May Day Giveaway Day - Part 2

This is Part 2 of May Day Giveaway Day Week.  You can view Part 1 here, where you can enter to win a Vintage Sheet Reversible Market Bag.

In this post I'm givingaway a bundle of 10 vintage sheet fat quarters.

Here is a repeat if you haven't been to Part 1 yet (if you have been to Part 1 just skip down to comment to enter), Sew, Mama, Sew! is doing it again, they are having their Giveaway Day Week link up party.  A week where bloggers and shops can gather to one location and have a giveaway hop.

Sew, Mama, Sew! has ingeniously broken down on how you can go to giveaways that appeal to you.  If you're just interested in bags there is a whole giveaway section for that, or if it's just supplies you want well there are giveaways for you too.  Just hop on over to Sew, Mama, Sew! to see the list of all the bloggers and shops who are participating. 

I will be participating in two giveaways this time, one will be a bag, as seen over in this post, and the other will be supplies, a bundle of 10 vintage sheet fat quarters (see below). 

As some of you already know I'm into vintage sheets.  I love the flowy, softness of them and their colors are fantastic.  This has become my median of choice for my sewing/crafting/obsession.  My handmade items I sell on Etsy are mainly out of vintage sheets, with the occasional new fabric listing. Right now I have a variety of bags, bunting, and fat quarter bundles.  All out of vintage sheets. 

So for this giveaway you have a chance to win a bundle of 10 vintage sheet fat quarters to do what ever your heart fancies.   This stack here is the actual bundle up for grabs. 

Vintage sheet bundle, up for grabs.

You have two chances to enter.

1.) All you need to do to enter is leave a comment.  Any comment is fine.  Do you love vintage sheets?  Tell me why.  Or what would you make with this bundle?  

2.) For a second entry let me know if you follow my blog (recent or old). 

This giveaway is open Internationally until Friday, May 25 5:00 p.m. PST.  The winner will be chosen at random that following Saturday, May 26.

If your email address is not set up in your profile please leave it with your comment.


Happy Giveaway Day hopping.

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May Day Giveaway Day - Part 1

It's here again.  Yay! 

Sew, Mama, Sew! is doing it again, their Giveaway Day Week.  A week where bloggers and shops can gather to one location and have a giveaway hop.

Sew, Mama, Sew! has ingeniously broken down on how you can go to giveaways that appeal to you.  If you're just interested in bags there is a whole giveaway section for that, or if it's just supplies you want well there are giveaways for you too.  Just hop on over to Sew, Mama, Sew! to see the list of all the bloggers and shops who are participating. 

I will be participating in two giveaways this time, one will be a bag, as seen in this post (see below), and the other will be supplies, a bundle of 10 vintage sheet fat quarters.  To enter for the fat quarters go to this separate post.

As some of you already know I'm into vintage sheets.  I love the flow-y, softness of them and their colors are fantastic.  This has become my median of choice for my sewing/crafting/obsession.  My handmade items I sell on Etsy are mainly out of vintage sheets, with the occasional new fabric listing. Right now I have a variety of bags, bunting, and fat quarter bundles.  All out of vintage sheets. 

So for this giveaway you have a chance to win your choice, from my Etsy Shop, Reversible Vintage Sheet Market Bag.  A fantastic large bag for a weekend around town, or everyday use,

and don't forget...it's reversible.

Approx. measurements
19" across
20" from bottom to top of handle
14" from bottom to bottom of handle

You have two chances to enter.

1.) All you need to do to enter is leave a comment.  Any comment is fine.  Do you love vintage sheets?  Tell me why.  Or what random things would you throw into such a large bag?

2.) For a second entry let me know if you follow my blog (recent or old).

This giveaway is open Internationally until Friday, May 25 5:00 p.m. PST.  The winner will be chosen at random that following Saturday, May 26.

If your email address is not set up in your profile please leave it with your comment.

Don't forget to enter Part 2 of my giveaway if you're interested in a bundle of vintage sheet fat quarters.

