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.

Mirror, mirror, on my wall

I picked up this mirror at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. It once sat atop an old dresser that was long gone. I love the size and the shape. The finish was rough. I hate to paint perfectly good pieces, but this was a candidate for a little paint TLC.

I took off the back and the mirror is stamped January '20. I knew it was old, just not that old. I very carefully took the mirror out of the frame and cleaned it up good. I think the streaky imperfections are just right.

A coat of primer and a couple coats of black paint later I think it's gorgeous. I plan on putting it in my office.

Joy

Stitchery on the road

I don't sit well. I have to be doing something, preferably reading or working on a project. Me in a car with nothing to do for 5 hours is miserable, for everybody.

I dug around in my craft room and came up with a couple of projects and managed to get some stitching done during our travels.

I used the pattern out of a thrifted magazine to make this pillow top. I added the snowflakes because the snowman was looking a little lonely.Believe it or not I got it made into the pillow before Christmas. Fabric from my stash. It might need a few more snowflakes.This is another thrifted project. A 40 cent sweatshirt applique kit, a little muslin from my stash and I have the beginnings of a wall hanging.
I'm trying to decide what to do for borders. I found a big enough piece of fabric for the back. Quilted, this is going to be cute.

These were cheap to do and kept me entertained. I can't ask for more than that.

I bought a new old door

Mom and I went door hunting today and this beauty came home with us. I plan to use it between the dining room and kitchen as a replacement swinging door. We found it at an antique store for a good price. You sure couldn't buy a new one for what I paid.
It's missing five panes of glass, but that's an easy fix. A good sanding and a coat of paint will fix it right up.

The swinging door fairies were with me today because I found the swinging hinge on sale for $13.99, regular price almost $100 depending on the finish.

We're four sheets away from being done with the ceiling. The bad news is DH is somewhere in a hole putting joints of pipe together for a water line. We're to the point we need to take down the dining room light and if we wait too late we'll run out of light tonight. The lift has to be back tomorrow by 12:30 or we'll have to pay for a couple of days we won't need it.

In other news, I've been busy picking paint colors, drapes and other window treatments. Now, I think I'll go make a pillow while I wait on DH.

Thankful Thursday and where I've been

This week I'm thankful for my health. I have bad habits just like everyone else, but I'm working on them.

Weight Watchers this week was good. I came down another 3.6 pounds over two weeks. Remember we were canceled the week before.

Today I'm having fits. Nothing in particular is wrong, I just feel like throwing things and screaming. Do you ever have those days?

Anyway, here's what I've been doing. I found a thrifty artichoke that was painted gold and repainted it almond. I hung these little cross-stitched hearts next to the basement door. On my newly painted walls.I painted this wall and hung this stuff up. Seriously, plaster is hard to hang stuff on. I've been fighting with the quilt rack for a week. Today I got serious and used screws. DH is going to kill me when he figures it out. Everything else is hung with super sticky Velcro.Not satisfied with painting the one little area, I ended up repainting all of the woodwork in the hallway. Here's the telephone niche. See my little uranium glass lamp and the old flycatcher?I bought new-old china. It's not really that old. They quit making this pattern in 1985, the year I graduated high school. It's made by Royal Jackson and is the Celebrity pattern in platinum. I paid five bucks for the whole mess. Service for 8 with only 5 cups.Other than that I've just been puttering around.

Tomorrow we're going to NM so we can pick up a grandfather clock and snuggle the grandbaby. I could care less about the clock, but I need some baby time.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and has an even better weekend.

Wish upon a star

I bought this star at Statuary World after Christmas. I didn't have any stars and though this one is kind of ugly it can be fixed. Oh yeah, it was cheap too.I sanded and sanded until I got all of the 'snow' removed and then sanded the whole thing again. Then I went over it with two coats of primer.

Next up were two coats of Leather Brown paint.
I used a heavy coat of Plasti-Kote Cracklin' finish top coat and ended up with this. I'm debating using another light coat of the finish to see if I can get some bigger crackles.

For a couple of cans of spray paint and cheap star I think it turned out okay.

Merry Thriftmas

Did you have a good Christmas? Was Santa good to you this year?

I intended to wish all of my blogging buddies a Merry Christmas and plum forgot about it in the enchilada making frenzy. I apologize. I hope you know I treasure each and every one of you.

