Collecting Things (Part C)

I think I will hit the end of the alphabet sometime this year!
I'm joining in with Sophie's Fleamarket Finds again this week. I'm link number 74 so there's a lot to see. And I love to look at every single link. Usually 4 or 5 at a time. It's almost as much fun as finding my own stuff.

I know I promised pics of my new (to me) sewing machines from the dump shop, so I guess it's time! First my new pink Nelco. Even the cord is a pretty dusky braided pink. I've managed to figure out all the knobs, buttons and dials thanks to Mr Google and a yahoo group called vintagejapanesesewingmachines.

And this lovely green Singer is amazing with its typewriter style top cam buttons. This is a model 320k.

I have lots more to say about both of these, having put them both through their paces but that will have to wait for another day.
Earlier this week I sis and I hit the Op shops. Tuesday i had to drive to the other side of town and we did an Epic Op shop crawl all the way home. About 7 or 8 I think. It is all one big blur now. I can hardly remember where I bought what lol. There is a LOT to share but I just want to get this over with. Last weeks finds are on a camera that my oldest daughter left in the cable for in Melbourne so they will have to wait.
I loved this vintage light as a feather silk ballerina scarf. But it had a great big hole and quite a few tiny holes. All scarves were marked at $2.99 but I was offered it for .99c so I couldn't resist.

I just tied it so the hole was hidden. It matched the tee I was wearing perfectly.
Hmm... mirror needs cleaning.

When I spied this child size vintage computer themed sleeping bag my inner geek could not possible leave it behind. Scary clown and dummy sucking computers and all. Spot the 51/4 inch floppy disks and pacmen. Im not sure how old it is, it's in excellent condition, but the computers are definitely 80s style.

Some quick pics of retro pyrex mugs and groovy linen...

                                                    ..a couple of cute .10c kids hankies including a hot cross bun rhyme..

The cutest little .50c baby bluebird doily..

A $4.50 large rectangle lace tablecloth. You may have noticed on the latest photos I have been using these a lot lately over Christmas. This one is a lovely ecru shade.

A few metres of lovely guipure lace with 3 different lace motifs that could be used separately.

And underneath a gorgeous long retro lush cotton velvet skirt that I have some re-purposing ideas for. Colours are a bit closer to the top picture but you can see the pattern here.

 Another retro tie in a gorgeous vibrant coral colour.

Cute lace trimmed Target jeans for Pearl, needing a little waist adjustment. Only .50c You can see the velvet again underneath.

The matching teacup for a saucer I already had (and luckily hadn't drilled for a cake stand).

This is a most gorgeous fine handworked floral piece in an intricate gold frame. Sure it has a few knocks to the frame, but that's just character right? Only $6. Be still my beating heart! I've seen similar with an extra 0 on the price.

Awesome vintage books.

A cute squirrel acorn vase which has a tiny chip on it's ear, but for $1 who cares?

This quirky vintage children's book has a funny Nestle ad on the back suggesting spreading condensed milk on bread for kids that won't drink their milk.

 And lastly, a few of the bags of buttons I picked up. My favourites are the bright yellow swirly GLASS buttons.

I can get onto other bloggy topics now I have got that out of the way. And my forum friends can stop nagging too lol
Of course there are some Freecycle finds that need sharing yet.. I can see a lot of blogging in my future.

Buttons? Optober strikes again!

Yay for little old church Oppies! I went to another I hadn't visited for a long time. My DD and I had a great time finding  all sorts. Poor DD was feeling a bit like one of the stepsisters from Cinderella as there were some gorgeous vintage shoes she was drooling over that were all a size or 2 too small. "Now I know why they sliced their shoes and toes off to fit the glass slipper" she said. But she did find some very comfy  jeans (now cut off into shorts for the warm weather) and suede laceups in a lovely colour that she was thrilled with.

I started my little collection with 2.5m aged guipere lace and some zips for 20c each. Then I spotted a shoebox containing BUTTONS and not your average small buttons but lots of big fat ones! they are not the brightest of colours but still very nice.

I started selecting some but then thought I would go and ask how much they were. Then got cheeky and asked how much for the lot. She said "$4?" then she saw the look on my face. I think I would be a terrible poker player! But she mistook my surprise and asked " Is that too much?" So I quicky assured her it wasn't and kept the box tucked under my arm.

I found 2 cute saucers, doilies of course, an interesting Kwik Sew underwear pattern and this old pet rock mag LOL. Whose child was it that was busily painting rocks?

I found some interesting craft books including a vintage sewing machine manual plus a vintage purse with an extra large clear licence holder from the times when licences were paper and didn't have photos! I had almost forgotten that until I saw it.

I found a comfy pair of shoes (not an easy thing for me to find) and a 2.5m length of beautiful silky smooth and soft chintz-like vintage Sanderson Linen in an upholstery weight.

