I Get My Thrills Thrifting #7: Aprons and Vintage Sewing Books

Day 263   Having a bit of trouble with the new Taichi format so hopefully we will get it out tomorrow.  In the meantime you will have to just be satisfied with a few treasures from our thrifting adventures.

  I love sales at thrift stores.  Picked up a bunch of unique pillow cases for my reclaimed fabric aprons that will be coming out starting this week.

Found this gem sitting amongst the books.  Excellent condition for a paper booklet.  I might just have to make some of these shirts up for the hub.

This was my favorite find of the week.

And it came for patterns for each featured item in the book.  I just love seeing history all wrapped up in sewing and needlepoint.

What will you create today?

I get my thrills thrifting #2: Good ole' books

Day 220  My thrifting shopping budget is usually what is in my change purse.  Finding these gems set my creative brain on fire.  I was like an ADHD Jack Russell Terrier.  I could hardly contain myself as I brought them up to the cash register secretly hoping they would not notice these books were so valuable and change the prices, like when I find something in the sale section of a store and it turns out someone just stuck it there and the salesperson just looks at you like you are a ginormous scammer.  Nope these were mine and I got them out of the store and I had to sit in my car for a while just scanning through them.

Dressmaking Made Easy , McCall Corporation 1941

McCall's Step by Step Sewing Book, McCall Corporation 1967

This one is probably my favorite because it has an amazing amount of crafts and stories.

The Complete Christmas Book, Franklin Watts Inc. 1961

 My favorite stories are the ones from the future.  According to this story 1984 Christmas would no longer exist.

What will you create today?

Books to Melamine~ Resistance is futile

Day 169

Wasted a few minutes at the thrift store this week in between hustling the girls to their activities.  I love the challenge of going thrifting with whatever is in my change purse.  Its funny what comes into the store in groups depending on who donated what at the time....apparently I hit it after an art book lover donated and scored 3 great books to have on my inspiration shelf....

This was personally my number 1 find this week.....I think I read it all the way through just looking at the details in the stitching...

  Number 2 find this week was a set of melamine spoons and chopsticks in perfect condition for my ramen loving oldest daughter and bonus was they are in those funky 70s colors she loves....

 These brilliant chopsticks were in with the melamine stuff aren't they kitschy cool?  Don't know anything about chopsticks but I think they might look great mounted like this in my daughter's room~she has collected chopsticks for years and we just stick them in a cup on a shelf....she wants to spell out 'Ramen is cool' on her wall...

We didn't hit the lotto yesterday night (I only play when I have 4 quarters in my wallet) so got lots of sewing and cutting to get to today~frankly I would sew even if we did win the lottery :) ....the list goes on with the typical Sunday chores and honeydo list cause you know we are on a mission to 'get rid of stuff we don't need' and wrap up any unfinished projects~let me tell you its amazing therapy........what will you create today?

We spent Solstice Wishing for more Snow

Day 132

Celebrated Winter Solstice this week with the family....the girls exchanged gifts with each other....bottom line is 'we love thrifting' as they found the perfect gifts...

...a map of Japan, in Japanese for our girl who is fairly fluent after studying on her own for about 6 years now....one day she is hoping to go to school over there...no kidding we found this stuffed behind the shelves of the thrift store....

We are part Greek and rumor has it our family's patron goddess was Athena....and G1 loves owls of all sorts

What do you get for the science geek who has everything? An organic chemistry model set that is brand new with all the pieces AND the guide book...SCORE!

G2 was pretty much refusing pictures so I snapped a few of the books she found at this really cool used book store we discovered in downtown Albuquerque....see that one with the blue lion? It's in Hungarian and has absolutely beautiful illustrations...

and mom's gifts from the girls were a book of Crewel Embroidery and this Arts and Crafts handbook from the 1940s SQUEE....totally in love...

moody musicians, gotta love 'em.....

These are from the snow that stayed on the ground for a day or two....and today we are keeping our fingers crossed that we get snow again tonight....I think we get maybe 1 snow day a year here in Albuquerque....like 5 rain days too come to think of it ....