Happy Giveaway Day hopping.

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Fixing up a thrifted, vintage find

Yay, I finally got around to working on one of my to-do list items.

You might remember this lamp that I bought last year, it was scored at a garage sale a few houses down from me for $5.  Yeah, seriously.  It's a large lamp too.

It has sadly sat on a desk by my bed since then, well it's also spent some time on the floor.

Why has it just been lying around? Well it's because it needed to be rewired, the switch wasn't completely working, and it needed a lamp shade.  I had no idea what kind of shade would work.

It's been a work in progress.  A few months back I bought a re-wiring kit, and earlier this year I got a shade from Goodwill (after I saw someone walking around with it, and then put it back.  Stalker.) 

This next part was the hard part.  Actually getting everything together and sitting down to work on it.

On Sunday I started messing with it and took the lamp all apart.  A somewhat scary process being that I've never rewired a lamp before.  I've changed out ceiling fixtures, so I figured it couldn't be too much of a difference.  Just assemble everything in the reverse order it was removed.  Right?

So I got it all apart and started to re-thread the wire through the rod,....and the new wire was too thick for the rod.  Well, I was able to get the standard light wire through by it's self, but the base light wires didn't fit with it.  Ugh!  Now what?  It sat on the table for three days as I continuously passed by it and wondered.

Then last night I thought "Hmm the old cord was fine, it was the switch that needed to be replaced...right?".  So I decided to keep the old cord, and it of course fit in the rod with the other two wires.

I got everything wired, and I checked to see if it worked, yup it did.  *Remember not to touch the bare wires once plugged in.  Ouch!

Um.... I think I got ahead of myself.  I should have inserted the rod, into the lamp prior to wiring.  Duh!

So I had to unwire it.

Let's try this again.  I assembled the base of the lamp, inserted the rod, and got things wired again.  Checked to see if it still worked.  Yup....as I shocked myself... again.  Seriously.

Then noticed I didn't put the harp on.  OMG!!!  It's no wonder why it's taken me so long to get to this....I'm sooo.... I don't know.  Easily sidetracked?  Forgetful?

Forgot to assemble with harp.  Doh!

I unwired everything... AGAIN, covered the wires...haha yeah I remembered this time, and checked to see if it worked.

Yup!

Got the lamp shade on and viola.  A pretty nice looking lamp.

Top light on.

Base light on.

Base light on, in the dark.

Both top and base light on.

 So what was my cost for this completed working lamp?
$5 garage sale
$5.99 Goodwill lamp shade
$7.99 rewiring kit
_______________
$18.98 plus tax

Not a bad deal for this super awesome lamp, right?

Now what is your opinion on the lamp shade.  Does it work?  Does it need to be bigger, smaller, or taller?

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Identifying an end table.

I'm having issues uploading this photo on Facebook, so I'm creating this post to link to FB.  Lets see if this works.

My lone thrifted find today was this cute end table.  I'm terrible at identifying furniture, like era, style.  So I would like anyones help on gathering info on this piece.   For example are the legs considered "Atomic"?  What would be your guess on it's age?  There are no maker marks on it's underside.

Thanks!

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Thrift Share Monday-May 14

My thrift week started early, and good thing it did since I was occupied yet another Saturday (when garage sales are happening), but this time it was for the good.  Saturday, I attended, for the second time, the Austin Flea.  A great Austin event that gathers local vendors/crafters/thrifters in a really cool venue, The Highball.  I had my vintage goods up for grabs and  I sold a good amount of stuff, including a few of my handmade items.

So what did I find this week?

These fantastic Anchorglass Primrose snack plates.

A Square flower Pyrex casserole dish.

Sheffield Granada salt, pepper & gravy boat.

Two Fire King avocado green cereal bowls.

