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Across the Fence:  Treasures Found  |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 06:11:51 AM
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On a couple of other topics, there have been neat stories about recent treasures found - a pie safe, lots of great material for projects, etc.
Have any of you ever found really neat treasures? We could share stories about them....our own little "Farmgirl Antiques Roadshow" stories. I know I have never found anything worth lots of money, but I have found things that spoke to my heart.
Once in the little town of Thomasville, Georgia (1974) I found a quilt, all hand sewn, and all muslin squares the size of postage stamps. It was very old, and part of an estate sale. There it was lying at the bottom of a trunk that everyone else wanted. I just wanted the quilt! I got it for $3.00. It is all pastel colors, and I spent a lot of time doing tiny repairs on it. But my stitiches cannot compare to the originals. Mine look huge compared!
What treasures have you found?
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Jul 12 2005 06:13:51 AM |
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countrymamma
True Blue Farmgirl
78 Posts
Rural Manitoba
Canada
78 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 06:29:23 AM
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Two things come to mind. I picked up a old quilt that was laying on the ground at a yard sale for 50¢. It too needed repair. I had some old material that I found at another yard sale that belonged to someone's grandmother. I used that material to repair the quilt. The quilt now sits on my treadle sewing machine.
A few years back, we were at a yard sale and I found a dresser that was painted an ugly turquoise. I talked the lady down to $4 for it. I stripped the paint off (all 4 layers) and underneath was the most beautiful maple wood I had ever seen. The dresser is now used by our youngest dd.
I love hearing what others have found that are treasures.
~Carol |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 10:10:50 AM
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My biggest treasure and dearest to my heart is a 30's or 40's vintage vanity dresser with the 3 sided mirror and 2 little drawers. It has that neoclassic carving on it of a genie lamp and garlands detail. It was very sound but needed refinishing. I bought it from a very elderly lady who was going out of business in her junk store. Ten bucks! Had a bench to match too! I stripped the old paint and repainted it in a soft ivory. It is in my youngest daughters room now.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb101.html |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 12:45:56 PM
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I have a big camelback old trunk in my living room that I got at a yard sale years ago. I redid the inside and I love it. I keep craft stuff and fabric in it and have for years. It really fits in in the living room and I don't plan to ever get rid of it. I think I paid $25 for it ..and it was just in the back of a pickup at the yard sale...I had to ask about it. I remember the gal being shocked that i was interested in it.
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 1:03:27 PM
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The treasures I have found are too numerous to name here but this week I found a wonderful treasure at the hospital auxilliary thrift store. It was half price day so I was really rewarded when I found two quilt tops wrapped in packing paper and marked quilt top, $2.50. I got them both for $2.50!!! They are hand stitched sunflower design to fit twin beads matching! I will probably connect them to make one king bed quilt and finish them this winter.
I also got a beautiful lead crystal vase that I can use for my tall iris boquets for .50. I came home happy. I went looking for a stock pot that I can use to make rose water. The one I have is the wrong dimensions to work properly. No luck there yet but always hopeful.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jul 12 2005 : 1:09:34 PM
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Wow - great finds so far! Eileen - what you found could not have a price. Quilt tops or any needlework is never a cost efficient task, but one filled with love for the art.
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
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greyghost
True Blue Farmgirl
650 Posts
Lynn
Summerville
Georgia
USA
650 Posts |
Posted - Jul 13 2005 : 12:19:17 PM
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Oh, I have many treasures.
My newest is an old, old mirrored dresser. The mirror is beveled in a way I have never seen before- very unusual! It is more dear to me because I got it at my grandmother's cousin's estate sale. Clarence had passed away and I guess that's just how a lot of things are disposed of. Anyway, I got the dresser, and grandma got the bed and washstand to go with it. I loved "Uncle" Clarence and wished I hadn't lived so far away from him. He was the funniest guy - you never met someone with a more interesting view of life. And he came from our old German farmstock, still had all his land and everything. Very neat fellow and I miss him.
