Wednesday, May 28, 2008


Don't you just love Peonies? I think Peonies have got to be one of my most favorite flowers, lush, fragrant and the colors are so vibrant.

This has been a busy week. This is the final week of school, tomorrow will be my last day until September. It will be so nice to have the summer off.

We've also been busy creating my craft studio. We are still in the middle of this project, but I'm having a great time. I don't know if my husband is, but I am. He's doing such a great job!

To start, we had to clean out this room. That was a major project. Someone in this house has a big fishing collection. (o: Combining that with the rest of the clutter that had collected in this room made for a large project. I have to tell you, my studio is not big, only about 8'x10', but I am so excited to have a space where I can start projects and not have to clean up when I'm in the middle of them.

We took five pieces of furniture to Monticello and two large bags to Goodwill. Boy, does that feel good! Here are a few pictures of the before, minus a major part of the fishing collection.

More pictures to come!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

On The Prowl!


Don't you just love old millinery flowers. I'm afraid that this is one of the items I have a hard time re-selling, especially the pastel colors. They are not so easy to get your hands on so I'm afraid they stay with me.


Yesterday we hit the road again, checking out estate sales. We didn't purchase a lot of small things but we were on the look out for a table for my hubbies computer and we did find that, at our last sale. This sale looked to be a good one, the house had that look, a little run down and a good neighborhood. When I walked into the house it looked like a lot of things were gone but I didn't give up hope I headed into the bedroom where I spotted a great cubby cabinet, perfect for my sewing room and only $3.00, wow what a deal. With those kind of prices I was hoping to find more. I headed to the basement, I love basements, I think that is where people put things they are tired of and don't want them on the main level. Usually it's old chippy painted furniture, just what I like! There wasn't a whole lot in this basement but under a pile of items was the table perfect for the computer and guess what $2.00. You can't beat that!

Next, we headed for the builders re-cycle store. This is a store where they have old windows, doors, everything you can imagine from houses that were torn down, a very fun place! We ended up finding a cute bookshelf. Instead of hauling the shelf all the way to our truck. We were told we could drive around the corner and pick it up. Yeah! as I'm the one who helps with the hauling. As we drove up with the truck piled high with the booty of the day, the man working there asked if we are dropping off donations. I quess we did look like the hillbillies with our old furniture stacked up in the back of the truck. We all had a good laugh! Oh, the life of a "shabby gal".




Today we are working on getting my craft room set up, lots to do, but it will be so nice to get it out of the kitchen!
Hope everyone has a nice Memorial Day Weekend!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Farm Chicks - June 7 & 8

Yeah!!! I'm going to Farm Chicks! My hubby booked the motel and we are on our way. I've never been there but it sounds like so much fun! I'm looking forward to seeing many of the ladies whose blogs I enjoy.

A couple of my friends, a pair of very talented ladies, will be there from Gossamer Designs. They combine Cowgirl Style with Bohemian Chic making for beautiful, original clothing. If you are going to be at the show, be sure to stop by and look at their lovely, one of a kind items.

Lisa, from A Thing For Roses will be there as well. She too is a lady with remarkable talent. I love reading her blogs and visiting her space at Monticello Antique Marketplace.

Then there is Heather from The Past Present Collection. I can't say how thoroughly I've enjoyed perusing through her wonderful photos and reading her blogs. She is a highly gifted lady with a very inviting website. I want to learn how to take photograghs like hers.

My hubby and I will be celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary that week-end, he's such a good sport, I'm so grateful that he appreciates these things as much as I do. So, maybe I'll see you there!!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

It Should Be Laundry Day!


Ok! Admit it! I can't be the only one out there with laundry that has been sitting on the couch for a few days! What a site, this has got to be one of my least favorite things to do, but when it's done it feel so good!
Well, instead of folding clothes I decided to hit a few estate sales this week-end. On Friday I went to a sale where I was able to purchase a bookshelf. The color was great, a creamy white, with just the right chippy paint. I'm hoping within the next couple of months to turn our "computer, man's room" into a sewing and craft room. Hubby doesn't mind and it will eliminate all my fabrics and paper from creeping out all over the kitchen. But, more on that later. Here is a picture of the bookshelf, it's still in the truck so the picture isn't that great.



Another find this week-end was this sweet child's book, "Grunty Grunts", the pictures are so sweet. The copyright date is 1921. Here are a few pictures from the book.






