Furniture and Fabric

The first full week of school went very well. Being a 3rd year teacher is really nice. I'm not bored with the information yet but I am definitely more prepared and less stressed. That will now be officially over as my online Master's program is starting this weekend.

We are still working on getting things for the house. We had wanted some antiques and I was still in need of some fabric so yesterday I went around to two antique places (one was in the flower market) and back to the fabric market. It was a busy day. I took some pictures so you can kind of have an idea. As well as a couple more picture of the fabric market.

The first antique place we went to is a warehouse full of old furniture and it's just piled high and collecting dust. And they have all collected a LOT of dust. Katie, my roommate last year, found three nice pieces there but this time I didn't have any such luck. Maybe it's hard for me to imagine what it would look like without all the dust - I'm not sure... They did have some cool trunks that I might go back for. What I thought was really interesting was the imported things there. VERY old singer sewing machine stands (with the machine still in it), old writing desks in a very European style. And even old pianos. I have a feeling that a lot of the things came from the old concessions area of town and from the time when the Europeans were in Tianjin. I could be wrong though.
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The second place was the antique vendors in the flower market. These vendors sell new furniture but made in the traditional chinese style. I really liked the things they had and didn't think the price was too bad.

While we were there Katie and I took a lovely picture next to a giant vase. These are very Chinese and quite ridiculous I think but hey - if you'd like one you are welcome to come on over and pick one up. I for one will not be putting them in my living.

It was back to the fabric market (the other side of town). Now, sometimes the fabric market is ok and sometimes you don't find anything. Usually when you are looking for something specific, you can't find anything. I was able to get the rest of material I needed for my duvet cover and material for a skirt but I spent a lot of time there. It's also kind of scary when I start looking twice at sequined covered tops and think - Oh, that doesn't look too bad... My friend has been in China for 8 years and me 4 so we are both in bad shape and our question of "is this too chinese" was often met with silence b/c we just didn't know. I've just decided that globalization is in our favor and we can wear whatever we want b/c sequins will be popular all over the world in a matter of months.

It's also fun to rummage through the bins of patches, buttons, ribbon etc etc. This time I just happened to see on the top a sequined eggplant. Yes, indeed, an eggplant. My mind is just not creative enough to possibly think where one could use a sequined eggplant - If you have any ideas, let me know and I can send it to you.