Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A Trip to the Thrift Store

Today, I'm going to take you thrift shopping! I hope you like thrift shopping. I love it. It's like a treasure hunt. What will we find today?

I have two thrift shops that I mainly go to, although there are several on the island. Today, I'm taking you to the Humane Society Thrift shop in Lihue. See the sign there? It's a small shop, but always packed full of stuff. Granted, thrift shopping on a small island requires some patience. It's not like being able to thrift in a big city where there are lots of people! Kauai is a small place, and the climate is very hard on posessions. I leave empty-handed most days, but that's okay. The fun is in the looking.

Today, I found a happy, colorful platter for my kitchen. I bought a plate hanger at KMart so I can hang it up on my wall:

I also found some sheets and pillowcases that are in pretty good shape:

My local health food store, Papaya's, decided to start charging for grocery sacks in an effort to encourage their customers to bring in their own reusable sacks. When I saw this tutorial at Creative Kismet (I love her blog!), I decided to make my grocery totes out of old sheets and pillowcases. I love the fact that they'll be soft and washable and reusable.

I can only explain this next purchase by saying I must've been caught up in the moment. This poodle and jug were sold as a pair for some inexplicable reason. Now...I KNOW this tiny poodle was originally dancing with something else, but what?Even the poodle looks puzzled about his dancing partner. Now...I KNOW this poodle wasn't meant to dance with this jug. But obviously, through the years, he has lost his partner. Was it another dog? A cat? A ball? And why did someone think that a jug would make a good substitute? Have you seen this poodle before, perhaps on old Aunt Gertie's knick knack shelf, dancing with...what??

I asked the thrift store clerk if she thought this pairing was a bit odd. I was hoping that she would get curious and go look around in her mountain of stuff behind the counter to see if she could find the poodle's long-lost partner. But she didn't speak English very well, and perhaps in her native country, dogs and jugs go out dancing together all the time. Sadly, I couldn't persuade her to search for Fifi's long-lost love. I'll go back another time and see if a missing (poodle? cat?) has shown up. Trouble is, I'm not sure what I'm looking for? Any suggestions? (And no, the missing piece is not a leg. Ahem.)

I didn't find any fabric or old clothing today, but I usually come back when their clothing is on sale. I like to cut up cotton clothing to make quilts like this one:

I call this quilt, "Half-Price Day at the Salvation Army" because that's where I got 90 percent of the fabric in it! Only the border was purchased and a few of the lights were from my stash; the rest was recycled cotton clothing. This quilt is queen sized. The block pattern is traditional and has a few names, like "Buckeye Beauty" and "Jewel Box." The border is an original design by me, made from a variation in the same block.

I hope you've enjoyed today's outing. Time to sew some pillowcase totes! And finish my second mitten. And crochet some blue pillowcase edging. I better get busy!



8 comments:

Sally said...

Love, love, love the shopping! Thanks for taking us along. Maybe he wasn't dancing but standing up begging for a different partner? Have a great day. We have a bit of snow on the ground, a bit more coming, and I'm only working 1/2 day today!

Under the Lychee Tree said...

This blog post was my favorite of yours so far. I love a trip to the thrift store on your dime!

Dawn said...

Yes, you and I are soooo going shopping together. Thanks for sharing your treasures!
--And the quilt you made is gorgeous...especially since you used mostly vintage finds!

Opal said...

What a fun trip! And I love what you do with old clothes. That quilt is just gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

I love this post... I'm cracking up and laughed so hard I scared my dogs. I just loved the thrift shop story and about sad little partnerless Fifi. The leg... you kill me! I've seen little mini lamps like the one from A Christmas Story. Now wouldn't that be funny to pair Fifi up with!

Love your Jewel box and LOVE your border is fantastic! I fall into that rut of center, inner border, outer border... and love how you did yours. I so, so, so, so, so, SO love this!

I use my own bags when I shop too. I feel 10 feet tall when I walk into my Safeway armed with my own bags. I've written to Safeway in hopes they change from giving 3 cents for reusable bagging to charging 3 cents for using store bags. I hope one day all stores will grow some coconuts like your Papaya's, Whole Foods, IKEA and the city of San Francisco has.

Love this post Lisa!

cinnamongirl93 said...

That thrift store was hopping! It must be a good one. I think Fifi wants you to find her a different partner. What will you come up with? Something fun for sure! I like your jewel box. Fantastic job on the border. I also am very impressed that you used all old fabric finds. Nice going. I too love scrap quilts. I taught a class on the jewel box a few years back. We limited it to two fabrics for the beginners. DH has been organizing all of our 24 years photo's. We just came across those pictures over the week-end. All the girls loved how easy the pattern was. Thanks for sharing!!!

Anonymous said...

Have you been to the one behind Wilcox? Seems like I have found some things there too.

~Joan said...

Lisa,

You are not going to believe this. I believe *I* donated the top 3 pillowcases in your pile back in 1998. That's the last time we moved. My grandmother gave them to me (from her extensive 70's collection) when I married in 1988. Since I never showed them in public, I decided that since Grandma was dead and would thus never find out, I dropped them in a donations bin at the Goodwill in Charlotte, NC. Never thought I'd see them on your blog. Probably because back then I didn't know you HAD a blog. Back then I didn't know you. But back then, Grandma was dead and didn't know I was giving you her precious pillowcases.

~Joan Parker