Fabulous Flea Market Find

Last weekend, my in laws were here so we went up to the Flea Market in Wilmot Wisconsin.  It's just a hop, skip and a jump from where we live.  And a beautiful drive too!

Anyway, I found this gorgeous, beaded aqua Christmas sweater:

This sweater is loaded with beads and sequins. Look closely at the picture.  Those are little Christmas trees!  Here's a photo of the other side:

You're probably all thinking, what in the world is she going to do with that?!!  Well, I'm not wearing it! I love my glittery purses but I draw the line with those!  I plan to cut it up.  Or did you already guess that?

The first thing I did with it was to take the zipper out and then I clipped the lining out of it:

The lining too is a gorgeous shade of aqua so I plan to use that too!  And guess how much I paid for this!  $5.00!  That's it!  Just $5.00 for all those little Christmas trees!

I filled my kitchen sink with cold water and washed both pieces by hand.  I laid them out on a towel to air dry so now they're ready for.....well, whatever it is I come up with!  LOL!!!  Be sure to follow me.  You never know what I'll be doing next!

Old Lace and Vintage Hankies

We had a awesome time at the Flea Market in Elkhorn, Wisconsin yesterday!  It's a huge market and takes hours and hours to walk through. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Sunny and about 80 degrees.

I found treasure!  Lots of treasure!  Old lace, vintage hankies, sweet little buttons and more!  This was a bag of appliques, pretty little crocheted pieces and trim.  Perfect for crazy quilting!

Next, I found yards and yards of narrow lace in different colors:

Then, some little bags of lace for $1.00 each:

Next, I found some sweet little buttons and check out that bunch of vintage millinery grapes!  Can't wait to use that on a crazy quilt piece!

I also found some pretty vintage hankies.  The small one are for mom for her door pillows.  The pink one and the one with the roses are for my crazy quilting:

Last but not least, I found a few interesting pieces.  The needlepoint piece is for mom to make something out of.  The baby applique is for mom as well.  I thought she could make a pretty little baby pillow out of it.  Last, I found that lace table runner.  I'll share with mom.  There's a lot we can do with that!

It was a really fun and nice day of treasure hunting!  Click on the pictures to enlarge them and see things up close!

Flea Market Treasures and Some Finishes

Scott and I picked mom up this morning and headed out to the Flea Market in Grayslake, Illinois.  The Flea Market & Antique show in Grayslake is the 2nd Sunday of every month and it's indoors so we didn't have to worry about the cold March air this morning!

There were a lot of new vendors this month and it was a bit larger than last time.  I found some nice little treasures for my crazy quilting.  First, were some pretty trims:

Next, I found a pretty doily with a cross stitched rose motif in the center:

Some vintage buttons:

 

 And some pink vintage velvet leaves:

Definitely some nice do-dads today!

When we got home, I sewed up my custom order Crazy Quilt Cat Doll:

And I did the finishing on my Crazy Quilt I Phone Pouches:

I did spend a little time sitting out in my backyard which felt so good!  Bubba started a fire in our firepit so I just sat for a few minutes.

So that was my day everyone!  Bubba is making dinner now.  Scrambled eggs with ham and pancakes.  Don't you just love breakfast for dinner!

Flea Market Treaures!

Scott & I went to the Flea Market in Grayslake, Illinois yesterday.  It's only about a 35 minute drive for us.  It was so nice!  Lots of new vendors, lots of vintage Christmas things....so many pretties to see!

I found some nice things to add to my collections.  First are these 2 vintage hats with silk and velvet flowers:

I sat here last night for about 30 minutes taking the flowers off to use on other things.  I think I'm going to start collecting a few really nice vintage floral hats to display in my Guest Room when I get it re-painted.  It's going to be pink (are you surprised?) with stenciled roses and lots of shabby cottage charm.  Some old floral hats would be a perfect addition!  But these are for crafting.  If you'd like to see how to take the flowers off these old hats, click here.

I also found a few pieces of old jewelry that I intend to use in my crazy quilting:

I've decided to use that little heart on my current Marie Antoinette quilt block:

This block is ready for some Silk Ribbon Embroidery and beading!

