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Old peg bag.
What a sad state of affairs.
New peg bag.
In the nick of time I reckon.
The pattern I used. Found at the good old op-shop in a plain envelope, along with tea cosy and apron patterns. I always wonder about the women that items like these belonged to.
Definitely a theme in this week's oppy finds.
Citrussy colours, stripes of black.
A new crocheted knee rug/throw. When I asked the price I was told $6. Six dollars. For a new handmade item. Nah...I gave the lady $30 (still a bargain in my book). I am so glad to be able to do this now. Not so long ago $6 was money I needed for food - I would have bought the rug and felt enormously guilty: for spending food money and devaluing someone's handwork. The volunteers make these items to raise a bit of extra money. In this case the local Rural Ambulance Service.
Splendid biscuit or cake tin (quite airtight). What's in it now? Anzac biscuits, of course!
I've never seen the like of these before. So of course I had to have them.
Reminds me to sort out the spice shelf. So I can fit in these two lovelies. I need to raise the shelf above the spice section in the pull-out cupboard so I have better access.
Black and orange again! Good for pencil storage.
Unusual to have such a thread of colours in a week of oppy purchases. I enjoy these colours but they're not my favourites. I lean more towards blues and greens, with a dash of purple. Red gets a look in too, sometimes.
Cheers
Ah, Autumn...such splendid weather, long shadows in the afternoon, crisp mornings. I'm all invigorated.
Much gardening going on. For the next five minutes it's pretty much in order. I've planted a full-size tangelo. I have one in a half barrel, but...I want more! Tangelos and lemons are my favourite citrus. I also planted a dwarf Washington Navel orange in a large pot against a side fence. I lost my other orange tree when we built the deck at the front.
Speaking of which, it seems the pergola above the deck may be painted completely soon (oh please). One more coat and it's done.
It's taken two years to reach this stage.
Note Suska wolfing down her tea, and recently reupholstered chair seats. Red vinyl from Spotlight. Very pleased with the result. How I like my staple gun!
The vegie garden is all tidied. All the languishing half-dead summer crops have been heaved out. Except for Clare's late planted corn - she's determined to have a cob from it.
I planted seeds of lettuce, spinach, silverbeet, beetroot and sugar snap peas. Clare planted rocket. All are up, but I need to plant more peas, blackbirds have scratched some up.
Leaves are falling.
I need to pick all of these - they ripen off the vine.
When I look at them I'm always reminded of something Jackie French wrote about a visitor to her garden. An elderly Oriental lady who laughed quietly when she saw the kiwifruit. Jackie probed. Apparently, back home in China the fruit were nicknamed "golden hairy goat testicles"!
Gratuitous nasturtium picture. They are so perky now the hot weather has abated. Such a relaible plant (once you've reefed out those that grow where you don't want them to). They just grow themselves, don't they.
Just some Autumn light photos now.
I have another sick child. Goodnight.
Gee, I havn't posted about op-shop finds lately. How deprived you must all be feeling...
Vintage patterns to add to that collection. I especially like these doll's clothes ones. Clare fancies an ice skating outfit for one of her Barbie dolls, and some of those splendid gowns.
I collect old buttons, and have come across some beauties lately. I love the weight and sheen of mother-of-pearl buttons, much more "solid" than the mussel shell ones common these days. A good friend has made a stunning necklace with her collection.
The lovely little flocked box was an oppy find too.
I've learnt to wash clothes I sew the pearl buttons onto in a lingerie bag, otherwise they get chipped.
New storage receptacle for elastic (most of which comes from the op-shop as well). When I bought it the elderly lady serving me said, "Oh, these are marvellous for putting things in. I've got some in my shed". One for her angle grinder, one for her cordless drill. I love these women, always full of surprises.
Here, a new ric-rac receptacle (gee, I like the sound of that!). Old sewing basket is the recent purchase, the ric-rac is part of my random haberdashery collection. Those in the picture I've bought over several years. If it has interesting packaging I don't use it, the rest gets used.
Now...on to fabric. Greens. A colour I use a lot.
Splendid ponies on a border print. This would make a wonderful skirt, or dress, for a little girl.
Assorted florals. How about that sheet on top of the pile!
Recycled linen shirts and dresses. All ready to be transformed. On some I've retained the button and buttonholes to incorporate in the new garment. Also things like the back pleat you get on some shirts, and pintucked front panels.
Ah, I'm really taken with this metre-or-so of fabric. I held it up to myself (shirt potential?) but it just made me look rather matronly. I could make something decidedly cool for Clare or Ally, but they'd never wear it. It wouldn't be skanky enough, or have brands emblazoned on it. Sigh...
I don't let them wear skanky or branded clothes, but that's what they want to wear. Sigh...
However, I have an idea that's growing. Maybe, just maybe, I could have a line of one-off children's clothes. Strictly 0-4 years. I have a lot of vintage/interesting fabric to hand! It's just embryonic right now, growing though.
Ally's description, "This has been a very muddled week". So accurate.
It started last Saturday with me going to the Curves gym (recently joined to deal with stress and apalling level of fitness) and developing a blinding, excruciating headache halfway thruogh the circuit. Carted off in an ambulance. Nausea and vomiting, photophobia. In retrospect, classic migraine symptoms.
It was decided, eventually, that I'd had a sudden migraine. Fortunately, I don't have these evil headaches very often, but in the past there's been some warning: a thudding headache that doesn't go away, thirst and fatigue. One coming on suddenly was rather disturbing. I was out and couldn't get back home under my own steam. What if that happens again?
I'll go back to Curves, but I'm really nervous about doing so.
Oh, and there's nothing like a shot of morphine to deal with pain, and Stemetil for nausea/vomiting (Maxolon didn't work).
Took a couple of days to throw that post-migraine weird, disoriented state.
A long appointment sucked up Tuesday. I did fly in to work and do the pays though - disgruntled employees weren't on my agenda.
The usual routine was thrown completely by now. Transporting kids uses so much time. With Giles, mostly I drop him and some mates at the favoured surf beach, one of the other kid's parents pick them up. It's still a 1.5 hour round trip to drop them off. Sometimes, if the bus timetable works, they can catch the bus both ways. Their favoured surfing area, Red Bluff, doesn't have a bus for them to catch home. V-Line buses = strange timetables.
I managed to buy some food and pick up Leah from Lakes Entrance, where she'd stayed with a friend. Leah looked pretty crook, she could hardly speak. Criminal sore throat. GP appointment...tonsillitis? All the glands around her jaw were huge. Can only imagine the state of her tonsils. Antibiotics prescribed and duly taken. I worry about her fluid intake. It's so painful to swallow that the poor kid just isn't drinking.
Thursday: buy more food. Take Leah to A&E because she finds it hard to breathe, and looks really "flat". Leah is admitted to hospital, IV fluids perk her up a bit. But only a bit. She's on her third type of antibiotic now.
Ah, but the waiting with Leah in A&E meant reading time! Good progress made on this:
When I read As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, well, I was going to Spain. Never did though. A friend who read it around the same time spent three months in Spain with her baby daughter.
I've enjoyed all of Laurie Lee's books. This one came from the op-shop. How lucky! A $50 book for a couple of dollars. I'm enjoying this biography.
This pre-order came too, last week:
Resisting starting it until I'm done with the Laurie Lee biography!
Back in the early 80's I read Monkey Grip. My impressionable seventeen-year-old self wanted in to that lifestyle. Never did though.
