I have been waiting and waiting for a stylish sideboard to show up at the thrift store forever. We have a great thrift store for furniture (though they love to slap big ol’ price tags on everything) so I would stop in whenever I only had one baby to wrangle. Then yesterday there it was, finally. It was 40 bucks, not great, but not bad either. The top is scratched up, but it has doors for toys and drawers that my kids can’t work (I ran out of shelves my kids can’t reach).  It’s a little big for our little house, but dammit, I’ve been looking forever, so it will fit.

Tell the great thrift store gods what you need and you will receive (sometimes). I said I needed more color in my life and shazzam! A bunch of bright, awesome prints in the bargain fabric bin at my local thrift store. A buck a piece, not bad seeing as the management likes to jack the price up whenever her little heart desires. Sometimes they’re $4 a piece, sometimes they’re tagged with outrageous prices, and it’s always the same shit. But I’m very happy with what I gots, now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do with it.

I did get to the thrift store while I was away and I couldn’t believe how jam packed with stuff it was.  Turns out my town is full of thrift store scavengers (competition) so the pickins is usually slim.  I think this piano was actually there last time I visited my family (umm, thanksgiving?) but I passed it by.  But really can you pass on a vintage, wooden toy piano for $20 two times? It sound very much like a toy piano–pling, plong–but I kind of like it.

I was thinking I should get a little more organized when it comes to my sewing. I’ve got so many projects that I would like to start and so many that really need to be done and I want to do all of it at once, so I end up staring at fabric or making piles or cleaning up and then it’s time for bed and nothing has been made.  So inspired by some lovely ladies, I thought I’d try to have a goal each week:  making a garment each night of the week (like amanda) or just posing a creative challenge (like fede).  I’d like to do this all summer, but really I think I’ll just start with the next month and see how it goes.  I think it will make me focus a bit better.  This week is just about organzing and getting ready, but I’ll be back next week to post the theme or goal or whatever. If you’d like to join me with your own weekly goals, please do, we’ll get even more done that way I’m sure.

I’ve been looking for some kiddy size chairs recently because we have one chair and two kiddies.  I was getting a little frustrated because I couldn’t find anything, much less anything vaguely stylish. Then on Saturday at Vinnie’s there they were.  It was Saturday–the place was packed, there were little kids everywhere and it was well past noon.  How is it possible that no one scooped them up?  They did look a little shabby and there was a $15 dollar sticker on each, so I guess that is a deterrent.  Fifteen bucks is a lot for a little chair and I carried one around the entire store convincing myself it wasn’t.  Turns out it was for the set and since I decided I was spending $15 anyway, I took the lot.  This is much more than you need to know about any shopping experience, much less mine. But hey chairs! with a cool vinyl print–can you even get that nowadays?

Other things:

I was lucky enough to be short listed in the 2nd Annual Softies Awards. You can vote here (if you are related to me, you have to vote for me).

The drawing for my sewing book will happen on Monday (um midday? naptime? somewhere around there central time), so if you’d like to put your name in the hat please leave a word here (if you are related to me, you may enter, but really you should call instead).

Another post about another artist, because there’s not much coming out of my studio these days and what is coming out comes out very, very wrong.  I picked up this book at a thrift store a while ago because I recognized the author’s name.  Eugene Ionesco was a playwright in the sixties who wrote in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd (thanks wikipedia).

The story is not so absurd, just a little silly.  Thankfully it’s not like his other plays: “Ionesco’s plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence” (thanks again wikipedia).  In the story, Josette’s mother and father are lying in bed tired and hungover (it’s always nice to read a book where the parents are real, instead of cheery cheery and never busy) and her father tells her a silly story about a girl named Jacqueline.

Everyone and everything Jacqueline knows is named jacqueline.  Really not the best story–the father is hungover, cut him some slack–but the illustrations are fantastic.  The colors are muted, but the pictures are still psychedelic.  Etienne Delessert is the artist and a quick search on amazon came up with a couple of books he’s illustrated and I know this book is the first in a series he did with Ionesco.  Anyway, I just think his pictures are great and wanted to share them with you.

more here and here if you are interested.