Sweet Saturday -- sweet thrifting

One of my favorite things to do is hunting for treasures in thrift shops, antique stores and flea markets.  We have a lot of them around here and I usually find something good for almost no money at all.  A few weeks ago I had some very successful visits to some of my favorite shops.  I'm always on the lookout for vintage linens, either to use as is or to use in sewing projects.  I have to check out all of the pillow cases and sheets and I know that someday I'll find just the right thing.  I did find a sweet embroidered and crochet-embellished pillowcase this last time:

Delicious roses and that sweet crocheted edge!

I also found another crochet trimmed piece.  This one is a dresser scarf:

It's trimmed like that on both ends of the long fabric.  I don't even have a dresser, but I couldn't pass up these sweet roses.  Right now I just have it draped over the storage boxes that hold my writing.  Someday I'll have the space for a dresser and this will look lovely draped over it.  Or maybe I'll cut it up and use it for something else.  Who knows.

One more piece of crocheted goodness came home with me that day.  A doily:

I've been collecting doilies like this.  In the shops around here they range in price from 50 cents to a few dollars.  Some stores charge more than that, but I prefer the bargains.  It's kind of sad, actually, because I know how much work goes into creating a piece like this.  I use them as coasters and to help protect the paint on my bedside table.

Now the doily is holding my favorite candle.

I really need to touch up this table and give it a protective top coat (it's one of my favorite trash-picked finds... it's amazing what a little paint and some new knobs will do for worn out furniture!), but until then the doilies will do their jobs.

And as for furniture and face lifts... I found a great little cabinet begging to be taken home with me:

Looks a bit like it may have once held a clock.  I have been hunting for a little cabinet or shelf for years to hang in my Cleveland kitchen.  This would have been perfect.  I'll have to find a place for it in my next house.  Until then I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I do know that I want to give it a makeover.  I plan on decorating the inside with scraps of patterned paper like I did with the back of my desk and my little storage drawers.

And paint the outside either a chartreusey green or a pale blue.  I'd love to find a tiny glass knob to replace the metal one, too.  Add it to my queue of furniture makeover projects.  I have a few things waiting for coats of paint.

My last find is not waiting.  I put it to use right away. 

I'm not using this little muffin tin for baking.  I'm using it to tote my supplies around when I'm working on a project.

It's perfect!  I'd like to find a few more trays or tins to use like this.  I always have multiple projects in the works and I like to carry them around with me to work on in different places. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and that each of you are having a Sweet Saturday.  And if you have the time, stop by Diana's blog for more sweetness, too.