Our Dirty Butter Collectibles Shoppe is Now Filling with Interesting Collectibles

I've been busy adding items to almost every category of collectible we have in our DIRTY BUTTER ESTATES Collectibles SHOPPE. This mask is one of my favorites, because of the rich color of the tanned leather, and the fascinating way it is made. When you look at the back you can see that it is molded from one piece of leather.

You'll find vintage linen calendars, souvenir mugs, church commemorative plates, vintage games, tin bowls, Homer Laughlin china, and many other unique items. So please take a few minutes and browse through our catalog. You're sure to find something for yourself or a gift for that special person.

We have lots more to add from all the treasures we have found on our Friday Date Day, when we enjoy going to Estate Sales, yard sales, and thrift stores. So if there's something in particular you are looking for, please contact us. We'll be glad to post your request for help finding it, or for information about some unusual item passed down through your family, or maybe you've lucked up on something at a yard sale and are curious about it. Whatever the reason, we'll be glad to post your request.

Finding the GOOD STUFF at Estate Sales is Getting Harder

We've been going to yard sales and Estate Sales almost every Friday for several years now as part of our Date Day. And we always have a good time, just because we are together. Oh, we're together at home, too. But we are doing our own thing - me on the computer and hubby reading a newspaper or using his computer. Not exactly activities that lead to paying much attention to each other. That's what makes Fridays so special for us, as we carry on more conversation in that one day than we probably do all the rest of the days of the week combined. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels that way sometimes.

But of late the sales have been much less unique. It seems like all the paper items that fascinate us so much - all the real junk - has been thrown out before we get there. Hubby has said more than once that the big bags of garbage at the curb are where most of the items we would be interested in probably are.

There's been much less to rummage around through for most of this year. We still have a good time, but we're not finding as many treasures as we used to. That has led us to spending more and more time looking for the plush animals and soft dolls for our Dirty Butter Plush Animal Shoppe. At least we can still enjoy the hunt for those hard to find baby toys that people sell, not realizing how valuable they will be to a family who are desperate to replace some lost lovie.

We have kept a few of the treasured memories from our vintage finds. We have one 1800's autograph book of the lady's friends that is very interesting reading. They didn't just sign a name, but wrote short poems and notes to each other. And there's a lock of hair sewn into it. I used to take it to school and show it to my students and read a few of the entries to them.

I recently ran across a website where they sell an amazing number of old diaries, along with some handwritten letters from some famous people, and also some extremely old letters from everyday folks. If you are as fascinated by these windows into a time gone by you might enjoy looking at Tuscon Tiques Collectibles. I certainly enjoyed seeing all the interesting letters and diaries.

I can't imagine how they could have accumulated so many different hand written ephemera, but they have renewed my interest in this type of collecting and made me hope that we will again run across that perfect Estate Sale, where all the "good stuff" was not thrown away before they started the sale.

Yard Sale Memories

We're having a Yard Sale today to get rid of a bunch of our own clutter, plus try to sell the furniture and odd and ends from my parents' home.

Daddy's recliner is in the yard sale. We bought it for hubby's dad, Pop, and then moved it up to Daddy's house after Pop passed away. I don't know what it is about men and their recliners, but you would have thought we were evicting Daddy from the house when we made the switch to Pop's recliner!! But his old one swiveled, and that made it unsafe for him to try to get out of.

The chair looks great, is extremely sturdy, but two dear old men sat in it during the last years of their lives. I'll be glad to see it gone.

We donated a bunch of Mama and Daddy's things when I cleaned out their house as best I could. But there's something about putting them in a yard sale that seems downright disrespectful, you know? But it doesn't make sense to keep it all, and at least some of it was still unused - gifts that were appreciated but never touched, or thought too good for everyday use - just stored away. Kind of sad. Note to self - stop saving things and start USING them.

We've reduced the price on Daddy's 1969 Chevrolet Caprice, too, and hope to find a buyer before we have to store it in the garage for the winter.