My final treasure is this wonderful old apron:

Bubba found this piece and thought I could cut it up and make it into something else.  No way can I cut this one up!  It's in very good condition.

This was a pre-printed, pre-tinted apron kit by Vogart.  Whoever made it, did a very nice job stitching and sewing it together.  And although it looks like it's been washed quite a few times, it's held up very well over the years!

I'm going to hand wash it and press it and find some way to display it.  I only paid $5.00 for it.  That's a steal! 

Happy Pink Saturday!!!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!  Again, I'm just thrilled to be part of this really fun pink blog experience!  This is such a wonderful way to connect with other pink bloggers!

I had a really fun pink thing to post about this week but like last Saturday, I decided to put it off one more week due to an amazing find at last weekend's flea market!

I do not collect teapots but I found this last weekend at a little flea market not far from our home and I just had to have it!  And, I immediately thought that it would be great to share on Pink Saturday so I've been saving it for today.  So here it is:

Isn't it gorgeous!!!  It's not old.  It has a sticker on the bottom that says, "Made In China".  I had to have it!  It's pink, it's heart shaped,it has roses on it, it has a pearly finish on it and it was only $3.00!!!  What a treasure!

So that's my Pink Saturday post for this week!  I'd like to say thank you to our gracious host Beverly for including me in Pink Saturday again.  If you're interested in sharing your lovely pink things, please visit Beverly's How Sweet The Sound blog for more details.  And please take a few moments to visit some of the other lovely Pink Bloggers!

Also, be sure to see my post from yesterday to learn about my contest/drawing!!!!

This Weeks Treasures

Thank you everyone, for your sweet comments on my Pink Saturday post.  I am really enjoying being part of this fun and very pink blog experience!  I've already met some incredibly sweet and gifted bloggers who also adore the color pink. 

I did a bit of shopping this week.  A trip to Hobby Lobby on Wednesday resulted in some nice additions to my bead stash (like it needed additions!):



A few things were on sale and few were on clearance!!

I also picked up some large hole paillettes:



I plan to crochet some edges for my crazy quilt purses using my funky fuzzy yarn and these pretty sequins!

This morning, Scott and I headed up to Elkorn, Wisconsin for the Holy Grail of Flea Markets.  We got rained on but that certainly didn't stop me from finding a few goodies for my stitching!

First, a vintage machine embroidered handkerchief with strawberries on it.  In all years and years of junkin' I've done, I have never seen one of these with strawberries!!!  I also found a pretty little vintage shoe clip.  I love the Jadite colored flowers:



My vintage embroidery transfer patterns have been rather scarce this season!  Luckily, I found 2 today to add to my collection:



While dodging the rain in one of the buildings, I found this bagful of pretty trims.  Nothing terribly special but I use braided gimp for a variety of projects and the gold trims are suitable for so many things:



My final Flea Market find for today is a nice little collection of vintage millinery flowers:



By the time we were done, the rain had stopped, the sun came out and it was becoming quite juicy outside!  I was glad to get back to our truck and the comfort of being in air conditioning!

In other news, I'm suddenly missing crazy quilting.  CQ is all I've been able to think about so I plan to run my treadle machine this week and sew up a few blocks to stitch on.  I'm wanting to do some new purses.  In the meantime, I had this one sewn up and plan to stitch on it now:



This one will have a peacock theme.  Please come back to watch my progress as I stitch on it!

Flea Market Finds!

As per our usual Sunday morning routine, Bubba & I went to a flea market this morning.  I found a few misc. craft supplies.  Nothing unusual or exciting.

The real thrill for me is in 2 of my finds.  First, my little shoe with roses:





I have no idea if this is old or not.  It was in a booth with tons of things that I know for sure were vintage.  The bottom is marked, "Burton & Burton - Bogart, GA - Made In China".

Truthfully, I don't care if it's old or not.  It's mint green with pink roses on it.  It reminds me of Marie Antoinette and I love it!  However, if anyone can enlighten me, I would be grateful!

