A Few More Sales

I was so happy to see that there were a few sales on Friday.  I don't want the season to end.  Winter is hard enough without garage sales.

I found a few things to keep me happy.  At a sale in Lake in the Hills, I found a vintage Christmas tablecloth for $1 and a vintage pinecone santa for $5.  I already have some in my collection, but he was a little different.  At an estate sale in Woodstock, I found a great milk glass pedestal bowl for $4.  I rearranged some things in my living room and am getting rid of a collection of wooden fruit.  It was time for a change.  Maybe in the spring I'll have a mini estate/garage sale.

I hope to get to some of the projects that I have been putting to the side soon.  I guess that is what winter is for.

2 Fun Sales

Today was the rummage sale at the First Congregational Church on Pierson Street in Crystal Lake.  I never saw so many people on line.  I was toward the back since I had to stop and talk to everyone that I knew.  I was disappointed in this sale.  I only found a Transformer toy for $1, a book for $1 and a yellow miniature vase for 25 cents. 

After that, I stopped at a Willow Gate estate sale in Crystal Lake.  The house was loaded.  Especially with retro clothing.  I was there for over 1 hour and found a couple of nice things.  I found a large painted vase for $12 (I always wanted one), a wrought iron stand for $12, a hand embroidered shawl for $3, a patent leather blue purse for $4 and a pearl collar for $6.  I had never seen so much clothing.  It was spread out throught the house in every closet available.  It was fun going through these things and imagining what fun she must have had. 

There are some other estate sales tomorrow plus a few garage sales.  Saturday and Sunday is the Craft fair at Crystal Lake South High School.  I like this sale and look forward to it every year.  There is a $2 admission fee.

Silver Santa

I had fun shopping at the Sparrows Nest in Cary.  As soon as I walked into the store, I spotted the silver glitter Santa.  I loved it!  As you all know, I collect Santa's and he was super.  Plus, he was only $1.50.  I also found a really nice beige patterned jacket for me for $1 and a whole lot of Star Wars toys for the boys.  I even found a Luke helmet.  They were thrilled.

2 Church rummage sales on Thursday this week.  How great is that!  The Congregational Church on Pierson Street in Crystal Lake is at 9am and the Methodist Church on Crystal Lake Street in Crystal Lake is at 5pm.  What a fun day that will be.

Autumn Drive

Oops, I forgot to take pictures at Autumn Drive today.  My cousin Barb and I were having so much fun plus it was really raining at times, that I didn't even think about pictures.  We spent about 1 hour at Lois's barn and bought a lot of fun jewelry.  Barb even bought bracelets for Christmas presents and finished shopping for her coworkers.  (A few things for herself, of course, too).  I found some cute bracelets for $5 each, a pin with matching earrings for $5, a large pearl ring for $1 and a great Amethyst sterling silver ring for $22.  (I splurged because I loved it!)  The one bracelet is marked Coro.  Even better.  When we were leaving the barn, the rain was really coming down.  We then made our way down the road to the farm stand and I bought 9 acorn squash (my favorite) for 50 cents each and Barb bought 2 pumpkins for $3.  We were walking around using our umbrellas.  It was a lot of fun.

We stopped at the Redeemer Lutheran Church on Dean Street in Woodstock for a rummage sale.  I only found a bag for its handle for $1.  It was a funky blue color.  Really unique.  We also stopped at an estate sale in McHenry and didn't buy anything.

It was a fun day even with the crazy weather.  Autumn Drive is this weekend also and the weather is supposed to be great.  Enjoy!

I Love Christmas Pins!

I love collecting Christmas pins.  I stopped at the Sparrows Nest in McHenry yesterday and found a few cute pins that I'll use on my felted purses or on gifts.  They were only $1.25 each.  I had also stopped at an Estate Sale in Crystal Lake and found a few things for stocking stuffers.  But boy were they expensive for most items. 

