Monday, July 29, 2013

Thrift Share Monday - July 29

A lovely reader (Quilting Fiesta) is giving away one of my headbands on her blog this week. 
Enter here.

I've had some pretty good vintage luck the last two weekends at some estate sales.   Where I've managed to get some of my favorite type of vintage goods.

I'm obsessed, possibly, with snack sets.  I think they are the cutest things ever.  Which is really weird since I'm not a big coffee or tea drinker.  It just that I love how they have that little circular ridged area to place the petite little cup on the plate.  One weekend I got 16 pair of these clear snack sets,



and this weekend I got 8 pair (new in box) of these Crystal snack plate sets.


You can see some of the other snack sets I've found in the past here, here, and here.  Some of these have been sold, however, that hasn't stopped me from having this strange envision of having a cute little vintage-y coffee/tea shop where you can sit relax sipping some tea with a desert on one of my many different snack set dishes. 

Anyways, onward to another one of my favorites, that I have a thing for - carts, or little rolling tables.  I think I have 8 in the garage right now. Let's say 9 adding this folding, rolling cart.



This is the third folding cart I've found.  There is this black one I haven't wanted to part with (yet) and then this brown one that I sold last year (at a pretty good profit).

I'm really digging this small, narrow drawer industrial cabinet.



Well, I think I'm acquiring a thing now for TV lamps too.  Adding to my hoard collection is this Mallard Duck lamp.



The other TV lamps I have are Siamese cats and a panther.

Hmmmm, it looks like I have a thing for wine racks too.  I don't drink wine.  Well....I do if I put some 7-Up in it.



This is the 4th one I currently have (in the garage), and two others have been sold.  Maybe these are signs hidden at estate sales that I should take up heavier coffee, tea and wine drinking.

Well, this wasn't my complete haul. There is about a dozen other small items I purchased like scarves, vintage sheets, a goose neck lamp (to add to the other 4 also in my garage), vintage gloves, and a stool. 

Don't get sad that I have so much stuff hoarded in my garage.  Some of these items along with a huge chunk of my other vintage finds will see the light of day soon.  I'll be sorting through stuff over the next few weeks in preparation of the 2nd Annual Austin Craft Riot Summer Show.  So if your in the area and love handmade goods and vintage you don't want to miss this event.  




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Monday, July 15, 2013

Thrift Share Monday - July 15

(I'm having a giveaway on another post, head on over after this post)  


Yup! I'm writing a Thrift Share Post after almost 3 months of no Thrift Shares.  My last attempt at a Thrift Share post was in May.  I lost most of my pictures transferring them from my camera to my computer...and that was it.  I had the whole post written, with only 1/4 of the pictures for it.  I had intentions of re-taking photos, but that didn't happen.  For me taking pictures of my finds is a good chunk of getting around to a post.  Lugging everything to be ready, out of the car, into the house, out to the backyard, or living room.  Sometimes things only make it out of my car and onto the porch, then a week or so later it vanishes.... into the garage (mom puts it away). 

Well, anyways this post will be a collage of various thrifting finds since May.  My ventures have been to a minimum due to working Fridays and Saturdays (yeah, I know I've said this a few times before), but I've had a few awesome finds here and there.  You may have even seem some of my favorite finds since I've listed them in my Etsy shop, but I'll be sharing them with you here just in case you've missed them.

This weekend I scored a few good items including a vintage suitcase and train case. I think the train case is mad because it is so dirty.  The outside should clean up nice, but I'll have to figure out what to do about the inside. 


The suitcase is also a bit rough, but I have a makeover for it in mind, and let me tell you getting this suitcase was a bit frustrating.  Online this estate sale pretty much had nothing that really interested me, but I stopped by because it was on my way to work (and I ended up going by all three days). The first day I saw this suitcase in the garage by the $1 table, so yeah of course I grabbed it for $1, then to be told at the register it was $5.  That's ok, I don't want it. And left it there.  Kinda regretting that decision I went back on Saturday, and found it was still there (strange), but now marked $10.  UGH!  I take it to the register, to ask about it, and the young girl remembered me from the day before and gave it to me for $5.  Sunday I went back to see if this  birdcage was still there...


and it was. I have a project in mind for the birdcage as well.  Pulling out all the junk inside and putting in some different kind of birds.

