Flea Market Finds

Just because I have been silent the last few Sundays does not mean I haven’t been bargain hunting. I have been hunting and I have found stuff, but it wasn’t until this week that I was excited to share it with you and play along with Flea Market Finds.

During our visit to the in-laws, we had the opportunity to visit a few country oppies (without the children – thanks J&B) and boy have they come up with the goods!

My favourite find was hiding high up on the top shelf. First it was the colour and then I spotted the price…far out…$2!?!? The lady told me it was $2 because it was old and a bit scuffed up! I really don’t care! How good is it to see Maya taking an early interest in vintagey stuff!

Anyway luckily I found the case ‘cos I needed it to hold all these gorgeous fabrics and wool I collected. Fabric scraps, sheets, pillowcases, tablecloths, curtains, upholstery samples… you can never have too much fabric… until you can’t close the cases or the cupboards I guess!

Then there were the books. The Crochet Book published by the Australian Wool Corporation has some fantastic 80’s patterns that I can’t wait to try. Of course there were more Little Golden books to add to the ever growing collection and Sean found a couple more Enid Blyton books to add to his collection.

And lastly there was this little white wicker shelf which will be perfect for displaying softies on my stall … after a bit of a clean up and coat of new paint.

There was more stuff than this though. I just haven’t photographed it. There was the $1 single bed wool blanket destined to be used inside a quilt, the hessian I’ll use to teach Khye how to sew, more self cover buttons, the lovely original painting complete with falling apart frame and the beautifully soft lambswool jumper for making more softies.

Hope you had a good bargain hunting week too!

Opping the blues away

Friday was a freezing, foggy day and I didn’t want to face the thought of spending the afternoon saying “Khye get off Maya” and “Khye don’t pull Maya’s fingers” and “Khye take the blanket off Maya” and then finally cracking it with frustration “Khye just leave Maya alone”!!!!!! I’m sure I sound like a broken record and that he doesn’t even hear me anymore. But that’s another story for another time … sigh ... So anyway I packed up my winter blues, my hopes for a peaceful afternoon (and my cash) and took a little trip to a couple of neighbouring little towns to visit their fantastic country oppies. And rather than enjoy the afternoon on our own I invited a friend and her two kids to join us for some op shop fun.

There’s nothing quite like a bit of opping with a friend to cure those gloomy winter blues. Not only did the fog clear, the skies open up and the glorious sunshine warm us, but I found some op shop gold.

First were the brand new, still in packets, never used, all cotton vintage sheets.

Then there was the dear deer that the kids spotted, looked at briefly then returned to the shelf. I couldn’t let her go, particularly seeing as though she was only 50 cents. There were these little golden books. My favourite is the growly bear book, published in the early 60’s, and it’s beautiful illustrations. There were lots of other bits and pieces – fabric, wool, doilies, more books, kids shoes, embroidery hoops, stranded cotton, a kids coat, wire bowl for my market stall and lastly there was this. Oh my how gorgeous! And then to discover it was only 50 cents too!

Thanks AM for coming opping with us. The kids managed to entertain each other and they were even pretty well behaved, except when they ran around the shop shouting and laughing with that huge purple teddy that was bigger than them. The “Pru and Tru” ladies behind the counter weren’t very impressed though, glaring at them disapprovingly over the tops of their glasses!

Anyway hope you all found some op shop gold this week too! Check it out over at Sophie’s.

Flea Market Finds

Thanks to Sophie for hosting Flea Market Finds every week. I love sharing my finds and ooohhhing and aaahhhing over everyone else’s fantastic finds! Here are my finds for the week:A long wool blend coat desperately required for winter.
Now that I can crochet, I can collect crochet patterns. I just have to learn to read them now. Don’t you love the mother and daughter crocheted bikinis!
Golden Hands Volume 1 for $1. Lots of good stuff inside and more crochet patterns!
And finally a bunch of self cover buttons, jeans buttons and eyelets, and a couple of metres of this great green paisley fabric.

Now I’ve gotta stop blogging and start sewing – only 3 weeks till the Sugar & Spice Children’s Market.

Flea Market Finds

I have had some luck recently finding textiles books (here and here) at the oppies and this week was no exception.A lovely hardcover needlework book first published in 1950, this book is the “Fourth Impression 1972”. And with these clear step by step instructions on how to crochet, hopefully I will be joining the “crochet club” soon.
This book, while not exactly a Flea Market Find, was very cheap – only $4.50. I found it at Lincraft!

This week I have been inspired by my find last week and by Kate’s gorgeous dress making, and have been flicking through all the patterns at the oppies. I found these. These illustrations of elongated models always make clothes look so good don’t they? But I love the dress pattern on the left. Not sure if it would suit me but I can only give it a go. Now to choose some fabric…

Oh and one of them came with the pattern cut out of an old 1975 newspaper. Just look at those house and land prices back then!

Visit Sophie at Her Library Adventures for more Flea Market Finds.

Flea Market Finds

My find of the week is this near new hardcover textiles book published in 2008. I saw it for only $6 at the local oppy, took it to the counter and then discovered that books were half price that week! $3! Bargain!

It has some great projects like these gorgeous slippers to knit. This folded Japanese quilt looks like fun and easy to make as you fold circles over padded squares, quilt them, join all the squares together and then you have a finished quilt at the end. And maybe I can teach myself to crochet these baubles for Maya. I also picked up another beautifully packaged set of sheets from my favourite op shop. It is only bailing twine but the blue matches the sheets perfectly! And just look at these sheets – it’s Noah’s Ark! I love the colours and I love the design. Not sure what I’ll do with them yet. I guess I’ll chuck them in the linen cupboard with the rest of the vintage sheet collection…
…just as soon as they’re washed and dried. I also found a set of these pink sheets. I don’t think they’re too vintage but they’ll look good with my other sheets. I just couldn’t resist posting another clothesline shadow shot!

Go visit Her Library Adventures for more Flea Market Finds.