Strawberries in November

I saw the corner of this bowl under a pile of rusty muffin tins and stained Tupperware...

"Hello, my beloved," I whispered.

"I think you'll be coming home with me."

The End

A Thrifty Book and 2 Winners!

This sweet old book was recently for sale at the shop. The title caught my attention.

Who knew the term "self help" goes back 100 years? And the author? Samuel Smiles. Charming!

And there you have it in a nutshell.

In other news...Remember our ginormous vintage food posters contest?
We have 2 lucky winners: Shara and Amber. Those 2 Trashy Pals had the most inventive ideas on what they were used for. The Prize? Each Pal gets one of the posters of her very own. Girls, leave a comment here on which poster you want...No fighting and no pony tail pulling!

Bye Bye Bambi!

Remember this handsome fella?

I dug him out of a forest of vinca in a backyard in SE Portland. Since then, he's been the reigning king of the shop. I'm here to report that he has found a new home.

Yesterday, his new owner put him lovingly in the back of a Subaru. He looks like he's trying to see through the window...Don'tcha think? Happy trails, Bambi!

Big News and a Favor...

Hello to all of my Trashy Pals...
After years of attending junk sales and antiques shows, both as a buyer and a vendor, I am taking a big, but logical, step.

I'm thrilled to announce my collaboration with Maria Raleigh of Collage in creating the Plucky Maidens Junk Fest. Our first Fest will be held this summer at McMenamins Edgefield in beautiful Troutdale, Oregon. (Just about 20 minutes east of Portland.) The date is Thursday, August 18th from 1PM-dusk. All of the restaurants and pubs on the property will be open for our shoppers and there will be live music starting at 6 to play us into the twilight. Just leave a comment for me here if you would like more information about being a vendor at this fabulous new show!

Also....
Would you please visit our Facebook page and "LIKE" us? We are trying to get the word out for vendors (in the short term) and of course, shoppers. Lots and lots of shoppers!
Thanks,
xoxo
Pam

The Iron Horse

Girls, if you ever find yourselves in Bend, Oregon, go directly to the Iron Horse. It's tucked in a residential area not far from the Deschutes River. The stuff is funky and fabulous.

Here's what you see when you walk in the door...Let's take a tour, shall we?

Eddie is the owner and official greeter. See Pat smiling from behind the cabinet? She thought she was out of the shot. Ha! I showed her!

Shelves stuffed with a delightful array of junk.

I love the Mannheimers sign.

The tour continues on my next post....

A Fabulous Bag of Something

My last post was about finding an empty (but fab!) bag while junking in Bend, Oregon. Here's the tale of an entirely different kind of bag.

This little hut/thrift store in Bend was having a "Fill a bag for $3" sale. So I did just that..I filled a bag for $3...and here's what I brought home:

A delicious variety of plastic grapes, a blue spotty enamel bowl, vintage millinery lemons & oranges, a picket fence for a fairy garden, 4 wooden doll forms and a troll who resembles Albert Einstein.

And these sweet, hand carved cartoonish animal...napkin holders (?) These fall into one of my favorite categories of junk: The "objects made by somebody's grandpa a long, long time ago" category. Not a bad haul for the price of a cappuccino. What treasure/s have you found recently for $3. Do tell!

Thrift Store Art

Girls, in this crazy, mixed-up world there are a few things we can still count on. Step into any "art" area in any thrift store in the western hemisphere and you will see the following:

At least one print of moody early 20th century babes staring off into space. This one gets extra points for including a river and ducks.

Speaking of ducks, there will always be a framed print of something mallard-esque. Always.

And a cheesy poster of a child with a butterfly and wildflowers.

Wait! What the hell is that? And more to the point, who would hang it in their house?
By the way, I could do that yoga position if I wanted to, I just don't want to.

Chreepy Christmas

There are just some things on this earth that I never need to have in our house, particularly during the holidays.

A front loader Santa.

An indescribably hideous object.

A duck that I'm pretty sure quacked out a Christmas carol. I didn't dare squeeze his arm (or should I say wing?) to find out.

I have nothing against Jesus. However, this one makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And not in a good way. Which one makes your blood run cold?

A very special Christmas corsage

I love vintage Christmas corsages. Especially the ones I find for a quarter. We hang them our tree every year. The chartreuse color of this one just knocks me out...

Traditional red and silver with white bells...

And...

"Merry Christmas Grandma! We got you a corsage with a skunk on it!"

It's a little sad...

...when you are pawing your way through the yet-to-be-unloaded carts at the Goodwill. There always seems to be a photo or 2 (or 3) of a happy couple on their wedding day tossed in among the bad art and fake house plants.

Whatever happened to Ken and Julie?

And Herb and Susan? More to the point: Why in the world would they throw the frames in the donation box for the Goodwill without removing their photos first? Discuss.

The One That Got Away

No, girls, not a man. Please. It was a glorious work of junk art and I fell, head over heels. Vintage jewels fashioned into a gold framed flower arrangement. In a persimmon velvet basket!

The colors and shapes and textures!

Sparkling, like stars in a midnight sky.

But it was not meant to be. Price: $45. Really? Surely whoever is doing the pricing put the decimal point in back of the 5 instead of in front of it. No? What has happened to my favorite thrift store? I took photos of my beloved and walked out in a huff.

