Saturday, March 2, 2013

A Quick Get-Away...

Quote for the Day:
"Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from."
~Jodie Foster

Andy & I had to go to Ikea to pick up the new storage cabinets for my new sewing room.  Unfortunately, the closest Ikea is 2 hours away...in Pittsburgh, PA...so we thought we'd make a "trip" of it and enjoy ourselves!  
We left on Friday morning and returned Saturday afternoon.  We spent our time in Pittsburgh doing what we love to do...we went "thrifting"!   There's a site, http://www.thethriftshopper.com/, where you can go and put in the name of the town or the zip code, and it will give you a list of thrift stores in the area, complete with ratings from viewers!  :)   From there, I entered the addresses of thrift stores into Google maps and put them in an order that made best use of time and gas.  :) :)

We had a BALL!!!  I think we probably visited about 8 thrift stores and got some really cool bargains.  However, the prize for the day were these finds:
  • Not ONE, but TWO, homemade, hand-quilted quilts in very good condition!
  • And THREE SETS of hand embroidered and crochet-edged pillowcases in MINT condition!
Both of the quilts are full-size.  

Here's the first quilt...made fairly recently...I'm going to guess about 2005 from the fabrics, etc.  The stitches are nice and straight, very even and fairly small, done in a contrasting, dark thread.  And the price???  A whopping $20.00!!!  :)




The second quilt is probably a little older...probably from the 1980-1990's, from the fabrics and colors...pastel calicoes!  :)  It is also hand-quilted, but the stitches aren't quite as perfect as in the first quilt.  However, it is still quite good and I love the colors!!  Very Spring-like and I can't wait for Spring to get here!   There are a couple of places where the binding is coming loose and will need to be tacked back down, but that is no problem.   The price on this one was an astounding $13.00!!!  (Note the unusual border...scallops alternating with points!)



And now for the pillowcases...that were $5.00 per set.  They are in PRISTINE condition and look like they have been starched and ironed and languishing away in someones hope chest...never used.  



I collect vintage embroidered linens (dresser scarves and pillowcases) and I ACTUALLY USE them!  I don't use the pillowcases that come with sheet sets.  Instead I use the vintage ones that I pick up at thrift stores, yard sales, and auctions.  And truth be told...$5/set is the most I've ever paid for embroidered pillowcases.  I can usually get them for $1-$2 for an individual pillowcase, and only occasionally find a "set".   However, because these were in such perfect condition, I figured I'd "splurge" and pay a dollar or two extra for the set!  :)

I also picked up about 4-5 embroidered dresser scarves, but I didn't take a picture of those.  I really hit the mother lode of vintage embroidered linens this weekend!  :)

After our thrifting, we headed to Ikea and picked up the bookcases/shelving units that I need for fabric storage in the new sewing room.  This was the first time we'd been to Ikea, and I'm glad I did our "shopping" online and had already picked out what I wanted.  Otherwise, I'd still be wandering around that store.  That place is overwhelming!  

All in all, we had a GREAT get-away, just Andy & me.  (Ginger stayed with some friends so she had her own kind of vacation!)  

Loretta


5 comments:

  1. You had a VERY successful thrifting trip! I had no clue there was such a site! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the link to the thrift site....awesome! And you DID hit the mother lode! Those quilts are fantastic, and I, too, collect vintage pillowcases and lines. Those set are gorgeous, and to find them pristine like that is unheard of (especially for $5 a set!) Well done!

    Don't you just love Ikea? You could spend all day there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks like you had a great weekend!
    I have some questions:
    1.) How many quilts do you have in your house???
    2.) Do you rotate/use them all?
    3.) What do you do if you ever get tired of a quilt?
    4.) Have you ever tried the e-bay game with quilts? Buy low / sell high?

    Hmm, sounds like answering those questions could be a blog post...

    Love ya!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, those thrift store people sure don't know the value of a quilt do they? They could have sold them online for MUCH more. It was your lucky day!! Congrats.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mom & Dad were visiting yesterday and we were talking about your new quilts. Watch out for Mom - she wants the pastel one for her house in Florida!

    ReplyDelete