Sunday, October 11, 2009

Thrift Shop Goodies & New Appliances

During the week I was able to hit a couple thrift stores. I didn't come away with too much, but that's OK. I'm thrilled with what I did get.

October is such a wonderful time to visit thrift stores, because most of them (at least here in Utah) put out a lot of funky and vintage clothing to sell to people looking for Halloween costumes. The below pictures are of a green poly/cotton dress, likely from the early seventies, with dozens of incredible beaded motifs.


You can see the continuous beaded hem above ; the short sleeves were done in the same manner, but the motifs were smaller. Imagine the CQ possibilities!!

And then there were the yellow/green motifs sprinkled all over the front of the cotton/poly dress.
Regular readers will know that I'm a sucker for aprons, particularly vintage aprons. I spotted this little puppy for a song, and HAD to get it to add to my collection. It's a bit soiled, but nothing that some gentle soaking and laundry won't handle.

And speaking of laundry, our dryer went out yet again. We've had it. We've been washing our clothes in the washer and taking them to the laundromat to dry for the last two weeks. Actually, if I had a clothesline and pins, or even enough space and a little ingenuity, I would rather have hung the wet clothes outdoors (which I used to do when we lived in Idaho). But rather than walking down that memory lane, I digress...

We did lots of checking (Consumer Reports and online sources) of customer satisfaction reviews on washers and dryers, and finally ended up purchasing a pair of new front-loading, high efficiency machines. Truly a major purchase!


These are our machines, although we purchased both in white and with pedestals. They're being delivered on Wednesday. In the meantime, I must quote one of the reviewers, because his/her experience mirrors what we've been through over the last year: "Good riddance Maytag, hello GE". I think the "lonely" Maytag repairman is (if our experience is any indication) a very social creature these days....

And our old Maytag washer (6 years old) will go to my son & DIL to assist with all their additional laundry since DGD London has arrived. :-) The 8-yr old dryer is dead (would cost more to fix it than buy its equivalent new) and will go to appliance hell (it didn't make it to heaven).

Before these appliances, I never had a washer or dryer that didn't last at least 17 years. Shoddy workmanship? Planned obsolescence? Cheap parts? Whatever. This time we bought extended service warranties.

Cathy

7 comments:

  1. Cathy, I also had to replace my washer and dryer this year. My youngest daughter is 33 yrs. old and we bought the set to wash her diapers and laundry in the month before she was born. DH fixed the timer, the heating element and the other time once each during that time. We moved them across country 4 times and they didn't go kaput until this year. I have no hope of the new set lasting that long! Same goes for my original freezer....have 3 but only the original is always working like a dream. Shoddy materials, no pride in the label, who knows? Just don't make them like they used to.
    Shari in Cold Colorado

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds like a fun thrifty weekend...the beadwork on the green is great.

    Good luck with new Mrs. Washer and Mr. Drier. I'm sure you'll spend many happy years together. :)

    Have a good week. ~Cat

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Cathy,

    Really Nice washer and dryer. Can I send you my washing to do. LOL

    Thanks for sharing all those super wonderful retreat pics. Loved seeing the Mts. of Colorado. The goodies looked great.

    I noted, A few of the photos were a bit fuzzy. If I promise to be a really realllly good "Camera Lady" will you all pay my way to the retreat next year. LOL

    Hugs Judy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oooh! What lovely finds! We just bought a new washer and dryer too... love them... stackable front loaders (because our place is so small) - they are so quiet too.... Hugs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Cathy
    I went thrift shop shopping also and found some bargain frames because I've decided that I'm going to make the cq blocks to fit an existing frame and not the other way around. I also got a partial bolt of muslin (about 10 yards for $4.99).
    You asked about the Brazillian flower spray. The design came from a Brazillian embroidery website, here is the tiny:
    http://tinyurl.com/yhsw72h
    I think you also asked about the hydrangeas, yes, they were the ones I was doing at the Retreat.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congrats on the new pair! We just bought two just like these...my only advice is that you CANNOT leave your clothes in the washer after the cycle has ended for very long. With my old top loader, if I forgot about a load for 24 hours, it was usually still alright...with the front loaders, the clothes are piled on top of each other in the bottom and will get mustier much more quickly...like in about 10 hours!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just love your thrift store find. They are my favorite haunts and it seems we have more popping up monthly. Two more to hit that I haven't been to yet. Oh so much fun!!!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your visit to my blog and love your comments!