I didn't realize until I bought this little shoe that I'm a shoe collector!  I think I have 5 or 6 pretty little shoes!  Who knew?  Not me!  I guess I've just picked up a pretty shoe here and there not even thinking about it.  In real life (LOL!) I love shoes too!  I just don't like wearing them.  I have some really nice shoes but I never wear them.  I love flip flops.  Pretty ones!  I would them all year long if I could.  They're comfy, they're cute and it's like walking around barefoot without being barefoot!

Ok, enough shoe babble!  Later this week, I'll wander around the house with my camera and share my little shoe collection here.

In the meantime, my next treasure is this vintage hat:



No, I do not collect vintage hats!  Heaven knows, I don't need to collect anything else!!  I buy these when I find them for a few dollars just to take the vintage flowers off of them.  I seem to keep finding pink ones though!  I'd love to start finding some blue, yellow and purple flowered hats!  But, I found pink today.  I've already removed the flowers and added them to the "flower" drawer in my stash cart.  Will have to share photos of that with you too.

For now, I'm very tired and need to go lay down.  I think I'm going threw some withdrawals from the medication that I'm on.  I see my Dr. again on Wednesday.  I plan to try to ride it out but we'll see what she says.

Flea Market Finds of the Week!

Scott and I went to the Elkhorn Wisconsin Flea Market & Antique Show on Sunday.  My goodness!  The show is huge to begin with and this time, it was even bigger than normal!  It took us hours to walk the show but we had such a great time!  It was jam packed with shoppers too.  I don't think I've ever seen that many people there.

It was a lovely day.  Sunny, warm with a bit of a breeze.  I didn't want to leave but I was out of steam by the time we saw everything.  And honestly, I'm not even sure we saw everything!

Anyway, here are some of my treasures from the show.  First, some vintage trims:



Ya'll know I can't pass by anything that has sequins on it!  I'm really not a flashy person.  My home is very soft in color, very cottage style, lots of pastels and lots of pink.  Oh, but give me the glitter!!!  Except for my CQ purses, I really don't dress flashy.  Lady like I would say but not flashy.

Anyway, my find was a bag full of vintage beads:



I only paid $3.00 for all of these!

My next find was a few vintage patterns:



Nothing all that grand but fun to have in my collection.

I don't have photos of everything yet.  I picked up a huge 1 GAL. bag full of small doilies.  There must be 50 in there!  I washed them but still have to iron them.

I also bought a couple of antique tea cups.  I won't go into the story but basically, a freak act of nature brought my small vintage tea cup collection to shards.  My sweet sister Kathi replaced one for me.  That one wasn't actually old, but she bought it for me years ago.  It's a Royal Dalton teacup & saucer for the month of December, which you know is my birth month.  Kathi was able to replace it for me.  She also picked up another pretty teacup & saucer for me.  It has a cottage on it.  She knows I love cottage anything!  Well, then Scott bought me one and I bought one.  Will share when all is back to normal.

In the meantime, I mentioned last week that my sister has joined mom & I and is the new artist at Kitty & Me Designs.  She makes beautiful jewelry, does crocheting and felting.  Lovely things!  It quiets her head when she gets home from work.  Here are a couple pairs of her earrings:





Aren't they pretty?  I have several more pairs of her beautiful earrings to list in the shop as soon as I have time.  And be sure to stop back to see her Fuzzy Fun Flip-Flops!  They are just too flipping cute!

My final photo of the day is my Edwardian Lady Mixed Media Art Quilt:



It's done except for the quilt tag which I'll do tomorrow.  The mint green hankie at the top left is one of my Flea Market finds from the weekend.  The pendent watch belonged to my grandmother.  Needless to say, this one will not be available for purchase.  But there are more to come!

And speaking of Art Quilting, I'll post the first installment of my Art Quilting 101 Tutorial tomorrow.  Be sure to stop by for that.  If nothing else, you'll get to see my next Art Quilt project!

Have a great evening everyone!

