Flea Market Blues

Hi everyone!
This past Sunday was the first winter weekend without a flea market! I woke up with---gasp!---nothing [fun and exciting] to do!

Well you know, not nothing-nothing...lots of in-house Christmas disassembling and cleaning to do, a gorgeous beach for walking...but No Flea Market! I was sad. In fact I am so enthralled by the weekly hunt that I drove by the train station just in case some vendors were out taking advantage of the glorious spring-like day. But no. All so rule abiding, I guess.

But then! I remembered my blog friend Michelle told me her Goodwill thrift shop is open on Sundays...hmmm, I pondered. I've never been a thrift shop shopper except in Cape Cod where the shops [and even the Dump!] have wonderful treasures and are fairly clean, lol. But in early December my friend B visited me and we went on a little road trip to find this bead shop which had moved. I had never been there yet, the new premises is in a busy spot on a highway full of strip malls. I needed my friend to look for the shop while I fought the traffic. Nope, no bead shop...but we did find a Goodwill store! My friend said, Oh, let's go in, let's just take a look.
So we did! And it's a really fun big thrift store, quite clean (my big bugaboo: cooties!). And...great treasures! I'll show you a few in a minute.
So anyway, back to this Sunday...Goodwill is just the next highway over from the flea market at the train station, maybe 1/4 mile! And yes! Open, though not as well stocked as on  weekday afternoons. I found some sweaters to felt, for a project seen on Purl Bee ....a felted wool, or cashmere throw: here
my colors! The bottom one is really a citrus-y pale chartreuese, not yellow]...

My first foray into re-purposing via felting. Isn't this amazing!

The striped t-shirt is a normal adult size, and similar to the sweaters' "before" dimensions. Look how tiny they shrunk to! Not much fabric yield per sweater....I'm pretty sure I could buy a cashmere throw for what this is gonna cost me to "thrift"!

The woolens got kinda thick and tough; the two cashmeres [top two] got smaller but are still soft. If I decide to make the Purl Bee throw I'll have fun checking back often for more sweaters...and other finds, won't I!

Other goodies too, mostly inspirations for my crafty etsy stuff. Things like very useful S hooks for crsytal ornaments....

A fun wooden display box for my lavender  hearts:

A vintage sheet, an experiment for a possibly cost effective quilt backing. [I just love the pansies, so sweet!]

Some household things too...a new olive oil decanter, for when I buy the mammoth gallon jug at Costco...

Etched! So pretty....

Great white serving pieces...a shell! stars!

and a wonderful monogrammed platter! Limoges! c.1910-20s? Wow! Love it.

And this interesting lantern...

As soon as I saw it I knew it was a perfect container for a snow baby vignette. I made this little lady right away!

After she dries a bit she'll get an outfit made from vintage lace and linen scraps, and a sparkly coating of vintage snow-glitter.
The etched stars just said Snow scene to me...but this would be great on my deck with a candle, or filled with precious sea glass...

There's more! For another time...
I think Goodwill is going to be a fun new inspirations source! How about you, where do you find inspiration and new fun ideas...?

love

               lizzy

gone to the beach