Cruel Summer may be on it's way, but it's a crewel Spring!

Officially today was the first day of Spring, I know, but Spring sprung on us already awhile ago here in the 'Lou, and I took full advantage of it Monday on my day off.  I'd been invited to dinner at friends Alaina and Steve's house in O'Fallon, IL for Monday evening, and I hadn't planned much of anything else for the day beyond getting some more new items in my booth, so I took advantage of the rest of the day to explore a few of the many, many great thrift stores in and around Belleville, IL.  I had heard there were quite a few, but when I started googling, I was surprised at the sheer numbers in what I'd always considered to be (compared to St Louis) a small town.  Have you guys ever used The Thrift Shopper?  I just came across it while doing the aforementioned googling, and what a handy resource!  I'm excited to put it to use again soon.

I didn't get to every shop listed on my nifty new resource, but I'll give you what impressions I can of the ones I did visit:

Goodwill, Fairview Heights:

I stopped by this one mostly because it's right off the highway and easy enough to stop at sort-of-on-the-way to the others.  It's a huge Goodwill in a nifty building, but I wasn't expecting all that much, since it's right by the highway and surrounded by suburban sprawl-mall complexes.  I assumed it would be high on prices and low on vintage, but I was pleasantly surprised!  

Nice vintage desk and old utility chair.
I believe the desk was marked $30.

Old covered wagon lamp
with Carebear wagon-cover!

Cool laminate-topped end table with inverted arch designs.

I walked around for about 15 seconds before heading back outside to grab a cart to contain a great vintage Samsonite suitcase much like this one that sold on Etsy last fall:

Obviously I haven't yet gotten a pic of the one I bought!

Picked up a couple of other, smaller items as well, then headed South to Belleville proper.  

Next stop was the Shelter Shop on North Belt in Belleville, whose proceeds go to violence prevention, I'm told.  Prices here were very reasonable, but I didn't spot much that I couldn't live without this trip.  I will definitely give it another try next time I'm in that neck of the woods though - the people were nice, even if they wouldn't sell me the super cool vintage chrome and vinyl chair I coveted.  Apparently their customers sometimes need to sit down, and they didn't mean at my house.  Oh well!  I did pick up a couple of old embroidery hoops and a 70s kitchen gadget, for a grand total of $0.89.  Not bad.

Then it was the Salvation Army, where I wouldn't have been surprised to hear an actual angel chorus sing when you open the door.  Seriously, I found some fantastic things!  First, what I left for the rest of you:

This half-buried loveseat had great lines, the upholstery
that wasn't piled with stuff looked great, and I believe it
was a sleeper.  Beef up those seat cushions a touch
and it would be good as new!

Can you see that? Yes, this awesome "Dad chair"
is marked down to $8.99!  Go get it before somebody
who won't appreciate it's classic lines and Ward
Cleaver appeal takes it home and spills Red Bull on it!

Heavy brass and wood bookends - pretty in person.

And a creepy one for you.  Please tell me you can see that
this is definitely Carol Anne from Poltergeist sitting
there with her over-realistic Raggedy Ann doll.  Yikes!

I picked up a handful of gems here, but the coolest, by far, was this:

Wide lapels and wild pleating

 The jacket itself brings the funk with all the wild details, but the real reason this is an out-and-out treasure in my book is what you find inside:

Yes, that definitely says "Original Fashions by Sammy Davis Jr.,
and his signature is part of the lining fabric print!

I tried to walk away from this jacket.  I mean, it's not exactly a practical purchase, but... Sammy Davis Jr.!  I mean... come on.  Sammy. Davis. Jr.!  I was powerless to resist.  And interestingly, Google seems to have very little to say about the great Mr Bojangles' fashion line.  I found a garment bag with the logo someone's trying to sell, and one three piece pinstriped suit.  

The prettier finds I made were vintage Springtime perfection.  I picked up four gorgeous crewelwork pictures (there were at least 2 more that I left behind, if you love this stuff like I do!):

As they're leaning against the tire of my car, you can kind of get the idea of the scale of these two.  Bright, beautiful, detailed and well-done.  I adore the blue genie-bottle type vase in the one on the right.

As you can see, these two are much bigger still than the first pair.  I love the bold colors in the vertical one, but the horizontal looks awesomely just like a field of wildflowers, complete with a bumblebee in the upper-right there.  So Pretty!

