Thrifted Tuesday....

Is open for business over on Flickr......
Feel free to join up and share your Thrifty Finds.....
You can find the group Here.
xxx

They Try to Make Me Go to Rehab, I Say No, No, No....

Thrifted Tuesday!
Again, on a Thursday......
Turns out, I've got a Partner In Crime.....
Evil Thrifters... taking over the world in second hand shoes and refashioned frocks....he he he

Anyways, onto the goods...

For the price of half a metre of quilting fabric from my local quilting shop - this whole pile of brilliant cottons:

I'm especially fond of the blue and white spot with the green cherries......oh and That Leopard Print - I'm a sucker for animal prints, I love their trashy, nouveau-riche socialite value....brilliant..

Second up is a simple polka-dot t-shirt for work, paired with some plastic/fantastic yellow beads:

I swear, I'm going through a Second TennagerHood...... I've been a Melbourne Influenced Black is the new Black wearer for years (augmented by my large stage as a Punk), and now suddenly, it's all about colour, and plastic stuff, and bright shoes, and skinny jeans.......lord, what's happening to me?????

Anyway, harkening back to my roots now, my little heart leapt when I saw this, for $1:

Think of the Ginger Fluff Sponge, people!
I learnt how to cook out of books like these - simple, economical food for country people, stodgy and weird - things like trifle and christmas cakes full of booze, pavlova and sponges, bread and butter pudding, the works.
Being vegetarian, the meat section is truly terrifying, but I love it nonetheless.....

And there you have it... the thrift haul o' the week.

In other news, I've been rearranging the kitchen, making way for my new purchase:

Which neccesitated a complete rearragement of the Teacup Collection:

Taking photos of which was just an excuse to share a snippet of the vintage crockery collection!

I've also branched out in the knitting stakes, and puchased a new pattern from Six and a Half Stitches, a gorgeous flap front babies' cardigan with fabric details - a true favourite amongst readers of Alison's Blog. I'm going out on a limb here, knitting with a pattern and all, so expect lots of call-outs for advice! Hopefully I'll manage to get a passable version knitted for the new addition to the family, via my sister, who is due sometime in October......

Phew! A big post after a little break!

The blog moving plans are still going ahead, and I'm expecting to move very soon, plus the quilt tutorial is on it's way, but I'm going to save it for the new location.......plenty of plans in the works...

Cheers m'dears - Leah xx

Oh, and the lyric in the title? Amy Winehouse. I cannot get her songs out of my head.....

Thrifted Tuesday....

Yep, on a Thursday, again. Seems that bloggers are quite flippant with the days of the week...

Todays finds?

Four spools of lace weight yarn, in gorgeous warm tones...$1.75 each:

Not sure what I'll knit from them, but I'm keen to see how the light weight yarn works on the needles....

A little pile of mismatched buttons + a good length of nice and soft light grey wooly flannel that I think will end up as a serious, tweedy-looking Nong....

Yet another present for my neice, who is getting packages-a-rama in the mail from me lately.....this is just a sneak peek for my sister, before I send it!

Plus, The Best Teacup In The Whole World:

It's not in the best condition, which is a damn shame, *but* it's red white and black (my all time favourite colours), comes as a trio, AND it has polka dots. What more could you want?

After trawling around op shops for the afternoon, I had an insatiable craving for cake.....so, for once, I actually made one myself....

Despite my love for vintage crockery, I'm not really a kitchen kind of person. I ADORE good food, and love to eat it, but I'm not a very good cook and I don't often spend time in the kitchen. I blame it on my lifestyle: working nights doesn't really lend itself to the whole cooking, sharing and eating thing, it's more of a grab and run affair. Pity.

So it was nice to make a cake for once; this one from a tried and true recipe of my Mum's - a basic teacake that doesn't call for masses of ingredients, and you can throw whatever you have in the cupboard into it, in this case, walnuts and nutmeg:

This be the recipe:

Basic Tea Cake

ingredients:

60g butter, softened,
1 tsp vanilla essence,
2/3 cup caster or fine white sugar (you can actually use any sugar you want)
1 egg
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup milk.


cream the butter and sugar, and add egg, a little at a time, beating in as you go. Gradually stir in the flour and the milk, alternating between them, and beat until fluffy.
grease your cake tin, throw in the mixture, and bake for 30 mins in a moderate oven.

That's the basics, I usually add some cinnamon, top the cake with apple slices and raw sugar, or put half the mixture in the tin, top with custard, then the rest of the mixture, so the custard bakes in the middle....mmmmmmm

Tea and Cake. What could be better?

xxxx

Thrifted Tuesday...

This week, a few goodies from my rounds of the op shops....

A vintage bedsheet, in gaudy pink and red floral, some cute vintage sewing patterns, and some self-cover buttons, which I love....

I'm loving the fitted bodice and flared skirt on this little frock...

