I did a little last minute, pre-Christmas thrift shopping that I have to show you, because I got a couple of really nice things. The V.V. was having a 50% off day for card members (yes, I have a Value Village Super Saver club card. Don't judge) but I told myself that I was only going to buy things that were awesome, not just fun, or cool. Things that I'd actually use, or were really special. Also, I was not even allowing myself to go into the book section. And I did three major edits of my cart, including leaving a few items behind at the cash, so I managed to reign myself in. I have to keep telling myself, we're going to have to move again someday, and put all this stuff into boxes and carry it downstairs and up stairs and put it all into a truck and then unpack it all, and it had better be worth it, right?
So, here are a few things that are worth it.

Adorable little girls vintage dress. Tags still on. Awesome.

Probably from the 70's, so not that old, but still, it will look nice on my wall with all the other vintage little girls dresses. You know, when I get around to putting them up on the wall of my studio some day.

A couple of men's shirts for cutting up and sewing with. The Baby needs a couple more droolers. Also, you should have seen how many shirts I had in my cart, but I narrowed it down to just these two because they are really iconic plaids, the epitome of men's plaid shirt-y-ness. In fact, I tried to talk Hubs into wearing them, but the black one was the wrong size and he was having none of the red one. "maybe as a costume" he says to me. Meh.

This is another little vintage kids item, though not as old as the dress probably. I just love the simple stripes, and the slimness of the cut. I have a similar little t-shirt that a friend got for me at a thrift shop when I was expecting the Little Dude. He wore it all the time, and the Baby wears it now, (he's wearing it in this post) and its one of my favourite clothing items for him. I just really like the fit on these slightly older things. They have to be from the 70's though, because kids clothes from the 80's (especially toddler and baby clothes) are really horrid and boxy in their fit, which I don't like the look of at all. I haven't tried this on L.D. yet, but when I do I'll be sure to take a picture and post it.
But the best score of the day is what I'm calling my Christmas present to myself. Feast your eyes on this.
LOOK at that; a good sized quilt for our bed, at last! I've got such big plans for a quilt that, one day, I will make myself for our bed. But you know how it is, I've got several sketches, lots of swatches, and no foreseeable chunk of time in the near future when I will actually get around to making it. It'll probably be something I finally get around to for our twentieth anniversary or some such thing. But in the mean time, we really, really needed a proper quilt for our bed (we used to have a sweet little twin quilt laid sideways across the bed that did not fit it at all, but we were making do with just the same) and so, the universe sent me a quilt for Christmas.

I have to tell you, I almost left it behind on the rack because at first glance, all folded up, I wasn't that impressed. The colours were not unusual or inspiring and it did not look particularly vintage. But upon reflection, I decided to unfold it and look at the full item, and the simplicity of the traditional pattern, done up in simple solids it makes such a great visual impact that I decided it was coming home with me.

What really got me of course is that it is hand stitched. A hand-quilted quilt (do you have any idea how time consuming that is?) and its on the rack at the V.V. for $12.99! Which made me sad for the person who made it, but then again, happy for me, because it was half price day, so I got a hand made quilt for $6.49. Ridiculous!

Although, I have to say that its not the most well made quilt I've ever seen. The binding is really weird and wonky, with no batting in it and seems to have been added as an afterthought, just kind of haphazardly whip-stitched in place. Very strange. But on the other hand, this means that since its not someone's masterpiece, I can just use it, and not be too precious about it; not worrying if the baby spits up all over it or if it gets worn a bit. Also, it withstood washing and drying very well (my Mom kindly took it home and washed it in her large capacity washer and dryer, so it did not get a wrung about as it would in my tiny little apartment sized washing machine. Thanks Mom!) Though I really should not be too critical of this quilt. The patchwork is an eight pointed star pattern made of diamonds, which is something I have yet to attempt. Working with diamonds is much harder than squares or triangles, as the sides of the diamonds, since cut on the bias, tend to stretch making piecing very difficult. Also, it was set on the diagonal in a Union Square set pattern, with an unpieced block alternating which is what gives it such a great negative/positive flow.

And look what else the unknown maker of this quilt did. There is no signature or date, but there is this one tiny little bit of embroidery. Which is find is very interesting in an otherwise very plain quilt. I imagine that this was her signature, which is really a very lovely idea. Perhaps there are other butterfly embellished quilts floating around out there, being rescued from thrift stores by other handwork loving sentimentalists.

And no matter what I put on top of the bed, look who takes every opportunity he can to crawl under it. Its so funny, whenever I put him down on the ground in the bedroom, he heads straight under the bed. And it is filthy under there; herds of dust rhinos gathering between the boxes of summer clothes and winter blankets. He always comes out looking like a baby swiffer. But he is always so pleased to be under there playing peek-a-boo that I don't have the heart to haul him out too soon. Plus, he pretty much does the dusting for me, so I can't complain.