Fabulous Finds!

I was "feeling the radar" yesterday, so I packed the kids up and hit a couple thrift stores. I found a pile of children's books (maybe I'll post that later), and a few other things:

There is 2+ yards of this sweet vintage corduroy print. It makes me smile. It was inside a bag of crud, which I had to buy in order to get it, but it was only $2 so I figured it was worth it.

This little quilt top was hiding in the bag too! It will be so easy to finish it up as a future charity/service project.


And, finally, the best! No -- not the bear...

...His glasses!! It was only 75 cents for the bear. I stole his glasses and he's going right back to the thrift store where someone, I am sure, will find him and love him. But those glasses! They are so stinking cute!! They fit this girl pretty well, but I'm not certain that's who they will ultimately be for. We shall see!

Fabulous Finds!

I don't make it to the thrift store very often (Thrift stores are PACKED this time of year, anyway!), and yard sale season is seriously OVER. I've been having thrifting withdrawals! So, when it gets really bad I pack up the kids and head out.

Here is an ADORABLE fabric panel I found a little while back. I originally bought it so I could cut out my most favorite parts for my I-Spy collection, but now I'm not so sure I can cut into it! It's just too cute!

Look at those cows!


I love the tigers at the campfire; but maybe not as much as those fishing turtles up in the corner.

And my personal favorite... A cute little nest of chickies!! They are just so sweet!

At a yard sale near the end of the summer I bought a big box of vintage silk scraps. In a recent cleanout I decided I would never use most of them, so I kept a pile of all the red-and-white scraps and let my mom and sisters have at the rest. I must say, there were some really cool vintage prints in there, but it was mostly full of really, Really, REALLY hideous ones!! Secretly I really love the hideous ones, but couldn't think of what I would ever do with silk scraps! Oh, how I wish they were all cottons; it would have made my life complete! (Okay, not really; but I certainly could have actually used them if they had been!)

This is only a small portion of a pair of giant vintage curtains I found at the thrift store. The middle section doesn't do much for me...

...but I absolutely LOVE this print on the super wide ruffle! The ruffle goes all the way across the bottom and up one side of each panel. Oodles of happy fabric!!

And, last but not least, my most recent, most favorite find: Red Riding Hood fabric!! Okay, so it is sewn together very badly to a piece of orange fabric to make a small baby blanket. (At least that's what I assume it is supposed to be!) but there's no batting, no yarn ties, and no quilting -- which means I can easily take it apart!!!
~LOVE!~

Wolfie just might be my favorite part!

....I think I just might be becoming obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood....
I may or may not have accidentally ordered some Japanese Red Riding Hood fabric this weekend! And some Japanese Red Riding Hood stickers! And maybe I spent at least a good hour looking at everything on etsy that was labeled "red riding hood!"

:o)

Fabulous Finds!!

Here are a few of my favorite finds from thrifting/yard sales in the past few weeks:

Pom-pom trim! I simply could not resist, although I don't have a clue what I will use it for... yet. Ideas, anyone?

I found an estate sale of a lady who had done lots of sewing in her day. This is a muumuu. I absolutely love the fabric; gonna make something out of it!

This one too! It's a house coat. I just might wear it. Or cut it up and use it in a quilt! The print is so much fun, and I just love the colors! At the very least, it's good for some inspiration!

How I wish I had been the first one to that estate sale! There was lots of fabric, and the lady who got there minutes before me grabbed most of the good stuff. And there HAD to have been a button tin there somewhere, too. Rats! I did end up getting this CUTE rowboat print, though!

Found this one at a thrift store. I love the colors. There's just something about Raggedy Ann and Andy! There's six or seven (can't remember) yards of it!

I don't know WHAT I will do when yard sale season is over! I'll have to hit more thrift stores, I guess....

Fabulous Finds!

I've been having a good time thrifting (at least once a week!) recently. I'm so brave I even take all three littles with me!

Here are some of my favorite finds in the past couple weeks:


Isn't it DARLING?!! It's battery-operated. I thought for sure it would only sew a chain stitch, but look:


The teeniest little bobbin ever!!

Mr. S really likes it. (He likes any kind of machine, I tell you!)

I also scored a bag of zippers (267 of them!!) for three bucks! There are a few different lengths. Some of them have metal teeth, and there are a few sportswear zippers that zip all the way open. I already have lots of ideas!!