Vintage Handkerchiefs Flea Market Finds

Yesterday, Scott & I picked mom up and we headed to Grayslake, Illinois Fairgrounds for the Flea Market & Antique Show.   Oh, do I love going there!!!  We had a good time but didn't find anything all that grand.  I picked up a few more vintage handkerchiefs, some more vintage pink buttons and a little bag of plastic fans:



I'm planning on making myself a Marie Antoinette Art Quilt.  I saw the fans and thought, "oooh!  How perfect those will be!"

And pink buttons, well, I will adopt any vintage pink buttons that need good homes!  I have a weakness.  Kind like with cats & dogs.  I just love them!

This hankie reminded me of my husband's grandma:



Grandma Kellogg loved pansies!  She talked about them all the time.  The minute I saw this one, I thought of her and had to have it.

So those are my Flea Market Treasures for this week.  Our all time ever favorite Flea Market is this coming Sunday in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  I cannot wait!  I find the best stuff there for the best prices!  And it's huge.  Hope I have the energy to walk the entire show. 

In other news, I spent the morning finishing up on my 2 latest Art Quilts.  First is Spring Song:



When Scott gets home, I need him to trim that branch down for me on the left side.  My hand isn't strong enough get through it with yard cutters. 

I also finished up on Teatime Kittens:



All that's left to do on this is make the quilt tag.  I'd like to do that today but I'm out of steam.

I know my medication is too high now.  I've asked my Dr. 2 times now if we can drop the dosage a little bit.  And I was told no.  So, I have an appt. with a new Dr. in 2 weeks.  She's been highly recommended by several people.  I talked to her this morning and I can already tell that I like her a lot and will be comfortable with her.

Well, that's my new for today.  More tomorrow!

A Little Late On The Flea Market Finds And Another Sweet Treat Recipe!

Better late than never!  I've been busy as a bee these last few days.  A little too busy actually.  Been rearranging some things in my home, stitching, finishing and junkin!

On Sunday morning, Scott and I picked up my mom and we went to the Grayslake Flea Market & Antique Show.  The theme for this month was "Everything Vintage".  That's right up my alley!

Here are my Flea Market Treasures from Sunday.  As you know, I just love vintage hankies:





I only paid $1 for each of those hankies!  I really don't "need" any but I love them so I keep buying them.

Next, I found some buttons:



Check out those green rhinestone buttons!  They're mint and gorgeous.  So sparkly!  And, then a bagful of little white rose buttons.  Last but not least, I found some pink buttons.  I'm always on the looking out for old pink buttons.  If anyone has any they don't want, I will gladly give them a good home!

The little pink pieces are flowers.  It was hard to open them up so you could see them but when sewn down, they'll make these cool little flowers.

Next, a bag of lace and trim:



Again, I have plenty of lace but I just can't help myself!  I love it!!!!  And I adopt all unwanted lace and give it lots of love!!  :)

I just spent some time photographing our newest projects.  I'll save those photos for over the weekend.  Very time consuming actually.  But as you've probably noticed, my photos have improved greatly!

And speaking of time consuming, I've finally had enough of dial-up and have decided to get a high speed connection.  Next week, I'll make the phone calls and get the process going.  I like to read a lot of blogs (see my sidebar) and those blogs are very graphic intensive.  I get tired of waiting for pictures to load so high speed, here I come!

Let's see, what else have I been doing?  Oh, I baked this afternoon.  Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!  YUM!!!



I did indulge!  And I don't feel guilty in the least!  Ha, ha, ha!  The recipe is from one of my vintage baking booklets:



This little book is by Walter Baker & Company, Inc.  The copyright date is 1931.  And here is the recipe if you would like to try it:

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE

2 cups Cake Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (real butter)
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks, well beaten
3 squares Baker's Unsweetened chocolate melted
1 1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites stiffly beaten

Sift flour, once, measure, add baking powder, soda, and salt, and sift together 3 times.  Cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks and chocolate, then add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time.  Beat after each addit;ion until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Fold in egg whites.  Bake in 2 greased 9 inch layer pans in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes.

