Auction action

Consumption Rebellion and I went to a deceased estate auction on the weekend. We had no idea what to expect, however the dozens and dozens of cars lining the street made us rather optimistic.

The elderly lady who had lived in the house had been a hoarder, (it was billed as a hoarder's auction), and her house (and 2 sheds) were filled with all manner of items. There were no fewer than 6 big stripey bags and 5 big plastic containers of fabric, as well as bags and bags of yarn, boxes of craft items, and years of accumulated stuff. An entire shelf of a bookcase was devoted to craft books and sewing patterns, all allocated lot numbers we dilligently recorded.

We got there to view the house and contents, registered as bidders, and sat in the rear yard. What a crowd there was, many of whom obviously were very well-versed in the auction company's procedures. Already we have a list for the next one - chairs, pens, clip-boards, drinks, proper coffee, picnic rug, reading material. The local Scouts were there with sausage sizzle, egg and bacon sandwiches, soft drinks etc. It's quite a business! From start to finish the whole event can take from 9am to 2pm - little did we know...

We bid both successfully and unsuccessfully on a number of lots, split some lots, took some to the Salvos, and have plans for the rest. I am thrilled at the chance of finishing some of her UFOs, and cherishing some of her treasures.

Funny old leather coin purse that was inside a bag of linen I bought. The linen was actually a chenille bedspread, and 6 aprons as well as other items. Quite a lucky dip as it turned out.

More of the linen - perfectly starched napkins -mint condition with fabulous roosters.

One of the aprons - aqua seer-sucker with Holly Hobbie-esque design. Rather perfect actually!


An enormous Bushells Tea tin with Australiana on the tin in my favourite blue and while. The pen is on the top to show scale. It needs a good clean but is rather good!


The other view of the Bushells Tea tin.

More tins! Vintage Quality Streets and a rectangular canister labelled 'prunes'. Also the green teapot which pours rather well.

Folky coin purse which I actually bought with the next photo's napkins and placemats from a lady who outbid me. She wanted other items in the lot. Lovely. I adore these Austrian images, and have now a little collection of my own!


The next on-site auction is in Hughes on April 5th and promises a similar outcome! Unfortunately Mr BB will be away so I may have to take the fan club...

Life could be a dream (sha boom, shibori...)

Shibori is a Japanese method of essentially tie-dyeing. Stitching then dying creates a beautiful effect for the patient craftster. I am more an immediate gratification/results please craftster. I did some the other day with friends, using the old techniques of pegs, string and rubber bands.



We then tried a Japanese technique using clamping with triangular blocks. In this method the fabric (in this case silk), was folded between and around the blocks, and then held together tightly with rubber bands. The end product shows the sections of the fabric which were exposed to the most and least dye.


Now I will learn how to do a rolled hem (perhaps best by hand) and complete this as a scarf for Mum for Mothers' day.

Nothing like trying something new - particlarly when you can recover previously stained old shirts and items to create a new life for them.

What are you learning at the moment?

j

Pottering around with friends

This week has been wonderful. I have crafted almost every day. As my friend Ruth said on Tuesday (as we did some quilting): "it's the cheapest therapy around!"

Wednesday Consumption Rebellion and I did some book upcycling. I had a battered and falling apart copy of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter. Quite damaged in sections, but lovely illustrations. After the previous post and the use I am getting from the Kamahl jotter, I thought I needed a dainty little book for ideas.

After a brief trip to Officeworks for the binding, please meet my new pal:


Some pages have been retained for character, and also as they have delightful sketches on them for Miss 2 to colour. I have some lined pages, some plain pages, and some reused envelopes for pockets for ephemera. I am rather chuffed, and have many more planned, including a little pressie for this girl who has lent me her binder and guillotine! Thanks E! You can see what she spent the day making here. Much more impressive!!



j

The Ultimate Tea Towel Repurpose

I LOVE this. So much. How many teatowels did this use? How did they find so many mint condition ones? Drewzel me ol mate (oh, pirate...), this is for YOU!

J


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What do do on a rainy day!?

Miss 2 had her first party invitation for a party on the weekend. It was all hers, and she walked around with it saying 'party', 'cake', 'dress', balloons', to anyone who would listen.