These purchases also solve something else: my grandma has been bugging us all for years to tell her what we want from her house when she is gone. I'd rather have my grandma. And who goes through someone's house thinking what they'll have when they're gone, anyway??? So now I know I'll get the rest of the set and the pestering will cease.
Another valueable favorite is my Great Aunt Junes cedar hope chest. I use it as my coffeetable. Aunt June, sadly enough, never married, so in my early 20s she gave it to me hoping I'd "have better luck." :D |
Edited by - greyghost on Jul 13 2005 12:22:43 PM |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jul 13 2005 : 12:51:03 PM
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Poignant stories, Lynn! It's good that you will have the complete bedroom set eventually!
I have an old two drawered vanity, with 3 mirrors - one larger in the middle and two side mirrors, that move. This came from an old house that my Dad remodeled in the late 60's. I took the vanity and refinished it (as well as a 13 year old can)... and I still use it in my bedroom. I haven't refinished it in all these years and it could use it... or not... that's what shabby chic is all about, isn't it? 
My mother tried to get my brothers to say which of her items they would like to have when she passes.. and they just flat out refused to go there... as if in not saying preferences, they will delay the inevitable! I, however, let my preferences be known!... When she moved last year, she had a whole cupboard of keepsake items from family hand me downs. What she decided to do was divide them up between us kids... and I took notes on their history... to put with each box of keepsakes... one cupboard down, the rest of the house to go!
****Gardener, Stitcher, Spiritual Explorer and Appreciator of all Things Natural****
"Begin to weave and God will give the thread." - German Proverb |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 13 2005 : 2:13:09 PM
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my first husband's grandma, who died at a very old age when I was still about 25 had everyone come over and "claim" her stuff about a year before she died. She had tags on everything with their names on it..I felt funny (all the gals were granddaughters in law as her two children had all sons..anyhow, I was the youngest and really didn't like the idea.. I had always loved her mammy toaster cover and finally admitted that and that I loved her dutch girl cookie jar. She gave me the mammy toaster cover right then and there and then when she died my ex mom in law gave me the cookie jar. The others all asked for furniture. I still have the cookie jar. The toaster cover was so old that after about 10 years it just sort of fell apart.
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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Jana
True Blue Farmgirl
482 Posts
Jana
Eau Claire
Wisconsin
USA
482 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 7:51:42 PM
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My latest finds were vintage thread crocheted doilies. They cleaned up nicely and I will frame them, I think. They were between 25 cents and $2 a piece.
Jana |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 8:19:17 PM
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I got a great old trunk (with original lining and all the inside trays) in a garage of the first house I lived in (after moving out of mom & dad's) The landlady said I could just have it!Other favorite finds are a Coors Pottery vase (50cents) and a hand-carved angel, about 36 inches tall ($1.00). Most recently, I bought two beautiful hand crochet doilies that I plan to use on our night stands...50 cents for both. It's always fun to find a bargain/treasure!
Sharon |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 8:54:35 PM
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Seems my treasures are often bed linens...I am drawn to quilts and coverlets. In 1982 in Wisconsin at a yard sale, I found an all white cotton woven double coverlet with hand tatted edges. It is delicate and beautiful and still very white! It was $2.00! I put it on my guest bed sometimes, and love it more with the passing of time.
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Jul 14 2005 8:56:24 PM |
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mollymae
True Blue Farmgirl
694 Posts
Molly
Visalia
California
USA
694 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2005 : 10:37:30 PM
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Recently, at the coolest yard sale I've ever been at (the woman is a collector of ALL things primitive and country, I was like a kid at a candy store!), I found 3 nine-patch quilt squares, very old, for $1.00 each! And a beautiful framed stitchery of a shepherd with his sheep, and "The Lord is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want" stitched at the bottom, for $5.00!! If I had had more cash on me at the time, I would have bought much more, she had the neatest things for sale...okay probably a good idea I didn't!! 
