Recent thrifting. Personal use and store inventory.

We've been busy like everyone, but we took some time to thrift shop. Just letting things happen and it's working out better than trying.

On my searches I look for canning jars and last week I found some quarts and pints for 49 cents each. I use these for storage as well as canning. I made bread croutons and vacuum sealed them until I could make stuffing, I store vacuum sealed leftovers in the refrigerator for a longer shelf life and in the back are my pickled eggs, which are almost ready to try. I found more food saver containers and each container had a hose inside. Two were new and one was bad and went in the recycle bin. We found a Danish fish trivet/cutting board and some woven trivets and another statue of Mary. We have a shelf of them and I know they are in just about every sale you go to, but we look for the unique ones or the misfit ones.

This past week I made my Memorial Day/4th of July cookie mixes and yes, I vacuum sealed them until I baked them. They looked so nice as a decoration too. So many uses for those wonderful jars, but I also reuse spaghetti sauce jars and any jar with a rubber ring on the inside. 

We found a Georges Briard canister set. Just love the bright orange. They are not without their bumps and bruises, but enamelware doesn't die easily. These are still in very good condition.

These are a few of the small odds and ends that we picked up. Some for personal use, but a few for inventory. The small cutting board I am going to sand down and refinish for my picnic basket, the mini muffin tin I will add to the others I found, and the chicken roaster and Tupperware strainer will find lots of use in the kitchen. The fishing creel and fisherman planter was made in Japan and the selection of coffee cups include a Strawberry Shortcake Butter Cookie and Jelly Bear mug along with four Scandia Stone mugs. All in all it was fun to get out and look, but it was even more fun not to be looking for anything special and letting them find us. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Don't forget to check out my Townhouse Homestead Tuesday posts which may become a weekly feature. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

For a few weeks now I have been trying to decide if I should start another blog to cover the different side of my life here at the townhouse. The major reason that I have decided not to is time. I'm very busy managing three on line stores and selling on different venues too, so after long discussions and deliberations I'm starting a new feature on "The Craft Zone" and calling it "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday". I think it's more than appropriate since the art of farming, raising animals, sewing and living a sustainable life, is in reality a craft. I have so many stories that I can post about under this title so here it goes. 

Yes it's a townhouse apartment. Not the best living situation for a want to be farm girl and not the best neighbors, but we are making it work. The rules are strict, but not for everyone as we have discovered. I'm going to do what I can and if they ask me to remove things, I will. I understand their rules and yes I've seen the critters that they say are no good, but they even spray to kill the bees. Living here is not forever. We live in the back section of the campus and enjoy a forever green wooded area. Actually it's a gorge and earthquake fault, but this is what I enjoyed with my coffee this morning. 

We have some very large raccoons who visit also, but there are wild turkeys and so many beautiful birds. This makes the day wonderful for me.

Last week there were so many sales on strawberries and I picked up two pounds to dehydrate. I am always looking for healthier snacks and these came out so good.

Eggs were $1 a dozen and I had been interested in making these peppered pickled eggs. I found the recipe here on pinterest. http://pharmacist.hubpages.com/hub/spicypickledeggs. I made them yesterday and harvested the seeds from the peppers I used. In two weeks I can taste them.

I was being a rebel when I started this sweet potato. We have such poor light in the townhouse that I never expected it to do anything. Well, to my surprise it did. I pinched the leaves off, and put them in water to root. They rooted so quickly that they had to go in a pot or I had to throw them away. One daughter bought me the planter and another gave me the bag of soil and I was on my way to growing sweet potatoes in a container.

I have strategically placed it on our small four foot square deck and stairs at the back door and put a solar light in it to make it look nice. They are growing well and are larger now. So far it's passing property inspections and I haven't been asked to remove it. There's more growing and more to be planted and more to write about, but for now I"ll leave it for the next post. It's not all thrifting, selling, sewing and fabric crafting here and "Townhouse Homestead Tuesday" is proof that there's plenty to enjoy in life for this townhouse farm girl. 

Findings.

Okay I will admit that I am slowing down with the thrift shopping, garage sales and flea markets. I know, they're just getting started. Not that I wouldn't go out every day, but I've been trying to do too much. I think I'm way too domestic. Baking bread, growing herbs, yard work, (yes even in an apartment/townhouse), keeping up with friends and family and some where in there trying to have a little personal sewing time. We have been finding plenty.

We found a vintage McCoy palm leaf and berry vase/planter. I think this would be lovely with a foliage plant and maybe a pink flamingo pick in it. Just saying. We never pass up composition books. Great for organization. The vintage popcorn bowls always sell as do the danish fish trivets.

This week we chose an old sewing machine drawer. We've done many home decorating crafts with these, but this one we'll leave to someone else. This is my favorite up cycled project using a sewing machine drawer. It is mounted on the wall of our townhouse.

We were fortunate enough to fine two NIP 18 inch pillow forms. The price was too good to be true and there wasn't any way they were staying behind.