Do you ever have those somewhat practical needs and just say "Oh I need [this]." when your out thrifting and then there it is?  Well, I needed a small dolly/cart to help with the transport of my plastic bins containing my vintage items, for when I do an event.  Bins full of glass are heavy.  So I was doing my regular circle at my favorite thrift store, start off in glass then around the back to the other side to linens...."oh I need a dolly" I back up to the random item section...and you know what there it was, a collapsible dolly.  Now how random is that?  It was $8, an easy price to pay for the ease of lugging heavy bins around.  Awesome!  :-)

My finds just seemed to get better at the thrift stores...who needs garage sales.  Check out these super cute vintage suitcase(s).  There were two, but I sold  the smaller one this weekend, before I thought about taking their picture.

Then check out these super fab Beautyware canisters, in all their vintage, retro glory.

Now, I might have an addiction that I can't control, and it's to Butterfly Gold.  Two weeks ago I showed you I scored a plate/cup set, and some casserole dishes, and about two months ago I scored 5 mixing/serving bowls....and last year I had already  thrifted 8 hook cups with saucers and a creamer.  So why in the world do I need 17 more cups, a creamer, and a sugar bowl?

Well to answer that is because 9 of these cups are Pyrex. How can you leave a set of 9 matching Pyrex cups on the shelf?  Plus the Corelle hook cup saucers were bagged with the the Pyrex mugs (how silly), and the hook cup bagged set had a sugar bowl that I didn't already have.  So, my justification was that I couldn't buy the Pyrex bagged with the Corelle saucers and leave the Corelle hook cups, because of course that would mean I now have the saucers that don't belong to the Pyrex mugs.  Plus I needed the creamer in the hook cup set to complete the set I already had.  Right?  Yes, just agree with me.   Right?  :-)

So what I'll do is take the sugar bowl from the hook cup set to complete my set of 8+creamer.  Then I'll eventually list the hook cup set on Etsy.  As for the Pyrex....well...um.... I'm not sure on that.  What kind of addicted soul am I? One day when I have a place of my own I'll be pulling out my Butterfly Gold cups, and I'll have 3 different styles with matching print.  Who needs 29 coffee/tea cups?  The really messed up part is that I rarely drink coffee or tea, AND  I don't even know 29 people.  Just lock me up now before you find me on Hoarders.  I don't want to find skeletal remains of a pet I don't remember having underneath a pile of Pyrex/Corelle.  :-)

Corelle, Pyrex, Corelle

Hoarding Butterfly Gold cups.

Ok...enough of that, onto the remainder of my finds.

This super cute vintage weenie dog planter.

And some really cute glass salt and pepper shakers.  The square pair have a small flower mark on the bottom, does anyone know anything about the maker?


Well, that was my week minus weekend of thrifting.  How did your thrifting go?  Leave a link to your thrifting finds with your comment. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

PS I think I'll be getting some upcycled sewing done this week.  So keep an eye out to see what I make or screw up.  

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Thrift Share Monday - May 7

Wow! May has brought in the heat.  Actually April was marked as the 6th warmest April for Austin, since 1854, geeze, and May cranked the heat up and brought in some humidity.  Our summer is gonna suck. 

My thrifting was to a minimum last week since I was prepping for The Violet Crown Festival.  I didn't do tremendously well at the festival, but I did triple my $45 investment...so that's much better than nothing.  Right?  I'm somewhat happy with that, tired...but content. 

As for would I do it again...um probably not.  It was hot, 90's with some mild humidity, and not a ton of traffic. The good thing was that there was a breeze.  The bad thing...I was foolish and didn't put on sunblock (that I brought), and I got burned.  My shoulders are sporting the lobster look.  No bueno.  :-(

One of the volunteers at the festival, a local photographer, Jennifer Ramos, took this great picture of my purses.  Thank you Jennifer.




Well, onto my very sparse thrift finds.

I actually got this chair the weekend before at a garage sale,but it remained in my car for the week.  Too lazy to take it out.  I got it for $2.  A little refinishing of it and new fabric for the seat and it will look fantastic. 

