Thrift Finds

This past Saturday we went to a Church sale with the intention of finding one small item and coming home. It was close by and why wouldn't we find this one small always available item. Well, we didn't so we moved on to a thrift store. We found that item and it was only .99 and then the hunting bug hit her like an F4 tornado and look what she did!

She hunted and hunted and kept putting things in that cart. It was fun to be out, but I think that short trip turned into two thrift stores on top of the Church sale. 

She found a wooden box, bar ware that she sold within minutes of her purchase, shipping envelopes, a spice shelf, sewing notions, the card board book which was the reason for the adventure and a framed print of a female artist she adores, but cannot find any information about.

She continues to bring home vintage sheets and pieces of fabric to sooth her addiction and we found a primary print JC Penny Snoopy drape.

And may I say yes, she got me 15 more canning jars and let me tell you the Good Will was loaded with them, but we play the color tag sale for the 50% off items and the one's we left were not that weeks color. The cashier tried to say they may not be there when we come back, but anyone who pays $1.99 for a used canning jar can have them when you can get a new case with rims and lids for a lot less. I have not filled these. I washed them and put them on the shelf because fruit and vegetable season is coming and we are trying to get some empties on the shelf. This is what happens to her when she needs one very small, always available, most anywhere item. 

Thank you for stopping by my post and have a great week.

Wet and chilly day, but we still went thrift shopping.

Here on the southern shore of lake Ontario it's still a bit cool. As a matter of fact we had frost warnings overnight. We are still two to three weeks from outdoor planting, but the urge is there to do it early. I think we'll go shopping while we wait for warmth enough to garden. 

Our search this past weekend found a couple of vintage sheets. My daughter will never pass up any sheet that is aqua and green. Those are her colors. I personally love the bright yellow poppy sheet.

We found some Raggedy Anne and Andy fabric that was reclaimed from curtains. The vintage 1972 linen towel is destined to be a pillow. That was the year my daughter was born and this one was truly seventies. I also found a package of vintage "seconds" clothespins and some strawberry metal trays still in the package that were sold through F.W. Woolworth Co. 

We will never again leave behind wooden pant hangers. The last bunch we listed on the store and they sold within days. If you see them at the right price get them.

A last second find was this bright sun dress. The red on the sides are large pockets. First thought was to alter it into an apron, but we may just sell it as is. It has the elastic bodice and may have had straps, but they can be put back on without a lot of work.

We found a bundle of fabrics for $1 and there are quite a few pieces we will use. The two yellow glass pieces are part of a lazy Susan that were just to bright yellow to leave behind. Set around a cheese board filled with crackers and the party is ready. The tea candles we'll use while sitting out evenings this summer and the bag of candles we got for a project we have been working on. We could have had two bags, but one was marked $1.98 and the other was marked $4.98. Couldn't figure out why the difference in price, but I bet you can guess which one was left behind. 

Just a couple weeks ago I posted about mini muffin tins and how I wanted a couple. Yes I found them then, but this weekend at the flea market I found two more and they were two for 25 cents. Yes that's right and the can opener and Tupperware measuring spoons were also 25 cents. The bread pan was on the list of things I'm looking for. When I downsized I got rid of all my baking pans for sizes that fit in my toaster oven. Now I want to bake more bread and have to replace the pans. One down, one to go. Canning jars will always come home as long as they are less than $1. I use them with my food saver for storage along with my  canning. Not all our finds are for the stores. There are a lot of items we look for to furnish our home and take care of ourselves. It's the way to do it. We call it shopping green.

Linking to: We call it Junkin

A little bit of everything this week.

The thrift finds this week were small. Mostly because we didn't get out to do much. We spent time with family, got the taxes filed, went out to lunch and have just been doing what needs to be done around the apartment. 

I spent some time choosing the fabrics for my next quilt. The oriental print has been my favorite for a long time. It is bed linen fabric that I will up cycle and mix with the solids. Most of the fabrics have been thrift finds and some are just leftover remnants from other projects. I know it's bright, but color inspires me. 

Thrift finds this weekend include a vintage Hollie Hobbie bed sheet, a yellow and orange floral pillow case and a beautiful gray and pink art deco style vintage pitcher. 

