Happy Easter!

A little late in the day but I just got home a few hours ago and have somewhat recuperated from my Easter flea market!

This flea market is a go no matter what the weather or what holiday it falls on.

Surprisingly there were a lot of vendors. I arrived when they were unpacking and left when they started to pack up.

A perfectly wonderful way to spend Easter for me!

I picked up...or rather... rescued this beautiful old quilt. It has a ton of wear and is somewhat tattered but it was lovingly hand appliqued and hand pieced by some woman years ago. It has such soft lovely colors and I just couldn't let it fade in the intense sun any longer

It reminds me of Spring and Easter!

The first time I walked by it was marked $25 but an hour or so later it was marked $15 so for 15 bucks it had a new home. 

There are plenty of nice areas yet and I can always fold it so that the non tattered flowers show and drape it over a chair or if I had the heart to cut it up, it would make pretty pillows although I don't think I could do that.

I look at it and wonder who the woman was that made this and what her story was.

I'll try to take pictures tomorrow of my 'loot' and post them this week.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

Flea Market Finds

Have you all figured out yet that I love flea markets and that I have a bit of an addiction to junk!

Seeing as the next flea market is coming soon (this coming Sunday) I thought I better get the awesome junk on my blog that I found at the last flea market!

Not to mention The Big Heap flea market will be in Tucson for the first time!

(normally in the Phoenix area)

April 11 and 12 at Old Tucson

I can hardly wait!

I found a whole box full of wooden hangers, just exactly what I was looking for because I needed more for my closet remake. I started digging thru them and then thought "what the heck, take them all!" My friend Corinne gave me such a sweet deal on them.

I picked up several vintage doll clothes at one vendor all half price. I've already packed some away to take back but I plan to frame this one for my sewing room as soon as I find a frame, all hand made and such a pretty velvet.

Then there was a couple that just came back from France. They lived there several years and had free shipping back to the states of all their belongings, they came to the flea market with a trailer full of stuff to sell.

I think half the flea market was at their space. They just let people unpack the boxes for them. I didn't dive in, just watched...too much mayhem!

I saw a woman had this butter churn but she decided NOT to buy it. It was 15 bucks and I have wanted one for 30 years so I grabbed it.

It is French for sure.

I scooped up on this Paul deLongpre picture

They had a ton of broken clock parts and I grabbed a few things including several clock faces that I already have displayed in my sewing room.

A load of silver plate for projects.

 And this oval picture frame.

I also bought 4 duvet covers from her. They are vintage French fabric and just lovely.

But they are in our storage trailer set aside for me to bring back to MN, it's pushing 90 degrees and I wasn't in the mood to walk down the steep hill to get them, next time I will and post them. I haven't decided if I want to keep them or sell them in my Etsy shop.

The crystals were a steal from another vendor. I took them all and he gave me a fantastic price. There are 86 crystals! That ought to keep me happy for a while!

I have a hard time passing up vintage sewing, crochet and old Christmas boxes along with a simple little Melmac bowl. I found some vintage silk thread spools in the sewing box that I love to collect.

And lastly a small wagon wheel, not terribly old but still cool since I'm adding a touch of western feel to the house.

And my orchid. I purchased this last winter here in bloom, brought it back to MN and then back here this winter. As soon as it got back here it started to shoot out a flower stem. I've never been able to get one to bloom! It must like the sunny days here.

I did a lot of painting the last several days. All I seem to do is work and of course go to flea markets. I try to take time to blog but by the evening all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV! I'm pooped! When I get back to MN I'll take a month off to rest up.

But the house feels more like our house now. It's comfy and homey feeling and I'll try to take some pictures of finished areas before I go.

I wish I had a smart phone for The Big Heap...toying with the idea of lugging my big camera around.

I have no idea what to expect but it looks like lots of junk for sale and lots of things remade into something else. It should be interesting and lots of ideas.

Thanks for stopping and hopefully I'll have some pictures of The Big Heap!

Linking to:

Vintage Inspiration Party #183

(Thanks Linda!)

Still at it.....paint, paint and more paint!

Well, here I am about a month later. Still painting and working on this house.

I have accomplished a lot but yet at times I feel like there is no end to it.

I have most of the outside painted and more than half of the inside.

I still have to power wash the back porch wall and at least prime it before I go. I have to also at least paint the kitchen ceiling and the walls above the cabinets.

Too many rooms to work on, not enough time and doing it all myself (while Mr. Wild is back in MN). Thank goodness I like to paint!

I decided to take pictures of my tiny sewing room which is not finished but there are 2 areas that are 'getting there'. 

Warning...lots of pictures ahead....

I did get the crystals on my chandelier and I made a burlap cover for the chain. Not 100% satisfied though. Still wondering if I would like it better painted a nice creamy white and maybe the dark burlap was the wrong choice...any ideas out there? 

I do not want to paint it a color, either I'll leave it this way or cream and wipe a little stain on it to soak into the crevices.

What do you think? I need help.

I love how this cast iron hanger turned out with the vintage laces.

And of course my second cushion spring makes me happy to look at.

I'm very pleased with the top of the chest of drawers.

I found the very old store sign at the flea market here but forgot to include it in that post.

So this is one corner of the room more or less finished but I do have something that will go to the left of the big cubby after I spray paint it and I need to do something with that old display sign.

Now onto the closet.

I took off the cheap sliding doors...well I ripped them out...they were so stubborn and I don't care if they never go back in. Removing them made the room feel so much larger.

I placed my old chest of drawers inside and replaced the cheap shelf that was sagging above the clothes hangers with solid wood and made it a few inches deeper to accommodate more stuff.

