craigslist loot report (or, why my stash continues to grow out of control)

It's been a long time since I did a loot report! I've been trying to stick to a "sew more, loot less" plan, by which I limit myself to:

• one weekly trip to my favorite Value Village (usually with Vada, as a mommy-daughter date).
• Friday or Saturday morning garage saling, but only if I go with a friend. Sometimes I'll go with Vada, but only if it's a rummage sale, or a garage sale in our neighborhood.
• Craigslist "stash sales", but again only if I go with a friend.

You wouldn't think there would be too many in that last category, but there have been at least 3 so far this summer. I took screenshots, so you can see what the temptation looks like, along with the loot I picked up.

I really tried to resist this one. I mailed the link to my friend Chara, because it was much closer to her house. But she somehow twisted my arm into going with her, and we somehow managed to fill up a 50-yard bin together. Of course, Chara only got a few yards (darn her!), and the rest was all mine. Here's a sampling - some Halloween prints...

a fun set of coordinating bowling fabric... (Do I bowl? No. Know someone who bowls? No. But it was cute! I'm sure I can turn it into a donation quilt or some pillowcases or something!)

And a bunch of pretty solids...

Then there was THIS sale. Again, I tried hard to resist. I really did! I mailed the link to Chara and my friend Quynh, hoping that one of them would buy it, so I wouldn't have to. Quynh took the bait, but then she brought the stash over to MY house to sort through. Very clever, that girl! Of course I somehow ended up with more than half!

Just look at those piles of fabric! There was a whole bag of scraps and strips and random leftovers too. So much fun to look through!

And one more... Quynh and I hit up this sale on Sunday. Funny enough, the seller was one of the gals from my Project Linus group!

For once, I was not the big spender! For $6, I brought home this stack...

I was so happy to find that cute kitty reproduction print. I have no plans for the piggies, but they were too adorable to pass up!

Ditto for this small vintage piece. Can you spot the nursery rhyme characters?

I also got a couple pretty mod vintage prints. These are lighter weight (probably poly blends of some sort), which I thought might make some nice skirts.

And for another 50 cents each, I picked up these...

I should have put something in the picture for scale - these are 6000 yard spools! They are A&E Perma Core thread, normally about $10 each. Nice deal!

If you're interested in checking out Craigslist for stash sales in your area, Ircabbit has a great post about 'how to pwn at Craigslist' (love that title!).

And if you're in the Redmond, WA area and want to sell your stash, whatever you do, please don't tell me about it!

lucky me!

I was so thrilled to win a giveaway on the Vintage Sheets blog for a copy of this pattern by Melissa at Under Construction. It was love at first sight when I saw this lovely ruffly confection:



As soon as I saw it, I thought of my overflowing bin of sheet hems. Ever since I started collecting vintage sheets, I've been cutting off the hems and saving them. I had no idea what I would make with them, but now I do! Thank you so much, Jen & Melissa!



And last week, I won this sweet package of Anna Maria Horner goodies from Scott at Blue Nickle Studios. I love the bits of fabric, and the notebook is awesome (I've been needing one to keep upstairs in my sewing room - perfect!). I'm totally jazzed about the bootie pattern, and I will definitely be making some of those for baby gifts. Thanks, Scott! (And Anna Maria!)



And even better, I found out that Scott is my neighbor! I knew he lived in WA, but for some reason I thought it was somewhere on the coast. But his day job is just down the road from me in Redmond. Small world! It was fun to meet a real quilt designer, who has actually been to the Quilt Market and all that! Almost like a real celebrity! :-)

purge party

First, a confession - I totally wimped out on the Fabric Stash Purge Party. I went as far as going through my stash of "old" fabrics (the non-quilting ones), and I culled out a whole bin of fabric to sell. But then I just ran out of time and energy, and could not see myself driving into Seattle three days in a row (Friday to drop off the stuff, Saturday to shop, Sunday to pick up anything that didn't sell). So, I'll just save the bin until October, and try again!

But I did go on Saturday, and dragged along my friend Ahava. Last time I only snapped a couple pics on my way out the door, but this time I asked and they were okay with pictures, so here's a full report...

