Season Opener

Did I just make a sports reference? I think I did. But it's true - this weekend marked the opening of Yard Sale / Rummage Sale season in Maine, my favorite sport. The warming up happened at a highly-attended annual church rummage sale in town. Highly attended by many people - I think you could have done a who's who of Portland bloggers in there - quite fun, and completely overstimulating at the same time (the sale, not the bloggers). Anyway, it was nice to get back into the swing of things - you know, the crowds, the searching, the craziness of it all. Good stuff.

And a happy little showing for the day too, with many of the usual suspects. Some tins, that pile of muffin cups that I'm ridiculously happy about (should have photographed the box, too - so cute), and of course, some fabric. I think you'll see that wool on the left turned into something else very very soon - I keep giving it the eye in my studio. Ooh, actually looking at it in the photo right, I think I just decided what to do with it. Fun.

And always, a few linens. Some will be used as is, and some will be used in sewing projects.

My favorite find of the day - these patchwork quilt pieces. I can't for the life of me figure out what it was on it's way to becoming, because both of these sides are covered in the squares, and sewn on three sides - large pillowcases perhaps? In the center of many of the squares are the handwritten names of the quilters, I presume. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one.

Thank you Ethal. And Francine, Almina, Etta, Charlotte, Laura, Anna, Florence, and Agnes. Thank you very, very much.

Comments

[denise]

Great names! Such great names for a circle of quilting friends, don't you think?! I think so.

[Melissa!]

OOooo! Now what couldn't I live in Maine! Looking foward to seeing what you create with your fabric finds!

[beautythatmoves]

a sport indeed! saturday adam went rock climbing, sunday i went to the flea market.
there was one booth filled entirely with with beautiful, great condition, vintage linens and fabrics, everything was $1.00 or less!! and the woman was so sweet, i wanted to bring her home as well. i shared a bit of the score (sports talk) in photos today. more photos to come in the week.

and those names? oh, those names....

[jen j-m]

it was fun to see you there! i think you were able to focus a lot better than i did. i was tempted to hide under the table and suck my thumb near the end while i was waiting to check out with the sweet old ladies.
enjoy your monday!

[Nelly]

I wonder what's the history behind that quilting project. The laughters, the drama maybe...
Have a nice day. Kisses to your beautiful family.

[Mama Urchin]

How lucky to find the remains of a quilting bee.

[erin]

wow! great finds! i bet they are pillowcases. they're beautiful :)

[Heather]

You have the best flea markets and rummage sales in your area! Down south, in the big city, our rummage sales are full of old magazines and beaten-up, plastic baby toys. It's probably for the best, because I have a house full of "stuff" that I can't find places for. Enjoy that beautiful fabric!

[Helena]

I agree about the big fun of a surprise find. I have a list to keep me on track or I could go bananas. Even with that, I find such good stuff. In reference to the boys having fun. Wild woodsmen! I can not look!!! Hide baby A. Only kidding! You know she loves her sweet brothers. I think the green and blue wool is very pretty. The quilted cases are neato. I can not wait to see what you make out of it for your family.

[meg]

i love that green wool. you grabbed some great fabric. must have missed that bin :). how funny that we all blogged about the sale. what a bunch of thrifty geeks we are...

[melody]

Yea!- rummage sale season started here in PA, too! Isn't it great. Not much fabric at the ones I went to this time but lots of old aprons, floral sheets and great kids clothes. Love the quilt tops... I found a couple last year. My mom found one with batting but no backing and made it into pot holders, but I never have the heart to cut them up.

[julia]

what fun- i think it was the national yard and rummage sale season opener this weekend- i hit up some pretty good ones here in minneapolis. great finds!

[colleen]

i agree with the first poster -- what wonderful names for a quilting circle. those sorts of things just make me all blobby about women and quilting and long winters made festive by the energetic spirit of craft! really good finds. i really need to look into church sales -- it seems that's where the good stuff is, at least up your way.

[Katie]

Awesome. I love yard sale time in Maine. I am gonna be up there in a few weeks, and I cannot wait.

[Jessica]

oh! Those names! Those pieces! What a great find!!! Love the strawberry tablecloth, too, I think it was made by Startex. There's a bunch of vintage cutter tablecloths over here just waiting to be turned into something else...but I'm feeling guilt about cutting them!

[Amber]

Can I join your team?! What a bunch of fun stuff! Those linens are scrumptious and I like the cotton print on the right in the photo!

