More Thrift Store Finds and More Butterflies

Some of my favorite memories are going to garage sales and thrift stores.  When my mother was still alive, we went out every Saturday morning.  We would end the day by going out for lunch.  We didn't need a lot of money.  Usually we would have about $20 each.  My mother always bought more than I did because she liked decorator items.  I was always looking for books or craft supplies.  I no longer have my mother to go with, but I know she would be happy to know that I still love to find a bargain.

Tuesday morning I had a doctor's appointment.  When I got there the receptionist told me I would need to reschedule because the doctor had an emergency.  Instead of wasting my time out, I stopped at a thrift store near the office.  I had a lot of fun.  Here is what I found.

Thrift Store finds 06/07/11

If you look close you will see that each bag is marked as $3.00.  Let me show you what was in each bag.

Tatting Threads




First I was able to find these tatting threads. 


I checked at Herrschners tatting threads and each one of these are going for $1.99.  I got 19 skeins for $3.00.





Floss on cards



 

This picture is of floss that has already been wound onto card bobbins.  There are approximately 40 cards. There was even an extra supply of bobbins.



Floss Skeins



And this picture is of the loose floss skeins.  I counted them at 71 skeins.  I was at Michael's the same day replenishing my red #321 and paid $.35 a skein.  At 71 skeins that is $24.85.  If you include the floss already wound there are 100 + skeins.  100 skeins would cost $35.00.  This floss cost me $6.00 for the two bags.

I also got 5 crochet hooks for $2.00 and 3 bobbins of lace for another $2.00   This was another great shopping experience.

Now for more butterflies....

I have been crocheting butterfly bookmarks.  They go together pretty fast and it seems like everyone who sees one wants one.  I didn't get pictures of all that I have made but here are two of the ones I have kept for myself.

Butterfly Bookmarks

This pattern looks really good in variegated thread.  I have made a dozen already and have plans for more.  In fact, at work each year there is an arts and crafts auction that is a United Way fundraiser.  I hope to have a dozen to include.  I need to have two more done by Saturday since my friend would like one for her  for birthda y!  Another friend wants one for her daughter's birthday.


This butterfly bookmark link will take you to the free pattern.


I found a nice tutorial on Bookmark Tassels on wikiHow.


Here are some more crocheted butterfly links:


Butterfly Handkerchiefs
Butterfly Shade Pulls
Dainty Butterfly
Fancy Crocheted Butterfly
Pineapple Butterfly
Small Crocheted Butterfly
Thread Butterfly


Progress on my Butterfly Pillowcases has slowed.  I have been spending my time finishing up an ornament for a summer swap.  I will have pictures of that next time after the recipient has received it.  I still plan to do this in chain stitch and it's variations.  I have been trying to achieve a consistent and uniform look to the chain stitch.  It does give the butterfly an interesting texture.  I am looking forward to having more of it done soon. Here is a current picture of the project .

Over on Stitchin Fingers, Pat Boggins is hosting a Post a Photo of Chain Stitch challenge.  You can see the photo's at the Chain Stitch Photo Link.

Theresa E.

Thrift Store Finds

I had one of those days when it would be appropriate to speak of “Stash Enhancement Experience” as SEX. I went to the thrift store for my weekly visit. The anticipation is addicting. When my daughter was younger we played a game during the drive there. I would start by asking her,”Can't you hear the treasure calling you? It is saying, “Come and find me”. She would continue to sing - speak it during the rest of the drive. “Mom, your treasure is calling. It wants you to find it.”

It was easy to find a toy, dress up article, or book that would make her feel she had found her treasure. I always found something to treasure too. Threads, yarns, buttons, doilies, beads, fabric – I could always find something.

Sometimes, I would have a great find. Once, I picked up baggies full of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn. There was 10-12 full skeins in a bag that was marked $2.99. There were about 15 bags. I stashed all of those bags in my basket.Then I agonized, did I have enough money?, I would ask. Then I would put half of them back. I would then ask, can I afford not to get them? Finally, I loaded them all in my cart and headed to the checkout line. When I got there, the cashier told me that it was my lucky day. They had a special going – 5 bags for 5 dollars. I got out of there only paying a dollar a bag. That was a great treasure find.

