is mine.
I found her in the Op Shop (thrift shop) on Friday.
& she sews beautifully.
I know by now it probably seems like I'm just a big fat show off - sorry.
If you'd like me to share some of my recent Op Shop luck please sign my Op Shop Wishlist.
Edit: An Op Shop is an Opportunity Shop or Thrift Shop.
Fisher Price Happy Apple.
This is one of my favourite & best op shop finds ever!
I didn't have one of these growing up. There wasn't much FP in our toy box, but the few pieces we did have were so well played with & loved.
It makes a gorgeous plinky, plunky sound with it's chime. It makes me smile each & every time I look at it.
I'm pretty sure I got it from that Animal Welfare Op Shop in Canterbury Road, Blackburn (opposite the McDonalds) & I know I paid $1 for it!
Another gorgeous red op shop find I picked up with the kids today can be found here and more Thrifted Tuesday finds (thanks Leah) on the Flickr group.
My luck at the Op Shop (Thrift Shop) has been amazing. In a couple of minutes you're about to see just how amazing.
So much good stuff...I can't keep it all to myself & ever present in my mind is the move this time next year.
I'd like to share my good fortune.
If you'd like to leave your dearest Op Shop Wish here in the comments you just never know your luck.
Just in case you're worried about declaring your love of say "salt & pepper shakers - made in Japan" go & read this.
Always up for a challenge - I'm linking my cute with Angela & Mikes to my Thrifted Tuesday Op Shop purchasing.
The cutest Op Shop ever turned up this beauty "tested & found to be working". This night light is so super cute that I couldn't leave without it.
I think a night time drive in that jalopy with the little glasses & drivers-cap attired chap would be quite lovely. Now I've just got to get the date to grow a moustache & find myself a nice hat with a yellow flower & we'll be set.
My very bestest Op Shop delivered yet again.
It really is quite incredible - I never leave empty handed. Check out the goodness I picked up today.
The brown & white fabric is "Diagonal" by Austfield & there is 4 metres of it!
I was really excited when I spotted the little brown suitcase....BUT....when I saw what was inside I did my little Op Shop dance & squealed in delight. If you want to see what was inside you need to visit here or the Thrifted Tuesday Flickr. Tease aren't I?
I also picked up this gorgeous fabric. It smells like a Nanna's linen press...I love mothballs. The selvedge & the internet haven't helped me out "Bumble Bee pattern repeat 61cm".
I love the bike made of oranges...
And the watermelon swimming pool.
Vintage sheets - thrifted & came wrapped in plastic!
I overshot my exit on the freeway coming home from my favourite shop. I was on autopilot driving out to the gym. My route home took me past an out-of-the-loop Op Shop I haven't stopped in at for a while.
Unexpected & pretty darned thrilling.
You've got to know when to hold them....
Know when to fold them...
Know when to walk away...
Know when to run...
OR just because you "can" doesn't mean you should!
I made this little guy for Craft Hope found via Loobylu.
The idea really touched me & I so wanted my doll to be utterly gorgeous & super squishy & cuddly. In an effort to make him "perfect" I decided to follow a pattern (this was mistake number 1). His arms & legs are way too long & his head is way too small & I had to stuff him too firmly so that his neck didn't flop. The only thing I like about this doll is his hair treatment which I made up!
My second mistake was using super soft expensive looking (but op shop purchased) stretch fabric which I then had to retrospectively interface! YIKES.
My obsessive, competitive nature won't allow me to be beaten (I prefer to think of it as "never say die").
I know I should run & leave this sort of thing to super clever people who actually have some talent (& for the time it's taken me I'd have been better purchasing from them & posting):
Jhoanna :: her shop
Fiona :: her shop
Victoria :: her shop
Michelle :: her shop
I've already cut out & interfaced & started the embroidery for my "no pattern" doll. I really hope he works!
I haven't had much time for the Oppy lately...I've been a bit stretched.
Today I did a big loop on the way to & fro having coffee with my dad.
I wasn't disappointed. I got a few owlie bits & pieces in Kew as well as come great vintage sheets. In Balwyn I picked up some stationery sets & in Mont Albert some craft books, craft supplies & more sheeting.
On the way to pick the kids up from school I popped into my very closest Op Shop & these are the beauties I purchased. Air France tiny dishes (just perfect for dipping sauce) & these Japanese bread plates. Tuesday is a good day to Op.
I've bled my favourite Op Shop dry. I popped in there yesterday & for the first time ever walked away with nothing.
I was thinking there would be nothing to show this week but today I made a few stops on my drive from Fitzroy home & picked up quite a nice boot full.
Pics are of the "best" Op Shopped finds from today.
The beauty cases are a present for someone very close to my heart. I know she is going to love them.
FRUSTRATING
Snippets from my week
I had a grand plan for some polaroid shots. I dug out the Barbie camera & then spent too much time tracking down film. I loaded the film & the blasted camera just took shot after shot after shot. It seems the smallest performed her own renegade style of maintenance on the camera & now it's fritzed!
My week has been dominated by the need for a polaroid camera. When I haven't been at work I've been trawling Op Shop after Op Shop.
I've got several crafty projects that I want to finish off but my obsessive nature won't allow me to focus on anything else.
I'll just have to be patient.
