A little karma.

I have been decluttering my house. This is always a good thing, for two reasons. A) I have less things around me, I feel lighter and happier. B) The thrift karma from donating carloads of stuff is quite amazing.
It might seem a little silly to get rid of a tonne of belongings, only to be stoked to come home with replacements, and it is probably. But I comfort myself in the fact that the majority of my op shop purchases these days are Croutons-related, meaning they will (eventually) leave as something else, or can at least be counted as business expenses.

This wee case was something I needed to umm and uhh over a little. I have quite a few suitcases now, and am not in dire need of a new one - but it was $2 and I remembered that I needed something to store my patterns in, because my current system is not working.
This used to be a sewing machine case, in it's past life, and the extender arm, feet and manual are still in it. Even the warranty for the machine is here! Anyone have a Husqvarna machine and need bits and pieces for it?

I rarely ever find tapestries in the op shop anymore. Today I found a big pile of them! I, in my desire to strive for quality over quantity, only took half of them. They are quite big ( my feet are in the picture for size reference!) and I'm picturing oversized tote style bags..

And, finally, my usual weak spot - fabric. There are some real treasures in this pile. The bottom piece is a thick linen type fabric, covered in big peacocks, the purple floral feels like it might be silk.. and all the pieces are quite big (well over a metre, some of them a few metres). Score!

Thank you, thrift gods!

Lately.

My memory card seems to be full of little snippets at the moment. A photo here, a photo there. Things are so busy that I only manage to snap one or two shots of each activity. Sooo, a wrap up post it is!

On New Years Eve we were lucky enough to meet our new nephew.
Baby Liam was born two months ago, but lives in Auckland, so we were yet to get any snuggles.
I am happy to report, that he is just as delicious in the flesh as he looked in photos. He has the perfect wee 'old soul' frown, and is one of those good, solid bubs who are perfect for smooching. Mollie was quite taken with him, too.
We had a lovely evening with his parents and older brother, too. Love those guys!

Otto's new alter-ego 'Denty'. Picture says it all, really.

So, so much delicious food being eaten around here. Entirely too much of it, but soooo good. It has been bbq mania, as Summer always it. I love the social aspects of barbeques - nothing better than sitting round a table with loved friends or family and, somehow, this seems to happen far more often for us over Summer.

Even Mollie has had a few mouthfuls of food this past week! Not much, mind, but it is a start.
The funny little lady is still not really interested in actual food, but it would appear she is quite fond of sucking potato chips, crackers and Vegemite toast.
(It would appear my parenting ideals are slipping too, the boys didn't have salt at all before the age of one! Heck, Aesop was organic 'til his first birthday - good ole third baby...)

In keeping with our ' quality over quantity' resolution, not many things have entered our house in the past week. The few things that have, have been pretty neat.
The 'Mother' trio was a Sallies find. $5! Who could turn that down? I sorted out my china cabinet to make space for it.
The stereo was a big purchase.
After staying at Rachelle and Mark's place over Christmas, we were determined that we, also, would have a cool stereo. So we just flat out copied, and got one the same (different colour though, that counts for something, aye? hah). Since taking this photo, the turntable has been popped on top, and we have already listened to hours of great music. I'm in love!

I'm not a beach fan, but the rest of the family are.
And well, yesterday was so hot that I gave in and we all ventured over the hill. The water was quite rough, but Aesop ventured out into the waves with his trusty boogie board. Abraham followed, while I stayed by the stream with the littlies.
Mollie had her first play in the sand, and wee dip in the water - She was underwhelmed. Hah. Might be a bit little yet to get overly excited about such things.

What have you been up to?

Dressed to, erm, thrift.

I have a terrible habit at the moment (probably more than one, but for the purpose of this blogpost, let's just say it's one..), and that habit is buying dresses that noone in my house fits.

The number of dresses I have bought recently that are too small for me, and too big for Mollie, is quite ridiculous. I mean, sure, Mollie with grow into hers but there is no guarantee she will let me dictate what she wears at three, four five.. and I miiiight lose weight and fit into mine, but that would involve a little effort on my part, and who has the energy for that?!
At this rate I could almost open some sort of online vintage store, but then again, if I had that much energy I might fit the dresses. Haha. Such a catch 22.
In the meantime, they sure are pretty to hang in the closet and daydream about wearing..

These are the dresses added to the collection this week:



One for me, a fifties silk frock that is so close to fitting it almost hurts.
Put down the cupcake, Rhiannon. Honestly!




And these two for Mollie aged maybe 4?



This one is for Mollie too, but how cute does it look on Iron man? I especially love it with the dino socks - such a fashionable superhero! Cutie-patootie!

Browns and reds.

 

 

I picked up a few wee bits and pieces at the op shop this morning (as I do..) and, as I was photographing them, I looked around and realised there was a lot of other things around in similar tones. I ended up with a wee red and brown collection of sorts.
These are colours I often find myself drawn too, especially when it comes to homewares. Something about them feel very homely : )
The things I purchased (this may be obvious) were the wee hat, the plate and the smocked dress. I'm particularly pleased with the dress, it is the softest fabric and should be just about the right size for Mollie come next Autumn/Winter.

Mollie's Wardrobe: Part 2

A lot of these beauties were gifted to Mollie by lovely friends like Amy and Kristen. A few others were worn by my sister and I when we were littlies.
I still have one more batch to photograph (!) when the weather/light is behaving itself. But right now I'm going to go put another pair of socks on and restart the c.d... it's -3 degrees, Aesop is home sick, Mollie is all snuffly and I'm making the most of a home day, soup on the stove, Adele blasting and plenty of sitting around going on! Keep warm x

Mollie's wardrobe: Part 1

I've been collecting vintage baby/kids clothes since before I was even pregnant. I knew I wanted to have children quite young, and I guess I just figured I might as well start buying! Needless to say, after 10 years, I have also picked up a few 'just in case' girls things. I very nearly gifted/sold them on after having Otto, and I'm now entirely relieved that I didn't!
I have three posts worth photographed so far, to share over the next few weeks, but I'm sure I'll unearth more as I find more time to sort through the bags.
Safe to say I've got ya covered on the dress front, Mol.

(Reversible!)

 (I think this might be my favourite of this lot..)

I pretty much wish all of these were in  my size - especially the wee coats!
Fingers crossed Mollie-mol is the dress wearing type, aye?