Town House Homestead Tuesday

We are still going strong here at our new home. We still unpack a box here and there, but until we finish deconstructing the basement, and making it a little more finished, a lot of unpacking will be done a couple months down the road. Being an old 1950's home it needs a lot of work yet to bring it up to where it should be. The basement is keeping us busy. It had a drop ceiling with Styrofoam glued to the walls and Styrofoam used as the ceiling panels. We have torn it all out and this week we are having some one come and pick up the mound of scrap metal and we have almost hauled all of the old floor out for collection. As you can see we are close to a clean room to start washing it down and painting. 

This is only one quarter of the basement that will house my daughter's sewing and craft studio. This week we have been fighting yellow jackets that are coming in and dying, but one stung her on the back of her neck while she was working. We'll pull all the old smelly insulation out and seal holes to prevent this in the future.

We are starting to get back to thrift store shopping and checking out flea markets to find some tools and items we need for the house. I found this vintage tablecloth. I love this pattern. A few years ago my daughter gave me one that was so badly stained that I could only use it as a cutter. I was excited to find this one and although it has a few stains that stubbornly won't come out it is in very usable condition. From the cutter I made place mats, pan handle pot holders, napkins, and hot pads, and still have pieces left that I was saving to make a table cloth that I can use for pot holders and oven mitts. It's been a fun sewing project.

Some other thrift finds were books. I can't wait to have time to read Solar Power Your Home for Dummies. 

We found a few more holiday items. Easter egg plates, made in Japan Christmas choir singers, a glass Valentines day jar, an aqua planter and a set of vintage Ball salt and pepper shakers.

We found some vintage linens. Some are sold already, some will be sold, and some will be used for sewing. All are in great shape and I can't wait to sew more.

The best find ever was this 5 quart Wagner cast iron dutch oven. They have become very expensive at thrift stores and flea markets and are usually in much worse condition. We got this one for $19.99 and I am already starting to clean it and season it. It is looking much better, but has a way to go before I'm comfortable cooking in it. I have wanted one for so long, so I can be patient. The container garden is slowing down. A few more tomatoes to go and maybe a few peppers and beans, but now it will be all farm market vegetables. Thank goodness that option is available and it's always nice to shop local. That's what's be happening this past week at the Town House Homestead. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week. 

Thrift Finds

We have been out doing some thrift shopping. Being selective and planning for the future while staying on our time line for a new living situation. Keeping that in mind as we look over what we need and want, this is what we found.

This week we found a new and unused 18 jar vintage spice rack. This is for all the spice mixes I've been making for my cooking experiments. Great find at $3.99. I chose what I needed for canning jars. Only took these five wide mouth quarts at fifty cents each. The large vintage refrigerator dish has a few chips in the cover, but for another $3.99 we decided to get it. What I love about it is that it will make a wonderful all around go with anything serving set. I can use the bottom and turn the cover over and use it as a tray. My imagination was in action.

For vintage and colorful linens we found two floral tablecloths, a bundle of red and brown floral curtain panels and a green print pillow case. The bag of knitting needles was $.99 and yielded 16 pairs of needles including several sets of double point needles. The computer mouse is not vintage, but I have told people that it's for a vintage computer user. Original price was $1.99 but because this weeks color tag was blue we got it for 50% off. It works great and is an HP brand. 

The flower silicone baking mold was purchased for my daughter's soap making and lotion crafting. Wilton brand for $3.99 and new in the package. The angel will go with her collection of angels, the "e" key chain she got for me because we really don't find a lot of different items with my name or initial and the lamp was originally priced $2.99. It also had a blue tag which again we purchased at 50% off. We were also able to use the senior discount at Savers thrift store which gave us an additional 30% off. That's the scoop for this past weekends thrift finds and we are excited to be going to a large flea market this coming weekend. I'll let you know what we find. Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Thrift Finds

It was planned. Yes I found a need to go to a Church sale. It came to me that my rosemary plant was being squeezed between my basil and not growing as it should so the need came up for a larger pot to transplant the rosemary and add to my container herbs growing here at the townhouse. We had no intentions of getting up this past Saturday to search this sale, but I refuse to pay top dollar for what we can pick up for nearly nothing. Call me cheap, call me frugal but I prefer to be called thrifty. I was very successful. I found two twelve inch dirty flower pots with saucers and they were $1 each.

