As you know, one of my resolutions this year is to complete all the crafts on my “rage craft” table. My plan is to commit one afternoon each weekend to working on something from the table. And while it’s not exactly on the table, my easel with my paint-by-number sits right beside it, so I count it among it.
Burton was quite insistent that it be the first thing we commit to finishing. It was hard to disagree with him (especially when he’d already pulled out all the paints. )
When last you saw it, it looked like this.
And while I wasn’t able to commit a whole afternoon to it, after a little more than an hour working away at it, it looked like this…
I think it’s a pretty decent amount of progress for just over an hour. Imagine what I can so with a whole afternoon! I might even be able to finish it!!!1
We generally go thrifting in Sarnia twice a week… usually Tuesdays and Fridays. But, if I get a day off we’ll sometimes pop down to Chatham. If I just get off work early, we’ll nip into Strathroy. We don’t always buy things, but we’ve discovered going often gives us a much better chance of coming across something cool.
Here’s some of our latest and greatest finds.
I’m always on the lookout for garden kitsch. This little metal welcome sign for just $2 fit the bill.
As did this fabulous terra cotta wall lizard.
You may recall that I have two ceramic Persians awaiting makeovers to resemble our Fabulous Fluffalicious Lord Burton
Well… now we have Furby and Dave says he needs at least one idol of worship too… so this little guy will get an orange makeover at some point!
This next one is actually my Christmas gift (Dave’s planned gift didn’t pan out and he was so upset he didn’t have anything for me on Christmas)
The green Hen on Nest has been on my list for a long time. In fact, it’s really the only hen on nest I wanted (though you may recall, I have two others). The pink one… well I didn’t even know they came in pink! These weren’t exactly thrifty… and I wouldn’t have paid the price they were asking… but Dave insisted. And I can’t regret it. My Hen on Nest collection is now complete! (and Dave is no longer sad so it’s a win-win!)
This next one isn’t for me…
About six months ago, I was asked to keep an eye out for one of these. You’ll recall I do collect Corning Ware, but the blue cornflower isn’t my pattern (I collect Spice of Life). But apparently Paisley and Rowan’s maternal grandma had this one, and it got broken. She was very upset, so the girls were determined to find another one for her – but not at the crazy prices some sellers online are asking. They know how often we go out, so asked for my help. Last week – I finally came across one! In fact, we came across two, both at different shops. I texted Paisley immediately and she was thrilled. This will be passed along next time we get together.
And last, we come to one of my holy grail items (items on your list you’ve been looking for forever). I have long wanted one of those wrought iron mid-century staircase plant stands. I see them on FB marketplace all the time, but they are usually too far or too pricey. Just before the new year, Dave and I popped into Strathroy to run some errands. He suggested we go to the Goodwill there while we were passing by. I almost didn’t… I was tired and it was close to closing anyway. He insisted… and I’m glad he did.
We’d walked through half of the store, turned a corner and my jaw dropped.
I immediately ran over. I could not believe the size of it!!! It’s taller than Dave and he’s over 6 feet. I had no idea they even made them that big. Once I quit jumping up and down from joy, I made Dave carry it to the cash (it’s crazy heavy!)
The young guy manning the cash said about 30 minutes before a lady came in, was going to buy it but couldn’t fit it in her car. I got soooo lucky!
Also because it just BARELY fit in the jeep. In fact, I had to drive home with part of it hanging over my shoulder.
Dave gave it a good cleaning and a light sanding. In the spring it will get a new paint job. But I couldn’t wait to set it up!
I think it looks just perfect in front of the living room window! It holds eight plants on the stairs, and I managed to hang a couple more off the railing!
I think it’s been a great start to a thrifty new year!
It’s been an exceptionally snowy winter so far. We haven’t gotten as much snow as some areas (I saw a report that said Barrie, Ontario has received a total of 7 feet of snow so far this winter), but the ground has been almost consistently snow covered since the beginning of December.
