For the chair

It seems that I have passed on some of my love for old things to at least one child.

Kara, my eldest, keeps appropriating my precious finds. This chair cost me a mere two dollars at a garage sale years ago. 

It was quickly recovered and then served as a dog chair downstairs at our last house. It's been sprayed for fleas many times and lately washed with a gentle bleach solution. The rain hit it often and possibly even the rottweiler and some native birds have sat in it. 

But now it serves as a cushion holder in Kara's bedroom. She claims she is taking it when she moves out shortly along with some of my other vintage bits and bobs. 

OK. I've agreed but only because I have too many. 

The latest batch of cushions were made from recycled skirts - one from a swap and the other bought at the thrift store - and filled with brand new inserts gifted by a friend who bought the covers cushions but didn't like the fact that they were so plump. 

The map at the rear is a piece of printed fabric found on the net and turned into a throw with a backing of fabric from Ikea.

The Mamma of all Teapots.

I can't remember if I picked this up at a garage sale or else where but I do remember my heart going all a-flutter as soon as I saw this grand old dame.

She's a little the worse for wear, although much shinier in real life but she still has all the curves in the right places.

And very heavy like any good Mamma should be.

On another note, I thought I would share this link with you. 

Just click on the picture to download a button that clearly lets your readers know if you are happy or not for them to pin from your site.

Colours in my washing machine.

Inspired by the  AWESOME library chick from Ballarat (she's after postcards from anywhere and everywhere so click on the link if you can help her) I have finally started saving fabrics for a rag rug. 

I am intending to use the toothbrush method although my toothbrush may or may not actually be that. I love to invent so I'll investigate what suits me.

As you can see the colours favour pinks and blues. The blacks in there are a maxi picked out by a friend I bumped into at the oppy and an overseas destination inspired skirt from Lavender Blue that will either be worn by DD1 or cut up for a poster or cushion.

Have you found some happyfying bits and bobs lately?

Would you like to  join in with RicRac's slow rag rug-a-long?

The latest

 I saw this at the oppy the other day but took a night to realise that I really wanted it.

A day of work and rain, another day for the memorial service, the weekend and now finally it is home.

It will probably take me a while to get the enrgy up to recover it and I am at a total loss about where I want to go with my base colour for decorating.

White would be nice.

Kids - even young adults.

Dogs.

Well maybe not white.

Looks like I'll just have to keep searching.

I'm totally in love with those arms!

Corners of my home

Today Kate spoke about her home being a Copper Art home. Now I don't for a moment believe that to be really true but I guess many of us can identify with starting our homes with stock, standard decorating ideas.

There is no real reason though why we should continue to be crowd followers if we don't want to. 

I've used my very dodgy camera to point and shoot a few corners of my home to prove that it doen't need to take a lot of money to make a home feel individual.

 

Shoe cupboard $5  garage sale 

Picture $1 op shop 

Small table free curbside 

Basket from my childhood 

Table free curbside find
Doily $1 op shop
Jug $3 op shop

Table from ebay $200 including 6 chairs some of which are no longer with us

Various chairs from op shop or garage sale - most expensive $15

China cabinet free from friend
Pretties from ebay, op shops or garage sales.
Only the cats were bought new.

One jug bought new.

The other one thrifted.

Lavender left over from days gone by when I had more money than sense.

T-shirt refashion

Take one Black Pepper t-shirt with a touch of bling

Cut a couple of inches of the hem. 

Slit it down the centre.

Shape the neckline and undo and inch or so of the shoulder seam.

Sew beautiful cotton lace purchased by beautiful daughter whilst in New York along the bottom.

Sew more beautiful lace along the centre.

Do a touch of handsewing, including attaching some buttonsand neatening the shoulder seams etc.

Now you have a refashioned Black Pepper t-shirt jacket.

Hooray!

Re-using a cot

Now that I have moved to a new house my sewing space is in the lounge room. Fortunately the kitchen/dining/family room is open plan and perfect for our normal family life . This means that having the sewing in the lounge room is no big deal. 

Still, my old cutting table, which was a six seater dining table that had been raised several inches using all manner of goodies from Bunnings, was too large for this new area so it went to the tip with all the rest of the clutter that got thrown out on moving day. I am glad it went because in the end it had to be held together with string and the height adjusters would fall off every time I re-arranged the room.

So... I needed a new cutting table.

Even though I am only short I like my table to be high enough that I don't need to bend over when using the rotary cutter.

What could I get that would fill not only the height requirements but also allow me to hide all the goodies I used to store on and over my old table?

Why, a cot of course!

Found at the op-shop for a mere $15 and in a lovely aged cream colour this folding wooden cot is perfect.

At the moment I am just using a piece of 9mm MDF from the shed on the top but I think in time I will get a piece that fits correctly so their are no gaps for goodies to drop through. The best part is that I can store things in the cot (hidden by vintage tableclothes when I get that far) and also underneath.