Well, after taking a look at my laundry picture, I couldn't take it so I waved my magic wand over the pile and finished it!



Much better!



I'll tackle those darn socks tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Finally Done!

Boy! It is beautiful here in Portland. The weatherman said it would be nice today. I didn't think he would be right but it finally cleared up and it's gorgeous. Tomorrow we're hearing 90 degrees, a little too hot for me. I'm not complaining though, it's not rain and I am so glad for that.
After school today, I headed back to Monticello where I finished loading up the items I wasn't going to be using (because I couldn't squeeze another thing in my space) Now the Garden Show items are cleaned up and packed away! Yeah!
Here are a few pictures of our space at the shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Clean-Up At The Shop

It's been a busy day today. My hubby and I have been breaking down our garden space at Monticello. The show is over and now comes the clean up. I've been taking many of the garden items and transferring them in my booth in the store. It's been good to be able to revamp our booth and boy is it full. I'll be sure to take pictures tomorrow to show you the end result.
I also just wanted to say "Thank You!" to you sweet ladies that have left comments on my blog. It's nice to know you are out there!
I wanted to leave you with a few pictures, as I always enjoy pictures. This is an area in my house where I have a collection of vintage marriage certificates. I just love the roses on these. There is also a collection of old wedding items, it's been fun to collect.
Thank you again for stopping by!


Saturday, May 10, 2008

Yard Debris Day

Well, today wasn't the most exciting day but it was one of those days where you do one of the things you have wanted to do for a long time! The neighborhood was sponsoring a free yard debris day. A day I don't like to miss because it means clean-up day around my house, yeah!

I have to say it kills me to go there because I'm afraid I will see something old thrown away and I can't get my hands on it to retrieve it. We had to drop our son off on the way there and wouldn't you know I saw a wonderful metal slider on the top of someones pick-up. As we were going by, my son says, "Mom, don't even think about it! " Teenagers, you've got to love them! To make a long story short. We dropped him off ,came back to the drop off as the slider was being put in the dumpster. I jumped out of the truck just in time to save it from an untimely death, it was a close one! I just love it! A little white paint, pretty floral cushions, my best find of the day! Oh yes, I also got rid of a lot of yard debris. Overall a pretty good day!


Sunday, May 4, 2008

Lilacs in Spring!

Today is just beautiful, the sun is shining flowers are blooming and my hay fever is having a field day! I'm sure many of you are experiencing the runny nose, itchy eyes etc... I'm not going to complain though, I've missed the sun so much. My son even picked a lilac branch for me and left it on my ironing board, what a sweetie. I had mentioned to him the other day that I was wondering if our lilacs were in bloom, and it looks like they are! After a totally frustrating sewing afternoon, what a nice surprise.

Yesterday my hubby and I were out on the prowl again looking for treasure, unfortunately it wasn't real successful, but that also means we didn't spend a lot of money, which isn't a bad thing either. I did hit a sale that was a digger, my favorite. I know a lot of people don't like to dig through stuff, but I think those are the best. I did manage to find these old spools of yarn, it's the strangest yarn I've ever seen, some of it had never been used. It's fun to get a whole group of something, if you know what I mean.

A close up, maybe someone out there knows a little about this yarn.

Well,I better get moving, hubbies making bread and I thought a batch of chocolate chip cookies, with a movie sounded pretty good! And since I'll be making the cookies, I better go for now!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Vintage Sewing!

A couple of week-ends ago, my husband and I were out doing our usual estate shopping. On our way to the next sale we passed a garage sale. I normally pass up the garage sales and head straight towards the estate sales as many times it takes a lot of garage sales to find what I'm looking for. This one was different something caught my eye, I think it was the vintage clothing, I had to stop. The first thing I spotted were corks, I needed some for vintage bottles I have. Next, I spotted old Christmas ornaments, a full box! Wow and for $5.00, I was so excited. Next, I headed to the deck where my husband was gathering up vintage trim for me. I have to say he's getting pretty good at finding what I like. There were boxes and boxes of vintage fabric and trims to go through. The lady selling the items told me these boxes were from her 90 year old aunt who enjoyed making doll dresses. I had so much fun looking through all these boxes and filling up bags, you noticed the "s" on bags. Here are a few of the pictures of some of the trim and fabrics I found.

Here are a bunch of vintage baby cards that I also found. I love vintage paper items.



Well, I'll sign off for now, tonights a movie night so we will be watching "No Reservations" it looks like it should be a good one! Later!