One Half Buddhist, One Half Christian, One Half Pagan

1 standard grocery sack of fabric (mostly quilting type cotton) and other random crafty stuff. Claimed by Sunny!

10 cassette tapes. Some copies of albums, some themed mixes. I'll give more details if folks want.

Anything that hasn't been claimed by Thursday night is getting thrown away.

100% free if you're local, pay me back for the shipping if you're not.

This was a very full, fun weekend.

It started Friday. Sometime during the afternoon I learned that one of my favorite blues performers would be at the Helsinki club in Hudson on Friday night. Over dinner Tom & I decided we'd go to the show. I waffled a little, doubting that we'd be able to get there in time or that there'd be tickets left if we did. Tom didn't let me talk myself out of it. :)

The opening act was Scrapomatic. They were very good, but didn't quite cross the line into great. I think their biggest weakness was not enough variety of mood in the songs they chose.

The main act was Shemekia Copeland who put on a fabulous show. A good mix of up-beat and laid back songs, and she and the band seemed to be having just as much fun as the audience.

Saturday we got a (relatively) early start, and headed out to Brimfield, MA for one of biggest antique shows in the country. Mostly we just wandered about looking at all the cool old stuff. I bought a couple of pretty decanters for my cordials, and some old skeleton keys for crafting with. Tom bought some old books of the "how to fix anything" varity.

Getting dinner on the way home Saturday night was more effort than we wanted it to be. Nothing really sounded good, and finally we ended up at Arizona Pizza in Lee. It hit the spot.

Sunday I took as a lazy recovery day, doing a little dishes but not much else, but Tom kept running around. He did laundry, went rock climbing, and got together with some buddies.

This weekend Tom & I are going out to the Brimfield Antique Show

I'm not exactly going to be looking for anything particular, but there are a few types of things I'll be keeping my eyes open for:

- Household tools that are in good enough shape to still be useful, and are useful to me. Preferably ones that can still be used for their original purpose. Last year I got a great 5 quart casserole dish that I use semi-regularly.
- Pretty (food safe) bottles. I can put cordials, flavored vinegars, or bath oils into larger ones, and perfume oils into smaller ones.
- Scent lockets, or any pendant that can be adapted for the purpose.
- Tools for embroidery, knitting, or any of my other crafts. Again, I'm only really interested in ones that I could actually use.
- Ephemera that is in bad enough shape that I won't feel guilty about destroying it for collages or decoupage.
- Interesting coats or jackets. Again, only ones that could actually be worn in real life.

I can't be the only one out there who daydreams about finding the perfect supplies for my crafts. So here's my question for all the other crafty people on my flist: What would you ask for if somebody came to you and said "What's the one supply for your craft(s) that you've always wanted, but never seen? Whatever it is, I'll make it for you."

For my embroidery I'd want 20 yards of silk embroidery floss, about the thickness of 2 strands of "normal" cotton floss, variegated with 1 yard chunks of color separated by 1/4 yard chunks of cream. Depending on the natural color of the silk, the cream parts might just be left un-dyed. The colors would be my perfect shades of colonial blue, rose pink, and moss green (all light, cool tones with maybe a slight gray tinge.) I have no idea what I'd do with this floss, but I'm sure I could come up with something deserving of it.

For knitting I'd want enough sock weight yarn to make a pair of knee socks in a silk/wool blend. Split it into two skeins, each big enough to make one of the socks. Dye each of the two smaller skeins the same: start at one end with a blue so dark that at first glance it would look black and slowly fade down the entire length of the yarn to so pale a blue that it would look white. What I'd do with this is probably obvious: a pair of socks, with the darkest end of the yarn at the toes and the lightest end at the cuff.

I need to see if I can find this store: Purl. They have all sorts of cool sounding craft supplies that I'd love to check out.

Is there any particular brand of vodka that you've found works best?

This is relevant to the randomness section of yesterday's daily post:

Who knits/crochets/dyes/weaves/spins/needle felts/makes other cool things from yarns and roving? What are your preferences in terms of colors and fibers? What makes a yarn jump off the shelf into your hands?

Other crafters: What sorts of supplies do you always have your eyes open for? What do you have a hard time resisting when you see it?

Personally, I'm always watching for silk embroidery thread, especially in blues and other colors at the cool end of the spectrum. Also, variegated thread and floss in any combination of colors.

Which is finer, fingering weight, lace weight, or sock weight? Would any (or all) of them be good thicknesses for embroidering with?

I see all this beautiful hand dyed yarn for sale on Etsy, and want to play with it. Until I actually get around to learning how to knit or crochet, working it into my embroidery seems like my best bet.

ANTIQUE LACE TRIMS

These folks sell beautiful antique lace for what seem to be very reasonable prices.

Have you guys heard of Spoonflower?