Today's Thrifty Finds

It has been a lovely sunny day here in Sheffield, the perfect weather to drag your boyfriend round jumble sales, charity shops and car boot sales and I am pleased to say that I managed all three. The jumble sale and charity shops weren't a huge success but I managed to buy some new (to me) things at the car boot. 

I bought this bag of vintage Coats threads for £2. Aren't they the cutest colours? I know these will come in handy for future quilts. I particularly love the old wooden spools and labels. 

I also bought this mismatched set of 1960s melaware. I was a bit of an eager beaver with the photography and haven't yet had chance to give them a good wash as you can see, so apologies for that. I was attracted to them because of the bright colours and somehow I have visions of these becoming the start of a new collection.

From the same stallholder I also bought this set of three nesting containers. Who can resist bright orange with a daisy pattern? Certainly not me.

 Next up I bought a couple more vintage sheets which will soon be cut up and making their way in to the fabric shop

And finally, I actually bought this a few weeks ago but had completely forgotten to share. It is an old baby blue hairdryer with it's original box in full working condition. It only cost me £1! What I haven't picture here is the fact that it comes with a long plastic tube attached to what looks like a shower cap so you can put your rollers in and dry your hair around it. Fantastic!

Thirfty Finds

It has been quite a successful weekend of second hand shopping for me. On Saturday I went to a jumble sale in Hathersage. I don't think that I was quite prepared for how busy it was going to be, perhaps the size of the queue 45 minutes before opening should have given me a clue. When the doors finally opened it was absolute carnage, there were grannies climbing over each other to get to the piles of clothing. I could understand why though as absolutely everything was 30p, and at that price people were grabbing armfuls of clothing. I did manage to get a few things including a sparkly top, evening gown, belt and pillow cases. Here is a sneaky picture my boyfriend took...

This wasn't even at fully capacity! I would have liked to stay longer but my boyfriend had backed in to a corner and taken a defensive stance so I took the hint that it was probably time to go home. Next time I will be better mentally prepared for a scrummage. Today I went to a car boot sale at Bakewell which was also quite successful, you can see some of my goodies below.

1. Aqua pleated midi skirt

2. 1970s pleated midi skirt

3. 1960s full length evening gown

4. Set of 5 vintage pillow cases

5. Vintage silk look top

6. Vintage 1980s strapless dress

7. Pyrex carafe with gold starburst pattern

8. Vintage leather handbag

9. Vintage leather belt with brass 'B' buckle

10. Brass geometric cuff

11. Vintage 1960s rhinestone necklace

12. Vintage 1970s pussybow dress 

And I have been saving my best find until last, how absolutely fabulous is this original 1920s beaded dress? It has some holes in it and some of the beading has come away in parts but it really is stunning. 

My New Terrarium

Today I got up extra early (8.30am - which is impressive for a Sunday!) and went to my first car boot sale of 2013. It wasn't the busiest car boot ever as the weather didn't look too great this morning, but I'm glad I did as I picked up a rather cool vintage terrarium.

Does your cat insist on being in every photo too??

As you can see it was in a bit of a state when I bought it. On the stall it was actually still half filled with dirt and rocks but the man kindly emptied it out for me. I am usually the worlds worst haggler as I get too embarrassed to ask, but I managed to get the stallholder down from £15 to £12. I realise £3 is probably not the most impressive discount ever, but I consider it a victory!

I have been looking for something to go on the window ledge in our new bathroom and as soon as I saw the terrarium I knew that it would be perfect. I couldn't wait to get creating, so after a quick trip to the garden centre and a date with a bottle of windolene, here is the finished item.

I am so pleased with the way it has turned out. I would love to tell you the names of the plants that I used but I accidentally paid no attention to the labels before throwing them away. I am certainly not the most green fingered lady in the world but I am really hoping these will survive, at least for a week or two. You can see my bathroom is currently in progress, there are still a few things that need to be done, like adding border tiles but I think we are pretty much there. What a relief!

The best charity shop find ever!

I nearly had a heart palpitation today when I wandered in to one of my local charity shops on my lunch break and saw this...

Yes, that's right, it's a gorgeous cathrineholm lotus enamelware bowl. It was actually hidden away inside a larger glass bowl so when I pulled it out I couldn't believe my eyes. I have never seen one in real life before, nevermind owned one. And here's the best bit... it only cost me £2.49! Looking at the prices that these go for on Etsy and eBay this may not be the beginning of a beautiful collection, but maybe one day I could strike it lucky again.

My cat seemed quite keen on it too...

Now I need to go and buy a whole new shelf just to display it on.

Recent finds

Here are some of my recent thrifty purchases. The clock is a brilliant retro style flip clock, it cost me £4 from a charity shop. When I bought it the day didn't flip over but after a rather fiddly half hour I managed to fix it. This will have a home in my Minnie Vintage room.

The red, yellow and blue vintage glasses, the 1950s multi-colored shot glasses and the cute cat figurine will all be going in to my Etsy shop.

The two vintage duvet covers were £2 each, I am saving them and eventually I want to make a quilt. My sister has recently starting quilting and has agreed to teach me, although I'm sure mine won't be as good as hers!

Today's finds

Today I had time to pop in to a couple of charity shops. I found this 1970's bikini set and matching kaftan, some girl's vintage sandals and a copy of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which I have been wanting to read forever.

Car boot finds...

I bought this sewing machine for £5 from the Bakewell car boot sale. A lovely old lady sold it to me and it's in perfect working order. It did need a bit of a scrub though, you can see in the photograph the patch that I cleaned and what a big difference it made. The only problem with the machine is that some of the metal has yellowed, can anyone recommend a way of removing this? I  have tried bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice so far but neither have made much difference! The first project I have planned is to make my own cat collar, so I will post the results when I have finished.

This weekend's finds

This weekend I did really well in charity shops and car boot sales. The collection of threads will come in really useful for various craft projects that I have planned, and only cost me £2. The blue floral dress near the top is by Liberty of London and the green 1960's dress is by Peter Barron and has a beautiful drape back. I have to say though, my two favourite items are the four mini pyrex bowls in the cutest colours and the bunny figurine which is currently smiling down at me from the mantle piece. Here is a close up of it's little face...