Revamped Relics

Someone who follows my blog emailed me a flyer for this great event which is coming up soon, so I thought I would share it, in case any local people see this. It sounds like something I will definitely be keen to get to, possibly lining up at the door on opening day :) (retro fabric-aholic is a pretty accurate description of me, and I love me some up-cycling!)

Funky Junk Friday

I feel like I need to buy Funky Junk a present to say thanks for all the wonderful Junque you keep providing to brighten my dreary winter days. What do you buy a building that holds Junque?? It could do with better lighting, maybe I should buy it some 300 watt light bulbs. But that’s not a very good thank you gift.

Maybe a nice poem….

Funky Junk you are my savoir

You rescue me from boredom

Save me from my over-spending ways

provide me with more fabric

and vintage goodness

than I can ever hope to use

your dark, dusty interior

will never deter me

for I know now of the treasures

hidden within.

What do you think? That was a spur of the moment creation, inspired by these great finds…

Two bags of fabric, some of them BIG pieces, like that brown one is about 6 metres, and the pink is about 3 metres.

One FANTASTIC pattern book and a magazine complete with patterns.

These are some of the projects out of that pattern book, I just have to make a tea cosy and these cute crochet balls.   

Maybe I can use some of this wool to make them. I have no idea if this stuff is actually wool or acrylic, but the label on the pink ones say to handwash only, so that means its wool, right? and the brown feels like wool, but doesn’t have a label.

Some vintage (and maybe not so vintage) linen goodies, like 2 vintage pillow cases, a huge rectangle polka dot table cloth, a table runner, some kind of padded table mat, and some doilies.

And these very nice handmade silky floral scarves.

Plus the 113 squares of fabric I have cut out to make my puff pillow quilt. Yes it’s going to take much longer and be a lot more work, but I have decided that a puff pillow quilt will make me so much happier than just an ordinary quilt. Now I just need to find backing fabric and cut 113 squares (or actually 113 is an odd number so that won’t work, I’ll have to do some maths to work that one out) out of that, then I can start sewing.

My Creative Space

 

This is the beginning of my very first quilt. These fabrics were all found in Funky Junk tonight. I was inspired by them and went on a square cutting frenzy. I don't know how many squares I have cut, this doesn't show all of them, so it is more than enough for a queen size quilt I think. This was going to be my puff pillow quilt, but I am thinking that possibly it might just be an ordinary simple block quilt. Maybe, or maybe I'll change my mind while I toss and turn thinking about it all night. I have a few more great funky junk finds that I will try to photograph tomorrow.

I feel like I just want to get my sewing machine out and sew all night, to finish this thing which is exciting now, but will be less exciting in the morning, and even less exciting by the time I actually get a chance to do some sewing. Hopefully if I keep the squares somewhere I can see them it will keep me inspired.

Puff pillow quilt....ordinary quilt....puff pillow quilt...ordinary quilt....how will I decide.

To see more creative spaces head over to Kootoyoo.

Thrifty Finds…

Another trip to my local thrift store this week was unavoidable, because I had mail to post, and the post box just happens to be about 5 meters past the thrift store. Who can walk past a thrift store without going in? Certainly not me. And I most definitely can not go into a thrift store and not buy anything. nope. it’s impossible.

It was really hard to get a decent photo of these plates, but in reality they are gorgeous. They have a texture/pattern on them that is very hard to photograph. They will not be eaten off, but will be great for display.

The rest of my finds: A glass apothecary jar probably destined to be a button display or maybe a little moss terrarium like this. A smurfs mug ( just about squealed when I saw it, and I think the lady at the counter was a bit miffed that it was prices so low at $1.00 because she made a point of telling me how valuable those things are now). A tiny little blue & white china plant pot. A few vintage pattern/craft books. An embroidery hoop. A bag of random bits of wool, for making granny squares or other little crochet goodies. A few doilies. And a couple of fairly big bits of fabric.

I also got this great knitted cardigan for little princess, but the buttons on it are hideous. The are slightly tarnished gold tinted metal buttons, yuck! I don’t often see a button I don’t like but these ones have to go. I haven’t decided what I will replace them with yet, I’ll have to go through my stash and see what I can find, or more button shopping may be in order :)

I also have some great funky junk finds, but I haven’t had a chance to take photos yet, because the last couple of days have been all about getting the house clean and tidy and on it’s best behaviour for viewing this weekend by a very promising potential buyer (keep all fingers and toes crossed for us please). I’ve been dying to get onto my sewing machine to get a few things done, but I had to pack it away so my dining table resembles a functional dining table. It’s funny how happy a clean house makes me feel, but I can never keep it clean for long because housework is not even close to the top of my priorities list.