My other Charlie

Charlie works at one of my favorite junking spots in Portland. He always wears a burgundy cardigan a la Mr. Rogers. Every time I ask him how he is, he says dryly, "Can't complain yet." I am pretty sure he doesn't remember me from one visit to the next, but I don't care. It always makes me happy to see him behind the register. The shop is run by volunteers and Charlie is the only man out of a group of gaggling senior gals. I suspect he makes all their hearts go pitter patter.

P.S. I took this picture on the sly. I didn't want to ask him, I think he's bashful.

I'm Revealing my Stash

My last post was about my glorious day of junking. I left you with the image of large bags full of who knows what? in the back of my car. I think that it's only fair to show you, dear reader, what was inside...

A painted floral lap tray, a minty green glass light cover, 2 shabby wood frames, a rooster tile, lovely rose & green French embroidery thread, a 1970's kitty earring holder (to be spray painted pink) a wooden shoe pimping Heineken beer, 4 vintage corn on the cob salt and pepper shakers, a sugar and creamer with pink flowers and gold edging (check out those handles!) and a classic, tragic British movie to watch this weeked at the beach when it's raining. And it will be raining. My favorite find looks like a brown pile at the bottom of the photo. STENCILS! VINTAGE! OH MY!

I love the letters X and Q. And dollar signs.

Finally, though I am not a clothes girl, I want you to know I got my entire Spring wardrobe, including 2 pairs of shoes, for $19.00.

Giving Thanks for Vintage Turkeys

My grandma Millie always had turkey and pilgrim candles on our Thanksgiving table. There was something comforting about them, alongside the mashed potatoes, white trash green bean casserole and family dysfunction.  I remember finding my first turkey candles at the Salvation Army in Garden Grove when I was a teenager.  And so, my own collection began at that moment. Now I have, well, a few.

I have branched out to include other Thanksgiving-y objects as well, like the corn-on-the-cob salt and pepper shakers and the stack of 10 handmade cardboard turkey napkin holders. I found them at an estate sale for 50 cents. They are lovingly crafted, drawn with colored pencils and on each one a name is written: "Gertrude","Pop","Mother Kennedy" etc. 

The white pair ($5) came from a trip to Brimfield market in Massachusetts, the safety pin and plastic bead turkey was a 99 cent Goodwill find. I love this one because, as you certainly know by now, I have a weakness for any item-made-by-someone-with-way-too-much-time-on-her-hands. The pink faced turkey was purchased at the Sandy Barr Flea for a quarter. It's alarming that I can remember what I paid for these objects 15 years ago, but often can't remember what I had for breakfast.

My hands-down-all-time-favorite turkey is the cooked one in the middle. There is a story involved. My sister Kathy came to see me in Portland years ago and we went to (where else?) a flea market. She knew about my affection for vintage turkeys. We wandered away from each other and a short time later, she came running up to me, heart pounding, face flushed. Her hands were cupped together over something. My only option was to pry her fingers open.  In her hands I found the Butterball in the Yellow Baking Pan salt and pepper shakers. I have never loved her as much as I did at that moment. Needless to say, this pair gets front and center position on the Thanksgiving mantel year after year after year.....

Chenille, Buttons & Bullets a.k.a. Junkin' for Sarah Palin

Yesterday, Gail and I set out for another estate sale adventure. And boy, did we have one! On our first stop we found kitchen stuff, vintage buttons, chenille bedspreads and...a metal clip holding 8 bullets. Price: $1.00. One of us made a crack about sending it off to Sarah Palin for good luck with that whole running the country business.

So, we jump in the truck to head to our next stop. On the way I say outloud, "Man I hope the next sale has some dead animals". The words were still hanging in the air when...

Deer hide, beaver skin and a fox stole that I just fell in love with!
Then it started to get a little scary. The last and final sale featured the following:

An alligator purse, 2 animal stoles (including teeth and tails!) and a hunting theme rug. ("Hey Mommy, look at those sweet deer!" "Great sighting Bristol, now grab your rifle and shoot one in the head!")

Finally, I returned home to see that my friend Marg had emailed me this:

It just doesn't get any better!

Junking on the Oregon Coast

I present to you, dear reader, the various trash and treasures I found in and around Rockaway Beach over the weekend.
First up: vintage Bingo game, milk glass hobnail lamp base, aqua Bell jar, 2 floral saucers, 2 vintage butter/cheese knives and a stack of old recipe books. You can barely see the fab chippy table underneath, but I had to have it. When I turned it upside down to put in in the van, I saw this:

Yes, boys and girls, it's a Heywood Wakefield. It's so beat up and needs a new coat of paint. I can't decide between white or turquoise. What do you think? I will show before and after photos in a future post.

This box of Christmas joy was $2. I admit I put the best stuff on top for the photo, but it's full of vintage ornaments.
1960's Christmas album...can't you just image the dysfunction in that household? And a country style painting that attracts and repels at the same time!

I also found linens...a pink tablecloth, a turquoise tablecloth, a vintage sheet smothered in pink roses and a never used mallard duck linen dish towel. OH! Last, but certainly not least, the old metal granny cart with wheels!