[Tasha-Rose]

My husband doesnt understand what a great sport yard sale shopping is....

We stopped at a few this weekend, but didn't come away with much. We came away better with our thrifting this weekend than yard sales...

Love the fabrics! Gotta love church sales....

[Lisa Flowers Ross]

I've been reading your blog for a week or two. I tried your Blueberry Banana cake. Mine didn't look as pretty as yours, but it was still yummy and my daughter loved it. I think it is great you are unschooling your children. My daughter is in 4th grade and it has been a frustrating year at school. Home/unschooling isn't really a good choice for us but I am looking into other school alternatives.

[anna]

Gotta love those names!!!

[Grace]

ooooh, so fun ... i love the names of the quilters. fabulous.

[Katherine]

Very exciting to see your finds - love the fabric and those quilt blocks. Can't wait to see what your creative mind will come up with in using them... I spent time sewing some of my thrifted fabric finds this weekend. It's addictive!

[angelique]

Hi! I'm delurking to say oh wow, my grandmother had those brown/yellow/orange floral sheets on the far right of your fabric picture. I've slept in them many times. Thanks for the memories! Can't wait to see what you make of them.

[daan]

Today in Holland its 'Koninginnedag' (Queensday). We celebrate the Queens birthday. All little villages and big cities from north to south, from east to west organise fleemarkets. So it's Thrifting with a capital T.
We found some great treasures! Tomorrow i will be making little bags on my sewingmachine for little Rovers wooden crane.

Love from Holland, Daan

[Beth]

I almost bought a sheet in that same orange/brown flowered pattern a few weeks ago (put it down because I have about 10 such thrifted sheets waiting to be used for something!)

It was also a big weekend here - this is a big university town and lots of students move on May 1st. I stuck to the local thrift though and found some sweet hand-knits and the most wonderful apron, here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67442269@N00/

[joy]

i just found that exact fabric on the right a few days before easter and made my girls their easter dresses out of it-you should look at my site to see them-how funny is that-both maine and chicago

[Heather]

I always love seeing your thrift store finds.

[nicole]

Rummage sales, a long-time favorite.

[nina]

aaaah, envy. we're looking forward to this upcoming weekend, when we go to todd farm for the first time (big outdoor antique place every weekend) here in MA....when i'll be buying up lots of similar treats!

[Heidi]

Love those old-fashioned names! Oh, and I thrifted that exact orange floral sheet earlier this year. I've been using it to line my recycled felted sweater purses.

[robin]

Ohhhh...drooling I am!!! Fabulous finds- fabulous names!! Have fun creating!<3

[Zelia]

Such beautiful things:)

[Persephone]

I went antiquing for the first time yesterday (after staring at the building every time we drove by going, "We need to go there sometime."), and I must have been channeling you: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Persephone82/DSCN3068.jpg

Check out that one on the left. :)

In all honesty, I want to be you. Your life is so beautiful through this blog, and you make wonderful crafts, and you have such great kids. Yep. Wanna be just like that. :)

[Sarah]

I think my parents have sheets from the 1970s that match the material on the right. I remember these from childhood and I think my mom still uses them! Recognized it right away.

[RI]

COULD THE " LARGE PILLOWCASES " BE BAGS TO HOLD THE QUILT PROJECTS IN ...WE HAD
BAGS AT SCHOOL IN THE 50'S TO HOLD OUR FABRIC... AND NEEDLE'S AND BITS ...I REMEMBER HOW HARD I FOUND IT TO EMBROIDER MY NAME AND CLASS...

[Nicole]

This is a very late comment on this post, but in the second photo from the top, the last fabric on the right, my mama has a sheet set with that fabric. And seeing it on here has made me tear up as I am 4,500 miles from my parents over the big Atlantic Ocean and I miss them terribly. And even though I am 26 I still remember the way those sheets smelled and the way they felt when I snuggled up with mama all those years ago. Thank you for your blog, Amanda, and thank you for answering the questionnaire for my dissertation. I have had the pleasure today of reading your entire blog for my paper and believe me when I say that it was extremely calming and inspiring all at the same time. Best to you and your lovely family.

[Rachel]

I picked up te orange/brown/green floral in the form of a fitted sheet at the Goodwill last month for under $2! I've already used some of it in the pleated purse from Amy Karol's book. Did you use yours yet?