I'M THRILLED WITH MY THRIFT STORE FINDS

I love old books. The older the better. Whenever I go to thrift stores I'm always checking out the book section and hoping I may come across something fun.

I've found a few treasures before. Not a lot, but enough to keep me searching every time I go in a thrift store.


When I saw this book I knew right away I was going to want it. The color of the book and the beautiful design on the cover captured my heart right away.

Then I opened the book and saw some lovely pictures. They were just gorgeous.

Turns out this book is from the 1800's and is a book of lovely poems.

I love to turn each page and think about all the hands who have touched these pages throughout the years. I imagine the people who read these same words.

Did some young man give this book to his lady suitor? Did a mother pass this book along to her daughter, in hopes that she too would become a romantic at heart, just like she was? Did a husband read these poems out loud to his new wife?

Sitting next to that book I noticed another faded old blue book. So I pulled it off the shelf.

Lavender and Old Lace was what I found. Isn't that a pretty name? The name alone congers up thoughts of romance.

There was an elderly lady standing next to me. As she was looking over at the book I was holding she smiled and said, "Oh I love that story. It's been turned into a play that I saw years ago."

You could tell by the look on her face the story brought her happy memories. So I offered to give her the book.

She said "Oh no honey. If you have never read this story then you must buy this book. I know you will love it."

I opened up the book and noticed this book was also over 100 years old.

There were no pictures in this book. Yet, just seeing the smile on that ladies face made me know I had to have this book.

Then I noticed there was a book label on the inside cover. This book had once belonged to E. Curtis Read. The same last name as the author!

Could this have been handed down to the authors son or grandson? I like to think so.

I can picture it in my mind. The day the book first came out, the author gave one to his each of his loved ones. He was beaming with pride and excitement as he handed each person their own copy to read.

E. Curtis Read took his copy to his study and opened it and put a book stamp with his name inside the front cover. Letting the world know this was his copy. He too was very proud of his father's book.

Don't these two old books look great displayed together?

I also found this vintage table cloth. I just couldn't pass this up. After all it's pink and has roses on it. Two of my favorite things!

I'll use it this summer on our outside dinning table.

When I came across this darling old Milk Glass butter dish I knew I had hit the jackpot!

I loved it at first site.

It now sits along side my other Milk Glass items. So far, it's my favorite piece of Milk Glass that I own.

You just never know what you are going to come across in your searches when you go to Thrift Stores. It's the hunt that makes them so fun to go to.

Sometimes you leave empty handed but often you find a great treasure or two. Surely enough times to make you want to go back again and again.

MY AFTER GARAGE SALE FINDS

Sorry for the last post today. I've been gone all day and just got home a little while ago.

I went with my sister, Maureen, to a few thrift stores today but we didn't find one thing that we wanted.

Seems like it's getting to be more and more like that at our thrift stores. Even when we do find something we want the item is often marked much to high to even buy.

We then went over to a friend of ours house. We both had borrowed some items from her for a Victorian Tea outing and we wanted to return them.

Well as luck would have it, she had just had a garage sale and had boxes of stuff still in her living room. So, we both went through everything and I found some great vintage linens.

I found this cute little tablecloth. It's white linen with a green hand cross stitch design on it.

Someone spent hours on this. I couldn't pass this up.

Then I came across this hand made table runner in green and white. I started to see a theme happening here.

I'm not a big green fan. Well, I like the color green but I don't really decorate in green. At least not this color green.

But, then I saw this poking out from under some items.

It needs to be ironed. But it was such nice work and with all the green items I thought about decorating for St. Patrick's Day.

I have several tea cups and saucers with clover designs so I think I'm going to have a St. Patrick's Day tea party this year.

I also found this cute vintage hankie in white with green. Since my pile was so far green and white I couldn't leave this behind. So in the stack it went.

With the tea party on my mind I then came across this sweet embroidered tea theme tablecloth.

There are tea cups, tea pot and a sugar bowl on the corners and little sayings in between.

I love this one.

Then a pretty linen tablecloth with hand embroidery done in blues stood out.

The tablecloths are all small ones so I'll either use them on my small outside table or I will just angle them over a larger tablecloth and use them for the center of the table in the dinning room.

The last tablecloth I got was also a white linen hand done with pretty pink and aqua color flowers.

I need to wash these all up and iron them to make them really pretty. But, I couldn't wait to share them with you.

The tablecloths were only $2.00 each. She threw in the hankie and doily for free.

After we finished shopping we had a cup of tea and Linda offered us cookies. But, being the good girl I am I turned down the cookie.

On the way home I stopped at Target. I'll show you what I got from there tomorrow. It has a Valentine's theme to it. Some of you may want to run out and get the same things.

Seems as if I'm planning my life around holidays. But we all know, you have to get the things early because the good stuff goes fast.

VINTAGE LINEN TABLECLOTHS

I adore vintage linens of all types. But there is something really special about the tablecloths. I love the ones from the 40's and 50's with the bright and darling designs on them.

I guess they remind me of a time when families would all sit down together at the table for dinner and talk about their days.

I have a few vintage tablecloths that I guess would be called a collection. I thought I would share them with you now.

But, you have to excuse the wrinkles as I was way to lazy to iron them just to take pictures. I know, I would make a bad 40's or 50's wife. I would iron them if I was putting them on a table though. But for now, you are stuck with the wrinkles.
This one has bunches of ripe red strawberries all over it.
I think it would be fun to use durning the summer to serve Strawberry Short Cakes on.

I think the bright yellows and reds are what caught my eye on this little tablecloth. I love the little houses, people and flowers on here.

This one has the prettiest shades of blue flowers on it.

I would use this one out in the garden to serve lunch on.

Now of course, since this one has pink on it, I had to get it.
I like the pink and blue combo. That way if men are eating they won't feel so girly.

This is by far my favorite one! It's all about New York. I love anything to do with New York and have always wanted to live there.

I got this one off of eBay. Don't you love the Statute of Liberty? Every time I see her I think about when I climbed up the top to her crown and looked out over the city.
Bet you know what this building is huh? I love remembering going to the top and looking out. It sure is high!

Other then being a big fan of New York, I got this tablecloth because in Sept it is my sister, Maureen's birthday and I want to give her a New York theme party.

Won't this be cute on the table? I think it will. Of course, it will be ironed and look much better.

This sweet one has tea pots, tea cups and plates. The color is really a hot pink. For some reason the photo doesn't show the right color.
This of course, is perfect for an afternoon tea party.

This last one is lovely little hand embroidered one. I love the pink flowers.
Someone sure put a lot of work into this.

I do have some more tablecloths but they are in my storage right now and so I can't show them to you.

Do you have any vintage tablecloths? If you do, I hope you will post about them. I would love to see them.

Hugs,
Joanne