Op Shop Hop - Maryborough Queensland

I've been in Maryborough to visit my pets, and also my parents are here.  I'm going back to Brisbane tomorrow, so today my mum and I went on an op shop hop around town.  We both found some great things, as well as some great things which we couldn't take home or didn't need but thought were wonderful.

Our first stop was the St. Vinnies shop on Kent Street.

 We chose a good day!  The "special" on the board today was:

Which is perfect for me, as I am a lady and wear tops.  I looked through the racks inside to find four tops that would fit me and were cotton.  The ones I picked out had an original sale price of this:

So I felt $10 for the lot was a great deal, especially since even the cheapest top I chose would have been over $10 new.
I chose this one, which is my new favourite top, so you can't tell me if you don't like it:

Along with these three:

Along with the four shirts, I found a nice cotton dress with pockets for $5.  I couldn't find anywhere to take a full length photo, so you'll have to believe me that it's about knee length.

I won't show you everything that Mum got for fear of making the longest photo-based blog post ever, but I must show you this sari* that she got for $4.

*Not being worn as a sari in picture, really just making me a beautiful speckled purple ghost

Other things of note at Vinnies included all these wonderful plants from $1!

This organ, with a stool for only $40.

And children's books for 50c each or 4 for $1 from this basket

Our next stop was the Salvos shop in Alice Street, on the corner of Bazaar Street.

Where the "special" this week is:

Mum was after manchester, so this was very good for her.  It's quite hot so we didn't even want to think about long pants existing, but it's great for anyone looking to stock up for Winter.

One thing really caught my eye in here, which was this two piece outfit, obviously home made but fits me like it was made for me!  It was $6 for the set.

And it looks like this on me:

Again, couldn't get a full length picture, but the skirt goes down to my knees.

Other things of note at the Salvos shop included these toys from 20c each, some with their original tags still on, averaging $1.

This beautiful bassinet for $40

And this 60cm long fish tank for only $20!

Third stop of our op shop hop was St. Paul's op shop in Adelaide Street.

My favourite thing at this shop is always this clothing rack at the door.  It always has a mix of women's, men's and children's clothing and each item is 50c.

Mum bought some candle holders here, $2 for a set of 4, and some fabric.  I found a book I wanted which was priced at 50c, but they threw it in for free with Mum's stuff.  Score!

Our final stop was the Lifeline shop, also in Adelaide Street

.They also had an excellent special on ladies' tops, but I already had four so I tried really hard not to look at any as I have to get all the stuff I buy home to Brisbane.

Inside, they also had a special on dresses, $5 each.  I got this pink dress which was marked down from $8!  It goes down to my ankles and is delightfully cool and breezy to wear!

Other items of note at Lifeline included 50c books.  SO MANY BOOKS!

These lovely dinner plates at $1 each:

And this big bin of green thongs (footwear, not the ahh... other kind) for 50c/pair, new!

If I didn't have to get everything back to Brisbane, I would have bought so much more... including that $40 organ, which I'm a bit in love with even though I never even saw it with the lid up.

Happy Op Shopping!

Cassandra Louise.

Some of my Favourite Op Shop Posts

For the purpose of this post and others like it I may do in the future, "op shop" will mean op shop, thrift store, secondhand shop, true vintage shop and any other place you may get "pre-loved" clothing, toys and homewares, including online.  I fished some really fantastic things out of the bin at a sharehouse I was living at, once, and I am extending "op shop" to include things like that, too.

This post is essentially a list of blog posts which I have found especially inspirational or inspiring.  In some cases I searched through many posts by a particular blogger to find just the right one, in some cases I knew exactly what post I wanted to feature before I even started.  I hope from here you get some wonderful, inspirational ideas!
They are in no apparent order save for the order I found/rediscovered them.

First, a little shameless self-promotion with this post of my own: Things You May Not Know About Charity Op Shops

2. This post about clothes swapping by Agy: Have You Been To A Fashion Swop?

3. Thrifted maternity wear with Erica: Human Friendly Fashion Blogger Outfit- Maternity Edition

4. This one at I Love To Op Shop, in which I quite like the ugly clock: How Ugly is my Clock?

5. This adorable collection by Op Shop Mama, as I'm a sucker for a kid's xylophone: But Wait, There's More!

6. This one by Ali, because she opens with a delightful pun: Confessions of a Serial Shopper

If you enjoy reading these, let me know.  I would love to make another list for you.  Lists are cool.
I was a bit sad that some of my all-time favourites are from blogs that have been taken down.  Boo! :-( Lots of gems here though, all from blogs that are still up and have a lot of interesting content. :-)

Do you have a favourite op shop post or thrift blog?

Signed with love,
Cassandra Louise.

Follow-up to that thing I asked you about...

In my last post here I was asking for gardening advice.  Some of you had some great suggestions!  I think I've worked out what the problem was, and I hope I've fixed it.
The soil was very sense and tough, which is a common problem in pots; it needed to be dug over and aerated.  Unfortunately it would have been very difficult to do that with the tiny little plants in the pot.  I did manage to save the largest silverbeet plant, which hopefully will take off now.  One silverbeet plant that I had to dig out and add to my compost (never easy for me!  I love all my plants!) was only two centimetres tall but had roots close to thirty centimetres long, so obviously the plants in that pot were trying very hard, they just couldn't take hold.  I've since planted some radishes and calendula seeds in the tub.  The radishes have already sprouted and seem to be growing a little every day so I think I have solved the problem.  The tub now looks like this:

And my darling little radishes look like this:

The main problem I had with my last lot of seedlings was transplant shock, so to avoid that I've decided to put my Autumn nursery in peat pots and egg cartons.

