Thrift finds and some freebies.

We have a favorite place we like to visit when we need sewing or craft supplies but we don't go to often because it can get quite costly with all the wonderful finds. It's called Craft Bits 'n Pieces and it's in Fairport NY. We went on a recent Saturday because we had things we wished to donate. This is a second hand shop where people donate their unused craft supplies and they resell them to the public to support their senior citizens. Well, they couldn't take our donations because we were unaware that you now needed to make an appointment because they don't have enough volunteers to accept them and run the store. If I lived closer I would volunteer, but I am to far away to help.

This is a very very small amount to leave there with. We usually find so many pieces of fabric that we fill a bag, but we've been very selective about what we are buying. Yes, my daughter even found a new hair clip and at .25 for a package of double fold bias tape we got those too.

Besides going to make a donation the most important reason was to see what we could get for thread. This is what we found and the prices were .25 to .50 a spool. We usually select specific colors, but this time we took whatever we thought we would use. The thread rack in the back was purchased at Savers for $1.99 after we shopped at Craft bits. We had the donations in the trunk and needed to unload them somewhere and we got a discount card for making the donations.

For thrift finds there were crocheted coasters (Craft bits), canning jars ranging in price from .29 to .99 and amazingly two pillar candles for .99 each. They always seem to mark them at $3 to $4 each.

We found this brand new Kay Dee linen owl print towel, a lime green Pyrex pie plate, along with an aqua coffee mug and vintage towels and linens. The vintage deer with her fawns is plastic but looks so nice on our shelf.

Part one of our freebie economics, my daughter has been cutting down fabrics and sewing, creating lots of extra pieces and scraps. She has a friend at work who also loves to sew and she takes these scraps to her to use and enjoy. Well one day a week ago she took a bag to her and we've been excited to get a little more out to be used and shared, but the universe on the very same day showed up. Another co worker arrived in her office with a large box of fabric. This is the bundle she brought home, but she shared about one third of it with the other co worker. We were happy because they were solids and not prints so we could use it to back sewing projects. 

The freebies from grocery apps included two boxes of baking soda and two boxes of brown sugar. Due to the weather and not needing to many of the offers this is all we've done lately. I'm sure there will be lots more in the future to share.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

I don't know where to start today. It's been a busy first week to the new year. We've been organizing to make it a good new year and more efficient. The holidays were wonderful. My daughter gave me a Presto pressure canner. This has been on my wish list for almost two years now so imagine my surprise when I opened this gift. When I was raising my family I always canned and preserved and when I down sized I gave away my canner and most of my equipment. We took a trip to the store for jars and it was immediately put to work.

New years eve day was quite a productive day. After eating our share of Christmas ham and serving company ham and cheese sliders I began by making a pot of split pea soup from the bone and leftover ham. The result for this day was three pints of ham alone and nine pints of split pea soup.

Since it had been many years since I had pressure canned anything I was a bit nervous about my results. The worry was for nothing because everything sealed and I felt good about not wasting food. I couldn't fit any more in our tiny freezer so I would have ended up throwing or giving it away.

On new years day the canning continued and I put up nine pints of ham, bean, and carrot soup. This finished up most of the ham leaving a few pieces to put in breakfast sandwiches. So moving on to the small freezer and how full it was it became clear that I needed to keep going and use up what I had been tossing in there. 

I made triple berry pancake syrup as Christmas gifts and had plenty of fruit stored up to make more. I wasn't aware that it would make so much, but I ended up with seventeen (17) cups of triple berry syrup. I know it's a lot, but it is preserved and will keep. You must understand that my daughter and I are always taking trips to the wonderful state of Vermont and we have always purchased a bottle of this syrup at $8.99 for 8oz. It is wonderful that now we can use our adventure to discover something new in Vermont.

It was a busy three days, but it is all labeled and put away so we can move on to the next adventure.

I also received for Christmas my favorite book to take out of the library. How excited I am to have this in my personal library and to be able to take it out and just glance through it whenever I want. 

I know that a lot of us are on tight budgets and trying to eat better and this butternut squash soup has become one of our favorites. Easy to make, simple sage butter seasoning (made with the sage I grew this summer) along with salt and pepper to taste then add a few home made croutons from that leftover bread and you have a wonderful and inexpensive winter dinner. 

This is what's been going on here in the townhouse and 2015 is starting out in a very positive way. I wish you all a very good new year and thank you for stopping by.