Thrift Share Monday's - September 26

Eeek!!!  I had some good finds this weekend.  Items I haven't yet purchased on my thrifting ventures; a painting and a lamp.

With these being larger items the only reason why I would purchase them is if I really liked them for myself, because selling them online might be more of a pain then worth, but if and when I find what these items are worth well then....money talks.

Usually at sales the painting I see are floral, or cottages in fields, and of course water landscapes.  However, this looked a bit more up my alley.  It's darkish, maybe goth-ish, whatever it is....I love it, and for $3 AWE-SOME!  The artist signed it Alcott.  Does anyone know anything about this artist?  I've looked but don't think it is John Alcott or Louisa May Alcott.

It seems so solemn.  

At a separate sale I see this fabulous 1972 vintage lamp.  It's large and not priced.  For me it's a bit annoying at times when items are not marked...it's a hassle to ask "What's the cost of this?" over and over again.  I looked at the lamped, picked it up and put it on a table to look at it some more, walked away...came back and ugh the agony,  had to ask how much.  The two hostesses look at each other, shrug their shoulder think about it and say $5.  They didn't need to say that price twice.  It does need to be rewired, but who cares I'm sure I could figure that out.  Oh and the great part is that the bottom green glass also has it's own light.  SCORE!

It's still dusty.

A little owl candle holder.

Some Hazel Atlas mason jars with lids and an Anchor Hocking oil cruet. 

Vintage Aris gloves.  When my daughter saw me put them on she said, "what are those for?  To get the dirty deeds done."  What first came to my mind was Dexter or some other twisted show like that, that I know my daughter doesn't see... that much (eh hem she might walk in when I'm watching CSI or some Investigation Discovery show).  But when I asked what she meant she referenced the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  The judge put on long black gloves when he executed "dipped" cartoons.  LOL that was even more funny.  Still so innocent.

I'm extremely happy with my scores this weekend.  :-D

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81 patch (?) block

Is there such a thing, an 81 patch block?  Or would this be considered a 9 patch block of 9 patch blocks? 

I'm still trucking along on my vintage sheet quilt.  I've completed 126 strips of  2" squares, nine squares long.  Which now are being pieced together, nine strips per block (81 2" squares per block).  I will have a total of 14 blocks of 81, and eventually 14 nine patch blocks of 5" squares, which are already all cut out and ready to sew.

 

So far there is no identical sheet horizontally or vertically in each row, some what Sudoku-ish, but I don't know if this will continue as I go through the strips.  

 

Got three of these blocks completed so far, and I just bought the batting so I'm even more committed and invested in this quilt. 

Wow!  This is a lot of work, but now it looks like there is actual progress.  Yay!!!

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A gift from the past

Well I'm usually not one to hype-up or tell people about my birthday, but this b-day there was an exception.

It was my 34th b-day last month  (yeah I'm a bit behind on this post...it's been sitting partially written for a few weeks now), and I received a gift that at one point was one-of-a-kind.

My father was a fantastic artist (he passed away when I was 2).  We have a handful of paintings and drawings from the 60's and 70's, and there are more scattered among his siblings.

So as my birthday approached my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I mentioned I wanted a scanned image of a painting that my sister has, but once I said "scanned" she flat lined; being somewhat technologically impaired (haha).  It was a long shot and I felt bad even about asking since the picture is professionally framed and the back is sealed.  So I didn't mention it again, but low and behold.....

I watermarked the images in case you're wondering what all those words are. ;-)

I got it.  My sister cut open the back and got it copied, and my mom framed it.  Oh it is gorgeous!!!!

Like most of my pictures my photography does not give this painting justice, plus it's behind glass so it's not completely all my fault.

This painting is by watercolor, and there has been some slight water damage from forever ago, but it's all part of the character...plus this is how I've always seen it (water spots and all).  

When I picture my dream house oddly this is what I picture, and I'm particularly not fond of two story houses, but for some reason a three story house has a quirky fascination with me.  See the window on top of the 2nd floor?  (That would be my reading room, enjoying a cup of tea.  Where I could see the fantastic watercolor landscaping view).