Cead Mile Failte,
Molly
"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. If I can ease one life the Aching or cool one pain, or help one fainting robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain" ~Emily Dickinson
**When life throws scraps your way ~ Make a Quilt!**
Sisterhood of the Traveling Art |
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Laura K
Farmgirl at Heart
6 Posts
Laura
Portland
Oregon
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2005 : 11:53:59 AM
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| When I was a child, our family of 8 shared all our meals at an old oak table my parents had picked up for 10 bucks somewhere. I was fiddling under the table during the meal one night and pulled a piece of paper from some ledge underneath. It was a $10 bill, dated 1934....probably hidden there during the Depression by a housewife/mother for safekeeping. My parents joked that they'd gotten their money back from the table. They saved the bill for me and gave it to me when I was an adult. It is one of my treasures! |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jul 16 2005 : 05:52:04 AM
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What a cool story Laura! I bet all your siblings went looking for more bills hidden under there!
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Jul 16 2005 05:53:07 AM |
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citygoatlady
True Blue Farmgirl
82 Posts
82 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 10:12:45 PM
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When I was a kid, my grandma had an entire bedroom chock full of stuff. Our favorite activity was to "go rummaging". We would look through there, and find old fabrics, gifts or cards she had been given, little china things. Anything I wanted, she would give to me and I still have all of them. It was so sweet to be with her in this way. Most of our relatives didn't get along with her (for good reasons!).
When I met my future husband we'd visit his mom, and I'd go peeping around the basement. I just assumed I could ask her for anything too! She seemed kind of shocked by that at first, that's why I remember it. But she gave me any of it too. Nothing really valuable, just old jars or vases, do-dads, patterns, her canning pots she no loger used. So, I still get to use these things and remember her.
I'm glad , because, before she died she told me, "You should take whatever you want now. When I die, everything is going to so-and-so. But whatever she doesn't want, she is to let you have it if you want it." Well, she did die, and that relative evidently didn't know about this instruction. So she had yard sales without telling us (we do live an hour away, so she probably assumed we wouldn't want to come), and for a couple of years she still had price tags on things in the house, wouldn't even give things to our kids. Well, I went ahead and bought a couple of glass dishes that I do enjoy. As years went by, she removed the pricetags and gave us some things. But the first things, like the canning pots, are the priceless gifts. |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 6:21:34 PM
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I found the coolest vintage bathrobe today while thrift shopping. It is the type made of nylon, looks like a fitted house coat circa 1940-50's or maybe early 60's... with ivory piping on the seams, fitted waist, too cute in a bright coral pink color. All for $3.50. I had to rationalize spending $3.50 on something that I don't know what I'm going to do with yet, (too small for me to wear) except perhaps admire and get inspiration from. Maybe I'll hang it in my sewing area and catch glimpses of it as I sew my vintage inspired aprons this weekend! Just couldn't let it hang there 'woe is me'.... 
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 7:13:51 PM
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sounds neat Clare!! I need to go thrift shopping soon..I am in need of inspiration like that!
I am sewing aprons this weekend too!! fun!!!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 8:18:08 PM
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Clare - you should just throw it around your shoulders and wrap up in it if it does not quite fit. The feel of the fabric will be nice. Sounds like a great find! Makes me think of the photo of MJ in her pink housecoat!
jpbluesky
Heartland girl |
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bubblesnz
True Blue Farmgirl
291 Posts
helen
New Zealand
291 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 10:50:52 PM
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My treasures are rocks, wood pieces, fossils, that I find along beach or bus walks. Have two great big beautiful pieces of driftwood that a lugged along back to the car and now sit in the garden. Also petrefied wood and gems stones found on thhe beach. I love these treasures and looking at or holding them takes me back to that place.