Here they are after being scrubbed clean and disinfected with bleach and the rosemary now has a pot of it's own and is doing much better. I may cut a few stems to propagate new plants so I have some growing inside through the winter. 

It looks so very happy doesn't it and I am ready to harvest a little for cooking and when it gets a bit larger I'll dry some.

We found a Martha Stewart colander for $1 which will be used for our cheese making and a few more canning jars. On the way back from the Church sale we stopped at a thrift store and found the lime green desk lamp and vintage sheet.

The Church sale was over loaded with books and my daughter found a couple she liked. The wooden doll she spotted on the first table just inside the door. She brings home many new faces. The apple corer, shot glasses and cookie cutter she got at the thrift. The apple corer is heavy plastic/Plexiglas with red handles and is very strong. She got this item because she saw that she could cut potatoes for baked french fries and have a more consistent size. 

Lastly she found many vintage patterns at the thrift store. She chose several coat patterns and a foundation ware pattern. She also found the large Georges Briard plate and two suction handles. One has been added to the shower for my benefit. I get the help I need from them getting my old knees and bad hip in and out of the shower. One handle she attached to her cutting ruler for a more ergonomic way to use it cutting fabric. Works great. So for something that was planned, but not intended we found what we needed and a few extras to make living easier along with a few items of pleasure and store inventory. Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Have a great week.

Thrift finds and freebie economics.

This past Sunday I went for a ride with my younger daughter to a baseball game for my youngest grandson. He had to be at the field an hour before the game, which his team won, so we took a few minutes to head to a local thrift store. Lots of great things and plenty available, but I continue to purchase needs and not wants. When I walk through a thrift store I wonder why everyone doesn't have everything they need. 

I purchased the salad spinner and the vintage Mickey and Minnie contact paper. The salad spinner was on my list and the contact paper will be sold. My younger daughter got the quart size canning jars for $2 at a yard sale for me and they are all cleaned and ready for canning season.

This large bundle of bath tissue was free. My eldest daughter got an eBay coupon for $25 and this was purchased and shipped free.

Bourbon was on my wish list. I wanted to make extracts and barbecue sauce with it and sure enough the message was heard through the universe and we were given this bottle of Kentucky bourbon. I love how the universe works.

These two divided wooden cubes measure 18x10x8 and were salvaged from a renovation project at my daughters place of employment. They were going to demolish these and many more, but she convinced her supervisor to take them down and either sell them or give them away. They were all saved and my daughter took these for her future home. They are small enough for her to use for now until she resettles. This is not bad for living frugal and taking advantage of what comes your way. We are very grateful for all things good. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. 

Thursday's threads.

Interesting changes going on in my life. A bit of selfishness has moved in. I would never buy anything for myself as far as clothes. I always believed I had enough of everything I needed and if I took care of them they would last a long time. On our outing this past weekend my daughter got me a few new items to work into some wardrobe items I already have, or plan to make and like she says the prices are better than retail at the thrift stores. 

The first item she found for me was this Christopher & Banks jumper. I can wear it as a jumper or as a long vest. It was the most expensive of the clothing at $7.99 but it can be used several different ways. The white t-shirt was 50% off for a total of $2 and new. 

This is a Liz Claiborne top. It's red and black and I can wear this over a skirt, with jeans or Capri's. It is a light polyester and will be cool and loose for summer. 

As posted before I found this pair of white jeans at the church fill a bag sale along with the olive green sweater. I can use the white jeans with either of the tops and I have fabric to make a few items to go with the olive green sweater. I even have olive green flats. Just got to look through what I have.

As far as using up some of the scrap fabric hanging around I started red, white, blue and striped fabric folded stars. I don't have many 4th of July decorations so I want to have just a couple new items to put out. It's going to be a quiet day but I'll need to feel festive and fabric is what I like most. I think I also like original, one of a kind, I made it stuff.

I am continuing to use up the yarns hanging around and my daughter bought me a package of mill ends this past weekend. The green, aqua and pink are pair eleven so far this year and it's only June. I taught myself well and I am going to have the warmest feet next winter. That's what going on for Thursday's threads. I am staying busy here at the townhouse homestead. My next challenge is learning how to make cheese and we are getting close. Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.