A marble top nightstand with inlay on the front door, $10, from my favorite thrift store.  I asked my sister for her estimated appraised value, since she use to own an antique shop, and she said retail $150-$300.  WT!!!!  Holy cow, I was thinking maybe $60-$80...but then I'm not an antique retail store so I'm not sure how I'll go about selling this.  What would be the best venue, Craigslist?

My other find, this cute Tang pitcher.  I'm loving these old pitchers that I've been finding lately.  Now if I could only get off my booty and start listing my vintage stuff on Etsy.  I can't make money if I'm not listing...duh.  But I'll wait until after this weekend.  Got the Austin Flea I'll be selling my vintage items at.  Hopefully, it'll be a good turn out.  :-)

How was your week of thrifting?  Go ahead and add a link to your thrift post with your comment. 

On another note my Bleeding Heart is blooming.  It's a different variety than the actual heart looking one, but it's still gorgeous. 

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Sewing "Machine" - Preparing for a festival

I'm tired.  I have been a sewing "machine".  Sadly it looks like I've done nothing volume wise. 

On Saturday I'm attending my first market/show that is ALL handmade.  I've done a few markets over the last year....4 total, but I've blended my vintage finds with my handmade.  So I have had bulk...substance and security with my vintage items, and without my vintage items with me this weekend I already feel naked.  My handmade items will be exposed with no vintage Pyrex to hide behind.

The pressure is on.  Well it's been on.  I've wondered what I've gotten myself into by signing up for this, but the thought to cancel really hasn't entered my mind.  Yeah I have handmade items that I've made over the last year, but it hasn't been nearly enough to fill up a spot all on its own.  Therefore, why I've been a sewing machine.

For weeks I think I spun my wheels messing with things and searching for new patterns to work with, and last week, 11 days out from the festival, I knew I was in crunch time.  I gave myself a goal to make at least three items a day.  Any items.  I'm 9 days into it with today and tomorrow left, and I'm ahead of my goal with 36 items made.  However, these items are not huge gowns that take up space, they are pouches, market bags, chalkboard mats and aprons.  Folded up on the couch they look like nothing...is that how my booth is going to look? Bare?  This is not how I'm gonna display them, but looking at the items like this looks... little.

This week I've added more market bags to my stock and some ruffled aprons.  (I'm making sure Esmeralda works off her cost.)

Today and tomorrow I don't think I'll get too much sewing in.  This morning I "worked" on a sign in hopes to have something a bit better than the little 8x10 cardstock I had (sooo generic) but I'm not 100% sure this is much better.  I'm my worst critic.  If someone else made this for me I'm sure I would be happy with it. It looks a bit messy buy my logo is not clean lines either it's more of a brush stroke so I shouldn't be criticizing it too much, right?

I used a 23" loop I bough for $3 at a thrift store and a vintage sheet (my favorite one).  I'm so not a draw-er and attempting my logo this size free hand was not an option.  So what I did was place my fabric in my loop, then I taped the loop to the top frame of the tv.  I did a light trace of the logo with washable marker then removed the loop from the tv and retraced with permanent marker.  This is my analytical mind at its weirdest.  Why I thought to use the tv to trace a logo I have no idea, but it worked. 

42" TV screen on top, 17" lap top screen on the bottom.

I forgot to take a before picture so this is the loop after, re-taped to the tv for reference. 

Now that this is out of the way I definitely want to get some more bunting and zippered pouches done by this weekend, but gathering everything needed for the weekend, and pricing items is top priority. 

Oh so I've gone and done a bad bad stressful thing and I've signed up for two shows one weekend after another.  I am so not a self promoter and talking to people, face-to-face, about my stuff is a bit stressful.  I could hype/talk about someone else's stuff all day, but I'm modest and don't like to highlight myself.  Does that make sense? I'm different via type/blog.  Ay!  The good thing about the following weekend though is that I'm selling my vintage items at a venue I've sold at once before, the Austin Flea (the only venue that wasn't a dud for me), so I have an idea of what to expect and know where I'll be setting up. 

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that things go well.

Anything stressful going on in your life right now?

