Farm Boy Fetch Me That Pitcher: Day 5

I love a good drink. Not of the booze variety. You know, the whole pregnant, nursing baby, mom thing gets in the way of my boozing these days. But I do love a nice tall glass of iced tea. You know whats better than a nice tall glass of iced tea....a pretty pitcher to serve it in. A pretty Pyrex pitcher at that. I found the pair of these playing nicely together on the shelf at my local Goodwill.

Not a week later I found their little sister at another local Goodwill. Imagine that. Can you believe they all had the original tops. What a find. Go me.

Day 5: 3 Pyrex Lemon Pitchers

Price: $3 each for the 2 large sizes and $5 for the small one

I sometimes wonder where they come up with their pricing methodology at Goodwill.

Pretty Frocks: Day 4

It absolutely kills me to go clothes shopping for Lenora and find that her little outfits and shoes cost just as much as mine. $45 for a baby dress. I think not. I have been on the lookout for some easy summer dresses and hit the jackpot with the 4 below. I am not sure any of them have ever been worn, they are practically brand new. I love the 2 Mexican dresses. The embroidery and stripe details are so sweet. I might have to try my hand at making something similar in a larger size.

Day 4: 4 Little Girl Dresses

Price: $3 each

Bottoms Up: Day 3

In case you have not already noticed I am a sucker for dishes, mainly Pyrex and Fiesta. Now and then something else will just beg me to take it home. Such is the case with these glasses. There were five of them on the shelf and I grabbed every one. They are in perfect condition and really pretty shades of yellow, peach and green. Not quite sure where in the cupboards I will fit them but I am sure we can make room.

Day 3: Vintage drinking glasses.

Price: .50 cents each

Warm and Snuggly: Day 2

My daughter was well past the swaddling stage when I discovered Aden and Anais muslin blankets, but that did not make me covet them any less. They make excellent woobies or light summer blankets. However, at $20 and up for one I just could not take the plunge. Then smiling back at me on the rack at my local goodwill were these. Not one, but 2 of them.

Day 2: Aden and Anais Classic Red Star Muslin Swaddle

Price: 1$ each. Yes you heard that right.

I just might have to swaddle myself.

It is a Sickness: Day 1

The thrifting gods have been very kind to me lately. When my husband is out of town I tend to frequent the thrift stores more often than usual, and since he has been gone for about 6 weeks, lets just say I have been way more often than I should. But when you are on a roll like I have been its just so dang hard to stop.

For the next 7 days I am going to share with you a week of my recent thrifting finds. Hold on to your seats, this is going to be good.

Day 1: 1960 Promotional Pyrex Fruit Cinderella Bowl

Price: $6

I damn near squealed in the store when I saw this baby.
Then when I got home and googled to find the pattern, I found this baby. Do you see it? Makes me love the bowl even more. I thought about gifting it, but not any more. She is all mine.

Bridging The Gap

I was at the doctors office the other day and noticed a woman knitting. So I sat down close and asked her what she was working on. It was a sweater for one of her grandchildren. She explained to me her choice in yarn, her pattern alterations, and how she likes to knit and watch TV. We had a great chat for 20 or so minutes while we both waited, then her name was called. It was a lovely moment, there in the waiting room, so often filled with frustration, thinking of the time you are wasting while waiting. This particular wait did not feel like that at all and it got me thinking about generation gaps. I find myself talking more to my friends moms or grandmothers about sewing than people my own age. It makes me sad in a way. I wish I could share my love of sewing with more people in my age demographic.

My grandmother taught me to sew and for that I am eternally grateful. It's a skill that not only has brought me great joy but is extremely useful. I hope to one day teach Lenora and just maybe she will love it too. But until then I get to dress her in all sorts of handmade goodies.

Something Nice To Rest My Bum On

My MIL gave us a beautiful farm house style kitchen table when she moved but it didn't come with any chairs. I knew I wanted something a little different and decided on picking up random chairs in my thrift store travels to create a kind of eclectic look. Fast forward weeks later and we were still sitting on cheap folding chairs. On a whim I dragged my husband to this antique store and this antique store hoping to find at least one chair for the table, all the while he complained we must make it back home before the Nebraska game started.

At our first stop I came across this little gem and loaded her up in the pickup. The color was perfect but I was not a fan of the Rachel Ashwell shabby chic cushion. I knew I could do better.
So I used this quilt as you go tutorial to stitch up a new cushion. All the fabric and batting was from my scrap bin so I didn't spend a dime more than what the chair cost me. A little tip, if you are marking the center of your batting for your first piece of fabric do not use a pencil. It will bleed through the fabric and you will have to spend hours searching the internet for ways to remove it. Thankfully a soak in rubbing alcohol and a spin in the wash did the trick.
I love how it turned out. The butterfly is from a vintage pillowcase, as well as some of the other pieces. Its nice to know my bum will have a very fashionable place to rest.
I have another chair I found for the table I plan to do the same for. Its a big king style chair for the hubby and he has requested all black, white and grey fabrics. Ill share when I am finished. I just love how you can marry quilting with home decorating.

Buckets of Fun

I really should just rename this blog "Awesome Ideas I Steal from SouleMama". That is where I found the pattern for these buckets by Maya Made. I was a little skeptical at first but I needed more things to fill with the crap around my house, and I wasn't too keen on purchasing another plastic tote from Target so I gave them a shot. Needless to say I was impressed, then obsessed and could not stop sewing until I had made 4 of them. One big one houses all the babes little shoes and mittens and the others are full off all the little toys I keep stepping on and then muttering 4 letter words under my breath. There are no pattern pieces in this pattern, just measurements and instructions. I guess you could just measure on your fabric but I took the time to make the pieces since I figured I would use them again. They are small enough you could just use a paper shopping bag for pattern paper which is what I did. If you do plan to make patterns then I would suggest marking yourself some notches to help line up the bottom circle. It really helped me and there is nary a pucker in these babies.

The circle fabric is a retro piece of upholstery from Sears. I have yards of it. The tree is vintage barkcloth. I have been saving that little dragon piece for years, waiting for the perfect project. It was an upholstery sample my mom got from a lady she worked with. The only new fabric I bought was the blue circle print and the plain cream canvas for the lining. I even used up all the scraps of quilt batting I had for the insides. Its the combination of the heavier weight fabric and canvas with the quilt batting sandwiched inside that make these buckets the perfect combination of soft and stiff. I do say I need a few more to catch the clutter that somehow multiplies with a child in the house.