SouleMama

after the dentist

A few weeks ago, I went to the dentist (yes, that's really how this story starts. Bear with me - my voice feels a little scratchy after 30 days of quiet here).

And you know - it's the dentist. My dentist himself is very pleasant. We always have lovely conversations about books. (Or, at least  as much as one can have a conversation with their mouth wide open and someone's hands inside it. Maybe it's more accurate that I do a lot of listening about books.) Last year he convinced me to read all of Julia Alvarez' books, which I can't believe I had made it 32 years without reading. Wasn't I an English and Women's Studies major in college? Yeah, it just seems wrong that they let me get by four years without reading her. She's amazing.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. In the dentist chair where I was fantasizing what I was going to do with the rest of my solo Mama time that afternoon (because going to the dentist does not count as "recharging Mama time", even with the charming book chat). And I remembered a flea market nearby. Ah, perfect. Sometimes I love just slowly wandering around the stalls at an indoor flear market alone - in the quiet, surrounded by my own thoughts and a whole lot of 'old things' - some of them quite lovely. And the rest - well, I can see past a few baseball cards. 

And that is just about the longest way I could have told you - that I found this quilt there that day. There's never really any doubt when I find one of these, and it's reasonably priced, that it will come home with me. Despite the growing piles of old quilts around here ('that we can't even use!" Steve says, befuddled and humored. "But these ones are art!" I say, entirely serious).

It's actually a total cutter quilt. There's a big hole in the middle and the edges are really, really frayed. I have a few projects in mind for it that I'm excited about trying out. But...I'm not quite ready for the cutting yet. I want to stare at it just a little bit longer. Think about the woman who made it. The people it might have warmed. What their life was like. The artists who designed the fabric. What they were inspired by. And on and on. I want to study it, and dream about it, if you will.

And, I want to play Quilt Twister. "Left foot on yellow floral! Right hand on green plaid!" My children have such sweet tolerance for their crazy Mama. And I'm very grateful for that. And the flea market. And my dentist, too.

thrifted fall favorites

I haven't shared a proper thrifting report in a good while now, though of course that's not for lack of thrifting. A few little little treasures that have found their way into my home this fall:

 

A little more detail on the Flickr pages.

This quilt was a very lucky, under-the-table flea market find by a friend. But since it was my birthday, she gave it to me - isn't that nice? Not that I was about to wrestle her to the ground for it or anything. Nope. Not me. We thought it was a cutter for sure, but after three days in the tub with Nancy's Vintage Soak, it's just right and soft and cozy and white again.

And then a month later I found this sweet, soft, and affordable vintage quilt. It's lovely to have one that I both love to look at and that I also don't mind having a child on either end of it playing tug of war. Know what I mean?

I instantly fell in love with this sweet little nightdress, and figured if Adelaide didn't like it (she's quite clear about what she will and will not wear), I'd happily keep it anyway. Thankfully though, we both love it.

And this is not just any Pyrex bowl, no - this is my new favorite Pyrex bowl. I adore this pattern. It's the Balloons pattern from spring of 1958. And why do I know this? Because that's what procrastinating in front of the computer will do to you. Lead you to a website like this where you can easily spend away an hour. Or more. Sigh.

And just this weekend - before the storm hit - on a little flea market adventure (where else to find completely unique handmade gifts?), I found this little set. Or more accurately, it found me. As in - You Break  It, You Buy It. Yup, in all my years of thrifting I've never done that. But there's a first for everything, and this weekend my fumbly, over-caffeinated hands dropped a pile of Fire King bowls right on top of this cream and sugar set.

But really - how lucky was I? It was $12, not $200, it glued back together with my much-loved (and crazy-toxic) E6000, and it's kinda sweet, too. I'll consider it a lucky break.

early fall table

{recently picked, gathered, and thrifted.}

recently thrifted

It's been a while since I've shared any thrifting finds. Despite the many yard sales, it all seems to slow down for me late in the summer - when our weekends get consumed with doing all the summer things we want to squeeze in. But there was a little thrifting this week that resulted in these little treasures I'm about to share with you.

First up, my now-very favorite vintage boys shirt that I've worn for, um, let's see - three days in a row now. Nice. I can't tell you why I love it so, or why it makes me want to wear my hair in a ponytail, but it does, and I do.

