New Goodwill Outlet

After having a house full of family and guests for the last 19 days and LOVING it, and now missing them, I found the perfect cure - visiting the new Goodwill Outlet in Everett! It opened December 15, and is a great space with lots of easy parking. It is smaller than the Seattle Outlet at 6th & Holgate. But it wasn't crowded, which was a giant plus.

Everything is in big bin shaped tables. You need to be in the mood to dig. Things are sold by the pound for the most part.
Here is my haul. Wool sweaters to shrink for felt, clothing items to deconstruct and reinvent into other apparel items, and my find of the day - a grey, cable-knitted cashmere sweater. All for $12.29! -- Beth

Felting with my cat

Our Felted Ornaments workshop is coming up soon – this Saturday, Oct. 3 at 10 a.m. Remember these cute samples? Well nothing like a deadline to get me going to shrink a bunch of wool sweaters I had been amassing. The Goodwill Outlet is the easiest source ever - $1.39 per pound for bulk clothing. It’s getting easier for me to spot the pure wool items in the heaps of clothing in their bins. And I usually find something new for my wardrobe while I’m at it!

Anyway, here’s my heap. I try to keep similar colors together, and into the washer they go with soap and hot water. Sometimes I’ll have them agitate for an extra while. Here’s my kitty Harry’s favorite part – the drying. We did lots of drying Friday afternoon. He got so hot, he actually pulled half of himself off the dryer.

Then this morning, I found him “guarding” the new wool felt. What a good helper.

There’s still some spaces in this workshop. Give Lisa a buzz if you’d like to join in the fun! -- Beth

Barn House Blast!

My oh my – did we have a glorious time at the Barn House season opening sale Saturday! Lisa and I hopped (well maybe not hopped at 5 a.m. in the morning!) in her car and hit the road. The early buying began at 8 a.m., and we wanted to see their barn in all its’ splendor. Joe and Jermonne live near Battle Ground, Washington. I had been following their blog for nearly a year, and then we met them in person at the Sand Point Antique Market in Seattle this last March. We loved their booth, and were smitten with them. Talk about a couple of charmers.

The setting was magical. Out in the farmlands, here was this barn styled to the high heavens. The outdoor vending area was lovely, and the refreshments looked divine. We bypassed all that to get a gander of the inside. Five other talented vendors (Sylvi, Natalie, Laurie, Debbie, Cindy, and Julie) had their vintage and handmade items incorporated into the setting. We spent over a couple of hours trying to absorb every original detail. I can’t think of another show I’ve been to that was styled with such freshness and beauty. Our hearts were aflutter because we weren’t seeing the same old stuff. Everyone was nice. We spent money. Got hugs from Jermonne! And sort of floated back to reality.

The rest of our road trip was tiptop as well - a Goodwill Outlet store, Burgerville and two church rummage sales. Wowie zowie – we had a grand day!