Thrift Finds

The Rag Bags

May 29, 2018 by Jo 17 Comments

I was at Goodwill last week. I was shopping my usual rounds…check for childcare toys….check for sheets for charity quilts…check for fabric and anything else that might be interesting. As I made the rounds towards the fabric I saw a could rag bags. Hmm. Since I’ve been doing so much work in the garage cleaning and sprucing up auction and thrifted finds, I’ve used many of our rags. I thought I’d take a look and see what was there. I debated…which bag looked better. I really only needed one. The bags were $5 each…not bad for all the rags in there…

Then I looked closer at the bags. The bag on the right had lots of receiving blankets in it. Kayla uses them for her Lutheran World Relief Layette project. Hmm.. Wait. Check the other bag out. There are embroidered towels in there.

I ended up buying them both….

I was so excited to get them home. Through the bag with embroidered things in it I could see there were embroidered dish towels in there as I could see one with a day of the week on it. Do you think there might be a whole set in the bag….oh if there was, wouldn’t that be a find. WOW…it’s all I could think about all the way home.

The second I got home I grabbed the two bags and ran into the house…I wanted to know what was int here. I opened the bag….this is what I found…. [Read more…] about The Rag Bags

Stash Report

May 20, 2018 by Jo 5 Comments

** Before you read today’s post I just want to tell you that an auction is going on here on the blog and will be running until Noon central time on Monday. Check it out here.**

Remember I told you that last weekend I was going to go to that auction that had all the fabric and quilt tops. I kind of thought I might end up with a box of fabric but after seeing it…I decided…nah. I ended up going to the thrift stores instead and found a bag of fabric that better suited my needs….this….

As you can see, I paid $8 for it.

It was a pretty big bag so I thought the price was okay. The thing that sealed the deal on my buying it was the flip side of the bag…lots of my favorite color…SEE? [Read more…] about Stash Report

Good will Karma

February 27, 2018 by Jo 4 Comments

Last week I had my tax appointment and it all turned out great. We paid in too much. What a blessing. I pay estimates so it’s always a crap shoot on guessing how much I should be paying in.

I got done with my appointment in record time. Kalissa was finishing out my childcare day by watching the kids so I decided to take advantage and go get groceries so I didn’t have to do that over the weekend…and sneak in a stop at the thrift shop.

We have something in our family we call “Goodwill Karma”. It’s silly but we believe that if we intentionally start looking for something while thrifting, the items will just show up. I TOTALLY believe in it….(actually I believe it’s God lending a hand)…Whatever the case, it truly happens.

Here’s what I found….a great frame. I have a larger cross stitch project coming up and this frame will get cut down for it…$2.

I don’t need super fancy frames…just something tasteful.
Over nap time I had been on the computer, this very day, and I saw a cute craft done with streamers for the childcare kids. I had made a note to myself to start collecting streamers. They always have them at the thrift store…but NEVER do they have all of the colors in one stop.

I had also been looking for a way to introduce my two year olds to another shape. We’d been working on hearts with Valentines Day…I think stars will be up next. I’m not sure what project we’ll do with these foam sticker stars…something though. 25 cents for these!Kelli and I had looked for yardage of plaid fabric last time we were at JoAnn’s. We found some but didn’t buy any as we hoped we might find a sheet or something thrifting….this day I found 100% cotton shower curtain….PERFECT! I also decided to look for some cotton shirts to cut up but was only going to get shirts that were not typical. I found two grays! This fabric will go in the box for the church quilter ladies. Then there was a treat for me….a scrap bag for $1.50. Check it out….
[Read more…] about Good will Karma

Thrifty Surprises!

February 16, 2018 by Jo 3 Comments

I had a doctor’s appointment this week…Yep, you guessed it right. I’m still not better. She ended up treating me for walking pneumonia. UGH. No fun. With the meds I am feeling some better which is a huge relief.

I go to the doctor in Calmar. It’s about 20 minutes from here. It is a small clinic with no means for testing so if I need any testing, I have to to go 10 minutes further to the “bigger” town, Decorah. Well my doctor saw me on the list of people to be seen and had her nurse call me and requested that I go get a chest xray in Decorah before my appointment. That’s what I did.

The time between the x-ray and the actual appointment left me with time I had to kill so I stopped at the thrift store. I ended up finding a few things that I rarely see….

Quilts that are done but not bound….

This is put together with a backing and quilted but not bound…..

Here’s the backing…a nice soft flannel.
It was $5. I stood there and debated and then ended up getting them for the charity quilt project. There are volunteer binders out there. I’m sure someone would be willing to bind these.

There was another one too. Check it out…. [Read more…] about Thrifty Surprises!

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