Saturday, March 16, 2024

Corned Beef Dinner the 1970s Way

Thrifting brought me this keeper pheasant sewing pattern. 

I also scored on a $1.99 bag of fabric, batting for a queen sized quilt, and a Gaither Gospel sealed in package CD. This batting is meant for my purple-themed fan quilt currently in progress. I am in the boring part - trimming the blocks. 

Cute pattern of the day is from 1978. A few more were listed on eBay. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186347786110

It is my first try at corned beef and cabbage. My fav grocery store had both items on nearly giveaway sales. I found this recipe in the 1971 publication of Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book


Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Barbie Leads the Way and Bidding the Day Away

Since Barbie is trending - leading off with this Barbie furniture sewing pattern from 1997. How cute is that? Loved Ryan Gosling's I'm Just Ken performance at the Oscars. Best. Part. Of. The. Show. πŸ’œThe Pink suit! Video posted below. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186340751382

My online auction wins of two boxes, one with 1980s sewing patterns, and the other with needlekits and fabric were good gambles. One was 65 patterns for $45. Not sure where the patterns had been stored but they had that "old" smell. I just bought 100 new plastic sleeves to solve that problem.  

Those patterns are queued up next for listing after I air them out, and receive those new sleeves. In the meantime, here are two more sewing patterns I kept from the yard sale bunch. These two are vintage apron patterns that have been cut. Placing them as 1940s or 1950s. 



When you buy a box of fabric-related items on an auction site, there can be pleasant surprises. This recently purchased box contained not only the needlekits I bought it for, but also a quilt backing, a square plaid tablecloth perfect for a picnic table and a table runner (destined for my patriotic-themed summer trailer). 




There was a stain that I covered with an iron-on applique in my stock. 

I truly don't bid the day away as my post title suggests. I do plan on eBaying the day away in retirement. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Yard Sale Yabadabadoo

It was a glorious weekend of thrifting. Cotton candy Peeps (my fav) feature the second-hand fabric found at hospice thrift. It is kind of a scratchy cotton, so I am sending it back to the Great Thrift Shop Beyond.  


The best find was at a local yard sale. When I saw fabric, I asked if they had any sewing patterns. First one box came out, then another, then another. I told them I will buy the lot, all that they had. 


Forty dollars (+ $2 tip) for the lot included 80 uncut sewing patterns, 35 cut patterns (3 of which I kept), a partially completed Christmas cross-stitch kit, fabric, and two boxes of purple globe lights. 

These patterns clearly came from another thrift shop pattern collector. There were the telltale signs of secondhand price tags. 

I got so excited about this group of patterns and the neat ones in the group, I forgot to organize them for listing. Usually it is alpha starting with Butterick and ending with Vogue, then organized by pattern number within their grouping. That way after I finish the sewing pattern listing session, I can file them away as they are grouped in the stockroom. This session I organized for the stockroom after I had them all listed. 

Patterns of the Day starts with chickens! πŸ” All of the following patterns came from the yard sale. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337897401

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337908109

Next up are vintage dollies - I'm guessing 1980s? 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337919671

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337924169

Bonnie Bundles median sold price on eBay is $29.99. This pattern sold would nearly cover my Yabadabadoo Yard Sale Find! πŸ’œ

Ending the post with a really cute pattern - first time I have ever seen this one. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186337939450

There are a bunch more to share, some Christmas, for another time. Galloping off into the sunset ...

Until next time,
Tami

Thursday, March 7, 2024

A 1970s Childhood featured on Throwback Thursday

The lead-off image is from a fashion show where I was wearing the latest in 70s kid's fashion, right down to the chain medallion and cat-eye glasses. Mom and I loved modeling. We both went through the Carolyn Hansen Modeling School in Seattle, Washington. 
What started this trip down memory lane was the picture of a hanging swag wicker lamp for sale brought me to tears. Still grieving the loss of my mother, 2 years gone to heaven. 

In my childhood home, my room was painted candy apple green. I had a lamp similar to the image above, with a grow light bulb and an indoor plant.  

I was free to roam the neighborhood on my bike and there was a cut-through path between neighbor's houses to other parts of the neighborhood. Many hours were spent lazily riding around on that Schwinn bike. 

Behind our house lived a drag racer Jerry Ruth. He would fire up his car from time to time and the noise would be deafening. Seems things haven't ended well for Mr. Ruth. Eight-indicted-in-Oregon-cocaine-operation

Sonic booms could be heard on a regular basis because we lived close to the Seattle International Airport formerly known as SeaTac Airport. 1970s SeaTac Airport

Mom was a fan of a couple of Pentecostal religious leaders of the time. We attended camp meetings of Morris Cerrullo, and Jimmy Swaggart. Proud-to-be-pentecostal We participated in our local church activities. It is no wonder lifelong friendships were formed because we went to church on the following schedule:

Wednesday night    Bible study
Sunday morning    Church
Sunday evening    Church

Sunday afternoon was spent at one of the other churchgoer's houses or another family at our house. If we met at a restaurant, there was Rose's Hiway Inn, a fried chicken place on Highway 99. rose-s-hiway-inn-goes-up-in-smoke

If I feigned an illness on Sunday night, I could watch the Wonderful World of Disney. But those instances were rare. 