Some vintage fabric goodness. Not sure what this will be - but I do love those colors. A lot.

And a hat for my little ones, specifically for Ezra, who I knew would love it so. And yes - one more kids hat means one more mama skirt. Rock on.

A vintage bird skirt I adore.

And last. Oh, the best for last. This log cabin - with it's red centers and truly varied assortment of fabric and old clothing is just beautiful. My heart always breaks a little when I find one of these old beautiful pieces of art stashed in a corner or under a table, undervalued and unappreciated, dirty and dingy at a thrift shop or yard sale, and away from it's family of origin.  Ah, but now it's home, washed up, and on the back of my couch where it will keep this little family cozy - and very happy, too.

{Oh! And don't forget, the One in Ten auction ends today!}

weekend finds

Ah, a very lovely weekend - I hope yours was too. We had one drizzly day - perfect for inside house projects and reading and lounging; and one gorgeous summer day - perfect for visiting with family, trail walks and playing baseball. And, of course, there was a tiny bit of weekend time for thrifting and yard sailing too.

Last week I was all drooly over Meg's fabulous vintage girls dresses she found thrifting. And then a few friends appeared with some more, and I figured that must be the end of them. But there were more! By the time I finally got myself over there this weekend, these were still kicking around (and I left a few behind, if anyone's local and interested). I do wonder what the story is with all of these handmade vintage dresses - I'd like to think the maker would be pleased at the new life they're getting. These are a little big yet for Lady A, but hopefully she'll let me put them on her when the time comes (one can hope). In the meantime, that red wool is the best "Annie" dress my kids could hope for.

A few little linens - bedsheets that I'm really loving.

And this little clock - I've been looking for an old one for my studio. And this yellow and aqua one is just perfect for me.

I promised myself a year ago that I would NOT bring any more aprons into my house. For the most part, I've stuck to that. But really, how could I resist this one?  It's cocktail time. My apron says so.

fabric, not sports

After a super late night on Friday night, I was not feeling the 'get up and go' yard sale wake up call that usually comes at 7am. But then I remembered - the neighborhood retirement home.

I've been to this sale before - it's mostly a bake sale, and what appears to be a social for the residents. But there's one little table of things for sale, and I seem to find a treasure there each year. This year was no exception - I found a small grocery bag full of this fabric, hidden under the table (always look under the table!).

I clutched my treasured bag, bought some baked goods (I had to), and had a little visit, because even if I wanted to leave in a hurry, these ladies were not going to let that happen. We chatted sewing, we chatted knitting, they told me all about the woman whose fabric I was buying (perhaps more than I wanted to know, actually...oh, scandal), and I smiled as they chastised the men (who couldn't hear them anyway) to 'take the sports talk outside and get out of the way!'. Ahem.

I went right home after the visit, knowing that I wanted this bag of fabric to be my single treasure for the day, not something amongst a bunch of other things. And oh, it really is a bag full of treasure. I gingerly removed each piece of fabric (oh, and with that sweet apron tucked in there too!), quietly smiling, while Ezra watched over me and asked, "Mama...why does that make you so happy?". Because it's old, because it's precious, and because it's pretty. I suppose that's why.

And this one here might just be my very favorite old, precious and pretty thing yet.

what I love :: color

I love arriving home from a day of thrifting to find a surprise color theme amongst my treasures.

(I'm doing some what I love posts - a photo and just a few words - for the rest of the week. The spring air and our garden are calling my attention elsewhere!)

random musings on the fabric sale

Oh, thanks for all your sweet studio love yesterday! It's fun to share it, and definitely fun to be in right now. I added a few notes to the Flickr photoset with some details if you were looking for that.

Moving backwards, I'm a little late to blogging about last Friday's fabric sale - Meg already shared her beautious fabric porn - good stuff. This would be the annual Salvation Army fabric sale that I'm talking about (held in many cities, I hear - check your local SA) - past years' motherloads here and here. This year did not disappoint - with plenty of long lines, crazy crowds, and vintage goodness around for all - even with all the fellow crafty Portland gals I spied around the room (hi!). With a newly purged and cleaned studio, I was so very mindful when picking up fabric this year - knowing that each and every piece I brought home would need to find a home in my hoping-to-stay-clean studio. Yeah, so with that in mind, let me show you my problem:

Exhibit A. My sweet little bundles of newly purchased vintage fabric and goods.

