My Thrifting Haul(s)

Greetings lovely friends & readers

Longtime readers of my blog will know that I love to frequent thrift stores & Op-shops.  I don't always find purchases but it gives me so much pleasure when I do come away with some new-to-me junk treasures.  My many trips down to Mum's this year (6 so far) have seen me stop at lots of Op-shops in my travels & I realised I had not shared my hauls from the last two trips.

Half an hour from Mum's town I pass through the township of Stratford. I really like their Hospice Shop - clean, well laid out, good stock & reasonable prices.  These items above were all from there.  In case you might think that I buy these items & then don't especially do anything with them, I thought I'd share what I've done with some of the items in the above haul.   

The beautiful hard-cover book above was $5 & still like brand new.  I bought it for Juno & it made a nice Easter gift along with the Carrot Treat Bag I had made for her.

The Miranda Hart book ($1) is to gift to my friend Gail who absolutely Loves anything Miranda. 

I am half way through reading the Sophie Kinsella book ($1) & then I'll pass this on to a friend.

The $1 piece of Linen has been washed, ironed & put away with my offcuts of Linen - I always pick up Linen when I see it at Op-shops as it is so pricey in the Sewing shops.

The small wooden stool above was $8.  I painted this over Easter with 2 coats chalk paint in the colour Vintage White.

It made a perfect riser for a small Easter display I had done & will be handy throughout the year for table displays.

These two tall glass candle holders were $2.50 each. Although they don't match I knew I had a boxful of small candles at home that I was sure would fit in them perfectly.  They look wonderful tucked into another display on my round table & I will be lighting & enjoying them soon.

This haul above is from the Hospice Shop in Mum's small town - again another very good shop to visit.  The needlework framed picture was $5 & this too got painted over Easter as the frame was chipped & tatty.

I used the chalk-paint colour Old Linen which seemed to match the background fabric perfectly.  I Love how this turned out. 💗

This heavy crystal vase was $3 & I made a soy candle up into it - these are handy to have on hand for gifts. The fragrance is French Pear & it smells divine.  The wee floral jug ($2) will also have a candle made into it once my new order of soy wax arrives.

The round jar (you can only see the Lid of it in my haul photo) was 50c.  I needed a good sized jar to keep some vintage buttons in & this was ideal plus I loved the shape of it.  Any household items that I purchase are put through my dishwasher as soon as I get them home as I find this brings them up clean & shiny.

The china cups & saucers above were bought from the SPCA shop - they were pricey at $10 a pair but I was sure they matched some china I already had - the jug & bowl above right.

How pretty they look amongst my collection of green china ware. 💚Almost all of the china on this dresser has been thrifted.

Another thing I always pick up is wooden embroidery hoops as these too are expensive in the Sewing Shops.  This one above was 50c & it just fit this sweet little stitchery that I had completed while down at Mums.  It looked a bit bland so I painted around it with some leftover blue chalk-paint & this seemed to really bring it to life.  The pattern is available from Twig & Tale Designs.

We have had beautiful autumn days this past week & I've worked outside pulling one of my raised veggie gardens to bits & giving the soil a good feed before I plant for winter.  I harvested many green peppers which I froze & the last of my tomatoes.  I also harvested some self-sown pumpkins.  While at Mitre 10 buying sheep pellets for my soil I noticed their Bulbs were all half price so I purchased 2 packs of daffy's which are now in the ground.

Since my return home Fat Blackie has taken up residence in the craft cupboard at the end of the hallway.  The door doesn't latch properly so he is able to get his paw around & open it. He is currently sleeping on a stack of nicely ironed linen tablecloths that I had just done.  Yesterday when I tried to get some fabric out from under him he hissed at me, the little so & so 😒

Thank you so very much for your visits today dear friends

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead - remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

Mum's 93rd Birthday ........ & Some Easter Makes

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter - it felt like it went by in the blink of an eye.

Just before my last post I returned from a week down at my Mum's.  During this visit Mum celebrated her 93rd birthday.  She didn't wish to have a "celebration" as such, but my two sons & their families had arranged to all travel down & surprise her 

I really love this photo of Mum with my eldest grandson Alec ... they look like they have been up to some sort of mischief together 😉

Mum with her two great-grandsons, Sid & Alec.

Mum with my eldest son Aaron & his wife Sarah - (Alec's parents)

Mum with my youngest son Kayne & his wife Nicole - (Sid's parents)

We had a delicious finger-food lunch (catered for by yours-truly) followed by a sweet course.  My brother & his wife came as well so there were 10 of us around Mums kitchen table & we only just fit.

I made Mum a chocolate mud cake & she got to blow out 3 candles for "yesterday, today & tomorrow".  It was such a lovely day & nice to all get together again after so long.

My lovely friend Jane & I did a labour swap last year.   I sewed a Tilda Cat for her & in exchange Jane cross stitched this sweet Rabbit design for me.  This is a free download from Whilst Iris Naps website.

 I left the colour choices up to Jane & I absolutely LoVe what she chose to stitch it up in.

Just prior to Easter I decided to sew it up into a simple small size cushion which I filled with crushed walnut shells to make it sit up nicely on my table.  I finished it off by hand-stitching this fluffy yarn around the outer edge.  

