Thrift Thursday--Fabulous Cat Figurine!

Let me just say that I do love cats! I've always had a cat in my life--they just make me happy!

I found this rather Egyptian cat figurine at a local thrift store for $1.50--according to a friend, she's from a rather pricey home and garden sculpture company. The cat is made from cast metal with a subtle light patina, is about 11" high, and is holding a 3" by 4" dish, which my friend Pam suggests I should fill with Kit-Kat bars!

I love this kitty's clever style! Even though I have to admit that I am completely figurine impaired, I have a collection of fun and witty cat figurines, mostly of hand carved and painted wood, that really appeal to me. Most of them have come from thrift stores over several years-- I'll post them some time.

Thrift store tip: as you wander the aisles of the thrift store, go ahead and pick up the items that appeal to you and put them in your cart! You may end up putting most of them back, but it will help you develop an eye for what you like, and keep them from being snapped up while you are thinking!

Miniatures Monday--Box of Chocolates

This teeny little box of chocolates is part of a miniature scene I made some time ago in honor of my grandma Genevieve. Grandma loved chocolates, especially the high-quality ones!

The scene is in a glass-sided box and holds many other tiny items which I made to represent Grandma--I'll post it sometime, but as you can probably tell I will need to be working on my photography techniques until then!

The chocolate box measures 3/4" x 1", and is made from a bit of a Christmas card that's red on one side and silver on the other. I cut the parts out with my Exacto and glued them together with craft glue. The tiny chocolates are made of Fimo, and some are touched up with paint or wrapped in gold foil from candy. They all rest in little cups punched out from a full-size brown pleated chocolate box liner. I used the flat end of a a skewer to press the middle of each paper punch, forming a cup, then glued everything into the box.

There's a tiny square of tissue paper to make the top liner, and the decoration for the top of the box is a bit of vintage ribbon with three tiny bits of a vintage flower spray--all from my box of Grandma's odds and ends. They look good enough to eat. Low calorie, too!

Thrift Thursday--Fabulous Enamel Tray

I LOVE shopping at thrift stores! Looking around my house, I think that most of the things I love best have come from thrift stores and yard sales--and my favorite collections have developed from thrift store finds. I think I'll feature thrift store scores on Thursdays!

I came across this fabulous 18" enamelware tray for$1.50 recently as I wandered around the thrift store, and I picked it right up! It has the fruit theme and the colors I'm looking for. There were actually two on the shelf, and I chose the one with the most character (read: coolest dings and wear). I love it! It's nice, heavy enamelware with an almost dimensional finish, and I could hang it on the wall or use it as a tray. It's probably a 70's item--I think this is a good example of how some items of a particular era still work and are not necessarily dated, and some are--it must have to do at least partly with good design. And cool funkiness!

I myself think the thrift store is the place to shop for unique and interesting items at reasonable prices--chances are that a thrift store item you love will work for you for a long time, and if not, it's a small investment, and you can always send it back later!

Thrift store tip: persistence pays--not every outing will produce a great find! Some trips are simply duds, others inspired. Go with the thrill of the hunt and keep your eyes and mind open. Notice what tickles you, and why. It took me a while to notice that I am always attracted to small wooden boxes, now a favored collection. And I only recently noticed how I love round things!

Miniatures Monday--Tiny Bunny

Yes, he's only l" tall! It's been fun thinking about Miniatures Mondays and looking at my tiny things. Here's another fabric project, made just to see how small I could go using my sewing machine.

While sitting down, this tiny little jointed bunny is just one inch tall--I'm sorry I didn't include a coin for a size reference, but he would sit quite comfortably on a nickel. He is made of a nice-quality unbleached muslin, with a super-small pompom for his tail and the edge of some vintage lace for his collar.

For accuracy, I traced the tiny pattern pieces (I think I reduced them on a copy machine) on two layers of muslin, then stitched around them with very close stitches, leaving an opening for turning. I cut them out close to the stitching, clipped the seam allowance, turned, and stuffed them with wisps of cotton before stitching the openings closed--tweezers and surgical clamps are very handy for some of these steps. He has thread stitched joints, whiskers, and features.

He's ready to go into the miniature toy room I have planned. . . someday.

