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.

New thrift finds and oh those freebies.

We stopped by a local Savers and Amvets and found a few items plus the townhouse complex had a garage sale. Kind of a flop because out of 200 units maybe a dozen participated. The universe on the other hand thought it would be good to us and send many freebies our way. Counting our blessings.

The only item I found at the garage sale was the Coleman camping lamp. Great price and after new batteries it works wonderful. I'm putting that with my camping gear. At the thrifts I found a 10 inch pot for more peppermint that I am propagating. I would love to dry the leaves and have enough for tea, extract, sugar and syrup. I think I may get plenty off the original plant. I found two wire bail pint size canning jars at 49 cents each, another bread pan for 99 cents and a plastic bag of emergency candles that had a hand held fan with it. That's the blue item between the jars. Unfortunately it was broken and went in the recycle bin, but not before I salvaged the strap for future use. 

Other finds included a green Wilhold sewing box, a NIP yellow daisy queen size sheet, a large green Cinderella Pyrex bowl, a red Pyrex casserole bowl, some small embroidery hoops for small craft projects, straw trivets and a lovely pair of cast iron floral star candle holders. These will probably be spray painted.

Linen finds included a pair of orange poppy curtain panels, a purple and pink floral bed cover and the bright pink is a home made house robe that has lots of yardage to it. Yes the imagination is working.

The freebies from the universe this week were exciting. Different, but we will put it to use or sell it.

First up:

Top left: Many dollars worth of watercolor paper.

Top right: Many more dollars worth of watercolor paper.

Bottom left: A metal cutter, two dollar store mesh strainers and two wooden apples.

Bottom right: Large fold of cotton batting, 25 new wooden blocks, a variety of sponge and paint brushes and a wooden card box.

Next up:

To the left a free clamp on lamp and bubble wrap and to the right more bubble wrap. We have discovered that appliances purchased for the townhouse complex are shipped and sometimes are wrapped in bubble wrap. We picked the recycle bin for it and we put the word out that we'd reuse packing material and it's starting to roll in. Needless to say there was quite a variety in the freebies and quite a lot so when I say we are counting our blessings, believe me. It's been an awesome week here. 

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. Thank you for stopping by.

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. 

Thrift Gift of Fabrics

Thrift shopping was put on hold this past week because of one of those events that happen in life, so these are last weeks finds, but Wow! What a time we are having. Got out a bit while the sun was shining and found linens, which are our favorite things to find, along with a few other items. 

Just so excited about these curtains and pillow shams. I have already reclaimed the lace and salvaged the pleats on the drapes to up cycle. Envisioning a few projects with the remaining fabric.

This is just a few of the sheets we found. We are so addicted to fabric and sewing.

Imagine the thrill of finding NIP vintage sheets. The trip was getting better every minute.

Then there were napkins, a Vera scarf and an embroidered linen just right for a pocket on my up cycled robe. Got to have a pocket.

My favorite fabric find is the beautiful piece of vintage pink floral fabric. Almost silk like, but so Hollywood. I remember fabric of this kind made into wonderful bed covers. The vintage Vera scarf is a poppy pattern and then there's the lovely bowl with it's cover.  A couple of years ago I found four pear shaped dishes that are part of a Lazy Susan set. They were so nice that I couldn't leave them behind because I felt that some one could use them as serving dishes. Who would have thought that a couple years later I'd find the center bowl that matches them, in a totally different place on earth and in excellent condition. I can't wait to put them together, but now the challenge will be to find the wooden base to put it on. Not impossible. I just need to put it out on the radar and it will come.

I just had to show everyone how beautiful this is. Imaging finding the pieces years and miles apart. Currently listed on butterflyplace.etsy.com.

Christmas ornaments from scrap fabric.

For those of you who follow my blog you know how addicted to fabric I am. I just love it and yes I sell it and yes I sew with it, but there's always those scraps. These are made from reclaimed trim and a yoyo and bead in the center. All of these are about four inches in diameter and required fabric no longer than 18 inch strips or eight inch squares or circles.

Yoyo's are easy to make and these became ornament bells with a jingle bell to finish them off. A star can go on the top to make it a small tree also, but I like the bell.

 

Inspired by Kumiko Sudo (Flower Origami) who is a fabric origami artist,  I folded these pieces of fabric to make these ornaments and added the bead to class them up a bit.

 

 

Also origami folded fabric, just a little more folding. These are my favorites and the red and white one's looked the best on a green tree.