First, there was one long row of all quilting cottons, everything from baggies of scraps to FQs to yards and more. The prices varied from about $1/yard to $4/yard. I didn't see much designer stuff, or any highly collectible fabrics, but I'm also not really an expert on that!



The other rows of fabrics were more cottons and vintage, then fashion fabrics (knits, woolens, synthetics, etc.). There were sections for holiday fabrics, fleece, flannel, home dec, batting, and bolts. At the very back were several sewing machines and sergers.





In the back, there were tables full of yarns, trims, beads, scrapbooking supplies...



and books, patterns, threads, and every other crafting product under the sun!



We were there at about 10:30, I think (they opened at 10), and it was not as busy as I thought it would be on the first day. I'd say the quilting cotton row was most popular, but it was not too crowded to shop, and everyone was well-behaved. ;-)

Here's my tiny bit of loot - $5 for 3 yards of pretty novelty prints. It was supposed to be 4 yards, as that top print was marked as 2 yards but was really only 1 (grrr....).

Oh, and I'm splitting this lovely piece of Kaffe Fassett with Ahava (6 yards for $18!). She posed with it to make it seem like that's the only purchase she made, but there were a few more items stacked at her feet! ;-)

I-Spy swap

Karen from Sew Many Ways hosted an I-Spy swap a while back, and I was so excited to get my bundle of squares in the mail. They're all so great, and will make a wonderful I-Spy quilt!

Not only did Karen host an excellent swap, she also sent a little gift in each swapper's return package. I have no idea where she found the time, but it was such a delightful surprise! I recognized the I-bolt sewing necklace from one of the many clever ideas from her Tool Time Tuesday posts, which I always look forward to reading. Thank you so much, Karen!

Are you guys all getting excited about the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day on Wednesday? I sure am. I may or may not be giving away some vintage linens - you'll just have to come back to find out. I just wish I could take the day off from work to visit all the other blogs to sign up for all the other giveaways!

Oh, and I almost forgot about the notebook cover giveaway! The lucky winner is #1 - Leslie of Fluff & Nonsense!! Yay! She already posted her awesome SMS giveaway - a layer cake of Wonderland by Momo. Go enter!

In other, less pleasant, news... I seem to have caught the flu. I don't know if it's THAT flu, because I don't feel that bad. Just off-and-on chills, aches, low fever and fatigue. You know, not horrible, but enough to keep me from doing anything productive, which sucks extra bad on a holiday weekend. All that free time - wasted!! Still, I'm counting my blessings that I don't feel worse - maybe all my years of getting flu shots have helped some. (Except for this year, due to the short supply - how ironic!) Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and my hands washed) that my husband and daughter don't catch it... At least they both had their shots this year (the seasonal one anyway). Knock on wood and all that.

loot report

Just when I thought my garage sale season was over... There were TWO rummage sales this weekend AND another quilter's stash sale! I'm beginning to think my husband is right - Seattle is where quilters go to retire! But at $4 per yard, the prices were a bit crazy for a garage sale, so I left empty-handed. Probably for the best, anyhow!

I have been keeping an eye out for wool sweaters to try out felting, and finally scored a few (and only 50 cents each!) at one of the rummage sales. I really wish I had taken a "before" picture, because this sweater shrunk SO much, I could hardly believe my memory of its original size. But there's the tag - it really was a women's size large. Look how tiny it became! I wonder if I even have enough material to try this project? We'll see! The other two sweaters didn't shrink as much, but still might be usable. It was a fun experiment, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for more in the future. Oh, and I learned that I should have removed those buttons before I washed the sweater - they were a bear to remove!

I also hit up the thrift store, and found this awesome old Christmas fabric - 5 yards for $2.50. Just look at that adorable chipmunk! How could I pass it up? The selvage says 1993... I wonder what it's been doing for the last 16 years?? I think its time has come, and I might just make a tablecloth out of it.

