July 20, 2022 by princesshotflash

My Weekly Thrifty Finds

I thought I’d start a weekly posting of interesting finds from the thrift store. Lots of interesting things have been coming in lately.

The shop got a large donation of costume jewelry. There were over 200 pieces. Here are a few I thought it was interesting.

This sweater guard makes me want to wear a cardigan. Haha, I’m sitting in a tank top and shorts and sweating. And I’m writing about wearing a cardigan. I must really like this piece. I wonder how else it could be worn. I think the leaves could be turned into earrings, maybe.

A frog necklace. It weighed a ton. I don’t think I could wear it all day. The clock face was facing upside down. So if you pull it up to read the time, it would be right facing. Cute.

Did you know in Japanese folklore, frogs (Kaeru) bring you good fortune.

We also got a donation of incense and incense holders. The incense was from Japan, India, and Bhutan.

Incense from Japan in black lacqured box

The packaging on the inside was so bold and colorful. There was an inset with an illustration of a boat with Japanese written around it. I don’t know what was written.

This one was from Bhutan. The packaging was the complete opposite. Simple reed or grass wrapper with the ends sealed with paper. And black and white label with a line drawing incense urn. It looks like the label was hand stamped.

Just one more thing I wanted to share. Have you heard of these shrimp chips. My girlfriends and I got the crazies for these chips. Perfectly bite size, flavored with butter and garlic, so very addicting. It came back in stock at our local Costco. My friend who has been raving about it, also works at Costco, and sent out a text the other day asking if we wanted her to pick up a bag for us. Well, nine bags later, in the Starbucks parking lot, we picked up our bag. I ended up picking up five more bags on my weekly Costco run. One for our house, two for Auntie M, and two for Auntie J. If you can find it at your local Costco, give it a try. It’s worth it.

June 27, 2022 by princesshotflash

Quilts Galore

The hospital thrift shop I volunteer at has a donation of Hawaiian-style patchwork quilts. The hospital has a group of craft ladies that made up these patchwork quilts for use within the hospital. The hospital did not need the quilts, and the volunteer service group decided to sell them at the thrift shop. These quilts have become very popular with our clients. They are always asking for more.

It was my job to get the dimensions and price the quilts. I got to see them all and have taken a few pictures of my favorites.

**I love these for the use of all crazy patterns.**

Last week, as I sorted through another batch of quilts and asked the volunteer services manager about them and the group who made them. He told me it’s not a group but one lady that made all of the blankets. He said she would talk to him about how she would think about the placement of the prints and layout of the patterns for each quilt.

The volunteer service manager said she hasn’t brought in a quilt since covid started. I hope these aren’t the last of her quilts. They are so fun and inspiring to me. I want see more of her work.

April 1, 2022 by princesshotflash

Patches and Stitching

I love Hawaiian-style patchwork blankets. This blanket style is made up of many different prints and is lightweight for the weather in Hawaii. My Grandma Kiyo (my dad’s mom) sewed many of these blankets. We only have a few of these blankets left as time has taken its toll on them. They are well-loved.

Grandma Kiyo’s blanket was a masterwork of patterns. She used many patterns within the blanket. I assume most of the fabric used on the blanket was scraps or old clothing. Most of her blankets had a red backing with a self-binding.

My Grandma Kiyo’s blanket needs repair of all the fraying from being older than me.

At the Kuakini thrift shop where I volunteer, we have started to sell these Hawaiian-style blankets. The blankets were made by the hospital craft group. They would make craft items for use in the hospital and for sale at their rummage sale. This rummage sale turned into a Kuakini thrift shop, and now we are selling some of the blanket inventory. All of the fabric is donated and created by this craft group.

Here are a few shots of the blankets that I liked. Many of them are full of prints; they are just so fun.

These are from the latest batch of the quilt in the shop. They were full of prints, lots of them vintage from the 60s.

I finally finished my stitching sampler on a pillowcase I made a long while ago. Oh well, I think I decided to put my needle down. I added fabric patches to where there were holes and added the stiches to blend the patches into the pillow. I’m enjoying the stitching, it gets me out of my head and it’s quite meditative.

Looks a little crazy, but I was trying out the stitches.

And now . . . my aloha shirt blanket. I finally finished it. I learned a lot. I know there needs to be bit more planning for my next quilt. As you can see, I have a lot of inspiration. I most definitely will be doing some hand stitching.

I figured out how to hide the know midway through working on the blanket. Next time, hopefully they will be hidden.

April 14, 2021 by princesshotflash

Thrifty Finds

I volunteer at the Kuakini Hospital Thrift Store, as it reopen after being closed for about 8 months because of COVID. It so much fun being there looking all the fun thing that are donated to the shop. Here are few goodies that I found today as I straighten up the shelves in between customers