Really good goods

You may recall in the not too distant past, we all took a little stroll through Karen's beautiful home, that one that's filled with loads of vintage charm and lots of vintage details.

And a couple of sweet cats.

 a peek into Karen's shop window

{click photo to enlarge}

I wanted to let you know that Karen is now an etsy shopkeeper where she's selling her amazing vintage finds -- gorgeous textiles, fun vintage housewares, sweet embroidered samplers and more.

I hope you'll swing by her shop and welcome her to the neighborhood.

Karen is also a longtime seller on ebay with more of her vintage finds there too including stunning vintage quilts, vintage kitchen accessories and Cath Kidston fabrics. 

Karen's etsy shop:  CCAAPPP

Karen's ebay seller i.d.:  PIESAFE

Hope you're having a wonderful day so far. It's blue skies here in Oregon!

Thrifterstitious

 

I think I'm thrifterstitious.

Somewhere along the line I've developed a little nonsensical ritual of following the Exact Same Route Every Single Time through the thrift stores I frequent and it has nothing to do with efficiency.

Here's the thrifterstitious part -- because if I change my route through the store, it will somehow affect the outcome of my shopping. I'm just sayin'...

You never know. 

And good thing I stuck to my route because all kinds of vintage treasure turned up.

Like this vintage Hendryx birdcage. This may be the thing that sends me back to selling on eBay if I can even remember how to do that, it's been so long.

Pretty little vintage embroidered flower baskets that will get transformed into lavender sachets in the Doily Factory.

A sweet vintage embroidered tablecloth in yellow & blue, also destined to become sachets.

Wave after wave of delicate, detailed vintage crochet which, as my mother used to say, I need like 'a hole in the head.' (I know!)

This terrific vintage feedsack quilt top -- all hand-stitched by a very industrious vintage crafter. 

There are so many fun prints on the quilt top that I made my own little quilt with them. A digital quilt, I mean. That still counts, right?

And my favorite piece of all -- just 10 cents. 

Hopefully these fabrics will make it through all steps of the De-Dirtification process and come out clean & damage-free. 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

sashaying around

The Doily Factory has been humming along lately with little stacks of these rolling off the assembly line. 

Is it really an assembly line when there's only one person doing the assembling?

Sachets or fancy ravioli? You decide. 

Making these lavender-filled sachets is perfect for my self-diagnosed short attention span because they pile up quickly which makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something.

I made these from a tattered and stained vintage dresser scarf with lots of 'good parts' left to use. I have to wonder what some of these old linens went through to end up looking the way they do.

I always admire the time and effort that went into the embroidery on these. Thank you, Anonymous Stitcher from the past. Your work is lovely. And enduring.

These were made from a dainty vintage tea towel and one lone napkin. Someone was so meticulous -- every little stitch is perfect.

These are from a pretty white-on-white vintage doily embroidered with grapes and leaves. 

And now, a special request. 

Please make this weather stop. I want to wear sandals. 

Thank you.

No Before Followed By No After

This is the Before & After story where I don't want to show you the 'before' (not good) and can't show you the 'after' (there isn't one). Yet.

In the old place, the Sad-&-Listless-Sofa-of-Much-Wear-&-Tear sat against a wall and was flanked by end tables and ottomans and fireplaces and other distractions, buried under pillows and decorative throws and the occasional visiting Greyhound.

Sadly, not any longer. Now it's the center of the universe where its many flaws and scars can be viewed from any and every angle, each spot and nubbin highlighted, shouting out "Look at me!"

Great.

So I've finally been forced to remove my blinders and Make. That. Slipcover. Or at least begin the process which involves so much math my eyes were watering before I even had my pencil sharpened. But I can't buy the fabric without doing the math so Phase 1 is now complete.

Fabric store, here I come.

Meanwhile, I've been self-medicating with some incoming fabrics like this.

And this. 

This is my all-time favorite vintage barkcloth print. I have this same print in another color and I photographed it to use as my screensaver.

And a teeny, tiny photo of it appears on my bank checks. Because I love it so much.

Here's a sneak peek of some Doily Factory output. The one good thing about moving is it gets me reacquainted with my vintage fabric stash so I've been busy making lavender sachets from old, embroidered bits and pieces.

Hope to have my etsy shop, VintageHome, up & running soon.

Tall Lady, Come Back!

While my doily factory has definitely been in overdrive as of late, I did manage to shut down operations for a bit on Saturday so I could get some 'fresh air' and 'recharge'.  I headed straight to some thrift stores and estate sales.

Found lots of great stuff and this little piece is one of my favorites. I think it's destined to become a pillow at some point.

After I was done shopping for the day I spotted an estate sale sign on my way to the post office and as Barbara at Oodles and oodles once said, "It seemed silly not to stop."

This was Day 2 of the sale but there were still several treasures to be had and at rock bottom prices including a garage full of furniture I had to pretend wasn't there because I don't have room for any more furniture. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

My first job out of art school was as a designer for a company that made needlecraft kits so I'm always drawn to vintage embroidery and needlepoint. Snow and cottage scenes are my favorites therefore a snow-covered cottage is the mother lode. Love that little curl of smoke from the chimney. Someone wrote 'Sept. 1940' on the back of these.

I paid for these Montana glasses and then promptly neglected to take them home with me (hands too full of other good stuff). I'd forgotten all about them until my neighbor came over, excited to show me what she bought at the estate sale right before it closed ... 'my' Montana glasses!

She too saw them at the sale, was told they'd been sold to a 'tall lady with brown hair' and they were giving Tall Lady a few minutes to return before selling them to anyone else. Fortunately, my alert neighbor assumed I was Tall Lady and re-purchased the glasses for me! 

I just remembered I owe her a quarter. Thanks Neighbor!