Thursday, April 25, 2013

Treasures From Thames


We sallied forth on a jaunt to Thames last weekend at Mr Shoestring’s suggestion.  I suspect Mr Shoestring had an ulterior motive – he wanted to pay a return visit to the dining table and chairs he saw in Paeroa last weekend, and Paeroa just happens to be on the way to Thames.  He did pay a visit and caress and stroke the said furniture, but could not bring himself to part with any money so that was a lucky escape for him.

What a lot of bargains we found in Thames.  There is a refuse station shop called “Seagulls” where we found a great compost bin.  Though we have a diminutive garden (really only pocket handkerchief sized and probably hardly big enough to be called a garden) it generates an astonishing amount of clippings, cuttings, weedings and prunings and the little rotating compost maker which I love so much is not able to keep up.  This “new” one is an Earthmaker.  It looks a bit like a giant hand grenade and it has three chambers.  You put the fresh material in at the top and it works its way down to the bottom, by which time it will be beautiful fragrant crumbly compost – that’s the idea anyway.  We have started the process already after our big garden clean up so I will be able to assess its capabilities in a few weeks, all going according to plan.  Also at the refuse station shop was a large collection of iris rhizomes (gold coin donation) which I couldn’t resist.  There is no indication as to what colour the flowers might be but it will be interesting to see how they fare and what colour the blossoms eventually turn out to be.  (So farewell to the tentative plan for a white garden?)

A completely different treasure unearthed there was this linen embroidered tablecloth ($2) which is only half embroidered.  Nevertheless it will be perfect to use in the new “Doilies and Damask” crazy quilt which is taking shape in my mind.  At opportunity shops there are often a selection of pretty damask napkins in pastel shades, but not very often is there a full set.  Now that I have so many mismatched pink, apricot, yellow and blue ones and a large selection of embroidered doilies and dresser sets, this could be the perfect way to use then all up in one fell swoop.






If only these projects worked themselves up into completed articles as quickly as they are formulated in my fevered imagination.  

At the Salvation Army shop there were two excellent bags of down which will be perfect for stuffing the pansy and cantaloupe needlepoints cushions too.