Vintage Finds

I'm always on the lookout for neat furniture or knick knacks to make into my own special project.

I've recently come across a few that I'm really excited for!

I found this piece at a thrift store for $3.99! I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet... I'll probably leave the wood as is and make it into a bulletin board, or perhaps into a little wall shelf for knick knacks.

I recently moved the purple chair from my computer into the living room, and needed to get a new computer chair. I found this awesome chair at an antique store just north of Winnipeg in East St. Paul. I don't remember the name of the store, but the entire second floor of the creepy building was antique furniture - dozens and dozens of chairs for cheap, old dressers, old trunks. So cool! And way cheaper than anywhere I've found.

My favorite part of this chair is it's round arms. So gorgeous! I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing with this chair yet. I really love the wood, even though it's a bit dinged and dented, but that adds to the charm, right? The fabric has a few stains and isn't in the best of condition, so I'm thinking I'll probably end up recovering it.

I'm eyeing this pretty fabric by Joel Dewberry for recovering it. I love the deer and birds!

At the same antique store, they also had three crates full of old letterpress blocks for a dollar each! So cool! As a graphic designer, I'm always on the lookout for old tools of the trade.

They didn't have any which were solely letters, only pictures and text, which was cool as well, though I'm mainly into the typographic blocks.

Nevertheless, I did pick up several blocks and am that much closer to being able to make my own letterpress block wall like this one from JHID.

Birds Table Runner

My second sewing project was making a table runner to match the pillows I made earlier.

I wanted to make one that looked a bit homemade, a little kitschy, with sweet birds stitched on top.

Blurry, I know, but it's the only one I took where you can see all 6 birds.

I drew the birds by hand on the fabric and then cut them out and stitched them on to the runner.

This bird is my favorite because it looks like he's still learning to stand.

I like this bird's skinny tail.

I'm happy with the results! (Other than the drop of chocolate milk spilled on it)

Secondhand fabric

Ah, I've been terrible at updating this lately. Mainly because I've been waiting to borrow Mike'scamera. Posts without pictures aren't very fun.

Since I got my sewing machine for my birthday in June, I've taken up a new interest in textiles and fabrics. Buying new fabric can be costly though, and in an effort to save some money, I've taken to buying fabrics at my local thrift store. There are so many cool fabrics there! Plus, I like the thought of repurposing old fabric rather than buying new. I mainly stick to the bed linens section because the fabric is so large there, but I'm sure for a smaller project you could sift through some old men's shirts and get enough fabric.

Anyways, here's what I picked up on my last trip.

Isn't this dotted pattern sweet? I love it. The reverse with flowers was the trim on a pillowcase that matched the sheet.

Pretty pink paisley.

I love the delicate pattern on this one.

Big blue flowers make me happy. I'm making a skirt out of this one.