Score!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love yard sales.

The things you can find, both useful and not, quality and cheap, new and old, there are all sorts of items! I especially love when they're big with a variety of stuff, even boxes you need to dig through-- those are the hidden treasure finds!

A trip into town yielded a yard sale on a Monday (?!) which was quite large, inside of three storage spaces. I happened to be solo, which meant no children begging for toys-- of which there were plenty of, and I was able to quietly hunt. The only downside was I had only $2 cash in my pockets, oh, let's hope I find something that doesn't cost too much! And I did! An old shoebox full of embroidery thread! For exactly $2-- what luck!

(Sorry for the blurry photo) Once home, I went through the box and arranged by color and brand of thread. Most of them were J & P Coats, a few DMCs, some Peri-Lusta Filo, a couple of Bucilla, and A.T.CO'S Silkine Red Star brand.

I love the label of the Red Star Brand. I have never seen this brand before.

Digging further, I found this old Bucilla embroidery pattern of a basket of flowers and on the back..

..instructions on how to do some of the stitches.

Love this old A & P needle book.

Can you see the spider web pattern on the foil? Love!

My best guess at the age of this stuff is from the 50's, as dated evidence of a newspaper ticket showed up. Can anyone remember when the daily paper cost 5 cents and the Sunday paper was 15 cents? 45 cents a week?? I pay $2.50 for a Sunday paper now!

The thing I found most fascinating, was threaded needles left in nearly every color thread.

 

This was obviously someone's working project that was never completed. I love this idea of leaving the thread on the needle and sticking it in the label of the thread, then using another needle with another color. That seems so much easier than pulling the thread out of your one needle and re-threading with new thread, often losing the other color or it gets tangled. This would be so convenient, especially with a project that causes you to change colors often and not having to re-thread  every time. Plus, the needle keeps the label from falling off the thread. I think I'll adopt this practice for my own!

No wonder there were several packets of needles that were nearly empty!

Don't you wish you could still pay 19 cents for 12 needles or 30 cents for 16??

~

Recycled: Market Bag and Laptop Cover

I confess that I don't bring my own bags to the store and use the plastic bags they offer. I've always felt guilty about that but never really did anything about it. I don't like the cheap bags you can buy-- I find they tear easily ( my MIL passed some on to me ) and I don't want to spend money on something that I know will not last, even if it's only $1 (usually). I have the sewing skills to make some, but I'm either too busy or if I have the time, I don't want to spend it making a bag. In my defense, we DO bring the plastic bags back to recycle and we re-use plastic bags around the house as little trash bags for our smaller trash cans and for litter box waste.

I saw a post quite some time ago.. probably 2 or 3 years ago and it's never left my head. I looked for it but couldn't find it so I'm unable to share the link. Anyway, the person used a plastic bag as a pattern and the resulting bag ended up just like a cloth version. I really like the plastic bags that Target uses, so I used one as my pattern. I used a vintage pillow case which eliminated some sewing and reduced a little bit of my pillow case stash and I really like the final result:

Ta-da!!

I used bias tape around the handle and the opening of the bag and folded in the sides just like a plastic shopping bag. I like it, but I can see where I could use more improvements. Like the top of the handles are a little thick with the folded ends and then covered in bias tape. It makes the top pretty stiff and doesn't feel very flexible. I also used an unfamiliar sewing machine for the first time when I sewed the bottom and it totally messed up the stitches. grrr! I was too lazy to pick out the stitches so after I switched back to my usual machine I just folded over the ugly stitching, then sewed over it. It made the bottom a little stiff, too, but it works.

It holds 4 boxes of cereal easily with a little room to spare. I could probably fit 5 boxes in there, but I know if I were to take this in to the store, they wouldn't pack it tightly either.

I have since used another pillow case to make another bag, a few tweaks here and there, and it's better and worse at the same time. I improved on the top of the handle and it's not stiff, but I made the side opening of the handle a little too small. I also made the bottom of the bag boxy instead of folded in like a plastic bag is. I like it, it'll do, I think I can improve on it. It also holds 4 boxes easily and I have already used it at the store. There will be another bag in the works with more tweaks as soon as I can bring myself to give up another vintage pillow case.