We plan to have one more sale this Fall, and hopefully finish getting rid of all of their old things and a bunch of our stuff, too, and then if we still have a lot we will do another one in the Spring. What's left after that will have to be sent off to the thrift store for sure.

We've had these boxes stored in one of the bedrooms we keep our plush animals and dolls stored in, so getting these out of the house will make it easier to get to our inventory.

Sifting through someone's past like this brings back all kinds of memories, but I can't keep it all. I've been steely eyed and put out things that I really would have liked to keep, but just can't. I won't miss them once they are gone, but it was harder than I expected laying them out to sell. Such mixed feelings are very normal I suspect.

We've been to many hundreds of these kinds of sales, but having one is going to be a new experience for us. Here we are in our 60's, and this is the first yard sale we have ever had on our own. Gee, another milestone has passed. LOL!!

May Just Keep Daddy's Car After All

We tried putting Daddy's car on eBay twice, but neither time did the bidders come close to our Reserve Price. I did get to write back and forth with one man who already restores these types of automobiles. He sent me some beautiful pictures, and he sounds like the perfect one to appreciate this vintage car. But, he is not willing to pay nearly enough to make it worth our while to sell it. I have it listed on Craigslist, and our own website FOR SALE pages and photos are still up. Also, we will be having an Estate/Yard Sale sometime in June, once I know a little better where I stand with my doctor's diagnoses, and we may be able to sell it then.

I was depressed at the thought of selling it, but then I was depressed when we didn't sell it. Kind of hard to please, aren't I!?

So it's beginning to look like we are just going to be a 3 car family. We do have the garage, so it won't be hard to protect it, at least. Hubby can drive it around here and keep it in good running condition. So far my driving has been limited to following him back from getting one of our cars worked on a couple of miles away and my monthly trip to get a hair cut, which is about a half mile from our house. It's my right leg and left shoulder that jerks, so controlling the gas pedal and keeping the steering wheel straight are a challenge.

In the tradition Daddy started of naming events by the car he had at the time, I guess I can add that the PT Cruiser was the last car I was able to drive. I see the doctor tomorrow, so I will hold out hope that this will turn out not to be true.

Finally Getting Serious about Selling Daddy's Car

Back some time ago I wrote about getting Daddy's car back in running condition and putting it out in the yard with a FOR SALE sign on it. We posted a FIRM price on it, so we would not be bothered by lots of local folks thinking it might be a $500 car. We have had plenty of people stop, a few who sounded like they would be back with the money almost immediately, a couple who seemed to really appreciate what a gem it is, and some who wanted to customize it and ruin it, as far as I was concerned.

None of the local people who had always said they wanted to buy it when Daddy died have shown any interest in doing so. Wishful thinking.

So, since we will be having a big Yard/Estate Sale next month some time, it seems like it is time to start really trying to sell the car. We still have not put it in the paper, because I just wasn't as ready to part with it as I thought I was. I finally took lots of pictures of it this week. I couldn't resist giving the trunk a parting caress as I came back in the house. It's almost like saying goodbye to Daddy all over again. I have been working the last couple of days on putting up a website about the car, so I am coming to terms with the fact that we really are going to sell it.

It was sad and fun at the same time for me to go back and re-read all of the posts I wrote about some of Daddy's cars, starting with his first automobile in 1914 up to this, his last one, and I put the link to this post in the sales page, so collectors and those who enjoy nostalgia could enjoy reading them, too.

9 Year Old Driver! Vintage Auto Memories Part I

First Driver's License - Vintage Auto Memories Part II

Life Before the Bottom Fell Out - Automobile Memories Part IV

Just Married - Automobile Memories Part V

Daddy's Idea of a Vacation

Burma Shave, Stuckeys & Hand Surfing Memories

The Year Daddy Hated to Drive to Chicago

1969 Chevrolet Caprice - His Last Automobile

Selling Daddy's Car

I am glad I decided to make the website, as I posted almost 60 photos, so I will always be able to revisit it any time I want to, for as long as I want to.

