My mom offered to babysit the other day, so Hubs and I could go on a date. At first, we thought movie, but then we could not agree on what to see, then we thought dinner, but I dunno, it always turns out to be more expensive than you thought, and x many dollars later, what have you got to show for it. So instead, we decided to go to Value Village.
I know, I know, doesn't sound very romantic. But it was a V.V. that we hadn't been to before, that was a little ways away from where we live, so there was a bit of a car ride in there, which is always good talking time. And we both love to shop for second hand junk. What can I say, we are artists who make stuff out of other people's old stuff, so an hour at the V.V. really does feel like a good time. Hubs shops the electronics and knick knacks and glass ware, and I shop the bath and bed section, with a little bit of clothing and books, and then we hit the kids toys, books and clothes, but just quickly because the Little Dude doesn't need much, but I'm always on the lookout for a good pair of toddler shoes, old Fisher Price Little People toys, vintage picture books and nice little button down shirts. You never know what you'll find, that's the fun of the V.V.
Anyhow, thought I'd show you the fabrics I found. They are mostly all old bedsheets, as that's what I love to sew with and embroider on.
Some cute vintage kids sheets. Nice 70's jungle theme.
These guys are a nice touch. Bit out of the usual safari animal choices; lions, tigers, elephants, zebras etc. Interesting to see antelopes. (at least I think they are antelopes)
I had already bought a Peanuts sheet just like this, and used it all up making bibs, which were surprisingly popular. So I was happy to find another one.
This is only a pillowcase, but still super cute. Note that it is pre-elmo Sesame Street. Not that I've got a problem with Elmo, but he's kind of taken over the 'hood. I'll bet all the other Muppets kind of roll their eyes when they see him coming. Anyhow, I also love that Big Bird is reading a Seed Catalogue. Subtle humour. Though really, I think the background is my favourite part. I would buy it if it were just that nice alphabet print. Really spare, and nice. Here's a close-up.
See what I mean? Simple font-y goodness.
Also, I cannot leave behind a landscape-themed print. Probably from the 80's. Isn't it lovely though? Has a lot of great art-idea applications.
And then I found a whole set of John Deere tractor themed sheets, and matching curtains. But I only bought the pillowcase. Despite the fact that they had nice tractors on them, they were pretty ugly otherwise, with a poorly designed/boring beige gingham stripe pattern and the slogan 'runs like a Deere' in a really gross font all over them. It was only the pillowcase that had these nice isolated tractors. Also, the material quality was absolute dreck. Like loose woven sandpaper. That's why I buy vintage sheets mostly, because the fabric quality is so good. These are really recent, like probably the past five years, and you can tell from the poor fabric quality. I'd never put my kid to sleep under this quality of fabric. But I will make him a nice tractor picture for his wall. If I can find the time.
And here, is the best find of the week. Because I did not actually get it at the V.V. but at my local little thift shop here in town. This place is very hit or miss, and most of the time just has a lot of boring, recent stuff. But then again, from time to time I find something like this:
A lovely old, handmade quilt. Now, I won't rave about it too much, because I wasn't even sure I was going to buy it at first. To begin with, I find pink and blue to be a less than inspiring colour combo.
But upon reflection I was swayed by the sweet hand-made quality of it. Its totally hand quilted, and I believe even hand pieced.
And even the borders have all this lovely piecing in them. Also, I don't know if it was intentional that there are two shades of white used in it, or if when it was made, they looked like the same colour, and then just aged differently, but I really like how the white and off-white interact. I might have to use this same concept of two slightly different whites in the background of one of my own quilts.
And I won't tell you how much I paid for it, because people, it would make you weep hot tears of envy to know how inexpensive it was. I'm just sayin', I talked them down, and it wasn't that expensive to start with. But there are some large stains on it, so I won't ever be able to use it as a quilt, but I do have some vague plans to use it as a chopper and make something else out of it. That is, if I can ever bring myself to take a pair of scissors to something that someone else worked so hard on. At least it is not being used by someone as a moving blanket, or as the cover in the back seat of a car for someone's dog to sit on when it is rainy out. I'm telling you, I've seen old quilts used for both those purposes, and it makes me crazy.
Anyhow, it was a good thrift outing. I also got some books for both me and the Little Dude, and Hubs got a big coffee table book about the history of SciFi, so everyone's happy around here.
Comments