Recent Treasures

I've tried to do a little hunting and gathering when we're out. I have a few tiny treasures to show.

A few old cabinet cards, tiny broken bisque doll, and Victorian buckler.

Vintage fabric, metal carriage, and doll.

I also purchased some old player piano rolls. I'll be turning these into a project that I'll be teaching later this year...
  

Strawberry Goodness

I love strawberry pincushions. When I saw more lovelies posted on The Feathered Nest blog, I had to make some of my own.

I used a scrap of chenille and pieces from a vintage tablecloth and added French knots.

For the toppers, I added white seam binding and little flowers and leaves. I also added a little ribbon hanger, just in case I decide to add these to another project later.

Thrifty Treasures

My parents have a great little thrift store in their town. When I visited recently, I made sure I had time to stop in and see what new treasures I could find. I brought home a load of my favorites! Vintage hankies, lace trim, old buttons, and fabric!

My understanding husband kept our 3-year-old niece occupied while I scoured the store. She was so well-behaved that I just had to buy her some flexible stuffed flowers she wanted (why these were ever produced is beyond me). Here she is modeling her new treasure:

Treasure Hunting

... or "more junk" as my husband calls it. We ended up in Dallas last week and I didn't want to waste the trip. I found a couple of estate sales to shop while we were in the area. Here are some of my treasures.

Old advertising envelopes (available in my etsy shop), sparkly Christmas picks, doilies, and old travel postcards.

An old cigar box full of thread.

I didn't find the book, but this cover came home with me. It will be great for a Christmas altered hanging. There were several rolls of the vintage Halloween crepe paper, so I bought a couple.

A pile of old pillowcases. The eyelet fabric is actually an old dress, tattered and torn from years of use and storage.

My favorite find was this HUGE old ledger from 1903.

It has 161 of the 1,000 pages used. They aren't "filled" but they contain unique entries like "will pay when Mr. Williams pays him for the tomatoes"!

The entries include the person's name and their occupation, like blacksmith, dress maker, laborer.

I will have blank and "with writing" pages listed on etsy.

 

My Junk Bonanza and Minnesota Treasures

Here are my (bad) photos of my treasures from Minnesota. I filled two heavy suitcases to lug them all home. Here is what I bought at Junk Bonanza and thrifting in MN.

Footed silver tray ($14), and lots of ephemera (25 cents-$1). The fabric under the tray is linen calendars. I bought one for the years of my husband and my birth, and I'm planning to make them into pillows ($1 each).

Vintage fabric ($21 total) and knitting bag ($10).

Old cake carrier ($6), lots of linens ($1-$5 each), and various trims (most about 25 cents each).

The smalls! Adorable vintage playing cards ($4), various beads and findings, and vintage jewelry. And (one of my favorite finds) a box of religious medals ($5).

Here's a closeup.

My dear friend Julie made some treasures to welcome me: this great hanging using her signature vintage dress pattern lady.

She included a great frame for our photo, a pretty card, vintage glitter ('cause I like to sparkle), and a couple of her fabulous bookmarks.

My bloggy friend Kate also made a gift for me. She included a frilly vintage apron, trim, and a decorated matchbox that holds lace gloves and bracelet.

My beautiful friend Melissa also gave me a welcome gift - full of MN treats, which are already housed in my pantry. These MN ladies made me feel so welcome!

Once we got back to Julie's house and were sharing our finds with her husband, he said, 'I have things like that I was going to throw out.' Lo and behold, he brought up a bag FULL of vintage hankies, doilies, fabrics, etc. Julie pulled out half to keep and gave me the rest. The hankies and doilies will make perfect pockets for my ruffled purses!

This is really just some of what I hauled home with me. I have more ephemera, lace, and fabric that I just got tired of taking photos and didn't get to.

My First Sewing Project = My Junk Bonanza Tote

I was reading this blog a few weeks ago when I saw her post about making a ruffled tote bag. She even had a link to a pattern for an "easy" to assemble tote bag. So, Friday night I stayed up until 1 A.M. making my bag. This is the first time I have attempted to use my sewing machine for anything more than sewing paper (and I mean stitching a border around a piece of paper for a card). Because the pattern really doesn't have any instructions, I winged it and only went wrong in a couple of places, but no one will know. And now I know how to make one for next time.

Here is my bag. It will be coming with me to Junk Bonanza this Friday!!! The ruffles are all from vintage fabric. I added a big floppy flower pin and string of vintage costume pearls. The back is also layered with ruffles.

I even stitched a toile print lining.

I think it came out pretty nice, especially for my first try. I'll definitely be making more bags - probably a little smaller, and with more ruffles of course!