Wilhold

Thrifting, Wilhold Love, with Organization

~ Patty Radish ~ 3 Comments

It has been a long time since I’ve gone a-thriftin’, and boy were the thrifting angels on my shoulder this week!

I found three Wilhold sewing boxes, but only two came home with me. One of them was a repeat, and I only have so much room in my house.

The one in the background is olive green with a clear lid. I will be posting more about it when I find just the right use for it. The clear one at the front is already in use! More on that in a minute.

On to the rest of my finds…

Vintage office supplies. Another super cool, faux wood metal file box, I now own five. I have big plans for these and will be sharing that soon.

Dennison gummy things, various journaling spots, faux wood book ends, and an awesome vintage book on filing, swoon!

Stacks of sweet books for art journal makings, except for the green one, “The Good Earth”. That one will go into my classic movie collection, a great movie with Paul Muni, LOVE!

GAMES! What do you think of those round playing cards! I’m hoping to put together a “Games” ephemera pack sometime soon, I think I’m ready!

I’m always on the lookout for these retro flatware trays, they make great drawer organizers for the bathroom and office. That box with the red lid is a picnic container. A good friend of mine gave me some of those a few years ago and I love them.

Now to the real organization…

I had recently found a good use for the many wooden spools I have collected, organizing my jute and bakers twine. I had all this in about three or four different places. So, I was super tickled to have come up with this…but it gets better!

My new tag making kit!

This is probably the most excited I have been about organizing in a long time!

I make, and use, a lot of tags in my shoppe and art journals. Having everything in one place is amazing. I took what was in about 8 different places, and put them into one! Seriously, they were everywhere.

I may have a few more tags hiding somewhere around the house, but I still have room in there.

Now you know why I love these Wilholds so much, think of all the possibilities. So, if you ever run across one of these in the thrift store, I hope you won’t pass it up. Even if it is missing the trays, they make really cute storage boxes.

I’m still working on my olive green Wilhold, I’ll share as soon as it’s up and running.

Until then,

Thanks for stopping in,

Have a great week,

~Patty

 

 

Thrifty Thursday…with Wilhold Love!

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

Okey Dokey, it looks like the Wilhold angels smiled upon me again! Cue angels singing!

…and once again there was some poor soul standing between me and my treasure. Heart pounding, I squeezed passed her and tried to look casual. She smiled sweetly at me knowing we were both in our “Happy Place”, while she contentedly perused the fabric selection. My tribe!

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A root beer colored Wilhold! I hear music…do you hear music!?

She’s smaller than average, but that makes her even more precious. A few cracks and some wear and tear, but I’ll take good care of her!

When I showed her to my husband, he actually had the nerve to ask me how many Wilholds I have. I started to count…he lost interest. Do I ask him how many fishing poles he has? He wishes I was that interested! Now if these were tackle boxes…but I digress.

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I decided that this would be perfect for organizing my Stitched Journal makings. I had been keeping all this in a vintage suitcase for years, I’m really not sure why this didn’t occur to me sooner.

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A perfect fit! A lot of the embellishments are in neutrals for this journal, I went a little haywire on the fabric color choices, and felt it needed some toning down.

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How fun is that!  This has worked out so well, I was inspired to get a couple of pages done.

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A blinged up window box…with one flower…don’t judge…it was fun.

IMG_2870Very much like my art journals, I like to rummage around to see what inspires me. Having things organized, and being able to see what I have to work with, really makes things flow a lot better!

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These little stitched journals are great to have on hand in the evening when you just want to be creative, but don’t want to get out a bunch of supplies and create a mess. You can put your own stitched journal kit together with an inexpensive sewing box, a plastic crafting container, or even a tool box.

Having your embellishments an tools organized is the best way to go, I highly recommend it!

Once again,

Thank you for the visit,

Have a great rest of your week,

~Patty

Wilhold Keepsake Journal Love

~ Patty Radish ~ 2 Comments

In a previous post, I spoke at length about finding a Wilhold sewing box just like my mother used to have, which you can read here.

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Isn’t she lovely!

It didn’t take long to figure out the perfect project for her to hold.

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My Keepsake Stitched Journal project!

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A tray of stitchery goodness!

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With plenty of room for embellishments at the bottom!

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My journal is made up of projects collected through the years made by my great grandmother, myself, and my daughter, with trims and embellishments from my mother and grandmother. Five generations of stitching love in one place!

