Day 15, all about buttons

You know how some days you just want to crawl in a hole and pull it in on top of yourself. Yeah, that was my Monday.

Tonight I tackled the basket of buttons I've collected for the past year or so. I pick them up when I see them at garage sales, estate sales, and the thrift store.

I pulled buttons off cards, clipped threads, and sorted until I got that basket emptied. Now my buttons are sorted by color and ready for a project later on.

Pictures can be found on the 31 days tab.

I hope everyone had a super snazzy Monday.

Jazzed-up Shower curtain

I vetoed DH decorating the bathroom in the basement. We've all seen the wonder that is the man-den. I'd have nightmares showering in the same room with an animal mount. Never mind being able to do anything else. The eyes are watching. Ewww!

On that note, redecorating can cost an arm and a leg if you aren't careful or cheap. Personally, I'm cheap and I freely admit it.

I normally love it when people give me stuff. I really do and I appreciate it as well. When my baby sister gave me a black bath set I wasn't sure what I'd ever do with it besides maybe put it in the dog house for Tucker. It's black for Pete's sake!

So, being cheap, I have a black bath-set, but now I need a shower curtain to go with it. The shower stall is already really close to feeling like a cave and so anything dark just won't do. We need white!

Here you have your run-of-the-mill white shower curtain from the local dollar store.

I dug around in the fabric bins and came up with this cute black and white polka dot print and decided to try my hand at prairie points which turned out really well I thought. Once I sewed them all together I used a bit of quilt binding and finished off the edge. I then took my strip of points and sewed it to the shower curtain, just along the factory seam.

While the prairie points are cute, it needed more so I pulled out the button jar and started searching. I found 8 white and 8 red buttons that 'fit' together nicely and sewed those onto each point.

This is how it turned out. Yes, I know it's wrinkled. What more could you ask of 100% polyester. I'll take care of that later.

Now my bathroom is coordinated in black and white with a spot of red.

Total cost:
Shower curtain - $3.00
Fabric - $0.75
Quilt binding - $2.00
Buttons - no charge.

$5.75. A designer shower curtain for cheap!

Nifty thrifty stuff

Thrifting was so good this morning that I had to go back this afternoon. LOL.

I found this table cloth for $1, which I brought home and...

turned into this bag. To me this just screams groceries and farmer's market. I think there's enough left to make a couple more bags. There's a good chance one of these could end up in the give-away box.

Then I found these buttons. I paid entirely too much for them, but maybe that was just the mood I was in today.

How about a box of snazzy American Needlework patterns for 2 bucks? A complete set I might add.

I also picked up a shuttle and bobbin for a treadle machine for, get ready it's just crazy, a nickle. Yes! Five whole cents. They had no idea what it was and when I told them they tried to raise the price. Nice try, but no dice.

*********

In give-away news, so far I've got 9 people and 4 cats signed up.

Oh, did you think I was joking about the cats?

Heavens no! I'm totally dead serious. Heck, let's throw your dog's name in too. I'd hate to be accused of discriminating against fur babies.

If you've already signed up and have a dog or cat that didn't get included, well sign up again. If we're going to do this thing, we're going to have fun at it.

Have a great one.

Buttons, a boat, and birds

Thank you so much for the well-wishes and kind thoughts. I believe we are finally well at our house.

Yesterday was a glorious day. We awoke to light rain and the world looked spectacular after its bath.

DH and I took advantage of the decent weather and finished clearing out the storage unit. I've unpacked a few boxes and found some real treasures that I had really missed in 3 years.

Like this Presto canning jar filled with my granny's button collection.














Some of these buttons are older than I am. I remember as a kid playing with these on rainy afternoons. I'd sit and sort them by color or maybe by size, depending on my mood, and then get the crochet thread and a blunt needle and make necklaces or bracelets. When finished playing with them, I'd unstring them and put them all back in the jar making sure to get every last one.

I've rediscovered many more treasures, but I'll save those for another day.

DH helped me move the Pfaff downstairs and get it in place. I can't wait until things settle down and I can spend some quality time with a sewing machine. DH suggested moving the treadle down, but it's much too heavy and I don't want to risk life and limb or possibly the machine. It's just fine in the living room.

After a quick lunch DH asked me if I'd help him with is boat trailer. How could I not after all of the help he's given me over the last couple of weeks? We loaded up the boat and drove to Foss so he could replace a couple of boards.














In this picture the boat is actually running. When the boards were replaced and it was time to load the boat back on the trailer, it wouldn't start and we ended up towing it by hand. Fun stuff. DH believes he's probably out of gas and that he'll get it running again in no time.

Once the boat was loaded, DH took me for a drive around the lake and I found a whole flock of Cedar waxwings. These are quite possibly one of my favorite birds.














Be sure to click the picture for a good look at those gorgeous birds.

I hope this coming week finds everyone in good health, high spirits, and full of love.

Goodies I've found lately

I promised to share pictures of my most recent thrift shop finds. In addition to a denim jacket, a bag of lace/eyelet trim and two old aprons, here's a bit of what I found.

Butterfly quilt blocks to applique, $1.50. There are 27 of these and another 20 or so cut. One of these days I'm going to come across a whole quilt and not one I have to make myself. LOL.













A felt tree skirt that begs for embellishment, 25 cents. If you click on it please ignore the lint and thread on my floor. Obviously I should be cleaning house instead of posting here. :)













Five 100% wool sweaters, 50 cents each. I'm going to make a felt bag if it's the last thing I do.













An entire bag full of jar decorations, $1.00.
Valentine theme: two different hearts, LOVE, and a teddy bear.

















Halloween theme: black cat, ghost, jack-o-lantern, and witch.

















Fall theme: corn, leaf, scarecrow, and turkey.

















Easter theme: bunny, carrot, Easter egg, pot of tulips.

















Christmas theme: Santa, snowman, gingerbread man, and tree.

















An Atlas Strong Shoulder pint canning jar complete with zinc lid, 50 cents. The buttons are also a thrift shop find. I think those were a dime. There aren't very many yet.

















The thrift shop is changing. Someone new is doing the pricing and I've noticed that the deals aren't so good anymore. A 25 cent apron is costing 50 cents to a dollar now. A little bag of trim that use to be 50 cents is now up to a dollar or more. I know that doesn't seem like much, but I'm a tightwad.

Rumor has it that someone working there is getting first choice on stuff and she pays minimum price for it and then puts it up on Ebay. While I suppose there isn't anything wrong with it, it doesn't seem quite fair if you know what I mean.

It's going to be interesting to see how the shop does once all of the good deals are gone. One of the ladies that works there said that people don't seem to buy anything any more. I remarked that the prices had gone up and she agreed that things were priced too high and she had tried to tell them, but they think it's a good idea. Maybe, maybe not.

I think I need help

I should just stop going to the charity thrift store. Every time I go in, I come out with an armload of stuff.

Today's treasures for $19.11
6 yards of 52 inch heavy cotton fabric in dark brown
5 yards of 50 inch heavy cotton fabric in tan
1-1/3 yard cotton muslin
1-1/2 yard pink gingham homespun
1-1/2 yard rose floral on red
1 yard blue gingham homespun
1 yard fine pink stripe
2 yards yellow floral print
1-1/8 yard of green and blue polka dot

a couple of pieces that are less than 1/2 yard of rosebud seersucker, yellow/blue floral, tan on tan floral.

1 coffee can of old buttons

I'm going to force myself, and I do mean force, not to buy any more fabric until I get some sewing done. This is just ridiculous.