I love it when I find a vintage tablecloth for a reasonable price. I saw one like this in France for 30 euro, but I paid 2 euro at our local thriftshop.

If I had paid 30 euro (we have a saying in dutch: it costs what the fools will pay – and yes there were fools), I don’t think I would ever use it.

At least not when anyone would be eating anything that could stain on it. And when you think of it, everything could stain. Bread and water would be the only diner that I could serve on it, but I don’t think my family would appreciate that.

So there you have it: that’s why I don’t pay that much for a tablecloth.
I do try to put other tablecloths on the table when we eat anything with tomatosauce, but I forgot last week.
So now I’m hoping to soak those stains out…

I bought this vintage foldable teatray months ago. I fell in love with it at first sight. I have always wanted a teatray (is that what it’s called? – it’s more like a little carriage) and this was just my taste. I must have been very modern in the late sixties I think. And it’s red, my new favorite thriftingcolor. (I have been buying greens for years, but lately it is all red). Also it was cheap, only 2 euros. So I took it home.
I have always been picturing using one of these while having a tea party. Elegantly pouring some tea, handing it over to my guests and presenting cookies and cake.
Um, yeah. I never have teaparties. I hardly get any visitors and when I do we drink coffee. We’re dutch, you know? Dutch people drink a lot of coffee. DH and I love very strong coffee, so we have a automatic coffeemaker. One of those things that grinds the coffee fresh before every cup you make. No need to pour anything, just put the cup under it.
Anyway, no chances to use a teatraything. It is foldable, but it was a bit “in the way” most of the time. I have this rule, not to buy or hold on to anything that I cannot find a good place for. So it had to go. I have made trips to the thriftshop several times to drop off things, but always “forgot” about my little red teatray.
And it was a good thing I did. After the floorincident we rearranged the furniture in the living room. And suddenly we found ourselves needing a place for our tv, stereo and dvd player. Preferably as small as possible and with wheels, so we could easily move it around.
Ha! I said, pulling the teatray from it’s hiding place. Let’s try this!
I thought dh would not like it, but he does. So now our little obsolete teacarriage had been promoted,
We love the way it looks, it makes the tv more casual. It looks like it’s just sitting there for a while, not dominating the room and demanding people to look at it. I like that.
(taking pictures of it was a challenge, I wanted to show you the nice design, not our electronics – this was the best I could do)
(thanks to Barbara for inspiring this post)

I keep finding these crocheted potholders in thriftshops and I’m fascinated by them. Such an intricate pattern, with those 3D rose petals. When I’m feeling really brave I think I will try to copy it. But for now I’m just smiling every time I see them hanging on the side of the kitchencupboard.
In the background you can see my ironing board with my branching out scarf blocking on it. I finished that in only four days! After all the blankets that really feels great.
Even further in the background (but I doubt you can really see it) is my lunch. A smoothie, an apple and a grapefruit. I have the very bad habit to eat too much when I’m feeling sick and I have done that the past two days. I even ate a lot of sugar while I usually do without. I have been having trouble to eat healthy for months now (I have been fighting colds all winter), but it’s getting worse. So I decided I needed a big change.
And since I’m already dizzy and feeling weak, and since I have already declared this a week of hanging on the couch and resting, I thought this was the best time to try to detox a bit. So no sugars, no cheese, no bread for me for a while.
And lots of knitting, because it keeps my mind off eating. I lost 70 pounds in 2007 by knitting every time I had an urge to binge. I gained about half of that again in the past year, so knitting it is…
I’m going to try this pattern now. Looks interesting and not too big a project. I want to make hats, berets, socks and sweaters, but most patterns ask for needles I don’t have. I have only one size dpn’s and only very thick circular needles, so for now I have to go projects that call for straight needles. Not a problem, there is so much to choose from on the internet, that I could knit all my life and still not finish everything.
I just realized today that this is one of the main reasons I’m having so much more fun crafting now than fifteen years ago when my kids were little. Back then I missed the interactive part: showing finished objects on Craftster, blogging about it, getting feedback and inspiration from other craftsters. I think that is one of the great things about the internet.

Accidently color coordinated. I love it when that happens.

Two vintage dresses

Some old magazines (’50’s/’60’s)

Having my driver’s license is good for thrifting. I did a little round today and found:
– a cute cup and saucer
– knitting needles and some fabric
– lots of old patterns
– a cake dish
– old neck ties (to make something like this)

Since my scooter died I hadn’t been to the thrift shop anymore (but oh, soon I will have my driver’s license. I hope). Yesterday my husband took me there. That was fun.

I love these little plates.

and this record is great, but I would have bought it for the cover. Groovy 😉

But my greatest find was this:

three bags of yarn. A big tangled mess, really. But most of it is real wool and there’s lots of it. I’m working on untangling it all (and having fun with that).

Also in the bags: some vintage little treasures.