Backing up about a month we head to a hoarders sale.  Yes!  Third day of the sale and we still find some awesome stuff.  What we missed the prior two days of the sale who knows, but it's all half off now.  However, I did miss the second part of this sale a few weeks later, where the whole back yard was opened up, but I don't want to think about it.  Let me just show you what I missed.


This hoarders back yard was FULL, just in case you missed the picture above :-) .  We didn't have access to 90% of the yard, but there was someone, momentarily, grabbing stuff we saw from afar ....like a donut shop.  Mom scored this enamel Dansk bowl, and pan.  Yeah, these were out in all that mess.  Oh, and it had just rained that morning.  Can you imagine the mess?  This sale made me giddy.  :-) 

Listed in my Etsy shop.

My favorite find from this sale was this metal chair frame.  I'll more likely attempt to sell it, but if no luck then maybe I can make an awesome cushion for it for myself.


After that sale we went straight to another estate sale, even though we didn't have any more room in the car; unless I kicked my kids out of the car we strategically rearranged all the stuff we just bought. Luckily for the kids there were only small finds at this sale.

A whole bunch of random stuff packed into my car.
This sale, also on it's third day, had a few awesome finds left too.  Like these gorgeous, risqué, framed pinup prints.  When I first saw them I did love them, but couldn't decide on one and didn't want to drop the cash for all of them, so I passed them by. Then my mom saw them and loved them as well, but she couldn't decided on just one either, but didn't want to pass them up.  So we went half in together and bought them all. 

Listed in my Etsy shop
I really do love these.  They are sexy, and tasteful.  They would be a gorgeous accent to a bathroom or man-cave.   There were originally part of an Esquire calendar. My favorites are the orange one and the towel in hair.

Another happy find for me at this sale was this little England Pyrex casserole.  My first stop at most sales is the kitchen,  I have a dish thing I guess.  I was very surprised when I saw this Pyrex marked England.  I hadn't seen one of these in person, let alone even remembered if I'd seen a foreign Pyrex online.


It makes me smile.

These tall drip glass lovelies were found right on my street.  On my way home, after work, on a Saturday I spot a garage sale and turn around to stop by, and these were waiting for me.  How they were not snagged up earlier that morning is beyond me.  They really brightened up my Saturday. 

Listed on Etsy.
Here are some of my finds from that May post, that never got completed.  Some of my most gorgeous finds.

A jadite, converted, oil lamp.  Gorgeous!!!


And this wonderful, Krom, Siamese cat lamp.


De ja vu?  Well, yeah, I have one of these already that I bought last year, but I haven't wanted to part with it since it was so awesome.  However, now I have two so I may be letting one go soon.  This one isn't wired, so more likely this will be the one I keep.  I can put a little flame-less candle inside it for the same glowing eyes effect, as seen here with my first find. 

Ok, I can go on and on and on, since I do have a ton more I can share, but maybe I can get another Thrift Share post ready for next week.  :-)

Until then check out the giveaway I'm having this week to win an stylish fabric headband.  Three headbands are up for grabs. 

Have a great week!

I'm linking up with Sir Thrift A Lot
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Sunday, July 14, 2013

Giveaway!

It's time for a..... giveaway! 

Why?  Because it's been so long since I've had one, and also because since I've picked up my sewing machines from being serviced I've been sewing with no issue.  So, I'm happy.  My finicky "Brother" has been sewing gorgeously. 

As of now I've been sewing mostly headbands for next months Austin Craft Riot Summer Show, and my
"Brother" has been doing the work, since I have the rolled hemmed foot for this machine.  I've gathered tons of fabric the last 7 months so I'll have a large variety of headbands to choose from, and three of you can have one for FREE.


Yup, I'm giving away three headbands, and if you win you'll get to choose the one you want.   To see some the fabrics available, see above, and go to my Mystery Headband listing on Etsy.  The last two photos show some of the fabrics I'm currently working with.  You can also choose from the headbands I already have listed here.


Don't want to wait to see if luck brings you a free headband?  Well, then how about 20% off a headband?  Use coupon code GIVEAWAY to get 20% off any headband listing.  You can still choose the headband you want by using the Mystery Headband listing, just indicate which fabric you want in the comments.

