Saturday Night's alright for fighting

Weekends are all about the thrill of finding bargains. On Saturday there was another jumble at my now favourite village hall. I thought I'd up my game and get there 25 mins early to get to the front of the queue...oh no there were the two die hard jumble ladies who always get there first and cause trouble.

The two offenders at front always bring their own chairs so they can set up camp in the door way. On Saturday behind them in the queue was an elderly lady with her husband in a wheelchair.  The doors were finally opened (5 minutes late according to the seated jumble queen) the two with the chairs jumped up and waltzed in leaving their chairs blocking the second door. This meant the elderly lady and hubby were stuck as the wheelchair wouldn't go through. Much maneuvering later we finally got rid of both the seats and managed to get the second door open only to find  the jumble had parked her shopping trolley in the door way!

Well it was handbags at dawn when several women decided to take a pop at with her and a huge bitching match happened right there in the open door.It turned out that the chairs and shopping trolley in the door way were the tip of the iceberg, apparently jumble queen also hits the tombola stall hard each week and nabs most of the prizes - oh the scandal! I did overhear a scruffy looking man refer to jumble queen as a "big arsed walrus" - ooh err!

After the drama I had a good rummage through the clothes, no real vintage but some good high street brands which I will be putting on eBay. On my way out I checked out the toy stall for something for the little man. Amongst a box of plastic toys I spotted this little well loved fella:

I could see he was quite old and loved that he had bells in his ears so paid the 30p asking price for the little scamp.  When I got home I spotted the tag on his foot:

 He is a Merrythought bear. So I checked him out online.  Well it turns out he is probably from the 1960s a couple have sold for over £100 on ebay! Blimey, wasn't expecting that from the jumble!

Will I be ebaying him?

Naa, there is something quite appealing about his creepy eyes and womble nose so think this one is going to be living with me for sometime yet :o)

Have you ever found an item on a thrifting mission that turns out to be worth a bit more?

Big Love

Its a Jumble out there

Another weekend another Jumble - I'm being spoilt!  This last jumble sale however was a bit more hairy than the previous and to be honest there were a few times I wondered if I was going to get out of the village hall intact.  For some reason this last weekend EVERYONE decided to descend on the jumble sale. I decided to get there 40 minutes early and get a car parking spot. I took a magazine to read in the car while awaiting the doors to open. Ten minutes in however I got a bit twitchy seeing ladies carrying empty industrial size shopping bags to the church door and forming a half decent queue with half an hour still to go.  I'm afraid to say they got the better of me and I too joined the queue clutching my 30p entry fee (in 5ps as I hate them).

For 30 minutes I had to listen to a mother, daughter and son-in-law behind me tell stupid jokes, son in law trying to impress mum in law at every punch line and daughter then announcing loudly to the queue "Does anyone want to adopt another daughter"....we all ignored her and our thoughts were answered by son in law who quipped "Not wearing that stinking jumper they don't".

By the time I got in the hall I was ready to throw a sharpened elbow into one or all the family's ribs in the clothes table rummage.

It was mayhem inside the hall, three buggies where taken in leaving very little space for anyone to get by, there was plenty of tutting and huffing at the poor harassed mums.  I got to the clothes tables and starting pulling clothes out, checking labels and moving them on.  You regular jumblers will know about the shoulder ache you get from pulling clothes for the mountain on the table.  Its like a production line of ladies sorting through clothes, like the squirrels in Willy Wonkers Chocolate Factory.  All dud clothes were tossed to the end of the table (or on the floor), the two elderly ladies behind the monster mound of clothes were trying their best to hold the pile on the table for fear they may get flattened by last seasons primark offerings.

I picked up a whole bundle of high street offerings for my ebay, there was however very little vintage to be had. I did pick up one beautiful dress though:

Isn't it a beaut!  I love the 40s styling to it (label however hints to this being a 70s dress).  Just perfect with a bit of red lippy and victory rolls. Alas being a curvy chic I have no chance of getting into this dress. The boobage would be a bit much!  So its going to hung on my wardrobe to make me happy....and maybe give me a kick up the bum to stop eating sneaky 3pm office chocolate!

At this jumble sale they also have a policy of pulling out all the better dresses and tops, putting them on a clothes rail. There is one old dear who is the ''gaurdian of the rail" and my god she's a tough cookie to crack. She wont let anything go from that rail for less than £2.  She gets tuts but I love her death glare she gives to anyone who dares challenge her pricing. I did not purchase off her rail this week, although  she did give it a good go and trying to flog me a manky old rain coat circa 1985.