Linking to Sophie’s Flea Market Finds.

Funky Junk Friday & some library books

Some interesting finds from Funky Junk last night: – Cute cups & saucers, doilies and other table linens, lots more fabric scraps & bits, some books, a puzzle, and some other random items that I couldn’t resist.

This is my most favourite find, it is perfect for those times when you need a few bickies with your cup of tea, and the colour is awesome, a gorgeous shade of turquoise.

I ordered a couple of books from the library last week, and got an email yesterday to say they were ready to be collected. They are pretty awesome books, especially Handmade Home, which features a lot of projects using vintage fabrics, especially vintage sheets. The online library request system is great, because if someone on one of the blogs I follow talks about a great book, or if I see a great review in a magazine, I can just hop online, look it up in their catalogue and request it easy peasy, and for only $1 per book, I think it’s totally worth it.

Know of any brilliant craft books I just have to read? Please let me know so I can look them up.

A few things I’ve made

I thought I would share a few things I have made recently, all using materials found at Funky Junk.

I made a drawstring bag to use as a gift bag for my MIL’s mothers day gift. I liked the idea of a fabric gift bag because it is reusable, not necessarily as a gift bag, but to hold delicates, jewellery, makeup for travelling, for example. The fabric and the lace used as drawstrings were from funky junk. I hand sewed the bag, using thread given to me by a great crafter from my craft group. So this bag cost me nothing to make, and I think it is lovely.

I also made this pin cushion using vintage curtain fabric and a little pottery bowl found at funky junk. I can see myself making more of these, because they are so quick and easy, and CUTE! I got the idea from a tutorial for making teacup pin cushions found here, but I didn’t add extra details, because I thought it looked pretty cute as is. I do plan to make a super embellished teacup version, using cups & saucers that will be left after the Tea Party.

This is a work in progress, a dress for my daughter. Everything used so far to make this, except the buttons, was found at funky junk. The main fabric is polar fleece, and the peice I found was quite big, because even after cutting out the peices for this dress there’s still a lot left. If I ever get around to it, I would like to make mittens to match, and maybe a scarf. Oh, and a hat would be cute too, but she is not a hat person (much to my absolute horror, she won’t wear anything on her head, that includes headbands, hair ties, hairclips, or anything remotely cute and girly that I would love to make for her).

On a totally different topic, I have TWO new followers since my last post, so that number is creeping up and I am shocked and amazed, but totally thrilled and looking forward to giveaway time.

Linking up to Anything Related Tuesday at All Thingz Related. Go have a look to see a whole lot more crafty projects, and browse through their awesome blog to see the great things they have made. Also linking up to Wednesday at Tea Rose Home link party, another beautiful blog with heaps of great ideas and tutorials.

Funky Junk Friday & Some Thrift Store Finds

I didn’t bring a lot home from funky junk last night, but I’m pretty happy with what I found:

Two square fabric prints – those are the things in the background of the photo, I’m pretty sure they have some kind of purpose, but I’m not sure what it is, they are just cute, very “country cottage”.

Four magazines from the 70’s – 3 of them are mon tricot knit & crochet, the other one is fashion maker. They had some good patterns and simple instructions for when I eventually learn to crochet.

A little white basket – cute.

A cream (coloured) milk jug – to add to my fast growing collection of tea set items I really don’t need but can’t help myself.

A little terracotta pot – potential.

A glass candle holder – this is definitely supposed to have some kind of holder with it, but I’m sure I can improvise.

Some more doily things – Another thing I seem to be collecting now.

One of the things I forgot to mention in my last funky junk post is the vast amounts of fabric scraps, sample blocks, off cuts and half finished sewing projects that are at funky junk. I really have to try to stop myself from bringing it all home, because I am bringing home fabric faster than I can use it, and it is piling up. Last night I found some black polar fleece which is probably big enough to make a dress or something for one of the kids. Also a few smaller bits of fabric with cute prints, for smaller projects or possibly one day to make a quilt. And on top of the black polar fleece you can see a few little things like lace scraps which are great for embellishments, bias binding, a set of needles (because I am always loosing mine) and some elastic.

And then there’s the wooden beads (sitting on top) for my daughter to use when she makes pipe cleaner bracelets.

These are some other funky junk finds from a while ago. On the bottom is a couple of vintage aprons, another collection that is growing, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with them because a. I can’t wear them, they make me look frumpy and as much as I would love to have the 50’s housewife look going on, I don’t think I’ll ever have the waistline for aprons, and b. they are too cute as aprons to make them into anything else. They will probably just end up in the dress-up box.

