On Wednesday last week Kelli, my daughter, called me and asked for some help. Her boys, Eli and Emmett were sick and not feeling good. They still get ear infections even though they have tubes in their ears. She didn’t have someone to watch Georgia so she could take the boys. I offered to meet her, take Georgia and do my errands.
Of course, for me, errands means stopping at the thrift store. I have a friend I buy linens and cross stitch pieces for. I bought these for her. All so cute/pretty. My favorite is the Sunbonnet Sues with the chickens. I have to admit the pig one was pretty funny.
I found some embroidery blocks that I will pass on to Jazz. She loves embroidery and loves using it for making baby quilts that she makes for the hospital. I was especially excited about… the race car blocks as finding boy embroidery isn’t the easiest.
I bought this in hopes of eventually finishing a cross-stitch piece on it. I will cover up the center area with the wine bottles.
My real jackpot was hitting up Goodwill.
I got this 4 1/2 yard piece of T-shirt fabric. I’ll be sending this to Carolyn who makes the wonderful baby gowns, T-shirts, and other goodies for the Lutheran World Relief baby care kits. It was $4.
I bought so many sheets. I never find this many sheets. I bought all of these and will pass them to my friend that makes diapers and receiving blankets with them for Lutheran World Relief baby care kits. Sheets there are only $2 each. So much good can come from this allotment. I’m so glad I found them.
I picked up a vintage sheet for my daughter Kayla. She collects them and sells them in her Etsy shop.
I also got this stack of sheets and homemade curtains. These are all $2 each too. These I will use for quilt backings. The curtains are made of 100% cotton fabric which is quilt shop quality fabric. I’ll just pull the hems out, sew them together and make a quilt backing. I’ve regularly bought homemade curtains and reused the fabric. It works great.
Here they are all laid out. I think the colors are great. My pile of sheets for backing is pretty tall so I am going to put these with the others and then pull some and pass them to the Cresco Ladies. For those of you who missed it, I wrote a blog post about how I use sheets for backing quilts. You can find that HERE.
Even though my sheet stack is pretty tall I keep buying them when I find them. I’ve noticed in general I don’t find them as often. So many people have moved away from 100% cotton sheets and buy silky ones instead…so the cotton ones aren’t at the thrift store. Plus, the Cresco Ladies never complain when I send them sheets. It’s a way I can help their group without putting a lot of my money into it. I love that I can do that.
I was SUPER excited to find the yellow curtain fabric. Check out the polka dot…that would work great for the backing for the Iowa Hawkeyes quilt I’m making…so would the yellow gingham or the white and black. None of them would be bad choices. I’ll be keeping all of them for sure as I have in mind to make another Iowa Hawkeyes quilt and a John Deere quilt to donate so the sheets/curtains would work great for that too.
A lot of people don’t have as good of luck as I do at the thrift store. I think part of that is due to me looking for so many people. Notice that I bought things for my:
daughter Kayla
friend for Lutheran World Relief
blog reader who makes the gowns
my friend who collects cross stitch and linens
Jazz who loves embroidery
the Cresco Ladies
and ME!!
I was also shopping for my whole family…that’s why I always find stuff. I’m shopping for so many people!!
It was a great thrifty day!! I hope to hit another jackpot on another day!!
Wow you got a good haul of sheets. I had a
butterfly and flower sheet set like the one you found years ago. I wore it out because I liked it so much. Praying for you and you family.
I had to laugh at the “He who stuffeth puffeth” since I cross stitched that same one back in the late 80’s for my mother in law! It’s still hanging in her house along with several other pieces and 6 or 7 quilts!
I love that you share your thrift shop finds! Even more so, I love it that whomever does the pricing has a heart and they make items affordable which makes the search or hunt more enjoyable! You have a good heart. In my area here in Minnesota, things are overpriced. Everything they have for sale was totally donated, so I always wonder why so high when the purpose is to help someone out !
You really found some good things. You are such a very generous person. Almost everything was for somebody else or for donation quilts. I really like what you bought for a cross stitch project. Great work!
Never ever have I found these items in our thrift stores. Men’s super X shirts? $4.98 is a good buy here and it’s been that way for many years. I do live in a biggish city and there are many stores under each name. They may very well send certain things to certain locations and those may be across town. I have 3 thrift stores within 7 miles and I don’t drive further than that to hunt.
You had some good finds! When I go to the thrift store or Goodwill I keep an eye out for cheap blankets. I bring them home and wash them up and donate to our animal shelter. Hugs,
Some great finds for sure and I use sheets for backings a lot.
Always fun when we hit the thrifting jackpot, Jo. Congratulations!
Wow! What a haul!!! I check for 100% cotton sheets at every thrift store I stop at and just can’t find them. It seems every one likes the poly-cotton ones. Can your friend use thrift store flannel sheets for the diapers she makes? I occasionally come across cute kids flannel sheets.
Martha my friend does use flannel sheets for diapers for the baby care kits for Lutheran World Relief. I buy them whenever I find them.
I’m another one who uses preowned 100% cotton sheets for backing. Sheets vary a great deal in feel, and being a very tactile person the feel is part of the decision making process. Some of the preowned sheets feel, to me, nicer than any new quilt shop fabric. But my absolutely favorite backing is one made from men’s thrift shop cotton corduroy pants. The quilt is tied. I’m in love with the feel of it and always want it touching my skin. The only thing I would do differently is make it larger. Unfortunately the period for lots of corduroy pants appearing in thrift stores seems to have passed.
I love thrifting and using sheets for backings and for piecing. I also buy homemade curtains that are cotton, and pillowcases!! Oh, and bedskirts!
The black and white t-shirt fabric will be fun to turn into gowns. No, you find the best fabric at such good prices. I never find that in Michigan!