For all the crafty people out there.

Vinnies Belconnen will be having a Craft Sale on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 April. Further details will be posted when I know them.

Vinnies goes for woolies

Although we're having a week of 30 degree+ temperatures here in Canberra, it's all overcoats and beanies at Vinnies.

The winter stock is out, so if you're keen to snaffle a kid's snowsuit, now's the time. As we all know, they'll all be gone when it's actually cold. There was a nice Size 5 kids overall number at Dickson today.

Terrible photo of a great chair!

I found this little gem at Aussie Junk in Mitchell yesterday.....there only seemed to be one which is a shame so npow finding it a friend is added to my ever growing things to look out for list - if anyone sees another chair to match let me know.

We had actually gone to Aussie Junk in search of some terracotta pots but couldn't find any! So if anyone saw any over the weekend I'd love to know where.

Terrible photo of a great chair!
Originally uploaded by redmag

Lifeline Bookfair

Attn all old hands and new - there have been changes to where certain sections are located at this book fair. You might want to grab a map this time, just to orient yourself.

Oh, and the knitting magazine and patterns are pretty well picked over. Sorry.

Hello, I'm new here! *waves to the old hands*

Hello, I'm Zoe, a long-time op shopper, somewhat less long-time Canberra blogger (here on food and here infrequently these days) and very new member of the I op therefore I am team of Frugalistas.

Our car is in for repairs this week, so I made the most of clearish day last week to traipse around with traps with my 2 yo for assistance entertainment.

We went to the Salvos and Aussie Junk in Mitchell, to the YMCA in Kingston and the Salvos in Fyshwick. I had an appointment in Belconnen in the afternoon, so we finished up with a lightning raid on Salvos at Jamison, which confirmed its reputation (in my house at least) as the most "dreamin'" overpriced op shop in Canberra. I ended up with a most satisfactory haul that I think's a pretty good reflection of my particular op shopping fetishes - cookbooks (especially the Time Life Good Cook and Foods of the World series, some vintage and modern Australian cheffy type ones - here a TL Foods of the World folder with the Middle East volume), weird stuff about cats, cast iron cooking pots and pans, ($13 for saucepan, frypan and lid that fits both) vintage melamine (50 c), mystery kitchen appliances, some kids' videos (50 c each) and the occasional clothing item (a very nearly new pair of size 10 1/2 shiny patent boots for $25 from Salvos Mitchell).

Score of the day was the mystery appliance, which was $5 at the Fyshwick Salvos upstairs. It turns out to be the Benriner Cooks' Helper, $79 new at the Asian supermarket at Belconnen Mall. Even better, the manual's on the web, so my older son's been having "vegetable spaghetti" in his lunchbox. I love the internet ; )

Bouquets and Brickbats

Vinnies Dickson has (finally) separated plus-sized women's clothes from the rest. BOUQUET

The prices start at $10 and average at $15. Example - a cheap fleecy knit cardie originally from BigW was $15. The equivalent on the other racks - $7. BRICKBAT

Book sale

If you feel the need for a practice run before this weekend's Lifeline Book Fair, Vinnies Dickson has all books at $1...

Golden Hands Books

I noticed that someone is trying to sell a set of Golden Hands on All Classifieds
here".

Cheers

No Sunday trading

We went by Vinnies at Gungahlin this arvo to find it closed.

From this week, Vinnies Gungahlin will not open on Sundays.

Don't know why but I'm guessing the difficulty getting volunteers on Sundays is partly responsible.

Bigger Salvos for Mitchell?

Overheard at Salvos Mitchell yesterday, the possibility of a new shop, a la the new Phillip store.

Rumour has it the old 250 sqm shop will move into 800 sqm premises up the road in Hoskins Street.

Op shops - the only recession growth industry?

On a roll - a Summer Roll

The Old Flame's parents' good china is a discontinued pattern by Johnson Bros. called Summer Chintz. They like to get extra pieces when they can.

The Old Flame purchased four cups and saucers at Vinnies recently. I was dead chuffed to get a dinner setting for four (less 2 cups and 2 soup bowls) plus a rectangular sandwich plate and milk jug at Salvos Phillip this afternoon.

