More yard sale finds

I have been hit hard with some welcome-to-Fall illness: coughing, sneezing, aching, runny nose, the whole lot. My plans for kids clothes week got knocked into the bin with a bunch of tissues. I've been keeping up with the goal of one hour per day with my cross-stitch, however.

So instead of handmade goodness, here are some of the amazing things I got last week when I went to a couple of yard sales with my mom. I love the recipe box in the top photo. It still has the price tag from the Hills department store of its birth. I love the color and my snaps needed a home to call their own. Those little kicks are E.T. Buster Browns from 1983 -- a fabulous thrift store find from a couple weeks back. This tin golf game from the 1950s is the best thing I think I have ever found secondhand. I plan to hang it on the wall in Zadie's big girl room as it matches the colors perfectly and will add the perfect vintage-y edge that I've been wanting. If anyone knows anything about it, I would love to know. It's a Pressman Toy and the company still exists but there is no date.

We also finally stopped into this fabric store that I have known about my whole life but never went into. I'm not usually anywhere near it (as it's a town away and not near much of anything else). I was surprised to find that it was quite well stocked. I picked up some cotton to make stockings for Zadie's school, some sewing supplies, and these buttons. There was an enormous bin full of buttons. You could pay by the pound or 3 cents each. I seriously could have spent all day going through the buttons. Next time I have a breakdown, find me there for therapy. It was so soothing.

I'll be back next week for a tutorial on the capelet, a tutorial on using your J foot to do a faux serged seam, and a couple of other surprises. As for now, I'm going to spend the evening watching House Hunters International, my new favorite show.

Bounty (and then some)

Our garden has been prolific in new ways this Summer. For years we've grown zucchini, yellow squash and pattypan without doing much. We've never been able to grow an acorn squash or any other type of Winter squash despite a great deal of effort. This year, however, the tables were turned. We have had some lovely spaghetti squash, some tiny acorn squash, and lots and lots and lots of butternut squash but the yellow squash and the zuc in the picture were the only two we got. Crazy! We've also got several million delicious cherry tomatoes (and I'm not complaining).

In other news of bounty, I got Zadie this AMAZING wool coat at a yard sale for a couple of bucks. I love the patterned velvet collar and shoulder thingies.

Check out the hat. Cute. The pics are not quite true to color. The coat is not navy but it's not bright blue either. It's really quite perfect.

I bought a 2t coat for her last winter and rolled up the sleeves. The smaller size would not zip up so I went up a size and I'm really hoping it will fit this year as coats are wildly expensive. As it's been nothing but 95 and humid around here, I will not torture her with a trying on session. This yard sale find is a 3t so my bases are covered (what's with all my quippy little cliches this post?).

Old doll I bought at a yard sale

I got this beautiful doll for $4 recently. It's not something I look for at yard sales but it caught my eye and I couldn't stop thinking about it; it's just so beautiful to me. It came with a dress that I do not think was made for the doll but was either a baby dress or something for a larger child's doll. It all smelled pretty musty so I soaked the whole thing in a bucket of Bac-out then hung it out on the line to dry. The dress dried right away but the doll was still sopping wet after several hours. I decided to just rip her apart and pull out all the stuffing.

It appears that the doll was full of cotton balls. It was packed pretty tightly. I don't know what they used to stuff dolls with but this was stuffed long before the invention of polyester fiberfill, that's for sure. The only clue is a tiny scrap of floral print fabric that I left in my scanner at work (where I was so busy that I did not even have time to write this on my lunch).

Her face is in pretty nice condition and the arms and legs are complete except for a small chip off the left thumb. I'm going to re-stuff her and set her on my shelf as is. I love the patina on the cotton fabric and the hairline fracture at her neck. It should be pretty easy to put her back together but I have never attempted something like this before. I'll post a scan tomorrow of the little piece of fabric. I'm thinking 1940s.