I saw in the paper that there is an estate sale in McHenry tomorrow on Green Street that sounds really good.  I'll try to get to it.  But first, I'll be at the Autumn Drive in Woodstock with my Cousin Barb.  I go every year.  It is usually cold and rainy.  I don't mind the cold, but the rain is another thing.  So, here's hoping for a cold day without rain.  See you there!

Fort Wayne, Indiana

We were in Fort Wayne Indiana over the weekend for the Regional Pokemon Championships.  I spent most of my time inside the Convention Center, but managed to sneak away for an hour.  I went to the Goodwill and didn't know that it was 50% off that day.  The store was swamped.  They even had a police officer inside.  Anyway, I found a vintage lucite hinged bracelet with starfish and shells inside of it for $1.50 (was $3) and a vintage silvertone pin for $1 (it was $2). It was worth waiting on line for these items.  The lady in front of me was nice enough to let me go before her since I only had 2 items. 

I wish I could have seen more of the city.  Maybe next time.

Oct 25th at 5pm is the Methodist Church rummage sale in Crystal Lake on Crystal Lake Street.  This has always been a larger sale except for the past few times.  Hopefully it will be big this time. 

Sparrows Nest in McHenry, Palatine and Cary will open their Christmas Shop on Tuesday, Oct 16th.  Woodstock opens the week later.  They will be closed on Mondays before the sale to get the store ready.

It's Like Christmas!

2 fun sales today.  I went to an estate sale in McHenry and found some cute inexpensive items.  She had quite a few chipped/broken items, but I managed to find some good things.  Every year the kids play at their piano recital and I give them a musical piano as a gift.  Those pianos are hard to come by.  So, when I find them, I stock up. I found 3 today priced from 25 cents to $3.  I had to keep winding and playing with the larger one, but it works!  I think I'm set for at least 3 years now.  But, if I find more, I'm buying them.  I found a made in Brazil vase for $1, a tin for 50 cents to use for gifts, 2 dishes for 50 cents each to create my cake stands (I haven't found time yet to make them but at least I have some supplies), a paperweight for 10 cents and a "drum" for $3.  I had fun at this sale.

The afternoon took me to the church rummage sale in Huntley on Main/Church St.  There wasn't as much at this one either.  The latest rummage sales haven't had many items to choose from so what they did have was priced higher than usual.  I did find the most items in the Holiday room.  It was like Christmas in October.  I found 4 trolls for $1 each for my mom.  She collects them, so I'll give them to her at Christmastime.  I also found 2 vintage elfs (I collect elfs) for $4 each, 6 vintage people ornaments that were in a bag for $1 and are quite valuable and 3 crocheted doilies for $2.50 total.  I always love buying Christmas ornaments all year round.  Christmas is my favorite holiday and you can't start buying for it too early.  I keep my eyes open all year round for gifts and for decorations/ornaments. 

Garage sales are becoming fewer but there should still be a few rummage sales up into the first week of November, or at least I hope so.

The Perfect Handle

I have been waiting to find the perfect purse handle to complete a felted red purse.   I have finally found that handle at a recent rummage sale.  I decided to stitch some white wool flowers on the bag and I like how it looks.  Now I am working on a blue felted bag and am waiting for it to dry before attaching the handle.

Cider Festival

We attended the Cider Festival in Union on Sunday.  It was the perfect day for being outside.  There didn't seem to be the usual crowd, but we didn't get there until after 1pm.  Our first stop, as usual, was to the white elephant sale.  I managed to find a gardening book for $1 and some crochet needles for 25 cents to 50 cents.  I tried to crochet once, but couldn't seem to figure it out.  Since then, I have become pretty good at knitting, but still feel that I'm missing something by not crocheting.  So, I'm taking a class this month.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this time I'll figure it out.  Austin found a joke book that he read to us while we were shopping around.  He had us laughing.  Ethan only wanted a jug of apple cider and Caldwell found a few dvd's for 50 cents each.  We spent time in the museum and walking around talking to people we knew.  We had a nice time.  Next year's date is October 6th.

Thursday is a rummage sale in Huntley at the church on Main St.  It starts at 12 noon.  This is another of my favorite sales.

