Rayen

Two more examples of new clothing that you can get dirt cheap: this long duster cardigan from Talbots, which retailed for $99.00. It was marked down to $69.99 but didn't sell, or was purchased but never worn and later donated to Goodwill. I thrifted it for $9.99. This Halogen white button up dress shirt retails for $79.00 at Nordstrom (I found a partial tag still attached to it, along with the replacement button, so likewise never worn.) Also thrifted this for $9.99.

To get in a little more walking my guy and I have been visiting some local antique malls. It's more interesting to walk when you have something neat to look at, like a miniature Eiffel Tower. I love cast iron and old wood, the chippier the better. The old fountains are always cool, too. We also play a game where we try to guess what odd things are before we ask the dealer. I'm better with household antiques (I know every kind of butter churn there was in existence, for example) while he's excellent at identifying old tools and machinery. Sometimes I am very tempted to buy things I really don't need, but I always resist. It's more for the fun of looking and reminiscing. Antique dealers are almost as interesting as what they sell, and always happy to talk shop. Now if we could just do less talking and more walking . . . .

This is a mini crossbody Vera Bradley purse I thrifted ass my new every day bag. These type bags from VB run about $45.00 new retail, but the pattern for this one was retired in 2012, so you can't find it new anymore. Used runs about $15.00 to $20.00. I bid on this one because it looked to be in mint/unused condition, and aside from a bit of a storage smell, it was. The nice thing about these bags is that they're washable, so I can easily get rid of the smell. I paid $8.99 for it, so it was a bargain, too.

I was going through some old photos to give to my niece, and came across pics of some quilts I made thirty years ago. This one was for a teacher, and came from a pattern in McCall's Quilting magazine (I still have that magazine around here somewhere, too.) This was a quilt I made for a friend, also based on a pattern from the same magazine. Finally this was a quilt I made for my niece, of my own design. They're all pretty basic, but I was so proud of them.

I did another experimental pear patchwork block using silk sewn backward to a muslin foundation and then turned out and ironed flat. The applique looked okay, but was a bit thick to sew through with my embroidery needle. Then I tried another needle-turned applique, this time doing it the way I thought it should work by cutting curves only when I reached them with the needle (and it was easier than the classic method.) I think the third method works best for me, so that's what I'm going to use for the project.

To do a test run of my idea for the yellow-only project, I found this free pear outline clip art , resized it, and printed a template. I cut out the template pieces and used them to make a pear and a leaf applique from two of my yellow-only fabrics. I am not very good at applique, but I managed to sew both pieces onto a rectangle of yellow moire, and embroidered them with yellow, green and violet threads. Here's the finished block. I'm not sure if needle-turned applique is the way to go, so I think I'll do one more block using another technique.

My art quilter's bingo challenge of using only the color yellow prompted me to buy a couple of lots of vintage crazy quilt fabrics in preparation. I'll use only the yellow fabrics and possibly the trims from this one. This is the other lot. Since the challenge is yellow only I'll take out anything with other colors, but I do intend to use all shades of yellow, including gold. I'm planning to do a piece with pears, so I went to Hotpot.ai's art generator to get some ideas. This image it generated is helpful, but I think I'll try something else. Stay tuned to see what I design for the project.

I have not bought myself a new purse in -- wait for it -- six years. The woman who made all the purses I carry closed her Etsy shop, and since then I haven't seen any purses I like anywhere (mostly because they're poorly made, too expensive, not practical, etc.) When I saw this purse on ShopGoodwill.com, I couldn't believe it was in the exact pink/white/gray palette that I happen to love. And it's made of faux leather. And it looks roomy and sturdy. And it whispered my name. It was meant to be mine, so of course I bid on it, and won the auction with no challengers. Since it's spotless, smells new, has no dings or marks, and most of the hardware still had protective cling film on it, I'm positive that it's never been used. Here's a screenshot of the manufacturer's page on the purse, which they retail for $49.99. I paid $7.99 for mine. Savings: $42.00