The color scheme of turquoise, brown and cream was purely an accident and I LOVE it!

The chest belonged to my Grandpa and it was cheaply made back then, probably in  the 50's. In the very late 60's I "antiqued" it. Back when the craze was to give it a coat of paint, let it dry, then paint on a brown glaze and drag a rag or wax paper or a paint brush through the brown glaze, then using a toothbrush with the brown glaze on it...splatter spots all over it...not very pretty at all!

Several years ago I painted it a solid greenish turquoise. Dull and boring. I now wanted it to be a creamy white and I thought it might be pretty distressed so that the turquoise came through, did that and loved the look plus some of the old cream and brown colors came through.

I then began placing aqua/turquoise things I had on hand around and on it and with a little dark brown wood tones I decided I liked the combination.

I love the old hangers I've been picking up here at the flea market...especially the Disneyland Hotel Anaheim, CA is so fun. And what a perfect way to hang my fabrics and see what I have at a glance.

I painted and sanded a few round cardboard boxes and added my friend Stephanie's crochet trim to the shelf front.

On the right side I hung the vintage apron, perfect colors, then some vintage pom pom trim and a few crochet garments and a vintage dress. Behind that are my tracings for making rug hooking patterns for my business. Now they are easily accessible but still hidden behind pretty things.

The rest of the room is still in need of some tweaking and may not get done this time. Soon it will be time to start packing to drive back to Minnesota...if it ever quits snowing there.

The view out my sewing room window looking over the valley and at part of the Rincon Range.

Almost the same view off the front porch, a little more to the right. The desert is in full bloom and just beautiful. I almost swerve off the road looking at wildflowers while driving! We had so much rain this winter.

A red Cardinal and a 'black' Cardinal. The black cardinal is called a Phainopepla and does not sing like a red Cardinal but what fun to catch them both on a branch at the same time. We also have silver Cardinals called Pyrrhuloxia that do sing just like a red Cardinal but have less red on them.

And my 3 dollar roses from the grocery store yesterday. I bought 3 bunches!

After they are spent I'll hang them to dry.

I keep plugging along. It is fun but I do wish I could get more accomplished before I have to leave.

I did plant a winter garden this year and it's flourishing, lots of lettuce and spinach, the peas should bloom soon and I may have a couple of tomatoes in a week. The forecast for the weekend is 90 and 91, a little warm for this time of year so I hope it doesn't last too long.

I wish I had more time to visit my fellow bloggers, I know I'm missing all kinds of cool things and I thought I would be able to get to them but it's just not happening.

I feel the pressure to get as much done as I can before I start packing and closing up the house.

The winter went too fast!!! (I would never say that if I was still in Minnesota though!)

When I get back to MN I will take a much needed break and then get back to my blogging friends!

Thanks for sticking with me!

Linking to:

Knick of Time 

My Salvaged Treasures

Beyond the Picket Fence

for Vintage Inspiration Party

Flea Market Junking Finds....getting caught up with my crazy finds!!!

Starting with my most favorite find in a long time...Redwork quilt blocks! 15 of them and 1 more that is half finished.

I LOVE these and what a steal I got on them!

This is the initials of the woman that embroidered these along with the date!

So cool!

The same woman had all of these beautiful lace pieces.

The 2 satin pieces with lace trimming are sleeves probably for a childs dress?

And a good sized box full of vintage fabric pieces and large enough to actually use.

Seeing as I've been a quilter for more years than I want to say...this is going to be fun. I already have an idea which quilt pattern I'm going to use this fabric in.

I never, never pass up a box of old buttons!

The large frame was a steal and the smaller frames are cast iron, the big one from the January flea market and the 2 small from the February flea...the following stuff is from February.

 I found MY mirror! "THE" mirror I have been looking for!

Sorry for the poor picture but it's not hanging on the wall yet...obviously...

It's 48" wide, etched and has just enough silver loss to make it even better.

A woman was there from the state of Virginia, she comes for the big gem show each year, loads up her van with antiques to sell and then loads up her van with her jewelry supplies to take back to Virginia.  I found most everything at her booth. I was so thrilled after shopping with her I didn't really care if I found anything else!

Love the little green child's chair and the ponies!

The metal cabinet I walked away from but then decided I would regret it if I didn't get it.

Those drawers are going to come in handy for keeping things organized (not from the Virginia vendor)

 But this came from Virginia and I love this thing for some odd reason...I have no idea what it's original use was....it's heavy cast iron and has the most beautiful turquoise chippy color.

This is sitting on the chest of drawers I redid in my sewing room that is a work in progress which I hope to post sometime yet this winter.

I grabbed a few old photos for another cushion spring I'm playing with...still needs some work but I got a kick out of these. The one with the old car was taken in New Mexico Christmas 1931, that's my favorite.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

I'm still trying to get caught up with all this work so I can do something fun. Flea market one day a month is fun but I need more than 1 fun day per month. Still painting the house, ran out of paint but plan to finish it up this week. Yeah!!!!

I am dying to look at your blogs and see what everyone has been doing! I know I'm missing out on a lot of really cool projects. Your blogs is where I get my inspiration from!

Stay warm!

Linking to:

Bella Rosa Antiques for Let's Talk Vintage

Thanks Jillian!

Valentine's Day 2015

Just thought I'd post my wool applique string of hearts I made several years ago. I dug them out of the drawer this morning, just in time! 

I used little bits of vintage lace and buttons and a piece of vintage lace to hang them from the braided cotton stringer.

(They were published in Create & Decorate magazine several years ago)

Happy Valentine's Day!