Check this out!! My dream of finding a bag of someone's vintage quilt pieces has come true! By looking at the fabrics, it's obvious that the lady who was making this quilt had been gathering peices over a span of at least a couple decades. It's a pinwheel pattern I've never seen before, where the blocks end up being octagonal. She cut out tons of blades for the pinwheels, but no backgrounds other than for the two blocks she finished. Her magazine-page patterns are still in there, though -- even the background piece. I love it!!

Tablecloth Quilt

A couple years ago I snagged a 1/4 yard cut of each fabric from Heather Ross's Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries line. I didn't know what exactly I would be doing with them, but I knew I loved them. Then about a year ago I scored a vintage tablecloth at a thrift store for $3 that I knew was a perfect color match. These fabrics were some that stayed in the "uncuttable" pile for quite some time, because I admired them and wasn't sure where to go next.

Well, a couple months ago I got brave enough and started whacking. The fabrics needed to stay in fairly large pieces so they would be showcased, so I did a very simple pattern. I think it's called Hidden Nine-Patch. I saw it on someone's blog, but I can't remember whose. (Sorry! Let me know if it was yours!)

Anyway, I put the whole top together a few months ago, quilted it last month, and then got stuck because I wanted a bright red-orange binding. (Can I just say that it is an IMPOSSIBLE color to find??) I gave up on Tuesday and used the green fabrics (those are not Heather Ross's, by the way -- I added them in) for the binding. I just finished hand-finishing the binding last night!

Here's the back view. It was a round tablecloth, so I cut off four sides to make it square and used the excess in the front. Then, since it was a rectangular quilt and I had a square for the back, I added a pieced strip in the back. I must say, I loooove the colors, and the tablecloth really is a perfect match!!

More Fabulous Finds!

My sister-in-law Susan is a yard sale genius. She's got the radar. We usually head out together on Saturday mornings, but this weekend I had company, and lots of it. But she looks out for me! Look at what she found!!

Two doll cases, packed full of dolls and clothes! For THREE BUCKS!!

Here they are: unidentified doll head, what I think is a Liddle Kiddle knockoff, a Liddle Kiddle, a Pee Wees with worn-off hair, Dolly Darling (I'm pretty sure this one was originally dressed as the Flying Nun), two unidentified dolls, two Penny Brites, 1963 Pepper (Tammy's little sister), Midge, and two later Barbies.

Penny Brite's dress is original. I am not sure about Pepper's, and Midge is wearing an original Barbie dress -- it has a little metal zipper! Barbie clothes used to be so well-made...


Look at that teeeeeeny-tiny rickrack trim!!!

Do you know who these two are?

I'm dying to make clothes for Liddle Kiddle. I'm not so sure these were the Pee Wee girl's clothes. There were a couple things in the cases that fit her much better. And check out Dolly Darling! She's had a haircut, unfortunately....

Whoever freckle face is, she is a bit disturbing.....!

I love the Barbie dress, and check out this knitted skirt and top!

Little tiny pearl beads with knitted loops that actually go around them!!

This is just a few of the other clothes that were in there... plus LOTS more, and many indistinguishable items.

It looks like, for the most part, everything is from the mid-60's. It's obvious these dolls were well-loved; so many of their original clothing pieces are in there. I'm a little sad to think that somebody sold this girl's precious things for a mere $3 -- I am certain it wouldn't have been sold for that amount by the original owner!

I've been having a great time going through them and finding out their names. I'm looking forward to making little tiny clothes for some of these dolls!

Buttons!

Why is it that I get sidetracked when working on projects? I was looking for some buttons for a little dress I am working on (yes, another one!), and got caught up in sorting my buttons! My boys had a great time helping.

Many of my buttons came from my grandmother's collection after she passed away. I sure wish I had kept those ones separate from my cheap-o contemporary ones!!

Here are a few of my favorites. I'm going to have to come up with a project for the giant sparkly rhinestone buttons, and the ones with huge holes!


And how about my button "pie tin" I found at a thrift store? Love it!!

Fabulous Finds

I found this fantastic little sweater at Old Navy today during their $5 baby sale. I could not pass it up! Then later at a thrift store I found this vintage 35" wide fabric that is just so darling. Two yards of it! And it was only a BUCK!!!!


The two are so perfect together! Guess I am going to have to distract myself further by sewing yet another dress!!


I also found these framed tiles, and absolutely fell in love with them. They are definitely going in my kitchen; I just have to decide where!