The bric a brac stall is a bugbear.  Its set up like a fortress, the two ladies who run the stall box themselves in between the tables. There are two across the back of the hall which they display all the goods, chairs stacked either side so no one can get to the back tables and then they have two tables in the front with the rubbish no one wants to look at.  You then have to try and get one of the ladies attention to ask to see an item on the back row. Heaven forbid you forget your glasses, you'd have no chance at seeing what was for sale.  The table is also about 4 people deep so I had to fight through and the only thing I fancied was this little set:

It came in at a rather expensive £1.50! 

I also liked the look of these hankies:

Yes it was the packaging that sold it to me. Again those bric a brac ladies held it to ransom for £1!

So with my two bags full of ebay clothes I only came away with 3 bits for myself!

Talking of shopping bags, one funny thing happened.  I had my two shopping bags tucked under my arm while sorting through the clothes table, on payment of the items I had picked I went to grab my bags from under my arm only to find them both missing.  Looking along the row I then spy two women opening up my bags and stashing their clothes purchases in them!!  I caught them mind stash and told them they were my bags and could I please have them back....well if looks could kill!  I stood my ground and after a bit of eye to eye contact they knew their game was up and handed me back my bags - blooming cheek! ;o)

Roll on the next jumble I say!

P.s Ive received two wonderful parcels this week from beautiful bloggers so will be showing my goodies at the end of the week, and of course there is also my boot sales buys to make a late appearance this week. x

Jumble Time

Hello my lovelies,  its that time of the week to share my thrifty finds from the weekend.  As mentioned last week I have stumbled upon a village hall which seems to have scheduled a jumble sale every Saturday for the next few weeks.  I was a bit worried that it was going to be the rejects from the previous jumble sale put out again for us all to decide we still don't want them.  I have since discovered that each of the jumble sales is for a different charity/social club so the jumble is going to be different each week - hoorah!

Saturdays jumble was in aid of a steam engineering enthusiasts club.  There were plenty of males in the hall all having been roped in to man the stalls and all looking a bit bewildered over the barrage of women coming through the hall door all with determination in their eyes to get the best bargain (me included!)

The clothing stall was pretty poor, unless of course you want some Bonmarche elasticated skirts or last years Primark t-shirts.  I only bought a couple of bits at the jumble which were:

 More vintage ladybird books - 10p each.

 Bird print glasses on the bric-a-brac stall.  This was run by a very well to do lady wearing a twin set and pearls who really didn't look like she had been to a jumble before. I therefore paid top jumble sale dollar for these 6 glasses, oh yes she asked a whole 50p per glass.  I stumped up the £3 for good reason.  These little glasses were waiting for me to find them as they....

 ....match my glass juice jug I bought a couple of months back at the charity shop!

As the clothing stall was a disappointment I did hit the bedding table for a rummage. There was an abundance of old duvets in bin bags but I did spot a bit of floral among the stained beige fabric:

 Both these bedspreads are in pristine condition, I had actually bought the blue one before at a charity shop but this was given to a friend many months ago so thought I'd take advantage and buy these two, especially as they were 20p each.  Bargain! All thanks to a bemused gentlemen who was asked to supervise the bedding table for 10 minutes.

I couldn't leave this vintage copy of Alice in Wonderland behind:

And it was cheap at 20p.

I also came away with a little bit of sparkle:

 This vintage brooch was under a pile of plates on the bric-a-brac stall but Mrs Twin set wouldn't let it go for pence but I was more than happy to pay the £1 asking price.

So my bags weren't as bulging as last weekends jumble sale but I think the regular jumblers have accepted me into their clan as I got a very friendly "good bye, see you next week" from queen jumbler who always manages to get the first spot in the queue, I feel honoured ;o)

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend.

Scarlett

P.S I did buy some boot sale bits but they'll wait till next time x

Linking to flea-market-finds

Eyes down for a jumble sale

While checking out the local paper on Friday I found two adverts for jumble sales! Those of you lovelies that have been following for a while know that jumble sales in my area are as rare as hens teeth so what a blinder to find two in one day.

So it was planned with military precision for hubby to drop me off at the first one just before 11am, I'd commando roll out of the car and get to the front queue without having to park the car. The second was at 2pm so we had time to go home, unpack the goods, have lunch and then head out for the next (you can see this was all for my pleasure and hubby went with it for a quiet life).