It may have a new owner sometime in the future, but it will always be "Daddy's Car."

Searching for a MARY DUNBAR GLASS LOAF PAN

I posted last year about an interesting glass loaf pan that we found at an Estate Sale, and we received an email recently from a lady who read our post while she was searching for the pan on the Internet.

Whatever happened to that Mary Dunbar loaf pan featured on your website? We just broke my Mom's, and need to replace it. It was her mother's, and yes she was still using it. Let me know if you still have one or where I can look for one. Thanks. My mom just turned 80 last year.

I wrote to the man who bought it from us, just on the outside chance that he still had it and would be willing to sell it to her. There hasn't been enough time for him to reply yet.

Anyway, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask you, my dear readers, in case someone could help this family out.

Here's part of the original post about the Mary Dunbar loaf pan:

Every once in a while when we find something unusual at an Estate Sale, we buy it, even though we don't have a clue what it might be worth, just for the education it can give us when we do the research.

This glass oven ware pan was just such a find last week, that I couldn't resist. What intrigued me was the big logo in the bottom with the cursive name of Mary Dunbar in it. I had never heard of that name before, but when I did the research on her, I found some very interesting information. I even found a forum where her grand daughter was chatting about what her grandmother had accomplished!

It seems that Mary Dunbar was the name given to the Jewel Tea Co.'s spokesperson in the 1920's. The lady who went by that company name was the head of the company's test kitchen, and wrote a series of cookbooks and a monthly newsletter. She is credited with the invention of the 7 minute icing recipe. There was even a Mary Dunbar seal of approval, much like the Good Housekeeping seal of today.

It seems that the Jewel Tea Co. put coupons in with their various spices and tea products, and those coupons could be redeemed for various household goods. The most well known of these was the Hall China Co. Autumn Leaf pattern china and related items. This pattern in highly collectible today. Our loaf pan was probably one of those premium items.

If you can help Jo find this Mary Dunbar Glass Loaf Pan, please Contact Us, including MARY DUNBAR in the subject, or Comment Here.

Searching - Originally posted 03/30/2008

Garage Sale Rant

We're so used to our little routine of going to a few Estate Sales and garage sales every Friday on our Date Day that it's hard to break the habit. There's always this anticipation that we will see some unique items, even if the price is not such that we would buy them. Well, yesterday was a DUD to add to several other DUDS we've had lately! In fact, it seems to hold true that from about mid December until warmer weather that there just aren't enough interesting sales to make the gas money worth it. We came home yesterday with two baby toys, and that's it!! Spent less than $2.00, had gasoline and eating out expenses, and basically have nothing to show for it. We left most of the places we visited laughing at the pitiful excuse for a sale they had going. Don't they realize that they are paying $32 to list their junk in the paper, and they don't have that much for sale?

Our first stop of the day was a small rural church that was selling out their thrift store. That sounded like it would have great possibilities, since they get the items as donations, so the prices are usually good. There were three people there "working", and we were their only customers at the time. Not one of them greeted us, or said a word to us. If we were looking for a church home, it wouldn't be there!

Of course, we still have fun, just being with each other. We bought an inexpensive GPS device for Christmas, and that's made getting lost finding some of these places a thing of the past. But when we get there, there's nothing to look at but a few pile of clothes and some old stuff that the Thrift Store can't even sell. Pitiful. And then, such as yesterday, there's the occasional place that advertises in the paper, and then is closed up tighter than a vault, with no sign saying sale postponed, or anything. Strange.

We stopped at a particularly odd Estate Sale last week. Not a single thing in the house had been priced, and only a few items were moved from their original location! They didn't even have kitchen items out on the counter. Everything was still in the cabinets and drawers, just as their relative left it. People were getting in line with arms full of stuff, waiting their turn to haggle over the price! It was creepy, inefficient, and we left without even trying to buy anything.

