Once a year

a local charity hosts an "Unused Fabric and Crafts Sale". It's a one day event - well, actually not a whole day even, a few hours actually. I can not begin to describe how much I enjoy this annual bonanza of sewing/crafting/thrifting bounty. I do remember repeatedly saying, "Wow" in a breathless, filled with wonder kinda way... just because I couldn't believe all the treasures. The volunteers would chuckle and ask if I needed help. "Um, no..." I kept answering, "I'm just taking it all in and savouring it. I've been looking forward to this sale since last year's ended. It's so amazing that I might start happy dancing!"

This year I spent more than three times what I spent last year. Here's a glimpse at what $35 bought me. Can I say that I couldn't fit everything into one shot? Instead of one huge post on what I scooped up, I'll give you a peek today and more to come.

Part of the fun at this sale is that you never know what you might discover. Oh, the stories that are behind many of these items. Inside a bag of tapestry wool I bought, I found this receipt. Back in 1972 these 83 skeins were worth $15.77, I picked them up as a part of grab bag of crafty stuff for $3.

In the notions room, I dove into the myriad of boxes searching for treasure and found these gorgeous buttons. Ziploc bags full of buttons were selling for 4 bags for a buck. These are my favourites, although I'm not complaining about the others I found - some still on the button cards.

Another fun find was the vintage spools of thread. Many were full and some still had the plastic wrap indicating they had never been used. Going through them later, I discovered silk thread amongst spools of all cotton and cotton/poly. Stranger yet was reading some unfamiliar (to me) company names on the spools, including one brand which was manufactured in Great Britain.

As soon as I returned home, I had to take a closer look at what I stuffed into my shopping bags and I immediately began spreading my finds out on the living room floor. It gave my family a good laugh to watch me sorting through it all and saying, "Oh, look at this! I didn't even see this tucked into the baggie with this other stuff...." and so on.

Apparently, my gleeful behaviour of treasure sifting also reminded my sons of their earlier years when they were happily sorting through piles of Lego. They made a point of teasing me a bit about the similarity. I suppose that's a valid comparison. Can I say that in my defense, I did pick up all my pieces and put them neatly away before going to bed? I haven't forgotten the feel of stepping on little bitty Lego parts. ;o)