Thrift Store Finds

The thrift store God's have been good to me recently. Between the flea market, Habitat Restore, and GW I have made a haul.

On a recent trip to Habitat for Humanity Restore Steve and I found the brown crock bowl. It has a HUGE chip, but for $2.00 I'll turn it to the back. Of course while we were there we picked up some wood pieces too for more fun building projects.



That same day we went to GW and I thought I wasn't gonna find anything. I kept looking and looking. This is the same GW where I scored a bunch of fabric. Which, by the way, I found out the JoAnne Fabric store donates fabric to GW about twice a year. Anyway, I turned around and lo and behold... $2.50 for the big one and $.50 a piece for the little ones.



On the way home that same day we stopped at another flea market. This isn't the one where my stuff is at. Anyway, I rarely ever find anything here. But I was clear in the back room where it looks more like a yard sale. This one person had some pretty good stuff. I got all 6 bowls on the left for $4.00 I think. The other set of bowls I got at the antique store a couple days before this trip. I paid a little more for these, which I'm mad about. Anyway... I will be painting these up and selling them.



Then I also found these cute cheese boxes for $1.00 a piece.



Last but not least. My favorite find of the day. OK I saw these the last time I was there. Alright you are going to have to use your imagination on this because Steve already got a hold of them and fixed it. I originally found all the sewing drawers in a make shift wood frame. There were open gaps next to all the drawers. It was rough looking. BUT I wanted a look a like apothecary. So while I was at work one day Steve whipped this up. He told me that I still needed to clean the drawers because they smell like "bird poop". LOL. I'm not sure if I'm going to paint it or not or just throw some stain on the top piece. I also want him to build two more drawers for the bottom space that you see. I have no idea where I'm going to put it yet. I may have to get rid of something else. LOL.



My phone is back up and working. It took me actually banging the keys with my hands to make it operational. BUT of course I didn't do that until I had already called Verizon and ordered a new phone and re upped my contract. Grrrrr.... story of my life. LOL.

I've been working on my next quilt top so that I can clean up the mess I made doing it. LOL. Then I can make another mess making other stuff for the booth. It's a never ending cycle. OH and to top that off I bought new fabric yesterday from the Hearthside quilt shop since it's going out of business. I bought all kinds of civil war repro prints for 50% off. It is so sad to see them go. I guess Lehman's didn't think they were making enough money for them. :( Now I need to find another shop to go to for my fabric fixes. OR I guess I could cut back on my fabric buying. Naaaahhhh that wouldn't be any fun. LOL.

Giveaway Winner

The time has come to pick a winner for my Giveaway. I had 42 entries. Thanks to everyone who posted it on your blog. I didn't quite reach my goal, but thank you to everyone for entering.

Each of you were assigned a number by the order that you entered. I through them all in my bowl.



And.... The number that was picked was 9... Brenda from Pine Tree Prims!!!! Congrats Brenda. Please eamil with your address.

New Projects

I'll bet you thought your fearless leader from this blog has been on vacation or something. LOL. Actually just the opposite has been true this past week. I have not updated you as of late about the bionic foot. I went to the orthopedic and the boot and I have bonded long enough. He took x rays and said as long as I didn't have a lot of pain I could go back to my regular fashionable foot wear. I know what you are thinking and NO. I wear work boots and tennis shoes. LOL. He did say I had to get an insole to wear to absorb some of the shock. He also told me not to jump off anything... OK really... he left that wide open so I took advantage. I asked do you mean like bridges??? LOL... he said no like out of the ambulance. I was beginning to think he was playing psychologist. LOL. I still have to go back in 4 weeks because the x ray still showed a pretty big gap between the bones. So I have been enjoying my new found freedom of footwear.

Then Thursday I went back to my second job because I was released to work there again. Not a good idea to run 911 calls in an open toe boot. Huh who'd a thunk??? LOL. But I also had another appointment with my urologist and yet more good news I think. The blood in my urine is completely gone and all lab tests were good. He chalked it up to my anti inflammatory for my fibromyalgia. Bad news can't take them anymore. So now we must find something else to use to control the pain. But hey at least now I can get a new life insurance policy. Maybe that means I need weekly massages instead of bi weekly. WOOHOO!!!!

