Le Piece d'Resistance
Some people pan for gold up in the mountains. Some people run a metal detector on the beach looking for treasures. Some people sift through bags of coins hoping to find that rare one. I go through racks and bins at the thrift shops, garage sales, and discount racks finding goodies!!
Most days when I go thrifting, I find a few really nice things and a bunch of very normal, useful things. When I go to the Goodwill Outlet, I buy things by the pound for $1.19/lb. Linens and towels are $.99/ea. That includes things like sheets, bedspreads, bath towels, comforters, etc. I've seen guys pull out beautiful Pendleton blankets from the pile and only pay $.99/ea for them! Not me!! Not usually that lucky! And only once did I witness this for myself! And it was at a Goodwill near Seattle - but still! But that's normally just the stories of folklore and internet fables, right? Those are just the things that you read about on Yahoo News and share on your Facebook page!
But, what I'm about to tell you is my own story of unbelievability!
It was a late afternoon rotation in early February. The sun was shining and the air was crisp. There seemed to be a feeling of joy in the air....... Ok, ok, so I might be glamorizing it a little!!
They were doing a 'cloth' rotation and bringing out new bins of clothes and linens. Sometimes, I stand near the door where they wheel the buckets out, just so I can kind of scan them as they go out. Since I didn't see anything that really jumped out at me, I just took a spot close to the door when it was time to shop. There were lots of people digging and flipping through the buckets and the guy across from me was really getting aggressive with his rooting technique when I saw it!!
It was a solid red blanket, but it had a vintage look to it. It had some quilting to it and the fabric seemed to have some age - so I lunged for it! The aggressive rooter grabbed hold of one of the corners and began to tug but luckily, I had a bigger hold on the bigger part of the folded bundle. I gave me a bit of a look, but I just sort of smiled and took both arms and scooped it into my cart.
By then, I could see the item was a quilt and the corner that the rooter was tugging on was showing the right-side of the masterpiece! It was an incredible, beautiful, antique, satin and velvet, crazy quilt that was embroidered and dated 1889!!
This thing was a work of art!! someone had really out a lot of time into it and the fabrics were an amazing quality, but the condition was unbelievable!! I threw it in my cart and wondered how much it weighed (it was really pretty heavy). I took it to the front to find out what it would cost, by wight, since that's how they normally do it at this Goodwill Outlet. When I got to the cashier, she told me that linens and pillows were only $.99 that day!!!! What??!!! I was going to score this masterpiece for only NINETY-NINE CENTS??!!
I bought it, and the rest of my other goodies that day, and exuberantly headed home! Thinking the whole way home about who I could talk to about its value or historical significance.
I contacted a few local quilt guilds about an appraisal and one local guild suggested that I call Cindy Brick, and appraiser out of Castle Rock, CO. She was very qualified, experienced, and had even written several books about quilts, including Crazy Quilts. I ordered the book and contacted her for an appointment.
When I took the quilt to her for review, she was as smitten with it as I was!! She was also flabbergasted to know that I had picked it up for less than a dollar at a Goodwill Outlet in Denver!
We talked about the fabrics, the embroidery, the stitching, the symbols, and everything about the quilt and finally, she appraised the value of the quilt to be around $2200 - $2500!! I was floored!! And completely elated!!
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the quilt now, but one of my daughters has already laid claim to it. Hahahah!
This has been, by far, my best find EVER!!!
Let's see what we find next!
Don't forget to find more of my crazy good finds at my eBay store:
https://www.ebay.com/sh/mystore
To see some of my re-purposed creations, follow me on Instagram!
A Rural Squirrel on Instagram
Or to follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RuralSquirrel/
Most days when I go thrifting, I find a few really nice things and a bunch of very normal, useful things. When I go to the Goodwill Outlet, I buy things by the pound for $1.19/lb. Linens and towels are $.99/ea. That includes things like sheets, bedspreads, bath towels, comforters, etc. I've seen guys pull out beautiful Pendleton blankets from the pile and only pay $.99/ea for them! Not me!! Not usually that lucky! And only once did I witness this for myself! And it was at a Goodwill near Seattle - but still! But that's normally just the stories of folklore and internet fables, right? Those are just the things that you read about on Yahoo News and share on your Facebook page!
But, what I'm about to tell you is my own story of unbelievability!
It was a late afternoon rotation in early February. The sun was shining and the air was crisp. There seemed to be a feeling of joy in the air....... Ok, ok, so I might be glamorizing it a little!!
They were doing a 'cloth' rotation and bringing out new bins of clothes and linens. Sometimes, I stand near the door where they wheel the buckets out, just so I can kind of scan them as they go out. Since I didn't see anything that really jumped out at me, I just took a spot close to the door when it was time to shop. There were lots of people digging and flipping through the buckets and the guy across from me was really getting aggressive with his rooting technique when I saw it!!
It was a solid red blanket, but it had a vintage look to it. It had some quilting to it and the fabric seemed to have some age - so I lunged for it! The aggressive rooter grabbed hold of one of the corners and began to tug but luckily, I had a bigger hold on the bigger part of the folded bundle. I gave me a bit of a look, but I just sort of smiled and took both arms and scooped it into my cart.
By then, I could see the item was a quilt and the corner that the rooter was tugging on was showing the right-side of the masterpiece! It was an incredible, beautiful, antique, satin and velvet, crazy quilt that was embroidered and dated 1889!!
This thing was a work of art!! someone had really out a lot of time into it and the fabrics were an amazing quality, but the condition was unbelievable!! I threw it in my cart and wondered how much it weighed (it was really pretty heavy). I took it to the front to find out what it would cost, by wight, since that's how they normally do it at this Goodwill Outlet. When I got to the cashier, she told me that linens and pillows were only $.99 that day!!!! What??!!! I was going to score this masterpiece for only NINETY-NINE CENTS??!!
I bought it, and the rest of my other goodies that day, and exuberantly headed home! Thinking the whole way home about who I could talk to about its value or historical significance.
I contacted a few local quilt guilds about an appraisal and one local guild suggested that I call Cindy Brick, and appraiser out of Castle Rock, CO. She was very qualified, experienced, and had even written several books about quilts, including Crazy Quilts. I ordered the book and contacted her for an appointment.
When I took the quilt to her for review, she was as smitten with it as I was!! She was also flabbergasted to know that I had picked it up for less than a dollar at a Goodwill Outlet in Denver!
We talked about the fabrics, the embroidery, the stitching, the symbols, and everything about the quilt and finally, she appraised the value of the quilt to be around $2200 - $2500!! I was floored!! And completely elated!!
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the quilt now, but one of my daughters has already laid claim to it. Hahahah!
This has been, by far, my best find EVER!!!
Let's see what we find next!
Don't forget to find more of my crazy good finds at my eBay store:
https://www.ebay.com/sh/mystore
To see some of my re-purposed creations, follow me on Instagram!
A Rural Squirrel on Instagram
Or to follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RuralSquirrel/
If you want to check out my appraiser, Cindy Brick's blog, here it its too:
http://cindybrick.blogspot.com
Or her website:
Http://www.cindybrick.com
Here's a few more pictures of the incredible quilt...
http://cindybrick.blogspot.com
Or her website:
Http://www.cindybrick.com
Here's a few more pictures of the incredible quilt...
Very cool! It’s beautiful- congratulations!
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