We'll be having an Estate/Yard Sale of our own this Spring, and I hope we will profit from the mistakes we see other people making! I sure don't want anyone telling everybody about that terrible sale they went to!!!!

SANTA .... He's EVERYWHERE!!

We have always had a lot of fun finding unusual items at Estate Sales on our Friday Date Day, but this little Santa decoration caught my eye, and the more we looked at it, the more unusual it appeared. If you click on the picture, you will see that all of the dolls in Santa's stockings have sad faces! Doesn't that seem strange to you?

So, it's not surprising that it was a Santa collector who bought him from us on eBay. I struck up a conversation with Brian, and asked him if I could share some of the pictures of his collection that he sent to me. He plans to write a book about Santa collecting, and it looks like he has plenty to write about!

Tommee Tippee Memories

Sometimes we find old things at Estate Sales that just flood my thoughts with childhood memories. One such item we found not long ago was a Tommee Tippee set of an old food dish and child's drinking cup. They were definitely used a lot, and this cup does not have the sippy lid, but the old decals with the teddy bear were enough to send me into a nostalgic reverie. I used the weighted round bottom double handle cups with our own children, but this set is quite possibly from when I was a small child, and could very well have been like a set that I would have used.

I tried hunting down some history on the Westland Plastics Co. that made these way back when, but had no luck. Most of the weighted vintage cups that I could find on the Internet were assumed by the sellers to be from the 50's, but my immediate nostalgic reaction to this set would place it in the early 40's.

So, does this set look familiar to you? Can you help me place an age on them? I'd love to hear your stories about how old things like this can evoke powerful memories.

Living a Green Life - At Least Trying To

I think I was somewhat of a hippy before there were such things as hippies. At least, that's the way I felt at the time. I was actually a teenager in the late 50's and early 60's. Joan Baez was my favorite singer, not Elvis. I listened to Classical and Folk Music and consciously tried to not conform. No drugs or free sex, though. Sorry, that's where I drew the line.

As a teacher, I always stressed the Three R's - Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle. And we tried hard to follow those principles as Early Marrieds. But over the years, it's just gotten too easy to not Think Green. I think the Microwave oven may have been my ecological downfall. Just think of all the waste, not only in packaging, but in transportation and processing.

The drought this summer has led me to look hard at all our wasteful practices that we have accumulated ever so slowly. Now, I'm saving our gray water to use on our brand new Lasagna Compost area. This is a double Green whammy, as I'm finding a useful way to recycle all the wood chips left over from having 3 trees cut down this Summer. I know our AC bill will be huge this month, as we had something like a dozen days over 100 in a row, but we caulked every niche when the house was built, and we keep the drapes closed. There's not much else we can do to lower that energy use, other than to raise the temp. That's not going to happen, as DH has to be the hottest natured person I've ever known.

But we do recycle all our newspapers, food scraps, plastics, and cardboard, thanks to the compost heap and a neighboring town, which has a large recycling center. I've been doing the research to make 2 rain barrels, so we won't be without water so much next year when the drought returns. We have plans to landscape the yard, and I'll be using as many drought resistant plants as possible, and planning on ways to limit the grass areas.

We buy most of our books, and many of our clothes at a nearby Thrift Store, not because we can't afford better, but because we enjoy the hunt, and the bargains. We buy a lot of toys there, too, which eventually are sold to parents looking to replace a lost or worn out lovey.

DH drives with the Cruise Control on as much as possible, set to 55. People whiz by us, but we get the last laugh at the gas pump. We do a lot of driving on our Date Day, but that's the only time we are extravagant with gasoline. Even then, I map our route to cut out as much mileage as possible, and to stay out of stop and go traffic on Highway 280 (the most congested road in Alabama) coming home.

