Great haul of thrifted linens.

Great variety of items.

 

 

Both new and vintage.

 

Even orange and yellow for the thrifted bathroom.

 

Thrifted bathroom. This dark room needed to be brightened up and I found the shower curtain and focused the decorating around it. Even the switch plate covers were painted yellow. We'll put the old one's up when we move out. Sure beats dark and brown.

Went to a local Savers thrift store last week because they were advertising a sale where if you spend $50 you would get 50% off selected items. Linens and home decor was one department. Well of course I didn't expect to find anything, but to my surprise I found a great bundle of new and vintage items. There was a NIP (new in package) red sheet set. I am always looking for red to do quilting projects. There were vintage sheets, Tommy Hilfiger 100% cotton sheets, four king size rainbow and white stripe fitted sheets and the orange and yellow velour hand towels and vintage wash cloth that are already in the thrifted bathroom. I see my store (butterflyplace.etsy.com) inventory  growing in the next few weeks and I have enough now to finish a couple more quilts for charity. I'm trying to have twelve quilts done for he hospital pediatric unit by the end of the year.

 

Last but not least and not included in the 50% off sale was the vintage mushroom and gold index file box which I'm sure was a great file box for recipes. This is already listed on my store. I don't know if I'll get out thrifting this week. Maybe I'll find a yard sale or two on the way home for work. I have lots of listing to do and with all the linens I have some cutting and sewing to do. Whatever the universe brings I'll enjoy. Have a great week everyone. 





It was a Pyrex week

Went to a couple of out of town flea markets with friends and found some fun items. The Tupperware Popsicle makers I had when my kids were growing up and had been looking to replace them for a while. I just wanted something small and refreshing in the freezer for these hot summer days.

This orange Pyrex casserole or baking dish was the first find. It is tangerine orange and in good condition and had the lid. I'm beginning to like the bright yellow and orange Pyrex. It is small. Only six inches in diameter but still a good find.

This three piece set of  Pyrex Butterfly pattern refrigerator dishes was another great deal. There is some wear on the edges of the tops which says to me that they were well loved and used. It's been fun learning the patterns and different types of Pyrex dishes.

Then there was this neat set of Pyrex Bowls in the Shenandoah pattern. These also have been used and loved, but are in very good condition. The large bowl is nine inches and the small bowl is seven inches. This was the first time I had seen this pattern.

This darling fruit print metal six inch plate by Georges Briard caught my eye. even with the small damage spot it is beautiful and would look nice mounted on the wall.

This Mr and Mrs Santa was made in Japan and is actually made to sit on a shelf. It was so adorable that I couldn't leave it behind. I also found some pillow cases for pillow case dresses to donate to charity and a spool of three different vintage crochet and tatted trims. These need to be soaked, but I am hopeful that I will be able to use them in my future sewing projects or add as inventory to my on line Etsy store. butterflyplace.etsy.com. The puppy salt and pepper shakers are just finding themselves in whatever picture they can. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'll see you through the upcoming week.


Linking to:
http://www.thethriftyhome.com/2012/08/151st-penny-pinching-party.html

What to do on a rainy day.

No I didn't bake. I ate. I sat back in my big chair and had a cup of coffee with a piece of my zucchini walnut chocolate chip bread. I actually baked Saturday to take some goodies to a friends graduation, but not wanting to waste a beautiful zucchini I decided I needed something sweet. I mixed what the recipe said was equal to two large loafs. When I filled my canning jars I ended up with eight pints and an extra small loaf. Just enough for a single woman to enjoy. It was so good. I think it was the chocolate. Baking in the jars is working out well. I get about six slices per jar and when I need to take something to work for my break one jar works out well for the week. It keeps better in the refrigerator this way also because it is kept away from other aromas in the fridge. It isn't any extra work to bake this way. I'm glad I do this. I will enjoy summers' bounty all winter. Can't wait for pumpkins to make spicy pumpkin cake. Yum!

Thrift store finds this week.

Group Photo

Had a good time thrifting this week. Really needed to get out and do something. I found some interesting aminal items, a vintage popcorn bowl with individual bowls for serving, a black and gold mid century fruit bowl, some curtains and linens to reclaim the fabric from. My favorite is the Hippo bank. I'm becoming quite fond of the neon colors.



Cute bunnies.

Salt and pepper puppies.

Mid Century black and gold bowl.

Just a small sampling of items found to use as inventory on my etsy store. butterflyplace.etsy.com. I'm slowly getting things listed so that I can work on fabric. That's where my love is and I have a large stack to work on. Maybe someday I can do this full time, but for right now I'll settle for the time I have and consider myself blessed. Have a wonderful day.

Banana Walnut Bread

Having had my share of unemployment and underemployment for the past three years I have not thrown too much food away. Call it frugal or panic it never makes sense to me to waste what I can use. Ever since I started baking in canning jars I can tell you that I've had good luck and bad luck with it. I decided not to throw away aging bananas this week and bake them into banana walnut bread. Reason one being that if I just baked it in pans it would take up room in our apartment size freezer that I couldn't spare and the other reason was the length of time I could store it in the jars. I also wanted to add walnuts and they are so expensive now that they would not be as fresh if frozen. I got good seals on the lids and I added bright labels. I can now put these in our storage closet that we put shelves in for our canning and have the goodness of home baked on the shelf.

Attaching to: http://www.thethriftyhome.com/2012/08/149th-penny-pinching-party.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thethriftyhome%2FazGy+%28*The+Thrifty+Home%29

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.

Canning season is well underway.

In the beginning there were two large bowls of chopped vegetables soaking in salt brine. Then...

The chopped vegetables were well rinsed and drained then put in a large pot with spices, cider vinegar and sugar and brought to a boil. While that was coming to a boil the jars were sterilized and  prepared for filling.

The relish begins to boil and the jars are ready to fill.

In the end I have 44 jars of sweet relish to trade with others for their home made products and it's a win win situation for all. The kitchen may be small but it works and the foot steps were kept at a minimum. Mmmmm...smells good in here. Hot dogs any one?

Next is home made salsa, chili relish and roasted red peppers. This winter when it's so cold I can enjoy my vegetables and forget about all the hard work with every bite.