I had a little bit of pillow case left over, the hemmed open part of it. I got to looking at it and thought it would make a nice cover for the laptop. I measured the length, cut, sewed up the side and length of the pillow case and it fits! Our laptop is not the traveling kind, it stays at home for use on the table or in the living room, so I just wanted a little slip cover to keep the screen clean when it's shut and put away. Since it's a vintage pillowcase and has been washed who knows how many times, it's nice and soft and lint-free.

I like it! Two useful items from one vintage pillowcase!

Beadin' Fun

We've had perler beads around forever! Feels like it anyway, as I am always finding a lone bead lost under the couch, stepping on one, or even, as some roll into the sliding door groove as we open and shut to let the dog out and the chickens peck what crumbs they can find in the groove, in the chicken droppings! They come and go, the girls get into a beading frenzy and it's several days of constant making things and me ironing endless little plastic pictures and then there are long stretches of nothing where the containers sit on top of the fridge, gathering dust.

Lately, interest has been high and the girls are finally starting to play around with their imaginations instead of strictly following the pictures on the containers. It used to be only hearts, stars, squares and whatever shapes the boards allowed them. I tried to show they could do pictures of their own, but they adamantly refused to stray from what the labels showed. Evelyn shows great promise with her color choices, but it was always the same shape, again and again.
They got a Disney set with clear boards you place over a picture and you place beads over it until you've finished, but some of those projects were pretty darn big-- they'd get halfway through before dumping all the beads off, giving up.

Yesterday, with a burst of enthusiasm and a promise of help from me, they completed some of the big Disney ones and then inspired by the feeling of accomplishment, they came up with many more all on their own!


Evelyn's finished Disney castle with a bridge that helps it to stand upright. A princess to go with it, made up by Evelyn.

Sylvia's BIG, BIG Disney princess that took a long, long time to finish. Too big really, there's not much you can do with such a big princess when all the other little toys are less than half her size. I caught Sylvia pretending she was a giant and smashing through the castle, stomping on all the other princesses. Guess that's about the only thing Big Princess is good for. (she's supposed to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but Sylvia changed the dress color from pink to blue)

The girls got little perler bead kits in their Easter baskets-- they were for $1 at Michael's. I picked ones with different board shapes that we didn't have and the owls were from one of the kits. The green owl came from the original beads and had enough to make two, which Evelyn made, then she made the pink girl owl from beads we had. So cute, I asked for one and I'm going to glue a magnet on it for the fridge. The other kits were bugs (caterpillar and butterfly) and a cat.

Evelyn wanted to make a prince for the princess to go with the castle, but when we made him, he was taller with his crown. Forgot a crown for the princess, so the crown-less princess got bumped down to princess assistant and a new princess was made, along with a little green chameleon.

The little green chameleon made Gretchen think of the iguana from Tangled and she asked me to make the tower, Rapunzel, Flynn and the iguana for her. Only fair, since I helped Sylvia and Evelyn with theirs. I totally winged it and it came out better than I imagined! I really like the tower and I made the center piece so it can stand upright, too. The girls are having lots of fun with this!

This morning, Sylvia begged for an Ariel mermaid one, so I came up with this and of course, the sisters each want one, but with a different color bikini top for Evelyn (pink), different color hair for Gretchen (yellow) and Flounder and Sebastian, too!

I'm so happy to see the girls are finally thinking out of the box and realizing they can make stuff up. Hopefully I'll see less hearts, stars and squares and more random items being made!

Show And Tell

Yard sale season is gearing up around here. These past few weekends, I have spotted a few signs here and there and even stopped at a couple. Last week, on my way home from errands, I spotted a moving sale sign, but I was in a hurry to get back home before Andrew needed to leave for work. With Mom away at my sister's house, we don't have that freedom of flexibility anymore and we have to be more aware of the time.

~~

Anyway, the next day, Andrew didn't have to go to work, so I suggested we hit a few yard sales. The moving sale I spotted the day before was first and it looked promising, but upon closer inspection, much of it was junk. Nothing more disappointing to see lots of stuff and nothing worth even making an offer on. The stuff was dirty, in poor condition, or just plain broken. They were even selling a microwave with a busted glass door! It was almost as if they wanted to see if they could sell the stuff before hauling it to the dump.

