I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Monday, April 22, 2013

Flea Market Finds




Hello everyone!
Yesterday was  Opening Day! No, not baseball, but the first day of the big flea market! Yay! I've been waiting all winter for this...but dubious because the Lions Club [sponsors] website said they'd still be at the awful spot under the expressway. But No! This market is now in the same spot as the alternate market, which opened last weekend.




It's nice to be able to park and not worry about being  chased by a church lady or ticketed/ towed. There's a lot more space, some shade once the trees get leaves, more dealers, and they aren't as cranky.
There's even a hot dog guy.




It was a gorgeous day, cold and windy but that's okay. (beats hot and humid!).



Have you seen that show on HGTV called Flea Market Flip? here The hostess person always reminds us to go around the flea market at least twice, maybe three times. (like she's such an expert, in her 5" heels? c'mon!). But I do go around three times usually. The first time is a very fast walk-thru, then I go back slowly; last I return to see anything I liked but didn't snap up.

However. I find that if I like something enough to buy it I see it the moment I walk into the market. The 2nd and 3rd rounds are really superfluous.

Not that that'll stop me! Last week at the alternative market my pedometer said I walked 1 1/2 miles. So..hat's a good thing. If I was at a gym on a treadmill it wouldn't be as much fun, would it?
I also buy from the same five or six dealers, never anyone else...similar taste and style, I guess.

So...The finds:




Great quilt, a rescue. Found last week at the alternate market.



It was so sad and soiled.



Looked like water stains or storage stains...



Had to bring it home. Soaked it overnight in "Restoration Quilt Soak" here which is probably the same as Oxi-Clean, but supposedly gentle on old textiles.




I was pretty amazed when I washed it the next day.



It is nearly pristine. So pretty.





I bought it with the idea of reselling it but maybe not. It looks so cute layered with my unfinished Beach Umbrellas quilt? So I am not sure.



I think it was made by the same person who made this blue and white rescue quilt, which I love and am slowly repairing. I bought it from the same dealer, I am sure , but he said he didn't remember the blue quilt. Same era, same style, same quilting. I wish I knew...



I also got this ironstone pitcher, how cute is this! Rosebuds, hairy rosebuds, like beach roses. And, happy sigh, bluebells.....[note: my reader Carol tells me this pattern is called "Moss Rose"..thx!]



Five bucks! From the very cheapo English china guy. The other English china guy told me earlier he'd had a wonderful c.1810 blue and white bowl: SOLD! I'd rather have not known, yeesh. Sure, he'd saved me a set of plates, but I wanted the bowl!



I love old china that is crazed and aged...









and I loved the funny strange rosebuds! They remind me of picotage printed fabrics, though the dots are not here, just the crosshatching...[definition at end].




And as I was paying for the pitcher, when I moved it over, I saw this great dish.




A big glass heart.


What is it? A dresser tray or a condiments tray?




Hairpins and safety pins, or olives and celery?

It will be perfect for sorting buttons, beads, shells as I am working...



How about you? Any good yard sale or flea finds this week?

love

             lizzy

..............gone to the beach







picotage: when fabrics were printed with hand carved wood blocks, up through the 1800s, the artists could not make fine dots  in the carving process. Instead they implanted hundreds of tiny wires or nails, all by hand, to form the shadowing dots of the dainty designs. Such floral patterns also often used crosshatches.... similar to the lines in the pitcher's design. [click to enlarge]











 Restoration Quilt Soak powder for antique linens here