In this photo, from bottom left going clockwise, an embroidery my daughter did when she was about 10, an embroidery I started when she was a baby, handkerchiefs from my mom, and lastly, the cover made from a quilt by my great grandmother. My grandmother’s contribution will be in the form of bits of jewelry, she was a bit of a glam girl, maybe some photos of her too!

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My first finished page. I made the pages from linen sandwiched with thin quilt batting. Then closed it off with a blanket stitch all around. The linen is gorgeous to work with and makes a beautiful background for lots of stitching.

The above is an embroidery that I made many years ago that has had too many incarnations to remember. It’s nice to finally have a home for it.

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A page in progress.

I have no intentions of rushing through this project, I want it to be just so. I hope to pass it along to my daughter some day, because I know she will love it.

I’ll be sharing my progress over the next few months. I’m open to any suggestions on resources or ideas, so be sure to let me know of any you might have in the comments. They will be very much appreciated!

As always,

Thanks for dropping by,

Have a great day,

~Patty

Thrifty Finds

~ Patty Radish ~ 4 Comments

It seems as that when I just pop into a thrift store to see what’s what, as opposed to hunting for something in particular, I find the most wonderful treasures!

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Vintage phonics cards for 25 cents, HA!

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Some of my favorite books to make journals out of, Yay!

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But, surprise of all surprises, a blue Wilhold! Can you believe my luck finding 2 Wilhold sewing boxes twice in a row! I’m in awe! Isn’t she a beauty!

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It’s missing it’s thread and notion holders, but that doesn’t matter to me, I always find a use for them. Like holding some of my trim collection! I was able to get rid of about 6 small boxes by throwing all this in here, sweet!

This is my new mission, to find nicer containers to hold my massive stockpile of vintage trim! I’d say my Wilhold obsession is going to payoff…not sure what my husband would say, but that’s another story.

Until next time,

Thanks for stopping in,

~Patty

My Latest Thrifty Finds

~ Patty Radish ~ 3 Comments

The thrifting gods have smiling upon me lately! I have been spending more time dropping off than shopping over the last couple of months, but I thought it was time to have a look around.

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One of the first places I look is the book section, then the games area. Or the other way round depending on my mood…(you can file that under the heading of unnecessary info!)

That dictionary is from 1951 and has common French and Latin words in the back, so cool! Those Tudor Rose playing cards are gorgeous! They run anywhere from $10 to $20 online, I got them for 25 cents. Score!

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Some fun vintage ephemera. More super cute playing cards, those flash cards are huge, they might become journal pages.

Then there’s this barn. Why do I need a barn you ask?

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The story: One day, things started going missing around the house, small things, but it was a bit unnerving. So, when my husband couldn’t find his wallet one day, and I had just seen my two year old daughter darting by, I decided to follow her. I peeked around the corner just in time to see her stuffing the wallet into her “safe”! With, of course the accompanying “mooo” that the barn doors make when opened, kind of the opposite of an alarm you might say. If you could have just seen the look on her little face as we laughed and laughed, while asking her what was in the barn! It was a veritable treasure trove of the missing items! Even the boys had to laugh before demanding the return of their possessions! It has since then become one our most endearing family memories.

Since she has decorated her baby’s room in ranch/farm style, I thought this might be a nice addition, along with the story of course.

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Wilhold Love! Need I say more?…

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…why, yes I do!

This is where it all started. If you have been following my blog/s for a while, you know that I am obsessed with Wilhold plastic containment units. My mother had a Wilhold sewing box, and it was one of my favorite places to visit. I could sit for hours picking up and looking at all the boxes of pins, thread, scissors, tailor’s chalk, and all the strange and wonderful things she kept in there.

But, because time wasn’t kind to her old sewing box, it had to hit the trash heap, a very sad day indeed! Knowing that finding another one was going to be nearly impossible, (I know this because I’ve been looking for one for years) I had just about given up. Last week, I decided to try online again, there were a couple of yellow ones in this basket weave design that I very nearly purchased, but the $40 price tags scared me off as you can well imagine. So, when I spied this perfect specimen for only $3.99 at the thrift store, I couldn’t believe my eyes! I carried it to the cashier like it was the crown jewels.

I have some special plans for this that I will share later.

Oh, and the yarn is going to be used for a weaving project, more on that later too. (yes, i bought a loom, shhhh!)

Well, that’s it for now.

A bit wordy, so thank you for making it this far.

Have a great Sunday,

~Patty

(p.s the tin at the top was a thrifty find too, I just didn’t have much to say about it!)