Thrifty Day!

Oh, my word…I had the best thrift store day.  Seriously, the best!  Let me tell you all about it.

Saturday I had to go to town to pick up a prescription and for me, that means a thrift store run.  Here are the goodies I bought.  I spent much more than I typically do but in the end, it’s all good.  I can’t wait to show you the goodies I got.

Here they are…collectively, it doesn’t look like much but wait until I tell you about it all.

Sorry, the picture is fuzzy, but I found this vintage embroidery hoop.  I have another vintage hoop that I keep in my dough bowl.  I use it as a filler piece.  This will go with it and it was only 25 cents.

I bought these two pieces.  I knew exactly where I was going to put them.

The spools went on my cross-stitch wall.  There was a narrow spot it could fit perfectly and it’s prim looking so I thought it was perfect.

I put the “Raised on Country Sunshine” piece here…
This is the shelf I just finished fixing.  I need some more things to go in it.  I’m not a gal that just goes and fills things up with Hobby Lobby finds.  I typically find goodies at thrift stores so this will be bare for a bit until I can get goodies made or found for it.  It makes thrifting a challenge.  I just love a good thrifty challenge.

I bought the small frame.  It’s okay as is but I think I will likely put a small cross stitch piece in it.  It was only 50 cents.  The other things I’ll use for framing.

Remember I had that black frame on the wall waiting for me to stitch something that I hadn’t even started yet.  That was bothering me so when I saw the piece with the buttons below, I bought it and put it in place of the one I had there before.  It’s not my favorite piece but it’s much better than the blank frame.  I’m very happy with it for now.

I found a sheet I’ll pass on for a charity quilt backing.  For $2, they are hard to pass up.  I picked up a doily too.  I have a plan for it.  We’ll see if I actually get it done though.  HA!

Check this out.  Can you believe it was only $2??  I will happily add this to my summer decor.  I am almost embarrassed that it was only $2.

There was a lot of fabric there.  I had the worst time trying to decide what to do.  Do I buy it?  Do I not?  I’ve not sewn as much as I previously have and goodness knows I have plenty of fabric.  It’s so hard to know what to do as the prices, although they’ve gone up, are really quite good.

So I went through and picked a couple.  I bought a purple and teal bag as I know my cut strips are about of both of those colors and I like to maintain a good variety in my strip bins.  I bought them with intention of immediately cutting them into strips.  One was 75 cents and the other $1.  Then I got kind of stuck.  The other bags were quite a lot more.  I picked up one bag and couldn’t decided if it was $5 or $15.  The dollar sign was written messily.  There were two lines and I couldn’t tell if the second line went with the $ sign or with the 5 making it $15.  That would be REALLY high priced for my thrift store so I asked the clerk.  She took it in the back and asked one of the people pricing in the back.

The lady who was pricing things peaked her head out and told me it was $5.  Whew.  I was hoping they weren’t raising their prices that high.  She then told me she was pricing more fabric as they got a lot in.  Well, that had my interest.

I went around and shopped a bit more.  Then before I left I decided that I’d look at the fabric one more time to make sure there wasn’t something else I wanted.  Just as I was getting to the area, the gal came out and put another basket of fabric out.  YAHOO!!  I grabbed a couple more packages.

Then I checked out and went to pick up my meds and groceries.  After I was done with that, I was driving past the thrift store again as it was on the road I was taking and I ended up going back.  Something in my head told me that she had likely put out more fabric.  Plus I had decided that I would get an orange pack of fabric they had there that I previously didn’t get.

It turns out the orange pack was gone but she did put out more fabric and I again picked out a couple of more pieces.

Then I “shot the loop”, meaning I just quickly made a giant loop around the store one more time.  I saw a small ladder I could hang quilts on.  I had no idea where I was going to put it but I grabbed it too and headed to the register.  I had spent more than I intended but it was all good as the beauty of thrifting is that I can afford anything in the store.

As I was driving home I was thinking about where I was going to put the ladder.  I pulled into the garage and still didn’t have a spot figured out yet.  Hmm.  As I was carrying it into the house.  WHAM.  Just inside my door, right here is where it’s going.  I’ve wanted to decorate this little area and have always felt it was a little bare.  I finished the cross stitch piece and hung it below one of my favorite pieces ever, my spice cabinet, from blog reader Ila.  Still, the area seemed bare.  I popped the ladder there and it’s perfect!!

I ended up running upstairs and found a couple of small quilts that are wall-sized.  Mary from Country Threads always teases me that I don’t know to make anything small.  HA!!  I have two, Mary.  I have two.  I think I might need to make another to fill that other rung on the ladder.

Can you believe it was only $4?  I was doing a MAJOR happy dance.  Now I need some quilts on it.  I might paint it yet but so far, as is, I’m happy with it.

Now to the fabrics…

I found some sweatshirt fabrics that I will send to Carolyn.  She’s been making AMAZING hoodies for Baby Care Kits for Lutheran World Relief as well as baby gowns.  That has me looking for t-shirt knit fabrics and sweatshirt fabrics.

I found some other pieces too.  The three to the front are for me.  The unicorn is a flannel that will be for Baby Care Kits and the $4 piece will go to the Cresco Ladies for a quilt backing.  There are 4 yards of that fabric.

The little fabric quarter bundle was $3 and the strips were $4.  Those are going in my stash for now.

Here are my grab bags.

This one was really good.  There are for sure fabrics I will use.  Remember how I love to make quilts with busy background prints.  I’ll add many of these to that collection.  All for $3.

The next package I put back then went back and got it again.  It was $10 and for my thrift store, that is expensive.  I couldn’t open the bag and see what was in it and I’m pretty frugal.  $10 is a lot to spend and not know what I’m getting.

I ended up going back and I got the pack after I remembered the Iowa Hawkeye quilt I made last year for an area benefit.  Iowa Hawkeyes are super popular around here.  Their colors and black and gold (yellow).  The pack had the perfect fabrics that I could use if I made another quilt that was Iowa Hawkeye-themed.  Spending $10 on this pack really made sense once I had a plan for it.  So I bought it.

Oh, my word.  I am so glad I did!!  It turns out there were 19 fat quarters in the bunch.  YEP!  19 fat quarters for $10.  It turns out it was a great deal.  I’m so glad I bought it.

Now all I need to do is buy some Iowa Hawkeyes fabric and I am well on my way to having enough fabric to make a quilt.  YAHOO!!  I was so happy.  Last time I made a tumbler quilt and I might make another again.

Now, are you all ready for a laugh??  I saw these two bags and I was pretty sure I knew what this was.  Any guesses??

I should have just left them there…I know I should have but I feel as though I’ve become the shepherd of these pieces.  Did you guess what they are???

If you guessed leftover from Bonnie Hunter’s Frolic quilt, you are correct.  I know, you’re screaming at the computer screen yelling “JO, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???”  I don’t know what I was thinking.

I guess I really do feel like I’ve become the shepherd of these pieces…

If you’re new here, I’ve collected about 5 or six sets for Frolic leftovers.  I had my own and then kind blog readers sent me theirs.  Now…I have more.

In my defense, I have made three large and one baby quilt from the leftovers plus more fabric of my own.

I still have the pieces you see sorted out below that I have done nothing with.  So…I’ll add these to what I have and will likely come up with yet another quilt.

I know you’re likely laughing at me over the Frolic leftovers.  It’s totally okay.  I’m laughing at myself too.

Anyway…I had a great day out and thrifting.  I just have a blast when I am.  Seriously, so fun!