Tastes Change

Do I rearrange items in the thrift shop? Guilty. I had never seen Bradley dolls in the small version. These two cuties I moved to the Campbell's Soup display - just because. 

 Quilting update: My progress on the Lava Lamp quilt. I have many more "lamps" to make.

Dealing in sewing patterns, I come across a lot of project ideas. A few of the patterns I have saved for myself. 

I keep certain purse/bag patterns. Have I made one yet? No. But it looks like something my daughter would like so I will keep an eye out for the right material for it. 

Omgeeee! Squeals of delight. I just discovered the Amador Arts Council in my area. Just missed a sewing class but even better a tap dance and ballet class for adults. I am beyond excited. Not only will it get me out of the house, taking a tap dance class has been on my bucket list since childhood. 

Ending the post with a tub of bears and bear clothing bought at thrift for $5.99. 

None were exceptional quality so all will be thrifted back to the Great Thrift Shop Beyond. I will keep the Christmas themed ones for an appearance in my upcoming Countdown to Christmas posts in December. 

Got Me Some Fabric and Going to the Gardens

I have been more discerning in my thrifted fabric purchases. Now I don't buy all the bags of fabric, only the ones that look like potential keepers. This group I bought two bags at thrift for a total of $12 at the Attic Thrift Shop at the Redwood Senior Center. There are some nice fat quarters that will work in nicely in my Lava Lamp quilt project. The stuffed animal was a $1 purchase I couldn't resist. 

A return trip to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens meant a leisurely walk with the dog. There are a couple of "Easter eggs" to discover. 

The first was Headless Harmony. Man's suit and tie, woman's Peter Pan collar and dress ceramics slightly submerged in the soil. 

The dahlias were in bloom. 

Zipper in the pumpkin patch. 

The second Easter egg was these two big blue painted ones in a gigantic nest. 

Stumbled onto these money plant seeds that I gave to a couple of friends. 

I will be spending the next few days on the coast and will check back in to the Attic thrift shop for more fabulous fabric. 

Turning Into Fall

A milestone was passed as we moved from August into September, it only took 10+ years - I passed the 1,000,000 total page views mark for this blog. Hard to fathom. 

I have certainly segued during the 13 year time period on this blog. My first few years were spent linking up with other bloggers, completing blog challenges, modeling thrifted outfits, and revealing thrift shop finds. My OOTD (outfit of the day) posts have become few and far between (Christmas and random occasions). 

The focus the last few years have been quilt projects, and selling tips on eBay. I still highlight thrift shop finds, but only the most interesting ones.  

Art and art history continue to fuel my posts. Thrift shop art features prominently. 

Labor Day wishes for a delightful holiday! 

August Art Offerings

This sculpture resides at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, California. 

Metal sculpture near the Mendocino Theatre Company in Mendocino, California. 

Thrift shop offerings of a painting

A rock print

and foot and jar obscura. All thrift shop residents. 

Ending the post with Flower Guy - not quite sure what is going on here. 

Auditing the Listings

The lead-off image is yet another thrift shop painting. This one I have entitled "Eye See You."

This week meant each day was spent on the audit of eBay listings of Simplicity and Vogue sewing patterns. I brought up each listing, checked the details, and revised the price. Most were overpriced, some underpriced. All of the cut patterns were culled. Some were out of numeric order. Some were duplicates. Some weren't listed at all. Some needed pattern packet scotch-tape reinforcement. 

If you are an online seller, I would highly recommend auditing your listings. I removed the reference to Vintage on my listings. I figure I will let the buyer determine whether a pattern is vintage or not. 

Lockdown blips in selling were books and CDs. Sales in those two categories have come to a near standstill. I will start segueing out of those categories in the months to come. 

I work each day on eBay now. My extra disposable income of $1,500 per month has disappeared as a result of the reduction of my state salary to a fixed income, and putting my eBay store on time away during the summer. I have more than enough inventory to list for the next three months. 

There is a possibility for retired state workers to return to work without jeopardizing their retirement benefits. One must wait 180 days from their retirement date to return to work as a Retired Annuitant. I would be interested in working a couple of days a week. I have signed up for the CalCareers weekly notifications. California just went through a budget crisis (my suspicion is overspending on COVID-related programs), so there might not be many of those positions available. 

I am still adjusting to this retirement thing. From legal analyst to caregiver. There is lots on the plus side, but I miss being around others. 

Completion of the 2024 Fan Quilt

The lead-off image is the center of the completed fan quilt done in a dragonfly quilting pattern. 

Image below is the quilt in the wild. 

I bound it in a dramatic fabric that brought all of the colors together. 

Close-up of the dragonfly quilting pattern. 

Next quilt queued up is Lava Lamp - king-sized with a wool batting. 

Seller update: After I finish the audit of my sewing patterns, I will begin listing my quilt projects for sale. Other listing sessions queued up are Barbie clothes lotted by color, Boy Scout items, yarn, and CDs. 

Pattern of the Day is from 1997 Butterick 5030 Woodland Elves. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186640198514

I reactivated my Instagram account Tamaschen. It was on hiatus for almost 3 years. I guess because I have an active Facebook account, the IG account easily reactivated. It is the most popular app and I like to enter the contests. 

August Blogiversary

Celebrating my 13th anniversary as a blogger. It has been a quiet summer in blogland for my posts. I spent the month of June finishing out my tenure as a state worker. July and August have been spent involved in a dispute over our summer home. The lead-off image was a painting at a Fort Bragg, California thrift shop. 

Back to thrifting in my area produced a pair of Black Americana salt and pepper shakers. My most recent finds have been mainly sewing patterns, nothing as cute as these two!

Pattern of the Day is an undated Butterick raggedy clown doll. I had scanned in this batch of patterns for my listing session then I misplaced the scans! They were saved in another folder, so glad I found them! 😌

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186634084833

Getting back to quilting - my next post will be the completion of the 2024 Fan Quilt.