That makes me extra aware of keeping my feeders full for my feathered friends. It’s mostly the usual suspects – House Sparrows, House Finches, Juncos, Goldfinches, Blue Jays, Rose-breasted Nuthatches, and Cardinals. I have seen a couple chickadees, and an American Sparrow, but wasn’t able to get pictures. I also put a suet cake out, hoping to spy a woodpecker or two but no such luck yet.
Anyway, here are my favourite pics from the last month. (Most of them taken after the Boxing Day ice storm)
I mean we all knew it… but now we have confirmation….
… Burton is a work of art!
It’s got a little cardboard scratcher in the bottom. We found this one cheap at the ReStore (old Halloween stock as you can probably tell from the ghosties and bats) but we’ve seen them at HomeSense and you can get them on Amazon too.
While I frequently come home with thrifted fabric, it’s rare when I come across thrifted yarn.
Well – that’s not true… there’s LOTS of thrifted yarn. Just not thrifted yarn that I want to buy. There’s always all kinds of acrylic. But rarely any real wool.
So imagine my surprise when I came across 10 balls of Liberty Wool for just $6! That’s 60 cents a ball!
It didn’t even matter that they weren’t really my colours. Or that they were … well… crazy colours. Those three balls are all the same dyelot if you can believe it.
I came home an started searching for a pattern that would work with the stripes. It took a bit, but I finally came across the aptly named “Shrug”
I started it on New Year’s Day and I’m closing in on half-way. It’s definitely knitting up quickly. And I think it was a good choice for such a crazy yarn.
After finishing up the Log Cabin top, I still had about an hour before I had to start dinner. It wasn’t enough time to do anymore sewing, but it was enough time to prep the last two Kittens in Cups!
It doesn’t look all that exciting, but that’s the last two ready to be sewn up!
I set to it the next day.
It didn’t take terribly long, but sadly I had to go run errands. So sewing them into a top with their four mates had to wait for the next day.
Because they are so big (20″) putting them all together went reeeeeally fast! And as you can see, Burton is thrilled about this one.
Completely unplanned, but it turned out the same size as the log cabin quilt – 50″ x 72″
And of course….
I’ve got that fabulous minky for the back. It will be my first time quilting with minky, so hopefully that goes well. I had just enough of the stripe that came in the collection for the binding.
So now… the only quilting projects I bring from 2025 into 2026 is my blockhead quilt (it’s still in a time out while I decide how I want to continue it) and the leader/ender postage stamp quilt (which was always going be a long-term project.
I have a new commissioned quilt project – and I can’t wait to show you! Stay tuned!
I had a smashing start the the New Year’s Tiny Needle work. I was able to move the hoop up
AND.. I got all the whirly swirly branches done above left witch. AND almost all of the owl. He still needs wings and eyes/beak filled in with orange. This coming weekend will hopefully see that happen, along with the whirly swirly branches above the right witch. After that – I’ve got a big night sky to fill in above them. That is going to be a slog!
On Boxing day, we woke up to the amazing ice storm I showed you the other day….
It definitely wasn’t a good day to go out (not that I was planning to), but it was a good day to stay in and play in the studio. I had a couple projects on the go that I hoped to clear out before the new year.
The first was the batik Log Cabins
They just needed to be arranged and sewn together into a top. It actually didn’t take very long.
The weather was so crappy, I kept Furby in for the day. He protested by joining in on the sewing process. Burton wasn’t overly thrilled with his participation, but we still managed to get it together and put a quick border on it.
The boys were all pretty excited about that.
It finished up at about 50″ x 72″. So a nice lap size. I have a nice littlev white/grey batik for the back, and some pretty pink for the binding. This is all packed up in a bag – ready to head to Mom’s for quilting!
That basket is overflowing with all the little Leader/Ender two-patch postage stamps turned into four patches. Yep – we worked our way through them all already! Burton, is not nearly as excited about that as I am.
But… now that we have four patches…
We can turn them into eight patches! That certainly sounds exciting to me!
Wandering Cat Studio 