Our whole eBay business is based on helping people re-use items we buy at Estate Sales, and it's very satisfying to know that we have helped someone find something they have been looking for.

Oh, and I still love Joan Baez songs, but now I enjoy Elvis, too. Thanks to DH, I've learned to enjoy Rock and Roll, Jazz, the Blues, Blue Grass, Southern Gospel, and no telling what else. But I still am a hippy at heart.

Washing Day Memories

Here's another vintage item we found at an Estate Sale that I bet you haven't seen in a long time, if ever. This one sold very quickly on eBay, and the buyer was tickled to get it.

For those of us old enough to remember, this quaint clothespin bag may bring back memories of the wonderful smell of sun dried sheets. I remember putting the wet clothes on the clothesline being one of my chores at home. It was a struggle for me to lift the wet sheets up and get them pinned up, without dragging them on the grass. The sun did a great job of naturally bleaching out all the whites, but the colored clothes suffered in the sun.

Of course, back then, everything was cotton, and had to be ironed. That was the horrible part of the chore. We had a maid, so I didn't have to do that part, and I remember being very glad that Mama didn't make me do it.

I was very glad when we got our first clothes dryer, and I wouldn't want to go back to all that washing day routine, but I'll have to admit that I do miss the sun dried smell.

Do You Remember Premiums??

Every once in a while when we find something unusual at an Estate Sale, we buy it, even though we don't have a clue what it might be worth, just for the education it can give us when we do the research.

This glass oven ware pan was just such a find last week, that I couldn't resist. What intrigued me was the big logo in the bottom with the cursive name of Mary Dunbar in it. I had never heard of that name before, but when I did the research on her, I found some very interesting information. I even found a forum where her grand daughter was chatting about what her grandmother had accomplished!

It seems that Mary Dunbar was the name given to the Jewel Tea Co.'s spokesperson in the 1920's. The lady who went by that company name was the head of the company's test kitchen, and wrote a series of cookbooks and a monthly newsletter. She is credited with the invention of the 7 minute icing recipe. There was even a Mary Dunbar seal of approval, much like the Good Housekeeping seal of today.

It seems that the Jewel Tea Co. put coupons in with their various spices and tea products, and those coupons could be redeemed for various household goods. The most well known of these was the Hall China Co. Autumn Leaf pattern china and related items. This pattern in highly collectible today. Our loaf pan was probably one of those premium items.

We have this Mary Dunbar pan listed on eBay now, if you're interested.

Premium items used to be so common. Banks gave you clocks and toasters for joining, and Service Stations gave out knives with fill-ups. I'm sure you can think of a lot more such give-aways. The customer was KING in those days. Now you're lucky if you get a pen with the company name on it, or a refrigerator magnet!!

Hmmmmmm .... something's changed over the years, hasn't it?? Now, it seems as if the mentality of most businesses and clerks is that they are doing us a favor by deigning to do business with us. I liked it better the way it used to be, thank you very much!!

Great Fun on our Date Day Yesterday

We had one of the best Date Days, as far as finding bargains is concerned, that we've had in a long time. We actually found an Estate Sale where the daughter wanted to SELL, not price everything so high that people just looked and left. We had handfuls of things, and ended up paying for one batch and taking it to the car, and then coming back for more!! We were like kids in a candy store, except it was future $$$$ signs that we were seeing.

We also went to one sale where they advertised that there was a lot of "old stuff." I would hate to be that fellow's neighbors, as his property, front and back, was one huge junk yard. We bought one nasty shaving mug for a dollar, but it will clean up into something I can add to my own collection of shaving and mustache mugs, strops, and razors. That one won't be going up for sale. Luckily, I've chosen to collect something that you don't find much of any more, so I'm not forever adding to it. I have no idea what possessed me to get interested in this particular type of item, but I find them fascinating.