Re-Loved

(Reprinted from The Shopping Sherpa)

I never thought I'd see the day when I was front row at a fashion show, but last night it finally happened. It was only a little fashion show but it was my kind of fashion show: Re-Loved, a fashion parade with sustainability in mind.

It was held in conjunction with Salvos and here's Ken giving a speech at the beginning of the night:Handbags by Hanny Dewar

And fashion made from up-cycled second hand finds:

Finally there were outfits created from a local clothes swap meet:in my excitement I forgot to take note of the name of the group: all I know is they're on Facebook which isn't much use for someone who's not on Facebook (me)... NinaRibena was two seats down from me, perhaps she'll know?The organisers looked well pleased at the end, and so they should.... Well done!

Update

We've updated the op shop spreadsheet.

Aussie Junk and Revolve have been added. Not really op-shops, but second-hand bargain hunters paradises, nonetheless.

There's now a master list of all shops known and lists for each of the districts. We've included Yass, Goulburn and Cooma, but only the Yass list is populated. Anyone have knowledge of the op-shops in the surrounding district? Also, are there fields of information you'd find useful on the spreadsheet that aren't there now?

We'll update the map as time permits, or you could volunteer to help out with that - just ask TSS for an invitation.

Golden Hands alert

If you're after Golden Hands Salvos Jamison has the binders with the magazines: numbers 2 to 6 for $2 per binder... (I wonder what happened to volume 1?)

Retro Rack, Weston

Cooleman Court has almost completed its renovation. One of the shops that temporarily closed was the little op-shop on the mezzanine called Retro Rack.

It's back, but not in the shopping centre itself. The new Retro Rack is adjacent to Cooleman Court on Brierley street, in between the NAB and Flight Centre. It is roughly opposite The Garden Nursery. It's on the same side of Cooleman Court and a couple of hundred metres from Salvos.

Hours are 9.30-5.00 M-F and 10-2.00 on Saturday.

It's still a small shop, but well organised and clean. The stock is of reasonable quality. Prices - not as dear as Vinnies, about $5 for a blouse and they had 7 balls of Patons Totem for $10 which is not too bad and certainly not as expensive as Vinnies.

The men's shirt rack is too high to comfortably reach but if you ask they'll lend you their hook to take items down.

The shop only accepts cash - no EFTPOS or credit cards.

It's certainly worth a look and fits in nicely with a Saturday morning run to Salvos at Weston and the little Anglican op-shop at Chapman shops (and then it's not so far to Salvos and Vinnies in Phillip).

Vinnies Belconnen - 1/2 price on clothing

I called into Vinnies Belconnen today, and saw a sign on the door saying they were having a 1/2 price sale on clothing.

I walked out much later with two pairs of pants and two shirts (well there goes my 7 things for this week).

I have no idea when it finishes so if you are in the Belconnen area, stop in.

Might be worth a look?

A quick shopping trip to a foreign country

Taph and i went in to the US embassy sale on the 4th of March. As it was at a site leased by the Embassy, it was technically in another country.

As the photo shows there was a number of people there.

My picks of the day were 10 metal folding chairs that went for $72, or $7.20 each, and a bedroom set of a Tallboy and Nightstand for $100.

Taph and I have previously picked up a sofa for $50 (you can see a photo of it here).

This time we got outbid on everything, but I hope the person who bid $130 more than we did on a LCD monitor is very happy with their purchase.

Elements of a mobile

Elements of a mobile
Originally uploaded by redmag

While the YMCA garage sale was a little while ago now and this is a blog about thrifting not crafting I thought I'd post this anyway because its basically an example of how op shop finds drive the creative process.....it's a mobile made for swap with items discovered at the last garage sale...I found some really stiff white fabric at the sale that was perfect for treating as both fabric and paper and thought sashiko inspired embriodered paper cranes might be a nice way to incorporate both strengths.....I'm also sad to hear that its the only garage sale planned for the whole year...

Train spotting

Late yesterday afternoon, right on closing time to be exact, Aussie Junk at Mitchell received 3 packing cartons full of modelling stuff, most of it still in boxes - model car kits, railway model paraphenalia, toy soldiers and the like.

It might be worth asking if you're in the market for model kits etc.