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







Saturday, May 5, 2018

The Friday Flea



Hello, how was your week? Good I hope. My friend L and I went to the Friday flea again this week. We are calling it just that--the ''Friday flea'' instead of its real name of the Sacred Heart of St. Something Parish White Elephant Tag Sale, lol. Busy! People line up for the 2 PM opening.


My friend L has a really sharp eye for wonderful vintage jewelry. I'm sorry I   didn't get pics of her finds this week. We're thinking of starting a new etsy shop, to sell our finds and her input would be invaluable.

I was interested to see that this visit, two or three weeks after our first visits, almost everything was ''new'', despite the rather high price tags. For instance---these sweet blue and white German Art Deco milk jugs. You can see the tags, $15.oo and 14.oo.  Very appealing, but too expensive. No haggling either.



And other oddities of pricing, a white on white embroidered small bridge cloth [picture size to cover a card table], c. 1910 was a whopping $20.oo! Who besides me is gonna wash that, bleach it, starch and iron it? And right next to it was a large dinner sized tablecloth, with four napkins; linen with white inserted Battenburg lace and hand embroidered blue cornflowers. So beautiful! All for only 8.oo. [c. 1940?].No haggling either.

This week I noticed some interesting furniture. Wouldn't this make a great sewing work table? I liked its light wood plainness and shelf above.



Or this, a simple white desk--- another great table for one's sewing machine.



I also spied this wine cooler, for friends who serve wine in an ice bucket. Good crystal, carved cut glass seashells, swoon. Only $4.oo. I was afraid they'd not like it though so I passed it up.




Then there was a whole table of very charming French Provencal-ish rooster and chicken dinner wear and pitchers. I loved the rich autumn colors.














What did I finally choose?


I got this overpriced pillowcase, hand crochet inserts, delicate hand-embroidery.A pattern I have never seen.




I loved the dots.




It was clean but very yellowed. Looked like it was never used, just folded away in 1930 and never touched til now. Sad?
I took  chance and soaked it in 1 teaspoon of Clorox in a gallon of water.Then washed and rinsed it thoroughly. I'll put it in the sun to whiten more, if a sunny day presents itself.



Also 4.oo, this tiny cream jug. Very overpriced at 4.oo, due to chips, wear snd tear, fading. [we remind ourselves the money goes to charitable endeavors by the church group.]





Tiniest rosebuds along the top.


I thought it was French, Limoges, or more likely Austrian, but when I got it home I see that it is English or American . Edwardian era, by the shape and style, around 1900-1910.


And I was surprised to find a quilt pattern among the large scale woolly and gaudy Bucilla needlework kits. It was priced right at fifty cents! I have always loved Little Quilts. I believe they were very influential in starting the fad for ''doll quilts'' or small quilts, back in the 1980s .


I can see making the little house quilt! So sweet. This is the pattern photo, not a real quilt I found.


And that's all, folks.
...................................................................................
On a different note: I hope to get to the farmers market tomorrow. Might they have lilac bouquets  to buy? And tiny pots of herbs? If I can park I may go into the library and try to get an Internet library pass. Wish me luck with the mean librarians, I haven't been in the library since I got my Kindle in 2009. Anyway, thinking of Spring produce, yesterday  I bought now in season broccolini. Saute with garlic and olive oil. We gobbled it up. And:
Smashed New Red Potatoes

Rinse and clean a bag of 1" baby reds. Boil in salted water until soft when pricked 
with a knife or fork. Drain well.
 In the sauce pan, add a tablespoon of butter to melt, and stir in 4 finely minced garlic buds. [not a whole garlic, just the individual sections, 3 or 4.]. Let the butter bubble,  do NOT brown the garlic.
Return the potatoes to the pan, shaking the pan to coat. 
Take a fork or a potato masher and break up the little potatoes. Don't mash! 
Add a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream and a bit of milk or water. 
Add lots of parsley, a pinch of sea salt and fresh black pepper. 
*****
I served the smashed baby reds with the broccolini and choice of grilled chicken or a small steak. It was a warm delicious meal on a cold windy night. [even if the kids wouldn't eat the smashed potatoes, sigh.]

have a fun weekend!


love,

lizzy

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















9 comments:

  1. Baby potatoes with garlic and butter, Yum!
    The little milk jug is sweet - chips and all.

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  2. That menu sounds very good. Your new jug looks a great usable size for milk, flowers or even a green bunch of just foliage.
    Love the 'Mo still life' shots. That's the life alright. Penny

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  3. A weekly outing to the Friday Flea should be fun! I love embroidered pillow cases!!

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  4. Great pictures from Friday Flea shopping!!!
    Mo has the life,if he only knew how good he had it. Enjoy your week-end

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  5. I love the Friday Fleas! The pillowcase is gorgeous (and one day, and it will be soon, there will be enough sunshine to bleach it outside)!

    It could be awesome to do an Etsy site with vintage jewelry, a personal favorite of mine ... the classics, like Mo, never go out of style!

    ~Lisa

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  6. The tall blue milk pitcher was pretty, although I probably would have balked at the price, too. I believe the desk with the shelves above was a computer desk, but I agree it would work nicely as a sewing table, as would the white desk. Probably they'll be gone next week though!

    You should have gotten the wind cooler bowl, it's pretty and if your friends didn't like it you could always resell it! Oh, well.

    Having embroidered some pillowcases of my own, I don't think $4 was TOO high. It's very nicely done, too. I hope it came through the bleach bath okay - I would use OxyClean instead of bleach as I've found not all older embroidery floss was colorfast to bleach.

    I think maybe the old embroidered cloths are becoming popular again, as when I go to thrift stores I rarely find anything - and if I do it's usually not cheap, probably along the same lines as your pillowcase.

    I love the little creamer! It looks very familiar to me, I think maybe my mom had a sugar bowl in that pattern when I was young. It was the only thing of that pattern she had, though, so I'm not sure where it came from.

    The smashed potatoes sound great! Your kids are just missing out!

    Mo looks like he's comfy. I hope you fared okay with the librarians, too! Take care!

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  8. What fun! The creamer is going to get a lot of use, I bet. Pillowcase is pretty neat too, and not over priced, I don't think. Can't beat fifty cents for The Little Quilt pattern. Thanks for taking us along :)

    Man, your dinner sounds just perfect. I can't resist a potato in any form. They're my ultimate comfort food. I don't know how your kids do it. Thanks for the dinner idea.

    Oooohhh, librarians, curious to know how that went.

    Kel

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