What I've been up to

Ok....I've been meaning to do an actual sewing related post for awhile now.  Hello, my blog name is Sleeping or Sewing, so where has all the sewing gone?

I do sew, I am sewing, I guess I don't want to bore you with the same ole items that I've been sewing.  However, I have a new item I made recently, and I really love how quick it was to make.  I shouldn't be surprised though, I've bought several patterns from this shop/blog before and they are all so easy and fun to make.

Look at this cute little duffel bag.  I love the vintage sheets(pillow case) I used. 

Gingercake is guilty for creating this great duffel bag,  but it doesn't stop there.  I've made their "On-the-go Organizer", and "Owl purse".

The "On-the-go-Organizer" was the very first blog post I ever wrote, and that was a little under two years ago.  Accidentally, I realized the organizer was perfect for my Kindal Fire, so I wanted to make another one and went digging for this pattern, but couldn't find it.  I emailed Gingercake's and she was quick to have it resent to me (Thank you).  I then decided to make some for an upcoming craft show in December.

Whatcha think?

I did have the initial thoughts of using all vintage sheets or all print cotton fabric for the organizers, but as I was testing combinations I wasn't too sure on the pattern-on-pattern look.  It seemed a little too busy, so I went with the Osnaburg cotton as suggested in Gingercake's pattern.  It looks great with regular and vintage sheet fabrics.  Yay!

Yes, I know I still need to sew on the buttons, but that will be left for a tv or movie marathon, where I can sit and hand sew (yak, I don't like hand sewing)

So since the Blue Genie Art Bazaar is in December I have considered to make ornaments, but I haven't been able to think of any quick simple fabric ornaments to make.  Then, duh, it struck me.  How about stockings?  This is still a thought, but I did try one out, and if I do say so myself I think it's pretty cute.

I didn't want a full-size stocking, nor one too tiny.  I think this is a cute size.  It could fit some small  gifts from the bazaar vendors, like lip gloss from Lipglosserie, jewelry from PrettyKiku, coasters from Crab Apple Designs, soap from Feto Soap, or roll up a baby-suit and bib from Baby Bolt.  Just to name a few of the awesome vendors who will be there.  ;-)  (Huge brain fart, since I didn't have any of the above mentioned gifts at hand the only thing I could think of to put sticking out of the stocking, for size reference, was Kool-Aid.  Mmmm...now I want Kool-Aid. The only reason why I have it was for a play dough project that never hasn't been done yet. )

I am leaning in the direction of making these for the bazaar, it's just I don't want to get too distracted from the others items I need to be making as well.  It's four weeks away, which kinda seems like I have plenty of time, but the days are going by fast.  Yikes!

Ok...I gotta get back to sewing.  (Whip cracking sound in background.  Don't think dirty).

Oh wait, one more thing.  I've been making headbands like CRAZY, and now I'll have them all nicely displayed on some chipboard, and I got a stamp.  Look, I'm all fancy.  Ooooooh!

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Thrift Share Monday - October 15

Let's jump right into my finds.

Got some super bright red vintage suit cases at the thrift store...



and these awesome roly poly glasses with caddy, minus one glass, but whose counting.  At $3 I can wait until that 6th glass magically appears somewhere... someday.

Had a Thursday estate sale that I went back to on Friday, and Saturday.  Here are my finds from this home.

A vintage Versa-Cart.

Now I bought one of these a few weeks back and was really thrilled with that find.  This one is not as cute  looking, since it has that wood-grain look, but with a little paint it will make a very nice display piece...or piece to sell.  We'll see. 

This was an odd find.  A vintage hair dryer.  Still in box, AND the box had never been opened.  It had those heavy duty giant staples sealing it closed.  I did open it (once I bought it, opps) to make sure it worked, and YES it does.  It's sooo cool.  It has cold and hot settings. 

Yikes!  I guess this warning was necessary, but I don't know how it would be effective since this sticker is on the inside of the dome.  Durrr!  And look how it's all cute and compact like a beehive.

Onward!  I got these highball glasses.



I eyed this typewriter table on day one of this estate sale, but it was at a ridiculous price, day two no one bought it yet.  Day three just before they closed I called to see if it was still there.  Yup it was still there, and I got it for the price I wanted.


Does it look familiar?  Yeah, I just bough one of these just last week.  It's weird how that happens, all of a sudden same things just start popping up.  These could be really cute end tables.  I'll be listing them individually on Etsy soon.  Keep your eyes peeled.

At an estate sale, on Saturday, I scored these really cute little stacking stools.

