Re-purposed Skirt

One of my favorite things to do, that you know even if you only occasionally stop by my blog, is to thrift. Sometimes I am in the mood to slowly hunt for that rare find...a unique garment or vintage treasure and other times I just breeze through the shop stopping at whatever catches my eye. This toddler skirt was found on one of those latter days. Reminiscent of an old patchwork quilt and spotted with some of my favorite summer hues... This is a super easy project with endless variations. I simply turned the skirt inside out and sewed about a 1/2" from the edge, then turned the skirt back to right side out. I then took two purchased bamboo purse handles and attached them by sewing loops made from grosgrain ribbon. This stitching I did by hand. As you can see, I even left the garment labels in for a bit of re-purposed charm...

Thriftstore Therapy

Nikolai and I went to a thrift store this morning. I'm not exactly why he likes this one so much, but he practically runs to get into the cart when we get there. A lot of people shop there and it is huge, so I think he gets some good people watching in. I of course get my retail therapy. Today included an Ann Taylor Loft Black Blazer, Levi Strauss Jeans, J Crew wool sweater, cute cotton blanket for Nikolai with brown and blue stripes and little monkeys on it and a CD - all for $11.45. There was a crazy lady volunteering there today. Nikolai of course loved her. He is very attracted to eccentric and slightly insane people. She had a frosted sort of disheveled haircut and huge dark rimmed glasses with rhinestones all over them. She kept trying to get me to buy a bright coral lacy slip that she thought I could wear as a skirt. She was very disappointed when I said no. Honestly, there was a day when I would have taken the slip just to avoid the awkward conversation. Of course, I would have hung it back up when she wasn't looking. However, today I stood firm and told her that I wouldn't likely wear the "skirt". Ahh, thrift shop therapy...

Oooh, here is a picture of some recent finds. The napkin holder is from a local thrift shop and the feedsack fabric is from eBay. I LOVE the green and blue cherries and was hoping to make a little valance for my kitchen with them, but the greens just didn't mesh well. I think these are now going to be aprons.

A Candlelit Evening - Part II

I wish I were writing this second excerpt because there were fascinating details left out of Part I. However, we spent a second evening by candlelight as the transformer blew on our street again. Such an event causes quite a phenomenon even on our busy street. People who have been hunkered down in their homes telling tales by their air conditioners, actually emerge from their dwellings and stand in somewhat of a stupor on the sidewalks while the shock of the summer heat wears off. Jason, Kolya and I of course hightailed it to our local air conditioned Target to pick up survival supplies - three flashlights and a new lighter. After, returning home and tucking our babe into bed with flashlights, we settled down to another night of storytelling and mending - I mean watching another movie on my laptop.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I took a trip to Global Thrift in Waltham last weekend and here is one of my delicious finds (49 cents each!). I love this shade of petal pink. The cup is creme on the outside and petal pink on the inside. I want to sip strawberry milk from it and eat shortbread biscuits. Mmmm.

A Candlelit Evening

It sounds romantic, maybe even a step into the past for an evening. Our power went out around 7 last night. As the sun began to set, we rushed around looking for some flashlights with no success. I light some candles and some lanterns and with a peaceful sigh, looked around my home and thought about what it might have been like to live in the days before electricity. It seemed romantic and quaint. That was until I began to sweat without the air conditioners and ceiling fan. We have been having a heat wave here in the Boston area and the house heated up quickly even in the evening hours. You don't realize how reliant you become on electricity. The phone no longer worked, the TV, microwave, ICE MAKER, etc. So Jason and I sat down to a candlelit dinner of sandwich wraps and tortilla chips and reminisced about the days of old... ok, we watched a movie on my laptop. Pretty sad...

It was a nice weekend however, we enjoyed time with friends and family. Took a trip to the library and to a great thrift shop in Waltham called Global Thrift. I'll share some of my finds in the next few days. I keep meaning to add a photo of a cute vintage etched glass that I found at a church sale. It is tiny and etched with a beautiful floral and striped design. The sides of the glass are beveled adding to its charm. The perfect glass for a bedside table.