As a teen the best part of that community were the youth group trips from Washington state into California, and into the interior of Tijuana, Mexico. It was the first time I had seen such poverty. Our group would help build orphanages over the border.  

I sang with more than one youth choir singing group. As an alto I never was a stand-out and blended in with the group. I am still trying to locate some images from that time period. 

I graduated high school in 1977, and traveled through Europe that summer as a French hornist with America's Youth in Concert. sense of accomplishment

Those are some of the highlights of my 1970s life from the age of 11 to 21.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Crochet Away

The fabric background of plaid paw prints will fit in quite nicely dog print quilt flimsy. Link to part 1 of dog print quilt pre-super-bowl-sewing. I like to arrange yarn and crochet items for sale in an arty phartsy kind of way.   

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186326832186

On my last seller update post, I mentioned it would be a yarn listing session. Little did I know I would run into a $5.99 bag at hospice thrift of crocheted items and yarn. The crocheted pieces really were the ticket - I decided to thrift back all of the misc. yarn. 


I don't crochet and don't have a clue how you attach pieces together. Yet, they always sell. Well crafted, project abandoned - they deserve a second chance at their craft life to shine. 

I can't complain about my yarn deathpile, it will all be listed in a few hours when I begin that yarn listing session. 

On the gardening front, the greenhouse has been cleared from the summer detritus. Spring will have sprung on the 19th of this month.  

We are enduring some cold ⛈ weather in Northern California. Keeping the woodstove stoked, and relaxing indoors. 

With the weather, I haven't been out thrifting as much. I did buy outright 7.3 lbs. of quilting/crafting patterns from an online auction. I see some sure-fire winners to more than make my money back on that $50 total investment. 


I had to lurk awhile longer to get another lot with needle kits - Christmas ones at that! They were hidden in a hot mess of a photo on the auction. I will have my work cut out for me now. 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Four Months to Freedom

I have completed all of the applications, informed all of the right people, now it is a mere four months to retirement. I have spent the last 10 years in state service for various departments in California. The game is to keep moving up so you can max out your monthly retirement benefit. 

There are three departments that I would recommend to anyone entering state service. All in Sacramento, they are:

Attorney General's Office
California Department of Health Care Services
California Department of Public Health

I won't list the two departments where I had sub-par experiences and left as quickly as possible. At one location, I lasted 3 months and requested a return to the AG's office. The other awful place was a 100% remote position where I struggled for over a year and left on medical leave. 

The beauty of the state's safety net for an older worker is if you don't succeed at a promotional position, you have the right to return to your last passed probationary position. Medical leave is also available if the stress of the job becomes overwhelming. 

I will miss Sacramento. It is just now starting to revive. State departments have mandated a two day return to office in the upcoming months. New restaurants are in the works. The mourning period from the last few years is starting to lift. 

I will not miss the commute. It is a one hour one way trek on a good day. Two hours on the road each in-office work day meant I listened to a lot of music. 

If you are someone in your 30s or 40s, my advice is to have a 3-legged stool in retirement. That stool represents your social security, retirement from your job, and your personal IRA. A fourth leg to a stool would be extra income such as eBay sales. The studier that stool is, the more comfortable you will be.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

February Weird and Wacky and Seller Update

My monthly series continues on thrift shop weird and wacky items. These two superhero paintings landed in up country hospice thrift. 


It was probably a mistake to pass on these two paintings. I would have a tough time explaining to the Mr. why I brought those two stunners home. 

While I see a lot of items I know have value, it comes down to what am I willing to store? 

A few items that defy description seen at the Goodwill boutique in Sacramento, California.





There was not one but two of these lovely lamps - this one happened to be plugged in for the full effect. 

Seller update: It is time for spring cleaning on items I have listed for sale. I picked up a bunch of rag dolls and they are going to be set free from their listings. 

Anything Primitive sells quickly and for the asking price. This Pattern of the Day is neither weird nor wacky, she just scores high points on the cute meter. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186318223596

It is not unusual for two or three sewing patterns to sell right after being listed. I list 25-30 patterns in my listing sessions, and some never make it down to the stockroom. 

Vintage cookbooks sold like hotcakes during lockdown. All but the truly unique cookbooks I will continue listing, I am going to pull the mediocre ones from the shelves. People are ordering Uber Eats and food delivered to the door. Why would they want to concentrate on cooking? 

The same reasoning holds true for the needlekits. I think people in general have turned away from in-home activities. While I like to finish other quilter's projects, that is not true of partially completed needle kit projects. The half-done ones will be delisted. 

Before the delisting begins, I put a few more books on the board with this Miniature Needlepoint and Sewing Projects for Dollhouses (1977) that fits in the sorta weird category. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/186318557090


I want to work through my "death pile" before I start my college course, and before I take off chunks of time in the summer. Next up on the eBay listing sessions is Yarn🧢

Moving into March means garden preparation. Another shot at the experiment I like to call gardening.