You have up to 5 entries for a chance to win a stylish fabric headband, one headband per winner. To enter I'm trying out Rafflecopter for this giveaway.  Let me know if you have any problems with it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open within the United States from Monday July 15 to Saturday July 20 11:59pm CST.  The winners will be announced on Sunday July 21.

And if you are in the Austin, TX area mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Austin Craft Riot Summer show where you can find me with my vintage finds and handmade items made from new and upcycled fabrics.

Oh!!!  One more thing.  Are you interested in another giveaway?  If so head on over to one of my Austin Craft Riot buddies, Fartsy Arts, to win a pair of awesome cat-eye glasses earrings.  She designed them herself and then got super crafty with a laser cutter.  They are awesome!!!



(7/18/13 added link up)

I'm linking up with Someday Crafts Giveaway Thursday Directory


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Sunday, July 7, 2013

Meet my machines

Hi!

I'm excited.  Really!  After fighting with my "Brother" last year...and some the year before I decided I needed an overhaul.  It's been a debate many times if I should just have my "Brother" examined, and fixed, but every time I thought this it then led me to thinking about getting a new one.  "Might as well buy a new Brother since this one was only $130, and servicing it would be $75".  Makes sense....right? It made perfect sense to me...every time I thought it. 

The long debate of not wanting to spend money on a new machine or to service my current one would begin, then choose to do neither, therefore I continued to fight with my "Brother". Every time thinking it was something I did that led to the continual issues. What am I doing wrong?  I have a new needle,  I switched out the bobbin, I cleaned out any visible lint. Sigh.  Then like any fight it led to ignoring.... I didn't want to spend time with it, because it was just to frustrating.

Then along came cutie Atlas, and a hunky strong Singer.  Both very swoon worthy, but they needed some TLC.  They were both picked out during my thrifting adventures and I had no idea when either of them last had any attention....let alone serviced.  So their age made me leery of wanting to use them, worried a belt would pop in my face, therefore both were put aside unloved.

Now I had three machines I couldn't really use.  Water....water....everywhere....and not a drop to drink.  Well, sewing machines everywhere and not one to actually sew with.  Oh, and let's not even think about my Great-Grandma's machine, Morse, that had been lost and forgotten about, buried deep in the garage.  This machine was last used about 5 years ago (pretty much the only time I used it since inherited).  I  remembered it working really well, but the belt was super worn and I didn't want to break this machine.  It was also so big with it's table, and heavy.  It wasn't practical to lug around.  So this is when I bought my "Brother"

This is also sooooo sad to admit, I don't remember Morse being cute...at all.  In all honesty I really didn't get in to "vintage" until early 2011.  So I remembered Morse being old, plain, and the table was really dated, not a cute table....at all.  So when I decided I couldn't stand having sewing machines around that weren't usable and debating about buying a new one I pulled out all three machine from my garage, including my Great -Grandmas to have them all serviced, and I was shocked at what I saw when I lifted Morse's lid.  Morse was a super awesome vintage blue and tan cutie-pa-tootie sewing machine.  It wasn't "old and plain"...it was gorgeous!  Eh-hem....still aside from its table.  Maybe I should paint the table?

How sad, and strange how your perspective of things can change over a period of time.  This is how I remembered Morse looking.
 

And this is how I see Morse now.


Now, here is the whole family including my finicky "Brother".  My "Brother" is eh, on the cute scale.  Do any of you think your "Brother" is cute? 

                       1947 Singer



                  1959 Atlas


I did decide to get my "Brother" tweaked, in hopes it would be a minimal fix, it had deep interior tension issues, and it wouldn't be a big expense since I was getting the other three overhauled.    Plus I figured I can tow him around when I needed a lightweight machine to move around, plus my daughter could use it.

 So, here is what was done on all of these machines.  My "Brother" had tension issues, so the tension was adjusted.  Morse and Atlas needed new belts.  My Singer got some rewiring done, the cords were old,  better safe than sorry.  Plus all three vintage machines were officially fully services, oiled cleaned, tweaked. 

See?  Morse's table is not on the cute at all scale.


Now what?  Sewing of course.  I've made a whole bunch of headbands so far for a big craft/vintage show I'm preparing for in August, Austin's Craft Riot Summer Show, and I've bought way to much fabric lately.  I need to start making some sales, so I can pay down what I just charged on my card to get these machines serviced.  Yikes!  In reality though the cost to service these four machines was probably the cost of one really good  home machine, but it's four working machines and not just one.Yay!

