I am so glad for those of you who have found fantastic buys from close out stores, Goodwills and gifts. Am I the only one who just doesn't stumble upon those extraordinary buys or gifts?

It takes time and patience. I am getting too long in the tooth to spend a lot of time "hunting" -- work all week, see grandkids, have husband, home and, of course sewing. You need time and energy to find the deals. I'm short on both counts.

I don't seem to have the luck as some here have had! But I am managing just fine all the same :)

I am in the same boat as you. I never find anything here either.

I never find them, only hear about them later. And believe me, I am always looking for them.

It does not happen very often, maybe 1 out of 12 trips I find something really good. Keep your chin up, you will find something!

I drive all day as part of my job and this is the time of year I call the "yard sale accident waiting to happen." In Maine when you're driving along rural routes, you can be driving along 50-60mph and have the car in front of you SLAM on the brakes at the first sign of a "Yard Sale". LOL The other hazard is when they don't pull in but try to check out what's in the sale as they're passing by and then end up weaving all over the road. People are always looking for good deals! I only wish I had time to stop and check out a lot of them.

Keep looking, it will happen when you least expect it.

That's right, it will happen when you least expect it. DH and I went out on the last day of the Hwy 70 yard sale and the first place we stopped was at an estate sale. Almost everything was gone, but sitting in the corner of the house was a Singer 66-18 in it's cabinet. I got it for $15. My DH cleaned it up, replaced the cord where you plug it in, put a new belt on it and it sews like a dream with perfect stitches. Her name is Helen.

No, you're not alone. I never find anything either. :(

I find lots of bargains in the local op shops. mostly of cuts but now and then they have mtrs of material and at a fraction of what it would cost normaly, I will have to take more note now that I am quilting. I would have missed out on so much,

A few fabric and books, but not even close to what some have posted here LOL

Rarely does it happen to me. But I get great pleasure in windfalling someone else.

I'm with the have nots... :cry:

It finally happened to me - last weekjend I was wandering around my goodwill store and found an older Elna SP in a cabinet that was in great condition. Plugged it in at the store and it seemed to work. Th price was marked as $45.95 and I decided to go ahead and get it. Got the register and all furniture was 50% off - so I got it for $23. Took a while to figure out how to load the thread and bobbin but it seems to be running great. I haven't named her yet, but I'm thinking on it.

I was lucky this morning! BF and his friend broughme a sewing machine they got free from a guy. Its a Eldrege Rotary, in a really bad cabnit, but the machine is pretty!

Good for you! Guess I'll keep looking. :D

I believe it takes persistence, I have not found anything worth millions Lol, but I do find some good fabrics at the Salvation Army (Op) shop in the city when I visit, and over time I have gathered a small stash.
My best buys although not related in any way to quilting was years ago when I was a young girl I found some black earrings in a junk shop which the lady said were plastic, ( I thought differently) I cleaned them up to find they were sterling silver and onyx and I paid only 10c, they are now valued at about $150 dollars! The other thing was an old chiming clock which was made in 1913 in Germany, I paid $45 for it and at last count after I had it serviced a few years ago the clockmaker said it was worth $3,000!
These were things I bought a good many years ago tho!!

Gal

While living in Hawaii, my sister sent me a link for a sewing machine on E-Bay. It is a Singer 201, a real workhorse (with stainless steel gears) and he was going to ship the machine head which weighs about 50 plus pounds, and was going to junk the cabinet which was in pretty bad shape! We watched the auction, and since no one was willing to pay to have it shipped, we bid on it and won it for a mere $59.00!! When I got there, he said I could have it in the cabinet for no extra charge! She purrs like a kitten, and hubby refinished the cabinet--now a real beauty! She does not have the pretty decals that you see on many old Singers...but she is a dream to sew on! Just a straight stitch, but I do all of my piecing and some FMQ on her....her name is Gracie! God really blessed me with this deal! (Thanks Sis!)
Aloha, Andy

I went to Michael's today because so many on this board have said they have found fantastic buys on fat quarters that are on clearance-they had them for 99 cents each rather than bundles of them for 49 cents like others have found. I was somewhat dissapointed even though that is a good price.

It took me years of searching but I had two great finds in two weeks.
I was at a thrift store just as they were putting out a hand pieced, hand quilted quilt and two hand pieced, hand quilted throws, and I snached (really snached) them up quickly almost before she could put them on the rack. I got all three for $25.00 because it was senior day.
The other was also an estate sale. I got one hand pieced, hand quilted, quilt that only needed to have the binding put on, 7 other hand pieced quilt tops (unfinished) and the matching material to put the border on them, a basket of material, a box of yo-yos and the basket for $50.00.
As I said, it has taken me many years of yard sales and good wills before I found these. It will probably be many more years before I find anything else but I will continue to look before the find is worth it.