And of course, a few more vintage sheets I couldn't pass up. I love that purple one, because it's the ONLY purple sheet I've ever found! I wonder why it's so rare? Seems like every other color is represented but purple... Was it just that unpopular back in the day?

fabric stash purge party

Last week, I happened upon an ad for a Fabric stash purge party. I can't even remember where I saw the ad - most likely on Craigslist. I really wanted to go on Saturday, but ended up going on Sunday instead. And that was okay - I mostly wanted to scout it out to see how it all worked, in the hopes of maybe joining in the next time they had one. It sounds like a GREAT way to unload some fabric without going to the trouble of having a garage sale, or having to do shipping like you would with eBay or etsy.

I was too shy to take many pictures, so here's a quick one I snapped through the doorway on my way out.



As you can see, it was in a big warehouse type place, so there was plenty of room for tons of fabric, and plenty of space to move around. It wasn't too crowded on Sunday morning - I wonder how crazy it was on Saturday? They had a wide variety of fabrics, pretty well sorted by type (cottons, synthetics, flannels, fleece, upholstery, etc.). In the back, they had more tables with all sorts of other crafty supplies - books, trims, stamps, patterns, yarn, etc. And there were also a couple other tables heaped with just fabric scraps (mostly upholstery stuff) - fill a bag for $2 or something like that. My only complaints were that parking sucked (there was some charity fun run next door) and that the checkout was painfully slow, because they had to do so much work to keep track of what was sold. But other than that, it seemed well run, and I think I'll try it out next time.

The individual sellers priced their own goods, and sometimes added extra info like length, width, manufacturer, etc. Some were bagged, and some were not. I thought the pricing was pretty high, but maybe all the more reasonably priced stuff sold the day before? My main purchase was this stack of flannel scraps, each one about 1/2 yard or so, for about $8. I'm always on the lookout for bits of flannel to make scrappy rag quilts with, so I was happy to find a nice variety of small cuts.



And I couldn't pass up this ginormous (12000 yards!!!) cone of white cotton thread. I put a normal 1200 yard spool of thread next to it for scale. And actually, it wasn't just one spool, it was four spools, for $4. I haven't tried a cone this big with the cone thread holder I have for my sewing machine - I sure hope it works!



And finally, I picked up this sweet little trim for $1. It's little girlies with fringe dresses - how cute!

tiny bit o' loot

It wouldn't be a trip to Portland without a Saturday morning spent garage saling with my pals. I miss them so much! Most of what I bought was toddler clothes (useful, but boring!). The only crafty find was this set of 3 gingham crib sheets ($1 each).



They will be added to the gingham collection that is slowly growing in my closet...



I have no real plan for these, other than "maybe a quilt someday". Or maybe just quilt backs? What would you do with them?

By the way, my chocolate covered potato chips were in a 3-way tie for 4th place in the dessert category at the Potato Fest. Funny enough, TWO other people brought the same thing!! It was the first year anyone brought them, and then 3 people did. I blame Google. :-)

it never hurts to ask!

Vada and I hit up some garage sales yesterday morning, as we usually do on Saturdays (while my husband sweeps and mops the house - how nice, huh?). At one sale, I saw some old lawn chairs with cushions wrapped in these cool floral pillow cases. I asked the seller if she would just sell me the pillow cases, and she said "Sure! I think I might have the sheets upstairs, want me to check?" I said sure! She came down a few moments later without those sheets (darn!), but with the blue one on the bottom, and 4 matching pillow cases. All are in perfect shape, and it was only $2 for everything! Sweet!!



A different sale had a box full of small (1/2 and 1/4 yd) cuts of novelty fabrics, and of course I couldn't pass it up! Check out all these edibles!



And I love the fortune cookies, and the Hawaiian shirts, and the old fashioned valentines!

There was more, but those were my favorites. I think there were 36 different prints, about 14 yards, for $13. I probably could have paid less, because a teenage boy was doing the selling and he seemed more than happy with my offer. But $1/yard is a fair garage sale price, so it's all good.

