And now for today's loot...

First stop for the day is always the post office where I collect my mail. Today I received the last of the peacock embroideries that I had been buying from the USA via eBay. I was surprised to find this one is exactly the same pattern as the doilies I received a week or so ago - but this is just one long runner, with a peacock at each end, and the stitcher has chosen a different colour scheme. So I didn't mind having it twice!
I arrived at the office about 1 pm, collected my roster, and headed across the road to a Salvation Army Thrift shop that had caught my eye as I was parking the car. Didn't find anything there to interest me, so I hopped in my car and drove about 2 blocks up to the next opshop on my list. There were two in a row here. At the first one I found two exquisite centrepieces - on with mauve flowers and the other with pansies. $4 for the two of them.
Driving on a bit further I discovered a second hand shop (different to an opshop, which are usually there to support charities). This shop was huge, absolutely chockablock full of junk! An older lady of European descent sat at the counter near the front door, and didn't even look up when I walked in. After stumbling around for about 20 minutes, I decided that as interesting as it all was, there was nothing that I needed/wanted. As I approached the counter, the lady looked up and smiled, and as I smiled back, I spied something on a shelf behind her. She asked if there was something in particular I had been looking for, and I replied "old linen - and by the way, is that for sale?" She turned around to see what I was pointing at. "Oh yes, you can have that for...$7 - is that all right?" I could hardly contain myself. For $7 I got myself a genuine sampler. Not just a simple cross stitch sampler, but one with hardanger, beading, and other intricate stitching. It was stapled on to a piece of masonite, which I suppose has at least kept it from being crushed. I took it off to scan it here, but the scan doesn't do it justice.
I found a few more opshops down the road, but found nothing to excite me as much as the sampler. All you ladies in Melbourne who are opshop-addicts, drive the full length of High Street, from Separation Street to Murray Road - it has to be one of the best streets for Op shops in Melbourne!!