May 8, 2010

A wonderful way to spend a rainy day!

This morning I was thrilled to hear the patter of rain drops. It meant I wouldn't be able to do any yard work and had the whole day to spend as I liked since I'm between classes for a brief moment. I thought about spending it stitching but I had a manicure/pedicure scheduled for 9am so I knew I was going to be out of the house.
Instead of coming back and stitching, I headed to the coast and went bumming around in Wells. There are tons and tons of antique and consignment shops up and down Route 1 and since its early in the year, navigating Route 1 on a Saturday was not too bad. I headed south first where the first stop I made was to Annie's Book Stop which is a used bookstore where you can bring in your paperbacks for credit. I found 4 books there that I had been looking for. The next stop was to the Sweatshirt Outlet. I have been wearing one particular crew neck sweatshirt to threads and it was time to try and find some alternatives. I found a red and an orange sweatshirt on the $9.99 rack so I left happy.

By then my stomach was rumbling something fierce so it was time to make my way north on Route 1 to Maple Leaves for some sushi. A pot of hot tea, some yummy wonton soup and a spider and Philadelphia roll combo set me up with enough energy to hit my favorite antique/consignment places.
At Cattail Antiques, I found this great pair of embroidery scissors for $20 and a large roll of spring green grosgrain ribbon and a package of three spools. I wasn't especially interested in what was on the spools as much as the wooden spool form. I will pull the silver wire that's currently on there off and replace it with some trim or cording at some point. And I think the ribbon will work great for finishing purposes.


Next up was a thrift shop for an animal rescue group that I had never been in. I found an old Gregg typing manual that I just had to have for memory's sake. Did you learn to type as a freshman using this or a similar manual? I did! I also found the cookbook by Ina Garten and it was only $1.50! What a great deal. I also bought the David Sedaris book and two sleeves of buttons that will be for an exchange partner so no photo of them.


It was time to head home and on my way, I stopped in at the Country Mouse antique shop. This is a two story barn divided into many little mini shops and in one section, I found a shelf with 4 or 5 sewing baskets. One had a bunch of old Coats & Clarks embroidery threads that I really pondered. Another had a bunch of sewing items and was a neat square shape but I passed on that for this great round basket. Usually when you see these round baskets, they contain a bunch of stuff so if you've never opened the lid - better do it next time!

Mine had a great tomato pincushion with attached strawberry, a bunch of wooden spools of threads with some empty spools, and a bunch of finished crochet pieces like those show in the photo. I'm sure I can figure out a way to use them in finishing a project or too. I was really excited to find this basket - it was reasonably priced at $17.50 and well worth it to get the pincushion and the thread spools. Some of the other stuff I will not keep as it was more contemporary and not stitching related per se.

All in all, I came home quite content. Hope you had a great Saturday too!

4 comments:

mainely stitching said...

Oh what a fabulous day, Patti!!!! I wish I'd been there!

Anna van Schurman said...

Annie's isn't far from my parents' place; it's my mom's favorite! I know what I'm doing next time we have a rainy day when I'm visiting! I always think all those antique places must be a rip-off because they're in such a touristy area. Maybe the prices rise in season, like they do at Hoyt's! ;)

Anne S said...

Sounds like a perfect day to me! :D

Brigitte said...

This must have been a wonderful day out with some some fabulous finds.