At the Thrifts

 



Meet Diane..

 

She's the newest member of our little family. Her name comes from her brand, Diana. I already have a Diana in my life, so Diane it is. She was a lucky thrift store find from earlier this week. I had been searching Craigslist and Kijiji for a dress form as I was having trouble finding models for my vintage dresses, and displaying on hangers just isn't the same. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in a price range I was comfortable with, so I held off and it's good I did. She didn't have a stand, so I set her on an old ash tray table that belonged to my grandmother. It's too short, but it does the job. She's currently standing in our dining room, wearing that shiny turquoise dress from the first photo.

 

A dress form makes such a difference..

 

You can see more of her work in my shop. Now I just need a solution for dresses smaller than an 8.

There have been lots of dresses, linens, and vintage goodies, meaning lots of mending, button sewing, and touch-ups for me. There have been a couple huge shop updates, along with some collaboration work with a friend on a new look. Hopefully I'll be able to share that soon.

There have been lots of great finds lately. I'm so glad since Fall and the start of the school year will mean a lot less trips, and a lot less time spent with my favourite thrifting partner - my mom. She picked out my first piece of thrifted Pyrex in a long while, a red Hostess dish. It's in perfect shape aside from a couple chips in the paint, which I rarely see with those red pieces. Speaking of Pyrex, I have discovered the wonders of Bar Keeper's Friend, but that is a topic for another post!

Date Night


























A sort of interesting fact about Jer and I is that we've never been on a real date. We were good friends for many years before we began our relationship, so we never went through that dating stage. We've gone out and done many things that are "date like", but never an official, planned out date. I think both of us prefer a quiet night in to anything else. My cousin even included that fact in her wedding speech for us, recommending we start a weekly date night tradition immediately. We didn't.

On the weekend we made our way to Jer's favourite batting cages. We had been meaning to go all summer, but it just never happened. Going right before a day of heavy lifting (all those boxes of Pyrex!) probably wasn't the best idea, but it was a lot of fun. I'm definitely hitting that ball further. Afterwards, we decided to drive down to a restaurant Jer has been wanting to try out - that counts as a date, right? We drove through a small town, stopping at the thrift shop to browse, and then down some side roads to explore.

 

With windows down, the fresh air pouring through, we drove along winding roads covered by a canopy of trees. I love going for drives in places like this. I fell in love with the area. Quiet, green, and beautiful. There were weeping willows on the front lawns of all the little red brick homes. I know we were both trying to figure out if the commute was doable.

¸
I don't know if this counted as a real date, but it was better than any could be. We have plans to do it again next week, but somewhere else. Maybe I'll even be able to get Jer to fix his bike so we can go riding together.

Antique Market

Yesterday morning started bright and early. We made our way down to the Rosedale Valley Antique Market to set up for our epic Pyrex Sale. I met up with the other ladies organizing the event, and got to work straight away!

While we were there, I took some time to walk around the Evergreen Brickworks, which gave me a chance to explore a beautiful space in our city. Sometimes, especially when Jer and I are aching to find that place somewhere further away, I forget that there really are some incredible places here.

The sale itself went great. The space was amazing, it's just too bad it isn't promoted better. It could be an incredible site for a market. We sold a lot and were able to tone down our collections quite a bit. The busiest time was right at the beginning. We had several buyers show up before 9 am (opening time) and snatch up the best pieces right away. All the Butterprint and Pink Gooseberry were gone within half an hour.

It was interesting to see what sold and what didn't. We had a mint condition Friendship casserole with Opaque lid that lasted most of the day. We also had a promotional Hex Signs casserole that didn't sell at all - Lucy snatched that one up. Of course there were a few buyers who were bitter when they showed up at 2pm and all the Butterprint was gone, but you can't please everyone! We're already making plans to do this again. Thanks ladies for the wonderful day!

Friday Fun

If you know me well, at some point you've probably heard of my love of antique lawn furniture - the kind of my grandmother had. Sadly, we got rid of hers when we sold her house after she passed away. There was so much I wish we had kept, but of course there wasn't room for everything, and we did keep the most important things. I've been looking for a set of the lawn chairs, or even just one like the grey one that stood on her porch, and today my search came to an end when a kind kijiji browser e-mailed me a link to an ad that had just been posted. I asked my mom if she was up for an adventure (I love taking her along on these kind of trips), and a phone call and an hour later we were loading up the car!

Not only were there two of the chairs just like my grandmother had (these need to be re-painted), but there was a vintage Restoration Hardware glider. I love it!

The man who was selling them explained that they were used at his family cottage for years and years. When they sold the cottage he brought them home thinking he would eventually restore them, but never had. I love pieces with a history. I can picture these chairs sitting out on the lawn or the porch, their occupants staring out at a lake, enjoying their time away from the city. He was surprised when he received two other phone calls for the chairs in the time it took us to get there. Thankfully he was willing to hold onto them for me for a couple hours.