And even though, as a rule, I generally hate pink, I can see some girly Nongs being made out of this fabric....

And a beautiful, if rather battered, vintage copy of Little Women, which I haven't read since I was little....

I also managed to score a frock for our inaugural Mid Winter Ball at work, it's on Saturday, and I've been sewing away, making a petticoat for underneath, and making some minor adjustments to the fit of the frock..... I'll post some pictures of it once it's done!

Otherwise, tonight it's soup making, television watching, and costume adjusting......

Thrifted Tuesday..

Finally, I got back to a spot of op shopping this week! I've been taking a break from thrifting in order to hibernate the finances a bit, but yesterday the withdrawals got too much to bear......

So, on to the finds......

A whole pile of fabric, a bit of a mongrel bunch this time, but all individually quite good for what I plan to use them for....

But the fabric find of the year was this AMAZING vintage linen tablecloth, hand embroidered, and ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, for six dollars.....

How on earth anyone could ever have the patience to embroider so well is absolutely beyond me!

And just for overload on the tablecloth - here it is in my kitchen...

After those finds, I was on my way home, when I decided spontaneously to pop into another op shop I haven't been to for ages, where I rarely have any real luck, just on the off chance that there might be something......

Boy, was there something!

The ENTIRE SET of Childcraft Library books, the lot for five dollars.

For those of you who are not familiar, the Childcraft Library series is like a set of encyclopedias for kids, from the seventies, with the best illustrations in the world. We had a set of these when I was a kid, and I spent hours and hours poring over them, learning stuff (I was, and still am, and unabashed bookworm), hassling dad to help me make stuff out of the "Make and Do" book, and getting my first dose of Greek Mythology (another of my loves) from the "Stories and Fables" edition.

It's on par with finding a whole set of Golden Hands, or Enid Blyton books, or something similar.....

Here's a couple of pages so you can see what I mean...

From Stories and Fables....

From Make and Do:

Love it.

Before I go, I just wanted to say a thankyou to everyone who commented on the pincushion tutorial.....having never done a tute before, it was good to know that other people found it useful!

I hope you're all having tea and cupcakes, wherever you are....! xxx

Excuse Me?

What do you mean, Addicted. To. Fabric??????

This lot came in the mail today, from Z & S Fabrics....mmmmmmmm I don't really need to tell you how much I love new fabric, do I?
There's a bunch of half yards of Denyse Schmidt's new Katie Jump Rope Collection, plus a few sale fabrics........ I SWEAR this has to be the last fabric I buy before I get the sewing machine fixed. I took her in to be serviced today, so hopefully our Betty will be back up and running in less than a week.

Lucky for me, this wasn't the only present I got in the mail today!
I was lucky enough to be the 300th customer at Three Dog Party's Etsy shop, and I scored a whole bunch of stuff other than the Air Mail cards I ordered!

I LOVE their cards, especially these.....

And these ones crack me up....

Thanks guys!!!!

After opening all the exciting post, I spent about a thousand hours in the Laundromat, followed by a little bit of Op Shopping......the score?

This Old Royal teaset, a set of six.....

In these colours.....

It must have been a teacup day, because I dashed out to Ikea for some picture frames, and came home with this instead....

Now I'll have plenty to contribute to Cup of The Day!

All in all, a satisfying day.........

Thrifted Tuesday + Vintage Hilarity....

Today's Thrifted Tuesday is a bit drab, I didn't have a lot of time or cash to spend, so I'm going out again tomorrow to a part of town I only visit sporadically, for a fresh crop from some other Op Shops....

Todays find du jour : Vintage Linens....

A very cute apple red with coloured dots, a funny tea towel with weird little figures that can only be described as Chinese Babushkas, plus a cream linen with lovely smudgy black dots all over it..... but my absolute favourite is this vintage tea towel.....

It's old cream linen, with the above printed in the top corner, with the "Rules of The Inn" spelled out for those who may need reminding.....

The Rules are as follows:

1. The Inn shall open and close promptly at the diverse times determined by the Proprietor.

2. Neither Dram nor Draught shall be served, nor the fire poked, other than by the Proprietor or his credited servants.

3. Barmaids, while in the employ of the Proprietor, are held to be under his protection. Patrons may not indulge in Familiarity, Goosing, Thumbing, Smoothing or Stroking, except by leave.

4. Only Coins of The Realm may be tendered for the purchase of liquor. Cheques or Notes of Hand will not be accepted from those below the rank of Royal Duke.

5. No Lady shall enter the parlour less she has been known by the Proprietor.

6. The Blue Ruin is not served before ten o'clock.

7. Food may not be brought into the Inn unless shared with the Proprietor.

8. The following penalties may be invoked for swearing: an Oath 1d; a Curse 3d; a Blasphemy 6d; it being for none but the Proprietor to Categorize.