Vintage Pictic Basket, Updated

I am on a grandma outing in a warm and sunny place where spring has already arrived. Nice work if you can get it! Spring will be just about there when I get back home, and I am now prepared for picnics in the sun, since I have updated my vintage picnic basket to go with my dollar store Astroturf picnic bag, posted here! (My apologies for the sad winter sun and the sad winter grass!) Check it out:

My picnic basket was a thrift store find, and slightly disreputable. There was just enough fabric left from the bag lining to re-line the basket (a hot glue project), and still have a useful-sized tablecloth that matches. I trimmed one last dollar store Astroturf door mat to fit the top of the lid, which was pretty battered, and hot glued it on. The daisies were a freebie. A new life for the old basket--I'm ready for warm weather!

Miniatures Monday--Tiny Quilt Top

I love small things!

One year for Christmas our daughter received a dollhouse kit, and we had so much fun putting it together and furnishing it that the project expanded to another dollhouse just for me. It's a delight to create a small and perfect world of your own!

Those dollhouses have both gone on to new owners, but the furnishings have moved into a series of room boxes and scenes. What could be better than to feature a small, perfect, handmade item each Monday? I'm looking forward to it!

Of course, since fabric is my medium, I have tried my hand at tiny quilts and soft furnishings. In a standard dollhouse scale one inch equals one foot, so this tiny 6-1/2" x 8-1/2" traditional sampler quilt would be 78" x 102" in real life, about right for a full size bed. Each block is 1-1/4" square, and the blocks include Pinwheel, God's Eye, Maple Leaf, Moon Over the Mountain, Rail Fence, Churn Dash, Lily blossom, Spool, and some Nine Patch variations. It's fun to find fabrics that work on such a tiny scale!

In working with such small blocks, seam allowances are a difficulty--it's more accurate to use a regular 1/4" seam allowance, then trim it to 1/8" after stitching. This means that some of the cut pieces are largely seam allowance, which also challenges accuracy. It's definitely better to strip piece in as many places as possible, and to set the machine to very small stitches!

This little quilt top is not yet quilted--of course, hand quilting stitches couldn't be in proportion to the scale of the project, and machine quilting makes a really tiny quilt unrealistically stiff and could turn it into an intricate pot holder! However, in this scale the seams alone give the quilt texture and minimal quilting is effective. For 'batting', a layer of white cotton flannel works well. A binding would also be too stiff, so for the edge finish it seems best to place the front and back right sides together, add the 'batting', and then stitch around leaving a small opening. Clip corners and turn, then add quilting.

I think maybe I'll go and look at my collection of
really tiny prints. . .

Before and After--Coming Soon!

I am still here, at present tangled in the throes of a smallish kitchen update. It's been a long (and somewhat painful!) process moving my plans out of my mind and into the house.

We have lived in our house for some time, and thus I can not complain about the remaining vestiges of 70's decor: I am the one who chose it. The worn out brown-and-yellow linoleum made its exit a few years ago, and the (original) very dark cabinets have been sanded and partly re-done for some time, but the yellow Formica countertops have remained.

A while back our boys came over with their hammers and knocked out the wall between our living room and kitchen. The new space is open and light, and the kitchen cabinets are completely visible! Last month my ideas finally emerged from the back of the mind, and I have steeled myself to make the effort to bring it all together.

I hope to find a good (although embarrassing) 'before' picture to post when I post the 'after picture in the near future. Stand by!

If I Sew It, It Will Come

Spring, that is! I figured I would encourage things along by making a new picnic bag for the warm weather.

I think I mentioned before how I LOVE Jodi Kahn 's book, Simply Sublime Bags. Jodi shows us how to make some fabulous and creative bags, using her innovative and quick low-sew and no-sew techniques. (They involve such things as duct tape, packing tape, Monopoly money, and your stapler--check it out!)

So, here is my take on Jodi's Astroturf picnic bag, using two dollar-store welcome mats, handles scrounged from a $1.00 thrift store purse, and a tablecloth for which I no longer have the table. I had to adapt her pattern a bit to fit the available materials, but at 15" x 23", there's still plenty of room to tote the essentials--$3.00 total!

The flatware that's kept in my vintage picnic basket is just the thing for the pockets, which are made of a scrap from a remnant. (Project here.) Now I'm thinking of an update for the picnic basket, using the rest of my tablecloth. . . hmm. I'll let you know! (Update here.)