Flea Market Finds

Sometimes flea market finds are sexy, amazing, stunning; and sometimes the "flea market fairy" points me in a far more practical and useful direction ... like this week with three big glass jars that can be used for storing lots of things.

Mr H, you see, has decided to preserve lemons, and alas, for his first effort a few months ago, all we could find in the cupboard were a couple of smaller jars, including this one with a metal lid ... and not a great choice when you're dealing with caustic elements like lemon juice and salt but ... needs must.


Now we no longer need to worry about that as I found not one, but three, large ex-coffee jars between the nine op shops I managed to get to this week ... in about three hours! (Poor Mr H ... I've already snaffled two of them for sugar!)

And just so you know they're out there if you're interested in glass jars ... Mr H and I found this huge glass jar a few months ago (we now have three which store SR and plain flour, and the "newer" one for regular sugar).


I can't wait to find more because I love the sturdiness of these jars (and because I need to find at least another one for Mr H), and maybe next week I'll be a little luckier with the vintage sheet finds. Can you believe I've been to 11 op shops over the last week and I managed to find only one sheet worth getting for the swap: a pretty but slightly faded striped lilac sheet? Lucky I have almost no purple/lilac sheets and I love stripes so I was excited all the same.

What have you been up to? Find anything good ... or did the "flea market fairy" not smile on you? Lots more flea market finds over at Sophie's place.

So funny

This list of funnies landed in my inbox today ... apparently they're puns for educated minds!

I'm quite partial to numbers 13 and 18. Do you have a favourite and why?

1. Was the fattest knight at King Arthur's round table - Sir Cumference? – and did he acquired his size from too much pi?
2. Would an eye doctor on an Alaskan island be an optical Aleutian?
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her Still.
4. Would a rubber band pistol be confiscated from algebra class, because it’s a weapon of math disruption?
5. No matter how much you push an envelope, it'll always be stationery.
6. If a dog gave birth to puppies on the road would it be charged with littering?
7. Would a grenade thrown into a kitchen in France result in Linoleum Blownapart?
8. If two silk worms had a race – would they ended up in a tie?
9. If a hole was found in the nudist camp wall, would the police look into it?
10. Although time flies like an arrow - fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'If you stay here; I'll go on a head.'
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. Would a sign on the lawn at a drug rehab centre say: 'Keep off the Grass.' ?
15. If a midget fortune-teller escaped from prison, would there be a small medium at large.
16. If a soldier survived mustard gas and pepper spray – would he be a seasoned veteran?
17. Does a backward poet write inverse?
18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.
19. When cannibals eat a missionary, do they get a taste of religion?
20. If you jumped off a bridge in Paris, would you be in Seine?
21. If a vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. Would the stewardess tell him “there’s only one carrion allowed per passenger.'
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'
25. If a Buddhist refused Novocain during a root canal – would his goal be to : transcend dental medication?
26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Ruby Tuesday

In the absence of any red photos I wandered down to Union Lane, of course, to see what street art was around.


There were a few new things but nowhere near as much good stuff as usual ... and very little had any red, except this little darling.


I'll just share a few more because I was there, not because they're red.

Do you think this is the cowardly lion?


This girl's so stylish and elegant.


This bird's very cute ...


and this girl's gorgeous too.


This girl looks a lot like a Debs ... but she's not! I'll check out the name next time I'm there.


For more ruby redness ... visit Mary at Work of the Poet.

Flea Market Finds

I managed to pick up some gorgeous pyrex and glasbake this weekend from two separate op shops ... and think myself very lucky. I almost didn't find the blue pyrex dish and it's so pretty. It was inside another dish with a lid on that and it was a fluke I looked inside it because it was so ugly!


So I had to use them ... the blue pyrex held our vegetarian beans in homemade tomato sauce. Very yum!


And an apple and rhubarb crumble in the largest of the glasbake dishes. I gently cooked the apple and rhubarb in a little brown sugar, orange peel and cinnamon stick, which turned our nice. The crumble didn't turn out so good, but I didn't make it. It needed more butter but Ms C had to make it her way! Them's the breaks!