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Thrift Share Monday - April 30

Wow! Where did April go?  This month flew by.  It started out with great thrifting, had a lull in the middle and ended just as good as it started. 

My scores started out early in the week with a great find at my favorite thrift store.  At one point last year I had decided that I was going to collect the butterfly gold Pyrex/Corning Ware for my own personal use.  This was determined when I got some great hook handle cups in the pattern.  Then my finding of this pattern wasn't as easy as I thought.  I had found a butter dish and some D handle mugs....which I eventually sold (not too sad about getting rid of those items).  Then I found a set of 5 mixing bowls/serving bowls, and last week I got these...

A 23 piece plate, mug, and saucer set (7 plates, 8 mugs and 8 saucers) for $7.99.  I got an 8th plate a few days later at another thrift store.

And these two serving/casserole dishes.  All three finds at different thrift stores.  Yay!

That was a great start to my thrift week, but it didn't stop there.  Got this small green Pyrex casserole dish.

7 of these super cute milk glass, Indopal, farm scene custard cups.
 
The farm scene is so tiny and detailed.  Look at those cows.  Does anyone know anything about this brand, Indopal, made in Indonesia?  Is it vintage or newer?  I haven't seen anything vintage from Indonesia yet, but that doesn't mean anything.

Thursday I went to an estate sale that started at 2 in the afternoon.  That was a first for me, usually that's close to the time estate sales are closing down for the day.  Hey, but I'm not complaining.  I got there 30 minutes early, and I scored one of my happiest finds there.

A vintage Cosco step-stool chair.  In RED!!! I rushed into this estate sale hoping this would be a good price since I saw it in their online advertisement.  It was $20.

About a week or two earlier I was just telling my mom how you never see these.  I remember my great-grandma had one that she kept in her kitchen.  This chair is in fantastic condition.  It looks like it has some paint splashes on it, but the paint is red so it doesn't stand out.

And here at this estate sale I scored a pile of vintage sheets and pillow cases.  Three of the sheets have the same patterns, but are in different colors.  Awesome!  I already have some market bags made out of these for a fair I'm selling at this coming weekend.

Then on Friday I went to another estate sale.  Mom wanted to stop for breakfast, as I hesitantly said yes.  I wanted to get to the sale early to get what I saw online.  Ugh!!!  We were number 34, and they let 1-20 in first, and we had to wait for almost an hour to get in. The suspense was eating at me.

It wasn't a large estate sale, they had higher end stuff like art work that I don't mess with...yet.  However, I did get what caught my eye.  This dress form.

I went in with a price in mind.  I know how much these are new, and it would double as a display for picture taking of my aprons and bags I list on Etsy.  The price I had in mind was a bit high and I did walk away from it once I saw the price was exactly what I had in mind.  Ouch!  I came back to it to look at it some more, then saw the adjustment dials on it's side.  Damn!  It's my size too.  I had to get it, and in all reality $60 is a steal for this, and it's in a great neutral brown color, and of course in fantastic condition.

Here is Esmeralda (what one of the sales ladies called it when I was carrying it at the estate sale) displaying a new market bag I made with the just purchased estate sale vintage sheets.

Saturday morning I hit up a few garage sales and got...

this super fab Samsonite two-suiter.  It's sturdy, heavy, and I love how it's set-up inside.

I was a bit confused about some of the doo-dads in the suitcase, like a bar that swung out, and a rod flush against the interior, not sure what they were for, then I found this ad.  Man they were fancy back then.  

The rod is for your ties, and the bar is to hold your suit pants.  Wish I could travel that light. 

Well onto the few remaining things I got. A much needed cutting mat, 24x34, $3(forgot to take a pic).  Got a tip for those who have warped cutting mats (maybe from ironing on them.  Don't ask me how I know this...eh hem).  Place it on a flat surface outside in the sun and it will "melt" back in place from the heat. ;-)
 
An retro pitcher pitcher with lid.  

 and got a couple of random glasses and mugs via thrift store and garage sales.

Did you have any great finds this week?  If so include your link with your comment.

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