Karen’s Opinion

“What do you give?” is how the auctioneer began his spiel when starting the auction for each item from a large estate sale. Mom and I headed to a quilt show Saturday but decided to check out an auction first. We were “just going to look”. Famous last words.

Little did we know that this auction had boxes of fabric and quilts. We were as excited as a shopper with a 700 credit score! We had our eye on a quilt top that looked to be from the 1930′s. It was a Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. It was not a finished quilt and the rest of the box held “cheater quilts”.

The auctioneer went through box after box of old dishes that included some carnival glass and depression glass. I did pick up a few salad plates and discovered that two of them might be valuable.

I also bought some old fashioned mixing bowls. I knew I better be careful or I’d be checking my free credit score in order to have some money left over to bid on some quilts.

Mom and I were keeping close tabs on the boxes that held the quilts we were interested in and were a bit put out as we watched several ladies rearranging the boxes contents. We rearranged them back to their original contents more than once! I hoped there wouldn’t be a fight before the auctioneer finally got to the boxes of which we were longingly waiting to bid.

The box that held the quilt went for way more than it was worth, ($80.00), but I did get a box that held 19 quilt blocks. I only paid $5.00. The quilt blocks are paper pieced using newspapers dated 1928! I am so excited to have acquired these old blocks.

When we got in the car to head to the quilt show, the temperature was 98 degrees! We were red in the face and sweating profusely. We were kinda gross to go to a quilt show but off we went.

I have been cleaning out closets and drawers like a maniac. Sometimes it hits me that I have too much stuff. I will probably regret throwing away some things but I don’t have the time to sell them on Ebay and I hate having yard sales. Hubby says I should keep the Nintendo because it will surely be valuable. Do you think so? Well, let someone venture into Goodwill and have the fun of buying it at a low price.

Does anyone have picnics anymore? I used to pack lunch boxes for the kids, lay a blanket out on the lawn and have a picnic with them. It was fun to drink Koolaid out of a thermos.

I gave this to Goodwill a few years ago. These days, they call it “vintage”. Sigh.

After helping a friend move her mother to a nursing home, I felt as if I had gone back in time. Going through Mildred’s things was interesting. She saved old coins that may be valuable. There were pages of old sheet music in folders that must hold meaning of some kind. I hope my friend asks her mom about them as well as identifying the people in a hundred pictures tucked away in drawers and jewelry boxes. There was an old pocket watch that I’d be curious about. Was it my friend’s grandfathers? Was it her father’s?

Another find was carefully wrapped in layers of cotton and then placed in a small manila envelope. A simple gold wedding band was kept separate from all other jewelry. Who did it belong to?