Handmade Ornament

Pattern of the Day from 2009 - the best of the bunch from my latest eBay listing session of 36 sewing patterns. So colorful and spring-like. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186438806078

The Mr. and I came late to the party using an air fryer to cook food. What a delight! Grilled cheese sandwiches are now air fried. A great invention. 

A month to go to retirement. Actually, less days working days as there is a 9-day vacation planned for the end of this month. 

I am taking another couple of bags of clothing and shoes to the clothing exchange. Winnowing down my clothing even further. My go-to outfits are winter: corduroy pants, lightweight long-sleeved t-shirt, cashmere sweater; summer: T-shirt, skirt (preferably made in an irresistible print fabric), and Birki sandals. 

My Women in Art college class is completed. I really enjoyed this one. It was a revisit of those female artists I already knew, and some new ones. 

Treated myself to thrifted piece of artwork. I paid $24.99, framed, matted, and under glass. An unusual piece - I love it 😍 

Outfitting the summer place is the focus now. This ship's porthole clock was a $20 hospice thrift shop find.  

Those blocks are destined for my fan quilt if my instincts prove right that they will fit right in. 

Pattern of the Day is from 1974. A keeper because it is cut and in such bad shape. Patterns from the seventies have moved into the rare category. 

Each month I like to highlight weird and wacky items in the world of thrift and beyond. These stunners were offered for sale at Freestyle Clothing Exchange in Sacramento, California. 

Stuffed animal mounts

These cookies are more Wonderful than weird or wacky. The Limited Edition Dirt Cake Oreo Cookies. They even sparkle!

Not a sponsored Ad - just an Addiction! 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186418464333

Ending the post with a pre-Mother's Day thrift shop find - a $1.99 Cross pen, still with its ink. I have had them over the years, usually losing them someplace. This one is MINE!

Greenhouse gardening - Not for the faint hearted. Inclement weather has blown away half of the panels, all of the roof, and the entire front doorway. Last year, I brought home a tray full of plant starts, put them in the greenhouse, and some critter got in and ATE the ENTIRE contents. Prior to preparing the beds for planting, one of my cats had decided it was her personal litter box. These next images will make sense, garden beds protected by chicken wire.  

Tomatoes

Before

After

Peppers +1 Kale

Seller update - slow movers in sewing patterns. 

Now that I have sold sewing patterns for a number of years now, I have a sense of what is and isn't popular. Patterns I won't pick up even if they are factory folded:

1.    The brands New Look and See & Sew.
2.    Doll clothing.
3.    Infant baby accessories. 
4,    Curtains and valances. 

I will list them if they come from a lot, but I won't pick those up as singles. 

Pattern of the Day is Pelicans! It fell into the Keeper category. 

Will I ever use this pattern? Probably never but like any good crafter, I have it on hand, just in case. 

My next category to enter for sale will be Buttons. When I buy sewing items in lots, I find buttons still on their original cards. While I like to keep the loose buttons for projects and repairs, I usually don't sew garments. Pictured below is my loose button stash.  

The last of the 80 yard-sale sewing patterns went on the boards. This was the only pattern of note - a Russian hat. Reminds me of the movie Doctor Zhivago. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186392450021

Segueing to talk of my daughter's wedding. A location has been chosen, and a date in September 2025 is set. She wants to buy a new dress, I told her I would buy a "backup" wedding dress at thrift. This one came through hospice thrift priced at $12.99. Too beautiful to pass up, it has a few minor stains. I will try to work out how to fix that. She probably won't want the dress. I will keep it until after her wedding and sell it. 

I don't know why I have so much trouble listing random items. Father's Day is fast approaching and these need a new home. I have had these 1980s Ducks Unlimited mugs for at least 2 years. Thrift shop price was around $5 a piece, priced at $120 for the pair. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186392614361

The Mr. is setting up Fish Camp. Here are the views from the back of the trailer. The first image is the river as you head out toward the harbor. 

Just thrifted in this group of New Look patterns. I place them as 1990s kids fashion. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378308526

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378311646

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378318189

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378322565

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378325551

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186378327602

Here we are into April. This is the month Fish Camp begins setup. We are prepping the trailer for its permanent home on the coast. The lead-off image highlights the back window covered in space fabric. It is pinned to the top of the valance and the bottom of the blind. 

An upside to stashing a lot of fabric is when you need some yardage it is right there. The sleeping part of the trailer faces towards the road. Even though the windows have blinds, light still came in. I pinned the gypsy-hanging-curtain to the valance above the door. 

Another section of fabric covered the side window. All I need now are rows of hanging beads and some incense to move into the old Hippy category. 😜

Since we have spent summers vacationing along the Mendocino County coast, we enjoy the sites and events in that area. Two places I will frequent are the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden -gardenbythesea.org/ and the Redwood Coast Senior Center.

Ending the post with a Pattern of the Day Vintage 1948 Baby Booties. These booties were made for walkin!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186370599760

I am plunging in to my new project of a quilted Patchwork Cupcake. A creative prompt had been released for the California State Fair competitions. The prompt Almost Edible will be judged on the level of skill, craftsmanship, creative use of fabric, and relationship to the theme. The reason I chose a cupcake is because that is the only food-related fabric I had in my stash. The gingham prints will be alternated with the cupcake prints. The concept is to use shades of white for the frosting and seed beads for the sprinkles. 

Moving on to another topic:

Blog stats are a source of fascination for me. If you take a look at my popular posts, some of them are from years ago. The traveling-yellow-skirt from 2013 is one of my favorites.  

Another from 2016 summer-sensations-blog-hop keeps popping up on the popular post list. 

After popping in to Google Analytics, I needed to update and place a Google tag just below my blog header. The England, Canada, and the United Kingdom are the top three locations of my audience. 

Ending the post with two Patterns of the Day. 

We are nowhere near Halloween-time but this pattern is soooo cute. Just had to be shared. I bet it will sell quickly. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186357757816

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186358040827

Be sure to visit at the end of the month for the March Weird and Wacky post.

Cute pattern of the day is from 1978. A few more were listed on eBay. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186347786110

It is my first try at corned beef and cabbage. My fav grocery store had both items on nearly giveaway sales. I found this recipe in the 1971 publication of Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book. 

It was a glorious weekend of thrifting. Cotton candy Peeps (my fav) feature the second-hand fabric found at hospice thrift. It is kind of a scratchy cotton, so I am sending it back to the Great Thrift Shop Beyond.  

These patterns clearly came from another thrift shop pattern collector. There were the telltale signs of secondhand price tags. 

I got so excited about this group of patterns and the neat ones in the group, I forgot to organize them for listing. Usually it is alpha starting with Butterick and ending with Vogue, then organized by pattern number within their grouping. That way after I finish the sewing pattern listing session, I can file them away as they are grouped in the stockroom. This session I organized for the stockroom after I had them all listed. 

Patterns of the Day starts with chickens! 🐔 All of the following patterns came from the yard sale. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337897401

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337908109

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337919671

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337924169

Bonnie Bundles median sold price on eBay is $29.99. This pattern sold would nearly cover my Yabadabadoo Yard Sale Find! 💜

Ending the post with a really cute pattern - first time I have ever seen this one. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337939450

There are a bunch more to share, some Christmas, for another time. Galloping off into the sunset ...

Until next time,
Tami