My new, OLD favorite chairs!

If you have ever been thrifting, you know what I am talking about when I say that you just *know* when you see something and it has to be yours!  The kind of "honey, go grab that man to put a SOLD tag on here while I guard them, QUICK!!" moment!  That's what it was like last week when I spotted these beauties!  They shouted across the store at me, and once I sat down, I almost freaked!  Not only are they the most cozy and wondermous chairs in the world, they ROCK!!!  Full blown rocking chairs- I can cuddle up and cover up in a handmade quilt- doesn't get any better than that! :)  They are the kind of chairs you sit in and could fall asleep!  Heaven!  I would love to recover them in a light gray color- Kona ash color would be perfect :)  We'll see how things go, AFTER I get the renovation done ;)!  And not too shabby for just 16 bucks each!  Sweet score!  Here they are, my find of the month:

Some new Vintage Goodness

I have had a stack of vintage pillowcases I needed to list in the shop but had not had a spare second.  I finally got them all listed this afternoon- there are sure some fun ones.  Here are a few of my recent favorites :)

I keep a select few for myself- I love having a unique and fun pillow to sleep on at night.  When I find ones like these, they just make me smile- there is something neat about vintage items.  Special, for sure!

The Annual Dress and Family Picture Craziness :)

I am trying to learn how to sew clothing.  It scares me, but I want to make some things really bad! That beats my fear.  Adding the fact that I am a hopeless perfectionist makes it even more of an adventure, but one that turns out cute, not matter what the odds!  I have made an awesome poncho every winter (velvet lined with fleece) for my littlest little.  Imagine fun cute colors with pompom edging, two big buttons at the neck, and a Little Red Riding Hood style hood.  So much easier than putting on a sleeved coat each time you exit the car :).  I have made crazy awesome Halloween costumes.  And once a year, I make a dress for her for family pictures.  It takes a long time to find the perfect pattern and this year I knew it when I saw it- Mod Kids Chloe (I LOVE Patti Young's designs)!  I threw in my 7 favorite prints from Julie (http://www.intrepidthread.com) at the time and was off and running!

I must admit, I get a tad bit psycho when planning our family pictures!  I go overboard, actually, but it is oh so fun and makes for tons of smiles and memories all year long.  I don't like stiff classic pictures.  I like fun, living, breathing photos- like the photographer just walked up and caught you right in the middle of the best day ever.  When hubby married me, my one condition was that we would take family pictures every. single. year.  Just one condition (besides all the unspoken ones), but I meant it, and he meant it too, 'cause we have had them taken each year, faithfully!  This year involved painting a darling bench deep aqua, making a bunting/pennant in the below fabrics (and another), making this dress, cowboy hats, cowboy boots, my Supernova quilt, searching for months to find different colors (happy bright colors- that of course match the dress colors!)/styles of plaid shirts for all the boys in my life, and getting wild fun colored undershirts for the afore-mentioned plaid shirts.  I wanted to make me a shirt as well, but something had to give, and that was that.  So, I dug through thrift stores until I found the perfect color shirt and topped it with a darling sunshine yellow cardi!  Voila- after months of prep, we were ready!   

Well, with one detour...  We were going to take photos in an open wheat-looking field in front of our Blue Zoo, but the day before pictures, it got plowed under.  Next field, plowed under too, next- plowed under too!!  Three fields, all plowed under- backup plan!!!  I had driven by the coolest yard a few days prior, so I headed there.  We're talking barns, old pickups and ancient school buses.  The most awesome paint cracked buildings and archways and wavy-glassed windows.  Such fun!!  I knocked on the door and wound up talking with the sweetest older couple- of course, we could use their yard!  I was beyond thrilled and they made my day!  So pictures continued without a glitch, and we got some of our best shots yet, I think!  I am so excited to see them!  So there is my long version of why I defeat my fear and make a dress each year for pictures- it makes it more a part of who we are and lets our personality shine through.  FUN!

Defined...

I love old books- seriously, I have no reason, I just LOVE them. I love the stories they tell- especially children's book, and I love thinking about who read them when they were new. Thrifting is a great way for me to find these fun treasures. I found a wonderful book a bit ago and thought I would share it. It's a children's dictionary, and the definitions and illustrations are wonderful!

The word "lazy" sold me- I guess some days I'd like to be lazy, but I can't remember the last time I had a chance to be :).

Then there was "sewing" - so sweet.

It's full of charm and delightful words like these :)

A Thrifing Chair

I love thrifting antiques that make my home more "cozy". My mom has a chair that I have always loved, and when I saw this:

I knew it would be close enough. It is an old rocker- so old, it leans back too far when you sit in it- how would you ever rock in this?? I am nervous I'll top over :) hehe! But I love how it looks in my front room.