And as much as I love it, I'm going to try to cut back on my fabric collecting. Yes, seriously! I can't seem to stop finding the stuff, and I can't resist when I do find it, so the only solution is to shop less. (Shop less - sew more! Use the loot!) It's going to be hard, because I really really love the hunt! But I'm not going cold turkey - my new plan is to only go on Saturday mornings with the poochkins, and that's it. I normally go on Friday mornings too, so this will be a good way to cut back. It makes me sad to think that in a short couple of months, garage sale season will be over anyway... Good thing the thrift stores are open all year 'round. ;-)

Please don't hate me... (and another giveaway!)

I made a major fabric score at a garage sale last weekend. We were heading out of town for another trip down to Portland, and I twisted my husband's arm to stop at just one garage sale on the way out of town. Hey, it was sort of on the way! In the right direction, anyway. :-)

Oh my goodness, the fabric! You know how sometimes an ad will say "quilting fabric", and it turns out to be all powder blue and maroon calico grandma stuff? Well, this was just the opposite! It was all bright, new, fun stuff - mostly Alexander Henry, but a bunch of others too.

Check this out - on the left is yardage and half yards, and the stack on the right is all FQs. Yeah, I went a little crazy! I was like a kid in a candy store - the husband was hup-hupping me, so I just grabbed anything that looked pretty. And then I had to wait a WHOLE DAY to look closer at what I had picked up. Agony, I tell ya!



Here's a closeup of some of my favorites...

Okay, are you ready for the numbers? That's about 37 yards of mostly designer fabric, for $32. I know, unbelievable. I've found so much great fabric at yard sales this year! I keep thinking I'll never see another great sale like the last one, but they just keep coming (knock on wood!). My husband said that he thinks Seattle must be where quilters go to retire. :-)

I guess I'm superstitious, and I think that maybe if I share some of my great scores, I'll find more. :-) So, let's do another giveaway... how about a surprise package? Leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite color is. I'll pick a winner on Sunday night. Your prize will be a random mix of fat quarters and/or fat eighths that all contain your favorite color. I'm not sure how much total fabric there will be, that depends on the color you pick and where I have to ship it to (international is fine)!

loot, plus a little giveaway

I went to the best rummage sale on Saturday morning! Not the greatest stuff, but just the most well-run I've ever seen. First of all, when you walked up, they had teens handing out little toys and plastic leis to any little kid that wanted one. Brilliant way to keep the parents shopping - give the kids something to play with! Then, they had a free pancake breakfast, with coffee and juice, and free bottled water. The pricing was good too, and the clothes were all "fill a bag for $5" (and it was a big bag!). Those bulk deals make so much sense to me when it's a charity sale, because it saves time when you're checking out, and people end up buying more than they normally would. You probably make just as much money AND you don't have nearly as much to haul away when you're done!

My fun find was a huge box of fabric for $2. It was a tall narrow box, and at the top was this adorable ballerina print. I didn't even dig further - I figured this piece alone was worth $2, and whatever else I found would just be a bonus.



I hauled the unwieldy box home, and excitedly dug through it. Sadly, it didn't hold any fantastic treasures. It was mostly small bits of old knits and corduroys and burlap (yuck!). But there was a ton of that ballerina print - one 5 yard cut, plus about 4 yards more in 5 cuts of varying lengths. The only other keepers were a big piece of this funky elephant print (a sort of lightweight one-sided fleece, or maybe a velour?)...



and about 2 yards of this bright border print barkcloth.



And now, for the giveaway... Who wants some of that ballerina print? Anyone? You know I love to share the loot! If you'd like to win a yard, leave a comment on this post to enter. International is fine with me! I'm so curious to see if anyone enters - maybe I'm the only one who thinks that fabric is cute? If I get multiple takers, I'll draw a number on Thursday night (Aug. 6).

sheets under control

I finally finished getting all my linens cut up and organized. What a chore! But I'm really glad to have it done, because now I feel ready to start sewing up a storm!

Here's the results from all my hard work:



The bin of fat quarters - the first layer.



And the second layer. Hey, I still have a little room left to add more! ;-)

Big stacks of 6" squares. That's 114 different prints! I bet you can guess what my next project is!