 Look at the shadowing...isn't it amazing?

Last year or the year before we were going through some old art books that were my dads, and in one of them there was a clipping of this house from a news paper.  Immediately I knew this was the inspiration of my dad's "House" painting.  At first I wanted to say it was the "House", but once compared you immediately see that my dad added a lot more details to his version.

Another interesting part of this clipping was the advertisement on the other side of the print.  An ad for Herbal Essene.  I had no idea it dated back to the 70's, how funny (not funny haha....funny weird).  :-)

My mom said one Christmas her and my dad were tight on finances so she had my dad paint or draw something for everyone, his mom, five sisters and one brother, as Christmas presents.  It's funny how a bad situation (tight on finances) turned out to be a good thing.  More memories, and something to hold onto; something to remember your loved one who has passed on (especially since I have no memory of him).

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Thrift Share Monday's - September 19

Where do my weeks go?  Time flies when you're having fun doing nothing (even though I have been busy....running around in circles...so it seems).

I was sooo happy when I spotted this lovely tear drop, milk glass vase at my favorite thrift store.  I have scored one just like it months ago and haven't had the ability to part with it, and now that it has a partner I think it's going to be even harder to part with the two.  If I dig up a third that would be Aw-some!!

A few more loops have now been added to my growing collection.  Eventually I'll get around to making some fabric wall hangings with them. 




Got a good score of mason jars (22).  Some to be used for home crafting projects, and others for my sisters wedding in November.  A few weeks ago on Craigslist I located a seller who was selling 80 for $20; a great find with different sizes.  These will be used as center pieces at her reception.  Here's a test run on how they will be set up.


Found another E.O. Brody florist/candy bowl.  My second Etsy sale was one of these bowls, but it was milk glass.  So I knew exactly what it was when I saw it from afar.  However, I didn't buy it when I first saw it at an estate sale.  The estate decided to run another sale following weekend with everything 75% and this little goody was still there.  I couldn't pass it up for $1.50.

As always to my pleasure got some yummy vintage sheets.  Love the green flowers...it reminds me of Leprechauns.  The sheet with the blue flowers made me squeal with delight, since I already have a sheet just like it with yellow flowers, and pillow cases with brown flowers.  I just love matching patterns in different colors. Yay!

Aren't these golden flowers fantastic?

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A skirt block = a skirt

I'm really pointing in the direction of wanting to make a few articles of clothing for myself.  I'm still stewing in adjusting a trial dress; that in hopes will eventually turn out to be a dress/pattern I wear for my sisters wedding.  I've bought the fabric.  I even bought a French curve that may help me in adjusting the pattern, but I'm still looking for guidance on-line.

In the mean time I'm also still working on my vintage sheet quilt, but what's life with out multiple unfinished objects laying around (along with a very messy room/craft area).  So I wanted to a attempt a custom fit skirt, a pencil skirt.  

I was up late one night on the floor with wrapping paper, rulers, scissors, markers, and pens.  I decided to use my nice wrapping paper because its gridded on the back for easy cutting.  Ah! and easy pattern drafting.  I followed a tutorial from House of Marmalade that comes in three parts.  I got through the first two one night and finished up the third portion of the tutorial following morning.

I will admit.  I was back and forth on this tutorial.  I would look at it and decide yes I was going to attempt it, then I  would close it thinking it would be much harder than it looked (and it did look a bit tricky).  The darts and the curvy lines at the top of the pattern is what really deterred me. However, the tutorial is really easy to follow, thank you House of Marmalade.  :-)

My pattern is far from pretty.  Got some extra lines from my forgetfulness on which type of measurement I was using (inches) and the measurement the instructions are in (centimeters).  And there were some paper, marker, ruler issues.  The wrapping paper is a bit slicker than standard paper therefore the sharpies were bleeding under the ruler as I was drawling the lines.  So I got some smears on my pattern.  It looks very messy, nonetheless it still worked.

I'm a low rise girl, but with this skirt I felt I wanted it to be high waisted; to add to the look of the skirt and maybe reduce the muffin top that appears when I sit.  (Is it still called a muffin top when it's only there when sitting? Blah!)

