hit and miss

tis' the season of church garage sales here in aus, all of varying quality, and i've hit both extreme ends of the spectrum in the past couple of weeks. last weekend i was up and in the car by 8am to visit a church sale in williamstown and totally hit the jackpot (which made it so worth getting up at 7:15am on a saturday). i found a big pile of vintage games, spanning the 50s to the 70s, all for the measly price of $3 each. i scored:



1) a vintage "zippy zither", in perfect condition, all lovely metal and wood, complete with pic, tuning key and over 20 song sheets to perfect your playing.


2) a late 60s battery operated projector with a ton of really bizarre little cartoons to project. also works with regular slides, which is great because my step father took hundreds of slides of my sister and i growing up.


3) late 60s or early 70s children's weaving loom. i was sooooo excited about this one and can't wait to give it a try in autumn, maybe a woven scarf? it came complete with instruction booklet and patterns.


5) 50s lotto game with all pieces intact, including great little wooden game pieces and very cool looking play cards.


6)70s/80s battery operated potter's wheel - i've seriously wanted one of these for since i was about 10. just need to get some air dry clay to work with and i'm off!


7) 50s/60s concetration game. i don't know if all the bits are in this one but i love the look of the pink paper game pieces so i snapped it up anyway.

and then, then! i spied a wooden doll cradle peeking out from underneath a table...



it was $1! to top it off, i found a little bit of fabric and some other small goodies...




so i'm already pretty thrilled at this point and i continue on my way to my intended excursion for the day - the reverse art truck in ringwood. it's pretty much on the opposite side of the city from me so i don't get there often but it's an amazing resource for fabric/wood/leather samples, scraps and offcuts plus a huge range of other random supplies to be used in art and craft projects. you can join up as a member or fill a large green garbage bag for $25, which is what i do. i scored some great pieces this time, large and small, as well as some leather cord to use in my wip holiday ornaments. because it's such a long drive, i'd scoped out a couple of op shops in the area and, while i didn't find heaps, the pieces i did find were more than worth the 80km round trip on their own.


at the salvation army in ringwood i found a huge tablecloth illustrated by danish artist bjorn wiinblad. the design is amazing, a series of little vignettes that frame the cloth with no repeat. there are a couple of stains in the center that don't affect the illustrations so i'm thinking of a series of cushions covers or totebags from this one...


and then at the st vinnies just outside ringwood i found this amazing vintage child's sheet in perfect condition. i don't know if it was ever even used, it's still nice and thick cotton with vibrant colours and no rips or tears.

i drove the long way home absolutely beaming, with my car full of goodies and my tummy rumbling - it was the best thrifting day i've had in a loooong time, possibly ever. and just to assure you that luck isn't always with me, this past saturday i hauled myself out of bed at 8am to drive down to hoppers crossing only to be sorely disappointed with a church garage sale that looked more like cheezy flea market. absolutely nothing was found there or at the two op shops i stopped at on the way home. thrifting luck, it all balances out.