Weekend thrift store finds

Spent some time this weekend at a few flea markets, thrift stores and antique shops! It was a great way to spend my birthday weekend. Here are a few of my finds.

This is a lime green pyrex bowl. It was pretty grubby when I bought it but I am real happy with how well it cleaned up.

Two small square pyrex berry bowls. Notice the cute vintage sheet too!

More pyrex. There was a third large bowl in this set but it was not in great shape so I left it.


I think this might be my favorite find! A thermal pitcher. It matches my Mom's "cookie bowl". My Mom always serves her famous chocolate chip and p-nut butter cookies in a bowl with this exact print on it. I believe she said she got her cookie bowl as a wedding gift about 45 years ago.

A couple of retro Fire King mugs. I have enjoyed drinking my coffee out of these the past few mornings. An added bonus, I don't feel guilty having two cups as they are so much smaller than the coffee mugs we all use today.

What to do with a charm pack???

I have been experimenting with charm packs lately. I wanted to design a project using just one pack. (For those of you that don't know, a charm pack consists of about 40 5 inch squares of fabric from a single fabric line.) This pack is Buttercup from Fig Tree Quilts. I did use a solid light colored fabric from the line to bind it. I can't decide if I am going to hang it in my hallway or put it in the center of my dining room table. Stay tuned for more charm pack projects.



On another note we had crazy weather in Topeka last night! The school district my kids go to and the one that I work in were both closed today due to power outages and closed roads from downed tree limbs. I think this is a first in my entire school career as a student and a teacher to miss a day the first week of school because of the weather. We ended up with a huge tree limb in our front yard, but somehow never lost electricity. There is still a lot of clean up to be done around town, and quite a few without power. More rain in the forecast but I don't think it is suppose to be stormy.

Project finish

I have been working on this bag for awhile now, I think I started it last winter. I have been in the mood to finish projects lately, and this is my latest. The bag is actually made using black, white and lime green fabrics, I think the green looks kinda yellow in my picture. Anyway... I like how it turned out. It is the perfect size to carry as a large purse or I can carry it back and forth to work as my laptop fits in it beautifully. I will be back with more finished quilting projects soon!

Getting ready for school

Earlier this week the girls and I spent an evening decorating some composition notebooks for school. We used some of our favorite scrapbook papers and a little zip glue.

Before:


After:



I told you I loved school supplies! I use these notebooks to collect my lists and ideas. The girls are using them for school and as something to keep in their backpacks to use on the bus or at daycare when they want to draw or journal. We had so much fun making them!

Good-bye to summer

According to the calendar summer doesn't end until September 22nd. Some people consider Labor Day weekend the end of the summer season, by these accounts we still have several weeks left of this glorious season. For me, it ends tomorrow. Being a teacher I report back to work in the morning. Back to setting the alarm clock before bedtime and rushing around in the morning. I can say I truly feel blessed to have a job I enjoy so much mid-August through the end of May, but the true blessing is being able to enjoy summer time with my girls. It is wonderful to have a part of each year where I can slow down, enjoy my coffee on the front porch with my journal, have no place I have to be at a specific time, and to spend time together as a family "just being".

So, good-bye to drinking my morning coffee on the front porch. Good-bye to the swimming pool and the lake. Good-bye to staying up late reading and eating a leisurely breakfast. Hello to a routine, early mornings and packing lunches. Hello to new school supplies (I still love picking out new notebooks and pens each year). Hello to new students and new opportunities. May all of you with students have a blessed new school year and the rest of you enjoy the end of your summer.

Glasses

Someone at my house got glasses last week! She really does like them more than what it looks like in the picture. She hates having her picture taken!!! I think she looks much more grown up in those glasses.

Thrift Store Fashion Show

While I have been spending time in the thrift store this summer Tristan has taken it upon herself to find entertainment in the kids clothing aisles. She bought the tops in the following pictures from our favorite local thrift store. She styled them with her own hats, skirts, shorts and shoes.

Birthdays...

We have been doing a lot of celebrating the last two weekends! Last weekend we spent Saturday in Kansas City celebrating Darren's 40th birthday. We topped the day off at the Royal's baseball game. I believe it was 104 degrees at game time. I don't think I have ever been any hotter in my entire life! The Royals pulled out a win in overtime, it was a great time! (Even in the gosh darn heat!) I didn't want to take my nice camera in to the game and can't for the life of me find the cord to upload the pictures from our other camera, so I included a picture of Darren that was actually taken last month at Tristan's birthday party.


This weekend we got to celebrate Summer's 11th birthday. Wow, does time fly by. I can't believe it has been 11 years! She had a friend over the night before her birthday and they made chocolate cupcakes.


The next day after the girls got up they worked to make a lunch of spaghetti and bread sticks that they served on my wedding china. I totally forgot to take a picture of the table. We started a new family tradition last year when Summer could not find the perfect paper plates for serving her birthday cake. Out of desperation, because I was really sick of looking at paper plates, I offered up my wedding china. She loved the idea, they looked beautiful and we were not throwing anything in the landfill!

We spent a fun day of eating lunch at home, served by Summer and her friend. Then off to Potwin Pottery to paint a few projects, supper at Hou Hot, then some time to read at Barnes and Noble. Summer was able to test drive her new Nook there. It was a fun day celebrating a very special young lady that is growing up so fast. Summer, I love you!