Shopping notes

I spent some time at our area's largest craft show this weekend; I hadn't attended for a few years and it's nice to know folks are still going strong with their crafting. It was interesting to me that I saw a lot of the "primitive" style of decorative painting, but absolutely nothing that I would put into the romantic/shabby style. I don't know if that means there's room at the show for this type of stuff, or if it's a case of "been there, crafted that, didn't make any money from it."

What eventually caught my eye, though, were the items made by a lady from Bayard, Iowa who repurposes stray pieces of silver flatware. I purchased a dinner knife in the Queen Bess pattern that had been honed down to become a letter opener, but she also had used the decorative ends of some pieces to make key fobs, rings and other small treasures. ("Spoon rings," of course, have been around for decades - but, I'd never seen these other ideas before.) I couldn't get a very good picture, but here's a bad picture of a really pretty letter opener:

On another note, I'm curious if anyone besides me buys garments at the thrift store just because they like the fabric and intend to use it in a craft project?

I recently bought a sweet little lavender skirt with a violet pattern...

and then this week purchased a blouse that's way too small for me because of the red toile pattern of the fabric.

And, although it's not a garment, I also bought a single curtain panel because of the soft, buttery yellow corduroy it was made of.

For some reason I'm envisioning pillows from each of these - it will be a matter of putting them each with the right coordinating fabric.

More soon!

Fab thrifty vintage clock

I'm probably over-reacting just a tad, but I was practically beside myself to find this nifty vintage electric clock at one of my favorite (super-cheap) thrift stores. It is almost all plastic, and I'm thinking it is probably from the late 60's or early 70's because it resembles some of the stuff we had in our home when I was growing up during that period. I am thrilled to report that I paid all of 49 cents for it - and that it works!

I love the scrolly detail of the frame...

I especially love the fancy numerals and hands. Even the sweep-second had has a sweet little finial on the tip.

Besides a quick color change to shabby off-white, I also added my own embellishments: a simple bow made of filmy green wired ribbon, and a little rhinestone brooch from Grandma Verdie's costume jewelry collection.

More soon!