A Good Omen for the New Year!

One of the folks whose blog I read is Kelly Cline, an amazing quilter. I think I first found her site because she does a lot of quilting using vintage textiles, and as you may know those things follow me home from sales like little lost puppies.

So Sunday evening a new post on her blog popped up on my feed reader entitled "We Have a Ruler Winner!" You can imagine my surprise as I began to read:

CONGRATULATIONS TO Queen of Fifty Cents!!! I don’t know your name, or who you are, but you are the winner and I love your thrifty blog! 

Seems like a good omen for a creative year to win a set of quilting rulers before the first week has passed.

The only slight hiccup is that these are used for free motion quilting, which I have not (yet!) done. But what better motivation to learn, right? I'll keep you posted on my free motion adventures once they begin.

Meanwhile, here's a piece I just finished, made in large part as a learning exercise. I used some of the upholstery sample fabrics I picked up in September for the rooster. In fact all of the fabric, thread and batting came from other people's driveways.

I tried out some of the techniques from the Craftsy class I've been watching called Stupendous Stitching.  I learned how to do the edge binding using a felling foot, and the hanging sleeve on the back with the blindstitch foot that came with my Bernina I found on Craigslist. A total thrifting project!

The Winners Are...

I remember now why I don't do giveaways more often...I want EVERYONE to win! Seriously, I loved your comments. I was cracking up over how many of us made little triangle scarves back in the Sixties to match our mini skirts. And also over how some other kitties lost their whiskers (ahem).

But alas, there are only four Veras seeking new homes at the moment. (Not the triangle of bees - at least not yet - and definitely not my Millie!) And here are the winners:

Scarf number one goes to Jamie, who plans to wear it to work at her library. How could I resist a fellow librarian?

Number to goes to pailsofpearls, a new addition to our readers. Hope you'll hang around with us for a while!

Number three is for Linda @ alacarte, who loves pink and wears her scarf knotted to the side. I'm picturing her as very dashing in this beauty.

And mod number four will go to sveltestuff, who collects Vera...but has never seen any of these designs. Seriously, don't you wonder if Vera ever slept? 

I have sent emails to the four of you, but if for some reason you don't get it I need your names and addresses so I can send these.

Thanks so much to everyone for entering. And just in case you're wondering, Millie's missing eye whiskers are starting to grow back in!

Happy Places

It's really ridiculous how happy it makes me to have not one, not two, but THREE estate sales to go to this time of year. Add in that at least two of them were run by family, not companies, and my day is made.

The first sale had something I really, really wanted but couldn’t have…because it was part of the house. A greenhouse, and not some flimsy little thing but a serious extension to the house. Here’s a snip from Google Map’s drive by.

I admit I was having an enjoyable fantasy while we were there. Some of our family plan to move to Salem one of these days, and this house would be perfect for them. So in my fantasy they bought the house, and I got to play in the greenhouse whenever I wanted. But alas, the place seems to be sold already. Dang it!

I was so glad we went to this sale first. Partly because all but one of the annoying dealers we try to avoid started with the others, so we didn’t have to put up with them. And also because of the stuff I found. Most of the prices were amazing. I did splash out a bit – ten bucks for a seriously nice jacket. Sorry, no picture. It's hard to take an exciting picture of black wool clothing! But it's a wonderfully drapey merino piece from the 80s, which I can state with some assurance, because if clothing is a size medium and fits me, that’s when it was made.

But I made out like a bandit back in the sewing room. This block of beeswax will be a gift,

and you have to admit the price was right!

This little brayer was a dime, and it looks like it was never used.

Spent a whole fifty cents on this kitty yard decoration but if you’ve been following Millie’s adventures you will understand the appeal of a cat that SITS STILL.

I may have mentioned a while back that one of her misadventures was pushing my pretty china pin dish off the desk and breaking it. (Bad girl, Millie!) Now I have a replacement, and a vintage one at that (at least if you consider the 80s vintage!).

Apparently they stuck a piece of tape on it and then wrote the price, so it is now incised forever into the plastic. Oh well! I'm never sorry to remember I got something for a dime.

A bag of rotary cutters was three bucks.

There was even some good free stuff, including this rather interesting book.

Some of the projects are quite creative.

Of course what I really love are the little sheep and their turtleneck sweaters!

Standing in line to pay I noticed a tray with jewelry, and picked out these fused glass earrings.

I was bemused that the gentleman helping with check out looked very much like Eric Carle, the picture book artist. When his wife called him Eric, I got a teensy bit excited, and actually asked if that’s who he was. He said no and seemed to have no idea who Eric Carle is, but the lady in front of me in line did, and she agreed that’s who he looks like!

We headed across the river to a fabulous midcentury modern house in West Salem. Another family sale, and another house already on its way to being sold. (On an acre with a fabulous view, for nearly half a million, which is very pricey for these parts. But a really terrific house.) KK and I ooh’d and ahh’d our way throughout.

We got there about an hour after the sale started, and the usual horde of dealers had clearly been through. But I was happy to find a big bag of interfacing for a buck (not the kind of thing to interest a dealer, but nice if you sew!)

and a lovely vintage linen towel. I'm getting quite a collection of these, but hey, it was fifty cents.

I must have used up all my powers of observation by the time we hit the third sale, because I didn’t buy anything there, and the only thing I really remember is that someone had spilled some perfume in the bathroom and the place absolutely reeked. We were both glad to get out into the fresh air and on to our favorite Thai place for lunch. But still, I was glad there were three sales!