There is also my favorite story. I went into a thrift store with my husband. He is always in a hurry and doesn't like to take his time looking through stuff. In their household bins, I found several bags of crochet thread. There was 6 skeins in a bag and the bag was priced at $1.99. I don't remember how many bags there were but I picked up 2 of them. At the time, I was giving embroidered pillow cases out for Christmas gifts and I could use the thread to crochet an edging. I wanted to pick up more, but my husband starting saying, “You don't need more.You have tons of that stuff. You could open a store now. Let's go – I don't want to spend all day!” I wanted them all, but I walked away with the just the two bags.

When I got home, I put the baggies in my crochet thread bin and that is where they sat as I was not quite ready to use them. One day, several months later, I decided to organize my crafts and I ran across those 2 bags. I opened the bags and found that each skein had the beginning of a project tucked inside. Imagine my surprise as I pulled out the first one and unfolded the project to see a $100 bill tucked inside. As you can imagine, I went through the rest of the skeins and each one had money in it. I ended up with $900. Later, my husband told me that he stopped back in the store to see if they still had any bags left. Of course, they did not.

Well, Friday was one of those kind of days. When I got to the household section of the store, I found bag that had a number of spools of metallic thread. I smiled and thought to myself that I found my treasure today. I looked again and there was another one. I found 10 of these bags. They were each $2.99 but I had a 20% off coupon. This meant that each bag cost $2.40. Each bag had specialty threads. This time, I took pictures.



What I started with.



This was my metallic

thread stash before today's find.



Balger Threads



I knew that I had quite a bit of new threads, so I pulled out a drawer and emptied it. I now needed a dedicated drawer. I opened each one of my bags and sorted them. As I started to organize and put away, I found these Balger threads.



Add Kreinik



  

Then I added the Kreinik spools.

   

DMC added

  

That is not all. Next I put in the DMC spools.

and more

I wasn't done yet. I found these metallics too.

still more

There is still more!

This picture includes some suede,

some satin, some corded,

and even some glow in the dark!



even more

This picture has some variegated threads and some thread that I am going to crochet with. The four spools in the middle. I think they will make very pretty flowers. There are threads that I believe are used in Candlewicking. One states on the package that it is fuzzy thread to use for beards and other fuzzy items. There are sequins, Gutermann thread and Scroll Frame Knobs.

I took one final picture of my metallic stash.



Look at my stash now!



Once I started this blog article, I found that DMC Light Effects belong here, as well. Naturally, I have each one of their bundles too.

Here are some interesting links that I found.

DMC Light Effects Color Card

DMC Light Effects Free Patterns

Needlework Tips for Light Effects

Secrets of Blending Filament

Tips for Stitching with Metallic Threads

Thread Conversion for DMC Light Effects to Kreinik #4 Braid

What is Corded Braid?

Butterflies in Chains

A couple of years ago, I bought a set of stamped cross stitch pillow cases. This was before my daughter became a teen and she still wanted to do what Mom was doing. She put in about 5 stitches and the pillowcases have been sitting since.

Today, I dusted them off and decided to use the set instead of letting them go to waste. I've never really cared for stamped cross stitch and didn't want to follow the stamped pattern. As I was looking at them, I had an idea. There are no stamped cross stitch police! I can use the outline of the pattern but use another filling stitch.

Not too long ago, I completed a different butterfly where I used stem stitch to fill in the body of the butterfly. I was really pleased with the look but didn't want to do the same thing. The pattern has a few Detached Chain or Daisy Stitches
which I thought would be a good opportunity to practice
Oyster Stitch. I have been wanting to improve my chain stitch and decided this is the time.  I can do the entire pattern in Chain Stitch and it's variants.

Here is a picture of the naked or unembroidered pillowcase:

Here is the picture of the pillowcase that has been started: 

I will have a visit from the frog (rip it rip it) this evening!  It is filling in the shape but doesn't have nicely uniform chain stitches that I want to see.

