Report: Sudberry House Garage Sale

Boy, this month has flown by. I have been doing some stitching and will have an update with some pictures later this weekend, I hope.

In the meantime, I wanted to write about my visit to the Sudberry House annual garage sale. As you probably know, Sudberry House makes great wooden boxes, trays, and other items to show off needlework. They also have some charts for designs that fit with their wooden items.

Anyway, every year, they have a big sale at their headquarters in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The sale runs from 9 - 1 on each Saturday in August. I went this year on the first Saturday of the month, when they have the biggest crowd -- but also, the biggest selection.

I got there around 9:30 and it was really busy! The street outside Sudberry House was already lined with parked cars on both sides, and their driveway was the same (see picture). What was funny was that their parking lot wasn't full. I guess people saw all the cars outside and decided that the parking lot must already be full -- but it was pretty empty. However, I wouldn't have wanted to drive down the driveway with all the shoppers walking in and out.

Once I made my way back to the buildings (it's in a very pretty wooded area), I saw that they had tables set up outside, piled high with things for sale. They also had more stuff in cardboard boxes set around the edges. The first thing I came to was a row of boxes with a sign saying "Free! Three per person." These boxes were full of little cross stitch kits of Christmas designs, birds, and flowers. I found three I liked, including the state bird and state flower of Georgia, the Brown Thrasher and the Cherokee Rose. Then I moved on to the main event.

The first table I stopped at was covered in trays, both large and small (you can see them stacked up on the nearest table in this picture). There must have been at least a hundred. I picked out two little ones that are very pretty, a tea tray with brass handles and another wooden tray with cut out handles. On the other tables were stacks and stacks of boxes -- recipe boxes, trinket boxes, even music boxes. I picked out several. There were also clocks, key racks, stools, and all kinds of wooden items for showing off needlework.

Some people had brought their finished pieces with them and were picking out wooden items to go with them. Others were simply buying in bulk, snatching up whatever looked good. There was one lady who was buying enough to stock a good-sized shop, but when I asked her, she said it was all for her. She had at least a dozen sampler frames, probably fifty boxes, and a piano bench that could be covered with a big piece of needlework. She assured me that she stocks up every August, and uses up all that stuff during the year. She must be an incredibly fast stitcher.

When I got ready to check out, it was a little confusing at first. Everyone had to stand in a line where workers with adding machines totaled our purchases, and then we went around the corner to pay at a different table. The line for the adding machines was long but it moved very quickly. It probably only took me 15 minutes to check out completely, with waiting in both lines. So even though it was crowded, it wasn't frustrating at all.

The best part was that I got some great bargains. Six boxes, two trays, two key racks, and a candy dish with a glass liner (I already had one of these at home). I think my favorite pieces are the recipe box (which I want to keep for myself), the red painted box (I am going to use it for that red bird I stitched a couple of weeks ago), and the tea trays. I got a bunch of stuff and my total was less than $100. If all those things were full price it probably would have been more like $300! So the trip to the sale was definitely worth it, for me!

Now the garage sale is over for this year, but they'll do it again next August!