Vintage Beaded Baar and Beards Collars

Scott and I went to the Wilmot Flea Market yesterday morning and I found some treasure!  4 vintage beaded Baar and Beards Collars:

Can you believe, I only paid $10.00 for all 4 of them?  I bought one a few years ago at an antique shop and paid $20.00 for it.  And no, I haven't used it on anything yet.  But my plan is to make purses with these!

If you would like to read an article on the history of Baar and Beards you can find it here.  Be sure to scroll down a little bit to the bottom of the questions and answers section.

My current stitching project is just about done. I need bead the butterflies:

Here are a few close up photos:

The blackwork area with my tatted flowers.  Yes, I made the flowers myself.

The dangling hearts are embroidered with Watercolor threads from The Caron Collection.

I bought this pretty button with the violets from an Etsy shop.

Hand painted lace trim, embellished with sequins and beads.  The vintage lady image is embroidered with silk and organza ribbon.  I used seed beads for the green leaves.

I'll have this finished up either tonight or tomorrow and then I'll post another photo.

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!

Purple Roses

I finished up stitching my Eagle Door Hanger yesterday:

It's very colorful and very Patriotic!

I started a new piece with a purple rose:

The rose is from a vintage handkerchief.  I love the soft colors on this one!  I'll do some stitching on this later today.

I have some new door pillows that mom made so I'll start adding them to the shop today and post photos tomorrow.

My plans for the week are to sew up my 4th of July hanging pillows and to sew some new blocks since I'm down to just one or two in my stitching basket. 

Today is opening day at Wilmot Flea Market in Wilmot, Illinois.  I'm going to straighten up and then Scott and I head up there to walk around for a little while.  Maybe I'll find some goodies!