A little shopping and a rag rug project

On Thursday I took a day off from vintage and went out to do some shopping. The goal was to get some Christmas presents, which I did, but I also bought some things that I needed too. First, I needed a new comforter. Mine was pretty old and the patchwork cover that I had made for it several years ago was now shreaded. I've been using it inside of a pretty plisse duvet cover. I didn't buy a new comforter, but I did get the perfect bedspread!
It is a quilted soft sage green with flowers in pink. Very vintage looking. It wasn't until I got it home that I realized how well it was going to go with the rest of the bedding.
My current bed is old and an odd 3/4 size. So I have a pink and white vintage Bates spread (love them!) thrown over the bed and it hangs to the floor on each side. Now my new green floral quilt lays over the pink spread about midway down. My plisse-duvet (oui-oui) is folded at the end of the bed. The 3 of them look very pretty together.
I'm a cheater when it comes to bed-making. I'll be sleeping on top of the green and pink spreads with the fluffy duvet and a micro chenille blanket on me. In the morning, I only have to fold the duvet and put it at the bottom of the bed, the rest is already made!


Next, I needed a few pairs of non-jean-pants to wear to my part time job. Check out these cute pants that I found at TJ Maxx. They are navy, some kind of soft fabric, with decorative buttons down the front-sides, which remind me of sailor pants. They have a nice wide leg too, which doesn't show well in this photo. They are made by Dalia and were only $19.99.
I did get a few presents for the grandmoms and my mom & Dad, so it wasn't a totally selfish shopping trip.




My current crafty project is a braided rag rug. It was inspired by a crochet rag rug that I saw in someone else's blog. But darn, I can't remember which blog* it was, otherwise I would give her a plug here. I thought it would be a great project to use up some of my fabrics and to make a pretty rug for the kitchen in the cottage. Here is my progress so far. I haven't sewn the braid together yet, it's just layed out in place. I am at a stand still right now because I ran out of matching fabrics! I'd like to still add about another 3 inches to each side, so I'm going to have to wait until I find some more fabrics to match. I'm working with my all time favorite color green of course, with some light yellows and pinks. It's kind of funny because many years ago my Mom made braided wool rugs. Here's a close up of the pretty colors and prints from my rug -

Bye for now, Carol

*I found the blog that was my original inspiration for trying to make a rag rug - Vintage Chica - There are instructions for cutting fabric, which I used to get the most strips of fabric without sewing or knotting the pieces together. Her instructions are for crochet and I can't crochet, so I just started braiding 3 fabric strips together instead . Thank you Vintage Chica!

Bring back Ab Fab!

I wish that Comedy channel or some channel would start airing Absolutely Fabulous again! I miss it, I love it.
'Labels, labels, labels, names, names, names'
'Lacroix, baby spew, Lacroix, baby spew'
'Bloody, buggery, bullocks'
'Sweetie Darling'

One of my favorie episodes was when Saffie had something going on at school, and Eddie wanted to be involved. She told Saffie that if she couldn't be involved, then she was going to adopt a Romanian baby, that she'd call and have them send over a selction of babies for her to choose from. Later Saffie saw Patsie give Eddie some drugs and Eddie said the pills were so that she could breastfeed the Romanian baby. Totally politically incorrect, but so funny! At Saffie's presentation, a woman comes in with a bunch of crying babies for Eddie. In the end it turned out to be a dream.

Another funny one was when Patsie & Eddie hire some gigolos. They realize that the porn movie that they were going to watch was accidently taken to school by Saffie, so they go on a race to try to get the video back before she shows it at another one of her school presentations.
Or when Saffie puts Eddie on a budget and she goes out and buys a tiny-little sportscar darling, and they go to the foodstore, and of course end up breaking several laws.
I could go on and on listing my favorites. I found this very fun tribute while wasting time on You Tube. It's a little sticky at the very beginning, but then it plays fine.

Joined a Vintage Christmas swap - you can join too!

I've participated in a few sewing, color themed and vintage themed swaps this Summer, and they were really fun. The latest one that I've joined up for is Vintage Christmas Swap
You are given a swap partner and you find out their likes by visiting their blogs, and then send them a Christmas present that is either a vintage item or something made from vintage items. The swaps are always fun trying to figure out someone's likes and then putting together a package, and then nerve wrecking waiting for them to receive it and to see if they actually like it!
What's good about the swaps that I've done so far is that I am finding good homes for things that I've been hoarding for years! I'm not giving away junk, I'm giving away cool little things that I've squirreled away for myself for years, but just never found a use for. The things that I give were special to me, and I pass them on hoping that they'll be special to someone else.