Sometimes I don't work on projects during my spare time (although I do work on the calendar mood blanket every day.) Now and then I devote my free time to organizing, sorting, mending and other tasks. One day it started with this untidy box of scrap binding, which I had pulled out for a mending project. I don't like untidy things. Then I added a bunch of tangled yarn from various thrifts that needed separating and rolling from the spring cleaning I'd done that morning. I already had a pair of capris to alter and a quilt to fix, so I spent my afternoon dealing with all of them. Tidying the scrap binding box just took a few minutes. It also let me see how much commercially made binding I have left to use on some things I have planned for spring. I like to keep my yarn tidy, too, and it's kind of soothing to untangle and roll yarn. I removed and added the intact skeins to another box and rolled everything else into balls. Since I don't c

Thrifting a beautifully made lap quilt for under twenty bucks is pretty hard to do. Yet when I saw this one go up for auction I had to have it, and set my max bid at $20.00. I was not the only bidder, so I didn't bother to follow the auction. But surprise, surprise, I ended up being the winner. This was probably made from a panel kit, and it's very recent, too -- I'd say it was made a couple of years ago. It's really well done and long arm quilted. There are zero signs of wear. No label, though. All I can tell you about its origins is that it was donated to a Goodwill in Spokane, WA. Anyway, I won the quilt for $19.56. It's going up in the guest room. :)

While my guy and I were out running errands we decided to stop for lunch at Too Jays, which is a restaurant, deli and bakery all rolled into one. It was our first visit, but we were both reminded of the wonderful Jewish delis of south Florida. Here's what he ordered: a Philly Grilled cheese on challah bread, or their version of a Philly cheesesteak, plus fries and cole slaw. I got their traditional chicken salad plate. The server gave me a piece of their rye bread to try, too. Although the place was busy our server made sure to check and take care of us. The prices were fair for the amount of food we got, too. We liked the rye bread so much we bought a loaf of it from the bakery. Too Jays franchise is only in Florida, but if you ever visit and want a good lunch, I highly recommend stopping by.

The other night I dreamed I was back in the military, and stationed with a bunch of interesting men and women stateside, maybe in Washington DC. We lived in a pretty nice dorm, and for some reason I was in charge of KP. I spent most of the dream cooking (just the same as when I pulled KP duty in real life; you spend all day working in a huge kitchen), prepping my uniform and listening to my roommate's stories about home while I waxed and polished the hallway floors with a buffer (did that a lot in California.) Every detail was very vivid, as were the people in the dream. There was an older officer with silver hair that I looked up to, a brunette who was very nice to me, and a couple of younger soldiers who had just enlisted. I looked after those two as they adjusted to our way of life. Everything I liked about serving my country was in the dream, so I didn't want to wake up. Yet when I finally did wake, I felt glad that it was over. I liked being in the military a lot,

I've been playing with the AI art generator over at Hotpot.ai and put in the title for one of my older works and selected SF1 as the type of art I desired. It generated this image, so I tried it again two more times with the same perameters. I imagine if you use the right key words and select a complimentary style of art, you could generate some pretty good character visuals. The AI and I differ on how my main character appears -- she looks more storm trooperish than how I envisioned her -- but I still think it's interesting. Image credit: all the images in this post were generated with the free version of Hotpot.ai's art generator.

Along with all the journals in my thrifted lot there was a photo album, an address book, a sketch book, a set of fun pens, and a to-do list with a magnet on the back. This matching pair of journals were still in their retail shrink wrap, and will be perfect as a purse/desk combo. The photo album has laser-etched wood covers, and would be great to use for some pics I have of Yellowstone. It amazes me what some people will just throw away. Thank goodness this person donated the album instead to Goodwill. I think many young people are gifted journals by a well-meaning family member who wants them to have a place to write down their thoughts (I've done that; I even handed out journals to kids I didn't know.) I wish more of them would actually use the journals. I might try to hand out some of these to young people I know. It's all about the presentation, and what you say, which can be tricky, but sometimes they appreciate it. The pen set, which has