Yesterday afternoon I was hard at work, drafting listings for the Etsy shops, when--poof! My photo file vanished into cyber space (or perhaps into the depths of the mysterious workings of the computer) before my very eyes. I don't know what I did wrong,  though obviously I must have inadvertently brushed some key or other  that moved or deleted the whole shebang. I tried routing photos to other existing files so I could continue, but it was a no-go. So...  Any photos I post here will have to be plain old un-edited types with ugly distracting backgrounds. Drat. I am so looking forward to my youngest son's return from college in a few weeks to help me out with these technology crises.

In the previous post I promised to reveal more of my east coast junking gems, and then I got busy and left everyone dangling.

My apologies!

I've been busy sewing and finishing up old projects instead with results both positive and negative. For instance:

www.etsy.com/listing/187388320/lined-rose-pink-spangled-crochet

I crocheted this drawstring bag months and months ago, and then got stopped in my tracks when I ran out of satin rattail cord of the correct color before I could make the second twisted cord handle. My local store ran out of this shade of pink and never restocked it, but I finally found some last weekend at another fabric store and seized it with relief.

Here you can see the inside, which I lined. I hadn't intended to do so originally, but I realized the bag would inevitably get saggy if I omitted to do this. It's not a stellar sewing job, but I'm reasonably happy with the result.

 

I've also been hard at work finishing up my second hippo, which I cut out and began almost a year ago, then abandoned. The first one, whom I've named "Hippolong Cassidy" I've shown here before, but let me post his photo again. I have provided him with a new and improved rickrack-trimmed bandana scarf since you saw him last:

 Hippolong now has a new lady friend. I haven't decided on her official name yet; for now, she's Fanny Oakley. Don't they make a cute couple?

I'm particularly fond of Fanny's mob cap, though I need to get an elastic cord attached to it so it doesn't fall off. I did the corners of Fanny's mouth differently and am very pleased with the result; unlike Hippolong's, hers won't fray and looks very cheery, to boot.

However, Fanny does have a problem. An unsightly problem with her stuffing and I don't know know why, other than I must have used a cheaper brand of polyfil fiber stuffing than I did for Mr. Cassidy. It's one of those embarrassing skin issues akin to that old mid-century nemesis, horrid age spots! Gasp!

(Unfortunately I couldn't find the earlier commercial I recall where the poor anxious old gal is attempting to play bridge or drink tea or something with her gloves on in order to hide her speckled paws, but you get the idea from this later ad.)

Anyway, how does this relate to my hippo? I'll show you:

Fanny doesn't have spots, but she does look like she's in dire need of electrolysis. These annoying little fibers are poking out through the weave of the fabric! Very visible and very ugly on the navy blue background. Beats me why, exactly. It isn't happening on the other stuffed toys I've made, and the type of fabric is basically the same. I can only conclude I got some bargain junk fiber and will have to unstuff the poor girl and try again. I tried brushing them off and using a lint roller on them, but it isn't working. As fast as I pull one fiber off, another sprouts. Bummer!

Okay, this has me thoroughly annoyed, so I will switch over to showing you a few of the "keeper" goodies I brought home from my recent trip.

 Ta-DAH!!!  How cool is this? My daughter spotted this at a thrift store and trotted it over to me so I could gasp and exclaim over it. The reason being, for those of you blog-following-faithfuls, is that it so closely resembles similar items I've been collecting for many years, my kitchen cats:


 




You can read about the collection,and see more tantalizing photos here:
 http://sheertrashroadshow.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-collection-of-cats.html

Isn't it freaky and fun? Who knew there were kitchen cows of this type? Kitchen purple cows, no less?  And please tell me you know the poem to which I allude! No? Then you must remedy the omission forthwith:

http://karenspoetryspot.blogspot.com/2007/10/purple-cow-by-gelett-burgess.html

Okay, I'm digressing again. (Is there such a word as "digressing"? Now, stop it!)

Here's another thrift shop treasure I obtained on the trip:

This little fellow is a 1950s Holt Howard Cozy Kitten cat ashtray, made in Japan, and I got it at an absolute steal for $7. Here's an example from a sold listing on eBay of the same ashtray:





This one, which includes the original wire matchbook holder, went for $75, and there are three others up for sale right now, ranging in price from $129 to $395, the most expensive of which has 13 watchers! (Personally, I think those watchers are either nuts, or they've got similar items to sell and are watching with baited breath to see if anyone bites at that price. But it's exciting, nonetheless.)

I've got lots of these Holt Howard cats which you can see in the link above if you're curious.

Okay, what else did I nab? Let me think...  Junking trips tend to overlap one another in my mind when I've been hitting them fairly often as I have in the last few weeks.

 
Here's a gilt beauty of a type I've long admired, but not run across personally until now. It also was made in Japan, mid-century of course, and originally it would have had a small thermometer glued on the bit at the left. I've found a rather ugly old refrigerator magnet with the right type of thermometer on it (just today, in fact!) so I'm  hoping to restore this delightful piece. With the shop sale discount, I paid a whopping $2.10 for this amazing goodie.

Just for fun, let me show you some others of this genre from other Etsy sellers:

www.etsy.com/listing/185896157/1960s-thermometers-gold-animal-figurines

Aren't these marvelous? You could buy these and have an instant collection. The seller is one I've long admired, Tammie of VintageDottiRose. She has the most wonderful shop! I've got several of her items in my "favorite favorites" list.

www.etsy.com/listing/151784726/lustreware-vase-and-thermometer-bear

Here's a delightful golden bear thermometer. The shop is HobartCollectables and it has 70 pages' worth of fabulous listings!! It's tantalizingly irresistible!

I really need to learn more about these particular figures. I feel a collection coming on!

I realize I still haven't shown you those promised vintage blouses I obtained; I'll try and get to that next time. Meanwhile, today I staggered home from a retirement community garage sale with an additional bagful of vintage fashions, and I'm going to be excited to share them, too. 

Do pop in again sometime! I'll try not to be so slow about posting.