Ok, my mom twisted my arm into buying these by saying that she thought thy would be worth a lot more than what they were priced at.  I hesitated wondering if I would even make my money back, and I didn't have my phone with me to do a quick online research check, but I bought them anyway.  Looks like I could make a good profit on these if they sell like these on Ebay, seen here and here.  I really wish there was a third one.  *sigh*  (Yes mom, this is why I keep you on payroll....minus the pay.)



I really like this wine rack.  It looks like it had been painted and the paint has been naturally worn to show the underlying red paint along the edges..



And I got a printer tray.  I love finding these.



Now on to sewing.  From now through December I'm gonna have to be a sewing "machine".  For the upcoming holiday season I had applied for three holiday events.  One event got canceled, another I was declined, but the third event (the handmade mother load of them) I was accepted.  Huh?! What?!  How the hell did that happen?  Over 300 applications were received and just over 140 artist are accepted.  This was the event I really didn't expect to get in, and I kinda applied just so I wouldn't regret not applying, with no real expectations of getting in.  Well...what do you know I got into Blue Genie.  Now I possibly need to sew hundreds of items (more smalls than large, but yeah probably hundreds). Yeah...it's a month long event that's open daily.  Holy Cow!  Let's hope I don't procrastinate too much with this. 

So...how was your last week?

I'm linking up to Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and The Living Space The Nifty Thrifty .

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Thrift Share Monday - October 8 - Round Top, Tx

Who know where last week went, because it flew by.  I went to my regular thrift store maybe twice, with nothing to show from it.  However, we had plans for the end of the week.  Fridays destination...Round Top, Texas.

It's been a few years since I've been out to Round Top.  Last time I went with my two kids, and dragged them around in a wagon (some areas have gavel).  Those of you who've been there, done that, dragging kids around at a large fair, event, or anything with a lot of walking knows that after a short period you yourself stop having fun quickly.  It gets very tiring.  So I've had no desire to go to Round Top since then.  However, I was able to go on Friday when the kids were in school and arranged for my sister to pick them up after, so me and my mom were kid free.  Yippee!

Round Top and Brenham, Tx (neighboring cities), have an antique weekend two times a year(it's actually a two week event), where there are hundreds and hundreds of vendors set up at the side of the road.    Some vendors have your farm fresh junk, while other will have your upscale antiques, and then you got your shabby chic.  Not to mention everything else in-between, and outside of this realm.

When we were driving there, a little under a 2 hour drive, I told my mom I was going just to go.  I didn't have intentions to shop for my Etsy shop, since I've remembered from the past that there are some vendors that have their items marked for the super fanatic collectors. You know....I don't think some super fanatic collectors would even pay the prices some of these vendors have things priced at.  Yikes!

I forgot to take my camera with me, but I did remember to take a few pictures, with my breaking phone, during our trip.

Welcome to....



So as I mentioned my intentions when I came here weren't for my Etsy shop,  but I couldn't help it, it was hard to pass up a deal.  Our first buy was at a hodge-podge mess of an area.
 

My initial thoughts here were "HOLY COW! How do these vendors do this?  Bring all this stuff/junk, unload, set-up, and reload.  AND live out here having to watch their stuff that is out in the open 24/7 for two weeks?  Then what happens when it rains and tables upon tables of stuff is not under tents?"  These are hard core pickers/sellers.

I didn't do any big time spending, but here are some of my few little finds.

Some vintage Federal Glass shot glasses.

A vintage poinsettia brooch, and this really neat Art Deco-ish vanity manicure...something.  Maybe a nail, cuticle, tool?




At another area I got these items.

Super cute mushroom spice rack with shakers.
 
These roly poly glasses with caddy.

And this funky wood buffet server.  The top trays are a little rough, but I can see someone painting this and using it as an awesome jewelry display.




Here are some pictures of what can be seen while strolling the acres at this event.


There were a few areas that had vintage Christmas items, and I couldn't pass up taking a picture of these cute little cardboard houses.



I watch American Pickers often and when I saw gas pumps, all I could think about was Mike and Frank, and how they love to finding these.

Heehee....this made me giggle.



 Bird houses anyone?



How about some medicine?



Oh...here we go.  This is what all those meds are for.

Time to sing "This is Halloween...This is Halloween."

I loved this hotel mail slot desk.

I also loved these old phone booths.  They were a hit too, all of them were sold.



Five hours later, with sore feet we left, and it looks like it was just picking up.  There were sooo many cars driving in.



Tired but not too tired we managed to head out Saturday to an estate sale, already on it's third day leg, so I didn't make out with much to mention except for a few items.

This super old-school tape recorder.  

I still need to find out if it works, but I need to dig a cassette tape out from the garage some where to test it.  Haha....a cassette tape...that sounds so weird. 