So in between working, doctor's appointments, and the Easter holiday I managed to start and finish some projects. First, and foremost I rearranged my dining room once again. I know I know... I just couldn't leave well enough alone. LOL. Don't worry my fabric is still in there. I will get pics later this week and post them. It is much simpler and plain.

Second, I finished some new pillows for the booth... all stuffed with sawdust. I have a lot more Americana ideas I'm going to make. But not a bad start.



Of course since my other quilt project is complete I just HAD to start another one. LOL. I bought the toile looking fabric at the Goodwill a few weeks back and just had to use it some how. So I decided I wanted a fussy cut quilt. So these are the colors I'm going to use. I need to add some blue to it some way or another (get this I don't have the right blue in my stash lol) AND I want to put some sort of black frame around the toile pieces to make them stand out. Also another piece of fabric I don't have the right one for. I had to show you my directions too complete with other ideas I thought about. LOL. Also my stupid phone that has decided to break and keep shutting itself off. Then when I push delete it keeps typing Swswswswsws nice huh? Stupid technology!!!! I swear to you it is not operator error. LOL. So flea market booth girls I am out of reach until Tuesday. That's the soonest Verizon will be hearing from me. LOL.





That is my home project. I have also started a new sampler to do at work. I got everything from the C back towards the left side done at work Saturday. This one is gonna take awhile. But I am in no hurry so when it's done it's done. LOL. This will all be the same color. Might even look good all red too.



Now you all know me and know in my free time I LOVE to Goodwill, thrift shop, and flea market shop. And this week was no exception. Steve and I went to the Restore for more wood, but while I was there I found another awesome find. BUT I'm not gonna show you that today. Let's just say I will "bowl" you over with all of my other finds too. LOL. Did you note the subtle hint. And my doctor didn't have an APOTHECARY on Tuesday or Thursday but it was OK with me. ;) LOLOLOLOL so I guess you'll have to come back to see what good deals I found.

Remember today is the last day to sign up for my Giveaway if you haven't. It will close at midnight tonight.

Disappearing 9 Patch Part 5 (Final)

I promise this is the last part of my series of quilting. It has taken awhile, but those who were along for the ride we are almost there. As I type this I am sitting on my couch under my NEW quilt. LOL. I have started planning my next one, but more on that in another post.

So here we are binding. The way I do it is not the only right way. The lady at my favorite fabric shop (which by the way will be closing it's doors forever May 14th
:( ) showed me how to do this.

First, I start by cutting off the extra batting and backing from around the quilt. Cut everything even with the top.



Alright the way you should technically do this is to take your quilt and measure each side. Total it up and divide by the width of your fabric that you are using to bind it with to find how much fabric you will need. For this quilt I decided to use the same fabric as the border. WRONG choice to be able to show you everything. SORRY! I didn't think about it. BUT for me that's too much math. All of my quilters please close your eyes and don't read this part because you all will just shake your head at me... LOL.

This is Mary's way... You will now see how crazy I am and what I do in my spare time... Alright I know that my quilt is only a lap size so I won't need a huge amount of fabric. I also know my quilt has 4 sides...DUHHHHH!!!! LOL Keep following you'll see where I'm going with this... So I know I will need at least 4 strips of fabric, but hey since I have more fabric I'll just cut one more for good measure. I always use the same size border, but you can use any size. I do what is called a double binding (or something like that) LOL. The jest is I take one piece of fabric and fold it lengthwise to make my binding. You'll see keep reading. LOL Alright so I always cut my binding 2 1/2 inches wide by the length of the fabric (normally 42-44 inches). The 1/2 inch covers the seam allowance and when the piece is folded in half you will be left with a 1 inch binding. Trust me... just keep going.



Now when you do the binding you want one continuous piece of fabric. So you will need to join your 5 strips that you cut. When you join your pieces you want to join them with a diagonal seam. This makes the strength an appearance better. This part use to confuse the heck out of me. My brain just couldn't grasp which way I needed to stitch them together. Sooooo... I don't want you to have to tear out your stitches like me. :)

Take your first strip and lay it right side face up. Take the second piece and lay the right sides together at a 90 degree angle.



Now take out your chalk pencil again and draw a 45 degree angle as shown. I know it's blurry but you can still see.



Now sew along that line then trim to 1/4 inch.



Continue doing that with all the strips until you have one long piece. Remember I have 5 pieces because four probably isn't going to be enough so for good measure I did 5. No math just common sense. Then take it to your iron and fold the strips in half and press. Take one end of the strip and fold it so that there is 2 inches folded so that the wrong sides are together and press.



