I love a good Op shop day

I was having coffee with Keriann from Sweet Mary the other morning and she suggested we could go visit a couple of op shops. The couple of shops then turned into quite a few. A well worth few shops. I found lots of things I like all for $5 or less. I love a bargain. And I also found lots of fabric to use over at Coulter & Coulter. The best fabric bargain was 6m of pale blue cotton that I found hiding at the bottom of a basket. The best item found does not look like much, in fact I did not see it, Keriann pointed it out. And I could not believe that I found this item.
When we moved over here I brought with me a light fixture from Ikea that I really, really liked. Unfortunately after it traveling all the way over here, it got broken being moved from one box to another when we were unpacking. There are no Ikea stores in New Zealand, the light fitting had been discontinued. I even found two little lamp shades for $2 last week that on looking at I thought wouldn't they have gone really well with that Ikea light. I had no hope of ever finding one. Until Keriann pointed it out to me, hidden at the back of the junk shop in dusty cardboard box. Yay, synchronicity. I have no idea where I will put it, but I will take special care of it until it is hanging up somewhere in my home.

Its great to have the time too............

Its great to have the time too............ make some new clothes. I used to make nearly all my own clothes. For some reason, probably small children using up my time, I stopped. So its been great these holidays to have time to try out some new patterns. The fabric I used I found in an op shop, four metres for $4, I love a bargain. Especially one that works out well like this one. Unfortunately my second attempt did not work so well, the fabric I used was just not right and made me look like the back of bus.

Its great to have the time too............

Paint the new chair for the veranda. I picked it up in a second hand shop for a fraction of the new cost. And paint and reupholster another bargain I picked up on my travels with my friend Sheena when she was here. And no I have not forgot that I have not finished posting all the pictures of that trip.

More travels of a redundant mum

What do you think of this beautifully cute little cottage. Wouldn't you like to stay there for a weekend.
Lucky me, this weekend I did. Keriann from Sweet Mary and me with my Coulter and Coulter hat on were doing a fair at Cross Hills Gardens near Kimbolton in the Manawatu. Its a long drive and an early start so we decided to stay over and make a girls weekend of it. Leaving Peter at home with the youngest and six Star Wars videos, lucky him.
Our journey down was one of many stops at every op shop, junk shop and antique shop on the way. While driving around trying to find the last op shops before they closed we came across this amazing den of bargains. I could have spent all day there. Unfortunately, we arrived at almost closing time. No I don't think I will share its location, because I want all those bargains for myself. It was a veritable Alladin's cave. If only there had been more room in the car. We drove off with Keriann sitting with a pile of amazing goodies on her lap.
On the way back we stopped for morning tea at The Herb Farm. Before having a walk around we stopped in the cafe for morning tea of Cheese and Herb scones, yum yum yum. The garden walk was wonderful, thank you to Keriann for persuading me that the $3.50 fee was well worth it. Apparently the elves and gnomes come out and frolic in the evenings we did not see any of them moving.
My favorite part of the garden was the herbologists cottage. It was so cute, I want one in my garden.
I really loved the glass in this window, in the herbologists cottage, thistles and roses. Something else I want.

The whole garden was a little on the wild side and full of beautiful plants.

The only problem I have with this wonderful garden is that it was full of amazing plants that I would like, but they did not have any for sale. Not even a tiny little pot. When we asked the bemused staff said, yes lots of people ask that. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Vintage bargains

On my lunchtime walks through Napier I like to wander around the op (charity) shops and junk shops. It is amazing how many I originally wanted the picture above for the black frame and cream mount. The picture itself has kind of grown on me, I think I will leave it there for a while.
How could I resist this pair of dotty lovelies. I wish I had spotted them a before my birthday party.

This weeks spotty bargains

I needed a new cover for my ironing board. The choice of cover was not very impressive and at $25, did I really want to pay for something I did not even like. Then I spotted a whole ironing board for $19 complete with a nice spotty cover and I love spots. A good price for a cute item. And the big bonus is that this ironing board fits in the space in the study that Peter made for it, the old one didn't, its almost as if he knew this one was out there waiting for me to find it.