PS In the interest of sanity I have not vacuumed the floor or tidied anything up.

What I've been doing

 We hope to move soon although getting a rental home with three dogs, even if they are tiny, is not going to be easy.

Howeve, the decision to move has been made so I am slowly getting ready.

At the moment that just means culling the contents of this house so that it will be easier to move.

Our present house is high set so everything that leaves the house has to be taken down stairs. That does not make for any easy move.

Today I cleaned out my special kitchen cupboard. Mostly it just needed a clean with soap and water as it is right next to the stove and appears to allow a whiff of oily air in. I was happy to see that despite a couple of years of no attention my cupboards are in really good shape.

It was a pleasure handling all those vintage and collector plates.
I think I might hang some up in the new house as the really aren't that heavy and I should be able to use those horrid rental hooks without fear of them falling off. 

 

I rediscovered these 'Original Suffolk Cannisters' that I had picked up at a garage sale a while ago.

Although I do like them I'm thinking of selling them on ebay as they are too good to just leave in the cupboard unused. 

The same with the retro Royal Worcester egg cups. They are cute but really not me so it is time to let them go.

To keep in with everyone else I should be retro but the truth is I prefer vintage feminine and floral. 

Two of my large cannisters finally got the shove today. It was really hard to throw them out as originally they made a set of five in descending order but now I only have three left. I bought these nearly 30 years ago from a place called 'Earth and Fire' near Bendigo in Victoria and have carted them everywhere since.

Other than that only one saucer went out today because it's colouring really didn't go with the rest.

Curbside boutique shopping list

OK So this what I threw out.

Loads of worn out stuff from the dog motel under my house, and miles of rust. I graciously offered my friends any amount of rust they wanted, but only for this week, but they all refused.

Funny that.

Anyway I thought it was time to clear out as much as I could, especially in view of the fact that my kids want me to move again in a couple of months if we can find a landlord kind enough to take our three little dogs as well as us and the rent. 

I was intending to be a good girl and not bring anything home and I believe I showed remarkable restraint.
I left behind a vintage bassinette complete with stand and tray underneath, loads of carved table legs that could always be used for something, two painted lattices with frames and even a huge peg board.
How good is that?!
Then there were the other two white cane chairs with suss bottoms and some possible vintage suitcases, white concrete planters and I dread to think what else.
O yes. There was that gorgeous stripped old dresser minus it's mirror and some picture frames I managed to ignore.
I think I had better not dwell too long on all those lost goodies or I might have to have a little cry because I know their fate is the crusher truck.
 *******

For my memory - the list of goodies found:

*2 humungous, perfect clay pots with saucers for an eighty year old friends garden

*1 perfect wave board to be shared by everyone

*2 large baskets for me

*1 big pink cane toy box with attached lid - not sure who for yet

*1 cane picnic basket in perfect condition sans the dishes

*1 white cane decorative planter basket for me

*4 different leather or leather type bags including a Gladstone style one - probably to be sold, possibly on ebay

*2 heavy metal dining style chairs in wrought iron for me - must keep them out of the rain so they don't rust

*1 perfect, virtually new, white cane chair to add to my collection but being minded by a special friend who doesn't want the big dog downstairs to wreck it (!)

*1 vintage treadle base (the rest is going to be removed as it is already falling to pieces), slightly rusty - but who cares - it's a Singer

 *1 already stripped vintage small table to  be used as a gardening table for now - seen here with items from past shopping sprees

*1 el-cheapo style milk tin with lid - I just love milk pails so this one will have to do

and

TaDaa!:

I've left the best for last.

I surreptiously stripped these covers from a ruined parker chair on the outskirts of town.  only to see newer style fabric underneath. 

Somebody went to great lengths to cover these with gorgeous fabric then threw them out before there were any major signs of wear. Lucky me!

Dr Zhivago in Sydney

Shattering.

Compelling.

Powerful.

It will reach you from the third or fourth scene.

And hold you till the end.

Even without Anthony Warlow, who injured himself minutes before the first preview, this show is a masterpiece.

Hats off to Anton Berezin for a wonderful performance. 

He may not have been up to scratch on the first night (knowing all the scores but not all his placements), but bearing in mind that what we saw was actually a preview to the world premiere he did great to be flawless by his second go. 

Maybe Berezin could even BE Dr Zhivago? 

He certainly was mine.

I hated the intermission but it was needed to change scenery as the story relocates from the streets of Moscow to rural Russia.

The music is also noteworthy and is sure to sell once it makes the CDs.

The Lyric Theatre in Sydney's Star City has perfect sound and stageworkings but from what I could make out is a fire trap. 

There was no clear signage anywhere as to how to enter or leave. 