....Sokka was out running around again in the snow, have never met a freakish cat like him who likes to romp in the wet stuff...anyone got a pattern for a cat jacket and hat? I think I might have to make him something special just for him, probably it is quite embarrassing to be wearing a coat made for a (whispering) dog...

and G2 wondered why her clothes were wet....hmmmmm

the giant snowball became this awesome fort to hide behind while pelting little sister in the head multiple times....

Please let it snow for Christmas....I'm still sewing and creating, how about you?

More updates later with pics of the latest Memory Blanket!

Preview of birds for Spring..

Post 44

These Sis Boom goodies arrived in the mail over the holidays and her fabrics always make me think beach, spring, summer....I love her beauty and creativity and gratuitous use of glitter!

Here is a preview--think standing on the beach and watching the gulls circle lazily in the wind above you (always remember NOT to look directly up if you are standing underneath them if you get my drift)

And here is the Christmas present the girls got for me....sure she is OCD but NO ONE does it like Martha and this book is a handy reference guide almost as good as her wonderful searchable website


Just a leftover lights picture from the holidays...I love lights, the way they sparkle and glow, we put them up in various rooms in our house so we can enjoy them throughout the year

The Aki Matsuri (Fall Festival) in Albuquerque

Day 9

This morning we had such beautiful weather for a visit to one of the many fall festivals that take place here in Albuquerque.

The Aki Matsuri Japanese Fall Festival.

Strangely enough the FBI had a booth-I seem to remember they are doing a big employment drive right now and it was cool to try on one of their old bullet proof vests. G1 says it was really heavy and once it sunk in what bullet proof meant I think she got a little freaked out. The agents there were all females and they were telling her about being a field agent vs being a support person...G1 was def in favor of being a science geek support person as opposed to someone who carries a gun.

G1 agent in charge lol



The festival had a booth to raise money (for a Japanese Cultural Center) where they took your pic in a kimono they girls loved it and I love the fabrics they used--oh to find those fabrics wouldn't that be a prize!


This fabric was our favorite, anyone know a source for this fabric?


And the real prize of the day was finding this entire set of Pokemon Anime manga in Japanese. G1 has been teaching herself Japanese for years and loves Pokemon soooo....funny enough the motivation is there that she can read a lot of this lol lol


And oh the joy they had a booth with Japanese fabrics in it--very reasonably priced too. We just chose a couple and my family was laughing at me standing outside of the booth at the hard decision I had to make.

Oh yes books are most def art!

This is the poem Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott yes it says it was printed in 1830 which WOW makes this book 179 years young. You can read this text on several free literature websites online now like Project Gutenberg but it is just not the same as holding it in your hand.

This is a small book, perfect for tucking into a pocket and I can tell it was tucked and read, perhaps out by a lake, under a tree, on a blanket her lover's head nestled in her lap...yes I can just picture it and the pages are well loved tenderly turned as the reader just savored each word.

There are even some great black and white pics of the area in which Sir Scott set this poem I would love to know what those castles and monuments and landscapes look like now

I did a little research and discovered that the original was published in 1810 and that the year in which this edition was printed Sir Scott had had a stroke and perished 2years later, his wife had died a few years earlier....

the person who owned this was a woman named 'Alberta' and she bought or was given the book in 1901 which already made this story and book an antique so when it gets to be this old I suppose it is no longer an antique but a treasure right?

Sorry for the crappy pics I did not want to take it out into the sunlight to photograph in fear it would damage the paper and pics even more...it is now firmly treasured upon a shelf where we can read it if we want because books were made to be read no matter how old.

Perhaps one day I will also show you my book printed by Ben Franklin with leather covers and typeset pages where you can feel the bumpy print now that one does sit upon a shelf it is just so fragile but I allow the kids to look at it it was not in the best condition when I found it already

Here are some interesting Wiki links about the poem and the area in which is was set and of course it's links to the Arthurian stories that we all know

I posted this today because I found it while cleaning yesterday and it was just so beautiful to look upon again...wanted to share....my sewing pics of weekend creations should be up today