The Hunt for Treasures...

I can't believe I've reached a time in my life when I can pretty much buy whatever I want, within reason. Somehow that makes paying alot for items boring. Anyone can order out of a catalog or pay full price, so I've really gotten addicted to the hunt for the elusive bargain. This is especially true for sewing supplies and books because many are no longer available. I've amassed a nice collection of vintage sewing books and funky, functional supplies.

Here are my top five locations I like to scout;

#5 Friends of the Library bookstores

#4 Assistance League thrift stores

#3 Garage sales

#2 Church rummage sales

#1 Estate sales

And today I chanced upon a treasure trove at a very small, picked over estate sale. Check out what I bought inside this box...

INSIDE THE BOX!!!!!!

The estate sale had begun at 7:30am and it was already 11am so I didn't have high hopes. However I immediately spied a box with the brand new seam roll, pressing mitt and pattern weights so my hopes soared. Then it was a treasure hunt that yielded the funky collapsible tailor block, sleeve board and buttonhole guide. Inside the home on top of a sold television were the three sewing books and curved ruler. My arms were literally full and I'm thinking how much I should offer for all the items...would the sellers possibly go as low as $20?????
The next of kin of the deceased seamstress were thrilled that someone who sewed had gathered up all the sewing items. After some friendly chit chat they said I could have it all for... ( are you ready ) FIVE FREAKIN' BUCKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOLD

This is AMAZING

This tailor block that folds up flat is probably from the 1960s and it is AMAZING! It has a dozen nooks and cranies to press points, concave & convex curves, straight seams, etc. It was in the box, brand new with directions. I can't even put a price on how cool it is ( only to people that sew of course ). In 1960's terminology this is far-out groovy!!!!

yes they CAN

Over Labor Day there was a contest at South Coast Plaza for different organizations to build structures/sculptures from cans.

The results were very impressive.

This dress is the entry from FIDM and it took 8,000 cans to complete!!

The entries were all over the mall and across the street and no information on what was where, soooo I spent alot of time walking all over the mall looking for the shoe structure and never found it :(

I think the shoe was only on the poster as a promotion and was from a past contest.

.

...and my favorite

I liked this entry because it really had some personality. Of course, I forget which organization created this great 'can'struction but I did note that it took 6,500 cans to complete.

I've never met a contest I didn't like...

September is National Sewing Month ( whooopppeeeee ).

I posted a link at the right to the official website. There is a contest titled 'Accessorize Your Life' and of course I'm entering because I totally dig contests. Something about how random, yet interesting, are all the enteries. Anyways, I'm going to do a variation on this flower headband that I was sewing over the summer. Was going to post some for sale on etsy but, apparently my account is deeply dormant. Also, there are only like 60,378 other flower headbands on etsy for sale!

So put on your thinking cap and enter something already!

Youtube in Real Life

Here is the first knitted pole I saw and immediately demanded my photo be taken :)

I wouldn't even know what I was looking at if I hadn't watched the youtube video of the knitters in action. The big black hole of the Internet actually enabled me to feel mildly hip and relevant.