It was covered in a gosh-awful print, from the 80's or 90's. I started ripping off layers of fabric, hoping to find a beautiful vintage print. I did, but it was so stained and soiled that washing would have torn it up. Drat! So, I got creative. I love corduroy and have an antique velvet chair in the same room this burnt rust color. I grabbed my matching corduroy, and since there was not a piece big enough, gave it a corduroy black strip for eye appeal. I really like how it turned out. And who can beat a free chair covering :) YAY!

Vintage Fabric Finds :)

As you are well aware of, I LOVE thrifting- it has become something I can only let myself do once a week, or I would drag the family everyday! And homework must get done- hehe! The past few weeks I have found some wonderful sheets that I am busy putting FQs into my shop from. I also found some sheets that were added to "my" stash that will become quilt backs, etc. This one SCREAMED out at me as I walked past! Angela (http://www.cuttopieces.blogspot.com) says her fabric talks- well, then it only seems right that vintage sheets can also communicate. And this sheet SCREAMED!! :) It also jumped right into my cart! I adored Strawberry Shortcake when I was younger, and still love the original especially. I even have all of the scented dolls from my younger years out that I can grin at and remember the "good ole days"! Anyway, here it the screamer:

Isn't it just wondermous??!! I think it's gonna make a great quilt!

Another love of my dolly days was Cabbage Patch Kids- I had 13 of them- from twins to a Preemie, to an astronaut, to several boys, to an International one, and the list goes on! So when I saw this, it talked too! (Not screaming, but talked firmly) And jumped in the cart! :)

Such fun and such great memories!

Then I found 2 pieces of fabric that really made me smile. The first is a circus theme, and while I am not a fan of the circus, I loved some of the animals on it. They will be very fun once cut up and in a project!! The bird clinched the purchase! (and it was only $1.50 or something like that- not bad for almost 2 yards!)

And the other piece was this Disney print. The alphabet mixed with the pink background and characters was too darling to pass by! And it's a thicker weight fabric too! So fun!

The style is Very ME!

So along with all the sheets, there are bits and pieces of memories and glimpses of the past that make me smile! Hope you smiled some too!

Joy

Meet Joy, as in Pride and Joy! This is the Pride and Joy of my Sewing items. I love my regular sewing machine, but this is something I've been looking for for quite a while. I found it thrifting last week- it seems to be in really good working condition. The etchings and filigree is all in excellent condition!! I could hardly believe it! It's in a cute table that is gonna be stripped and painted light aqua very soon :). I want to get it working in the future, but right now I just need to get it cleaned up and in my front room! Not too bad for $18! Someone donated something that they had no idea what it was. It's so fun to have something of the past!

A closeup of the etchings :)

Just so pretty- I can hardly wait to get it all cleaned up and beautimous!!

the Stack!

This is the stack, except for a few, that I still need to photograph for my shop :) Think I have some work to do? Uh, huh :). But it's fun work- I like it and it makes me smile to send vintage sheets all over the globe.

Friendship :)

This is my favorite Pyrex pattern; it's called Friendship! Friends are so important in life- not as important as Family though. I love these divided dishes and found this treasure thrifting the other day :) It is a brilliant orange-red color and the print is in excellent condition. For $4, it wasn't too bad. It will be good for using everyday :) I so love thrifting- it's so fun!!

Please Bear with ME!!

My computer decided to invite some lovely viruses over to play, without my approval! Drat! So, long story short, the past week, I have been computer less! Hopefully I should hear from Mr.RepairMan tomorrow and have some good news. OR maybe Santa will just bring me a Mac :) Ahhhh, dream! I have been thrifting to help my stress, and wait til you see the goodies I have found lately- tons of sheets and a gorgeous antique Singer Sewing Machine :) Swoon! See ya soon!

Up and Rolling!

Well, I am getting my FQs and pillowcases listed in Etsy, bit by bit :) The most time consuming part was editing the ba-zillion pictures. I know everybody loves doing that :). I am just not patient enough, I want it done yesterday! hehe!

The other thing that wore me out was lugging 5 stacks (well, make that 6 after my thrifting today :)) all this big or bigger up and down my stairs to the deck for the photo shoot! Gave my muscles a good work out! So that's a plus :) Almost as good as weight training, well, um, I'll count it as such :).

So the shop now has some of the many items listed. I am doing as few each day as I steal a few minutes away from the priorities of life :) There will be over 100 once I have them all up! Whew! Head on over and check out the pretties- I would love adding EACH of them to a quilt- what fun that would be!! Dreaming....

