The White Garden Fat Quarter Bundle Giveaway...

Since I am going to be away this week, i thought it would be fun to run a giveaway contest. I have put together a bundle of vintage bed linen fat quarters. All of the prints are on a white background. They are cotton polyester blends. There are 9 fat quarters in this fun bundle.

This is how to enter to win. There are a few ways to do so. Each comment will put your name in the "pot".

1. Tell me what you would do with this bundle if you won.

2.Become a follower of my blog if you are not one or comment if you already are.

3.purchase something from my shop over the course of the contest and mention it here.

4.mention this contest on your blog.

No more than 4 entries per person:)

This giveaway will end Monday, March 7th.

Blessings!!!

15 Years!!!! And Counting...

Our 15th wedding Anniversary is upon us! Amazing how fast it has gone! Matt and I are getting away for a few days starting tomorrow. We are heading back up to Door County, which is where we go every year to get away-it is so peaceful and slow placed . Usually we stay in a bed and breakfast, we have a few favorites but this year we are going to stay in a beautiful cabin at one of the bed and breakfasts. I cannot wait!! But on our way we are going to explore and just go where ever we want-we will stay somewhere tomorrow night whenever we feel like stopping. This trips marks the 1 year anniversary of being able to get a good digital camera, so I am looking forward to taking some pictures while we are gone now that I have had a year to get to know the camera.

Anyways, I will keep the shop running, but do not know how often I will have internet while we are away. So I will answer questions, process refunds and such whenever possible. I will be shipping all orders up until today, before we leave tomorrow. Any orders this evening through Friday will be shipped out on Monday. Have a blessed week!

Adding a Little Light....

I have been looking for an old drum shade for over 6 months now off and on. Well...I finally found one! Wahoo! Here it is...

I paid under $2 for it. I knew I want to cover it in a red of some sort(my favorite color). So , on a trip to the thrift store yesterday, I found a pillow sham in just the right print.

I cut the sham up and pieced it in one long strip.

I used a spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the shade. I did a little at a time smoothing it as I went.

After the fabric was in place I folded the edged down twice like a hem, using the spray adhesive to attach it to the inside of the shade.

I still hadn't found a hanging plug in socket, but i figured a quick trip aroun the corner to Menards would fix that. But guess what-the man working the lighting area looked stumped when I asked if they had any and what he showed me would not work. So, I left Menards after looking at all the "electrical lighting" stuff to help me brainstorm how i could make my own. But I decided to make a quick stop on the way home to Goodwill. I made a bee line to the lamps and found the ugliest, cheapest ceramic lamp base and grabbed a few other things and headed home determined to make this lamp happen.

Next came the fun part...

I took that ugly peachy lamp straight out to the garage, put it in a plastic bag and grabbed the hammer. I had a good time taking a few wacks at it until all that was left was broken plaster and a socket on a cord!!!

I still need to do a little more work on it when my love gets home tomorrow and can lend some advice on rewiring a bit, but I have it up over our dining table and Love it!!

Cost of this project....

drum shade-$1.60

pillowcase for fabric-$1.00

ugly lamp needed for wiring-$2.00

spray adhesive-already had;)==$4.60!!!!!!

What 30 Minutes in a Thrift Store Can Accomplish...

Who says that being frugal cannot be an absolute joy to execute! There is something magical in the hunt...the hunt for beauty, function, a need, inspiration, or uniqueness. There is a fun challenge to find something worn, tattered, or forgotten that has hidden potential. There is laughter to be found in objects that make no sense but show the comic side of an individual. There is a sigh of relief when the budget can only stretch so far and the needs seem to outweigh it -if purchased in a "real" store...but you find it for pennies in a "treasure" store. There is playfulness, creativity, and intrique to be captured among those messy shelves. Yes, I am a thrift store junkie and happy to be so. My kids have grown up affectionately calling these stores the "treasure" store. My trips thrifting are for everything from the normal mundane things like kiddos growing out of their jeans every other month(or so it seems) to furniture(my very favorite pieces in my house have been aquired at thrift stores) to fabric(I very rarely even walk in the door of a fabric store anymore). I will pick up clothing to make patterns from, recycle the fabric, or redesign into one of a kind pieces for family and friends. I have found beautiful frames for capturing precious family photos that I could never have afforded to get professionally framed. There is no better place to find unique storage solutions that fit both form and function from funky old suitcases to charming old enamelware pots. Even my antique blueware china was thrifted-squeal! My children eat through books and our walls are piled with treasured stories and adventured that only cost a dime or quarter but fed their imagination beyond what could be measured in dollars. With all of that said, I thought I would share one of my 30 minute trips to a thrift shop and how it takes care of so many areas of our lives.

Here is my one load of laundry and endless possibilities from my trip!

Some fabric yardages for the shop. New and old.

Two vintage slips for the shop. Such yummy colors!

A cotton top that has an amazing bold design that I will use for quilting!

Two vintage cross stitched aprons. And again-these will be put in the shop or used to repurpose.

And 4 pillowcases for the pillowcase bundles I offer in the shop. Perfect for wee one's pants, dresses, quilting and so on!

My girls love fun socks! So, they always greet me at the door to see if I have scored a new wild pair for them! Today, I found one for Bell. Oh the joy in simple pleasures!

A fleece baby blanket that will work wonderfully for the lining in my felted wool mittens!

