Heart Felt

Thrift finds for October

Another month has past and here are my best thrift finds for the month of October.

Only New Zealander's will remember getting their cream in these glass bottles.  I was thrilled to find one which I'm currently using as a vase.

I have found a matching enamel kitchen bowl to go with the jug I found a couple of months back.  Looks great in my old kitchen.

 

So in love with this red leather suitcase with incredible interior including an old Air New Zealand baggage label.

  

Retro child's bed sheet

 

Handmade child's smock that ties up the back.  It will be great for Sadie to wear while she is painting or cooking.  Love the retro apple fabric!

 

I won't be dying this beautiful little cardigan ~ I just love the wee nautical wool embroidery detail on it.  Will be great for our baby boy when it turns cool.

 

A couple of pieces of lovely fabric, I have already used the pink roses as a dress for Sadie.

 

and this lovely machine embroidered table cloth ~ love~

Happy thrifting! xx

Making 'retro' things for children

Once a year our local Heart Foundation have a fun raiser by having a huge pre-loved book sale. Books of all genres are donated and collected over the year. The book sale is so huge that our local district council allows the charity the use of the town hall to hold it. Because I work at the local library all local government staff are allowed in 1 hour before the public are let in. I always feel bad because some of the public have been lining up outside the doors for at least a couple of hours!  The organizers like the staff to be out of view from the public before the doors open so one hour is never quite long enough to get right round so I prioritize ~ 

1. Children's books

2. Art/craft

3. Vinyl records 

4. History/literature

5. Gardening

6. Cooking

This year I only got to number 3 on the list, but I did pick up some lovely old children's illustrated books for my ever growing collection.   

 

The craft section had slim pickings, but one of the books I thought you might enjoy is "Making things for children" by Katie Dyson.  It was published in 1974.  

As you know I love retro children's clothing, but I also love the photography in this book and maybe just one of these days I will actually make something out of it.  Here are some of my favorite patterns.

~Play apron~

 

~Dress and Pinafore~

 

~Peasant dress~

 

Love the fabric they have used on this

~Everyday dress~

The worst pattern out of the book was this....but it did put a smile on my face.

~Crocheted beach clothes~

I picked up some other books which I will share with you soon. xx

Inspiration

Currently sewing has been a continuous process in our household.  I am inspired by the lovely pieces of fabric I have been picking up from thrift shops, the anticipation of the new baby, living in the countryside and piles of sewing books I have borrowed from libraries from around the country.

It's nice to think that my creativity has inspired the children to be creative also.  Charlie wanted to sew with me, but he didn't want to just sew stitches, he wanted to sew 'something'.  This is his first attempt - a beautiful leaf.....I'm very proud of his imagination and the thought he put into his creations.

He continued to make a 'shoe' with a big button and some 'rabbit skin for Sadie's leg' (not quite sure where that one came from except we had inspected a dead rabbit on the road the day before.  Why it's for Sadie's leg......goodness knows.)

Sadie's sewing consisted of pinning a piece of bright red felt with a big green button to the sofa.

Some more creativity....

Dress from vintage fabric and pixie hats with felt motifs.

Pass-it-forward gifts in progress....(hopefully ladies your parcels will be on their way before baby arrvies.)

Sadie has been painting....

 

and some pavement art.....

 

What inspires you?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

Nesting

Another miserable rainy cool day ~ a good day for nesting.  Three weeks and counting until baby is due. 

The anticipation has begun.....

His dresser and cot

Beautiful quilt made by Chris using reproduction vintage fabrics

Dresser with vintage gown

 

Dresser full of vintage and retro baby outfits I have collected over the past months

Beautiful cane bassinet that has been handed down in Ian's family

Basket of toys the children have gathered together from their own baby days

Sewing for baby

The recent horrible weather has given me the opportunity to get the sewing machine out and sew some new things for our baby due in four weeks.  

I have found this book wonderful.  Simple but funky patterns for beginner sewers like myself.  A couple of projects were challenging but I feel my confidence has grown since trying them out and the results being reasonably successful.  

 

The book is laid out beautifully ~ it's worth getting hold of a copy just to have a flick through.

All the fabrics I used were the pieces I found in thrift stores last month along with the cotton.  The only things I bought new were elastic, some binding and the two anchor buttons. (I was hoping to find a couple of old retro ones in Mum's old button tin ~ but with no success)

Teeny-tiny goody-two-shoes ~ project by Allison Jones ~ page 12.

 

Cutest ever baby knickers ~ project by Nichola Prested ~ page 52

 

Yoga pants for happy babies ~ project by Shannon Lamden ~ page 100

I have so much of the retro farmyard fabric I made this pinafore for Sadie using an old 1970s pattern that was given to me.  We call it her 'farm dress'.