I have been researching chain stitch and there is a lot of information available on line. Wikipedia has an entry on Chain Stitch which is complete with pictures and diagrams.

A good place to see the stitch being made is at Needle N Thread. The Embroidery Stitch Video Library is impressive! You can find the video for chain stitch here.  Another resource is Sharon b's Dictionary of Stitches for Hand Embroidery and Needlework. The Chain Stitch entry can be found here. A third resource could be Needlework and Embroidery tips and techniques from Carol Leather. You will find her entry on Chain Stitch under Surface Embroidery Stitches.

What I need to do to improve my chain stitch is to be sure and return the needle to the same hole it emerged, not pull my tension so tight, keep my stitch length more uniform and be sure not to twist the loop which is an altogether different stitch.

If you would like to see some photo's of chain stitch used in a variety of projects a visit to the Flickr from Yahoo's Chain Stitch photo stream is in order.  Warning! you may spend more time than you intend too!

Weaving In Ends 1298 Times

I have a finish!  My table runner or dresser scarf is finished.

  

I am very pleased with the result but feel a little sad that the project has ended. It's like that with a good book too. You invest some of yourself into the book and hate to lose touch with the characters. I've spent a lot of time with my project and it went everywhere with me. I considered this project my “take along” project. Most of the time a ball of thread, crochet hook and pair of scissors were all that was required, so the project was small and easily portable.  A lot of people would see me work on it and comment.

A work place friend of mine had commented on my runner when she saw me working on it in the lunch room. She complimented the piece but said she didn't personally like to work on projects where there are a lot of joins. Her words were, “It doesn't matter how careful you are, you can always see the joins”.

I did some research online. I wanted to find out how to properly weave in the ends of my yarn for a nice look and also so that the piece would last. One resource was Nex Stitch, where I found a video tutorial demonstrating the process of weaving in ends. This was an important part of the project.

This runner had 108 motifs. First there was the inner blue flower that had a start and ending piece of thread. Then a round of white with a start and end. Another round of blue with it's start and end. Then sewing on another center flower topped with a bead for two more starts and ends. The piece was a join as you go and added another start and finish to the number of threads needing to be woven in. That 's 12 times of weaving in ends per motif. The border had just one beginning and ending. I calculated that I had to weave in ends 1298 times.

I put the supplies I was using on this project away.  Soon it will be on to the next project.

Theresa E.

Blue and White Dresser Scarf

Have you ever noticed that the closer you get to finishing a project the more time and effort you spend to finish it?  That is where I am now.  I started this Blue and White Dresser Scarf in August of 2009.  It was a day spent at a theme park subsidized by work.  They gave out discounted ticket prices.  I knew that I was not going to run all over the park taking rides with my daughter and her friend so I decided to take a project.

The pattern for this scarf came from the Book, "Favorite Throws & Table Toppers to Crochet".  It is titled "Dapple Blossoms".  The original pattern is not made with just 2 colors.  It uses 7 colors.  I loved it with all the different colors but I am making this dresser scarf for my own bedroom.  I am using JP Coats Royale Classic Crochet Thread #10 on Bridal Blue and White.

Here is a close up. I love the join as you go pattern. I have about 20 more squares to add and then the pattern will have a white border around the whole piece. I am almost to the white border. Even though there are a lot of threads to bury, you cannot see the joins.  I know that the pattern is not going to come loose because I buried the threads going one way and then back another.

It is really pretty and everytime I work on it in public I get marvelous comments. 

I can hardly wait to finish because then I will get to work on a new project.  I'm thinking about some bookmarks.  I am also thinking about some new pillows.  I am hunting for just the right pattern.  It might be one of these patterns:

Cozy Cottage Crochet Popcorn Pillow

Fluted Cushion

Front Post Round Pillow

Irish Rose Pillow-ghan Square

Ruffles Pillow

Ruffle Rose Pillow

Squares and Fans Pillow

Theresa E.