I have mentioned before that I am a Master Gardener, but I probably didn't mention that I work on a community garden in Harvard once a week during the growing season.  All of the food harvested goes to the food pantry in Harvard.  The last few weeks we have had an overabundance of tomatoes that some were taken to the food pantry in Marengo.  Anyway, the garden was put to rest today for the season and a total of 8815 lbs of produce was harvested this year.  It is a new record for us.  It is so much fun to work along side of the other Master Gardeners and volunteers that come out to help.  I learn so much each week and the feeling of doing something good for others is very strong.  I look forward to next year when we will start over again. 

Treasures in Woodstock

I had fun looking for treasures in Woodstock.  I stopped at the VFW in Woodstock for their Soup to Nuts sale and found a vintage orange/goldtone bracelet with matching earrings for $1.50.  I didn't know until I got home that they were signed, Coro.  Good name for jewelry.  I was excited!  I also bought 3 books for 50 cents (total, not each). 

Today was the inexpensive day to treasure hunt.  I love those hunts.  I went to the estate sale on Blakely Street and only found a vintage tin for $1.  I like to use those to put gifts in.  The sale was being run by a few people, 2 of which were Bonnie and Alan Cornue.  (Alan used to be the mayor of Woodstock)  I hadn't seen them in years so it was nice to catch up.

There was also an estate sale on Dane Street.  I stopped in and had fun looking at their cute things.  I found a vintage plant book for $1, a head vase for $2, and a pin for $1.   At the last estate sale, I found some fabric for $1 each and 2 doilies for 50 cents each.  See, it really was the inexpensive treasure hunting day.  I had lots of fun.

Garage sale season is winding down.  I always dread this time of year when the sales are few and far between.  I will have to get my fix from the thrift stores in the area until Spring.

One Good Garage Sale

On the way to taking Austin to school, we stopped at the Zion Lutheran Rummage sale in McHenry.  They didn't have that much to look through.  I did manage to find 4 doilies for 50 cents each and 3 Debbie Macomber books for 25 cents each.  I really like her books and couldn't believe that I didn't have those.  I saw some of my rummage sale friends and one brought me some stuffed cabbage and blueberry cake.  We were talking about stuffed cabbage last week and I told her that I only eat it once a year when I see my mom and that I missed it.  She was so sweet to bring me some that she made.  Delicious!

I dropped Austin off at school and went on to the Methodist Church rummage sale in McHenry.  They had a few more things, but still not the usual amount.  I found 2 purses to use the handles for my felted bags for $1 each.  I was going to buy more, but they wanted $2 a bag.  I only pay up to $1 for each since I find them so frequently.  I also found 6 embroidered napkins for 25 cents each and a matching tablecloth for $1, and a chicken wire basket for 50 cents.

I stopped at a garage sale in McHenry and found a treasure load for the boys.  The couple must have older boys since the toys were older.  I found a box full of transformer toys for $3.  He had it closed and when I peeked inside I couldn't believe it.  Austin had seen one of the toys at the Saylorsburg flea market in PA this summer and wanted it so badly, but the man was asking $35.  Even though it was only half of the toy, we are a step closer to finding the whole thing.  I believe that it came in sets to build a full transformer.  I also found 2 bags full of Digimon/Yugioh and Pokemon miniature figures for $4, a bag full of Gameboy games that I will sell on Ebay, wonderful Pokemon fabric for $2 each (the fabric is hard to come by.)  The boys want me to make a quilt for them.  That's a good winter project.  I found a PSP game for $1 and a tin full of buttons for me (I needed something too) for $1.  I went through all of them and I'll be using some for future projects.

That was a good sale.  The boys were so excited when they came home and saw the kitchen table full.  I spent most of the afternoon going through Hot Wheels cars that I'm going to sell soon on Ebay.  I needed to use a magnifying glass to see the dates and names on the bottom.  (I must be getting old). 

There are some garage/estate sales in Woodstock tomorrow.  The VFW in Woodstock is having their Soups to Nuts rummage sale also.  I'll try to get to them.