I kept all the hems too. I'm not sure what I'll do this those, but I'm thinking on it. Plus a box full of little scraps. Whew, I'm sure glad to have all that done and put away!!

holy heat wave, batman!

Seattle is roasting! I've been struggling to work in a house that's 85 degrees. But we're one of the lucky ones to actually have a window unit (upstairs; office is downstairs), so at least we can sleep at night, so I guess I can't complain too much. That poor thing is really working overtime!

Meanwhile, I haven't been sewing, but I've been preparing to get ready to start sewing! ;-) My stash of vintage sheets was overwhelming me. I have so many great ones, but starting any sort of project with them was a daunting task - imagine hauling out a dozen full-size sheets, unfolding each one, cutting a small portion off, folding it back up, etc. What a waste of time! So, I decided to go crazy, and cut up my entire stash into fat quarter sizes. Now they'll be all ready to go when I need them (not to mention, all ready to go for swapping!). At the same time, I'm taking a bit of each and cutting them into squares for my next project. It's been a huge task, but right up my OCD alley! I'm almost done, and will post some pics when it's all gloriously organized. Meanwhile, here's an in-progress picture...



Crazy, right?? And as if I needed any more, I found four more great ones at Value Village last Friday. I didn't even really plan on buying anything, but just thought I'd drop in with my daughter for a fun end-of-the-week outing. The smoothie place is right next door, so Vada gets a yummy treat while I get to shop with a happy toddler in tow - win/win!



Let me tell you, I was SO excited to find that pink and orange floral on the upper left. I already have it in green and blue, and now pink! It's gorgeous - I love the combo of pink and orange. It totally made up for a crappy morning of garage saling on Saturday. I went to FOUR rummage sales, and didn't find anything good. Not a thing! Vada, on the other hand, finally discovered Barbies. And now she owns two. I felt a little yucky about bringing Barbie into the house, but I knew this day would come. On the bright side, she hasn't played with them nearly as much as the new Woodkins toy we also found (for $1 - woot!). We spent some time tonight going through my scrap box picking out new fabrics for it. Fun!

loot, loot, and more loot

I didn't hit too many sales last weekend, but I did find a few cool things. My most exciting find was actually something I really needed - a new ironing board cover! My old one was so skanky, I don't even want to show you a "before" picture. I'd been contemplating making one, but when there's a new one (in the package, even!) for $1, how could I pass it up? It's not beautiful, as you can see, but it's SO much better than the old one!

Next up is this old tin of buttons, for $2. I love those big huge amber ones! And as an added bonus, it brought me at least an hour of kid entertainment - my daughter had a great time sorting through it to find all the pink ones, all the flower ones, etc. Love the old tobacco tin too.



Ten packs of old ric-rac for $1, and some cute old trim for another buck. Whee!



And of course there was some random fabric. The bee fabric is really cute, but a little weightier than normal cotton. I think I might make some fabric baskets/boxes with it. It's only 36" wide - I'd love to know when fabrics migrated from that narrower width to the more standard 44-ish width of today...



And, some scraps of hawaiian print fabrics. I'm hoping to one day make a "Postcards from Hawaii" quilt like this one or this one, so I was really thrilled to find these.

This morning I went by a couple more sales, and found this lovely "quilt cover for cradle" (whatever that is) from IKEA, new in package, for 50 cents. It's like a really small (30"x39", says the package) duvet cover, or an oversize pillowcase. But you really should zoom in and check out those sweet little flower girls - they are adorable! I think it would look so awesome as fussy-cut centers of blocks, kinda like this quilt.

And, yes, more fabric. $1/yard. I'm stocking up for halloween, baby!



And some girly flannels, some bandana print (just because!), and a shirred panel that I think will become a quick-and-dirty dress for my daughter.



And last, but not least, check out this cute folksy fabric. It's sort of like a flannel, but not as thick. Maybe it's a brushed cotton? I'll have to get my buddy Robin to take a look the next time she is over. It's has a teeny tiny selvage that reads "Beaver Textile Corp", but I didn't have any success googling it...



And yes, I have been sewing too. :-) I'm hoping to have a finished project to show in the next day or two.