Finnish Fabric and Vintage Chef Clock

Yesterday, my sister Lise took the gang out for some serious thrifting at two Value Village stores: Eglinton at Victoria Park, and Lawrence East. I hit gold.

I discovered this large piece of fabric featuring a bold design of toucans perched on branches.
How cool is this? The fabric was stamped "Maija Isola 'Pepe' Marimekko Oy Suomi Finland 1972." I know the name Marimekko. I'll have to do some Googling later on. If you know anything about this designer, please leave a comment.
Over the holidays, Lise is going to teach me how to hem on her sewing machine. I'm going to turn this into a wall hanging.
When I thrift, I can't help wondering the back story of what I find. In the case of this fabric, how did it end up in Toronto? Who owned it?
And how did it end up being sold at Value Village in Scarborough for $1.99?
My sister found this delightful kitchen clock for me. It cost $6.99 and appears to work. Made in America.
The Value Village at Lawrence East was a bit ghetto. As soon as we arrived, a shopper walked up to me and told me she had just had her wallet stolen and to be extra careful. This was a first. Anyway, I did find this insanely retro Battleship game. It cost $3.99. All the pieces seemed to be included.
Look at the sixties housewife and daughter doing the dishes in the background. Hilarious.

I love that it was made in London, Ontario.

I bought Duncan Yum Safari. We'll try to set it up later.

All these retro games reminded me of the "game closet" scene in The Royal Tenenbaums. You'll find it between 3:30 and 4:00 on this clip.

I bought this old, but never used Christmas wreath for my classroom door.

The price was discounted and still nobody wanted it.

Until Value Village put the right price on it.

Duncan wanted these glittery pipe cleaners for crafts.

Every time I turned my back, Lise had dressed Duncan up in something crazy. He loved this hat, so I gave in. It looks like something my father would have worn in the eighties when he was shoveling snow.

It is made from pure wool in Toronto. Wow!

We ended up at an Ikea last night and I almost screamed when I discovered this gorgeous bird tray. Ikea is one of my favourite stores, especially for their kitchenware. It cost $6.99.

Here's the opening scene from The Royal Tenenbaums. If you like vintage, and eccentric characters, you'll love this movie. I connect with this film because the house I grew up in was a bit like the house the Tenenbaums lived in. The cultural refrences from the seventies and eighties that you see in the film pretty much sum up my childhood.