid $6.00

Nordicware cake pan. $3

When I bought the teapot, the lady said she had matching cups in her kitchen. She went inside to get them. I paid $5 for 4.

Two of them are in this picture. Front right.
The floral cups are Spode. They were $6.00 at Goodwill. 

Blast from the past: 1970's stationery. I had similar notecards as a kid. You write your note on the inside, fold it over and seal it with a matching sticker (a strawberry in this case). I have no idea what I will do with them. But they were only a quarter.

Find of the week: a salt glaze jar. I know these as Jars from Cologne (Keulse Pot). I Googled those today and learned that this type of jars (made from river clay) did indeed originate in the region around Cologne. And as German emigrants settled elsewhere in the world, this pottery technique was introduced in other places. These jars are the predecessor of canning jars. The salt glaze made them impervious and resistant to acid. People would stuff them with vegetables (cabbage for instance), fill the jar up with vinegar, put a clean cloth over the opening, close it off with a wood lid, put something heavy on the lid and store it in a cool place. It was the way to preserve the summer harvest and have fresh vegetables, eggs, and even meat in wintertime. 

This weekend's stuff

Starbucks Verismo: $20 (we get the coffee for free: the advantage of having a barista in the family)
Set of nice Libbey juice glasses: fifty cents
Set of 6 Zak! Design melamine plates: $1
Two sets of Christmas coasters: quarter
Hurricane candle holder (Ikea) with candle: $10
Books: $1.25
Boeing paper clips: $1
CD+DVD: $2
Apothecary jar: $5
Practical finds not pictured: Pack of Dockers men's t-shirts and cedar BBQ planks: $5 all.

I love it when I can buy a book at a g-sale that's on my Amazon wish list: This is San Francisco $2
And one on William and Catherine $1
Set of 6 melamine plates: $1
CD's: quarter each
$4.50 paid for all 6 mugs in the photo.
Billy book end (Ikea): quarter
Trader Joe shopping bag in the background: free box

Swimmer: $3
I have several Halloween figurines from the same artist (whose name I don't know)
This was the first time that I found a figurine of the same make at a g-sale.

Tchotch·ke noun informal: a small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional; a trinket.

The haul from this weekend: $32
We shopped garage sales in spite of the 100+ degree weather. On Friday, I scored a nice (new) San Diego Hat Company hat for $1, an angel from Germany's Erzgebirge $1 and a made in Germany Tiddlywinks mushroom with a still-sealed bag of winks inside $1.50
Then on Sunday, we went to the neighborhood sale around a golf course. Upscale neighborhood= Upscale prices. I ended up with tchotchkes (or in Dutch: Hebbedingetjes)-- plain kitsch. But we had a lot of fun and walked for 3+ hours and bought bottled water at many a sale to keep going. 

Made in England kitsch is still kitsch. But I couldn't pass up on this Liliput Lane Tea Room Cottage.
It's a miniature of my dream house. 

Jemima Puddle Duck made by Royal Albert not Beswick, alas. $10
Martha Stewart banquet size table cloth in the foreground $2.50
Melamine plate for the July 4th picnic collection fifty cents
New Pear tea towel fifty cents

From Germany with love: Waechtersbach mugs. A quarter each.

Bli Bla Blog

This weekend's haul. Spent around $30.
Garage sales were overall disappointing.

Can anyone explain to me how to format pictures on Blogger?? There has to be a way to place them side by side. 

   

Linens. Table cloths, table runners, place mats and napkins. $7.50 

Never pass up anything from Crate and Barrel.
Laundered and pressed. Lovely tea towel. 50 cents.

Hand cream in a pump; Crabtree and Evelyne hand cream in a tube. Body wash for men. All smelled fresh and new. Total cost $1.50. Picture frame 50 cents. Shakespeare, Explorers, and Civil War "fans" with lots of trivia on those subjects, 50 cents each.

Holly Hobbie from the Seventies.  Loved it then, love it now. Especially this tea pot. $3

Travelocity Gnome 50 cents.
German fairy tale $1

 Spent $2.50 on all books and $6 on CD's.

Sugar pot. $2

Twenty percent

While shopping garage sales today, I listened to an interview with a nurse midwife on National Public Radio. She talked about how in Oregon almost 20% of all births are assisted by a nurse midwife instead of a doctor, and nationwide 10%. She explained that it takes 20% of the population to participate in a new idea or way of doing things for it to get mainstream. It got me to thinking about our church's emphasis on earth care, our successful first attempt at a no-trash Fourth of July picnic (many people answered the call to bring their own plates, cups, utensils, and cloth napkins), and the meeting this coming Sunday that won't be using Post-It notes, but scrap paper cut to Post-It notes size instead. When an organization starts walking their talk, it reaches and inspires more people than an individual could. Let's hope we're contributing to reaching 20% for refusing, reusing, reducing and recycling! My personal drop in the bucket is ordering my latte at Starbucks in a ceramic cup and my treat on a ceramic plate. And by using my clothes line during the heat wave we just had. (There is something seriously messed up with running the A/C and the clothes dryer simultaneously.) Today at a sale, I found new clothes pins. They'll soon be holding on to towels, shirts, underwear, socks... If you're looking for a practical, sturdy, and portable clothes line, check out the Brabantia Rotary Clothes Dryer here: http://www.brabantia.com/int_en/laundry-drying-ironing/rotary-dryer/ They are available here: http://www.amazon.com/Brabantia-311048-Lift-O-Matic-Weather-Rotary/dp/B0002EXYPM/ref=sr_1_10?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1436570078&sr=1-10&keywords=brabantia (Yes, it's Dutch as am I.) I highly recommend it. Of course, I do drive my car from sale to sale... and it runs on gas not electricity. Small steps. Small steps.

Here are my photos of Friday's haul:

I spent $40.

This tea cup tray will adorn my kitchen and be on display at the annual High Tea.

I collect these glass sundae cups for our church.
The plan is to have enough so we never have to buy disposable dishes again
for Sundae Sunday and other events that include ice cream. 

Pretty tablecloth from Provence. It's heavy and has a sheen on it. I paid $10. It's in excellent condition.

Peter Rabbit plate of a Mama Rabbit who takes care of her sick baby ($1).
Reminded me of a Dutch nursery rhyme called "Sick Little Rabbit." Moeder konijntje zat bij haar kleintje. Zat bij haar kleintje dat mazelen had." The title sounds awful in English!
The Pig just had to come home with me.
It's original artwork ($15). 

Always nice to pick up skin care from a trusted brand. I paid a quarter each.

Happy days!