It was a work and play weekend and I think we needed to relax a bit. Relaxing to me is sewing and with St. Patrick's day coming I had to make something. That something was an apron. I know it won't make the corned beef and cabbage taste any better, but it will make the cooking fun.

We have so many items that we need to list on line that I think we may take a couple weeks off from hunting and just work with what's here. It's been wonderful building the stores and getting it all organized as far as storing it. Lots of research to be done to make sure we know what we're listing and continuing to grow. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by. 

What else was in that trunk?

Well as you saw in last weeks blog post that the trunk was quite full, but it didn't reveal the treasures. We haven't gone out thrifting this week because we've been busy cleaning sorting and listing our finds. We believe that the universe is leading us in a direction and we don't mind at all. Fabric is something we love and enjoy. Finding it opens doors to all sorts of sewing projects. We do keep some of the fabric we find, but lately we've been listing it on the stores to supplement our income. Last week we found so many differnt fabrics and here I am to share them with you.

This is two bundles of what is called PUL fabric. Short for polyurethane laminated fabric which is used for diaper making, snack bags, mittens and microwavable potato pouches along with many other waterproof projects.

These are bundles of cotton interlock fabric advertised for diaper making, more PUL fabric and baby flannel prints. So many fun prints and colors. Just fell in love with them.

This is everything from cotton yard goods, cuff ribbing, and cotton interlock.

To break things up a bit there were these two bright red fish shot glasses.

This is what we found for linens. Vintage sheets are just so much fun, but let me tell you that there is almost six yards of army green corduroy. This we will keep to blend with other fabrics for bags.

 There was dress fabric. This is a polyester crepe type fabric in an off white shade.

This black fabric is Posh fabric which is used for lingerie or slip dresses. All of this has been listed on poetcharms.etsy.com and the sales are starting to come in. This has been an awesome week, but I think the motivation came from the fun prints and different kinds of fabric. I would love to keep it all, but that's just not possible. I've had many creative moments this week, but just had to hope it gets loved by others. 

We always wanted to specialize in fabric.

Thrifting has been so wonderful so far this year. Yes we've found things to make our lives easier and better, but when we started thrifting it was to supplement our income reselling fabric. This is what we enjoy more than anything and we have been blessed lately with great fabric finds. Sure I like to find my unusual bottles and jars along with those vintage items and household items, but it's the fabric that keeps me hopping. It's changing almost as fast as technology and every day I learn more and more about fabric. When I raised my family I made most of their clothes, knitted and crochet their sweaters, hats and mittens and did what I had to, to make ends meet. I can't change time, but I can enjoy what young mothers have to work with today.

The bottles this week were five Ikea spice type jars. I'm looking forward to putting my flavored sugars in them for gifts or company. I also found some tall bottles that are perfect for vanilla extract. Also for gift giving. 

There was so much fabric last week. Here there are some stretch knits that will make fun tank dresses that are great for over bathing suits and of course sheets.

Did some one say pink elephants? These two pieces of yard goods are fun vintage elephant prints. Just love them. 

There was brown stretch knit skirting fabric, black posh and a great piece of camouflage fabric. 

This pair includes a great piece of corduroy and a couple of yards of Christmas table cloth fabric. I know it will never be a table cloth, but the sewing ideas are spinning in my head. 

I love the daisy fabric in this picture. We also found more vintage scarfs, an Ikea bud vase and some 1970s Precious Moments recipe post cards. 

The picture frame was an awesome bargain. This may be used to hold pictures of my three grandchildren or some thrifted piece of art work. There are three pieces of the lovely floral fabric, yards of the robot interlock diaper fabric along with a snoopy coffee mug and a vintage trivet. My daughter spray paints these trivets and hangs them on the walls around our apartment. I have to admit they do look good as wall art.

The beautiful pink fabric in this picture is a vintage panel. All one piece, but two different versions of the flower. The angel is for my daughters collection. She also puts little collections on shelves on the wall. I think she just hates white apartment walls. The clamp on light she bought for our picture taking. 

And then there was this. My daughter works at a large college and one of her students came by on Saturday and we did it, yes we did it. Took her around to some of our favorite hunting spots and this is what they came home with. Next weeks partial blog because I will only blog what is ours. 

Yes that's a tiger in the trunk. It's a vintage needle punch rug. It will be dry cleaned and this student will use it as a wall hanging. It is huge and the price $12. So much work went into this. Needle punch is not easy and your hands hurt after a short time working. 