Also not left behind was this "yummy" piece of hand printed in Sweden fabric. It has some small rust stains, but it is such a good size piece that it didn't make the choice to take it hard.

Other linens and fabric included a double Noah's Ark sheet, a twin size retro floral sheet and a beautiful piece of lilac print purple and green yard good.

This vintage pastel floral sheet is a keeper. It will go in the collection. The Vera scarf is a good find, but the hem is raveling and will probably be used in a sewing project and the patriotic fabric was purchased for a dear friend who is collecting her own stash. 

So, that's what's new this week. Thank you for stopping by and checking things out. I wish everyone a safe and wonderful week.

Linking to: We Call It Junkin

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

The latest thrifted finds.

Exciting vintage ephemera finds from last weeks hunt, but to start some vintage linen napkins.

A bit of a variety, but a bundle of spring joy. 

There was a wonderful pair of red, made in Japan, pillar candle holders and a package of vintage four inch red candles. Lots of Christmas finds this week.

There was this package of vintage ribbons from JCPenny and then some metallic honeycomb ribbons.

This is a large bundle of vintage Christmas cards, tags and foil decorations.

How about the bright colors in these vintage cards. There's birthday, Easter, gift cards and some are new in the box while others are used. Just couldn't resist these.

The best vintage Christmas card collection ever. These cards are as large as nine inches and are so colorful and festive. They are from the fifties and sixties. The quality of these cards amazes me. In this time when cards are not sent as often and mean so little and the art of communicating with them is almost gone, it is wonderful to remember a time when technology didn't rule. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week everyone.

Linking to: We call it Junkin

This weeks thrift picks.

Yes I said picks. It seems that as I'm growing with the reselling I'm getting picky about what I'm buying. The items are out there, but I have to consider how long I want them to sit on a shelf with storage room getting to be less and less. I'm trying to buy items that may move faster and at the same time I have a personal list of items I would like for myself. So here are the picks for this week.

To start there was an awesome aqua and lime green floral sheet. It is new and in great condition. I will never pass pant hangers. They not only work well for clothing, but add a unique way to hang art. The bright yellow red and orange Vera scarf is in good condition, but needs a good soak and finally a wonderful plant hanger that allows you to hang three items from one spot. I don't think it would hold anything too heavy, but my imagination is running wild right now.

I found a lovely piece of sheer fabric that I will use for a light summer shirt or dress cover. I haven't decided yet. There were three enamel plates that are vintage made in Japan and three very cute glass dishes that I can't tell you what they are used for, but wouldn't they make great tea bag holders.

For my personal use I found two mini muffin tins. I wanted these to make holiday candies and small baked goods for gift giving. These are small, but they fit in my toaster oven and make it easier for me to use. I found two blue and green vintage coffee mugs and some vintage made in Japan porcelain items. One is a ring holder and the other is a small oval box with legs. I think I'm going to keep those also. 

For the rest of the week I spent time just working the stores and sewing. I had work for others and sewing for myself. (Fun time)  Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Thrift finds and creations from the sewing table.

Thrifty goodness.

I have Spring fever. I think all the items with Spring colors has made this happen. More Mikasa coffee mugs this week, Vera napkins and a collection of Daisy flower pins.

Fell in love with this bright orange and gray geometric and floral scarf. The Christmas puppy is a Josef and we also found a great bundle of canning jar rubber rings. I'm keeping some for my older style jars I use for storage and the rest I will list for sale.

And from the sewing room this week where we are continuing to use up the bits and pieces comes a Spring pillow cover, a cup cozy and a set of four mug rugs. Thank you for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful week. 

Couldn't stay away.

I know we have lots of stuff to get organized and listed on the store already, but this week we were side tracked when we made a trip to the thrift store to make more donations. Down sizing is time consuming but it feels good to know some one else can use the items. Yes we ended up going into the store itself and had some great luck.

The most exciting find was these rare mint condition Mikasa cups and saucers. They are called "Playmates" and are kumquat colored. It is a set of six. Currently listed on etsy. They looked lovely with the hand made Easter egg shaped mug rugs listed on etsy.

We found the brightest Granny apple green vintage made in Japan fondue pot. etsy

For those persons who love vintage bar ware we found this cocktail shaker glass complete with recipes. etsy

The trend toward pink lately has been connected with those lovely ladies who enjoy glamping. Pink is a popular color choice when they decorate their vintage trailers. We found this lovely and unique dish made in Pedro, CA. etsy

We also found a great selection of vintage 1970's cotton and linen calendar towels. Some are signed and some are not, but they sure are fun. etsy  See them all at poetcharms.etsy.com.

One cute find that could not be left behind was this vintage made in Japan cat figurine. The wide eyes on this cat screamed to come home with me. etsy

It was just a short trip in and out, but the lesson is if you're already there take the time to look around. Thanks for stopping by and have fun checking out the stores. From this addicted thrifter, have a great week everyone.

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.