Op-shop treasures...

Well, what a day... My eldest daughter rang to tell me that the company she works for has been 'taken over'... She now has an indefinite future. I meanwhile, have been told that the company I work for is cutting back hours across the board. I work casual hours which have all but dwindled away. This whole year has been so uncertain and now these latest developments just top it off. I feel like I am caught between a rock and a hard place...

But on a happier note we went up the street which nearly always results in a trip to the op-shop. Someone had cleaned out their cross stitch collection and there were some very nice patterns - mostly of flowers or birds. I looked at them carefully and although they were only a couple of dollars each I resisted. There was a complete kit of flamingo birds which had the original price of $89.90 on it - the op shop was selling it for $25.00 not a bad price It was to be stitched on very fine linen and all its threads were pre-sorted onto a card. It looks like one of those kits one falls in love with takes it home and lovingly puts it with the rest on the hoard. After contemplating it for a moment I knew that there would be someone who would provide it with a good home - and I put it back. I however found these two little gems and they cost me $2.00 in total. The first being an incomplete Rowan Dean kit - pre printed fabric but no threads. I already have one of these miniature kits and I thought that this one would compliment it - plus I should have enough thread from the complete kit to do this one. Besides if it never gets done $1.00 is not so much to lose The other purchase was more for its vintage - that is the fruit bias binding. I don't know if I will ever do anything with it - but it is fun to have.

Yesterday P and I went to Warragul - about an hour and half down the freeway from here. It is a small country town which was pleasant to walk around and look in the shops. Of course the first shop I saw was a stitching shop called 'Gippstitch' - this is a double fronted shop which has a huge array of materials, buttons, threads and other quilting needs. I did a happy :) wander for nearly an hour and found the FQ for my swap partner over in a craft forum.

P and I then had lunch at a place called the Court House which in its day was the court house - the food was delicious and it was very pleasant sitting in the courtyard watching the world go by. P had suggested we go onto Traralgon - but we ran out of time. Another day perhaps...