Over the weekend I went to town. Rosie needed dog food. She is supposed to be on medicated dog food but I ordered it two weeks ago and the food is on backorder. I called and inquired. No luck. No expected delivery time…nothing. I was told that I could drive and get some 50 minutes away but I’ve been wanting to try it out and see if she actually NEEDS it.
The food was supposed to prevent accidents but I’m not positive that all of that wasn’t a puppy thing…I figured if I was going to try and check, now, being it’s so hard to get the food, might be a good time to try.
Being I was going to town I decided I wanted to stop at the yarn shop. Nope, I haven’t taken up knitting or crocheting. I needed embroidery floss and they carry a full line of DMC.
Of course, I planned on stopping at the thrift store too. I honestly a trip to town always includes a thrift store stop.
First off…DMC floss. I got there only to find the shop had closed. Who knew a shop would close at 3 pm. Whatever…I was disappointed.
Thrift store next…I got a lot. Really a lot. All of these are oversized bags and all are filled with sheets. I’m thrilled. I have someone new who would like to start finishing quilts but she needs EVERYTHING…backing, batting, and binding included. That puts more on me so I was hoping to find some sheets to use for backing. I DID!! Yahoo. Sheets here are $2 so they are an awesome deal. I know some of you don’t like to use sheets but if you’re careful to find good fabric content, they work perfectly.
Next I found this cute cross stitch piece. So cute. The bow is a little fru-fru for me but I might figure out something else…
I bought this old bowl. I’m a sucker for old and icky…
..especially when the pattern on it looks like cross-stitch.
When I got home I looked it up on Etsy…they were asking $12.95 for one that wasn’t all dirty. I paid $5 for mine. Not a fabulous deal but I didn’t care. I loved the cross-stitch. I think this will go in my sewing room.
I picked up a couple of other do-dads for the sewing room. I thought the vintage “apples” were so cute.
I picked up a few linens. I always think I’m going to do something with them…so far I haven’t. UGH. I really will…someday, right?
This was a UFO quilt project. It’s a cute word fabric. That will probably sit here for a bit with me thinking I’ll do something with it and then I’ll likely pass it on. Who knows. We’ll see. It was my $2 fun.
I picked up this piece of woven cloth fabric for receiving blankets. I figured it Kelli has a girl, I’ll hem it up for her. If she doesn’t it will be a baby gift at some point…or one for me to keep here.
I picked up a couple of books. I thought of the Cresso ladies with the charm book. They are always looking for simpler patterns to make with their charity quilting. I’ll read it and pass it on. For 25 cents a book, it’s cheap entertainment even if I never make anything.
I saw these and was curious…I opened them up…
…and saw this… WOW. This looked like an awesome way to keep embroidery floss. UGH. But they were $10 and I really didn’t need anymore floss. But wait. I pulled the list of floss that I had in my purse and 3 or the 4 flosses I needed were in the binder.
Then I rationalized that the binders and pages would cost more than that if I were to ever buy them. Well, this sounded like a reasonable way to try this way of organizing floss…right? I put them in my cart.
Then I saw this…This was $5. I noticed the same bobbin cards were in this. It had to be donated by the same person. Yep, I wanted this just for the bobbin cards. Plus there was floss…
I opened it up and there were charts. Wow, this would be a good way for me to organize my charts…
There were some that were interesting to me too.
So…that got set in my cart too. I couldn’t buy the file folder box for $5…so DEAL! I was so excited to get home and sort it all.
I figured I might be able to sell the charts I didn’t want and that in itself might pay for the whole lot of cross stitch stuff that I bought.
I bought this…it’s a flimsy Double Wedding Ring piece.
The rings are really small so I was intrigued. I might take it apart for a pattern.
I also go this stack of early readers. I have four kiddos here that are all ready to or are already reading. I wanted to have something here for them to read. I was able to get a nice collection.
I’m doing a happy dance over all the goodies I found. I can’t wait to dig into the floss, the file holder, and see if that bowl can be cleaned. I love thrifty adventures.
Wow what a great haul and the prices were great. I am sure you will make good use out of all of it. Good luck with the bowl I hope it cleans up it is really cute.
Jo- Check out Kelly Cline Quilting. Kelly has been making pin cushions with vintage linens and feed sack era material. Really cute.
Be sure to check out the Charlie Harper charts. I did a couple of his animals in needlepoint and love them.