Hmm. What else? Oh, a vintage geometric dangly triangle  necklace that DD has swiped! Apparently it is very "in" right now.

Ummm, 2 vintage pillow cases in pristine condition and half a large damask table cloth (hemmed on the cut, long and narrow, already hacked, so guilt free crafting fabric).

Oh and DD also got an unusual vintage shoulder bag in tan p/leather. Hmmm, now I think that's it?

Going by all the price tags (which were already bargain prices), it looked like between us we would be short around $10 and I would need to pop out to an ATM for cash, but thought we'd get a tally first. So the lady starts going through and says, "Oh, you can have this, oh, that's too much for that, oh, let's just bunch this stuff together." and got to a tally of $23. And we had $21 between us. And she happily accepted what we had for our big haul. I think we just about skipped out of the store we were so happy! Don't you just love Oppies like that? :)

Optober! More buttons?

Now this is a meme that I can have fun with and keep the blogtober ball rolling too!

So if you haven't figured it out, I just coined Op-shopping October. So this month, raid your local charity, second hand or Opportunity store and share the Optober love!

My local Sally Army store has decided to start selling buttons, so I walked in and the first thing I saw was button jars and spent the next 10 minutes picking and choosing like a kid in a lolly shop.
So what is the going rate for buttons in your area? Here it is 5c ea for small and 10c for large. Just wish there WERE large buttons. I have to say though, it felt weird, swapping small pieces of round plastic for the equivalent small round pieces of metal. Hmm. Feeling a bit like swapping my cow for a bag of magic beans. Pity they aren't interchangeable, often the only thing in my purse is a wad of ancient receipts, a bit of lint and a few buttons. I have actually pulled out the buttons before today but haven't had any takers at the checkout yet lol. (more fool them)
Of course there is a bulk deal, buy a small ziplock bag for $5. My bag contained 65 buttons. Um, bargain?

A few days later, i''m sitting waiting in the car and spotted my little bag of plastic "trashure" still in my handbag.

 So I had a bit of fun sorting through and picking out my favourites. There were some nice soft vintage greens, bright reds even a couple that looked like they might be real tortoishell.

Now the behind the scenes part. After spending so long at the Op-shop choosing these, my teen DD was getting rather annoyed at me as we were meant to be op-shopping for her. This was the first stop of many and I hadn't passed the ATM yet so was actually cashless (apart from the aforementioned lint and stray buttons) and there was a $10 eftpos limit. There was NO WAY I was putting those buttons back! Meanwhile, I was suddenly hit by the most gut wrenching call of nature. (a stomach bug? oh thanks kids). So I began feverishly searching for something to make up the $10 minimum difference. And do you think I could find ANYTHING! I'm desperately beseeching my DD to find SOMETHING! But she wasn't catching the vibe and was very unhelpful. Finally I found a small lamp I wanted for a crafty transformation, which left me with a $1 deficit still!! aaaargh! The last thing was a book on housecleaning tips ROFL! anyone who can write a book on tips is probably organised enough that they would never have need of such a book in the first place. But anyway, I can dream right? Of a home where I sit happily crafting while my floors and benchtop and gleaming? If only the owning of such could be come the reality. So finally I could pay and make the mad dash home again (Phew!). Then on to another 5 stores where we bought absolutely nothing! Were they worth an afternoon of my time and some physical discomfort? Hmm. Cows and beans... I'll let you decide if you think they are magic..

Button, button, who's got the button?

 I saw a lovely button clip and elastic button bracelet on Pinterest. The bracelet tute was from Lilyella.

Source: lillyella.blogspot.com via Helen on Pinterest

I couldn't find the original source for the clip.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Helen on Pinterest

My reluctant (to move and tidy hair)and anonymous model is wearing my own versions in the first photo. I used soft folding elastic for the bracelet and have thought of a better technique for the next one. I have a LOT of buttons!

Op shop drive by...

I had to drive past one of my favourite little old church Oppies today and so of course on the way back, I stopped in to check it out.
I found, an old sheet which should blend nicely with some others I have, a vintage Richard scarry Christmas book, an assortment of pretty saucers for a secret project (I'll let you in on it soon), a big bag of buttons, a few old snot rags cute vintage hankies and a couple of doilies of course.
The only things priced were the sheets priced from $2.50 and the bag of buttons at $5.00. I thought that was a bit steep for this oppie but I wasn't worried. The total (including a Japan china doggie Pearl was holding plus 2 pocket mirrors in Michael and Pearl's hands)  was $8.00.
Don't you love Oppies that just take a stab and round things off nicely? "Is that ok?" he asks. "Um, yes thank you!" All up 16 objects for $8 , making it .50c each. That's why it is one of my faves. ;)