And just to confirm I love spots, I also found the bargain below. A whole dinner set for $14. You have got to love the Warehouse sometimes.

Today's Daisy

Sometimes you just can't resist a bargain. This little pot of sunflowers was reduced to half price $5 and I had just won $22 on the National Lottery. Now it is in the daylight it is looking much, much better.

One new years resolution broken!

Earlier this year I decided not to buy any more fabric until I had used some of the stuff I already have. I think I did quite well lasting till the end of March. Unfortunaly, I was distracted by some Amy Butler fabric and forgot I was not buying any more. I think I can be excused, I did get a good bargain.

Bargain Kitchen

No this is not my house. This is the kitchen we just bought from Trade Me. I know this is taking my door collection to another level. But you got to admit we got a bargain. Some of it is a bit tired, but with a bit of care and attention and a few pots of paint it should look great. And before you ask, yes I did measure.
With the kitchen came - the sink unit, a glass wall unit, a microwave cabinet, 4 larder doors, cladding for the sides of the larder, cooker hood housing, dishwasher, bench (work) tops, oven, hob, drawer units, hob splash back etc. etc. and all in beautiful rimu.

There was really only one part of the kitchen I wanted. The oven and the hob which have had a full life and will just need to go to the dump, along with most of the bench top. The remaining bench top is going to be used in the laundry. Now on a slight sidetrack - we were looking at bench tops in the local DIY mega store yesterday. Do you have any wooden bench tops I asked. Oh yes here is one right behind you they said. Oh no I said I wanted real wooden bench top. But that is a real wooden bench top they said. Really said I sceptically. Yes they said, feel underneath you can feel the real wood. How much is that I said. $5000 for that piece they said. As we wandered off bemused we wondered how on earth they had managed to turn a lovely big lump of wood into a horrible plastic like very expensive lump of wood. If anyone out there knows where we can buy wooden bench tops that have not been messed about with please leave me a comment. Sorry for the sidetrack, now back to the bargain kitchen. The microwave unit, the cooker hood housing and the splash back are going straight back on to Trade Me to be sold on as we don't need them.

The double drawer dishwasher has already been sold on Trade Me. The buyer is going to pick it up tomorrow morning. We have a newer model one already in our existing kitchen.

But what about the part of the kitchen that you really wanted I here you say. Here it is a wonderful 2010mm long glass doored wall cabinet. I have been looking for one for my kitchen for soooooo long. Its cool to find one at last. Don't you just love to stand around watching a man work.

I could not wait to get him out of the way so I could move all my china over.

Last time Peter installed a kitchen for me, he started before Callum was born and finished it when Callum was 4. Just in time for us to sell the house and move out. I really hope that this time things move a little faster.

Today's Daisies #89

Today's daisies are part of another batch of bargain fabric scraps. Each piece was $2, found in Freedom furniture. I think perhaps somebody that worked there was selling off their fabric stash. The spotty yellow daisy fabric I nearly did not buy, in the shop I thought it had bows on it. I am not keen on fabric with bows, in fact I don't really like bows anywhere except on shoes. Don't know why, just not my cup of tea. I have enough fabric now to keep me busy all winter I think.

Today's Daisies #86 and lots of Bargains

No this is not a daisy, but it is the reason why I found my daisy bargains. My youngest went to a dress up birthday party yesterday as an elf. For his costume he reused a Knight Templar costume I made last year for him. It had to be inside out to hide the big red cross as apparently elfs don't have crosses on their cloaks! To make the elf ears I needed some skin coloured felt from Spotlight. The ears worked quite well for a two minute creation don't you think.
Peter dropped me and the wheelchair at Spotlight while he went to the optitions. I was in heaven, they have a mega sale on there at the moment. I had to make the most of my time as this was my last wheelchair trip. We had to hand it back to the hire place that day. My ankle has improved enough to put weight on it with the help of the crutches, I don't have to hop anymore. The problem is my lack of energy and breath. I can manage about five minutes before I need to rest. Anyway back to daisies. In the sale they have quilt fabric at $2 per metre, an incredible price. How could I resist, especially the red and white daisy fabric to be added to my stash for the red and white quilt that I will do very soon (yeh right). An odd group of fabrics, but they will be very useful for different projects I have planned.
I also bought some of the fabrics below. Not my usual style, but again I have plans. I always have plans, one day I might even put some of these plans into action.

