Thursday, October 8, 2009

Thrifty Thursday

I've had the chance to go to some thrift stores a few times over the last two weeks and I've found all kinds of goodies.  Thrifty Thursday has a nice ring to it so I thought I'd share a few of my latest finds but boy, was it hard to wait until today to share my excitement. Thrifty Tuesday just didn't sound as good though.  ;-)

I have always had a love of "old things"  (no Alan Rickman comments from the peanut gallery please! ;-) ) and so I feel especially lucky when I find something "old" at the thrift store.  I've wanted a manual coffee grinder for quite some time so imagine how thrilled I was where I saw this just sitting there on the shelf patiently waiting for me.  Thrilled, I say, Thrilled!!  It isn't as though I needed any more reason to be excited about my morning cuppa but there you have it...I really am even more excited now.

Love this little drawer full of gorgeous smelling grounds each morning.



I also have a bit of a fondness for picnic baskets and was quite pleased to find this old one for only $3.  It came home with me and now gets put to good use containing the bedlam that is my too, too many ongoing projects   keeping my latest crafting endeavours in order.

Tucked away inside the basket is one of my latest works-in-progress - a jute shopping bag.  I was just about to part with the box full of jute my mom had given me a few years back, it was left over from her macrame projects of the early 70s.  The colours are beautiful though and I have such a hard time parting with any natural fibre so I was quite pleased when I came across a library book with some projects which were ideal for jute.

And...since one craft-containing picnic basket is good, surely two must be better.  Right??

This one tucks away nicely under our book shelves by the fireplace and will hold my supplies for my...erm, even more latest work-in-progress - embroidery.  I'm having a very fun time working on a sweet little embroidery project.  My new-to-embroideryness is showing up quite clearly in my stitches but it is such a cute little project that I don't think it even matters.  Now...I just need about 50 more baskets and my crafting supplies might actually get organized. ;-)

8 comments:

Andrea said...

Oh good finds! I love picnic baskets, too! Did you find that first one at Salvation Army? I found a great one there for $3 last spring.

sheila said...

You know, I was JUST thinking that one way to organize our school books would be to put them all in baskets according to subject (anatomy, geology, birding, etc) - and now I see your post: it's MEANT TO BE obviously. Thank you Heather. I will take this post as A Sign.

Nice baskets by the way. Not that I'm hijacking your post, right? Even though I'm just using this post to further my own decluttering nightmare...

Heather said...

Hi Andrea
I found the first one at the MCC. I found all sorts of other goodies that day too at the hospital auxilary thrift store. When I went to pay I finally remembered to ask what they usually do with their shrunken or moth hole damaged wool sweaters - if they sell them or just toss them out. The woman told me they throw them out so I said I thought crafters would buy them if they sold them for cheap. She said she would talk to everyone about it. I was thinking if everyone started asking about it they might stop throwing all those sweaters away - they're so perfect for felting projects. Anyway, thought you might be interested to know. ;-)

Heather said...

It really IS a sign, Shelia. I'm quite sure of it. You should most likely rush off to the thrift store Today!! and find some. ;-)

I'm a firm believer in signs, you know. When I was going to get rid of that jute I saw a gorgeous old crocheted jute bag at my friend's house - it belonged to her great-grandma- and then the next day I found that library book with the jute shopping bags. I took that as a sign too.:-)

Samantha said...

That coffee grinder is truly beautiful! What an amazing find! Love the baskets as well. I'm thinking they would be a lovely way to store library books.
By the way, Alan R is not old. Nope, no way, no how.

Leigh said...

What absolutely excellent finds! Especially that coffee grinder. I need to be on the lookout for one of those because my dream greenhouse has a dwarf coffee tree *lol

Heather said...

No, Alan is not old at all, is he, especially compared to...oh, I don't know, let's say a hat-wearing adventurer of a certain age. (cough, cough, Indy, cough, Jones, ahem)

Lise said...

Ooh...great finds. I've been looking for a manual coffee grinder for ages! And I just got myself a cute child-sized picnic basket for small works-in-progress. Like you, I'll need 50 more!