Thrift finds

So on our two day adventure we found so much that I've had to split it into two posts. Today I am remembering the fun.

We found a vintage 1957 Betty Crocker cook book and it has most of the recipes that I've been using for many years. It's wasn't in top notch condition, but neither are the old copies I've been using. We found a book on how to be happy. Can't wait to see what it says. There was a Care Bear good luck glass, a Flintstones Barney glass, a new in package serrated vegetable cutter and a package of baby yarn so I can knit more socks. I took a chance on the yellow plastic picnic utensils. I have my plastic utensils in recycled drink mix containers. I got tired of them being all over the place.

I found myself tossing the containers back and forth to access other items on the shelf or knocking them over because they were in the way and when I needed to take along some utensils  they were dusty and needed washing or were just all over the place. Well, this fun little find worked. I have a container for spoons, forks, knives and napkins. Just pick it up and go or keep it in the car. True recycling.

We found five vintage Strawberry Shortcake place mats that need binding and a good soaking. 

There was a wonderful white basket and a great selection of linens.

Along with linens were a couple of blouses to wear to work. Thrift economics at it's finest.

My daughter found this complete set of paperback books. There are eight and it is the Anne of Green Gables series.

She also has a thing lately for vintage spice racks. We found three different styles and sizes on this past trip. I know when she has her own home she will probably spray paint some to match her decor and put her herb oils on. She will have an awesome collection because there are probably eight or more that we have packed or have hanging. All in all it was a wonderful weekend and along with all our thrift finds we made lots of memories with friends and family and found some treasures for our future. 

Thrift finds.

We had to take a day for ourselves this past weekend. We had a list of things that we would like to do and set off to see what we could get done. Needless to say that there were a few stops that just happened and thrift stores were a couple of them. We also found a church sale that was in it's last hour and it was fill a bag for $4 and we got some neat items.

Here you can see we found some vintage cook books, holiday decorations, canning jars, a clear Pyrex round baking dish and a butterfly cookie cutter. We found the utensil crock which was something that was on our search list for the kitchen, a religious artifact and vintage tea cups.

The aqua and orange serving trays are a wonderful find and fit right in with my daughters decorating colors. Tupperware was abundant and this cake taker was slightly used. The Tupperware Jello mold is new and I think I may use it. I'm not a big Jello fan, but there may be a party. We also found a new in package vintage Avon Humpty Dumpty coin bank. 

The nylon hamper was on the shopping list. The one we had wore out. We found fabric, yarn and scarfs. The camouflage yarn will be used for gifts.

This Jimmie Hendrix t-shirt will be made into a pillow for the store. My daughter will tell you that this was the best find.

The church fill a bag sale was awesome. I didn't realize how much I could get into two plastic grocery bags. To start there were the three pieces of fabric and then I found a box full of vintage doilies, pillow cases and table runners. I think I made a woman mad because I was just packing them into the bag and knew I would look them over once I got home.

This is more heavy duty cotton fabric we found that's a nice neutral upholstery kind of fabric. I'm sure I will make something out of it and more of the vintage linens.

Here are more of the vintage linens and do you see the pair of blue baby booties? They are hand tatted. I have these items soaking and will make sure they are clean of settled dust and dirt before we use them for sewing projects or list them on the store. poetcharms.etsy.com

At one thrift store we found this darling coral sun dress with aqua embroidery. It is all cleaned and ironed and ready to be listed. It is size small and would be nice to wear over a swim suit. I found the olive green sweater and the white jeans at the fill a bag sale. I am going to cut the jeans into a pair of Capri's and the sweater is large and will go over a long skirt for winter. It's been getting very cold here in the northeast in the winter. Our day also included a stop for lunch and ice cream, the library and the garden shop for my herb plants. We found more articles of clothing, but I am writing a post tomorrow called Thursday's Threads and I will include them there. Until then have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by. 

Thursdays Threads

My favorite thing to do is sew. I think in front of a machine is where I am meant to be. My daughter is also quite a seamstress. We both find it very relaxing. Lately we've been trying to use up the multitude of scraps that every seamstress accumulates. It seems endless some times and the scraps range in size from half a yard to one inch pieces. Believe me when I say there are piles and containers and bags of them. 

I used a lot of red pieces of reclaimed sheet and one inch pieces to make this quilted library bag for my younger daughter. She likes a bag for holiday time. The lining is also remnants as is the cotton batting used to quilt it.