These are also folded fabric but a log cabin pattern. I found the direction in a booklet I bought in Lancaster PA. I have been fascinated by folding fabric for several years now.

I added some folded origami to my Christmas stockings and made them look better than just plain white and green. This is how I use my scrap fabric and I hope to be semi retired to do more of the things I like some day. Scrap fabric is always for sale on my stores. butterflyplace.etsy.com and butterflyplace.storenvy.com. I hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful holiday.

One estate sale this week.

I was not going to go to this estate sale, but it was on my way home from work and the very end of the sale. As I thought, most of the items I had seen in the preview were gone, but to my surprise most of the closets and bedrooms still had plenty to rummage through. Reclaimed linens and fabric are my favorite items and are always fun to me. This picture shows some vintage curtains. Some of a wood panel and kitchen pattern and others with a vintage Dutch ribbon that I will up cycle into something new. There was a linen towel with a country store theme and square linen napkins that I will also up cycle. I moved on to another room and to my amazement had a closet that seemed untouched but once past the old terry towels I found more linens to reclaim.

I found three sheets in excellent condition and to my surprise two vintage pink and white Swiss dot bed spreads with those lovely large ruffles. One is more loved than the other but if not usable as is will be great to reclaim the fabric. The best part of the short visit was that they were so happy not to have to pack all the leftover stuff up that I got great prices. It encouraged me to keep up the hunt and go on your instinct. You just never know. I hope soon to be able to go through these items more thoroughly and list them on my etsy store. butterflyplace.etsy.com. Have a wonderful weekend everyone and keep on going.

This has been a slow week.

Although I was able to thrift and find a few items it has been very slow here this week. I've had Internet issues and hope to get them taken care of soon. My finds this week included two pair of reclaimed tab curtains that are already taken apart to reclaim the fabric. A bright pink and orange sheet for fabric, a floral ash tray from Japan, a mushroom print trivet from Japan, four plastic coffee cups with the same exact print as the trivet only made for Sears, a whimsical frog and mushroom wall hanging and last but not least a set of Georges Briard Christmas coasters. Some of these items need some maintenance and others will be listed shortly if not already on my etsy store: butterflyplace.etsy.com.
When I moved a few months ago I put merchandise in boxes and marked them as store inventory. Since my service was slow or not available at all this week I shopped in those boxes. This morning I have begun to take the pictures of these items. It feels good to empty out and move on. Some items I asked myself why I kept them, but I quickly found ways to donate them and move them along to other homes. I cannot believe the items that I have accumulated and kept in boxes. So onward and upward to find them new lives with new families and continue the recycle, renew and reuse aspect of life. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Juvenile Linens are just coming to me. Interesting.

I had absolutely no intentions of stopping at an estate sale, but I did. Found one item and one item only and couldn't resist. This vintage twin size set of Cabbage Patch Kids sheets were just too cute. Okay so it was after noon on the last day of the sale and it was on my way back from running errands and the universe directed me there. At least the one item that I found was a great find and of course since it was the last day and after the bewitching hour I got them for a lesser price. Thank you universe.

The elastic on the fitted sheet is showing it's age (1985) but otherwise they are in excellent condition. The set includes one flat sheet, one fitted sheet and one pillowcase. Still lots of room to be enjoyed or upcycled into something new. This set is all Cabbage Patch girls so I imagine they may have made sheet sets with just Cabbage Patch boys. I sure hope so. That's how my week is going and what I've found. I have many more items and will keep listing them on my Etsy store. See you there. butterflyplace.etsy.com Have a wonderful week everyone.

Favorite thrift finds this weekend.

My favorites of the weekend, but not the only finds are these two loving owls music box and an unusual cheese cutting board that folds like a cupboard. It was so unusual that I just had to pick it. It was in excellent condition for it's age and is made in Japan. I can't tell the song that the music box plays, but it works and was irresistible.

Other finds this weekend include some more fabric, vintage and modern. Two cut glass candy dishes, wooden trivets made in India, a pink and orange vintage cotton towel and a large bell shaped trivet that is silver. A good cleaning and it will make a wonderful addition to any holiday table setting. I had a great time hunting this weekend, but have been careful not to over spend. So far setting a budget has worked.
Other events of the weekend include more research for business growth and learning my way around more internet sites. It's fun and work at the same time. Feel free to visit my Etsy store at butterflyplace.etsy.com .  Have a great thrifting week everyone.