Three new sheets to cut into fat quarters for the shop.
Two fun sets of vintage cloth napkins. I will either reuse them in sewing projects or list them in the shop. Still have decided:)

Some fun plaid shirts for the littlest and biggest men in my life:)

An old globe for a continuing project in the kiddos rooms. I made a mobile over Noah's bed from all sizes of vintage globes. The girls have requested one of these as well. Couple dollars for a broken down globe is exactly what I need for this!

This is what Noah's mobile looks like . So I am in the process of collecting for the girls.

Finally!! I have found a drum shade! I have been looking for over 6 months for one of these. I have had plans to recover one.

Here is the finished project-yeah!!!. Here is the how to on how I recovered the shade.

A beautiful ceramic bowl for the kitchen-all the more reason to eat fruit all day long!

Oh! And I almost forgot! I also found a brand new pair of aeropostale jeans(labels matter little to me as far as vanity-but I will say that quality many times is found in the better labels and are therefore a good buy) for my oldest son-and he said-hey-they will fit for at least a month:) Sorry-he refuses to allow me to take pics of him-stinker totally!

New Goodies In Stock...

I was able to do a nice big round up this week from the area thrift shops. It resulted in a pretty good fabric raid for the shop. It is always fun to be able to get a good number of "new" reclaimed fabrics in the shop. Here is a quick peek of some of the prints already stocked.

This is such a pretty vintage sheet. I have this in yardage and will also use some of it for Fat Quarter bundles. I left the hemline intact for the yardage because it is so perfect for pj pants or skirts, etc. These can be found in the fabric section here.
Here are some more modern looking prints. They were all cut from bed linens. They are also in yardages and some will be in fat quarter bundles as well. You can find these here.
These two prints taken from bed linens have a sweeter girlie look. One in firework sparkles and the other is happy hearts. These are in yardage and FQ. These can be found here as well.
These two fabrics are thrifted but off the bolt cottons. Perfect for quilting. One is a kimono collection and the other is a vintage garden print. You can find these here.
This fun stack is all vintage prints. Some double knit, some flocked, there is a fabulous woven fabric and so on. All yardage.
I left a few of my finds intact as full sheets. Perfect for curtains, quilts or to use as intended. One is even dead stock and still new in it's package. The sheets are here.
And then here is a treasure! I found different sets of vintage star wars bed linens. Although one already sold! The other is here.

Just a few of this weeks finds to pass on. Happy hunting my thrifting friends!

MAKES ME JOYFUL...

My daughter Madison took this picture of Noah and Ellie at nap time. It just warmed my heart to come across it when I was downloading pictures. Thank you my sweet Madi for capturing such a precious moment for me.

UPCYCLED BED LINENS SALE TODAY ONLY...

UPCYCLED BED LINENS ARE ON SALE TODAY....

THEY ARE 20% OFF. HAPPY SHOPPING.

FiNaLLy FiNiShEd....

I have been working through some unfinished quilting this last week attempting to work through some struggles which I will talk about in a later post....but the struggles have caused me to go back to some older projects that needed to be finished. Maybe some of you are like me, as far as sewing goes, there are different types of projects for different types of circumstances. Let me explain a bit better what I mean. Most of the time, my sewing fills a purpose or need in life, and although it appears random, I do not believe it actually is. Sure, I will make something for someone else who has requested it, so I am not fully motivated by inspiration or need . But there are times quite often that I find peace or rest while my hands work fabric into something new. And while I find most of my fun in the designing part of sewing, there are those distinct moments where all I crave is to sit at the machine and turn that flat piece of a quilt top into something full of texture and coziness- I need that new quilt to wrap around someone I love. This week, my brother in law visited and while there is the change in schedule due a company, there was also a bit of a hush that seemed to give me a chance to bring my machine upstairs to steal a cozy corner to spend few days quilting while some outing with the older kids and Uncle Ben meant a quieter house. Here is one of the projects I finally finished for Noah. I had started this quilt hoping to have it done for his birthday last year, but it did not happen. The funny thing is, the timing seemed just right. Laying the quilt on him last night while he was sleeping so peaceful, after I had stitched that last stitch, seemed perfect. He was struggling in the middle of the night after I had fallen asleep, and when I awoke to him, it turned out to be a quick remedy to get back to sleep and even sleep in a bit this morning.

This was last year when after I had put the top together. Noah insisted that I hang it next to his train table so that he could study the characters.

Here is Noah at his 3rd birthday. The change that occurs in one year is so amazing to me!

And here is the finished quilt and the almost 4 year old little man in our lives.

A Tea Towel Project Finished...

I thought I better post this before I forget. I finally decided to take one of my favorite tea towels down off my inspiration wall to make a tote that I had planned for it. Here are the fabrics I chose to put with it.

I found a beautiful old pillowcase that had a perfect sized floral center to use as the tote's lining.

And the handles were made from a coordinating purple floral design from some vintage linens.

The lavender color is such a treat because I have found that it is hard to come across purple in vintage linens.

Here is the finished tote. And as hard as it was to do so, I am parting with it. it is in the shop:)

WeEkEnD sALe-FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY....

The weekend sale has begun....

Everything is 25% off. Happy Shopping!!

Thursday's Upcycled Linens Sale...

Yep! It is Thursday again-time for those bed linens to be on sale:) All upcycled linens in the shop are 20% off today. Happy shopping.