9. Acts of Balancing the Glasses of the House are Expressly Forbidden, after last time.

10. There may be no dicing, whether the Die be Fair or Loaded.

11. Disputes at cards shall be submitted to the judgement of the Proprietor, who shall earn for his adjudication the Pot of The Moment.

12. None but the tobacco sold by the House shall be smoked.

13. No spiritous liquors shall be served for consumption by dogs, except before Fights.

14. Seamen and Travellers are invited to be Moderate in the telling of Tall Stories, lest the Credulity of the Company be strained, and the Queen's Peace threatened.

Hilarious. I'm going to frame this one and take it into the bar where I work.....it's quite scary how relevant some of this is! And I think it's brilliant that the customers are unable to 'Goose' or 'Thumb' me unless the "Proprietor" gives her leave!!!!

Sorry about the random posting.... things are a little random around here too...but there'll be lots of thrifty goodness tomorrow....promise!

It's Late....

Late late late, (I've just arrived home from work) so this will just be a quick post.....

Thrifted Tuesday came up with the goods in a spectacular way today, yielding mountains of fabric.....

My favourites?

Though not usually a floral kind of girl....this one....

Oh, and this one....

And this one is right up my alley........

Do you ever find that your Op Shopping ventures seem to focus on one kind of thing? After the Good Shoe Day the other day, seems today was Fabric Day. There are other times when all I will find is crockery, or dresses, or handbags.....seems they come in flocks, these little covetable stashes of things.....

Well, I have a hankering for some tea and a piece of toast......see you tomorrow!

Thrifted Tuesday + Blog Crush.....

Woot! I finally have my car back (mind you, $800 later....), so today I could go out for a spot of op shopping......funny how taking just a week off sends me into withdrawal symptoms.....

Today's haul was nothing too flash, but satisfying nonetheless....

A few more vintage fabrics to add to the stash...

Including one pillowcase that is so cute it almost makes me want to vomit....

I don't normally do cutesy-poo....but I really wanted the yellow print to put into my quilt, Lord knows what to do with the mini lovers......

I also managed a good shoe day today, three pairs of brilliant, ludicrously bright 80's numbers, all too small for me, so heading to the Ebay Shop....

I also managed to find a very cute coat for my neice....which I haven't photographed yet, because I might do some embellishments, and that will be a post all of its own....

I also scored a few vintage dresses, also destined for Ebay....

And for my partner, who is irrepressibly English, a book to add to his collection....

So there you have it....Thrifted Tuesday!

Now onto more important matters......

After my Internet Frustration post the other day, I got so many gorgeous emails of encouragement on the being real issue, plus the swearing when I want to! I found out that lots of us pretend we are on a TV show like Martha Stewart or Jamie Oliver, pottering around the house performing to entirely imaginary audiences, and that all of us have that Authorial Voice (kudos to Shula for the term), and that we take photos of the good bits, leave out the messy bits when we can, but in the end, we are all fucking human after all.

I can't begin to say how nice it is to recieve letters of encouragement after taking a leap of faith on a post like that. Suddenly I understand why I so often read on the blogs of people I admire posts full of admiration and gratitude to thier readers for being supportive. I extend such grateful thanks to my tiny little readership, and consider myself a pig in shit for having made such lovely aquaintances. (notice the swearing.....oh how naturally it flows.....)

Anyway, so in spirit of this gratitude, I am devising a new topic. It's called Blog Crush, and this here, it's the first one.

So you know how you'll discover a new blog, and you feel so enamoured or connected to the person who writes it that suddenly they are on your favourites list, you're checking every day to see if they've posted yet, you get excited about their projects, their new curtains, their children, their problems? So much so that you feel weird leaving them comments in case you sound like a stalker? This my dears, is a Blog Crush. And I have decided to bare my Blog Crushes to the world, semi-regularly, to let some fabulous people on the net know that I think what they do is wonderful. In a friendly non-stalkery kind of way........

And the honour of first Blog Crush has to go to Manda, of TreeFall Design. I don't know how I found Manda's blog, but it was one of the first craft blogs I started reading, and her links list has led me to a whole world of creative brilliance.

She has an impossibly cute daughter, a husband who doesn't mind how much fabric she buys, and sometimes even shops for it with her....

She makes beautiful collages and patchwork pillows and sometimes toys and things, which you can buy Here

But the best thing about Manda is that she is real, she writes about her life in a way that makes you feel included as a reader, and this, more than the fact that she makes fabulous cushions, is why I read her blog. One of the best bits of reading about the lives of other creative people is that you realise how similar we all are, whether it be a sudden hankering for all things yellow, or how we pull ourselves together after a fall, or the mini Martha Stewart in all our heads......

So thanks Manda, this one's for you.....

Cheers!

(I also should say that I totally stole the above pictures from Mandas blog.... so make sure you go visit and see them in context, and know that all copyright belongs to her......)