Thrifty Thursday!

or if you ask my husband, NOT so Thrifty Thursday!

But what does he know anyway?

I stopped off at the G'Willy's on my way home from the office

Tuesday night....

and left empty handed.

As I started driving towards home,

I decided to take a different route

and stop off at the Y's Buys store.

I've had decent luck at Y's Buys.  This is a thrift store

run by the YMCA.  They regularly call around the city

and offer to come pick up anything you would like to donate.

People donate stuff.

Lots of stuff.  

Lots of good stuff!

Well, I walk in to Y's Buys and was promptly greeted by the

"25% off STOREWIDE" sign that is brought out on Tuesdays.

I completely forgot it was 25% off day!

I head down the aisle, briefly looking through the

bedspreads and comforters hanging and OMG...

it happened!

I spied THIS!

I couldn't believe it!  

My heart was seriously racing!

Worn and slightly tattered.....

and blue...

and white...

and nine patches!

Three inch nine patches!  

Little 2 1/4" finished nine patches!!!

3/4" little squares all sewn together!

 Granted there are some 'condition issues',

but to me these just show that this quilt was SO well loved!

 Note the area of border I will need to fix.

I plan to just do a gentle tacking, since I won't 

be actually using this quilt to cover up with, but will display it.

and the pic just above shows the lovely embroidery work

someone put on the muslin that is folded over one edge of the quilt.

Clearly the quilt owner knew this edge was getting a lot of

stress from pulling the quilt up and tried to save it from itself a bit.

The binding appears to be intact under the muslin edge too!

 

Isn't it charming?

And here's where the hubs thinks I wasn't very thrifty.....

 

 It was $39.99.  

But with 25% off and tax, 

I left the store with it for $31.79!

I was quite pleased!

Isn't it lovely?  

What does the hubs know anyway?  ;o)

*Peace!

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend's Over...and a Giveaway!

Tis always a sad, sad thing when Sunday

evening rolls around.

The end of another weekend!

*SIGH*

But it's been a grand weekend!

I have all the blocks together for my Americana Irish Cabins quilt!

And have the cutting done for the

next round of strip sets.

EGADS it takes a LOT of strip sets for this quilt.  I thought about

trying a different setting, but ended up deciding to stay the course

and follow the pattern!

During my time down in the quilt den, 

I had to tidy up my cutting table and rounded up 

this pile of scraps!

 

I crammed them in a gallon ziplock bag

and added a few more....

 

with a nifty giveaway in mind!

Have you seen the book Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts?

 

Well if not, you're in luck!  It's filled with gorgeous antique-inspired quilts

all made with small pieces!

I'm sure you see where this is going!

I am going to giveaway the bag of scraps

AND a copy of this great book!

Just leave a comment and shout out what's

on your cutting table right now and you're entered!

I'll announce the winner on Friday!

The quilt den is dark now...and I'm settling in with my stitching.

 

The plan is to stay up late and extend the weekend as long as I can!

Happy Sunday and thanks for stopping by!

*Peace!

Saturday So Far

I've been working away on my New Year's Quilt today...finally giving it some much deserved attention!  The optimist in me wants to have this done by the end of the month!  So we shall see!

Lots of piecing...Lots of strip sets! 
Forgive my looming shadow in the bottom of this last pic!  LOL

While down in the quilt den, I've uncovered some things for my next giveaway!  You'll want to check back tomorrow for details!

I hope your Saturday is going swell!

Thanks for dropping in!

*Peace!

Strips and Seed Stitch

This weekend I made quite a bit of progress

when it comes to sewing strip sets

for my next quilt!

I hope to have the remaining sets

done and cross cutting started

by the time the next weekend rolls around!

I could have probably gotten more done down in the

quilt den, 

but I got sidetracked with a new

knitting project.

The GAPtastic Cowl using Spud & Chloe Outer

in color "Rhino"

SUCH a quick knit!  Using size 13 needles,

it was flying along and I couldn't 

put it down!  SO much better with this yarn

instead of the EcoWool I had initially

started to knit this with!

Granted it was seed stitch, which can become a bit boring.

But I didn't really get all that bored because it 

was coming together so quickly!

I bound off last night and wove in the ends

and couldn't wait to try it on.

Pay no mind to my PJs!  

 

So warm and cozy!  I will definitely make

another!  

But tonight...I'm pulling out some stitching and

settling in!  It's quite cold here!

I hope you're keeping warm and enjoying 

your creative pursuits!

*Peace!

EcoWool Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the yarn is #9

Robin C said:

Love that you got 4 out of a skein. If I won, I'd make hats. I've been wanting to do the slouched ones. Did you like the pattern?

Robin, email me at kwiltykim at hotmail dot com and let me know where to mail the box!!

Thanks so much for everyone's comments! Happy knitting!

*Peace!

At A Snail's Pace....and a Giveaway!

Speed Knitter, I am not!

Over the course of the past

two weeks, I wound up 

two skeins of Cascade EcoWool.

With no set plan, I started to knit......

hats.

At a definite snail's pace!

A little in the morning, a little in the evening, 

and I napped with the knitting in my lap from time to time

this past week.

Still, I knit....slowly...but I knit!

I've finished two of these...

 

The Man Hat

using size 8 needles

And I knit two of these...

 

Simple Slouch Hat

using 10.5mm needles

Four hats.  I'm about hatted out for now!

But look....

still a full entire skein of Cascade EcoWool remains!

AAACK!  I can't take it anymore!

So I'm going to giveaway

this ball...

which is ready to knit into four hats of your own!

or a scarf!

or whatever you want!

Just leave a comment and tell me what you'd knit or crochet with this...