This time of year I approach each weekend with trepidation, fearing there won't be a single sale to go to. But so far, so good!

A reminder that you still have time to enter my giveaway! Four vintage Vera silk scarves are going to four new homes. I’ll even extend the deadline a bit – leave a comment on last week’s post by noon tomorrow, Monday December 5, 2016, and I’ll add your name to the hat!

It’s Vintage, It's Vera – It's a Giveaway!

The two estate sales Judy & I went to last weekend didn’t have much of interest (and the one that had advertised high end antiques was in a scuzzy little house on a positively spooky street!) but I did manage to spend a buck and a quarter. Which netted me three of these nice Vera napkins

as well as a darling little headscarf. 

Does anyone else remember that brief period in the Sixties when we tied these little triangles under our chins and felt we were cool?

It started me thinking that the yard sale gods have been quite generous with the Veras for a while now, and I remembered that I have four vintage Vera silk scarves that are lovely, but I've never worn any of them.

Time for a giveaway, I said. And so here we are.

Four scarves, four winners! Just leave a comment telling me which of the four is your favorite. And of course if you have any Vera stories, do share. Like your memory of wearing your own Vera headscarf and how cute you were. Or your mom did. Okay, okay, your grandmother. Vera spans the generations!

Scarf number one, a long piece of silk with stylized roses.

Number two, a long silk scarf with a small scale floral design.

Number three, a large square with pink roses.

And number four, another square with a mod orange and yellow design.

Please leave your comment by Sunday, December 4, 2016. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Now that the Vera business is taken care of, here’s a Millie report. I was taking her picture the other day with the Velveteen Rabbit that is her measuring stick. Here she is in July,

and September,

and November.

As I looked at her, something seemed a bit…off. It took me a moment to realize that all her long white eye whiskers are missing over her left eye!

I have no idea what she has been up to. I half expect someday to find a little pile of white whiskers in some untoward place, or on one of the inch-wide window frames ten feet over my head in this midcentury modern house with glass walls.

I probably don’t want to know, do I?

A Day Late…

…and a dollar short. Isn’t that the saying? But what the heck. If I’d actually completed this giveaway yesterday you might have thought the results were April Fooling!

Speaking of which, I get suckered every time. I was reading a blog post on a site that’s all about frugality yesterday, and kind of scratching my head at the assertion that when you have kids you absolutely must buy one of those gigantic gas-guzzler vehicles. Which of course was his April Fool’s joke. I’d say the joke was on me – except that I would never buy a gigantic gas-guzzling vehicle!

In any case, it’s time to announce the winner of our latest book giveaway. Oh, let’s make that winners. I promised the dogs they could pick this time. Two dogs, two winners: that sounds about right. They said I could use their birthdays, as we did last time with the cats.

So. Our Edward was born on August 8. He’s a Leo, of course.

And the 8th comment was left by Sarah, so she wins the first pair of books. Even though I am hideously jealous that when she fell on her face she got TWO black eyes, and I couldn’t even score one!

Our Zoë is a winter baby, born on November 5. Comment number 5 was left by L! I’m kind of hoping her name is Louisa, since that’s the main character in my books. From her blog profile, I believe she’s in North Carolina, where we lived for several years. In fact, one of the dogs in my books is based on a real dog I met in the Tarheel State. I’d say Zoë is an excellent picker!

So – Sarah and L, send me an email and we’ll get your books on their way!

A Thankful Giveaway

Five days after my face-first tumble downhill…and my owies are almost completely gone.

Kind of annoying, actually. I was planning some really good stories about the black eye that I was sure would appear. And not a vestige of a shiner. Is that fair? In fact, the thing that has hurt the most was my little finger! Lost a chunk of skin from the tip, and it turns out you use your little fingertip quite often. But even that is almost healed.

I’m not really complaining, you understand. I confess to having indulged in imagining a number of could-have-beens and they were not pretty. I’m truly very grateful.

So to celebrate, let’s have another book giveaway! Same as last time – paperback copies of my first two books. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post (preferably an entertaining one, but we’re easily entertained).

The drawing will be – when else? – April Fool’s Day!

Winners!

I was going to use one of those random number generators you can find online to pick the winner of my book giveaway. But it seemed so…impersonal. And then my cat Mrs. Wilberforce decided to take a hand. Er, paw.

“You left us cats out of your books,” she said in slightly huffy tones. “The least you can do is let me pick your winner.”

But how? I asked her. “Use my birthday,” she replied. What a good idea, I said. Especially since your birthday is coming up soon.

“Hey,” said her brother Noll Baxter. “You left me out of the books too. I want to pick a number.”

Well, technically I didn’t put any of you guys in, I told him. The dogs in the books are not Zoe and Edward.

“Yeah, but they’re dogs,” he grumped. (Actually, he likes the dogs a lot.)

Oh, all right, I told them. We’ll give away two pairs of books, not just one, and use both your birthdays.

They purred in triumph.

So. Mrs. W will be 13 on the 17th of March…so we’ll use number 17 in her honor. And the 17th comment was left by Carolsue. Who has a kitty picture on her comment, which seems pretty appropriate.

Noll’s birthday is the 6th of August (he’s 10), and entry number 6 was…ta da!…Darth Mama and her dog Tiger. Which also seems appropriate, since Noll is yellow and kind of stripey and would like to think he is quite the tiger. (We’ll let him keep his illusions.)

So there you have our winners…for this time. Yes, we’re going to do this again soon. Stay tuned!