HERE'S THE SHOP LINK (www.LightningBugz.etsy.com) All things magical, ya know! And vintage is definitely magical!

My Find of the YEAR!

It started off as a regular thriftin day for me- a few cardigans and then a couple of pretty yellow pillowcases :) I must say that these yellows were extra bright and I love daisies, so they were happy finds- but hang on...

Then I found a matching sheet and two others that were also very pretty. I tend to go more with the bright, happy colors, not the more dull or "browner" colors. It's just what I am drawn to naturally. They make for happy quilts though :)
But then, as I came down the last rack of sheets, I almost fell in the floor. I saw the brightest, happiest colors ever. I had to check the tag, just to verify that it was vintage- I could hardly believe my eyes! This is so ME!! And I would have never dreamed of a sheet so wonderful in a billion years! I can imagine the little girl who would have loved it years and years ago! It was just WOW!! As I was ouuuu-ing and ahhh-ing over it, my eyes glanced up and saw ANOTHER identical sheet a few down! OH MY GOODNESS! REALLY??!!?? What a day! I grabbed them both and almost ran to the checkout to make sure no one swiped them out of my cart! :) I played it cool and casually walked to the checkout, but as I left the store I was humming a happy tune :)!! Here's one of them haning on my deck (that's half of it).

Here's some close-ups so you can see all the amazing details! It's seriously incredible! Maybe it's just me, but I am soooooooooo excited to cut up the big "scenes" and make the most slendifierous quilt from these! Oh, I can hardly wait (they are washing right now)!

A darling red head and her sweet purple deer- bunny and butterfly on the sidelines :) And love the koala in the tree :)

Look at all these animals!! EEEPPPPPP!! And even a couple of mushrooms too :) I still can't believe how cool it is- oh, the story it will tell in a quilt :)

Then this precious little boy blue and little girl- more animals (a snail even!)! The cuteness is killing me :) So fun! Carrots for the bunny too- even a turtle! A bird, clowers, racoon, and more!!

The trees, plants, the big deer, oh wow! The bluebird- just everything is so darn cute!

And lastly, this sweet little girl- she almost reminds me of Holly Hobby :) Love the frog behind her- sitting on his toadstool- see, cuteness all around!

Maybe I'm nuts, and that's ok, but I think this is my find of the year! It made my day and I am so excited to tell such a fun story with this print! What fun!!

I LOVE thrifting :)

I had my weekly thrift store excursion today- it's just one store, but I love it :) I found such cute stuff! It is always something different, and that's the fun of it! Today I found some darling red shoes, these 4 sheets (I love the beautiful yellows), 5 cardigans- I have gone crazy for cardigans!, and a few odds and ends. Such fun, such fun! I love the surprise of it all and how when I use my 20% off my entire purchase coupon, I get an even bigger bargain :) Sa-weet! I love hunting for good deals! That's why I guess I am a thrifter at heart <3. Good day, good night- sweet dreams all!

And yes, I snuck in 5 other sheets from earlier this week (I made an exception and went thrifting twice this week!). Isn't that top bright aqua flower sheet perfect?! Eeeppppp! What else can you do when you feel cruddy from a sinus infection- thrifting therapy always helps :) ?? Yup, I feel much better now :)!!

Vintage Star Top DONE :) LOVE!!

I spent the late evening cutting up sheets. That was the hard part! It was fun to watch the pieces get smaller and more manageable though. I decided to go with a 22" square, a bit larger than Jeni's, just so the finished quilt would be a bit bigger. I am all for big blankets- more to wrap around me to keep warm in winter :) hehe! And the sheets are so soft, who could resist a little extra surface area :) There's my math background coming in!

So I cut, arranged, and sewed until the whole thing was pieced. Then rows came next and ta-da, you have a quilt top all ready to go!! I have a perfect sheet to go on the back, so once I get my sandwich made, it's time to quilt! I am so excited to have such a soft sheet. Vintage sheets are dreamy that way...

Ok, I will have to resort to putting some in the shop!

How's that for a concise title?? hehe!
I was driving home by way of my favorite thrift store and just HAD to stop in again :). It is starting to cause trouble- happy trouble though :). When you dig hard enough, you can find some pretty neat things. Today I found 5 pretty neat things, and a cool pair of Harley Davidson winter boots for me- bonus!

I am filling up almost every inch of my space that is in the "half-room" that I have. So I guess I'm going to have to get cutting and put some of these lovelies in my Etsy shop. That way I can share the joy and make room for more pretties :) That's a good plan, don't ya think??!

Now just to find the time for the cutting :) There's always a catch...

