Oopsie - Look What Followed Me Home

I'd decided awhile back to stop buying spinning wheels. Seven was enough (3 functional, 3 antiques, 1 - a Clems and Clems - to fix up and find a good home). No, really.

Uh huh. Look what followed me home from the Ventura flea market today. This is Elspeth. She's German, from about 1849 according to the seller. Isn't she beautiful? I spotted her last month but the $300 price tag was way too much. I had no intention of buying her when I stopped there again today, but the vendor really wanted to make a deal. Let's just say I got a bargain. Elspeth has the square nails and joinery you'd expect from wheels of that era. What attracted me is her small size, jaunty angle, and her treadle. I can't explain why, but I love the look of this treadle. She needs a little work - some wood polish, new leather pieces, and a few wood repairs - but I think she's functional. Can't wait to get her cleaned up and see how she spins.

I found a few other treasures. This crocheted table cloth is in perfect shape, just needs a gentle cleaning and a few threads woven in. The workmanship is beautiful. I spotted this table runner as we were leaving. It too is in perfect shape - not something you often find in vintage, flea market textiles - and I love the subtle shading. Dick and I had gone through all our cash by this point, so we had to borrow $3 from a friend to make the $5 purchase price.

I found these at one of our first stops of the day. The vendor has boxes and boxes of vintage textiles, a lot of them hand-made, in various states of disrepair. I got a purple and green silk scarf for $1. This blanket, which looks like doubleweave and is in very good shape, was also $1. And these vintage fabric remnants, that I'm planning to hem and use as runners on blanket chests? Yep, just $1 each. I love flea markets.