Thrifting Thursdays – Bargain Birdies. Oooh, alliteration.

Today’s Thrifting Thursdays find takes the cake for cheapness, and was one of my first buys after I purchased this house.

These little bird cards were found at an antique mall for 25 cents a piece. I picked out 7 of my favorites, and framed them in cheapo glass with no framed edges found on Target’s clearance shelves for $1 a piece. So, the main focal point of my living room cost $8.75.

Flanked by a beautiful fan my mom brought home from a trip to China

Thrifting Thursdays

Posting two similar thrifting finds in succession may lead you to believe I have a bigger collection than I do, but this is another of my favorite thrift store finds, for under $5.

This lovely lady resides next to my husband’s side of the bed, because I’m pretty much the coolest wife ever. (Or, because I think it’s cute. You be the judge. :))

For more fun vintage finds, visit http://www.coloradolady.blogspot.com.

Thrifting Thursdays – a little birdie

To be honest, I’ve had this so long I don’t remember exactly where I got it. I do remember that I paid less than $3 for this tiny treasure. I love birds and decorating with birds, and we have framed bird items all over the house. So when I saw this petite version, in this darling frame, I couldn’t resist. For more thrifting and vintage fun, visit here: http://www.coloradolady.blogspot.com.

For size comparison

Bugs and gardens and glass, oh my!

While in St. Louis for my step-brother’s wedding, we had some downtime between the ceremony and the reception. We stopped by one of my favorite stores – The Bug Store Homestore, a mix of pots, garden implements, iron work, art, blown glass … fun, beautiful and inspirational.

The window display. We picked out one of these to bring to my mom.

I really wanted this for our garden, but Matt (AKA the practical one) didn't think this was a wise take home for a road trip in a small car.

And a little somethin’ somethin’ for my walls:

If you live in St. Louis or happen to be near by, it’s definitely worth the stop!

Thrifting Thursdays

For the longest time, I struggled with what sort of decoration to put on the wall of our one and only bathroom in our house. It is so, so very small that is painted white, as are the cabinets, and our towels, rug and shower curtain are all in neutral colors. I am not a neutral colors person – but when your whole bathroom is about 4 feet by 8 feet, you do whatever you can to make it seem larger.

The mystery of what to put on the walls was solved with a trip to the St. Joseph Ave. Antique Store. This store is beautiful, which is especially impressive as this street holds few businesses and mostly rundown buildings and homes. It is a beautiful brick building with stunning hardwood floors and an original soda fountain. Not to mention, impeccable antiques, most of which I can’t afford.

However, one day, I discovered these awesome, cheeky, vintage pinup girl calendars. There was a slew but I selected my 3 favorites, and I can’t remember exactly what I paid for them – less than $10 a piece. I then framed them in clearance frames I found at Target that cost $3 a piece. I love how they look, a little bit risque but still classy.

Buying these was also pretty entertaining. I was speaking with the co-owner, who told me with some disgust that her husband collected old pinups and had finally decided to get rid of some, which is why these were in the shop. I thought it was cute and almost quaint that she was worried about his pinup collection – it seems so innocent compared to modern times.

This is why I normally avoid Target …

Because I always find something adorable I just have to have. Check out my new sewing lamp:

Let there be light!

Thrifting Thursdays

Today’s Thrifting Thursdays features one of my favorite bedroom decorations – these beautiful mirrored sconces found for $5 a piece at the Rusty Chandelier, the world’s best vintage decorating store found right in St. Joe, Mo. Check out more beautiful vintage things here.

These beauties are on either side of the main windows in our bedroom, which is also on either side of our bed. Can you get more romantic than mirrors, candles, and that ornate iron work?

Reversible table runner how to

Finished project

I have been anxious to make a tablerunner for our coffee table, which may or may not have some paint splatters on it. *Ahem*

I made a very simple one that is a great use of fat quarters in your stash – I used 5 fat quarters for the front, the remnants of those 5 fat quarters and scraps from my stash for the back.

Here, a step by step guide.

1. Choose 5 fat quarters that have a complementary theme. Iron fabric.

2. From each fat quarter, cut 3 4-inch by 18-inch strips.

3. Lay strips by color side by side. Grab one strip from each pile. This is your first set. For the next set, start with the second pile in and grab five, making the first strip be your last. For your third set, pick the strip from the third pile to start your pile. So your piles will be in this order: 1,2,3,4,5; 2,3,4,5,1; 3,4,5,1,2.

4. Sew the five strips in your new piles together. Spread seams open, iron flat. You should have three sets when you are done, measuring about 18X18 inches after seam allowances.

5. Cut 4 inch wide strips from fabric (in the direction that will make 4X4 inch blocks of 5 colors, all sewn together). You should be able to cut 4 from each of the 3 panels, leaving 12 strips and small scraps of fabric at the end.

Cut strips will look like this.

6. Pick a pattern to make with these strips. For our table runner, I did 1,2,3,2,1,2,3,2,1. This left me with three strips leftover, which I used on the back. More on this later.

Sew strips together. Open seams, press flat.

7. From leftover fat quarters, create border. For the skinny edges, I cut 2 strips that are 4 inches by 18 inches, 1 each from 2 of the remaining fat quarters. This made the long side 39 inches long, so I cut 13.5 inch X 4 inch strips from the 3 remaining fat quarters, 2 from each colors. I staggered the colors for the edge so that the same fabrics weren’t right across from each other. Sew on sides, open seams, press flat.

Your top is done!

8. Make your backing. For the back, I pieced leftover strips and leftover scraps of fabric until I created a top that measured the same size. For a less time consuming alternative, you can just do one solid fabric backing. If you choose to piece as you go, then you have a reversible table runner.

Randomly pieced backing

9. Place right sides together of both front and back, pin together. Sew around all 4 sides, leaving three inches unsewn in order to turn right side out.

10. Fold in edges of remaining three inches, sew shut either by hand or machine. Sew around the runner 1/2 inch in from the edge to finish. And you’re done!

Finished backing

With table decorations

Reversible back with table decorations

Baby blanket – trials and tribulations

I wrote earlier about finding the perfect fabric for a coworker’s coming baby. Here are the fruits of the effort:

The perfect fabric

 

The backing

 

The blanked turned out pretty cute, but not exactly as planned. I thought this would be the perfect project to try some machine quilting on, since it was small. However, the flannel fabrics kept sticking to the all cotton batting, making it almost impossible to lay the layers completely flat. So, I ended up tying the quilt to finish it.

On the plus side, the flannels are super soft and it should make a very comfortable blanket for a newborn. 🙂 Readers – does anyone have suggestions to offer for layering batting and flannel fabrics and keeping everything smooth?

First attempt at machine quilting: Um, it’s done?

I decided to attempt machine quilting on a small project first – good call. I still like the block, and I still hung it up because it looks OK from a distance. 🙂

Lessons learned: Didn’t pin in enough places first. Didn’t iron flat enough. Didn’t leave enough fabric from the backing to do a neat binding – instead it is sloppy and stretched.

Oh well. Several more attempts and I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.

Do not look too closely, and ignore the scuff marks on the walls 🙂