Yes they filled the trunk, but most of this will have to wait until next weeks blog. It will have to be sorted out and photographed, but as you can see they had a great time. I on the other hand only spent $3.43 for a set of double pointed knitting needles to finish some hats, five packages of double fold bias tape and one canning jar. My bag was so small but I can't wait to do it again. 

Halloween week thrift finds.

The pickings have NOT been slim, but the budget has slowed and so has time. I've been busy trying to get a few plants in, hardy Lavender and Hosta's to be exact, and clean the flower beds (thank you Kalob) and oh let's not forget the never ending chives. I don't know why but this year the chives have been a bit overwhelming and there is one more cutting today I'm sure. 

This is a sampling of some of the items found from previous thrifting trips that we will be listing this week. Sales have been steady and we can't ask for anything more than that. 

New embroidery patterns. Two of the four designs.

Salt and pepper shakers.

Large vintage metal tray.

Juvenile print fabric.

More fabric.

And even more fabric. 

Then with all the other things going on with grandsons playing football, love you Josh, and another grandson wrestling, love you Kalob, my granddaughter traveling to New Orleans with her college newspaper, love you Amanda, there's that wonderful cold weather moving in and a change in cooking habits. The basil plant is one of my newly started winter indoor garden herbs and who could ask for anything better than home made deep dish, double crust, chicken pot pie. Love!!! Yes the Danish pot was a thrift find as were all the terra cota pots and saucers and of course the deep dish casserole bowl. Very few items in our home are new.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Vintage table cloth being re loved.

ON THE CUTTING TABLE

 

I just couldn't do it. It would have taken a life time to soak the stains out of this well loved vintage table cloth. I'm usually good at soaking items to give them new life. Even things everyone else would have thrown away years ago. My success rate has been great with soaking. This, however, I couldn't do. Instead I used it as a cutter for new projects. It was my goal to give myself time to get back to some sewing and I finally did this past week. There was so much that I salvaged from this table cloth.

 

 

The four corners of the table cloth were in almost excellent condition and I attached them to white muslin and cotton batting to make four place mats. I backed them in yellow checkered gingham. I had recently reclaimed a bed skirt for the eyelet lace trim and saved the 100% cotton fabric from it. From this I managed one dozen twelve inch napkins and just simply appliqued salvaged fruit pieces to them.

 

 

I made two fry pan handle pot holders and there will be two round pot holder/hot plate pads. So far that's twenty new items from this table cloth. I went through my stash and the two new curtain panels I found a couple of weeks ago with a bright colorful trim will be turned into aprons. I searched through my stash of fabric and found some fruit print fabric that I'll use for pockets and ties.

 

 

These items are not going to be sold or given away. They are for me. The next rebuild in my life is to get back into traveling and these will go in my camping, glamping, trailer or may I just call it my dream chest.

 

There was a trip to a neighborhood sale and I found two items. I spent all of $4 for both. I also got to the thrift store and found a few items. I know I took time for myself this past week and the stats on my stores show it, but it was a great mental health week and I did something green and kept stuff out of the landfill. It's back to work today and I would love for you to stop by and visit my stores and visit my Facebook page and check like to see my future updates. Have a great week.

 

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First thrift outing this past week.

 

First trip out this past week yielded a few fun items to list on my store. I found a set of six vintage glasses featuring River Boats.

 

In a small package full of just blah stuff I found these three inch little plates. Ideal for the chemistry nerd in some one's life. They feature test tubes, scales and jars. I need to research a little more.

 



 

I also found these cotton curtains and valences. Always looking for cotton fabric. I'm not sure if I'll sew with these or list them. Plenty of time to decide.

 

 

 

The John Deere sheet is a twin size and I may sell it whole or cut it for fabric and the yellow and green sheet is full size and I have bright ideas for this. Too many decisions for today.

 

I did get out one more time this past week and found a great selection of items. I have them all cleaned up and ready to photograph and will show them off later this week. I would love to be able to post more than one time each week just to keep things exciting, but I need to work too. I have the task of making Chili Relish this week also. Not because I need to, but because I am running out and want more and I need to possibly trade some for more Venison. Thank goodness this is one of my easier to make relishes. Until next post I hope everyone has a wonderful week and please feel free to stop by my on line stores.



 

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