Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Craiglist and Thrift Store Finds

I love thrift stores here. I know some of my friends and family would shun second hand goods but I love the idea of recycling something, and best of all not paying the full price for it.

I go on Craiglist once a week to check out mainly furniture - I have been so inspired by a lady I met in Virginia who sold us this beautiful dresser which she hand painted herself. She has an inspiring blog called Painted Furniture. I used to think, "I don't have the space, I need the room, etc. before I start working on any of my bigger projects." Well, this lady lives in a smaller place than mine and that did not stop her! If she can do it, why can't I? I have no excuse not to get going! This is what we bought from her and it now sits in James' room. We love how it adds a pop into his room and he gets many comments when people see it. However, it will be there temporarily until we move into a house of our own then we can place it in a more prominent spot.


So anyway, we found this amazing bookstore, Friends of the Library, where there are tons of books donated by the library and general public. In Singapore, we used to wait for the event once every two years to be held at an expo center. Then, we would have to fight with the masses of people, and I mean masses (37,000 people to be exact over 2 days) for books. I am glad we have store here without needing to queue for hours and we get to select our books slowly and with some dignity! :)

So this week, we found these classic books for $3 each.

They are all hardcover and written by Munro Leaf. These are old, old books and have been reprinted. They have the most darling illustrations. Even though James will probably not read them as it is targeted at younger children, Cameron would be able to read them. They are on my keepers list of books but never bought them because they were so expensive to buy in Singapore, like $25 to $30 each due to postage from the USA. And to find four from Munro Leaf in a thrift store is such a bonus!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Christmas Redwork Quilt

Happy new year! Can you believe that I finally finished this quilt yesterday? That means that I will be ready with all these Christmas decorations for this years's Christmas!

It didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped because I used a wired ribbon, which I cut away leaving a plastic like ribbon to work with for the gold border, and it did not sit flat. I bought it because I could not find a ribbon which was 1 inch in width. They had 1.25 inches and 0.75 inches which was strange. Then I spied a roll of Christmas gold ribbon for wrapping presents and I thought it would work. It was a good but time consuming experiment, because next time, I will use 100% cotton fabrics.

The other thing I learnt while making the redwork was that I have to be so careful to tie up loose ends because they show right through the white muslin from the back! At first I thought my coloured thread was bleeding but it was due to this reason.


See how unevenly it is sitting? Nevermind, I will know for the next time!