On our way back, my mom suggested checking out a Value Village I haven't been to since my Humber College days (I'm having a little trouble believing that was 8 years ago now) . Who can say no to that?

I had forgotten how absolutely huge this location was. It was brimming with incredible finds! There was even Pyrex, which has been pretty dry lately (none came home with us though). I found some delicious vintage sheets, vintage dresses, two antique hand-sewn quilts (lap or baby sized), a handful of doilies, a macrame owl, a heavy duty vintage pencil sharpener, and some little wooden cars. My mom came away with some lovely wine glasses to match some she already had, and some supplies for her classroom - math manipulatives and a Jenga game.

A few of these are from previous trips. The top left skirt/vest combo is my absolute favourite, although the yellow coat is a close second. Some will be making their way into the shop in the near future.

After returning home and setting up the chairs in the backyard (with plans to sand and paint over the next few days), I couldn't help checking the garden. Our tomato plants have been producing like crazy, and there were even a few berries in the bushes.

If you're in the Toronto area this coming Sunday (August 19th), myself and a few other Pyrex collectors will be at the Rosedale Valley Antique Market at the Evergreen Brickworks, selling off some of our collections. There will be over 150 pieces of Pyrex and some other vintage goodies at great prices (we're really just looking to get back what we paid plus cover the cost of renting the booth). The Market will be open from 9am until 5pm and is located at 550 Bayview Avenue (map). Hope to see you there!

Weekly Favourites..

1. lovely finel heart pitcher



2. discovering a treasure of a children's author. reminds me of Sybille van Olfers or Gerda Muller.

3. beautiful catherineholm

4. pretty vintage wallpaper collage.

5. coolest rainbow dresser

6. prettiest vintage dresses

7. this bike

8. or this one

9. bike rides, of course

10. and good friends, because there is nothing better.

sources: 1.rabbit and rally; 2. dr carrot; 3. compost this; 4. Sanna & Sania; 5. la silla turquesa; 6. free people; 7. Bobbin Birdie; 8. bike depot; 9. superheidi; 10. misfits vintage

Pyrex Pretties

No, this isn't a post about aquiring more of the good stuff. It's actually the opposite! For a while now a few of the Toronto area collectors have been organizing swap meets so we could get together, trade a few pieces, and just chat. It turns out we all have a lot in common aside from liking pretty vintage dishes. We quickly came to the realization that we were all trying to downsize, and swapping really wasn't the best way to do that. We talked plans of renting a booth at one of the local antique markets, and it's about to happen in just a couple short weeks!

We've had some trouble getting in touch with some of the busier markets, we're all new to this you see. Well new to selling, not to visiting of course. We should have the final details ready by tonight and a few ads up to hopefully draw in a bit of a crowd. Even if we  sell much, it'll be a day filled with fun and friends. I cannot wait! I'm looking forward to a smaller collection, and less to pack up when Jer and I move into our new place.

Okay, I did say this wasn't a post about aquiring, but you know me. I came across this beauty yesterday..

Crafty Gifts

I love making gifts for others, but I have to admit it makes me nervous. I know not everyone appreciates handmades, and even those that do might not like what they're gifted. That's not such a problem with something they can return, but when you put all that work and care into something, well, you do hope they like it. I have had a hard time getting over my nervousness surrounding this, so I tend to only really make handmade gifts for the few people I know will appreciate the thought even if they don't like the finished product. One of those people is my cousin Annette. A couple years back she asked me to make her a bag, and that became the Alice in Wonderland bag (she loves Alice)..

She took that bag on a cross country trip, and still uses it, which makes me so happy.

She is due for surgery in two days and has been feeling down, so I wanted to do something special for her. I wasn't sure what until I had remembered a conversation we had a few weeks before. She loves these characters called Pon and Zi and was disappointed that there weren't any stuffed versions around yet. Perfect!

First came Pon. I don't make stuffies often, and one reason is because I am awful at shaping those round heads. I chose to do these with a "baseball head", which consists of two sides and a gusset between. They both came out a little squared instead of round. I've done this kind of head before with Wee Wonderfuls patterns and had the same problem. I'm pretty sure it's just me though because all the dolls in the Wee Wonderfuls Etsy group have perfectly rounded noggins.

Even with their imperfections, my cousin was happy to receive them. Hopefully they'll help cheer her up a bit!

I'm thinking I need to overcome my fear of gifting more handmade gifts. Maybe even do some smaller, simpler gifts for the holidays. Do you do handmade gifts? Do you ever get nervous like I do?

Oh, and those pickles from yesterday were delish! I will definitely be making more in the future.