on the 20th day of December my blogger gave to me...

thrifting adventures 

I love thrift stores. I never know what treasures there are. Often, I'll find nothing, but each time I do, it's like winning a little jackpot! I'll let you in on a secret: this year's LBD for the Christmas party was a thrift store find (thank you Middle-Son's-Girlfriend for convincing me it was perfect because it really was)!

Last week I found books. I wasn't looking for books, so I kind of feel like they found me. I can't show them all to you because a couple became Christmas gifts (either in their entirety or cut up....). In fact, if you've ever seen the movie "A Beautiful Mind" you may remember the scene when the wife of Russell Crowe's character (John Nash) discovers that he's been working maniacally in their shed, cutting up magazines and newspapers and working out bizarre schemes. That's what my sewing room looks like at the moment. Ahem, that's why I've put a sign on the door to keep family members out and keep them from having me committed.

But I digress. What I intended to write about here is what you could do with said books other than the obvious, which is to read them. I did promise not to post about books again this month, but this hardly counts.

How about this tutorial from quilter Sarah Fielke which makes this pretty flower (note, the pink glass ball ornaments in the photo are also thrifted).

Or what about this tree tutorial, which you'll have to translate. I love that the sample tree is made from a crime novel!

While we're on the subject of NOT reading books, did anyone know that Dr. Seuss was also a sculptor? And that you can see his unorthodox taxidermy creations right now in Toronto at the Liss Gallery? I would love for someone to go and tell me all about it because it would be like being inside his books. But the animals would be mounted! Hmmm. Would that be great? or disturbing?

I'll end this post with a little quotation from the Webster's book I found which I intended to take apart but now might just save. Quotations are categorized, so here's one about books that seems quite apt!

"Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested." -- Frances Bacon

...or cut up and turned into something else! -- the dog