Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Thrift Store Shopping

Every now and then, I get an urge to visit a local thrift store. Sometimes I'll go weeks without thinking about thrift store shopping, and at other times, I'll shop just about every day, sometimes going to two or three stores in a day. And, as I've mentioned before, when I shop at thrift stores, I never know what I might find. Some days I may find nothing, and other days, I might find a bag full of treasures. I suppose that's what's so much fun--not knowing what's out there and carefully hunting to make sure nothing is overlooked.

Today, a little bit before my lunch hour and with nothing else planned, the thought of doing a little thrift store browsing popped into my head, so off I went. I usually start out looking in the housewares, and today was no exception. There was a nice, wide Princess House lidded jar that tempted me, but it's really wasn't my "style," so I bypassed it. Rummaging through another shelf of housewares, I came across this nicely illustrated little children's book, and it went into my cart.


If nothing else, this book's illustrations might find their way into some kind of decoupage or altered art project. I'm a sucker for books and I usually spend some time looking through the shelves, but other than this little book, I didn't find anything else along these lines today.

Near the back of the store are the textiles, and I never miss looking through those. It's usually possible to find a hand embroidered piece or two. Today I found two hand embroidered runners and a lacey square that would look pretty tucked into a basket of muffins or lining a shelf in the hutch. Each was only 99 cents. Can you imagine the time that went into embroidering these pieces? Well worth the money!


While I was browsing the textiles, I couldn't help but overhear a woman asking one of the thrift store employees if they had any bird cages. He led her over to the furniture aisle about 15 feet away, but much to the woman's disappointment, they didn't find the bird cage he told her he had just put on a table not ten minutes before.


Thrift store shopping. Really, it's all just a matter of timing. Uh huh.

9 comments:

Betsy said...

Kim, you always find the best things. I love the embroidered basket. It is beautiful.

Greenmare said...

ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! good job you!!!! hey come on over to Mares Nest, I'm having a give away!

Anonymous said...

LOL...good thing you snatched it up! I might have been indecisive! =) Then I'd have missed it for sure! Great finds.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

LOL!! That's great.

sunny said...

Great score, Kim! I love going treasure hunting, and like you said, you never know what you might find. Glad you had a good day.

Sinta Renee said...

YOu are so funny! I love children's literature! Love all of your finds... I would be elbow to elbow with you, because that is what I would be zoning in on too: textiles-books and anything vintage!
BTW, I love your first finish of 2011!!!

AnnieO said...

Textiles are very scarce at thrift shops in my area--I never find great stuff like that. The birdcage is really gorgeous!

Carol said...

And what a nice birdcage it is too. Yep, it's all a out the timing. You should make a couple fabric birds to put inside, Fig Tree has a pattern for them.

Carol said...

Dang, my iPad sometimes changes my words. Of course I meant to say It's all about the timing.