Above that are some pages out of a publication called “Child Education” mostly dated in the 60’s, with some in 1952. I just loved the pictures of birds and flowers, but there are other things like big fold out posters of park scenes and instructions for making things like improvised drama accessories and a railway station model. Lots of vintage goodness.

Then there is a very vintage (1955) Home Chat magazine. The advertisements in there are awesome, I love the really ridiculous things that they advertise like “Freezone – amazing liquid corn remover”, “Germloids – for the effective treatment of haemorrhoids” and “Sorella Foam Bath – for slenderizing”. I mean really, who in there right mind would believe that having a special foam bath could make you lose weight.

Ok, now for some thrift store finds. I had to walk past my local thrift store yesterday on the way to catch the bus, and I could NOT walk past without going in. I am a pathological thrifter. Hello my name is Rhiannon and I’m a thriftoholic.

In the background is a gorgeous silk (?) scarf but the photo doesn’t really show the awesomeness of the blue & black print.

On the left is a piece of cute floral sheer fabric, I haven’t opened it up so I don’t know how big it is, but it feels fairly big.

Some more heart things like the ones here, these ones are pale purple, I guess you’d call it lilac.

A little blue jar, the most expensive thing I bought at $2.50, but I couldn’t resist.

A pottery milk jug, I think. This was a huge bargain at 30c, and the woman at the counter was a bit shocked when she saw that price, I even heard her whispering about it to the woman next to her as I was leaving. She’s just jealous, because she said she has the bowl to match.

A cross stitch that I only bought because I wanted the embroidery hoop that it is mounted in.

Two little swan cross stitches that I only bought because I wanted the wreath things they are mounted in, they look like little nests.

Two little hedgehog figurines – don’t ask why, because I have no answer. I must have stood there holding those in my hand for a good 5 minutes debating whether to get them. They are cute, of course, but that's not why I liked them. I have had in the back of my mind the idea of creating a little moss terrarium, because there is instructions all over the place at the moment to tell you how to make them. So I have been vaguely keeping a look out for any miniature cuteness to live in my someday terrarium, and I thought there hedgehogs might just be cute enough, but are they small enough? Well, even if they are not, I’m sure they will find a home somewhere one day.

And then there is the two hats, to be embellished with some fabric flowers or something, because I am loving hats right now, due to the fact that I am WAY overdue for a haircut and colour so keeping it under a hat is the best look right now.

I will be linking this up to the usual parties, check them out on my sidebar to see other peoples awesome thrifty finds.

Funky Junk Friday

Imagine a huge room, full of objects discarded by people, fabric off cuts, half finished sewing projects, patterns, books, boxes, jars, tins, containers…… And it’s all free. This is the wonder that is “Funky Junk”. This is a place here in Tauranga where people can leave their unwanted “junk” and a place where others can find treasures. So every Thursday night I go to a craft night, which is right across from Funky Junk, and since I started going I have collected some great Junque. This is just like thrifting, only free, which is awesome.

These are some of my recent finds:

3 wooden lamp bases, which have had the wiring etc removed – these will probably be painted, and I have plans to possibly try to make one into the stand for a dress form (decorative).

A bunch of doilies – I just love doilies, one of the reasons I want to learn to crochet is so I can make them myself old-school style.

A metal “thing” which I think is some sort of pot stand – also needs a paint job and a little glass bowl or something to sit in it to hold crafty stuff like buttons (one day when I actually have space to display such things).

A cute little yellow glass bottle – just cause its cute.

Some retro little wooden dipping bowls – I have a set of salad bowls, chip bowls and salad servers to match.

A vintage blue tin with a gorgeous pattern on it – it’s gorgeous, what more do I need to say.

A little ceramic book thing – I want to paint it white, line the bottom with a bit of felt and make it a ring holder.

A metal candlestick – also needs a paint job, I can see the potential in anything.

The blue/green fabric under the lamps is a table runner (I think, at least that's what I plan to use it for), the other retro printed fabrics are placemats or napkins I think.

A cute little hand mirror with a floral design on the back.

A porcelain door knob (I know, that's pretty random) with a really cute floral design.

Little metal tins – there’s only a couple pictured, but I have quite a collection now, they will be altered and given as little gifts at some stage.

A lampshade form – again, potential.

A metal teapot – ummm, yeah, I’m just a bit obsessed with teapots and teacups at the moment, because of the party I am planning. I have found MANY teapots and teacups in funky junk, but they have been put away with the rest of the party stuff.

A whole bunch of wooden placemats – because you can never have too many ;-)

A basket – just because I liked the shape of it.

And more retro printed stuff and some other sewing related bits and pieces.

There’s plenty more where that came from, so I'm gonna try to make it a regular thing – Funky Junk Friday.

Linking up to Sophie's Flea Market Finds and Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures.