weekend thrifting

It's been awhile since I've found anything on the thrift shop circuit. Lately, a lot of the things that I want have been over-priced or dirty, which isn't always a bad thing, as there is character to be found in some marks left behind on cloth, but there hasn't been anything that has made me wander the shop and come back full circle because I just had to pick the piece up again. 

This weekend though, I did find a few bits.

This generous bit of tatted lace. It appeared to have been a collar at one point, cut away from whatever it was decorating and laying in a crumpled pile in the "craft" section. 

And a handful of buttons. Old, marvelous, buttons. Wooden and bakelite, worn metal and the big one in the center? It is heavy. Glass. This one I think needs to become something for me. It just really fascinates me and I don't know why just yet.  I don't think it is vintage, maybe? No special markings. I just picked it up and held it and then tucked it into my basket when it said 'take me home, please?'

The blocks for the Irish Quilting Magazine piece were finished last night, a couple of appliques to do on the traditional block and I hope to be finishing that up this week.  

This morning I've set the needle aside (fingertips are shouting 'thank you!') and I'm charting new designs. 

It looks to be a productive week!

cotton and thoughts on embroidery

 A stop at the thrift shop yesterday gifted me with a few squares of cotton and linen

I have a few thoughts tumbling through my head as to what they will be used for, but as usual, they were purchases made more with the 'I just flat out like them' mentality.

I am in the process of breathing new life into  the Snowball of the Month cross stitch designs from 2007, reworking them into embroidery patterns.  Hoffman Distributing Company is now distributing more embroidery and quilting things, which tickles me, and I have wanted to expand my designing for awhile now, moving in a few other directions besides cross stitch.  These 12 patterns seem a natural place to start.

I am currently working through April and May, and hope to be stitching the first models of these by the weekend.  

Starting the backstitching tomorrow on Tangled, and hope to have the piece done by the weekend as well!

china silk scarves, thrift store finds & old lace

A trip to the thrift shops on Monday was made, and I found a few goodies to add to my bounty that is now over-running the dining room table, waiting for my new creative space to open up. (in other words, waiting for my son to move out in less than two weeks!)

A large bag of tapestry and crewel wools. Caught my eye for the amount of blue skeins, as I have a vision of something I want to try very soon.

Three little handmade doilies...

A few snipets of cotton lace...

More silk tie dyeing experiments, this time on china silk scarves.  I still intend on laying down some stitching on these, letting it develop organically as I go. 

Tomorrow will bring a walk in the woods, and hopefully some images to share here. It has been so hot. I have not been on a walk about in awhile. I am feeling rather disconnected and needing some "green" time. 

thrift storin' finds

I finished up my errands a little earlier than I thought I would today, and so I was afforded some time to make a stop at the thrift shops.  Rather disappointed at the first two, not finding anything that really said 'gotta have it, you know, for *that* project' But the last shop I wandered through made up for the first two.

A ziplock baggie full of these little gems. They appear to have been made by hand. Wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors. They are so dainty and fragile. 

 A really long powdery lavender scarf was snatched up for a whole dollar. I think it might even be silk.  This one is just begging to be emboidered.  It is in need of a good handwashing though. The edges are a little dirty, like it hung in a dusty room for too long. 

And finally...maybe even my favorite find for the day, this book with thick blank handmade pages of paper. It's not very big, but it is just all texture and color and with pages sturdy enough for me to create the embroidery stitch book that I wanted to putz with. Perfect purse/duffle bag size. 

The book itself almost looks like someone's attempt at repurposing. There are no markings anywhere in it to indicate that it was commercially made. 

A stop at JoAnn's Fabric as well, their snowflake sequins were all on sale and so I stocked up on those (as I sometimes have a hard time finding them! Go figure. Minnesota. Snow. Should have flakes all year round!!) 

Now off to stitch!

new from old

This morning I made a pot of coffee, sat outside for a little while as the air was just so wonderful after the thunderstorm we had at some point during the night. I heard the thunder but was just too cozy to roll and look at the clock. It took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do with my day, and I was through the first four-cup coffee pot (granted, my "cup" can almost accommodate one four-cup pot as it is!) before I decided what to putz with.

As mentioned in a post a few days back, I came across this wonderful black scarf at one of our thrift shops.

I have been playing with simple running stitches in a few other slow cloth pieces I've been working with, and decided to do something similar with the scarf.  The tapestry wools I found for a buck a bag at the same thrift store have been calling to me, so I picked a few out and got started.

The scarf is very long and very wrap-able and I am envisioning this sort of a pattern covering the entire thing. Kind of a Van Gogh-ish-Starry-Night thing. Maybe some beads on the tassels.

I want a raggedy, organic, well worn feel with this. I can see it in my mind, now comes the task of trying to translate that to the scarf.




I also started working on the first of two pillows that I am making for my cousin's grandchildren, made from their grandfather's flannel shirts. I made quilts for the boys in past months, and I have just enough left for the new additions.

Yesterday I made my way to the thrift shops. I didn't come away with a lot of things, but I did succumb to the call of a bag of upholstery fabric remnants.

