Friday Finds

Found today: The path towards finding the Will to Live. Always a good start.

Found a while ago but sharing now:

Ella, almost two, goes Vintage Corporate

I clearly remember having this exact same dress when I was little. I know there is a photo of me in it somewheres, but I dont have it. I found this in an op shop when Ella was still a wee baby, and you can only imagine the extent of my Sqeeee-age when I saw it on the rack for $4.  Lordy. Wouldn't it be SO AWESOME if this were actually my old dress??? 

Now if only I had the red faux patent leather handbag from my childhood to go with it. 


P.S. Giveaway is coming, fret not!  I haven't been able to decide what to have for dinner this week, let alone which of my creations to give away.

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My Creative Space

This week my creative space is being used for the betterment of humanity.  Project 18 are having an Auction on Facebook on July 20 to raise funds for childhood education in Indonesia.  They need handmade items to be donated to sell at the Auction.  So that's what I'm doing.

I've found lovely vintage tea cups in my opshop raids over the last week, so I am putting them all to good use.  After all, how many pincushions does one woman need?  Well, at least 3 by my reckoning, (wrist, tabletop and ring) so the rest are going to Cate for the Auction. Mostly so she will get off my case.

My creative space: filled with vintage china, polyfill, vintage fabric and some sort of altruism (even though I dont believe in it).

What's yours filled with? Share over at Kirsty's.

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Serenity Sunday

I am NOT a winter girl.

I hate the cold. I hate being unable to move three feet from the heater because otherwise my fingers will drop off from frostbite.  I hate having to pay SeventyHundred dollars for my power bill.  I hate not being able to spend any time outside for fear of freezing solid. I hate the dark days. I get S.A.D. And I get it BAD.

But I hate being trapped inside with two very active and very bored pre-schoolers even more.

Ella lovin' on some rocks

Felix writes the initials of all his friends in the dirt.

"This is the T-Rex bone and this bit is the thing that shoots out water."

 Basil loves wool.  REALLY loves wool.

So today we ventured outside as soon as the temperature got above ten degrees (at midday) and the wee-uns played in the Digging Patch and I sat in the sun. Then we went for a walk to the op-shop, where of course I found things to buy, and then took Felix's trike to the bike track and playground.

It wasn't so much Serene and Not As Bad As It Could Be, but that is far too long a post title.

Except for Basil.  I think he was rather serene indeed, sucking on that wool.  If you know what I mean.

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Friday Finds

Another week, another collection of treasures from the op-shops.  This week, my local had a whole basket of awesome vintage sewing patterns out for 25c each.  It was pure heaven.

Have a closer look at the little girl on the top one. How adorable is that jumpsuit?

This is the piece de resistance really.  Check out the legs! 

Did the illustrator never see a real woman before?

I love Paua shell.  What should I use this for?

All these beauties were 20c each! I'm going to turn them into pincushions. Yes! Radness!

There was also much in the way of clothing for me and some fabric for making clothes for the shop.  And a totes awesome tablecloth which I plan on turning into a skirt for myself.  That picture will have to wait until said project is on the go.  Then you will swoon with delight at how totally awesome it is.  You will. You'll see.

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My Creative Space

Crap, is it Thursday again?

A toddler with conjunctivitis means no childcare, no playgroup, no visiting friends, no LIFE.  Also not much time for creativity since she stands at my door and cries "Mumm-mmm-yyyyy cuu-uu-ggg-le" for as long as I can stand it.  Today that would be about 2 minutes.  Sometimes I'm a hard-ass mamma and just let her scream until she stops, but when the kid is sick some stupid maternal thing kicks in.  Probably so we dont inadvertantly kill them with our hard-assness.


I did manage to sneak enough time after my writing group yesterday to stop at my fave op-shop, where they lured me in via a shopping trolley full of handbags for $1. 

Cute little vinyl-lined toiletries bag, looking for a purpose.  How lovely is the fabric?

The Handbag Stash:  Two little bags, the toiletries clutch, a patchwork shoulderbag, and a briefcase thingy.  I've ALWAYS wanted a briefcase thingy.  $5 the lot = awesome

There was some divine oriental fabric, and a chrome 50s chair for $2 and step-stool.  The stool needs re-upholstering, but it was $3!  I clearly remember one just like this in my kitchen when I was a kid.  Of course we had the chrome-leg faux-marble table and chairs to go with it.  We were, like, groovy.

 3m oriental loveliness, 2m coffee velvet, 4 metres soft butter-yellow cotton = $7.

Finally I got around to doing some very simple stuff like changing buttons on a recent 

Boring Brown op-shop cardi.

 and then decided to go uber-nuts and put buttons all over it.

The buttonifying of Boring Brown Cardi will take a while methinks. I dont know what it will look like when its done, but that is where the fun in hand-sewing 3000 buttons lies.

What's happening in your Creative Space today?

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Op-Shop Love

I cannot walk past an op-shop* without going in.  It just doesn't happen.  Yesterday's pretext was to look for shoes for my daughter, who is currently wearing her brother's Thomas the Tank Engine sneakers and doesnt have a pair of sandals to her name.  Alas, there were no shoes.

There was, however, this little darling which promised to finally teach me how to crochet after so many years of non-crocheting heartache.

Then this, which is almost TWO INCHES THICK and 
5 years older than I am...

and contains the most delightful frontispiece, which reads:

"The necessity of moving everything in the middle of dressmaking to lay the table is frustrating.  Aim at achieving a well lit comfortable corner where you can carry on where you left off, undisturbed." 


Two things amuse me about this: one, that anyone actually MOVES stuff off the dining table to eat dinner, and two, that it is even remotely possible to carry on sewing undisturbed.   

Meet my dining table (we eat off our knees a lot in this house)

and my constant disturbance...

Oh how I long for the 1964 undisturbed comfortable corner.

But look!  SQUARE SELF-COVERING BUTTONS c1968!  They're the newest!

PLUS this, which is full of absolutely charming designs for your Tiny Tot.

I plan on making mine wear this.  She inherited her mother's thighs....















I ask you:  how could I have possibly left them there?

*Also known as a thrift shop or charity store in places where they call dresses "jumpers".

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