Enter creative thrifting headline here

I haven't been disappointed at all lately when thrifting. Must be Fridays and Saturdays are a good day to go out.

I got pants for each of my boys (no pictures) and a girls' kilt which quickly transformed to a boys' one by just moving the buttons so it opens on the other side. Now my 5yo won't be losing his kilt in parades because this one fits perfectly.

I found these 3 patterns for 19¢ each, unopened and unused. They will be perfect to use with my vintage sheet stash. The pink and purple fabrics in the background are new too.

Ever since I found this box and improved upon it, I've been looking for more inexpensive metal containers. This was my lucky week. I found the two gray ones on my Saturday outing and the other one at a used furniture/antique store. They were $2 each and will be decorated and put to good use. I can always use more storage.

Books, books and more books -- 25-50¢ each. I know I shouldn't be looking at anything Christmas-related but I couldn't resist. The smaller hardcover is a more recent printing of a 1976 anthology of Christmas stories and poems.


The larger, with poorly preserved binding, is "An American Annual of Christmas Literature and Art" from 1946. Pages full of every imaginable written word or pictorial description of the holiday you could ever want.


From the Bible to international Christmas carols to modern 1940's stories and poetry. From woodcut illustrations to color paintings to black-and-white photographs.


An article, and this illustration below, about Robert Louis Stevenson caught my eye as I skimmed the pages. I didn't know he spent a winter and penned his famed essay "A Christmas Sermon" in Saranac Lake, about two hours north of me.


These three books are each a little treasure. They must've just been put out since the illustrations are to die for and they are in mint condition, all by Elizabeth Gordon. (You know what else is really nice? The paper they are printed on. Smooth to the touch, nice and heavy.)


The first on the left is by far my favorite. Original copyright is from 1910 but this copy is from 1939. This illustration, the inside front cover, shows you just how fun the illustrations are.


It's subtitle is "The Little Cousins of the Field and Garden" and the drawings are by M.T. Ross.


The poems are just as darling as the illustrations and the layout and typeface choices inspire the graphic designer in me.


The other two books are from the 1920s, but again reprinted in the late 1930s. The illustrations are by John Rae and the second is co-authored by Jane Priest.


I haven't read them yet but the stories revolve around Billy who "likes to know about things that are really so" -- meaning non-fiction. They remind me of an earlier generation's Dangerous Book for Boys.


The first book explains about various holiday customs and things like pearls, coal, umbrellas and clocks.


The second gives information about more holidays, biographical sketches and scientific advancements like telescopes, aeroplanes, radio and moving and talking photographs.


The last stack of books aren't as interesting to photograph. They are "Peony" by Pearl S. Buck, first edition 1948; "Short Stories of de Maupassant" in English not French and undated; and "Gulliver's Travels, A Tale of a Tub, Battle of the Books, Etc." by Jonathan Swift, 1933.


The most interesting thing is what I found inside the the last book. It is inscribed "Evelyn Gibbs Rogers, Emory University, Ga. 1949." Pages were marked with bits of paper that say "Morehouse College, Report of Absences."


I did some searching. Since Emory didn't allow female students, could Ms. Rogers be a teacher? Did she also teach at Morehouse, a prestigious all-male, historically black college? I also searched her name and came up with two references, about teaching, in "JSTOR, The Scholarly Journal Archive." I wish I could learn more about her.