We had an excellent Christmas. I especially enjoyed my youngest sister being here from South Carolina. The only hangup Christmas day was the collective forgetting to take pictures. We have none.

Now that life is somewhat returning to normal I feel like I can go thrifting again. Yesterday I spotted the most lovely item I'd seen in a while, but didn't examine it closely and walked out without it.

Last night I didn't sleep due to heartburn, the weather, DH getting called out twice, and most of all thinking about the item.

I was dressed early this morning and sitting in front of the thrift store with my little fingers crossed that it was still there and not sporting a 'Sold' tag an hour before they opened. I managed to be the first one through the door with my money in hand and I made a beeline for the item.

My little heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I saw it was still there and not sold. I raced (okay, walked really fast and didn't knock anybody down) to the checkout and plunked down my $40 plus tax and requested a 'Sold' tag.

Isn't it gorgeous! No holes, tears, rips, or otherwise mangled places. The bottom does need a little work, but nothing a staple gun and a little webbing can't fix. The seat has springs and none are poking out or are broken.
The back frame has two repaired places, but the crack doesn't make it to the front. Who's going to see the back anyway? That white line is chalk and will clean right off.
It measures just under 4 feet long and is 36 1/2 inches tall. It's so comfy. I've sat on it off and on since bringing it home. I'm not going to recover it because it's perfect the way it is. I'll dress it up with pillows and a throw for a little color.

Quite possibly the best $40 I've spent in a long time.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

In lieu of the insanely early Black Friday madness, I slept late and stayed home most of the day tinkering with my toys. I'm not a decorator and don't play one on the Internet.

The mantle arrangement is a bunch of wooden spools, a little bit of velum, package garland, and battery operated tea lights. I stole this one from my mom. She did the same thing on her TV cabinet. Very cute.Every year I buy us each a new ornament. DH always seems to get Santa fishing.This is what I ended up with on the treadle. I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with it yet. Since taking this picture I put the rest of the package garland around the base of the hurricaine.
This bucket came from the inlaws. I don't remember where they had it in the house, but I thought it would look okay holding fake poinsettias.
My favorite this year. The candle holder is an old lamp shade made out of heavy glass. The runner is old and smells like starch. Well it should, I starched it. LOL! This mess is sitting on my $2 coffee table (an old tool chest from a garage sale nearly 15 years ago).
Another decoration from years past. I'm not sure if this is one I got for DH or for myself.
Have you started decorating?

A tale of two mixers

I inherited the green Sunbeam MixMaster when DH and I got married. His mom dumped it on him when they sold their house and decided to live life on the road.

I've used it a time or two and liked it. Since moving to OK though it's been in a box in storage and I haven't really missed it. Until today.

Today is fruitcake making day and I needed something to help mix up the batter. I drug out old greeny and then couldn't find the beaters. It dawned on me that I'd probably donated them sometime during a cleaning frenzy. I try not to have too many cleaning frenzies because I end up getting rid of stuff I might need later. Like the beaters.

I decided to try the thrift store here in town and see if they had some. Normally there's at least a couple of pair hanging around. Not today though. The only beaters to be had belonged to hand mixers.

I ventured over to small appliances and spied the white mixer. It's the same brand as the green one, but older and it had the beaters. I figured for 3 bucks I could take the beaters off and if they fit the green mixer I'd re-donate the white mixer.

I brought it home and sure enough the beaters fit. Unfortunately, old greeny decided to give up the ghost after a steady stream of black smoke started billowing from the head. I couldn't get it out the door fast enough.

I finished up the fruitcake using the older white model and it runs like a champ. It even has a speed for fruitcake. How's that for serendipity.

Bits and pieces of Autumn

Mom and I worked on my front porch Thursday and still didn't get done. Well, she did, but I didn't. I still have pillows to make.

Here are a few things. Unfortunately, the wind is blowing 30 mph right now and stuff is flying everywhere. I've had to bring in two mums and my native grasses. No telling what else will fly before this is over.

An old milk can holding a mum.
This is the folding chair I found by a dumpster. I have a hat with a sunflower to hang on the back. I've rescued it from the street once so until the wind stops it's in the house.
Mom fixed my old rake up with Indian corn and a silk leaf garland. I'm still debating about whether or not to add a big old raffia bow to the handle.