Well, I didn't make mine into cake.  I made mine into cupcakes with pink Cream Cheese frosting and they are quite yummy!  Do give them a try!

Over the weekend, I'll share a low carb sweet treat recipe.  Perfect for a warm Spring day!

For now, I'll leave you with a photo of my Nightmare:



I swear, there is no creature on this planet who can make themselves more comfy cozy than a cat!

Crazy Garden Quilt Blocks And More!

Grab a cup of tea and a snack, sit back, relax and enjoy!  I have loads of things to share today with lots of eye-candy pictures!

First, I finished up the stitching on Block #9 of my Crazy Garden Quilt:

I added the second Hummingbird a vintage bee pin that I bought at a flea market awhile back.

And here are all 9 blocks together:

I just have to find some elegant pink fabric that I like and I can put it together.  I'm really looking forward to hanging this in my Living Room.  As much as I love my Lucky quilt, it's time to look at something new for awhile.

I'll let you know when I find the perfect pink fabric.  Ya'll know, the border has to be pink!  I must say, this project certainly helped me to get through the Winter months.  Now that it's Spring, I'm looking forward to making a few new purses and some other fun projects.  And since this project helped to get through this past Winter, I already have a project picked out to help me get through next Winter.  But I'll share that one when we get to October.

For now, I thought I'd share today's Flea Market treasures with you.  Scott and I picked Mom up at 8:00 am and we headed out to Grayslake for the Flea Market & Antique Show.  Dad isn't into junkin' like we are.  He's usually bored there but Mom loves it and always seems to have a good time.

Anyway, first I found this big chunky tassels:

Wait until you see what I'm going to do with these!  And yes, glitter will be involved!

Next, I found this great glittery dress piece:

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use as is or if I'm going to take the beads and rhinestones off and just use them.  I have to think about it some more yet.  It was so sparkly I just couldn't pass it by.

I also found a doll head & hands, 2 embroidered napkins and a really pretty and unusual applique.  I'm sure you know those napkins will be cut up and used in something.  They were only $1 each and I thought they were so pretty!

Then I found 2 really pretty vintage hankies.  One has roses on it (I love pink) and the other one has flowers on it that made me think of the 4th of July:

I haven't decided on what I'll do with these yet.  Just add them to my stash for now.  I have a beautiful collection of vintage hankies but it just doesn't stop me from buying more when I see ones that I like.

I also found a beautiful vintage crocheted doily that I only paid 25 cents for but it needed a good washing so it's currently drying and needs to be pressed.  I think I'll just use that somewhere in my house.  It has those little roses crocheted on it but they're not quite pink.  More of a salmon color.  Quite antique looking and I couldn't pass that by for only 25 cents!

A now, for the latest creations from Mom and I!

These beautiful floral boxes, based on those little Victorian images of gift boxes, filled with flowers and doves sitting on top were lovingly made by Mom:

I just think these are so pretty!  And of course they have glitter on them!

Next, my Cherub Trinket Box:

I love making these!  What a lovely gift this would make along with a pretty piece of jewelry.  

I also did some gift tags yesterday at Mom's:

These are fun to make too.  The flowers came from a vintage greeting card.  The gold mesh is vintage too.  Scott's step mom found it for me at a garage sale.  She also picked up a roll of silver vintage mesh.

Last but not least, my Piece De Resistance:

A birdbath made from a vintage green glass candy dish!  It's one of a kind.  I picked up the candy dish awhile back and have been looking at it for a few weeks.  Suddenly, it looked like a birdbath to me so that's what I created with it.  

I can't tell you much fun it is to play with vintage items, thrift shop finds and yard sale do-dads.  I love to transform ordinary objects into new things and I love to re-purpose items.

For so many years, I wanted to work more with my hands.  I've always said, give me a pile of craft supplies and I will make something incredible with it.  Sitting behind the computer for so many hours a day didn't leave me with much time for doing crafts or art.  I was lucky to have time to stitch for myself.  Well, this past year has kind of taught me that you really have to do what you love and this is what I love doing.

These creations and more can be found here.

Have a great evening everyone!