Originally Posted by
Wanabee Quiltin
amazed that they were $8.99 for only 24 pieces of 5" squares. Then I checked the fabric on the bolts and they were $9.99 and up. Yes, the fabric was incredibly beautiful, very bright colors, just exactly what I liked. My thread turned out to be $5.00 each and two years ago it was $3.50. I did not buy any fabric or patterns or outdated magazines ($4.99). DH always tells people that this is an expensive hobby. I came home and could have kissed my stash. Well, I certainly petted it. I recently bought name brand quilting magazines for 12 cents at a thrift store sale and bags of fabric for 1/2 off. Guess I will keep the thrift stores happy after what I saw yesterday.
My husband knows that digging around in Thrift Stores pleases me. Since I do most of the driving, he will offer me a meal or his company to hit all the thrift stores in a special area. Sometimes he even spots something he thinks I will like. About 50 miles from here is a town with an abundance of thrift stores. Several days ago we made the trip to have the bottles filled for 4-H air rifles, nothing like that closer to us, and this place fills the bottles without doing any damage to them or the stores equipment. At one of the stores, I picked up a big piece of yardage, then put it back because all I saw was the price of $19.99. I took about one step away, then picked it up again. How could I walk away from 10 yds. of 100 percent cotton, red background with scattered small multi-color stars? It took a few seconds to realize that I could get 10 yds. of this excellent fabric at a cost of $2 per yard. I left there with a shopping cart more than half full of large pieces of desirable fabric, all measured and priced with tags tied on with gift wrap ribbon. For more than a year I have been looking for a fabric that looks like an Easter sunrise. There it was, several yards rolled up and tied with a bow, waiting for me. I had been prepared to pay $5 for a half yard from an Etsy shop online. Sometimes I will pick up items that relate to quilting or sewing and when checking out will be asked "What is that?" Many times I have had sewing machines follow me home, and have even made return trips after I thought about what I had looked at.
Early in our marriage my husband would hide out in the car while I made a trip through a thrift store. It was obvious that he was embarrassed, until the day I pushed and prodded to get him to "just go in". That was the day he found a $90 motorcycle carbuerator still in the original box, for just $9.00. Since that day, he has never looked at St. Vinnies the same.