Thrifting Jackpot!!

Woohoo- I found a thifting goldmine today! Well, it was actually in the same store I always shop in, but today was extraordinary-I found vintage sheet city! It was so exciting I was skipping down the aisles :) I get seriously giddy when I find good deals and I had a 20% off coupon for the entire purchase, so it was a happy moment indeed! I wound up with 15 sheets and 6 pillowcases, in prints of the sheets mostly. WOW!! I couldn't believe it :).
I have been wanting to make Jeni's Giant Vintage Star Quilt (over at http://incolororder.blogspot.com/) but needed some purple. I thought about ordering some from her shop but told myself I would check my thrift shop today- they have NEVER had a purple sheet since I have been collecting. There were 3 today- count them, 3!!!! Deep purple stripes, tiny lavendar rose buds, and the medium purple heart rope looking one. I was in shock. I was grabbing sheets right and left- I couldn't get them in my cart fast enough. You would have thought I'd won a shopping spree!
With my current stash and now these, my storage space will be quickly depleted, so I may wind up selling some fat quarters in my shop. I'll see what happens over the next few weeks. And how good I can cram them in my closet :) hehe! They are in the washer right now and I can hardly stand it, waiting to add them to my collection. I never thought old sheets would be so fun- don't start, it's addicting. It makes me nostalgic and think of the dear people that have gone before me. I get to sort them all tonight and play with colors- I think I will have enough to tackle the giant star quilt of Jeni's!! Yipee skipee!! Can you tell I can hardly wait??!!?? :) Off to fold sheets...

Thrifting and more sewing :)

I found these lovelies at the thrift store this past week- I have never found a red or blue, so I was tickled :) The red is a 1 qt. casserole and the blue is a fridgie- neither have lids, but I was still happy about it. It's been a while since I have found any Pyrex, so it made me smile :). I sorted these blue and orange into pairs and have been sewing them together. Then you cut them from corner to corner to make 4 half square triangles :). It's a good activity to take along with me as I run places with the kiddos. This will be my warm cool quilt along quilt.
My other brilliant idea of the weekend was to rearrange rooms in our house and get my hubby's office and my sewing room in the same room- that would give me a "semi-all mine" sewing room :)!!! Yipee Skipee- much better than the part bedroom/part living room as I have it now! Let me tell you how thrilled I am- I am itching to get going! I have to shift 4 rooms of furniture to get it to work- that's what I'll be doing the next few days :) Fun, fun, fun!

And so begins another Vintage Love...

I thought I had my vintage love when I started collecting Pyrex several months ago. Then I kept seeing these marvelous vintage sheet quilts popping up all over Pinterest and blogland, and man, if I didn't fall again :)! I love the reuse, or do without saying, so finding and using vintage sheets is a wonderful idea to me. I have been looking when I go thrifting recently, and found these two- my first vintage sheets- yesterday!

I actually squealed over the pink and green strawberry sheet (then looked around to make sure no one heard me ;) )- it is just gorgeous in real life! I may wind up putting some fat quarters in my shop (http://lightningbugz.etsy.com/ ) when I find some really pretty ones :). I also found this flowery aqua, lime, and yellow sheet. The design doesn't fill the sheet as much as I'd want usually, but the colors and print was too pretty to pass up!
This quilt:

is the main reason I caved! The lovely ladies over at Quilt Taffy (http://www.quilttaffy.blogspot.com/) are amazing and this vintage beauty, with some hot pink Henna Garden running through it, put me over the edge a few days ago. That was all it took to convince me that vintage sheets are now a definite MUST :)!

And the hunt is such fun :)---

Some pink!!!

I know it may not be a big deal to everyone, but I am new to collecting and have been dreaming of a pink piece for MONTHS :)! Well, Thursday was my day! I went to my favorite thrift store (which has only had dark patterns the past few weeks- stinker- I love the brighter colors) and saw nothing. Then my lovely mother noticed an employee stocking things in the bakeware area. We ske-daddled on over, and there it was--- a pink gooseberry 442 bowl!! I squeeled- so much for hiding my excitement! ;) I was more than thrilled to see this pattern in real life and to be at the right spot at the right time to snag it. It was $4, but to get a pink piece, I gladly paid it :). It's nice and clean, ready to be lovingly used, here at home now! Woo-Hoo!

Gonna be a bright, sunshiney day...

Even though it's overcast and rainy :)

My dear mother found this thrifting and I was so tickled!! I think it's a fridgie, but there was no lid. That's fine because it's in such wonderful shape and I think it's too cute!! So another fun piece to add to my collection. It makes me smile and think of sunshine- what could be better!