~~

On our way out, right by the door, was a pile of games. Dusty and dirty, but an old scrabble game caught my eye-- I've been looking for an extra game for crafting purposes with the letter tiles. A wooden box with a drawing of a castle looked interesting and I grabbed that, too. Boy, am I glad I did!! It's an old wooden block set for building castles, made in Germany. An awesome set!! I'm trying to figure out what it says... I know that baukasten means blocks and 150 teile is 150 pieces, and that's all I got. An online search gave me little to go on. Anyone out there read german?? What does Schlob-Baukasten mean? How about "Ungif tige lacioerung"?? There are some vintage German block sets on Ebay, but nothing like this with a castle theme. Anyway, we've played with this several times and it's lots of fun coming up with different castles. I haven't counted to see if there are 150 pieces yet. I'm sure there are at least a few pieces missing.

It's definitely a keeper! I wish I could find another set to double the fun. There's plenty of bickering among 4 little ones on who has more pieces or 3 kids wanting the same turret. This is one of those toys that gets put away and only comes out with parental supervision.

Not bad for a buck! :o)

~~

Recent Finds

I don't live in an area with a lot of thrift stores, which for someone like me, could be a good thing. In our first apartment, we lived in an area with thrift stores nearly every mile or so. We'd spend our days off scouring the shops looking for whatever struck our fancies. Here, yard sales rule! While we haven't been hitting them heavily this year, the few we have gone to, we've done well. Here's a few of my favorite finds:



I picked up this Fire King dish in the Summerfield pattern for free. Yes, free. They had fishing lures in it for 25 cents apiece and I just wanted the dish. When asked how much for the dish, she let me have it. Ooooo-kay! I'm not gonna argue! Sadly, a couple of days later, the dish got knocked off the shelf and a chunk of the handle chipped off, but it's still usable. I won't be able to turn around and sell it, but I'll probably use it for holding craft supplies or something.

A recent sale had loads of boy clothes in Peter's size and I had fun rummaging through clearly-marked bins for warmer winter clothes. Usually, clothes are piled up and you have to check each tag for sizes, and I dread going through those-- I have limited time and if Peter is with me, he's usually running off or struggling in my arms to get down. This sale had them neatly folded and sorted and I really appreciate that. I scored a bunch of tops, bottoms, long sleeve pajama sets, and some shoes for Peter. When I got home, I found that two of the pajama pants had bad elastic waists. The rubber rotted and no longer had any stretch. An easy fix and I had elastic on hand, so a quick sit-down at the sewing machine and they're good as new again!

I have a thing for vampires. No idea why, just always have. Not that I want to be a vampire or get bitten by one, but I guess it's just the mystery of the unknown. I devoured Ann Rice's Vampire series when I was a teen, then I dove right into the Twilight books (but I don't care for the movies), and right before we canceled our satellite, I watched an episode of True Blood on HBO and was just a teeny bit disappointed I wouldn't be able to see what happened next. I always meant to check out the books, but never remembered the author's name or the original title of the series. Lo and behold-- the entire Sookie Stackhouse series for 70 cents! That's 10 cents per book! And I don't have to wait to read the next one either! I've already read 3 and they are so enjoyable, something I can really sink my teeth into! (har har) I'll have to see if I can find the True Blood series on dvd.. hmm.


I saw something similar to these in a magazine ad: skeleton salad servers at one of those pricey home goods stores for $20 a set. They were so cool! Andrew and I love Halloween and we're getting ready to start pulling out the decorations and get into the spooky spirit. The only thing I didn't like was the price tag, so I knew I'd never go to the store (which is far away) or even bothered to check online for one of those. Then we went to Target the other day and found these at half the price. Pretty similar to the ones I saw in the ad, though I don't have the magazine anymore and I'm too lazy to check online. I don't need them, but they're so cool and our salad tongs did break over the summer, so technically, we do need them. But really, I was just excited to spot them! They were the very last pair left, except for some cheap-o plastic ones, but I wanted the metal ones; they're sure to last longer. I'm looking forward to the next time I make salad for dinner so I can use them!

Any good finds for you lately?