They've joined my growing stack of "Scraps That Have Purpose That Will Become Apparent When I Least Eexpect It" pile.  I've some other things to sort through too, but will do that once I take over my college-bound son's bedroom as sewing room! There will be pictures coming as that transformation takes place! I promised him his bed will still be there when he comes to visit!

Now I'm off to chart some Egyptian border motifs. Or give it a shot, anyhow.

fun!

While I don't have any images to share, I have stumbled upon a few fun places to visit!

Social Fabric: The Textile Museum of Canada  (Looky looky Auntie S!)

Past Imperfect  (The art of inventive repair)

Indian Heritage

While in Fargo, we stopped at a shop (that I cannot recall the name of just right now!) that had the most colorful and interesting jewelry and textiles, most of which were fair trade. Some of the pillow covers, bags and throw blankets were made in the style of boro cloth, and were amazing. When we move Nate in August, I think I will make another stop and a few purchases! I will be sure and photograph and share the eye candy.

We also stopped at a few thrift shops, and I found a new bag that is big enough for my "purse" stuff, my notebook, sketch pad and pencils too.  I also nabbed this beautiful scarf in cream, I think it is linen, no tag on it so I have to give it another feeling up to see if I am right. A few other textile tidbits, someloosely woven and worn through napkins colored indigo , a single cream cloth napkin that has a very interesting smocking pattern in it. And, finally, I found four gently used summer tops. 


Now its time to hop back into the stitching! I hope to have Walking Zack wrapped up and out by the weekend, and then I'm not sure what I'm moving on to. I see another bird in my head, but I've yet to stitch him up! 

wool! I found wool, lots and lots of wool!

It may be nearly 100 degrees outside, but I didn't mind, nope, not one bit! I made a stop at the thrift shop today. Had this inkling that I should make a pass through. Well, it paid off. Not only did I score a shower curtain and liner for the small bathroom, (much needed, and 50% off today! ), but I also found a whole bunch of aging cotton napkins and towels...

And an almost finished, wonderful needlepoint...

along with all of the wool that was left over

And then I went around the corner of the craft section. Three baskets of yarn to dig through in hopes of wrapping my hands around the ever-elusive ball or skein of wool or cotton. What I found instead were two bags. Two very large and colorful bags of tapestry wools! 

I have a lot of cotton threads, overdyed, 6 strand, perles, and the like to work with, but I really like wool for some embroidered details, and so these little treasures had me bouncing happily behind my cart as I made my way through the shop.  I didn't find any other goodies today, but was quite pleased with the haul I did make! Now off to create!

braving road construction

Well, they are working on two of the major avenues here in town, and now they've closed parts of what are our detours as well!  I got off work at noon, and debated. To thrift, or not to thrift. I hadn't made the trek in awhile, and I really wanted to do a walk through, so I thought, how bad can it be out there. (...on a Friday. At noon. with all the roads closed...)

While sitting in one of the many 'jams' I drove myself into, I was close to coming unhinged when a dragonfly came an sat on the windshield wiper of my truck. Okay, that was without doubt (in my mind at least) my sign to take a deep breath and let it go. (For those that were not aware, the dragonfly is my animal totem and when I get one showing up in odd places, I pay very close attention! The windshield of my truck as I creeped past Jiffy Lube? Yep, that is one of those pay close attention times.)

I'm glad I went.  Found some interesting kitchen towels that I walked past once and then went back as I couldn't blink away these images in my head of what to do with them.  Call me crazy but I like the old flour-sack-cotton-full-of-grease-stains thing.  It's not really visible here, but there is a really cool thing going on with the stains. 

 I also found one little crochet piece that I might try to tea-dye along with some of the flour sack.

Also made a stop at Hobby Lobby to pick up the threads I need for the Irish Quilting Magazine piece, and was pleasantly surprised to find them on sale!

Now off to stitch, and once the camera charges up, I think I'll snap some garden photos.

Website of the Day?  The Thread Blog

~thank you for today~
for the gentle poke of dragonflies, cotton beneath my fingertips, and a garden touched by sun and gentle breeze.


Soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers. --Peter Matthiessen

More needle weaving and a trip to the thrift shop...

I have continued to work on this piece and it is starting to build up a bit. It has been fun so far, and a nice departure from my structured needlework.  Finally, a place to use up so many bits of this and that, fibers that are too small to use in other work but couch nicely in this. More as we go!  

I mad a trip to the thrift shop this morning as well. It was on the way home from the post office after all!

I found a few sweaters to pull apart, some of which were wool and others a blend. I found a few cotton linens as well that will be ripped up for more of the fabric yarn.

Yesterday was spent merging my two Etsy shops. This is something I had thought about doing for some time, but just wasn't sure if I should. After a lot of consideration, I thought it would be easier for people to find my things if they are all in one shop.  fuzzystitches is now the one stop shop for my fabrics and recycled fun.

CM Designs still operates under its own website, www.carolynmanningdesigns.com