Lasso The Moon

The Thrill of the Thrift

In all the vintage sheet excitement of my previous post, I forgot to show you another great find at the thrift store last week.

I was heading for the register to pay for my last load of sheets, at the last store of the day, when this little beauty caught my eye.  I almost let it go, but then thought even if it's a little beat up, I can still use it outside for picnics, right?

Turns out, it's not even a little bit beat up.  And it was only 12 bucks!

And it's one of Denyse Schmidt's retail designs!

Does anyone know what store this came from originally?  Did she have a line at Target? I don't know, but I'm happy I looked twice on my way out the door.  Yay for thrifting!

If you don't know about this designer, you need to.  She is one of the top modern quilt designers of the decade.  She uses simple fabrics and simple designs to make stunning works of art.  And while you're at it, check out her book  

It's one of the first quilt books I bought, and what I used to make this!

Keeping Busy

The weather in our part of Texas is absolutely stifling.  With temperatures continually hovering over 100 degrees, the babies and I are trying to do as much inside the house as possible.  This weekend we went on a short thrift-store tour (that's what I call it when you go from store to store without a break...) and we could hardly get from the car to the store without breaking a sweat!

But while we were there, I picked up a "few" things to keep me busy indoors this week.  Behold:

There are over 35 modern and vintage prints here.  They have been washed and folded, and in the next few days they'll be measured, cut, folded, stacked, bundled, photographed, uploaded, and listed in the shop.   See something you like? 

Here's another shot, just for scale.

Better get to work!  See you back here next time.

Anna

More about me me me, and a GIVEAWAY

Hey, just thought I'd pop in and tell you all about a fun interview about selling and sewing with vintage linens I just did with Jen over at The Vintage Sheet Blog. 

 

There's also a sweet little giveaway at the end, so make sure you pop over there and leave a comment!  Have a great weekend!

Anna

Soaring Eagles Thrift

Last week in church there was a presentation about a local thrift store called Soaring Eagles.  The company employs adults with intellectual challenges, and the much of the proceeds go toward Special Olympics, and other organizations along those lines.  I love a good thrift store and hadn't been there yet, since I'm new in town--so I went the first chance I got.

 

The store was clean and well-organized.  I found lots of vintage sewing paraphernalia and some sheets in great condition for the shop.  They were having a great sale, and almost everything I found was 1/2 off. 

These containers will be a big help in setting up my work room, which I really need to get around to.  And that roll is my favorite find of the day.  It is yards and yards of orange-grid drafting paper.  I can think of so many uses for this.  In fact, I've already put some of it to work as pattern paper on the project I started yesterday.

 

Overall, the store is a great find.  Head over there and check it out, if you are local.  But not all at once--leave me something good for next time.

And speaking of books...

I cannot believe I have not mentioned this book before.  It might be my all-time favorite parenting book.  This book was Montessori before Ms. Montessori was taking her first step.  I got it at a goodwill for the funny drawings, and only later discovered what a treasure it was.  I hope to go through it chapter-by-chapter, and take you along with me.

I'm currently buying every copy I see for baby gifts, and I'm thinking of selling some in my shop, since they are officially vintage.

Library Sale

They were $2 apiece, and I had a stack of more than twenty.  Time to make some criteria.  I decided that this time through I would only buy books that would inspire the kids to do something creatively, using their hands and their imaginations.

Growing up, we had many books of this kind, and as you can probably imagine, I ate them up!  I still use ideas and techniques inspired by my collection of "make and do" books from childhood.  So here's a start for my own kids.  I could buy new, but then you wouldn't have these hilarious illustrations from the 70's!

Note:  I did not get my stack down to 5 books, but these were the only 5 I could find at photo time!

Good Thriftin'

I have found tons of great thrifting the last couple of weeks.  Much of it will end up in the shop, but some of it will actually stay with me!  Like these scarves:

Ooh, la la!   Okay, some of them may end up in the shop, too.
Then there was this piece of fabric I found at the local arts and antiques market:

I never spend much on things for the house, so this East Indies-looking fabric was a special treat at $20.
I also picked up this amazing kids' teepee for $8, but I  guess I forgot to take a picture of it.  I tried to set it up for the kids to use in their western-themed room, but it was stretched out, so (as I was secretly hoping) the funky yellow canvas with red indian screen-print will have to be used as yardage!  (The actual print is in red ink--I just realized that sounds kinda funny.)  I'll have to show that to you after I get it all cleaned up.

Bathroom--New Washstand

    Okay, so I am not quite ready to show the entire bathroom, so I thought I'd start with this teaser.  I have been stalking this washstand at the local DAV thrift store for a couple months now. 

   

They had a ridiculous $70 price tag on it, so I passed it up.  Then a  few weeks later I noticed they had casually lowered the price to $40.  Totally reasonable, I thought.  But, still being the frugal freddie, I asked Donnie to go take a look at it and make sure that he would like it in the bathroom.  He went in, checked it out, and came back with a flier about a store-wide half-price sale that Monday. 
    So, here it is.  In my bathroom.   For a mere $20.   I love it when stuff like that happens!
    Oh, and the little goody holding the washcloths?  That was a $4 find from a garage sale last weekend.  I think it's an old card-file drawer.
    I'll put up the rest of the bathroom pics tomorrow.

Happy Free Hugs Day, everyone!  --Anna

I Heart Goodwill!

Last night I avoided caffeine.  I went to bed in my OWN bed, and even got my 10-week-old infant to sleep in HIS own bed. (!) But I did not sleep.  And I have this post from Soule Mama to thank for it.  My mind was racing.  It's been a long time since I've thrifted, and there are probably so many things I've missed.  Plus, I kept coming up with new amazing ideas for projects using felted wool sweaters. (At least they seemed amazing and cutting-edge at 2 am!) And the last time I went, I came home with almost nothing, so my wool stash is running out and I have to get to goodwill or the thrift store as soon as it opens in the morning or the good stuff will be gone and how am I going to look at labels and keep my babies happy at the same time....*deep breath*

I was right, though.  They were there.  Most of them were half price, too.  And delicious colors:
And a Stripe!  And Prints!  I have a felty flower project in mind for May Day this year, so these are just what I needed.  And thankfully, none of them fit me.  (I had to try--post-partum body doesn't fit into much these days...)  So they will all be pulled apart and thrown in the washer this afternoon.  Yay!  I love the manic crafty feeling.  There's so much energy that comes from it.  I've already cleaned half my house today, just from the adrenaline rush.  Good thing, because once those sweaters come out of the dryer, the dishes will have to wait.