I hope everybody had a great weekend and if you'd like to play or see more flea market finds ... visit Sophie.

Ruby Tuesday

Union Lane in the city is an interesting place.

For a start it's right in the centre of town running between one of our premier department stores (David Jones) and other stores. It's narrow and awkward since it doesn't really have a purpose in the way as it once would have.

But I love the way the building walls act as an art canvas and the lane as the venue for performance art.

And so it was one quiet lunchtime as I walked down the lane on my way to my favourite yarn store.

What I was faced with was a pile of balloons filled with water and glitter sitting on upended milk crates ... and several more stacks of crates and balloons along the lane.


And was it all about? Performance art ... with balloons to throw at the walls and add glitter to the street art.


Or to throw at each other. It didn't really matter much.


It was fun either way.

Interested in more red ... visit Mary at Work of the Poet for more.

Flea Market Finds

My vintage sheet collection is really getting out of control ... to the point where I have to seriously think about what to do with what I've got and about collecting.

My stash? Two stacks high of about 2-3 feet! Truly.


There's lots of stuff in there including a few heavy white cotton sheets for backing and flannelette for winter (or softies). The striped single sheet (mainly pink facing) is in fantastic condition and I'm keeping the purple floral for winter for my bed.


I've also managed to collect a small stash of pillow cases. I like the ones on the top and further down I've a picture of my favourites on my bed.


This is all the stuff under the pillow cases and white sheets ... and I have to call almost of them favourites. Most are in good or better condition, and many are a little faded. But there are gems. Check out the jade blue near the top and the pink towards the bottom.


I've got a few older sheets, lots of good stripes, which I love and stuff from the 1970s. Some are ordinary looking 1980s or more recent patterns that I'm thinking about passing alone. The single bed set on the top is gorgeous and will be gracing Miss W's bed when she visits at Christmas.


I have a few choices re what to do next ... and I just can't think about about stopping soon because I love looking for sheets too much. Next year making a quilt is very high on the list of my plans ... again. This year I just actually have to achieve it. Other options including swaps and maybe becoming the first Australian on Made It to sell vintage sheet fat quarters?

Until I make up my mind I'm using some of the stash on my bed ... as well as stuff I deliberately picked up for my bed.


I love these pillow cases and these sheets are favourites I'm keeping. (It's kinda interesting my favourites tend to be from the 1980s and 1990s).


These 1980s sheets are also a favourite and sit really well with the white floral embroidered doona cover I found a few months ago. (Sorry about the unmade bed).


And lastly my favourite I picked up yesterday ... for the princely sum of $6 at Vinnies. Beautifully stylish and so 1980s! LOL


I'm off to visit Sofie at Her Library Adventures for lots more Flea Market loveliness.

Ruby Tuesday

My Ruby Tuesday posts are starting to look as if I spent my time bouncing between graffiti and the second hand store Lost & Found … because this week we’re back to Lost & Found again to admire the numerous examples of red to be found.

This most recent visit to Lost & Found happened after an amazing lunch with friends at the Napier Hotel. I’d been lucky enough that day to spend a very pleasant morning with a couple of friends touring second hand stores in the Fitzroy area, and after lunch I promised them the treat of scouring through Lost & Found to admire the vintage goodness.

So what did we see … because I didn’t buy anything?

Would you like ice with your whisky? Or maybe a boiled egg?


We seem to have salt and a lovely kettle to make a nice cup of tea.


And our choice of teapots and tea cosies to keep the tea warm.


We could always fill a thermos full of tea and have a picnic.


Especially if I was able to bake a cake ... it looks as though we have flour and sugar and maybe there's a little butter, eggs or milk somewhere close?


If I can't find any I could ride my bike to the store.


In my favourite red hat.


And something red to wear ... of course.


But I can't decide whether I should bring everything home in this red bag,


or maybe eggs would be safer in this red basket.


Of course I can't go to the store without making sure I have the right accessories ... and everything's neatly displayed on a red background to best effect.


And when we sit down and relax under this beautiful red lamp,


we can enjoy our cake and tea, and watch the children play on this gorgeous rocking horse.


Thank you for visiting and I hope you'll come again ... go visit Mary T for lots more.