A great oak, is just a little nut which held it's ground. |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 11:11:04 PM
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I like nature stuff like that too Helen...I have found Indian arrowheads in my pasture and once found an ancient shark tooth! Kansas was once covered by an ancient ocean millions of years ago, there are lots of people that find shark teeth here, and fish and shell fossils. I have a large pile of shell fossils imbedded in limestones, they are so interesting.
The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you-
You are the fearless rose that grows amidst the freezing wind. Rumi |
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CelticCoyote
True Blue Farmgirl
111 Posts
Heather
Illinois
USA
111 Posts |
Posted - Jul 30 2005 : 05:56:56 AM
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I have a thing for old photographs, and I love to find *new* ones at antique stores (only 1949ish or earlier...the earlier the better!). My most recent find is a heartbreaking little snapshot from 1917 of a small boy watering the flowers on a tiny grave. The boy looks to be about 8 or 9, and the grave is decidedly smaller than him, though I can't read the headstone.
I also have another photo from the turn of the century with a momma on her front porch, giving her baby a bath in a metal washtub...non-posed photos like that from that time period are very rare, and I just adore them! This particular photo is such an intimate moment, and so sweet. :) |
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MBurns
True Blue Farmgirl
1826 Posts
Marlene
Swisher
IA
USA
1826 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 2:09:47 PM
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I have several trunks, my old high chair and walker and a childhood table set, and an old vanity with the one large mirror and two small and three drawers on each side and an old churn and washtubs from washing clothes.
also many handsewn quilts from my mom and grandmother. these are priceless. I love all kinds of auction sales and flea markets and garage sales. Never know what treasures are there.
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little feather
True Blue Farmgirl
83 Posts
Tawnya
Walnut Creek
California
USA
83 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 4:19:42 PM
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I just got an old vintage trunk from my sister in law. I had mentioned that I was looking for one to store all my yarns, fabrics, and craft stuff galore.
She had this one that she just didn't want any more, "It's old, it's funky- you can just have it for taking Kaitlyn for me." She says this to me- and she's serious. I look at this 1920's trunk and can only think of one thing "perfect"!
(by the way Kaitlyn is my 20 mth old niece)
My husband is going to re-line the inside of it with this amazing wallpaper he brought home from a job on Monday. (he's a wallpaper hanger- amoung other titles). It's wonderfully vintage and fits the trunk perfectly.
I feel like a little girl at Christmas!
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost |
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JoyIowa
True Blue Farmgirl
273 Posts
Joy
273 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2005 : 8:23:14 PM
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My most recent find is a heartbreaking little snapshot from 1917 of a small boy watering the flowers on a tiny grave. The boy looks to be about 8 or 9, and the grave is decidedly smaller than him, though I can't read the headstone.
Heather, A hint from my living history friends: When a photo comes into the collection, they scan it with a very high resolution scanner. Then they start to zoom in and jot down details. It is amazing how many details come to life this way. Most old photos were taken with a certain kind of camera with a long exposure, so the detail is there, it just needs to be revealed. A recent example was a pile of "rubbish" to the far side of a house picture taken in 1875 or so. Scanning and zooming showed the rubbish was actually wicker patio furniture tipped over to prevent the rain from settling on it! Isn't technology amazing.
To live without farm life is merely existing, to live with farm life is living life to it very last experience. |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Aug 05 2005 : 8:50:03 PM
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Missy and I hit the Goodwill yesterday. I found a vintage wood drying rack for $4.99!!! I am so excited. It is nice and sturdy -- perfect for drying clothes this winter. I also got the coolest piece that I'm sure came from an old dry goods store. It is the measuring piece that they used on the fabric cutting table. It is 4 ft long, had inlaid wood on it, and even has the groove to help you cut the fabric straight. It will be great to lay on the floor to measure bigger yardages of fabric. And it also looks cool leaning up against the wall in my sewing room!
Kay - Living in Beautiful Washington State
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."
--Eleanor Roosevelt |
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Across the Fence: Treasures Found |
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Treasures Found
