I love garage sales

Every Saturday in LA I get to go garage sale shopping with my grandmother and her friends. I have a ball every time. I have picked up many doily's for different projects, tons of fabric scraps for a textile notebook, and even a brand new tennis racket for my brothers birthday. But last week I had a really fun find. cashmere. At one small garage sale I saw a small table with some crafty things on it. There was a oversized joann bag filled of fabric. fluffy fabric. And I instantly thought of this-

http://yellowsuitcasestudio.blogspot.com/2011/10/wool-sweater-blanket-tutorial.html

The lady had felted a bunch of cashmere and wool sweaters to make headbands with then gone in a totally different direction. I bought they whole bag for 1$ and created these.

The softest blankets you could ever had make of felted cashmere with a variegated pink and purple blanket stitch wool trim.

Craft obsessions

Sometimes I'll get an idea for a project and just become consumed by it. Last summer I had grown green with envy for an accent chair for my living room. I knew we could not afford some $300 chair, so I got it in my brain to reupholster one. (ha ha) I searched tons of garage sales till I found a cute 50's era bucket chair similar to this. 

Except it was a faded lavender velvet with big pom-pom fringe. Totally 70's yuck. 

While I was paying the $5 to appease my greed, another gal helping run the garage sale offered me another chair. She said she hadn't even thought about it till then, but she had an old farmhouse chair in her garage she'd sell me to. So what the heck, I took a gamble and followed her home. And this is what she uncovered. 

 I lusted after the wooden arms and the spindled front legs. For another $5 I took this one home too. 

 Before the day was over I had completely torn it apart. I unearthed raw cotton, burlap, straw, and plenty of mouse droppings. Most likely it had housed rodents and then kittens by the remains. I kept the nasty fabric to use as a pattern for when I would recover this chair, but threw everything else away. Come back in 1 month to see my finished product. I plan on

- Stripping the wood

-Sanding it

-Staining it

-Sealing it

-All new stuffing

-Rivet detail along the top and 

Curbside Upcycle

On one of my first days here in LA I went for a walk around my neighborhood. I just wandered and I saw a perfectly good chest of drawers up on the curb in front of a house. Well I am not used to the custom here, but I ran home and asked what this could possibly mean. They assured me that if something was on the curb, it was free. Oooo now my hunting begins! I picked up the desk and began my crafting.

Now I made a big mistake and did not take before pictures. The dresser was a 30 year old black dresser with dings and dents. It had original round wooden hardware, but two were missing. And one of the drawers bottom had split and broken through. It was solid wood, and it had cute decorative paneling on the left and right sides. First I stripped the top of the dresser and gently sanded the all the old paint. 

 

 I knew I wanted to sell it, so the hardest task for me was picking the paint. You'll come to know that I am addicted to red, and so I couldn't resist. These are the changes I made
- repainted knobs and dresser-                   $15
- reinforced all the wobbly stuff-                  $0
- Two brand new top knobs, metal-            $10
- 4 coats of a barn red on each drawer     $0
- Replaced the bottom of one drawer       $10
                                                            I spent $35 to fix it up

 

Listed on Craigslist 3 times and it sold for $80.

That is a $45 dollar profit