And I went to my local Michael's hoping for the wonderful .49 deal and had to pay $6.99 for the bundle! :(

Finding 'treasures' does take time and luck. Go with an open mind and the object of having fun...that's what it's all about for me.

My luck is pretty good at finding 'treasures' - but I barred myself from stopping at any places for a while.

I'll confess, it happens to me a LOT but then I'm going to garage sales, estate sales, Goodwill, auctions a LOT too. Does it happen everytime? NOoooooo. Probably 1 out of 10 -12 times. And is it always for me? A big nope on that too. Last weekend dd and I hit a few garage sales and I loaded up on well over $150 worth of cake making pans, wedding cake stairs, columns and the round things that you put the cakes on for $13.50. I don't decorate cakes, it was all for one of the ladies that I go to church with. Just keep looking, get there right when the sales open, go to Goodwill at least 2x a month. Spend time, look around.

Well, I will admit that I just bought a Featherweight on eBay for $191.50 because the guy couldn't spell. I was bidding against only one other party. He messed up the spelling Featherweight so bad that no one would ever find it by searching. I actually found it off site in alink at a featherweight dealer.

I don't usually but I received two boxes from a lady in Michigan whose mother lives next to me. Other than that I haven't found a good win fall

I should add that I check our local Craigslist daily and sometimes (if I have something in mind that I'm looking for) I'll check 2x a day. I check Art & Crafts, General, Free, Garage Sale, Sporting(looking for a pool table for BIL) and Household.

I've searched high & low for "bargains" to NO avail, but that still doesn't deter me. I did go to our local Goodwill outlet store & find a Kenmore in a cabinet that has
two-drawers for storage & opens up to 76" for a mere $10. It sews like a dream. I wanted it for the cabinet to put another one of my machines in, but as long as this one works, I'll use it as is.

It is fun to see what others have found/received. But I generally do not find the bargains others speak of. You are not alone.

I find a find maybe... 1 out of 50.... with thrift stores they have it ALL AT ONCE! and you have to look at the start of the week, in the morning, or it will be gone by the time you get there!

DH & I are always looking to buy things second-hand...thrift stores, antique stores, yard sales, etc. I think because we are out there looking, we come across some great bargains. Not every time, mind you...but because we are in the "bargains area" we tend to find them. If someone only shops at retail stores they may not tend to find the really good deals...not to say that there aren't good deals in stores occasionally...

In the second-hand market, you really do have to look through a lot of haystacks to find the needle. But the hunt is what we enjoy!

I have some wonderful friends. One looks through Craigs List and FreeCycle for me. The other goes to Thrift Shops and Garage Sales.

Between the 2 of them, I am kept supplied for almost all my charity quilting and some "vintage sewing". Batting is hard to find here in NJ, when shopping the Thrifts/Garage Sales, though.

Susan

Nope! Never have been lucky enough to have something like that come my way! I my be in line tho. I was at a Gospel Meeting a ways from home and one of the ladies that I had met before saw a quilting magazine in my car and asked if I quilted. When I said yes she told me that her aunt had passed and she had all kinds of hoops, fabric, etc. and would I be intereste in them. Well, you can just guess what I said. She took my number and said she will call me. Keep your fingers crossed.

Okay, I kinda think I might have just gotten one. My husband has been wanting a bike rack for the back of our vehicles. One that will hold at least two bikes. I just bought one at Goodwill that will hold three and still has the original price tag of $94.99 on it. Goodwill's price was $4.96 but since this is Wednesday and I'm over 55 I got 25% off so if I figured right it was $3.74. A bargain is a bargain even if it isn't about quilting, right?

I had a friend that said she never got bargains. BUT, if she wanted something she went out right then and bought it. DH has been wanting this bike rack for at least 2 months, we just waited until we found one for the right price. He was actually waiting for them to go on sale this fall. Half of finding bargains is being in the right place at the right time. The other half is being will to wait for the "right time" to happen.

did you know that you can "go" to auctions at shopgoodwill.com and hunt for great deals on not only lots of sewing machines but also fabric...they show pics...I am currently bidding on 3 different lots of cotton...one even gives how much there is of each :thumbup:

Ditto!!! Who's got the time? Not me!!! :?

I love browsing this site but be careful of the shipping costs. Sometimes it is way more than I want to pay. I bought a vintage button holer for $5 and the shipping was $14. :thumbdown:

Those shipping charges are the first thing I check before I even bid...lol... :thumbup:

I think that this is the key. We have a running list of things we are looking for...that means that both of us can be looking out for something.

That's like waiting for snow to fall before you start looking for a coat...
c'mon...you knew it was going to get cold in the winter...be prepared by thinking ahead. It saves a LOT of money.

The other way it saves money is that simply by waiting/putting off a purchase sometimes you find something better to fit the bill or you may decide that you don't need it afterall.

Congratulations! That really is quite a find! My Mother-in-Law said she was ready to sell hers. Thought I would get a good price on it, but she charged me $200 and it is missing all the attachments!