Gooseberry and Butterprint, Oh My! - Treasures from the Michigan Thumb Yard Sale

I promised a peek at the things I got at the Michigan Yard Sale Trail in the thumb.  I meant to post on Sunday but, as usual, life got in the way...

This pink gooseberry was the highlight of the trip -- I could have gone home immediately and been THRILLED with what I found!

Three butterprint pieces plus one horizon bowl.  

These two Verde fridgies aren't great, but the price was right.  The little clothespin apron is hand painted and embroidered

Remember Margaret's straw hat?  It's 2 feet wide!

The other hat is a more fashionable one from Winkleman's department store.

I broke my self-imposed moratorium on vintage Christmas at the second stop!

This is a vintage Davy Crockett shirt from the 1960s -- it's pretty sad, though.  I really liked the little doll-sized chest of drawers, too.

This is some great made-in -Japan Christmas stuff

Have you ever seen a twin faced alarm clock?  Perfect for Ozzie and Harriet twin beds!

Just a few vintage linens, but they were very nice.

This big lot of feedsack strips (all 2-3' long and about 8" wide) was super-cheap.  I wasn't even positive it was real feedsack, because it looked so bright and new

Here are all the paterns -- multiple strips of most of them

This primitive home-made hen & chicks will go out by the girls.  

I just loved this kitchen from the 1970s-80s.  I almost walked away from it but knew I'd regret it if I did.  I still have to arrange with the seller to pick up the box of 'accessories' (dishes and toy food) that she forgot to bring to the sale

I picked up this sad lamp to make a globe lamp.  It needs to be cleaned up (really dirty) and rewired.  You'll see this one late when the project is done

A Rare Tuesday Estate Sale

Most estate sales around here start on Thursday, Friday or Saturday.  Today there was one in a nearby town and I've had cabin fever, so I decided to go.  The pictures and ads were all about the primitives, Civil War stuff and things from the late 1800s, so I didn't expect to find much.

I was number 30 and as we 'extras' (they usually only let the first 20 in to start) waited in line, several of the poeple talked about how high this dealer's prices were.  So, I figured that not only wouldn't I find anything I wanted, but if I did it would be too expensive for me!

They were right -- it was ridiculously high.  Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about Civil War memorabilia or primitives, but I know that a fairly common glass & zinc lidded mason jar shouldn't sell for $20.  There was so much stuff and there were so many people NOT buying much!  

Upstairs, though, was the sewing room and wadded up in a pile on a chair was a crazy quilt top made out of feedsack fabric and dated 1935.  It was so pretty and the colors were amazingly bright.  I cringed as I looked for the price on it...and was pleasantly surprised (AND did the happy dance with it all the way down the stairs.  

Isn't it beautiful?

Apparently the dealer doesn't know how to price linens or vintage handwork!  Tucked in a closet in the same room was a bag lot of feedsack hexagon pieces and blocks for a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt AND a bag lot of 13x13 feedsack crazy quilt blocks.  They were priced really low -- unbelievable!  

Crazy quilt blocks -- 24 of them!  Plus some darning cotton and a darning egg

Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces and blocks

Here are closeups of some of the blocks from the friendship quilt...

This little house is so sweet!

In case you can't read this, it says 'Ernie Rogers 1935'

I added in a few books and a few more things from the kitchen (largely ignored by the primitives folk) and I was on my way home with my treasures.

I especially like the Torte and Cake cookbook and the Edgemont tin.  The green bowl is a mid-century design that I usually see in plastic -- this one is enamelware!

I've never heard of this 'Bezique' game before, but it's quite old (looks like early 1900s or even late 1800s).  The little books are butterfly and flower field guides.  The bigger red one is all photos from the Spanish American War

Here's what the field guides look like

I've seen this print several times before in different sizes and colors.  This one is 8x10