This man's yard really made us both stop and laugh about what someone would think if they saw all the STUFF we've accumulated over the last few years from our forays at the yard and estate sales. Our poor children!! Well, as we've told them over and over, we have long since made our profit out of all of it, so they can just bag it all up and donate it to the local Thrift Store!

As hobbies go, ours is really not so bad, because it at least pays for itself! But it does take a lot of time to inventory it all, take pictures, and write the descriptions for eBay and for selling on our own website. I'm so far behind now that I can't possibly get everything listed, no matter how hard I might try. We kept buying, as an outlet to get away from our care giving responsibilities, even though I didn't have time to list anything, and it went on that way for almost 2 years! Now we have bags and storage boxes just packed to the overflowing with who knows how many stuffed animals destined for our Plush Animal Shoppe and vintage breakables waiting to be listed in our Dirty Butter Estates store.

Hmmmm... maybe I'd better stop blogging and get busy listing, eh??

Strange Friday 13th

DH and I had a good laugh about our Date Day Friday. Do you ever have days when it seems like nothing goes as planned? That was yesterday, for us.

First off, I couldn't get the online classifieds to show only Garage/Estate Sales for yesterday, the way I usually do, so I slogged through last week's and this week's looking for ones for us to go to. One of the promising ones was a church sale, but they didn't give an address. By the time I tracked that down, I forgot to look at when they opened the sale, and we drove way out of our way only to find that it didn't start until noon! We got lost on a couple of the others, making I don't know how many U-turns, and we gave up completely on one of them. Another one ended up at someone's house who was NOT having a sale - I have NO idea how that happened. LOL

So, as the day was getting on, we decided to go home the long way so we could check out that church again. It was an extremely well run sale, but not a single thing we would be interested in! On the long ride home on an unfamiliar stretch of Interstate, DH took a wrong exit while I dozed, so we drove a lot farther than necessary.

I hate it that he did all that driving and we have so little to show for it, but we do enjoy each other's company, and its' certainly given us something to laugh about. But if that happened very often, I think we'd get out of the eBay business!

Now that's not the end of it. There was an Estate Sale adverstised for today, Saturday, pretty near us, so we got up early as usual, walked at the track, and drove to the sale address. When we got there - no signs - only several people standing around with a bunch of stuff crowded into an open garage. Hubby got out to see if we had the wrong place. No, they had called off the sale due to approaching bad weather, and if he told her what we wanted she'd see if she could find it!! It's a good thing we're not cussing folks, or she might have gotten an ear full. ROTFL

So, we had a Friday the Thirteenth weekend, for sure.

Estate Sale Suggestion - Not My Usual Kind of Post, But a Word of Advice

If you have anyone in your family who is likely to need home care or special equipment, such as a walker, you really should check out a few estate sales before buying anything brand new. If you know what a good quality piece of equipment looks like, and you've done your homework on what they cost new, you'll be amazed at how cheaply these types of items can be found, when children are trying to empty out their parents' home.

But one thing I would suggest that you might not think to look for, until you actually need it for a loved one, is to be on the lookout for the large sections of artificial fleece that will sometimes show up at such sales. These are extremely expensive to buy new, and it's not unusual to walk away from an Estate Sale with one for just a couple of dollars. They are fantastic, not only underneath a bed ridden person, but also as an under pad in that favorite chair, cushions for elbows and heels, and the perfect soft material to put between knees and ankles. They wick moisture away from the body, are strong enough to act as draw sheets, wash and dry quickly, and can be bleached, if necessary. And when the time comes that you need to change Depends in the bed, they make it very easy to tuck the dirty one under and pull it out without stressing tender skin as much as using just a draw sheet does.

Why Do I Have this Thing for Aprons???

Some of the treasures I always look for when we go to Estate Sales are any really pretty or unusual aprons. While everyone else is busy with the furniture or china, I'm rummaging through kitchen drawers or stacks of linens in the back bedroom. I buy them all - the everyday aprons, home made preferably, the cute handkerchief aprons, fancy party aprons that never saw a kitchen stove, and the big coverall kind that often have stains on them.