Love the bowl–hope it cleans up!
Would love to buy those Charley Harpers! You have awesome thrift stores, I must say…
I also love the old linens. I have a lo and hope my kids use them andcontinue to pass them on.
What great finds – so exciting. What a good way to keep the DMC floss – and the books for the kiddos. It was a very good shopping trip.
I visited a thrift today too but found nothing! It was quite picked over so I may go back in a few days because it’s not far.
You did good, Girl!!!! True story: I once had a gay friend who loved a local thrift store on Sanibel Island, Noah’s Ark, run by St. Michael’s and All Angels Episcopal Church. (Anyone who ever goes to Sanibel MUST make it a stop, but you should know it is only open between 9:30-12:30.) . He would go and buy things, then have me over to his condo to see what he’d bought. His counter would be covered with little things like art deco vases and French casseroles. The thing was, he (not I!) had this rule: You “could not make Noah’s a destination.” He would add in another stop, even if it was just the grocery store, because he felt guilty just thrifting.
You got some great deals, Jo!! I would love to be comfortable enough to hit the Thrifts, again. Not that I really NEED anything!
Jo, some neat finds at the thrift store. About the bowl, it looks like grease—try the same process as they use to clean oven grates with hot water and dryer sheets. It won’t harm the bowl and you won’t have to scrub so hard –use a nylon scrubber not stainless.
Anxious to see it in your sewing room.
Have me jumping up and down in excitement too!
I hope you do a before and after with the bowl that has the embroidery around it. Would love to see how it cleans up.
Oh my gosh! What is in the file folder named “Charlie Harper”? I didn’t know there were patterns with his beautiful art work! That might make me start cross stitching again :)
Jo, what a haul you got!!! Absolutely love the bowl you found and all the x-stitch files are fabulous!!! The sheets are grand too!!! I was doing a happy dance for you!! Our thrift stores are not as well stocked as yours! Glad to see you are feeling better!
Wow – what a great day for thrifting! You came home with some really nice things. I bet I’ll see some of those things in the auction!
Love and prayers
I love thrifting. Recently I went to check out and there was a small table behind the checker with quilt kits on it. I asked why they were there and she said they were for sale. I was so excited (I could see the price) I could barely pay! I moved my cart away and looked at the kits and immediately paid for them. I bought 4 fabric kits from a Goodwill pound store for $16 and I still feel a tad guilty. I love to read about your thrifting finds. Also I use sheets as backings all the time for my longarm, they are so versatile in color and size.
Did you get the dog food? Great haul!
I used to do cross-stitch and many years ago didn’t buy a book Elegant Stitch Christmas Village. I always look for it at thrift stores but no luck. I do some quilting now and need to look into sheets for backings. I don’t know how you get do much done – do you ever sleep?
I recently saw some beautiful quilts made with vintage textiles on Pinterest. The woman is RhondaDort.com. You may already be aware of her, but if not, take a look. If you don’t want the Charley Harper charts, I would love to take a peek at them! You could easily auction them off for your postage fund.
The Double Wedding Ring and cross stitch bowl look great together! Use the DWR as a table topper and fill the bowl with fruit to set on it. I found some good queen size flat sheets on sale last year at Walmart to use as backings. I usually avoid polyester but these were 200 thread count of 60% cotton/ 40% poly. The lower thread count is better for hand quilting. They feel really nice because of the higher cotton count and were waaay cheaper than buying cotton yardage for backing. I think they were something like $9 each.
I really want to take a short vacation in your area to visit your thrift stores!!! I never find such good stuff or the bargain prices you find! I had to google Charley – I’d never heard of him. But I know Prairie Schooler is much sought after. Their patterns get retired often. Dont sell any patterns without checking ebay for current prices. Now I’m off to check the two sites mentioned in the comments – I also have vintage linens waiting for inspiration.
I want a thrift store like that near me!!!! Now is the time Jo, that vintage linen piece at the top can make an adorable top for a GEORGIA dress. So cute!
Before you take apart the little Double Wedding Ring blocks, try making a pattern by just photo copying them. I’d use spray starch and iron a section nice and smooth and straight, and then put it on a flatbed scanner.
Great haul at the thrift store! As a stitcher myself I can appreciate a great find like all of those charts plus a little floss too. What a fun outing for you!