Once a year a large community of townhouses owned by seniors holds a thrift sale in their activities center to raise money for activities. The huge room is filled with tables of items, items on the walls, furniture, etc. on the floors. It even spills out the door and on the lawn. It’s a very popular event and crowds show up including dealers. For one Friday in February my friend and I set aside time at 8 am to be there when the doors open. We go back Saturday morning to browse the leftovers now at half off. This year we got a great haul of goodies for low prices.
One of my favorite buys was on Saturday morning in the linens section. If you’ve read my posts before, you know I love old linen.There was so much stuff on Friday I never saw the set of 6 lace teddy bear placemats. Saturday morning I found them and fell in love. Now at half off I got a half dozen lace placemats in new condition with the original tags for $1.00. I immediately saw them as a runner connected together.
I washed the place mats and hung them to dry. It only takes 3 of the place mats to make a nice sized runner for my small table. I’d still have 3 place mats to use for a small lunch or as cover on a small table. I pinned 2 of the placemats together.
I used a simple needle and white thread and sewed while I watch television. Do you like keeping your hands busy when watching? Sometimes it makes me happy and relaxed. I started in the middle of an hour episode and finished before the end of the next one. So it’s about an hour but I stopped and got up, changed shows, etc. The project is very simple and doesn’t really take a lot of time.
I then added the third place mat and I had my lace runner with teddy bears. I love it.
I’m ready for spring and decided to use my spring branches I got at Ross For Less last spring. I started with a cheap vintage vase from the thrift store. I had some white neutral decor balls and added some smaller homemade ones. Using a bag of small styrofoam balls from Dollar Tree, I wrapped the balls with left over white yarn and tied it off.
The table seems to be missing something so I added a country platter I got on sale from Cracker Barrel. Looks great under the vase and adds weight to the vignette.
Decorating doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. Thanks for visiting.
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The place mats look lovely as a runner you really can’t tell they used to be place mats. I love your table decoration, I long for the days I can do this but I can’t have any surface at the moment that doesn’t get covered in clutter thanks to my five kids!
#keepingitreal
Enjoy your kids while you can. There will come a day they’re all grown and gone and you’ll miss the clutter.
I’ve been to some of those Senior events as well and never thought about putting lace placements together. What a great idea. I usually go for the cheap yarn and patterns people are downsizing.
This is really cute — and I love those “yarn balls” as well. It’s all so pretty and springy. Thanks for sharing this. I’ll keep this in mind for a very fun, cute project!
You picked the perfect vase. That was smart to sew the placemats together. It looks good!
Love the place mats and I love the idea that you connected them and made a running!! Great idea!!
Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Very pretty. I like the arrangement, too.
I love how creative you are Carol. This looks lovely and the arrangement is fab too. It’s really satisfying when it hardly costs anything isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing with #MMBC. Have a wonderful weekend x
Very cute. I love a good find at sales like that. I constantly crochet when I watch tv, I can’t sit still, always have to keep my hands busy or my mind wanders too, lol. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty
What a truly lovely idea Carol. Lucky you went back on the Saturday, they must have been hidden under all the other stuff. Those teddy bear placemats are a great find, they’re so pretty.