I already have a few other cool crewelwork pieces (including the Van Gogh Sunflowers I've shown before), so I really need to free up some wall space in my booth and show these off like they deserve.  If anyone's looking for some fun, funky, beautifully crafted artwork, let me know, or I'll let you know when I get them up in the booth!

I visited a couple more thrift stores yesterday, but it just hit midnight here in the 'Lou, and I'm about to turn into a late-for-work in the morning pumpkin, so I'll wrap it up for the night.  Hope you're enjoying the Spring as much as I have been!

The booty from the Lemp Adventure

You guys?  I have a confession to make.  I am starting to have a touch of buyer's remorse for a few of the items I picked up on my Lemp Brewery/Donnaland adventure.  Don't get me wrong, I had an utter blast and wouldn't have missed it for anything, but I overspent, considering that of all the items I have sold in my booth (more on that tomorrow), not one of them has been an article of women's clothing.  So, while I said it before and broke it almost immediately because of the Donnaland opportunity, I am now going on record as stating: 

I will not be buying another article of women's vintage clothing until I have sold at absolute minimum 15 articles of women's vintage clothing.  

If you see me considering it, slap my hand, ok?  Thanks!

But, as promised, here are pics of some of the items I did pick up from that vast warehouse this weekend:

Look at all the Spring-tastic prints!

Big-but-not-too-big collar, and manly-but-not-too-manly print.

 And check out all these pretty, girly, Springtime colors and florals:

I have a hard time regretting them too much, even if none of them are really high-end items.  They're all sweet as can be, and I adore the brown floral tie-neck blouse.

Linking up to Apron Thrift Girl for Thrift Share Monday again!

Redecorated a bit already

So I've sold a few more items, it looks like.  Another hat - the brown felt fedora, an army messenger bag, a yellow ceramic big-mouthed fish, a glass... every little bit counts, right?  But I'd REALLY like to sell some clothing, since I've collected more of that than anything.  Do people just not buy clothing at antique malls?  Was it a bad idea?

I'm not sure how often it's customary to rearrange a booth at an Antique mall.  Really, there are booths I've come across that I saw a year ago that haven't changed significantly, and I'm just this upstart newby so what do I know?

But... I started in February.  Mid-February.  Right before Valentine's Day.  So I had a booth full of coats and all red heart-y things.  And then February was almost over, and Valentine's Day had passed, and nobody had bought any coats, or, come to think of it, anything red and/or heart-y.  So Monday I took out (almost) all of the coats and (almost) all of the red/heart-y stuff, and put in a bunch of green St Paddy's Day appropriate/ "hey, it's almost Spring" relevant stuff.

I added a ton of cute fun green stuff, and rearranged lots of the various tchotchkes so that the center table is now completely populated with greenery of the non-botanical kind.

I left in the booth both halves of the coat love story, because I'm sentimental like that (or possibly just mental), and the buttery soft Berman's leather blazery-y jacket, and one red dress and most of the black and gray stuff I'd had in there, but I added lots of green.  Including two big-collared 70s era double-knit shamrock-y items:

I think of this as a teacher dress for unknown reasons.

This photographs well, but it's awfully thick.  I don't
know why I keep buying things for the kitsch factor.

There are a couple of other uber-kitschy items, but there are also some great vintage things worthy of both love and a regular spot in the wardrobe rotation, including a very cute green and orange plaid skirt that I would hoard for myself if it were my size.  I think it would be super cute with some cable-knit knee socks and loafers or oxfords:

I like the length, and it's well-made.

These two dresses are super cute as well:

This is woven, but with a nubby texture.
I imagine it on someone creative and organized.

I like the cool wrap-tie on this spring green dress.

And since of all the clothing and accessories in my booth I have sold so far only an army messenger bag and two men's hats, I now know my real audience for vintage.  I have, accordingly, added another nice hat, and will continue to be on the lookout for manly goodness, too.

So, with lots of new items and rearranging, here is what my booth looks like now:

A bit more Spring-y, lots more green, and an adorable toddler-size plaid jumper.

A closer look at a few bits:

Mostly the same, plus awesome green/blue shirtwaist dress.

Lots of green, including a very funky 60s green/gray/
black/white print dress - go-go boots not included.

Lots of pretty green pottery and things.

Added some more linens and whatnot.

So what do you think?  Better?  Worse?  Do I need to knock it off with the kitschy clothes, or do they attract attention?  What do/would you do?