NSM - Project #9

Here's another skirt. It's the same Kwik Sew pattern used for project number #4. I had zero problems hemming this time. Maybe now I know what I'm doing.

A close-up of the fabric.This fabric was purchased at the thrift store a while back just like the other. Sometimes you can find some really interesting stuff.

NSM - Project # 5 and 6

I was rudely attacked by some kind of mutant stomach bug and ended up not sewing for a couple of days. I'm back and ready to sew.

I failed to mention on project #4 that the fabric used was a thrift store purchase. I love my thrift store.

This is a swimsuit cover-up. Nothing fancy and it actually looks better on me than IMBZ. It hits me right above my chubby little knees. I made this out of a terry cloth chaise lounge cover from the thrift store. Terry cloth isn't my favorite fabric to work with by a long shot. A trick-or-treat bag made from a remnant. I intended to put reflective tape on it, but somehow I've lost my package and didn't feel like running to the store. I have another one cut out and ready to sew, but I pooped out and didn't get it done.
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that's sewing along with me and let you know I'm trying to visit your blogs. If I've missed you, don't hesitate to let me know.

NSM - Project #2

A plethora of pillows. The two on the far right were made a couple of weeks ago. The remaining four were made today.

I saw a pillow made from an old dresser scarf at a garage sale and fell instantly in love, but not $5 worth. The idea was planted and here we are.

I picked up some old feed sack material for a ridiculously low price at the newer thrift store a while back and used that for the pillow. I dug in my stash of worn out dresser scarves found some that complimented the fabric in color.

The dresser scarves I used had holes in the center and generally weren't usable. I thought this was a cute way to showcase old handwork and be able to enjoy it.

To market, to market

Purple hull peas. Yum!

Granny never would let us kids shell these because they can turn your fingers purple and they always got ready right before school started. She didn't want us starting school with purple fingers.

I always wanted purple fingers and now I have my chance.

I picked up some more peaches, a few onions, some okra, and peppers. I have no idea what I'll be doing with those.

In crafty news, I made a cute pillow and started another one. I also have thrifty news to share a little later.

Veggies and thrifty shopping

I got up this morning a bit bleary eyed after yesterday's black-eyed pea canning session (20 pints). I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and forged on.

My first stop was the farmer's market. All I bought was tomatoes and a couple of cantaloupe.
Mom called and met me at the house and after a quick breakfast we went thrifting.

I found this mop bucket for $1. Please ignore my dirty kitchen floor. Obviously this was a much needed purchase.
This little bird cage was a steal at $5, according to the antique shops in town.
88 balls of crochet/tatting thread for $5 plus a pattern for a bedspread and two crochet hooks.
21 fat quarters for $3.
A salad spinner from France for $1.
I also bought DH some t-shirts, myself a house dress and pair of overalls all for $1.30 and six cups for mis-matched snack sets for 30 cents. I'm sure there are other things, but I can't remember them now.

We made a full day of it and I'm pooped, but I sure did have fun.

I hope you had a wonderful day.

Winning Wednesday

I bought some lovely tomatoes at the farmer's market. Unfortunately I bought too many to eat and not enough to really can. I decided to send them through the food processor and can them in half-pints for use in tomato gravy later.

The yellow ones are Lemon Boy, low acid and I couldn't tell you what the red ones are, but they were huge. I ate a Lemon Boy and it was yummy. I really couldn't tell the difference in the acid content, but then it doesn't normally bother me.

I dropped by the thrift store and scored 2 dozen quart canning jars for $3.60 a dozen. You can't beat that price with a stick.

Thrifty fun stuff

My neighbor across the street had a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and I picked up these pieces of silver hollow-ware for $5.
These two pieces match.
This one is really heavy.
This one is destined to be a pin keep. See his crooked little bottom.
The same garage sale and $1 later, I brought home this mirror and brush. I think the handles are celluloid or something similar.

I found this sweet old suitcase at the thrift store. The lady checking me out said I'd probably need to put grey tape on the handle. I kind of chuckled and told her I'd probably leave it alone.
I'm sure I can find something to store in it.
Everyone needs one of these. I think I'll make a new liner, one that's not quite so shiny. Right now it's holding prewashed fabric. Wouldn't it be cute holding a bunch of old aprons or table cloths.