Gone Loopy

My favorite craze continues to be the crochet loop stitch.  It's so much fun to do!  Lately I've been looping all over the place, even when I have no idea what I'm turning out.  Here are the most recent examples:

I ADORE the pink, white, and aqua thing, even though it's a Mystery Project.  I see a lot of scarf-like things with buttons at the neck on Etsy lately, so maybe that's the thing to do with it.  On the other hand, I rather see this as the beginning of a nifty rug.

The red and white hat is rather "Where's Waldo?" looking, or maybe I'm thinking of the Cat in the Hat.  I've run out of red yarn, though, so this one is stalled. I'm thinking a red pom pom on top, and a knitted k2p2 ribbing. I prefer knitted ribbing on crocheted hats--it's more elastic.

A few weeks ago I looped some children's hats.  My little church friend Nellie was the reluctant model for this one:

Then Benita modeled this one:

Remember the stuffed toys I found at the garage sale?  I gave them both a good cleaning and repairing.

First, I had to unstuff them.  The Big Bad Wolf and scads of little bad styrofoam chunks inside--old and scary.  The Little Pig had a curious sort of wax-papery excelsior type stuffing.  It also had to go--can you imagine the allergens?  Probably now the Antiques Road Show police will track me down and read me the riot act about attempting to clean antique toys and thus destroying their value, but I'm unrepentant.

Here are the two emptied-out, grubby little cloth toys.

Next, they got a good soak with detergent and washing soda, and a bit of an extra scrub with Fels Naptha soap.

After a good bath, and ironing, and some restitching of weak spots, the two old friends are ready for fresh stuffing.

And here they are today!  Aren't they wonderful?  They still have some stains, but on the whole they're so much fresher and brighter now, and a bit more sturdy.  I will probably put them up for sale, but I've grown so fond of them, I may have to rethink that.

It is ever thus!

Much Ado About Junking

I promised you a glimpse of my sister-in-law's 112 year old house and its vintage decor.  I don't know about you, but I could sure use a blast of color--it's showering here today.  The neat thing about Claudia's house--well, just one of the neat things--is that, even on a gloomy grey Pacific Northwest day, there's plenty of cheery, glowing color.  The other thing I love is that there's always something different every time I visit:   new garage sale "finds" on display, or she's rearranged the furniture, or she's changed the curtains. Like Peter Pan's Neverland, it's "nicely crammed" with fascinating items in every nook and cranny. Claudia's also fearless with a paint brush.  One time she repainted the walls to look like a forest and hung tree branches from the ceiling just for a family party!

Here's a quick peek at Claudia's living room:

Unfortunately the other photos I took turned out blurry, so I'll try again next time I'm out her way. This is just a drop in the proverbial bucket!

Now perhaps you'd like to see a few of my own recent thrift/garage sale finds:

Isn't this a fabulous old schoolbook?  It's dated 1944, and it's full of charming illustrations!
 I paid 25 cents for this treasure.

I was thrilled to nab these treasures at the fraction of the original asking price when I stumbled upon them at the close of a community garage sale in Chehalis, Washington.  I'm in the process of refurbishing them.

Isn't this a pretty little doll?  I never saw one with an "up-do" like this one before. She reminds me of a little boy doll I used to play with at my grandmother's house when I was very little. I am pretty sure her dress is made of vintage feedsack fabric.  I'll be keeping this little doll for this little doll:

This is Benita.  What a smile!  Eat your heart out, Gerber baby!  (That's her "best buddy" Wickham  in the foreground.)

Well, enough of my natterings (is that a word?) for now.  Next time--hopefully--I'll have a couple of finished projects to show you!