Heck of a Find

I went to a thrift sale this past weekend in a nearby town in the wee hours of Saturday morning. It was being held in a shed/type building that was pretty darn chilly - it obviously isn't a full four-season building. (Wisconsin winter cold!)

While I was looking around, I thought to myself that I really didn't even need to be there. Sure, my initial reasoning for going was to look for wool, but really, what else did I need to get? 2011 is my year of "clearing" and this wasn't the way to get there. But, as usual, I ignored myself and kept looking.

I left about 20 minutes later with cold feet, cold hands, two wool coats, one wool sweater, a new matching set of white porcelain dishes to be used for my Charlotte's water and food dish (which work so great, by the way!), couple skeins of yarn, two sets of knitting needles, a white tablecloth with grand trim, four jars of misc buttons, a set of six wooden coasters that will be turned into pin cushions to sell on Etsy, four baggies stuffed full of vintage lace trim, a unique hand-stitched table center piece cloth/doily, and an incredible wooden bowl - all for only $28!

Here's a photo of the wooden bowl holding my wool and burlap pears. It was only $2.00!! 

I'm glad I stayed and my hands and feet got cold.

Burlap and Leather and Wool, Oh My!

As promised, here are my latest creations incorporating burlap from a coffee-bean bag. What else - but pears!

Each panel of the pears are made from alternating burlap and wool. This wool happens to be from a recycled blanket. The stems are made from coiled up brown leather strips recycled from a thrift store jacket and the leaves are from a sage-green leather jacket. They are stuffed with standard polyfil as well as some small floral pebbles and glass beads on the bottom. It helps give them some weight and with that they sit much nicer (kind of like a big old toosh settling into its spot in the recliner!).

I like how they turned out - I enjoy the simplicity, texture, and form. But I have already stocked up on more fusible interfacing that I will adhere to the burlap moving forward. It unravels terribly, and while that is ok at times (depending on the project), it's not desirable when sewing seams together for stuffing.

Although I'd kind of like to keep them myself, I think I'll post them on Etsy. Besides, I've already got pieces cut for about a dozen more!

New Year, New Fabric

No - I'm not going to stop "working in wool", but I just added a new fabric to a couple of my pieces I was working on yesterday. It's recycled burlap coffee-bean bags.

A couple weeks ago, I stopped by a local coffee shop (I don't even drink coffee!) and picked up three big bags for little to nothing.  And I'm having great fun blending the burlap with my wool. However, I have decided that I need to incorporate some fusible interfacing with the burlap because it unravels terribly. (Not to mention it sheds a lot at first - good thing I take special stock in lint rollers.)

Hmmm....maybe I'll share my newest pieces with you tomorrow...

In the meantime, go grab yourself a new year's cup of coffee.

Photo taken from www.allposters.com.