So, what's the attraction? I think it's because I always associate aprons with my Grandmother and Mama. Both loved to cook, plus my grandmother dressed up every day. So she always wore the big coverall kind. I have trouble seeing her in my mind without an apron LOL. Just about the only time she didn't have one on was when she went somewhere.


Mama always used the half apron type, but one was always on the ready, hanging from the towel rack. I'm hoping, when the time comes, that I'm going to find some of Mama's stuck back somewhere, but I don't really expect to find any. Mama was not a keeper - she was a neat freak, so when she got older and didn't cook fancy any more, she probably used them as rags and got rid of them.

When they're all ironed up and laid out for picture taking to add to my descriptions on eBay, they make quite a display of domesticity, and they always carry me back to Grandmother's and Mama's kitchens, and big hugs that buried my face in their sun scented cotton aprons.

An Elephant Childhood Memory

It's really funny what odd little bits and pieces of the past linger with us over the years. One of my memories from my grandmother's home in Chicago is of a little china creamer. I can see it in my head as if I had used it just yesterday. It was a squat little pitcher, with a short trunk as a pouring spout and the tail became the handle. His bulging sides became the bowl of the creamer, and I remember that the details of his head were outlined in pastel pinks and blues.

It wouldn't do for Grandmother to pour milk into my glass from the milk bottle. No, she would put the milk in the little pitcher, and I would oh so happily pour the milk into my glass or on my cereal through that wonderful spout. I even remember just drinking straight from the elephant's trunk. Why it turned ordinary milk into such a treat, only a child could completely understand. But it was special to me, turning the mundane into magic.

Grandmother and Granddaddy moved from Chicago to Birmingham, where we lived, when I was 14. I was busy adjusting to High School, and, for the time being, relics of my childhood were not on my mind. So, there are several things from their Chicago home that were left behind that I wish now I had had the good sense to ask for. That little elephant would be at the top of my list.

I've looked at many little elephant pitchers at Estate Sales, hoping to one day find MY elephant, but so far I've been disappointed by each one. What made him different from others I've seen is hard to put into words, but I know I'll recognize this childhood friend of mine when I see him.

Mama's Lace Curtains - A Sunny Memory

When I think back over my childhood, one of the images I see is of Mama doing her yearly washing of all the lace curtains in our house. I don't remember if she washed them in the washing machine or in the bathtub, but it's the drying ritual that left such as indelible memory in my mind's eye.

This tedious chore had to be done in pretty weather on a Saturday. First, Daddy would haul the frames out of the garage for stretching the wet lace on. All around the outside wooden frame were hundreds and hundreds of little spikes, sticking up in a row. I remember helping Mama to put her curtains on these torture racks. I'd pull the bottom ones, while she pulled the top ones. Each outside loop of the lace was pulled until it fit over one of the spikes. On and on we tugged and stretched, until the whole curtain was attached to the frame. Left leaning against the clothesline in the sun, it didn't take long for the beautiful white curtains to dry.

The sun did its magic, so the pattern of the lace was perfectly symmetrical, with no need for any ironing. And they smelled great, too! If you've never hung clothes out to dry in the sun, you have no idea just how wonderful clothes can smell!!

In this day of wash and wear fabrics, it's hard to imagine anyone going to this much effort for curtains. And Mama wasn't a stay at home housekeeper, either. She had a full time job as long as I can remember. We did have a maid, who cooked, cleaned, and stayed with me until they got home from work, but these precious lace curtains were always something she took care of herself.

Maybe that's one of the reasons I'm drawn to look at any delicate lace that we find at Estate Sales. Sometimes we luck up on a beautiful piece that is not high priced, and they always sell quickly and with a nice price. I must not be the only one who associates fine lace, doilies, and cutwork with precious memories of days gone by.