That egg carton at the front there has lettuce seeds in it.  I've put them in an egg carton and not a peat pot so I will have to do less thinning out later; when the little lettuces appear, I will simply plant the entire egg carton in one of my garden tubs, just as I would a peat pot, but longer.
That big round plastic pot there has/had a potato plant in it that I found in my compost bin.  Having had a dig around, I have my suspicions that the plant rotted in the rain.  I would still quite like to grow potatoes, please, so just in case I planted some more.
I checked the one potato in my pantry for eyes.  One eye!  Plenty!  I cut a small slice of potato with the eye on it and planted that in the pot.  It should be sufficient to grow a new plant.

Worst thing that can happen is I'm no worse off than I am now.
The other plants in my garden are all doing quite well.  Here's pictures of all of them which I expect you to look at and enjoy as if I were showing you a cute thing my baby did...

For those playing along at home, that's two kinds of tomatoes, chillis and strawberries.  No fruit on the strawberries yet, but since I thought it was dead for a while there that's ok.  The first few years are always rubbish for a strawberry plant, anyhow.
The herb garden is also going well but looks a bit stragly, so I'm not going to show you any pictures of it, much like it's my baby and it just farted or something.

Happy gardening!
Love to you all,
Cassandra Louise.

Emergency Rosemary

My rosemary plant is (from memory) seven years old.  It's contained in a pot, so it doesn't have much spread, but it often stands well over a metre tall.  My rosemary plant isn't liking all this rain too much, but it is nowhere near dead.  The plant has become a bit sparse and spindly, but that's nothing a good pruning won't fix.  Rosemary, like most plants, should be cut at an angle, as a "flat" cut stem usually won't resprout.  If a stem is growing in the wrong spot, that's when you would cut it straight across.
I ended up taking off these dry, woody stems.

Even though these stems are dead, they still have a wonderful rosemary fragrance.  I'm hoping I'll be able to use them for something arty or crafty later on, as I know from past experience that smell is not going to go away any time soon.

After I pruned away all the sad, dead parts, I thought it would probably be a good idea to sprout a second rosemary plant, for when I need rosemary but the plants are weather affected or otherwise sparse.
I was in luck, as there was more than one lovely green shoot on my rosemary plant.  You should never take the only greenery off a plant.  I'm honestly not clear as to why, I just know it's not good for them.  I took this little cutting, again, cut at an angle.

I planned to shoot my new rosemary plant in a peat pot, and set about gathering supplies.  I filled the peat pot with fresh ready compost from my own bin, but seed raising mix or any fine potting mix would be fine.  In my pile of reusable things (every gardener should have one) I found an ice cream container lid, perfect for sitting the little pot on.

I dipped the cut end of the rosemary sprig in honey, which is high in nutrients and will encourage good root formation.  The tiniest blob is enough.

And firmly stuck the sprig into the soil.

I gave it a good watering (it hasn't been flooded like the parent plant) and now I shall wait.  I will give it a second watering tonight with a seaweed solution.  I'll know if the shoot has sprouted very simply: in a week, it won't be dead.
Not every cutting takes, and even cuttings that do take root sometimes die when moved out to the garden.  I minimise risk to my cuttings by:

• using peat pots, which can be planted directly to the spot where the plant will grow, eliminating transplant shock
• keeping the soil damp but not saturated until the cutting is established
• transitioning the cutting to outside slowly, a few hours a day at first, to eliminate climate shock

All very simple, really.  I'll let you know how my emergency rosemary gets along.

Lots of love to you,
Cassandra Louise

Op Shop Finds

Hi everyone!  I know I've been gone a while, but I'm back now, hooray!  Since I wrote this rather serious post about op shops, I thought I'd take the time to write a fun one, with pictures (yay!  Pictures!) and so have been running around my house all day looking for things I know were bought at op shops.

I took photos of my favourite bargains, things like:

awesome piratey bandana (50 cents)

Queen bed doona cover - it says "LOVE", not "OVE", but my fence is only so tall ($4)

This bowl, and also

this bowl (20 cents each)

This handbag, which I carried for my school formal ($2.50 without the dog on it, I added that myself)

Patchwork book ($1)

This scarf ($1).  One dollar!  I like a good big scarf, very versatile, but this is extra amazing because

silk and also made in France! ... I'm not normally excited by things like that, let me have this one.

Delightful winter coat ($10) I'm not wearing it today as it's well over thirty degrees in here...

$5 outfit ($4.50 skirt, 50 cent top)

And possibly my very favourite op shop find of all time, saved until last especially...

This cup and saucer set ($2.50 for the set!)

I've also bought many books for as little as 20 cents each, PC games for $1 and CDs for 50 cents.  I've bought pairs of shoes for $3 and hats for $2.

What's your favourite op shop find?

Signed with love,

Cassandra Louise.