I also tried out Melissa's wrap dress tutorial to make a dress for a little girl called Poppy.  It's the first time I have used binding (which I bought ~ didn't have the confidence to make my own) It's not perfect ~ but for my first go I'm reasonably happy.  I hope Poppy doesn't mind being a model for my experimental sewing projects.

'Goldie' the kindy lamb

Charlie came home from kindergarten yesterday very excited about their new acquisition, a lamb!  He told me he fed it a bottle and that his name was 'Goldie'.  The next day Sadie and I walked down to kindy to pick Charlie up and to meet the famous Goldie the lamb. 

He was standing under the blossom tree and he ran over to meet us bleating his little heart out.  Goldie followed Charlie around, remembering that Charlie had fed him the day before.  Sadie was quite taken with him but Goldie slightly ignored her knowing that she had no food to offer.

                

                

                  

                 

Off the topic ~ Sadie helped me in the 'Spring Cleaning' and she came across this little bead necklace with a tiny little bell on the end.   She wanted to wear it, which was very cute because I use to wear the exact same necklace when I was a child.  I remember my parents chanting..."here comes Nell with the bell".  It was so sweet seeing Sadie wearing it to, I'm pleased I had kept it all these years.

                                   

                                                        Me in circa 1975 ~ "Nell with a Bell".

                                    

Also while I was "Spring Cleaning" I came to the decision to sell some of Sadie's vintage/retro clothes that she's grown out of.  If you are interested in any of these visit my Trade Me.  Overseas bidders are welcome if you use Paypal. xx

                       

                                                      

Sadie's thrifty wardrobe

Needless to say I adore having a little girl to dress every morning.  She herself loves pretty dresses, especially shoes.

Sadie's wardrobe is....let's say......'rather extensive', but I pride myself on her wardrobe being about 80% sourced from thrift shops.  I don't feel bad if she wears a dress only 2-3 times before she grows out of it, especially if I have only spent $1-$3 on it.

I enjoy the hunt of finding a special unique piece.  Things I look out for are handmade items, pretty fabrics, vintage and retro items.  I like the thought that she is the only child who owns a particular piece and it's a lot of fun.

Thrift hanging out to dry

Sadie's wardrobe

Some of my favorite pieces

I have a Flickr group here if you would like to share any photographs of your special thrift finds and you can also see some more of Sadie's thrifty wardrobe here. xx

Signs of Spring

A lone Crocus found in the garden....

Spring flowers brightening up the kitchen....

Warm and dry enough to wear our favorite red vintage sandals....

Desperate to climb over the fence to get to a field of daffodils and blossom trees....

But being a bit unsure of an old pony who was either a bit frisky or a bit grumpy (he was trying to eat daddies coat)

Sadly our run of frosty mornings and warm afternoons are near it's end.....we are expecting rain at the end of the week.  But I feel we have made the most of a glorious week! xx

The bike ride

Making the most of no rain and a reasonably mild day for winter, we went out for a bike ride.

Charlie was sure he saw a squirrel in the oak tree eating acorns (we don't have squirrels in New Zealand, it was probably a bird)

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sadie going down hill.......

We checked out the daffodil patch - not long until this corner will be bursting with yellow spring gold.

Some treasures we found on our ride, gum nuts, gum flowers (the Tui birds are feasting on these flowers at the moment), a cicada shell and a prickly seed pod of some kind.

A big 'thank-you' to Gabrielle for Charlie's hat (he calls it his 'hunting hat') and for Sadie's adorable pinafore with a very funky mushroom on the front (excuse Sadie's runny nose and grumpy look, she was ready to go home at this point)  They have been both made out of recycled wool blankets so they are super warm, just right for this time of year.

Winter fruit picking

I just love the seasons, especially the seasonal fruit and vegetables.  At the moment we are enjoying Kiwi Fruit from a friends garden and sweet juicy Mandarins from Grandma's garden.

The Kiwi Fruit is not a usual fruit you see growing in someones backyard, they are more prolific up north where they are grown on farms.  This is a very old vine, so the fruit are slightly smaller and much hairier than the commercially grown ones found in the stores.  Sadie adores them and she didn't need much encouragement to help in the gathering.

She helped our friend Glen carry the baskets and buckets back to the house.

The little pixie hat Sadie is wearing today is made from a recycled pure wool jumper.  I found this tutorial and it really only takes 10 minutes or so to put it together.  I bought the jumper from a thrift store and I will get two hats out of one $4 jumper.  I have added my own touch with the felt heart and vintage buttons on the side.  With the next one I think I will try an alternative option for the neck ties - these were too chunky for under Sadie's neck.

Later on Charlie and I went to Grandma's to swap some Kiwi Fruit for some Mandarins.  Grandma's Mandarin tree grows down the back of her garden near a stream.  It is laden with fruit this year to Charlie's delight!

I was a a bit camera happy today - so there are a lot more photographs on my Flickr. xx