Sara + h

outgoing

Another apron was sent today.  A small thrifted dish that I picked up for .49 cents was included too.  I've been sending out a lot of packages recently.  You may have noticed.  [Wink, wink.]  I imagine, rightly or wrongly, that some of you might wonder, especially in light of my recent posts, why I keep expending myself in this way.  My completely practical answer is where might you imagine I should put all this stuff otherwise?

But also...

I've been productive recently because I've needed to be.  There is an element of wanting to execute an idea and then perfect it and there's also the fun of thinking of the recipient as I make their gift.  Mostly though, it's about keeping myself, my hands and my head, occupied.  In this case, the giving isn't selfless.  I'm getting exactly as much as I'm giving.  I loose nothing in the equation.  Small kindnesses for myself and others.  And, as an added bonus, I gain a bit of storage space with every package sent.

ah, friendship

Ultimately, I'm a selfish thrifter.  When I walk into a thrift store, I'm on the prowl for things either I or my family (but mostly me)  love, want, or need.  That's not to say that that I never think of others when I'm thrifting though.  Right now I have a box of about a dozen baby things, all from Goodwill, waiting to go to my friend Dawn who just had her first baby a few weeks ago.  And just yesterday I gave another friend, Dana,  two vintage dresses and a little Zutano swing top for her youngest daughter, Sarah.  (Seriously, how could I not lavish a wee Sara + h with fabulous thrifted gifts?)  When it comes to thrift, I think of myself first.  After that, I think of others.

So it was a few weeks ago when I went on my regularly scheduled trip to Goodwill with my friend, Abby.  Our trolling began as it nearly always does, in the children's clothing.  From there, I moved onto the Pyrex aisle  (I have a weakness for vintage Pyrex, Corningware, etc.) where I found this.

My heart fluttered a little when I saw it and I quickly picked it up before anyone else could.  Not that there was another soul nearby.  There wasn't, but you know how it is...  Happy, I moved onto glassware and toys.

I returned to the Pyrex aisle five or ten minutes later though because there are always employees putting new things on the shelf.  I rarely venture into the fray of digging through the bins and carts of "new" merchandise parked at the end of the aisles (too many elbows) but I do  make repeated trips around the store to make up for it.  As I rounded the corner for a second pass at the Pyrex, I saw Abby walking toward me with this.

I saw this lovely thing in my friend's hands and rather than being happy for her about her amazing find, I immediately started stamping my foot (no lie) and loudly whining, "No, no, no!"  Abby stopped in her tracts and stared at me with a look of utter disbelief.  I continued my whining regardless.  She then handed the dish to me and quietly said, "I picked this up for you [you freak of nature]."  She didn't actually say that last part but I could feel her thinking it and really, can you blame her?  I sheepishly but happily took the dish from her.

How ironic is it then that the name of this Pyrex pattern is "Friendship"?  Oh, the shame...

vintage Pyrex covered casserole dishes

this week's thrift

::kitsch Pyrex nesting bowls::

I'm actually not certain these are Pyrex.  They're not labeled in any way and all my other vintage Pyrex is.  What do I know though?  Very little when I comes to collecting.  I only know what I like and I like these bowls.  There were only two but I imagine that originally it was probably a set of three.  But again, what do I know?

::handmade retro flower print dress::

I can't really conceive of why someone would give this dress away.  It's expertly sewn and I nearly photographed it inside out it's so well put together.  It's also never been worn or laundered.  The fabulous floral print fabric is still crisp feeling.  Its former owner may not have wanted it but I'm pleased as punch to have it.

::handmade animal print dress::

Another expertly sewn dress.  It's similarly finished to the other and I imagine it was made by the same person.  This dress is much less my style, or rather Astrid's style, but the fabric feels like well worn sheets and I just couldn't leave it sitting there on the rack.

on my windowsill

...vintage cups and mugs thrifted yesterday for 49 cents each.  A good thrifing day, n'est-ce pas?

More pics here and here.

still can't find my thimble

...which would be the reason Astrid's shoes have remained unadorned for weeks and that when I finally set about doing something to fix that, I chose a decoration that only required sewing on a button.  It's not hard to put an ix-nay on the anket-blay itch-stay* when you've experienced pushing a needle through rubber-backed canvas minus a thimble previously.  My fingertips are still smarting from that experience.

*Edited to correct my Pig Latin.  Oh the shame...

thursday thrift

I know zilch about vintage Corning Ware but I knew that I loved this when I saw it. (You can always tell how much I adore a thing by the number of photos I take of it.)

vintage Corning Ware casserole, $2.99

I also picked-up this avocado green Pyrex dish.  It's very reminiscent of my what my family refers to as my mother's "green period."  That period lingered for many years not because my mother continued to love the color, but rather because during the time that she did love the color she purchased things like an avocado green stove and refrigerator, and avocado green dishes, etc..  We were all glad when the stove and refrigerator needed replacing and when that last dish finally broke.  I would be ridiculed mercilessly if my family knew that I bought this, so shhhhhhhh.

vintage Pyrex dish, $1.99

free yarn

Could there be two lovelier words together?  Free fabric, maybe?  Okay, so I can actually think of more than a few other words that make my heart sing but free yarn both sounds and is pretty damn nice.  I will say though that while this yarn cost me not a penny, I did cost me in labor.

Several months ago, around the end of the school year, a friend offered me several boxes of clothes that she'd "outgrown" (I know the problem well).  In return she simply asked that I take what I didn't want/couldn't use to Goodwill for her so she wouldn't have to make the schlep herself.  Never one to say no to free stuff I leapt at her offer.  Among the things in the boxes was a really lovely green cable knit turtleneck sweater from J Crew.  It was a little snug through the bust and short through the torso but it was so cozily divine that I wasn't going to surrender it to Goodwill.

Last week when the weather turned Fallish overnight, I dug out the sweater and wore it for three days straight.  After day three I was finally ready to admit that it didn't fit me all that well and that it would need to be re-purposed (still unwilling to donate it) somehow.  A quick inspection of the seams told me that unraveling was an option and the decision about what to do with it was made.   Free yarn.  Free wool, rayon, angora, cashmere yarn.  Music to my ears.

Fool that I am, I didn't take a picture of the sweater before I ripped it apart.  I thought about it, but once I got out the seam ripper I was like a woman possessed.  Stopping for a photo shoot just wasn't an option.  The ripping, unraveling, winding into skeins, washing, drying, and winding into balls took quite awhile.  I wouldn't do this with a sweater made out of crap yarn and were it not for the 10% cashmere, I very well may have bailed on this project.  I'm glad I didn't though.  I now have a sweater's worth of about fingerling weight four ply to play with.  There are some soft, soft green socks in my future, I think.

One thing worth mentioning for anyone interested in doing this for the first time (like me) is that the unraveling pretty much obliterated any twist the yarn had.  It's now more like four plies cozied up to one another than four plies plied together.  This yarn is going to require some care in knitting so that I don't end up with stray loops all over the place.

 

happy feet

I'm a little embarrassed that  I couldn't come up with something more  novel than a pear in the moment that I started these.   It falls a little close to the tree.  The original ideas didn't come until later and now I'm left to decide whether I need to buy more shoes to carry them out on or if I need to switch to a different sort of

canvas.  More shoes wouldn't be such a bad thing.  Who doesn't like more shoes?  And besides, I always forget how large Target shoes run.  These things fit like boats dispite the fact that I bought the size Lola was measured at just last week.

friday thrift

Astrid had her two year check-up this morning.  She wasn't due for any shots (phew!) but did need to have a blood draw for hemoglobin and lead levels.  She's my little trooper and didn't show any discomfort or cry at all when she got poked (I love me a good phlebotomist).  Even so, she tends to be on the grumpy side after a stick (wouldn't you be?).  I came prepared though.  It was with Raisinettes and bubbles in hand that we headed to Goodwill.

Just like the last time I visited there, I pretty much sprinted through the store.  This time though I had Astrid with me.  A grumpy and tired Astrid to boot.  Despite my haste Astrid was nodding off in the shopping cart by the time I got to the checkout line.  She was a sad, sad sight.  She kept whacking her head of the cart as she'd become limp from sleep, wake up crying, and then do it all again.

Adversity aside, I came away with some plunder.  The best find of the day was a wooden rocking horse...errr...I mean, dinosaur.  Not only is this fella good looking , he's also bloody heavy.  Getting him to the car along with a sleeping 27 lb toddler and a bag of other stuff was a bit of a feat.  My biceps are going to be sore tomorrow.

rocking dinosaur, $4.99

Another wooden toy that I scored (and paid too much for) was this thingamabob.  I'm pretty certain that it attached to a wooden truck or train at some point but there was nothing like that anywhere around it on the thrift store shelf.  Still it was cute and I couldn't resist the urge to buy it.

wooden rolling toy, $6.99

I think it's charming that "Made in China" is conspicuously printed on one of the blocks.  Another side of the same block says "Designed in Germany."  I often lust after German toys so that last piece came as no surprise.

I also found this pillow case.  The print seemed vaguely familiar and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was from Ikea.  I liked the bold print so I snatched it up.  I'll use the fabric for something although I'm not sure what.

pillow case, $1.99

Lastly,  I found these shoes, the very same ones Stephanie found for Mia.  I have some fusible web and some fabric scraps just waiting for them and for me to have a free moment.  Shoe embellishing is becoming quite the thing around here.

Target sneakers, $2.99 each

All in all it was a pretty good thrifting day.  Hopefully my next visit will be in the middle of the week when there are deals to be had.  My Goodwill generally doesn't run specials on Friday so the price on the tag was the price I had to pay today.

Happy weekend, all. 

 

i see cookies in my future

 

Last week when I had a few moments to myself, I ventured to Goodwill for the first time in what felt like an enternity (thrifting with two kids in tow is rarely a sucessful endeavor around here).  I didn't have long to browse but did manage to spy (and buy) this beauty while sprinting through the store.

I've never owned a cookie press before.  I've never seen the need since I don't tend to bake a lot of sugar cookies.  Children have given me a new perspective though.  A cookie press now seems novel and like a way to have fun and kill a few hours.  This one is vintage and NIB. Only the cellophane is missing.  It's kitschy-ness called to me.  It was mine for a mere $3.  Even if we never use it to bake cookies, it'll make one heck of a play-doh extruder.  How's that for a back-up plan?

More on thrifting and this weekend's adventures during nap...