This Bunnie pattern was purchased about 3 years ago now from The Makers Studio .   Once again I came across it & decided to sew a couple up.  I found the lovely piece of pale green linen - an Opshop purchase which looked like someone had started a cut-work piece & never completed it.   (I always pick up linen when I see it in the Op-shops)

I made both sizes, one in cream linen & the other in the pale green.  I used Tilda scraps for their ears & embellishments.

I added fine florist wire inside their ears to make them stand up a bit more

Such a sweet design & fun to stitch up.  It will be hard to pack them away after Easter I think.

The silver tray above left, was a $3 Op-shop purchase on one of my recent trips to Mums. I needed something about this size & shape for a "carrot bundle" I was making.  Over Easter I gave it a couple of coats of pale grey chalk paint.

I'd seen an image of this Carrot bundle on Pinterest & it had stayed in my head (!!!) 😉.  I sewed them up using scraps of fabrics - the carrot tops are just Jute String unraveled ... it gets this wavy curly effect.   My Primitive Carrot bundle just fits perfectly on the newly painted tray.

Likewise for this frame - yes, another 50 cent Opshop find.  I took the backing off, painted it the same grey as the tray & then hot-glued this birdnest, bird & real branches off my Plum Tree to the frame.  Another idea from the myriad of ones that float around inside my head !!!

My only purchase this Easter was the sweet little felted rabbit in the purple jumper - I adored him 💜

Instead of decorating my Coffee Table for Easter this year, I decided to decorate my Lounge Mantle.  This is mainly because of the 4-legged furry friends that Sit amongst my decorations !! I thought (hoped) the mantle was too high for them to get up 😉

I just used all Easter decorations from previous years & the Peter Rabbit bunting was purchased from Spotlight.  

The grouping of calico rabbits I sat in the chamber pot which I purchased in * this post * ... & sat this on the plant stand which I revamped in * this post *

Well done & Thank You if you've stayed to the end dear friends,

Its been another looonnng post,

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

Remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x

My Valentine's " LOVE " Swap Gifts From Claire 💗

Greetings lovely friends & readers

I have been away down to my Mum's again but I will share that visit in another post.     Regular readers of my blog will remember the Valentine's Love Swap that my friend Claire & I did in this Post * Here *     It was time for me to receive my swap gifts from Claire & Oh My ... how Very spoilt was I !!??

-  Flowers picked from my garden for my daughter in law's birthday  -

 

I had planned to visit Claire on my last trip but the slip made me So much later as I took a different (longer) route.        I texted her to say "it's probably too late now" only to be told "NO - I'm expecting you". Upon my arrival she sat me down with a hot cuppa & a plate of home-made pizza bread.  It was just the tonic I needed & next thing ... this Beautiful pink hat box was placed in my lap. 

Claire had been going to donate it but then decided to revamp it to house my swap gifts in ... how stunning & perfect it was 💗

This is what it looked like inside when I lifted the Lid ..........

Four parcels each wrapped in a vintage linen tea-cloth & a Tilda envelope attached, tied up with a big pink bow !

Oh Be Still My Rapidly Beating Heart ..........  💗

These are the wooden letters (above) which Claire painted & decorated.

L stands for Love-hearts ... a beautiful Love heart quilt made using Tilda fabrics ... & quilted with hearts 💕

& a tube of Love Heart sweets.

O stands for "the shape" ... yet another gorgeous quilt made using O-shaped blocks, quilted in O's & even an "O" cross stitch label on the back.  Also a delightful handmade ceramic O-shaped bowl.

(I think about this point in time - I may have cried !!!)

V stands for Violet & for "V"  ... a smaller size quilt made using V shaped blocks (gorgeous vintage Tilda), a Violet-coloured "Scissor wall-hanging" in a V-shape,  some tiny Embroidery scissors & 3 Velour hearts with Tilda Angels attached.

If you look closely you may notice the M & M's packet is empty - I blame that ginger cat of mine !!

E stands for Envelope & Easter Eggs !!!  A square shaped table quilt with Envelope blocks on it & two bags of Easter Eggs. 

Each package had one of these hand-sewn Tilda Envelopes with it & a handwritten notecard inside 

Here are the 4 Vintage embroidered tablecloths once I have ironed them all ... just gorgeous. 

Yesterday was the first chance I have had to even think about how to display my beautiful new treasures & I am sure I will continue to change my mind & re-arrange things.  This is a small display on the edge of my TV cabinet using the Envelope table quilt.

The Love hearts quilt fits perfectly over an armchair & the Tilda Summer pillow, a gift from my dear friend Leeanne,  just compliments it so well.  The V-shaped quilt tucked under a small display of china in similar colourings.

,

I stitched a quilt hanger to the Scissor quilt & hung it in my sewing room along with a velvet bow ... but Claire informs me I have it upside down (!!!)  I shall have to rectify this 😉

As you can imagine dear friends - I am just so happy with all my swap gifts - in fact, happy doesn't really do it justice.  Just So Much Love sewn in to each & every piece 💕 Claire's handwork is absolutely stunning!!

Thank you dear readers, if you've stayed to the end of this photo-heavy post. 

Wishing each & every one of you a Blessed Easter ... I hope you get to spend it however you choose.  For me it will be a quiet one & believe me when I say - Quiet is perfectly fine with me !

Thank you as always, for your visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x0