Ready to start sewing??? Pick an edge of the quilt that you want to be the bottom. Take the end of your strip that had the edge pressed under and lay it on the quilt top so that the cut edges are matched up in the middle of the bottom of the quilt. Pin in place. Don't pin any further!





Now take your machine and sew a 1/4 in seam starting about 2 inches (the part you pressed under) from the end (leave a tail so to speak) until you get to 1/4 inch from the first corner. Be sure to backstitch at the end.



Take the strip and fold straight back until you get to you stitching line and hold with your finger...



Take the strips and then pull it toward you until the edge of the strip and the quilt top are level. PIN pin pin... oh did I say PIN. LOL. Yep I've let these babies go and had to keep refolding.



Now start sewing again. Remember only 1/4 inch seam until you get to within 1/4 inch of the next corner. Do the same thing until you get all the way around to where you started. If you did it like me you have more than enough left over. Take and trim your piece so that it will tuck inside of the tail you left.



Now tuck inside and finish stitching.



All done?



I totally forgot to take pictures of this last step...

The next step is take the folded edge and pull it toward the backing of your quilt so that the fold covers the stitching of the binding. Now take your thread and hand stitch the binding to the backing being careful not to stitch completely through to the front. Keep all stitches hidden in the backing or batting. Do this until you get completely around. Congratulations!!! You just finished !!!!

A Few More Thrift Finds...

OK most times I go to any thrift store I am looking for stuff for me. Stuff that I would use in my house. Since getting the booth up and running I now find myself buying stuff tweaking it and reselling it. Here just last week I found some really great stuff that I will more than likely keep. I know like I need MORE stuff. LOL. I just got done telling Steve last night I would like to condense my everyday decor down to one BIG tote. The fine print was that I would not condense my fall and Christmas stuff because I LOVE decorating for those seasons. My problem is I have many small totes that I just throw stuff in with no rhyme or reason. Than I forget what I have and then end up using the things I already have out instead of digging through everything. So why not condense into one place. Alright I know sounds good in theory. LOL

OK back to the great stuff I found!!!!

In this little grouping the cutting board table was just $4.00. I think Steve will be making a few of these.



A little closer look reveals cinnamon sticks, tiny pine cones, and the glass container ($.49) are all thrift store finds.



This next item I bought after seeing a couple of you buying stitcheries and cutting off the parts you don't like. I LOVE the poem "Footprints." I found this for $2.99. I'm still debating whether or not to cut off the bottom picture part. I know I want to darken it and paint the frame. Steve says he can alter the frame it's in to fit either way.



Now this next find was one that I made that goes against every fiber of my being. I preach about how I don't use hearts in my decorating. (yeah yeah I know I'm eating my words!!!!) But I couldn't pass it up. I"m such a sucker for tin candle sconces...



I bought a few more things I will be tweaking and reselling so I'll show you those when they are done. I also found out I do NOT like redipping candles or clothespins or whatever. LOL. Yeah that's a whole post in itself. BUT you will be happy to know I adapted and overcame to make my candles look like they were redipped.

I also got my quilt done for the Disappearing Nine Patch and am working on the last part of binding. Well, my friends I have lots to do today on my last day off. I go this afternoon to the ortho to have my foot xrayed. Let's hope it's healing correctly!!! But first I must go do some primping at the booth since we have pictures tomorrow for the newspaper.

Remember to enter the Giveaway in the yesterday's post if you haven't already. Thanks to those who put it up on their blogs too!

Follower Giveaway

As promised I am hosting a Giveaway to celebrate 350 Followers. Thank you to all who already are Followers! This Giveaway will be a little different though. If I can get at least 50 new Followers by Easter Sunday I will add 2 more items to the Giveaway. If I get more than 50 there may be a little surprise to whomever wins!

In this Giveaway you will receive the quilted blue table square, the Buckshot pinkeep, and prairie doll (which is my own pattern) all handmade by me. Remember this is only the beginning...