I have no excuses now not to sew, aside from being sleepy, and maybe space to place all these machines in my room where I can actually use them. 

Anyways, let Sleeping or Sewing recommence. 






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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Fabric Tower

Hi there.  Yup, I'm still here.  Sorry I haven't been posting my Thrift Share post, but I promise I'll get one up in the next week or two.  I have made it out a bit and done some thrifting so I do have some great items to share.  However, in the mean time I want to share one item I purchased at a thrift store back in January.

Do any of you still display your music cd's at home?  You know cd's, those musical circular things you/we use to buy to play music in our cd players and cars? Yeah....yeah... I know I still have some too, my car is not so smart so I don't have the ability to plug a mp3 player into it and play my downloaded music.  So I still roll old-school style and listen to some of my music from cds.

Anyways, way-back-when I use to display all my cds in a cd holder. They came, and are still available, in a variety of styles, table top, wall units, or towers.  I had a tower, a tall narrow stand that you could easily squeeze between something and stylishly display your beloved collection. Then came along the cd binders so you could take you collection with you everywhere you went.  It was then no longer necessary to display empty cd cases in the tower at home, and the cd tower was....um....who knows what happened to it.  A garage sale was probably it's demise. Just like this find.

In January, I was roaming my favorite thrift shop when I spotted this stand.  I'll admit when I saw it I didn't see cd tower, I saw shelves.  I passed it and continued perusing.  I came back to it, and looked at it some more.  Walked away again, then came back...again.  I made up my mind.  It was coming home with me.  It was $19.99.  Ouch!  That is more than I like to spend on anything thrifted, but I had a vision.

However, once I got it home something happened.  It all of a sudden looked like a cd tower, and it was no longer the "shelves" I initially saw.  I was a bit grossed out by it, and into the garage it went.


About a month later I decided to pull it out of the garage, clean it up, and do with it what I initially envisioned.  Have it be the home for my fabric.  You probably saw a sneak peek of it in February if you follow me on Facebook.



Now it's almost all filled up with the fabric I've been hoarding collecting (like a squirrel saving nuts for the winter).  And I'm am soooo happy with it.  This is what I first saw when I saw this tower, shelves for my fabric and not for cds. It's perfect since I have so little storage space in my room.  Right now it's right by stair case, and my sewing table.




The last week I've also been cutting into my fabric and have over 100 pieces ready for headbands.  I'm really hoping I can get some sewn up and into my shop within in the next week. 


So whatcha think?  Would you have seen a cd tower and thought fabric tower? 

 








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Monday, April 22, 2013

Thrift Share Monday - April 22

One estate sale was literally squeezed in last week, just before I was scheduled to be at work.  It was raining and I got to the sale later than I had wanted, but the rain seemed to put a damper on attendance because the sale was dead.  Good thing though, because that meant I was able to run in and out in almost 15 minutes (that's really all the time I had to spare).

I did my run through and grabbed just a few items.

Some fab aluminum cups.


An awesome set of vintage canisters. There is some funky film, plastic stuff on them, but it's slowly coming off.



Then I spotted what I had seen posted for the sale online.  A gorgeous, sleek, vintage sewing machine.  Way, out of my league....they always are.



This was a four day estate sale, and I'm one hour in on day one. So I ask the host if prices would be lowered on the last day of the sale (usually they are, but this seemed to be a home ran estate sale so I just wanted to make sure).  She asked "Why?" so I tell her I'd be interested in the sewing machine if it was still available on Sunday.  She asked me how much I'd pay for it and stupidly I say half off, it was priced at $100.  Immediately she said "Ok, it's yours."  


DAMN!!!  What?  What just happened here?  Apparently this estate was not waiting around to make a higher priced sale.  Then I had to run to an ATM, in the rain, to pay for this unexpected purchase, and get to work.  (ummmm 8 minutes late.  Ay!)

I've wonder if she would have taken less, stupid me offered $50.  However, with estate sales I've learned some things; like they usually tend to be very strict on prices early into the sale; you don't want to offend with low offers because you never know how they would react, they could be like the Soup Nazi and say "No soup for you!", ban you from buying anything from them; or increase the price just like another estate sale I've been to did.  Nevertheless, I AM HAPPY!
 