Exhibit B. My sweet rack of neatly stacked FULL fabric shelves. You see? The new stuff has nowhere to go. A conundrum, I tell you. A conundrum I'm happy to live with. But a conundrum nonetheless.

Anyway...my favorite bits from the sale were these quilt pieces. I can't stop picking up these unfinished pieces - I love them so. Some of the fabrics here make me slightly out-of-breath. That brown with the dots? yeah, that one. Oh my.

This would be the 'what the hell was I thinking?" purchase. There's always one. Yards of this polyester craziness. I think this was snagged at the end of the sale, far beyond when I should have Gone Home, but didn't....bad choices are made at that point, I'm convinced. What will I make with it? I have no idea. Moving on...

One more random observation from waiting in line at the fabric sale, watching the women around me and remembering my own grandfather's presence there before he passed away: I've decided that the ultimate sign of a good partner would be one that, at the age of 75, will drive the other one to such a sale as this, set up the lawnchair with coffee for the long waiting line, wait patiently for said shopper (crossword and coffee in the car, perhaps?...or sweetie, the Big Jab, a latte and sudoku?), and then drive right up to the entrance to pick her and all of her fabric goodness up to go home. I was feeling all nervous that this never made it into our wedding vows, so as soon as I spoke to Steve after the sale, I asked if he'd do this. Thankfully, he said, 'okay, sounds fun'. I ignored all sarcasm, and felt much relief.

Season Opener

Did I just make a sports reference? I think I did. But it's true - this weekend marked the opening of Yard Sale / Rummage Sale season in Maine, my favorite sport. The warming up happened at a highly-attended annual church rummage sale in town. Highly attended by many people - I think you could have done a who's who of Portland bloggers in there - quite fun, and completely overstimulating at the same time (the sale, not the bloggers). Anyway, it was nice to get back into the swing of things - you know, the crowds, the searching, the craziness of it all. Good stuff.

And a happy little showing for the day too, with many of the usual suspects. Some tins, that pile of muffin cups that I'm ridiculously happy about (should have photographed the box, too - so cute), and of course, some fabric. I think you'll see that wool on the left turned into something else very very soon - I keep giving it the eye in my studio. Ooh, actually looking at it in the photo right, I think I just decided what to do with it. Fun.

And always, a few linens. Some will be used as is, and some will be used in sewing projects.

My favorite find of the day - these patchwork quilt pieces. I can't for the life of me figure out what it was on it's way to becoming, because both of these sides are covered in the squares, and sewn on three sides - large pillowcases perhaps? In the center of many of the squares are the handwritten names of the quilters, I presume. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one.

Thank you Ethal. And Francine, Almina, Etta, Charlotte, Laura, Anna, Florence, and Agnes. Thank you very, very much.

as good as a day at the spa

Thrifting alone is always lovely. But thrifting with friends who are equally freaky as I about vintage dishes, fabric, patterns, jewelry, clothes and everything else? Well, there's nothing better.

Because really, I think we all need someone around when we're marathon thrifting - to talk us out of the beautiful, but overpriced tablecloth (to the cries of, "but it's Vera!"); to restore breathing when spotting the most gorgeous of doll quilts that would blow the day's whole budget; to pace oneself through the aisles and aisles of goodness; to gently nudge one out of the temporary lapse in taste (ahem.); to remind one of the vintage apron collection already at home; to aid in the selection of the *perfect* salt and pepper shakers (important decisions, I tell you!), as though they really care. Because, well, they actually really do care about such things. And most importantly, to encourage each other that, YES!, whatever we've got our heart set on is simply GORGEOUS and perfect and a bargain, and a must have. Of course. This is the kind of support a good friend lends, right?

And then there is the help to pull me out (quite literally) of the vortex that is my favorite flea market stall - at just the right time before I crawl myself under the table with all the vintage fabrics for an uncivilized little lie down. Oh, but wouldn't that be nice. (By the way, I'm not pregnant. Just looking pregnant. Fun. I've just now decided never to wear that shirt again.)

I was so happy after a day of thrifting adventures to come home with these little treats...

...and these. But I'm even happier to come home feeling refreshed, connected, and much lighter than when the day started. Thank you, my freaky peeps. I love you guys. Um, how about next Saturday?