"I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket" Macklemore

April is my favorite month for thrifting.  In my area, it seems to be the month for Rummage Sales.  Must have something to do with spring cleaning,  Although October is also popular, the spring ones are the best.  I guess it's  because people have all winter to figure out what they want to get rid of.

There are two church rummage sales that are my favorites and I attend them every year.  For me, it is one of the main sources of fabrics for my little business. There are, mountains of clothing plus linens and also fabric yardage to be had.

I often have to go 3 separate times because there is so much piled up that you can't get to the bottom layer.  Plus at the end there is usually the bag hour where you pay one price for as much as you can stuff into a paper grocery bag. 

No doubt about it, there are bargains to be had!  At this sale I spent $29 and got 43 assorted garments, 3 table clothes, some fabric, a bag of buttons and a scissor.  All of which I can use to create my dresses and aprons.

It is good that these sales provide places where people who need to can purchase clothing more cheaply and most of the money generated goes to charitable sources. There is, however, a disturbing aspect to this phenomenon.  Why do we buy so much clothing in the first place that we have to give this much of it away?  Some of the clothing at these sales is brand new, still with tags on!  

Much has been written lately on the high cost of our compulsive shopping for clothing and its consequences. If you are interested in this topic, I would like to recommend a truly eye opening book:  Overdressed The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth L. Cline.  This book contains statistics about clothes shopping that will astound you.  I believe it will change the way you look at your wardrobe.  It did for me.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

Last Thursday I missed my usual post for a very good reason.  My husband and I did something we haven't done in over a decade:
WE WENT AWAY BY OURSELVES!

How did this happen?  Well, my oldest daughter's Robotics team made it into the World Championships (Go Team 1676 Pascack Pi-oneers) so she went to St. Louis.  At the same time my youngest daughter had her class trip to Washington DC.  When we realized they were both going to be away at the same time, we booked 2 nights in Newport, RI for ourselves.  

At first it felt strange going away without the kids.  We got over that pretty quick and had a great time.  I hope to share some of our adventures in future posts but first I want to address the selfie issue.  My husband had never taken a selfie and though I have taken a few I'm not that good at it.  So for this post I though I would share our selfie attempts.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

A while ago, I shared with you an art quilt called Buttonheads.  I did a series of smaller quilts with individual Buttonheads that I thought I would share with you today.

One of the things I am enjoying about doing this website, is all the fun ways you have to present you ideas.  Being a tech newbie it amazes me that I can do any of them myself.  So, just because I can, I want to present my individual Buttonheads as a Parade, that is a slide show.

All of these pictures were taken by T. Dingman

I hope you enjoy my parade.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

I have always been inspired by gardens.  A number of years ago, back in my art quilting days, I did a quilt for the Quilting Arts Magazine calendar contest.  While I didn't get into the calendar, I did get published in the magazine.  I would like to share that quilt with you today,

Now that the weather is finally getting better here in the Northeast, I can get out into the garden and work on some of my real garden paths!

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

I like to add hand made embellishments to the dresses I make for my shop. I always put a little something at the neck either a button or two or a hand made "flower".  Today I am posting a new DIY showing how I make the little pom pom flower that I use.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz.
I wonder where the flowers is! Me


There are many versions of the little poem, but this is the one I always used.  For those of us who live in the Northeast, we are really wondering where Spring is.  The weather is unseasonably cold, and this week has been rainy, damp and dreary.  


My daughter Lily and her friend Katie want to start a plant and gardening business.  Not being one to discourage the entrepreneurial spirit, I took them to a local nursery to buy seeds to start their plants. 

While I was there, I found the flowers and thought I would share them with you.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

It is believed by some that the modern use of the phrase stems from an article by Fred R. Barnard in the advertising trade journal Printers' Ink  promoting the use of images in advertisements that appeared on the sides of streetcars.  The December 8, 1921 issue carries an ad entitled, "One Look is Worth A Thousand Words." Wikipedia

Recently, I undertook to tedious task of organizing the pictures on my computer.  One of the great things about the digital age is that you can take tons of pictures of just about anything.  The downside is that you end up with tons of pictures, often ones you don't really want.  Then it's hard to find the ones you do want.  

This task took me longer than I care to admit, since I was so haphazard in my approach to begin with.  I took the time to set up a system, sorted them all into files and now I kind of know where everything is. 

In doing this, I discovered lots  more pictures people had sent me of kids in my clothes.  I decided I would redo my little Dressed for Fun page to include more of the pictures.  So I will be adding them back in as I organize them.  I hope you like my new format.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia

Amigurumi (編みぐるみ?, lit. crocheted or knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese wordsami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.[1] Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features,[2] as is typical in Japanese culture. (from Wikipedia)

I have recently gotten back into crochet, something I may have already mentioned, and have discovered the delightful art of Amigurumi.  Now crocheted toys are not new.  I went looking through my collection of vintage craft magazines and discovered many patterns for crocheted dolls and animals.  There is, however, something exceptionally charming about the new generation of crochet toys. 

Since Easter is almost here, I though I would share with you my bunny creations.  The pattern for these bunnies can be found here.

Zan Merry is the designer of these adorable bunnies.  You can find many more free patterns for all kind of fun things on her website Zan Crochet.
I hope you will visit her site and makes some bunnies of your own.

Have a fun day!
Cynthia