I got some teddy fabric to back baby quilts.

While I was waiting for Peter I had a good rummage around the rest of Spotlight, it was difficult to drag myself away from the fabric. I am so glad I did, because I found king size duvet covers for $20, reduced from $120. Our duvet covers are getting a bit worn out and I have been looking for new ones for ages. Problem was I could not find any I liked, and did not want to pay $100 for something I did not even like. What I really wanted was something red and white with stripes and florals. Guess what I found, actually it was Peter that found the red one when he came back to drag me out of Spotlight. We also found a blue one and a stripey double one for one of my sons beds. So we got three duvet covers for the half the price of one full price duvet cover. A very good feeling.

Some more bargains and daisies.

My youngest and I went to a garage sale - a cross between a car boot sale and a jumble sale - at his school this morning. We had a great time. he bought a ton of toys for a few cents and I bought some books for 50cents each. A cushion with daisies on it for $2. And best of all a set of pine shelves. Peter must have liked the shelves, because by tea time they were up on the wall. I love bargain hunting.

A bunch of bargains

A cream and green enamel with a few scrapes and bumps. Ready for bunches of spring flowers. A blue enamal jug with some more bumps and scrapes. Some beautiful vintage fabric. Not sure what to use it for. Perhaps some cushions with a ticking back.
Some old Sanderson's fabric, which is a lovely sage green colour.
The best bargain of the bunch is the little desk above, which I bought for $20. It needs a bit of TLC, perhaps a paint job and new handles. Can't wait to get started, but need a new mouse sander first. I managed to blow mine up on my last project. I have a birthday coming up soon and have been dropping hints to Peter that I need a new Mouse sander. Fingers crossed.
And finally I have got round to making a cover from my bargain fabric for my bargain wooden ironing board. I have not got my design quite right, but it seems to work and the ironing was easier. As you can see below it did not take long to fill it up. I really need to paint the sewing room walls that green is awful.

This Week's Bargains and some daisies.

This week's trawl of Trade Me bargains has been quite good and at some times surprising.
Starting with the surprising.  Being a girl who never actually reads the details, I thought I was just buying a cup and saucer and guess what I got a plate to.  Note to self, read the blurb before bidding, on this occasion it was beneficial to me, but there are some things on the way that perhaps if I had read the blurb I would never have actually bid.

The cheapest, a tablecloth for a princely sum of $4.  It does not fit our table totally, but I am sure it will be useful at some time.
The useful, a bunch of fabrics for my stash.  Some spotty ones for Peter's tea cosy.  81 yoyo's done, 31 to go.  And some checks just because I liked them.
And last my favourite of all.  I love this cup and saucer, again a surprise bargain.  I like to bid low and I always get out bid, which I expected on this item.  When I won the auction, I thought "Oh, dear a yellow cup and saucer, why did I bid on that".  When it arrived I though "Wow a yellow cup and saucer, I love that", and I do.  I can even convince myself that the flowers are daisies.

Tomorrow if I can get a picture of a tree I will be publishing my tree of happiness as nominated by Keriann.  Thanks Keriann.

Latest Bargains

I have been bargain shopping again. This time via Trade Me, which is the Kiwi version of Ebay. Above is my favourite, a handpainted vase from Italy.
Next is a lovely green spotty tin. Not sure what I am going to keep in it yet. Any suggestions.
And lastly a wooden ironing board. Yes, I know I am mad and it does not look very glamourous. But just wait until I have made a cover for it, well eventually when I actually do get round to doing that. My todo list just gets longer and longer. The ironing board cost $10 which is about £2.70.