Thrifty Thursday

Wow - is it Thursday already? Where did the week go? After a not so great day on Tuesday, yesterday I decided I would make sure to take a trip to the thrift store in the hopes of making myself feel a bit better. And did I! Some great finds and I remembered about five minutes before I set off that yesterday was August 1st and I could buy my beloved fabric and sheets again, now that the Use What You Have Challenge is over (although I should probably really keep going with that for a while longer!). So, without further delay, here are the finds...


Is it possible to hit the holy grail twice in one year? Yes it is! That's right folks, another fully assembled quilt top with great retro prints. Not quite as bright or polyester-y as the last one, but still lots of fun. I'm not sure if I'll actually turn this one into a quilt - maybe I'll cut it up and make it into totes or something. Anyone else have any ideas for how to re-purpose this treasure?
Some fun retro Christmas prints - there's not much of these, but they are perfect for a little Christmas project I have up my sleeve.
These were in a grab bag of fabric, that when I opened it, I saw these! Ahhh! I love it when this happens. The edges are unfinished on these little embroidered tea cups, but they could be used for appliques or pockets. I'll think of something special to do with them.

And I bought about 40 retro patterns, which brings me to my next announcement. I've opened another Etsy store in which to sell these patterns (I have one serious collection now) and other vintage finds and fabrics. I know, I know - Etsy discourages sellers from having more than one store, but having one store just wasn't working out for me. Does anyone remember when I had patterns in Jump Up and Down? After I started putting handmade items in that shop, I felt like the patterns were overwhelming and distracted from my creations. So, I just took them out (there weren't very many at that point). And then I couldn't decide what to do - I still really wanted to sell patterns, but there was this whole two shop issue. So, I hemmed and hawed about it for a long time and I finally decided that despite Etsy's discouragement (which I think is mainly because they don't want people with two shops to be buying things from themselves, giving themselves feedback and basically breaking rules), I would go ahead with another shop - and The J Shop was born, about two weeks ago. I've already made a few pattern sales and I listed my first vintage items and fabric last night. And I have so much more to list - this will probably take a while. Go take a look!

Oh and to top off what was already a fabulous day, I recently found out that Sandi Henderson of Portabellopixie lives in the same town as me. I contacted her on Tuesday night and she invited me over yesterday to see the strike offs of her new fabric line!!! WOW! Have you ever seen fabric in it's making stages - so exciting and fun! Yesterday she shared a sneak peek with everyone on her blog, so you can have a look too. And Sandi is such a nice and friendly gal - thanks Sandi!

Happy Thrifting everyone and have a great weekend! We are off tonight to visit family.

P.S. Check me out here today and check out what I bought here. Thanks Leslie!