-

Highs and Lows

High:

All summer long, the yardsales have either been slim pickings or we haven't been hitting them with our usual ferocity. But the last couple of weekends, when we happen to go out and spot a yard sale on the way, have more than made up for the summer's misses.


On our way to the next big town over, we spotted a yard sale at a house that has not had a yard sale in the entire 5 years we lived here. It's a round-ish style house so I always look at it as we go by. Anyway, it wasn't a whole lot of stuff, but I saw this basket with yarn and other goodies and when I asked, the lady said it was $4 for the whole thing. Good deal! A lot of the yarn is new and it had 3 sets of knitting needles, a couple of knitting pattern books, a teach yourself to knit booklet, and some crochet thread. Evelyn has been learning to knit on those knitting looms and so getting cheap yarn for her to practice with is great!

There was one skein of this wool yarn and I claimed it for myself. Evelyn asked me to show her how to knit with the needles but I only know how to do one basic stitch. I used to make those little washcloths from cotton yarn and that was quite a while back-- at least 15 years or so. I had to really struggle to remember how to do that and the little teach yourself to knit booklet wasn't too clear with the instructions, or at least, not how I remembered it. I finally figured out the basic stitching and I have been knitting a little here and there. I'm thinking gift for Christmas, if I can keep it up.

***

Low:

I need to find a good, used fabric cleaner machine. I've been hoping to spot one, but no luck so far. They cost about $100 new and we don't have carpet except for in the apartment, so we'd only really use it on the couch. Either that, or we need to keep an eye out for a good, used couch. While Andrew was busy doing one thing, and I was busy doing another, Peter got into the fridge and dumped a nearly full gallon of milk on the couch. -sigh- It's still dripping milk an hour later. Even if we get a cleaning machine, it won't get into the insides of the couch, so it looks like our best bet would be to get a couch. Or else we put up with a stinky couch. -sigh- My plan was to wait until all the kids were over the age of 5 and then get a new couch, but this puts a little wrinkle into my plan. Not too sure what we are going to do about the couch. If money was no object, I'd get the couch reupholstered, but it's an issue, so what to do, what to do?

Maybe we'll get lucky again and score a couch at the thrift shop. There was a nice one there at the same time I saw the table and they were only asking $50 for it. It's gone now, but we could afford $50. Well. I guess we'll just clean up the couch as best as we can and see if it starts to smell in the next few days. It's not as hot now, so that helps. Rancid milk is not a pleasant smell.

***

Andrew is busy outside and I'm busy on the computer, so I better go and make sure Peter isn't busy getting into mischief.

-

Table for 7 (or 8, or 9, or 10...)

With 4 children and 3 adults gathering for meals everyday, and Peter not content to sit in the high chair anymore, it quickly became apparent that we needed a bigger table. Andrew's grandparents' red formica table comfortably seats 6 with the leaf in and with guests, we had to squeeze in a couple of chairs in the corners. It was time to find something bigger.

I'd been keeping an eye out for a new table-- watching the sales ads, checking prices at stores, looking around at the thrift shops. I even considered making one by getting new banisters from the hardware store for the legs, and then using planks from one of the many sawmills around here and creating a farm-style table. It's been a few months since we started searching; new tables are out of our price range and the ones at yard sales haven't won us over.

I stopped at the local thrift shop a couple weeks ago, looking for something else when I spotted a table. Oh! I immediately fell in love with it, but there was another lady looking at it and I didn't want to rush over and push her into buying it when she sees another interested party. After she walked away (whew!) I moseyed on over and casually looked at it, pretending I wasn't really interested in it. But I couldn't resist, it was just perfect for what we needed. Damn! Andrew wasn't with me so I couldn't ask him, and I was 99.9% sure that he'd like it too, but still, I hate to buy something big without his input.

I asked the worker there if there was any way they could put it on hold for me, and she suggested putting down 25%, but it was non-refundable and if Andrew didn't like it, I'd be out that 25%. I pleaded a little bit, saying I didn't want to buy something large without my husband's approval and I'd send him right over as soon as I got home-- about an hour it'd would take him to get there: 30 minutes for me to get home and 30 minutes for him to come up. The worker called the manager over and she looked me up and down, perhaps assessing whether I was sincere or just wasting their time, but she agreed and said they'd hold it for me!! Eeeee!! I was so happy, I left in a rush, telling them that a bald-headed guy would be in soon, that his name was Andrew and thanked them several times before leaving the store.

As soon as I got home, Andrew came out to meet me in the driveway to help unload the van and I told him to get to the thrift shop as fast as he could. Bless his heart, he knows when I am serious and I would only tell him to go if there was something really worth checking out. He wasted no time, turned around, went back into the house and changed his clothes, got his wallet and keys and left.

It was still there-- they had put a 'sold' sign on it and just as I thought, he liked it too. He paid for it and brought it home and it's the perfect size for us, with a little room leftover for guests and no squeezing either! No chairs, so I am on the look-out for chairs, but for now, the old chairs we used with the formica table will do.

Not too sure what kind of wood it is, mahogany maybe? Something else? The leaf folds under for storage so no worries about where to store it if we didn't need it. It's not perfect, there's a spot where someone left a hot iron and you can tell there was a lace tablecloth on there once, since I can see a lacy pattern in the finish in some places. Someday I'll refinish the top, but for now, we are using a tablecloth to prevent any more damage to the top. Knowing my kids, there's bound to be spilled drinks and messy meals.

It has nice detailing on the corners, brings to mind the art deco style. And a neat feature is when you pull the top apart for the leaf, the legs don't move, they stay put. Much nicer than having to struggle with the whole table to pull apart or shut the top.

We put the girls all on one side and it's nice, they seem to be eating better than before. Like Gretchen sees her sisters eating something and she is more likely now to eat it rather than pick at it. We put Peter between Andrew and I and we can both encourage him to eat instead of just me, and I can actually eat my food before it gets cold because Andrew can help with his food, too.

We've already had 2 extra people eating with us for a total of 9 people, and there is still plenty of room for all of us to eat comfortably. I'm so glad we got this table and for the people at the thrift shop that made an exception and held it.

There is also a matching cabinet that goes with the table and we hated to separate them, so we got that too. It's in the living room for now, and still empty, until we decide what to do with it. I'm thinking of moving the games into the lower cupboard and then displaying some of our pretty things in the glass area. We thought about moving it into the foyer area, but the thermostat is in the way, so that's out. Just might leave it where it is, it's an unused corner anyway, so hmm... wait and see.

-

Afterthoughts

Have you ever had an afterthought that turned out well? A last-minute move that you didn't plan on taking and landed you in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? I had one of those the other day!

I had to run into town-- a missed appointment that turned into a month-long phone-tag game and I finally gave up and went to the office in person to schedule a new appointment. I wasn't planning to go to the Library, they have new hours and close early on Tuesdays, but since I was so close, only a few blocks away, I might as well go. I had Peter and Sylvia with me. Sylvia is old enough, at 4, to know how to behave and not run around the children's section like a maniac. Peter, on the other hand, let's just say I got some eyeballing from the other patrons there. As I checked out the dvds, I noticed the sign for the book sale they have going on the upper level. With Peter screaming like he was, I had no intention of staying a second longer than necessary, but then, he suddenly calmed down and he was quiet. What the hell-- I'll make a quick run upstairs and see what they got.

Normally, because it's such a small Library, the book sale is not much to look at.. a few tables with books lined in rows, spine up to see the titles, and this sale was no exception. A few random squeals from Peter squirming around in my arm and I almost didn't go around to the other side of the tables, but as before, he suddenly quieted and I went ahead and checked. Lo and behold! Quite a few volumes of the Life Nature Library Series!

22 books total! I haven't researched, yet, to see how many volumes in the set there are supposed to be, maybe 24 I'm guessing, but I am so pleased that my afterthought to the Library paid off! Other than smelling a little musty, the books are in pretty good shape, and the ones I checked, dated 1978. They will be added to our little homeschooling Library. For the most part, I'm not too worried about the age of the books, there haven't been a whole lot of changes with some of the topics and they'll mostly be used for leisure reading. I'll be encouraging the kids to look through these and come to us with any questions.

Any good finds for you lately??

-

Feelin' (Not So) Blue

Memorial weekend around here means 4 days of yard sales, so went spent a few hours each day hitting the sales, looking for that elusive vintage metal bed. No luck on the bed, but we did find a few other things.
Like this blue corner hutch. Ain't it sweet? The blue is growing on me and I like how it pops with the yellow wall behind it. I'll be taking off the hearts on the bottom and I'll try and color-match the paint to touch up the spots here and there. It was ~only~ 20 bucks! A steal for solid wood furniture!

At another sale, we picked up the items you see on the shelves: sweet vintage tin cake carrier with an asian design on it, promoted by Uneeda Biscuit Co*., which later became Nabisco (*see bold lettering). A near mint vintage Fisher Price clown car pull along toy (I'll sell that later), and a cookie/candy tin to add to my collection of english-made tins. At the same yard sale, I found some extra nice children's clothing for Fall/Winter for only 50 cents apiece, and a brand new Discovery Toys Labyrinth game. Looking forward to playing that with the kids.

At a different yard sale, I scored 11 of these great Hazel-Atlas half-gallon canning jars! $7 for all of them and I'm pretty pleased about that! They sell half-gallon Ball jars brand new for about $10 each around here. I don't actually can with these, but I use them for juice, teas, wine and syrup in the fridge. I'm really trying to use less plastic for food storage and these jars will sure come in handy for that.

The last yard sale we went to felt more like a museum than a yard sale. I didn't have my camera with me at the time or else I would have taken pictures. Everything was vintage and in near-mint condition! The people must have spent years collecting the stuff, and they were either down-sizing their collections or running out of room and something had to go. There was a sweeeeeet mustang for sale that Andrew drooled all over, garage-kept and in perfect condition; lots of mint vintage games and toys, christmas decorations, collector's items models and posters and more. We enjoyed looking at everything, and I picked up a couple things-- chinese checkers in the original box, a box set of children's puzzles and christmas tree metal icicles. I think I could have easily bought more, but I have my own basement full of stuff that I need to get rid of.

I passed up on a lot of pyrex bowls and other glass dishes... I love them, but I really do have too many bowls. I sold quite a few of them on ebay and I still have more I need to whittle out and keep only my absolute favorites. We'll be having a yard sale of our own this summer, for sure!

Find anything good lately?

~

oh happy day!

First, check out the temperature it was today:

Yeah! 80 degrees! Oh! It was so nice out! Too bad the girls were grounded. More about that in another post.

And look! The bunnies have come to town!

Ok, seriously, have you seen the finger puppet tutorial over at Purl Bee??
You have got to check it out! It's so easy and good thing, too, 'cause I found out about it only on Thursday. I cut out a bunch of these in an hour, then it took me about 15 minutes apiece to stitch each one up. These are going to be in the Easter baskets for the kids!


All I have left to do is the noses and their eyes. I'm skipping the tails because I know my kids, and any pom-pom on there is going to get ripped off. I think they look cute as they are!

I made 5 so far... I'll be making a few more for my nieces and nephews.

We're getting together with other family a week later for an Easter/Birthday party, so I have time to do those later.

Aren't they cute?! How can you look at these and not be happy?

The brown ones are chocolate bunnies, of course!

-

Happy Easter!

-

Show and Tell

Look what I made:

My sister sent me a link to this website after I posted about Evelyn's embroidery. There's some lovely stuff on there and it inspired me to make this. I like to draw flowers and I have a drawing book full of them... so I thought I'd take some of those flowers and try this. I've never done free-hand stitching like this before, so I think it's pretty good for my first time. I know it's not perfect, but I like it and that's what counts. I used DMC thread on muslin fabric.

The younger girls are quite envious of Evelyn's framed girl/cat and boy/dog pictures above her bed and have been asking for something to hang above their beds. I think I'll make another one with different flowers and hang them above Gretchen and Sylvia's beds. It's going to be a surprise for them and I'm pretty sure they'll like it. They have been constantly checking my work as I go and offering me plenty of "oohs" and "ahhs".

I have enjoyed doing this and I find bits of time to do it while I am waiting for the water to boil, or the computer to boot up, or while giving Peter a bath. I am already looking forward to starting the next one and I have ideas bubbling to the surface for another picture. I may have created an embroidery monster in me!