We were leaving at 10.15am Sunday morning, so at 9.30am I remembered that a present had not been made, and we were kind of running out of time! With the Janome dangerously noisy, we called Consumption Rebellion for instructions on making crayon blocks.

I come from a long background of hoarding-types. As a result, I still have MY Crayola crayon stubs from the 70s and 80s, which are tricky to hold but still have "utility" thus are kept. Hmmm, 20 year-old crayon pieces... No wonder I have a lot of 'stuff'!

So, step one, was to break up bits of peeled crayon.


Miss 2 became bored after about 40 seconds, and went off to deconstruct the pantry...


Where she found a box of chocolates...

Step 2 is to fill (we did about a third full) a silicone muffin tray with stumps of varying colours for a rainbow effect...

Then we baked them in the oven at 150 degrees celcius for 15 mins, or until melted. A waxy layer is visible, but under this is the crayon mix.

When they are turned out, they look great.

Just don't be too forceful pushing them out, or the bottom left one will be your result. We love them! Great for little fingers.

Consumption Rebellion also tells me that these older crayons are not fire retardant so can be made into candles as well! Another project for another day.

So we popped the tray of liquid wax into the freezer while we got ready for the party... Of course in our haste we left it there...

Miss 2 has enjoyed them this morning though!!

j

This is... A day early!

This is... this week has a recycling theme.

We have a special way of recycling here. The kids are totally involved, and even point out that certain brands have too much packaging, some of which is not recyclable.


Mind you, Master 6 does go into the pantry and empty boxes that he 'needs' before they are empty... Lots of craft possibilities from recyclables. When they are deconstructed again, they go to school for art, then are recycled.

It's no secret that I frequent op-shops regularly, as why buy new when better quality often exists at a fraction of the price, and proceeds go to a good cause?

I'm a button-chick, and what I make uses recycled vintage buttons (orders taken ;-)


Some items that are labelled with the recyclable symbol are not actually ABLE to be recycled in your country. So here's what we do if we buy un-recyclables. (This is also recycled from a previous post!)

Tetra packs are NOT actually recycled in most of Australia. So we use them are cool-bags for the shopping! I also keep my current knitting in one. Daggy but oh-so-recyclable!

Thanks Angela for this meme - I love it!! Check out who else is playing along.

x

That was a quick rest!

I got some lovely comments thanks ladies, and have decided that the blog thing IS ok. I'm not really just blowing my own trumpet or anything, I am quite happy with the way it's going, and my self-conscious moment was just that. A moment.

So now I am back and will post a tutorial or two of things I am doing. I love tutorials, as I can see how things are constructed. It often inspires me to do more as when I see a good tutorial I think: I CAN do that!!

So a few days ago I was on about the Tetra-type juice packs. This has opened my eyes to just how much packaging there is in kids' lunch box snacks as well! Each box or bag contains all those individually-wrapped bags or packets, and so many of them are silver-lined to keep them "fresh", but this impacts on their recyclability. Eilleen at Consumption Rebellion has again wowed me with talk of constructing a solar oven and stove, and this HAS made me see silver everywhere E! Check out her pic here of a reusable sandwich pouch rather than using zip-lock bags. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of the fruit and vege bags, which I will be making from tuille that I have heaps of. They weigh nothing and are reusable!

So now I am looking now at 3 of the 1 litre juice packs, and 2 of the small lunch-box ones, and have decided to have a go at making a tote to take to the supermarket to keep cold things cool until we get home. All have been washed in warm water with soap and dried thoroughly in the sun to kill any bugs.

A tute of this is a bit tricky, as I have no idea how this will come about...

First I cut all the boxes so they were even.
I then cut one of the large ones in half to use as the sides of the bag. The small ones would be the base.
I zig-zagged the pieces together end to end so I had one really long piece of cardboard.
Sewing in the base was fiddly, as my machine has knobs and handles that got in the way.

After breaking a needle, jamming the bobbin, and sewing through my finger AGAIN ("no honey I don't need stitches - I already have them...) and FORGETTING TO TAKE PHOTOS (so no tute huh?),

We got to this:

Pinking shears evened up the top section which doesn't need a seam as it won't fray!
A hole puncher and some old cord from a pair of pants knotted through the holes, and I am off to market!