That is about how many sewing patterns I keep for myself in the hundreds I have listed for sale. Gonna keep this bow-legged blondie.  Pattern of the Day is McCall's 9362 Stuffed Doll from 1968. Instructions begin "Easy to make Doll from man's white T-shirt, tinted pink."  Here are other patterns in my keeper category. I picked up some project boxes at thrift, perfect for my type of crafting.  If I find other blocks for this quilt, that would be great. This 2001 Land of the Free is Block #1 of 12, Brave Eagle. I have a stash of Americana-themed fabric queued up for a quilt. I ..read more

Do I rearrange items in the thrift shop? Guilty. I had never seen Bradley dolls in the small version. These two cuties I moved to the Campbell's Soup display - just because.   Quilting update: My progress on the Lava Lamp quilt. I have many more "lamps" to make. Dealing in sewing patterns, I come across a lot of project ideas. A few of the patterns I have saved for myself.  I keep certain purse/bag patterns. Have I made one yet? No. But it looks like something my daughter would like so I will keep an eye out for the right material for it.  Omgeeee! Squeals of ..read more

I have been more discerning in my thrifted fabric purchases. Now I don't buy all the bags of fabric, only the ones that look like potential keepers. This group I bought two bags at thrift for a total of $12 at the Attic Thrift Shop at the Redwood Senior Center. There are some nice fat quarters that will work in nicely in my Lava Lamp quilt project. The stuffed animal was a $1 purchase I couldn't resist.  A return trip to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens meant a leisurely walk with the dog. There are a couple of "Easter eggs" to discover.  The first was Headless Harmony. Man's ..read more

This sculpture resides at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California.  Metal sculpture near the Mendocino Theatre Company in Mendocino, California.  Thrift shop offerings of a painting A rock print and foot and jar obscura. All thrift shop residents.  Ending the post with Flower Guy - not quite sure what is going on here.  ..read more

The lead-off image is yet another thrift shop painting. This one I have entitled "Eye See You." This week meant each day was spent on the audit of eBay listings of Simplicity and Vogue sewing patterns. I brought up each listing, checked the details, and revised the price. Most were overpriced, some underpriced. All of the cut patterns were culled. Some were out of numeric order. Some were duplicates. Some weren't listed at all. Some needed pattern packet scotch-tape reinforcement.  If you are an online seller, I would highly recommend auditing your listings. I removed the reference to Vi ..read more

The lead-off image is the center of the completed fan quilt done in a dragonfly quilting pattern.  Image below is the quilt in the wild.  I bound it in a dramatic fabric that brought all of the colors together.  Close-up of the dragonfly quilting pattern.  Next quilt queued up is Lava Lamp - king-sized with a wool batting.  Seller update: After I finish the audit of my sewing patterns, I will begin listing my quilt projects for sale. Other listing sessions queued up are Barbie clothes lotted by color, Boy Scout items, yarn, and CDs.  Pattern of the D ..read more

Celebrating my 13th anniversary as a blogger. It has been a quiet summer in blogland for my posts. I spent the month of June finishing out my tenure as a state worker. July and August have been spent involved in a dispute over our summer home. The lead-off image was a painting at a Fort Bragg, California thrift shop.  Back to thrifting in my area produced a pair of Black Americana salt and pepper shakers. My most recent finds have been mainly sewing patterns, nothing as cute as these two! Pattern of the Day is an undated Butterick raggedy clown doll. I had scanned in this batch of patt ..read more

Socket and plug mugs were the weirdest of this month at hospice thrift.  Admittedly, I am out and about less since my retirement. We are reverse hibernating on the North Coast to escape the Sacramento valley summer heat.   Update on the audit of my sewing patterns for sale. I have completed the brands Burda through See & Sew. Any product I had laying on the floor is now on the rack. Once I complete my audit of the Simplicity patterns, I can further reorganize the product on the shelves. At first, I thought I needed another 5 tier rolling wire rack. Now that is not necessary ..read more

Spending most of my summer in Mendocino county. These ceramic mushrooms adorn the beginnings of my hippy garden. The reason I call it hippy land is there are quite a few counter culture 60s-type people in the area.  I couldn't resist buying a whole group of plants. I could never have a flower garden back in the valley because we are overrun with deer.  The ceramic mushrooms have been rearranged in the new planter grouping. Beginning in the back with Mystic Illusion dahlia, Apricot Lemonade Cosmos, zinnias, Cherryberry Nemesia, Elise Mix Lewisia, and the combo pot with Trixi ..read more

This bumper sticker was spotted at my favorite clothing reseller Freestyle in Sacramento, California.  I watch a lot of paranormal-related YouTubes, funny thing is ghosts/demons never haunt the secondhand shops. These entities like to open cabinet doors, play knock knock, and occasionally throw knives and cutlery.  Not much to report this month in the thrift shop world of wacky. This painting was displayed at Old Soul Coffee in Sacramento, a place I frequented on my days in office.  These images are from another thrifting site on FB. Found at an antique store, a questionabl ..read more