This is a 1947 Singer Sewing Machine, thank you Singer for having the "Date your machine" on your website, and it sews like butter.


Once I figured out how to thread it, with some partial help from Youtube videos (I couldn't find the exact machine, but I got the gist of it) I was able to do some as-seen-on Youtube things like sewing through layers of denim.  OMG...it went through 8 layers of denim like nothing, with beautiful stitches on both sides.  The only way I can express how this makes me feel is this clip from "Pulp Fiction".


Vintage/thrifting is my "drug" of choice, and finding awesome things at great prices, like a working 1947 Singer Sewing machine for $50, gives me a rush, happy, euphoric feeling. 

Oh yeah, mom grabbed these oh-so-groovy orange plastic containers while she made a random sale stop.


That's all I got for you this week.  So does anything you have or do give you that rush, happy feeling?  Aside from love ones.  :-)







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Monday, April 15, 2013

Thrift Share Monday - April 15

Garage and estate sales are in full force, now that spring is here, and it "seems" like I'm stuck indoors at work during prime pickings.  "Ahhhhh let me out, let me out". 

Friday wasn't bad though, I went into work a bit later and was able to make it to an early morning, privately ran, estate sale.  I think I got my prime purchases this day, but they were however on the pricer side.

It was definitely a lamp stop, I got some really nice lamps here, and since they are "functional" and really cool this is how I justify paying more than I normally like to spend.  So here they are.

A yellow swing arm desk lamp.  It's really quite big, and oh so cool.


Then an item I've been eying for some time, but whenever I do see them they are already priced for retail.  A Panther planter, TV lamp, in lime green.



I usually see these panther lamps in black, but the lime green just seems so much more fun and less bachelor pad.  Right?

Last lamp is this double goose neck industrial-ish(?)  desk lamp.  It has some aging, patina discoloring, but I think that adds to it's character.



Well since we're on lamps, and these light up, check out these super cute vintage luminary nutcrackers my mom got at this sale.


I also got this super cute little outdoor metal table. It folds, and it was only $5.  I think that was a steal.  Maybe one day I'll get around to paining it.



Saturday was a busy day.  My daughter had a school event that started early in the morning and lasted throughout the afternoon, plus I still had to work in the morning.  However, I got creative and squeezed in some garage sales between drop off time, performance time, and work, then back to school for the main event.  Ay!

On Craigslist I saw that there was a garage sale close to her school, with the hyped up words of "Huge two home combined garage sale".  I tend to laugh at these type of ads now since they NEVER pan out to be what they claim, but with only 25 minutes to kill before performance time I took my chances.  I got to the sale early, as they were still unloading their horse trailer full of stuff.  I'll admit seeing a horse trailer being unloaded did make me a little excited, however, the substance of it wasn't mind blowing, but I did manage to grab a few items.

Like these antique telephone glass insulators.


I've seen these around, but when I do see them they are pricey.  However, priced at $12, bundled with three other items it was an awesome deal. 

One of the other items that were bundled with this purchase was this (who knows what I'll do with it) accordion pegged rack.


It's huge!!!  Fully stretched it's over 7 feet long, that's a lot of pegs.  Maybe when it sits around for a few years I'll end up using it as a trellis. 

Same sale, separate purchase, I bought another antique ironing board.



Yes, I said another.  I have one I bought last year, that I've done nothing with and it is folded up in my room constantly in my way, but I think they are so neat looking I just had to buy it.  It's was a bit more then what I paid my for my last one, but like I said in the other post I've seen these priced much higher, and the price was right. 

Oh, just a few more things to show.  The prior weekend I did make it to a Sunday estate sale that was on it's third day, with tons of stuff (like piles of stuff still...literally), but it had little to be desired.  However, mom did scrounge up some vintage embroidered table cloths for me,



and I got this wooden rolling cart.



Yup, I need another rolling cart like I need another hole in my head.  I have 6....ok maybe 7 waiting around to be listed/sold, but I just can't seem to walk away from a great priced cart/table.  Hi, my name is Cassandra, and I'm a cart-a-holic.  You can see some of my accumulated carts here, here, here, here, and here (the red one is still on my favorite list....which means I don't have the desire to sell it... yet).

Alright Spring, bring the sales on!

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