I plan to cut squares of denim for a quilt which will go to my youngest brother and then hopefully work a bit more on my Christmas squares.   My dear daughter hit pay dirt on the weekend, when she scored a huge bag of predominantly Christmas print fabric from Value Village .  Hopefully she will share with her dear old Mom, especially the scraps and strings as I plan to make a Chinese coin Christmas quilt this year as well.

As usual I am up to my armpits in laundry.  I miss having a clothes line and have to use fabric softener now.   This year I intend to make more of household cleaning items rather than purchasing from the grocery stores.  With this in mind, this morning I made fabric softener using the recipe found here at Tipnut.   Check it out as there are hints and tips for making fabric sheets as well.    Take a few minutes to browse through the other sections and you will find everything from how to make your own vanilla extract to making an apron from an old shirt.

What do you plan to make this year?

Most of our purchases were local produce, including honey, carrots, potatoes, apple pie and bread.   Here a few of the other items available

The Trappist monks from the nearby monastery, provided a fine display of pottery.    The pieces were well made and well priced, with most items in the $20. to $35.00 range.  Honey from a local beehive is also sold at this table.

The market is held in the same building as the local antique market.   I spotted this beautiful blue glass candle holder, which would be the perfect Christmas gift for me. HINT, HINT!

There were displays of handmade bags, jewellery, photographs and this little sweetie.   Fish made from recycle two liter pop bottles.   If you are interested in making your own sea-faring buddies, the instructions can be found here.

This summer I have been much more selective with my yard sale purchases.   If I buy it, I have to pack it, so not everything passes muster. Not only did this bowl pass muster, it sang to me “take me home:”.

My friend J makes ddecorative serving  trays using a colourful plate as the centerpiece.   I may ask her make a tray, but for now it is sitting on the dining table for all to admire.  Not bad for 50 cents.

And after.

For $200 and a bolt of fabric which I had on hand, we have a newly covered  love seat.  I didn’t want to invest on a new one as I prefer to wait until we are in our next home.  According to the upholster if a piece has “good bones” it just makes more sense to recover it.

Now if I can just keep the cat off it.

” Crap! She’s awake!”

We are off to Fredericton to meet the amazing Isabella.   And spend time with Sarah in her new apartment.   Sarah will be  the happy recipient of  a lot of our crap junk yardsale items stuff.   Between stuff for Sarah and gifts for Izzy, the truck is loaded, and I do mean loaded, and we are ready to hit the road.

Have a great Saturday, I know we will.

My first find  was this whole cloth vintage beauty.    Double bed size, hand tied with a wool blanket batting.  The knots are very tiny, perfectly clipped threads.

There is a small tear at one end which I am hoping to sweet talk my friend Win into mending.  I am not a fabric expert, I am basing my opinion on the colours – orange, green, yellow and blue.  If you can identify the print please leave a comment.

At first glance I thought these were dolphin earrings.   I really need to start wearing glasses.  When I got home and opened the plastic bag which they were in, I was very pleased to find a  jewellers mark on the  ring on the left.   Can you say 14kt.

Always on the lookout for new cloth napkins, I was excited to find his set of four Vera Bradley `Bali Blues` with tags still attached. These will be used for the fabric and not as napkins.

Care to guess how much this week`s thrifting cost me?

The total was $5.15 cents before taxes.   The most expensive item?  The quilt, at a whopping $1.95.

$52.00 later, we left the store with (for him) 2 pairs of Eddy Bauer jeans, 3 pairs of khakis, and 2 shirts (one a Land`s End). For moi, we found a pair of pants with embroidery on the legs, and a pair of Old Navy yoga pants with price tags and labels still intact. Last week I paid $20.00 for a similar pair of yoga pants at Mark`s Work Wear house.

Being an avid reader, I also picked 4 novels.  At $1.35 a novel, I will have plenty to read.

For the sewing room I found  J C Penney stagecoach  style cotton blinds in this  butterfly print .

The fun did not end with the shopping.  We then went to Subway! No small wonder I love that man.

Guy`s is about 1 km from my home.  My new exercise regime will include a nightly walk with my exercise buddy Win to and from the store.  We have made a pact that we  can only buy what  we can carry home.   If you see either one of us  pushing a shopping cart along the main drag some evening, then we are  either considering being  bag ladies or buying too much.

I am a big fan of the Europe`s Best Frozen Fruit and vegetables line, especially the frozen raspberries.   This past summer I found coupons for $2.00 off a bag of frozen fruit.   This morning I came across a coupon for a free bag of vegetables with every purchase of two bags of frozen fruit.   Not only did I get a bag of vegetables free, I also received $2.00 off each bag of fruit I purchased.  For a total of $12.00, I purchased $27.00 in frozen fruits and vegetables.   I prefer fresh fruit and vegetables, but during the cold months of winter frozen taste better than  produce trucked in from California.  Besides deep dish berry pie or Pavlova will help warm these dark winter days.

I`ve been saving my broken dishes to make a collage, never thought of a dress.

To see more of the artist`s work, go here

Sometimes when I digging through a bin of clothing, looking for brand names, I ponder why I don`t shop at the malls.   For $5.00 I can buy a Coldwater Creek blazer (often with the original price tag still attached) compared to buying one for 20 x the price at the mall or on-line.  Whether I pay $5.00 or $100.00 for an article of clothing when someone compliments me on my clothes, the compliment is just as sincere.

Still having problem with pictures, but I`m sure it should be resolved soon (hint, hint, Andrea).