Last but not least three cases of vintage Scotch Snuff boxes/jars, 34 jars in all, just shy of three complete cases.   




These were in the garage on a shelf, all enclosed in their cases, I don't know what made me look in the boxes, but once I saw the jars inside I grabbed all three boxes. I'm a sucker for jars and bottles. The bottom of the boxes are marked 1950.  Awesome!

Whew!  That was a long post.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Hopefully you had some luck out thrifting last week.  Any good finds?

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Super Crazy Bead Score!

Holy Cow!!!!  I scored the mother load of beads. 

I might have previously, briefly mentioned that I'm a member of an awesome group/team called Craft Riot (as of January this year).  It's a super awesome team of crafters/artist who give tips and tricks of the trade.  From ups and downs through the learning processes of being a handmade entrepreneur, to keeping you in the know of shows/markets to be a vendor at.

So last week one of the members did a shout out, on Facebook, that she had a whole bunch of beads and findings that she wanted to get rid of for FREE.  Yup you heard me.  F.R.E.E.  I immediately responded and said I wanted some of her loot.

The next day I did a drive by her house and checked out the plethora of goodies she had left on her porch.  She had 12 one gallon bags packed full of beads.  I initially told her I would take 2-4 bags just in case there were others who wanted some, but she told me to take "as many" as I wanted.  So I took 5.

I knew these bags were heavy as I sorted through them, but I didn't realize the weight of them until I tried to pick up the reusable bag I put them in.  It was super heavy, 50+ lbs heavy.  Yeah, I got 50+ lbs of free beads.  HOLY COW!

Check them out.

This is just from an itty bitty bag inside of one of the gallon bags.

Five gallon bags of beads.

Some glass beads.

My sister started to sort some of the Rose Quartz.

I like these shell type O beads. 

Now, if any of you have read my generic "about me" page I've stated that I'm a frequently resurrected crafter.  I go into my phases of certain crafts(as well as no crafts) and beaded jewelry has been one of them,  along with crocheting and wing making.  So now I have what seems like the never ending tub of beads I'm gonna have to dig in and create something with.  Of course I will have to battle my kids to get to the beads. Fortunately, though, it looks like we all have different taste, and so far it doesn't look like we will be competing for the same beads.  My son is even intrigued with this stash.  He's found some fish beads, and fishing is his thing right now.

Well, I haven't got around to making anything with these beads just yet, but I'll share with you a couple of  my necklace attempts of yesteryears.

I really liked how these particular necklaces had turned out, however I never got around to figuring out how to prevent the beading wire from poking you in the back of the neck were the clasp was.  There was always a little pointy piece sticking out that made the necklaces uncomfortable to wear.  Any tips?  It's been about 8 years since I've done these, and I haven't Googled anything recently on how to finish a necklace, since I haven't been in the beading craft for so long. 

Let's see how long it takes for me to tackle a project with these beads.

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Thrift Share Monday - October 1

Lets bring it.  It's the 1st of October, the holiday seasons are upon us.  This is the part of the roller coaster where you're at the top of the tallest peak looking down (or shutting your eyes) and it speeds it's way to the end of the year, and along the way you pass Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and for me five birthdays.  Eeek!

As with everything I procrastinate, and wait to the last minute to try to get something,anything done (or half done), so lets see if I accomplish any holiday projects, until then lets talk thrift.

My thrift stores were pretty sparse this week, I grabbed a couple of items, but nothing exciting.  This weekends sales were a little weird too, not heavily stocked, but I did manage to grab a few things.

My favorite find was this vintage metal typewriter table. 

It stills needs a little TLC to make it look really nice.

Now, this item is a little off my normal beaten path, but it was just to cute to pass up.  A vintage nursery baby scale. 



And look, this is not vintage but a totally awesome find.  A compact picnic table.
 

Yup, this table and chairs all fold up nicely into a compact carrying case. 

I've looked this up online before, but I didn't want to drop the money for one.  This one was a whopping $10.  Score!

Last but not least this desk lamp. 
 

I'm liking these gooseneck desk lamps more and more.  I sold one I had on Etsy and was soo happy when the buyer said

 "ohmigosh, this is just like the lamp my naval officer father used ... i love having it on my own desk!" 

I know there are some people that don't feel, or understand the "vintage thing", maybe it's not nostalgic for them....yet, but for me it is nostalgic.  Of course all the things I see and buy are not reminders of my past, but I do see a lot of things that are, and with that customers comment it just proves nostalgia tugs and gives others that longing to have something that reminds them of their past.  They want that memory, even if it's not that authentic "original" item from their past. 

That's all I got for my thrifting.   How was your thrift week? 

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