The elevators were overloaded with people hoping to find the right floor and the casino, which is where we landed has no obvious way out. Very disappointing and also rather distressing to have to mingle with depressed people senselessly wasting their money right after such a profound show.

In other news, the trip to Rozelle Markets was fun.

I found this vintage vase for a friend, another non-matching chair for around my dining table and sundry other items, including clothes and cloth.

A lovely weekend in Sydney. 

Thankyou Kara!

How much is a koala bear?

 I found this poor koala sitting all lonely at the op shop the other day and just knew he belonged to me.

You see, when I was little my brother had the smaller version of this (and still does!!) but I had nothing.

Then we moved to Bundaberg for a few months and Mum bought us pale blue ice blocks to keep us cool through the long humid nights. 

I thought mine resembled a bear because of those bits that stick up around the neck of the block.

Finally Mum got the message that I also needed something special and bought me a handcrafted toy.

The closest I could get to the prized bear was a penguin.

He was great but never a leather koala.

So now I have a bear.

A real live vintage leather bear.

The questions are: 

How old is he? 

and 

What is he really worth?

If anyone out there knows anything about these please tell me. 

His nose is genuine, the eyes are glass and seem to stick out a bit and he appears to be stuffed with some sort of firm yellowish foam which obviously has now aged.

New artwork

I found this today.

I'm not a connoiseur.

I don't know if it is good enough.

But I like it.

Possibly Venice???
That's what I will think when I see it anyway.

Someone else thinks it's worth looking at too.

Chicken scratch

Chicken scratch is a form of cross stitch embroidery done on gingham fabric, also known as Teneriffe Lace, Snowflaking, Depression embroidery or Depression lace, gingham lace or Amish embroidery.

You either like it or you don't but more than likely you are reminded of some old lady in a small cottage serving food.

Maybe your Grandma. Maybe her apron.

I am now reminded of a certain blogger who has just learned the meaning of the term and who should receive some of these about a week after I send them.

Hopefully she will hand their beauty on to future little ones in the form of gorgeous clothing.

I am sure a child would have great fun tracing the tactile stitches and dreaming that they too could make something like this.

And really this is a form of embroidery that a lot of children could learn because it relies on three common stitches: the running stitch, the double-cross stitch and the woven circle.

Beginner stitches sewn onto the easily recognisable graph of gingham.
I am not sure where to find the old patterns but i am sure you could convert simple cross stitch motifs into chicken scratch patterns as it would appear that the lady who made these aprons did.

The $19 makeover and reveal

I so wish I had remembered to take some before photos for you but all I have is a quick shot of the original curtains. I made these for my friends spare room about three years ago. The match the bedcover really well even though they are just scraps of curtain fabric sewn together.

Anyway this was the sort of colours that were in this room before I arrived today for a quick makeover.

This incredible bunk bed was made by the grandfather for the arrival of his two grand-daughters who are to spend 6 weeks here before and during school holidays. 

The man is a wizz with any power tools and has a mind that doesn't accept defeat.

He is intending to make his resident grandson a similar contraption but with desk, etc under it.

Great ideas for tiny spaces.

So the bed was painted in light blue for grand-daughter 1 and trimmed in strong purple for grand-daughter 2.

But I came along and thought the bedding colours were all wrong.

A blue dolphin doona cover that had originally belonged to my oldest for the purple lover and that adult grey-brown colour for the pale blue lover.

The chest of drawers had slips that matched the grey-brown look to cover them.

What is a girl to do if she thinks it's not quite right but offer to do a quick makeover.

The offer was accepted so last night I madly washed the new-from-the-oppie blue vintage sheets and then proceeded to rip and sew until all the really weak areas were gone. It took two single sheets to make the top of this cover. The bottom is left overs from something that belonged to the grandma I think.

We tend to share stuff around here and I don't always remember where things came from.

Today I had to do a mad dash down to the shops for milk for breakfast so I took the opportunity to pop into the oppie to get extra props for the room.

$13 later I had 4 soft toys, enough blue fabric to work two pillow cases from and a new doona cover in lilac and pinks for the younger one.

Everything got washed and dried while I struggled with my machine to finish the blue bedding.

Then it was over to the house to set up the beds and work out what else needed doing.

After another trip to the oppie and then parting with $6 more. I had enough to complete the makeover just in time before the family came back from picking the girls up from the airport.

I added a white cane chair from my bedroom topped with a thrifted blue sheet ($1) which is there to protect the new cushions (50 cents each!).

A pretty lace runner from my house and a $4 cream doona cover thrown over the curtain rail and tied back with scraps of blue from the pillow cases.

I would have liked to cut the doona in half so that the frills were in the middle and each panel could be tied back but I know the grandma well enough to know that she would prefer to have the complete cover for another day.

She is a very grateful and resourcefully frugal woman and I know that it will not go to waste.

I am really happy about this super fast makeover and got lots of kisses which I think means everyoine else is too!