So, this is how it works... this Giveaway is open to everyone who reads my blog. You must leave a comment on this post ONLY to be entered in the drawing. If you do not have a blog please leave an email address in your comment post so that I can notify you if you won. If you do not respond within 48 hours of winning the notification an alternate winner will be chosen. This Giveaway will be open for 1 week. The drawing will be held Tuesday April 26th. If I get 25 new Followers before Sunday I will post an updated picture of the Giveaway with one new item. If I get all 50 by Sunday I will post a picture of everything you will be getting with an exception of getting more than 50 new Followers. The last prize will be a secret. Sound fair enough?

So go tell your friends, family, and enemies (if you want to give them a chance to win that is lol) about my Giveaway. Good Luck!!!!

My New Treasures...

As promised I told you I'd show you some new things I picked up recently. The first ones were found in my Mom's garage that belonged to her Mom and Dad (aka my grandparents lol). Mom and dad are going to be tearing down the old garage and building a new one this Spring/Summer. We were going to go out to dinner last Saturday too because my parents are also remodeling their kitchen. My BIL was tearing out the old one and re drywalling too. My older sister was their too and decided to go treasure hunting in the garage. Me, having the bionic leg, couldn't climb over stuff so she did the picking. She came up with these great treasures for me.

First is this great pinkeep/purse. I need to figure out how to clean the beads without damaging the fabric. The fabric seems to me to be a velvet.



The beads on the front have come undone and I have no idea how to fix them.



then inside...



These little books. One is a pocket dictionary from 1926 and another is Popular Foreign Phrases from 1906.



I also got this little mat. The only thing is a lot of the yarn ends are sticking out. Not sure if I should clip them. Those who are hookers (LOL no not that kind) let me know.



I also went to the thrift shop that benefits Hospice of Wayne County. I think sometimes their prices are too high, but I still bought some things.

You know me and anything quilted...



Awesome wrought iron candle holder which is big enough for a plate or picture maybe even a bowl.



A prim candle paddle and braided mug coasters. I am really getting in to these braided pieces all of a sudden.



Self explanatory... need I say more??? LOL The larger piece is Thimbleberries flannel.



Of course yet another quilting book.



So as not to put your brain on overload, I will hold off on my other thrift store finds. I am so excited! Just need to tweak some of it so that I can put them back up for sale. I am finishing up my quilt binding today and hope to have my final step up this weekend for my quilt along. I am anxiously awaiting starting a new quilt because I finally splurged and bought a walking foot for my sewing machine. Now I am going to teach myself how to machine quilt to make this go a little quicker. I bought a new quilting magazine the other day that many of the quilts are from fat quarters or strips. They seem pretty easy and so I bought some Civil War repro looking fat quarters at Pat Catan's for $1.00 a piece. This will be my brown and pink quilt I've been wanting to make.

Keep your eyes pealed for an upcoming Giveaway. I noticed that I am up to 350 followers. yiippee!!!! I am looking around the Homestead for some good stuff to give away. I may be making a few things or maybe I'll get Steve to add a little something too. So keep checking back.

The Updated Booth

I couldn't top my post yesterday with the thrift store stuff and my pickins at my Mom's today. Though I did go to another Goodwill today and found some great stuff. Most of the things will be redos and sold in my booth. Speaking of my booth...
Today my besties Rose and Michele met me at the flea market so that they could add some of their wonderful creations and items to my booth. I am super excited!!! We have something for everyone for sure. So I thought I'd take you along for a look.

To start this is my empty booth... with some new items scattered around... I know you can't see my tablecloth to well but it is Americana style and I found it today at the GW. I think it adds a little something...





These are my besties at work... LOL I was busy too... busy taking pictures even though neither of them really wanted in the picture. Before you ask that ugly divider with the BIG flowers is not mine. It is from the next booth over. I need to add a wall there.




Alright are you ready for the now full Gettysburg Homestead showroom???

The junk at the left at the bottom of the table is my stuff I forgot to move...







I still can't believe Rose is getting rid of some of her tea towels. But they made the booth look great! One of Steve's new "America" signs!!!





I LOVE Michele's handmade wood carrots down in the left corner...





It looks so much better now!!!! We are in the planning stages of changing the booth over to Americana in the next few weeks for summertime. So if you are planning to stop by for any of the items you see above you should do it soon. I will let you know when we will be updating. Thanks everyone for visiting us today. Sure wish some of you could see it in person. OH... and if you are in the area... drop me an email and if I'm not working I'll come out to meet you at the booth when you come.

Thanks girls for your help. You guys are the best!!! When we make our million maybe we WILL open a shop. :)