Thrift finds

Wow, that's a lovely find!
I might consider using it with paper and a soft lead pencil to make a kind of brass rubbing with it, but anything else I don't think I would dare to do to it either, it's much too nice to risk messing up

My last find was 6 sheets of felt and some of those coloured pipe cleaners, chenille sticks or something they're also called, I think? So nothing quite as impressive as your wood printing block lol, but I'm happy with them all the same

What's your favourite thrifty find been so far?

I hadn't thought of doing a pencil rubbing. That's a good idea. It would look nice on a card.

It's quite hard to choose a favourite thrifty find as there have been many over the years. Most of my house and wardrobe are second hand. However, one of my favourite thrifted things is definitely this top. I was so pleased to find it a couple of years ago in a charity shop in Stirling. It's my favourite colour (most of my wardrobe in burgundy) and definitely my style! It's my go-to for those 'I don't know what to wear moments'. It was in pristine condition when I found it but has been well loved since, so is looking worse for wear now.

How about you?

Wow you're so good at thrifting. The lady who owns my favourite pub is amazing at finding treasures at car boot sales and in TK Max (of all places). I never find anything cool when I look but she's always coming back with unusual sculptures - her last was a spaceman cat!

The trick I find with thrifting (and shopping in TK maxx) is go frequently and be prepared to rumage!

I love that top you found, Libby! That's a colour I'm drawn to as well
I'd never even heard of TK Maxx until you mentioned it, Cat, I figured it was a UK thing, but apparently we have them as well! I'm such a hermit...

Rummaging isn't something I'm very good at lol, I'm always really glad when everything is spread out across large tables, as opposed to it all being in boxes that you have to really dig through

Oh, and my favourite find (at the moment anyway) is a quilt I bought a few years back. I don't have a picture of it yet, and the weather isn't really great at the moment, so perhaps tomorrow, when/if the sun's out I can take a photograph and post it. Fingers crossed...

Crossing fingers worked

I was hoping you'd manage to take a picture today @C.J.M.! It's absolutely beautiful! What a wonderful find! Do you know anything about who made it?

Thanks,I'm glad you like it
No, I'm afraid I don't know anything about its origins, it is hand sewn though, so quite a lot of time must have gone into making it.
Its colours aren't quite as light as they seem in the picture, if you look at it enlarged the top part that has a bit of shade is closest to what they actually look like.
It's a log cabin design, not normally my favourite quilt block, but for some reason I'm quite fond of it in this blanket.
And the fact that it was only 2 euros didn't hurt either...

Wow! Only 2 euros! Unbelievable! I think some people just don't know the time and effort that goes into making something like this. When you look at it enlarged you can really see the detail. A lot of thought has gone into choosing the fabrics. The checks and the stripes around the outside of the square are really effective.

You're right, I somehow can't imagine whoever actually made the quilt getting rid of it.
I don't think I could have if it had been me anyway lol.
As far as I can tell all the blocks are completely identical, and it's the way they've been sewn together that makes the overall design look so nice.
I personally would've never chosen checks and stripes, I find them way too unforgiving lol, it's so hard to cut and not have them look crooked!

My favourite fabric in this quilt is this one, not quite as tricky to sew as the stripes and checks, I imagine :

I think you have to have good vision for quilts like these and probably a lot of faith that it will turn out alright! I have never done any large patchwork like this, but I get the feeling that you don't really know what it will look like until it has all been completed and sewn together.

I started working on my own version of the "Dear Jane" quilt a few years back, and have only done about 5 1/2 rows of 13. But I'm already kind of worried I won't like the end result much
I'm not very good at combining several different colours, a quilt with just 2 or 3 colours would've probably been a better choice.
If I really don't like the endresult though I could always tea dye it so the colours are less obvious

I found something else thrifty and crafty last saturday, is it okay if I post it here?
They are both cross-stitch embroidery related, something I don't do very much of, but you never know when it'll come in handy
It's a set of grid sheets at different scales to help turn pictures or designs into embroidery patterns, and an embroidery sampler kit.

Sorry, this is the picture I should've used, and I was unable to edit the previous reply
Apologies for the ridiculous name of the grids; Dutch companies seem to think that adding English words to a Dutch one makes the product seem cool...

Of course you can post your finds here! That's what this thread is for!

The grids look very useful. I have used graph paper before to design pictures, but you basically have to draw it onto the graph paper. Whereas, it looks like you can lay those grids over an existing picture or painting.

The sampler is pretty too. I always think that those monochromatic samplers are classics that don't date. Great finds!