Fiesta Tent Sale

The highlight of my vacation was our last stop on the way home, at the Flatwoods Outlet Mall. I knew that the Fiesta Outlet was hosting their annual Seconds Tent Sale, because I follow HLC on Facebook. I'm not saying I planned my entire vacation around the event, but there was a reason we left on Thursday - so we would be passing through Flatwoods on the first day of the Tent Sale!

A little more than halfway through the line to check out at the sale!

I only purchased one crate of stuff, and I am proud to say it cost me less than the retail price of one place setting. I guess if you add in the value of an hour of my life standing in line in 90 degree heat... it was still worth every sweaty moment. To be surrounded by all that color! To hear the din of plates clacking against one another, old women slamming the bowls against the pallets to separate them... Friendly chatting in the mile long line. It was time well spent in my opinion.

Part of my sale booty, the small Peacock Mixing Bowl being the crown jewel find!

Mugs, drying on my stove, for Seester!

Button, Button

Just call me Mrs. Green Jeans.

I am in LOVE with bargain shopping. When I found these Ann Taylor pants on the $1 clearance rack at Gabes yesterday and they actually FIT (how often does that really happen?) I had to buy them. The only problem was, they lacked a button.

I have a fairly large stash of buttons, so I sorted through them till I found one that fit through the buttonhole. The trick to sewing a button onto thicker clothing (like denim) is not to forget to build up a bit of a shank if your button does not have one. The shank provides a bit of space between the button and the garment. Many buttons already have a shank, but if your button is flat with holes in it, you are going to need to make one.

See how this leather button has a raised loop on the back? That's the shank.

My chosen button didn't have a shank, so I used a little trick to give it one.
Place your button where you want it and sew through the holes once, inserting needle first into the wrong side of the fabric, coming up through one buttonhole, going down through the other buttonhole and then through the fabric. The button will be loosely attached, so here's where you place a thick needle (or a toothpick if you don't have a stash of yarn needles) between the button and the fabric. Just slide it in between the two threads holding the button on. This raises the button up a bit. Finish sewing the button on as usual.
Once you have the button attached securely, bring the thread up through to the right side of the fabric but not through the hole in the button. Remove the needle (or toothpick). Wrap the thread around those stitches, under the button, several times. Once your shank is built up, you can poke the needle back through to the wrong side and tie off the thread. Easy Peasy.

K-Mart has these little geraniums in their rapidly dwindling garden center for ONE AMERICAN DOLLAR each. I couldn't resist them, and may go back and buy a few more come payday.


Emboldened by the joy those two little flowers brought to me, I stopped at Lowes on my way home to see what they had in the "soon to die" rack. I can't resist the sad, neglected little guys, especially when they are on sale for a tiny pittance. This is a Lemon Butter fern, and it cost a quarter. I trimmed off the dead and dying fronds and it looks pretty respectable.

This guy is a Fluffy Ruffle, who also required a little selective trimming up. I brought him home for two quarters.

I had been talking about getting another jade plant, I haven't had one since we lived on Dewey, and lo and behold, this Baby Jade was there, begging me to take her home for a dollar.

Best of all, the Virginia Creeper was totally free, and is rapidly taking over the front of my house. Ryan says it will tear the aluminum siding off, but I have my doubts about that. I love the way I can see it reaching farther every day, and I especially love the scarlet color it turns in the fall.