Hi!  This is me, sporting my new pencil skirt; in bad lighting and a messy room (mess moved to the side of camera view).  I'm also sporting my super cute new striped boat neck shirt I bought last week at Old Navy.  I love this outfit. 

See? Skirt buckles right where the darts are.

I was very skeptical on how this skirt would come out, if it would even come out, however I am EXTREAMLY pleased on the end results. The darts I could do without for multiple reasons.  First they are time consuming and second the fabric buckles where the darts are, and it's not even like the skirt is skin tight; just very well fitted.  I'll eliminate the darts in the same manor the facing is made in my next skirt.  I'm pretty sure it will be much better time wise and visual without the darts.  ;-)

Once again thank you House of Marmalade for a fantastic tutorial!!

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Thrift Share Monday's - September 12

Well thrifting has been reduced down to a minimum.  Hmmm....why?  Not exactly sure why.  School starting for the kids, and being out of town for a weekend, might be a reason, but I'm not gonna put all the blame on that.  Oh well.

I made it to two estate sales this weekend and acquire very, very little, but I am pleased with my finds.

This was my favorite find this weekend.  What a great deer planter.  Such big ears, and doe-y eyes.  Isn't it just so freaken cute?

Got a super deal on these 7 Pyrex mugs.  Love the last day of estate sales.

And scored some super cute groovy pillow cases.  Yay!

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My Fav Friday

Time flies.  It feels like I've done nothing but I have been sewing....kinda.  I've worked on a skirt block and made a pencil skirt, and I have been working on my vintage sheet quilt.  I'll get some post on these next week, but for now lets see if I could get a fav knocked out this week.  

This fav subject popped up in discussion last week with my 8 year old son.

"Why do you always watch The Young and the Restless?" he asked.

Well, obviously, because I like it.  "Why do you always watch Pokemon, Ben 10,  or the dozen other shows you watch?" I asked him, and he had the same reply, because he likes those shows.

I proceeded to tell him I've watched The Young and the Restless as long as I could remember, since I was little.  He made a grossed out face and said "but it's for grown ups".  Yeah, "but when I was little my grandma would watch it, so that meant I would watch it, because cartoons were not on all day long."

*Shock* The concept of no kid t.v. during the day is foreign.  He starts questioning when were cartoons on and for how long?

Now from what I remember cartoons were only on, during the week, for about an hour in the morning, usually on PBS and for about an hour in the late afternoon; during the after school hour.  Then there were Saturday morning cartoons for about 3 hours.  After those times it was all "grow-up" shows.

He soon got bored of this subject, and walked way.  Haha.

Anyways,  I love The Young and the Restless.  I've seriously watched it as long as I could remember.  Of course I'd go those long stretches of not seeing it during the day like when I was in school, but in the summer I would watch it, and you'd get up to date quickly on what's been going on.  Then there was the rare day off/holiday when it was actually on and I would get a quick fix, but now there is the Soapnet channel.  They've been running The Young and the Restless the last several years, and boy was I happy when this happened.  Also you can watch same day episodes on-line, which I do when I miss my 6 pm showing (I don't have Tivo).  Eek!  And the days I miss it in the evening and I don't get a chance to watch it on-line at home, I can now watch it during my lunch break on my phone while sitting in my car.  Yeah...I'm a nut like that. 

I don't know what it is that has me so drawn to it, but I love it.  It's a guilty pleasure.  Guilty?  No, it's not a guilty pleasure....it's simply a pleasure.  ;-)

So what did you watch as a kid that was not a cartoon?  In the evenings I remember as a kid watching Golden Girls, Night Court, Designing Women....etc.  I could not picture my kids watching those shows today, and it's very unlikely I'll watch reruns of those either.

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Ring of fire

I was out of town over the weekend and came home to a ring of fire.

Fires all over central Texas.  Fires southwest, northwest, and east of us. 

It's sickening on how large these fires are. 

Downtown Austin. Bastrop, TX wildfires in the background.

It's frightening on fast these fires move.

Pray/wish for rain and no wind. 

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