Op Shop treasures

Not an Op Shop treasure but a latent treasure - these are the buds on the little self seeded kowhai tree - in quite the wrong place of course but I do not care if it grows over the lawn and I have cut back the nearby bushes to give it room to grow.  I'm not even sure if it will bear the weight of a Tui should one decide to have a meal!

I have been spending a lot of time in my sewing room - trying to get some order into the chaos!

I know it didn't happen overnight and I shall only rectify the problem one small step at a time - maybe I should put on blinkers then I wouldn't get sidetracked.

I have been checking out my tops - in the US I believe they are known as 'flimsies' and organising backs for them.  I came across one back and I can't for the life of me remember which top I made it for........

Here are some more of my sewing tools -

Top left is a brass thimble & needle case, underneath it beside the golly is an aluminium case advertising Coca Cola; the yellow box holds little cotton reels and a needle threader and the green & gold tube to the right holds needles.

The quilt - which was featured in the NZ Quilter magazine, was a happy purchase from a second hand shop in Lower Hutt - sadly no longer there.  All they could tell me was that it came from a farm in the Hawkes Bay.  I wish I could find out more.  I think that it was a kit with the felt applique pieces cut out - the maker put on the kiwi.  It has no batting but is backed with curtaining.

These next are tea cosies -

The top two are purchases and the crazy patchwork one at the bottom was my sample for teaching beginners at Onslow College night classes in the eighties!

The last is a hexagon top I bought from the Sallies; it was machine stitched very roughly onto a pink poly sheet, so I took it off and have very intention of finding something more suitable for it.

I have never seen a hexagon quilt stitched together quite like this - and do click on the photo to enlarge it to get the full beauty of these fabrics -

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is crimpelene, and the black and tan would be unforgettable, here's some more

and another

I love the sheer exuberance of this top!

I have been reading more of my Girl Guide diary - even then I wrote in it most days.  I went to the cinema a lot, no TV of course and in the village we had a cinema and in the next town, Chichester, where I went to secondary school, there were three  and they all changed programmes three times a week.  I must check out "It Happened in Flatbush" my comment was that it was stupid and a waste of money!

The thought for week 1 was "A little 'ginger' is good for all of us." which would have resonated with me as my nickname was Ginger!!

Talk to you again soon, thanks for stopping by

June