I'm working on something new.
Over the weekend I hauled out a roll of hession tape that I picked up at the op shop last year. I began weaving it (kindergarten style) with some torn strips of calico also purchased from the Op Shop.
I'm thrilled with the result & now think I might include a bit of applique weaving in the calico voids.
I just popped over to Dudecraft to see this in action & now I'm thinking perhaps I need the ebook too.
↑Weave/ladder stitch from wrong side
↑Join as you go (liking this less than I thought I would)
↑Double crochet (front runner)
When I started my granny squares last year I decided that this would be a "go slow" project & that all the yarn would be Op Shop purchased.
I started running out of contrasting yarn about 30 squares in & have had to purchase bits & pieces along the way (I'm really not good at slow). I did have a huge Op Shop stash of nasty Panda acrylic which I've been finishing each round with. I ran out of that too...70 squares in.
On Saturday I went to purchase more & of course the dyelot is different & when the two dyelots lie next to each other the difference is quite obvious. I had a little tantrum & totallly dropped the ball with my granny a day. I've missed 2 of the last 3 days. Sorry Pip.
I had planned to "Join As You Go", making the biege the main colour & allowing the contrasting colours to "pop". If I go with this method (& not worry about the dyelot difference) I need 80 squares before I begin joining.
But now I just don't know. I think I'm liking the double crochet in a contrasting colour.
If I go with the other options I think I'll need at least 100 squares...
in Op Shop love!
I've been on the lookout for a few weeks now.
I used all of my cream blanketting at Brown Owls & I'm a little ashamed to admit I was feeling a wee bit sorry about it.
The very last piece was used to make this little madam & she so badly needs some friends... I took a deep grown up breath & sent my "field of dreams" Op Shop wish out into the world.
They popped up this week & for only $3 each!
Note: I fully appreciate that a pic of a couple of old cream blankets is not very exciting to many of you, but for me...a totally thrilling find.
Thrifted Tuesday hosted by Leah.
OK, so maybe I'm not as in love with brown as I used to be. I blame the grannies.
In an effort to re-affirm my love of brown & inspire new combinations of the same 3 or 4 shades I'm wearing:
brown boots
brown wool top layered under
beige/biscuit vintage heart dress purchased from the Op Shop
You can see more (not brown) granny action in Pip's granny a day flickr group here.
& a giant granny square that Jhoanna picked up at the Op Shop too.
I picked up a setting of 6 (very ugly) placemats from the Op Shop/Thrift store during the week. The upside of them being so ugly is that they were cheap as chips.
Now I've made reversible covers for them. I did a bit of free motion text last year & frankly found it took me longer than embroidery by hand. I'd decided 'twas best left to the experts.
But as this "design" is pretty simple I had another go & I'm thrilled to say the least! If you've no idea where to begin with this sort of thing you should pop in here.
One side for fun & the other a bit more fancy. Best of all they can just be slung in the washing machine when they get a bit grubby.
I think these would make meal time fun for kids if you had a novelty print on one side & the plate on the other. Easier on the eye than anything you can buy at Kmart.
If you don't have any luck at the Op Shop I think that Bunnings &/or Spotlight sell MDF circles about the same size.
I'm so happy with my Tinny Op Shop finds this Thrifted Tuesday.
The puppies, kittens & birds tin will hold a birthday gift for this lovely girl & the other is for me.
It's an Allens Peter Pan Toffee Tin & labelled "Woodcut" which fits in perfectly with the recent obsession with all things wood. It looks a bit Clarice Cliffesque don't you think?
Thrifted Tuesday hosted by Leah.
Thrifted recently...magnificent barkcloth from my super special little Op Shop (20 cents)!
Just enough to make one bag.
I never sit on the furniture. I have a little square floor cushion & I sit hunched in front of the fireplace on that.
Recently I came into some rather large pieces of apholstery fabric which is way too good to cut up. I've been wondering about making floor cushions but really couldn't be bothered with the measuring & triple checking associated with making a box cushion cover fit an insert perfectly. Secondly, you hardly ever get lovely long zips at the Op Shop.
Yesterday I had a little flash of genius. I had a bag of polystyrene beans left over from when the kids had those kiddy bean bags, so I filled the cushion with those. Best of all I only had to use a little zip (which are in plentiful Op Shop supply) & I had everything on hand to make it. It's around 60cm square & super comfy.
leaning tower of thimbles. My Thrifted Tuesday offering was not Opped today. I have to confess that these were thrifted on Saturday. I found these in the Lonsdale Op Shop (a fair way from home). I love them & a girl can never have too many thimbles can she?
DELIGHTFUL.
Snippets from my week.
I purchased a few pairs of jeans from the Op Shop to finish of this project. When I got them home I examined them more closely & found one of the pairs to be fits-like-a-glove & tracky-dack-comfy...delightful.
I met a friend for coffee. She was running late - yay just enough time to duck into the Op Shop next door. I purchased a taped closed supermarket bag full of what I knew to be handwork of some kind. What I discovered was the handwork pictured above...delightful.
On my daily mouse-mobile travels I read this post on a blog well loved by many and written by lovely local Claire. The post was simple and utterly...delightful.
A souvlaki pizza enjoyed with beautiful tier one friends & pretty drinks & made by the date...delightful.