478 yards of woolly goodness!

I'll draw a name on Sunday and ship it off to the

winner on Monday!

*Peace!

Thrifty Thursday!

Hello and Happy Thrifty Thursday!!!

First off, must apologize for the unexpected blog hiatus!  I got hit with that horrid "F" word 

and was down for the count for an entire week!

But am on the mend now and getting back in the swing of things!

Last night after work, I stopped off at G'Willy's in search of

Thrifty Thursday finds!

I spent a little....

and brought home a few things!

 

I've been looking for a new little cruet to adorn my kitchen sink

with colorful dish soap, so

was happy to snap up this brand new set for a buck fifty!

 

Of course the hubs is already complaining about the lovely glass dish soap holder,

but oh WELL!  I used to keep my dish soap in an artsy fartsy

olive oil bottle I picked up at a arts fair.  But it didn't always pour so nicely from

the spout thing.  And the hubs just prefers to keep the big ol' ugly plastic

squirt bottle on the sink.  No thanks!  

This will be put in action right away!!

The cruet is sitting on top of a lovely slightly patina'd

shallow silverplate dish.  Again another buck fifty, 

 and not something I NEEDED, but I find it hard to pass up quality 

silverplate!

Now this IS something I could have just left there....

an impulse buy was this Italian ceramic plate.

But it has lovely color, and was in perfect condition,

so I'm sure it will find it's way 

into my decor at some point.

And last but not least....

 

two bucks for a vintage sunny yellow

square pyrex bowl!  

I'm sure it will clean up nicely, and I do

love me some vintage pyrex!

Did you get out and about for some

thrifting or treasure hunting this week?

*Peace!

Wordless Wednesday!

Sidetracked

This is far as I've gotten on my New Year's quilt start.

I need to cut more lights, but then will be ready to sew, sew, sew!

I've been a bit sidetracked!

First, I thought I'd just whip out a quick knit.

The GAP-tastic Cowl

using some Cascade EcoWool.

 

But...as things go, this "bulky" Eco Wool didn't seem to be quite the "bulky" yarn

the pattern was calling for!  

Soooo.....

 

it became this pile last night.

But have no fear.....it's now

in the process of becoming several hats!

 

This is the Man Hat.  Shouldn't take too long!

And I'm also going to knit one, maybe two, of these Simple Slouch Hats

as well!

You see, the brood is planning another snowmobile trip

at the end of the month, and they always

seem to want/need hats.

So I'm getting it out of the way early this year!

Hoping to get lots of knitting in this evening,

as I welcome this dear lady back

into my life tonight!

Are you excited about Downton Abbey too?

Happy Sunday!

*Peace!

Thrifty Thursday!

Yes!!!  It's TRUE!!  

A real true THRIFTY THURSDAY POST!!

Woooohooo!

I must admit I took quite a long hiatus from thrifting.

For several reasons, including

trying to scale down the junk treasures,

becoming more selective about what I bring home

and just not finding anything wonderful for quite a while!

But it's a new year! 

And so many of you ask me regularly WHEN I'm going 

to have Thrifty Thursday again.

 

So I thought, "Why not!"

Today I stopped off at a local G'Willy's

in search of a treasure,

and came home with a couple things!

This caught my eye as it was stuck in a cart waiting to be 

put out on a shelf.

From the side I thought it might have been

a repro Shaker box.  

And I suppose it kind of is, but not really.

The top is padded and inside...

 

 It's lined in a felt material.  

I'm going to give it a good vacuuming

and I think it will be perfect to store a 

stitching project in progress!

Now, I really truly do believe in

the power of positive thinking....

and karma.....

and of putting out into the universe

what you want to come back to you.

So in that end, I kept thinking to myself as I walked the aisles 

"I'm going to find a honey pot.  I'm going to find a honey pot."

Because..well you know...

I hoard collect everything pottery honey pots!

And guess what...

Yep!

A pristine pottery honey pot appeared!

Not kidding!!  It worked!!

All I need to do is pick up one of those

wooden stick thingies  honey dippers

and I'm set!

It felt really good to find a couple things 

and to get back on that Thrifty Thursday train!!

Chooooo Choooooo!!!!  Chugging along

until next Thursday....

*Peace!

Let's Hear It For Fresh Starts & New Challenges!

Well HELLO 2013!!!

Sure to be a great year, don't you think?

Time for fresh starts in all ways!!

Of course today means fresh CREATIVE starts!

On the quilt front...

 I pulled, pressed and began cutting for this quilt.

I've always admired it ever since I saw Minick & Simpson's version quite a few years ago.

So it's going to be my next quilt!  

And I'm really going to challenge myself in this new year

and step out of my comfort zone in many ways!

Today I started by stepping out of my KNITTING comfort zone!

I'm going to tackle knitting SWEATERS this year!

EEEEK!

I cast on for this sweater today!

I've decided to start with the sleeves.  

I'm using absolutely gorgeous yarn from

The Verdant Gryphon.

Bugga!

American Rubyspot

And I'm excited, scared and yet somehow a little 

confident in my ability to actually

knit a sweater!  So we'll see how that goes!

And I almost talked myself out of starting a new sampler 

after I looked at my WIPs today.

But...it wouldn't be New Year's

 without 

a new stitching start.

So....I pulled out an oldie but goodie

that I've had kitted up for

probably 8 years! 

Not kidding!

 

 

Birds of a Feather - Peace

I'm using my own mish-mash conversion of overdyed threads

on what I believe is Lakeside Linens Pearled Barley.

This one shouldn't languish too long in the stitching basket!

And I really do plan

 to tackle

 those WIPs this coming year!

What creative things did YOU begin today?

*Peace!