My eldest daughter made these sets of up cycled fabric napkins over the holidays. They are listed for sale at poetcharms.etsy.com. You can stop by and see all the wonderful items she makes. These were made from reclaimed fabrics and linens and they are 13 inch square. I'd show you the piles and bags and containers, but it is a bit overwhelming so I stay away until I have time to work. It is our goal to keep using and sharing the bits and pieces throughout 2015 so stay tuned for updates. For now I've got to go take care of conversation threads. Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Wow that was a fast week. To say time flies when you're having fun is not totally the truth. Let's say time flies when your busy. To start from the townhouse this week I've gone back to seriously baking and cooking. Doing what I can to eat better, but still enjoy food and life. I've gone back to baking my own bread. I've tried a lot of new recipes floating around on the Internet, but I'm going back to my good old Betty Crocker recipes I got as a teenager in the sixties. I just like the result, taste and I like the kneading. I know it's easy to let the machine do it, but when you've spent so much time doing something a certain way it's hard to let go.

I like home made bread better for French toast. I can slice it to the thickness I want and when soaking in the egg mixture it holds up better. Doesn't that look yummy? It certainly was.

I also make this ahead and keep it in the refrigerator so my daughter can take it to work for breakfast. I never did this when the kids were younger, but now it works great for her. 

Another task this week was cleaning the recipe files and papers. Over the years I've accumulated so many books, papers and clippings that I could never find what I needed when I needed it. I got a good start, but there is more to do.

This is some of the before. Can't believe I let it get so out of control, but...

look how neat the after is. I found recipes I thought were lost and would never find again and I can now just go to the right spot and get it. I put printed recipes in plastic sleeves to preserve them and can just pull them out of the notebook and wipe clean if they get messy. 

From the sewing and craft room this week I used a few scraps to make a candle cozy for 4th of July decorating. I don't do a lot of decorating any more so I'm keeping it simple with a holiday candle.

Sewing projects listed on the store have already started selling. There were pillows and napkins.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192554082/hand-made-16-inch-black-cotton-pillow?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192563409/hand-made-16-inch-teal-pillow?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192564741/hand-made-screen-printed-buddha-pillow?

The pink napkins have sold, but the green napkins can be found here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192558851/set-of-4-double-sided-13-inch-napkins?

Well I guess that's why the week flew by. I harvested parsley and basil from the garden this week and dried it for my soup mixes. I also took some clippings of my peppermint plant to start a new one and it's already rooting. Everything is growing nicely. It's small and mostly herbs, but it's my bit of earth. 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Linking to: We Call It Junkin

Up cycled vintage sewing and what's on the sewing table this week.

Our sewing and fabric addiction is showing it's face. It all started with an apron last week. This past week my daughter got some of her "unfinished" projects out and "finished" them up so we can continue to grow and clean out here at The Craft Zone. Here are some of the up cycled ladies tops made from vintage reclaimed sheets.

These tops have long sleeves and short sleeves finished with elastic. There are elastic necklines and yoke necklines. Some are belted for a fitted look and some are just loose and comfy. They are made from vintage patterns that, yes, she has found at thrift stores throughout the years.

When you sew there are always mounds of scraps. Strips, squares, circles and trims. Everything from new to vintage scraps. Why not put them to use. This past weekend she experimented with Easter egg shaped mug rugs. These seem to be the new coasters and personally I like the idea of a larger coaster. I like to set out a warm plate, but have always used pot holders. Why didn't I think of mug rugs. Dah!

On the sewing table now are all the items made from the remnants of the apron. I've managed a quilted table runner from two inch strips, an oven mitt, two pot holders or mug rugs and then from the remainder of the two inch strips I am sewing them together for another pot holder. I promised myself it wouldn't go back to the works in progress bin and it didn't. I ordered bias tape from eBay because I didn't want to edge them with white and there weren't enough remnants to make bias tape, so as soon as it gets here they will all be finished. Thank you everyone who stopped by and left comments last week. I hope this week is a great one for everyone. 

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. 

Thrift shopping with my daughter.

We haven't done a lot of thrift shopping recently because there have been other major things going on and we have so much to work with already. We had a 30% off coupon to Savers from all of the donations we have been making and had more to drop off, so we decided to go look around. This is what we found. 



A two yard piece of vintage alphabet fabric, a Raggedy Ann and Andy Sheet and a geometric print sheet which conjures up all sorts of ideas.

A mustard yellow, orange and white floral sheet which is my favorite find, some white cotton valences with a crocheted lace which I am going to use for an up cycle sewing project, a few vintage doilies and two orange and yellow vintage wash clothes for our thrifty vintage bathroom.

Add to those finds these blue and pink floral sheets and what a wonderfully bright collection of linens to add to our over grown stash.

In the glassware we found a vintage Pyrex oval bowl with lid and a lovely mid century modern pitcher made in Japan. Not much, but the time with family was great and I look forward to many more outings. Please stop by the shops to see all the new listing. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful week.

poetcharms.etsy.com
butterflyplace.etsy.com
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