My plan was spot on and I managed to get some goodies at both jumble sales and added to the boot sale bounty today I've done quite well this weekend.

So here's my jumble finds:

 Kitsch vintage floral place mats - 50p. The kingsize duvet cover they are pictured on - £1 (going to a new home as was asked to look out for one).

Vintage leather sewing machine bag/case - 50p!!  I've just ordered my sewing machine so mucho pleased to have found this!

 Huge vintage floral flat sheet - 50p.

 Old sewing basket - 50p. I like the blue and pink basket but not as keen on the design so may get crafty on it.

Deco styled 50s milk jug and sugar bowl made by Picqout wear - 50p each. These sell really well on ebay, also saw some on bargain hunt (oh the joys of daytime tv!).

 Bird Feeder - 50p (Pictured in my plum tree).

Retro Winfield thermos - 50p

 Vintage souvenir table cloth - 30p

Floral Victoria & Trentham potteries ltd bowls, 6 for £1.

 Vintage tea towels.  After seeing all the crafty things to do with tea towels that Kylie has blogged about I couldn't resist buying these. They were 3 for £1. My favourite being this one:

Vintage scarves 20p each.

 Check throw which I'm going to turn into a picnic blanket once sewing machine arrives!

The next two were from the 'dress rail'. They had pulled out the better dresses in the jumble to put on a rail to charge more for! These were the only two vintage dresses at the jumble sales:

 This is an early 60s dress. The lady who took the money was actually the original owner of this dress. She  bought it in 1960 to wear to a dinner with her husband, and she only wore it once and has been hanging in her wardrobe ever since! Next is my favourite of the two:

Love the neckline and the shoulder design.  I bought both dresses for £3.50. Top dollar for the jumble sale!

I also came away with two bags full of clothes destined for ebay, would have be rude not to for 30p an item.  These jumble sales are just so addictive!

That's enough for me today. I've still got my boot sale goodies to share - you lucky lucky people ;o)

Hope you have all had a fabulous weekend!

Scarlett x

Linking to : thrift-share-monday, flea market finds and magpie-monday

Wherefore art thou Jumble Sale

Now you all know that I've been missing out on a bit of jumble sale action and getting increasing needy of finding one from reading my fellow bloggy bargain hunter friends blogs.  I did find one on Saturday and as promised I will share with you little jumble finds.

On my quest to find a jumble sale I think I may have missed the important rules of 'The Jumble' - I'm up there in the carbooty do's and donts but rusty on the old jumble side of things. Firstly the main rule seems to be - Get there before the opening time and queue!  Said jumble sale was 20 minutes drive from my house, I got there 5 minutes after the 2pm opening (blame the lights) and the jumble was already a scene of complete carnage, it was like grannies rioting - they were taking no prisoners and I'm sure I saw one of them with a scarf over her mouth and nose to hide her identity! The tables were 5 people deep and everyone was trying to outdo each other by gathering the goods to their end of the table and sorting out their little pile while growling at anyone who dare pick up an item they had already claimed.

I knew my fatal mistake of the late arrival when I saw a lady with 6 vintage handbags on her arm and she paid 60p for each bag - gutted is an understatement. I swear she must have seen my eyes boggling and gave me a sweet granny smile but inside I know that lady was laughing.  I also spied the token wheeler dealer in the crowd, checking the markings on the ceramics and pocketing all the best bits for 30p a go.

Anyway here's the few I managed to get through the crowd (blood and sweat stains removed):

Vintage floral umbrella - 50p :o)

All these vintage scarves (including a souvenir one) for 30p each and yes they came with a free scent of eau de old-lady, what a nice touch *wink*

Embroidered napkins - 10p each.

A 1987 Mickey Mouse thermos - 30p (looking inside and on the cap its never been used).

Embroidered seat back cover and table runner - 10p each.

I must apologise for the creases in the photos, I think after the trauma these goodies went through to be found by me they deserve a break before i iron them :o)

I can only imagine what amazing stuff I would have found had I'd been in the queue!  Not going to catch me out next time though oh noooo, going to be first in the line lol.  So the conculsion ... I loved every minute of it! I'm officially hooked on the jumble sale :o) 

P.s are there any more little Jumble Sale rules I should know about?

Scarlett x

Linking to twice-owned-tuesday , nifty-thrifty-tuesdays and thrifty-thursday