Adding a Little Something

My craze to purge and organize my home is slowing down.  I have finished most of my to do areas. There is still a little more to go in the basement thanks to having to replace the sump pump.  I caught the pump overheating so I caught the problem before anything bad happened.  The good part is that I was "forced" to organize and clear up the basement.  Austin went through his stuff and has already made some money selling what he doesn't want.  (Ethan is in for it when he gets home on spring break.  He has his things to go through).

I had cleared out the front hallway when I got rid of books that were in a small bookcase.  I'm saving the bookcase for when Austin goes to college.  It is the perfect size for a dorm room.  Anyway, it was so bare and I hated it!  So, I stopped in at Anew Interiors Anew on the Woodstock Square because they were having 20% off everything in the store.  I found the perfect two tiered small table.  It was the perfect size for that space.  I wanted something tall also and it fit that requirement.  The best part is that it was $35.

This kind of table is kind of hard to display on but the cream colored pottery vases look really cute on it.  I added a small doily on top and some flowers to complete the look.  It's even cuter up close!

Sales are stopping to pop up.  Remember to add March 12 to your calendar for the Elgin High School flea market.  I'm pricing and boxing up treasures to sell there.  Also, for the month of February, all linens are 20% off at the Carriage House.  I took quite a few there yesterday.

Vintage tablecloths are piled up! My space is really full....

Happy treasure hunting!

Quilting Notes

My friend Cecilia and I went to hear Mary Fons http://www.maryfons.com/ speak at the Woodstock Opera House http://www.woodstockoperahouse.com/operahouse yesterday.  Mary is the daughter of Marianne Fons of Fons and Porter quilting fame.  She was an amazing speaker.

The audience was a mix of quilters and non quilters.  She did a fantastic job of keeping everyone interested and she even convinced a few to become a quilter.  I was very interested in hearing about her fabric line since I love vintage fabric.  She brought along quite a few of her quilts so we could OOH and AHH over them.  They were fantastic.  I haven't quilted in a while but ideas are now forming for future projects.

A few days ago I stopped at the Sparrows Nest in McHenry and found a great yard of fabric and a really stained vintage tablecloth.  The tablecloth had the most brilliant pink flowers on it that I couldn't pass it up.  I rarely shy away from a stained tablecloth.  This one also had a fray beginning on one edge but I knew that I could still use a part of it to make a pillow so I bought it.  I soaked it over night in hot water with OxyClean and the stains came out!  It is a beautiful tablecloth that I can't part with.  (It will look even better when it's ironed).

I seem to be moving towards pink colored items lately.  Pink just seems to brighten up a room.

Happy treasure hunting!

January is for....organizing

Happy New Year!

January for me is usually when I go overboard organizing.  This year is no exception.  I feel so much better after I have purged, rearranged and organized my house.  I can then get ready for what the new season of sales has to offer.

I had always planned on selling the vintage young adults/adults books that I had been collecting for years.  I finally did!  Many of the books are up now on Ebay for sale and some are at the Carriage House.  The bulk of them I will bring to a flea market that I plan on selling at on March 12 at the Elgin High School in Elgin Illlinois.  It is a great flea market with everything from vintage to new and crafts.

The bookcase now holds some of my milk glass collection that I condensed from other areas of the house.

I added a Hull vase collection that I hadn't planned on starting but couldn't pass up as I found them. The prices were too good.  We also have a large collection of paperweights that was paired down.  A recent obsession of mine has been silverplated pitchers so I added a few to the bookcase as well as a few ironstone pitchers.  I know I will keep tweaking it but for now I love how it is open and clean.

I took some advice from my friend Cecilia and didn't sell my favorite barn.  I sold a few at the Carriage House but she advised me not to sell my favorite one.  I am so glad that I listened to her because it looks so great on top of the bookcase holding two cow figures.

I am pleased that one new years resolution has been completed.  The bookshelf has been reorganized which allowed me to reorganize other parts of my living room/dining room.  Of course there's still more organizing to be done, but I'm on my way!

Mark your calendars for March 12 for the flea market at the Elgin High School at 1200 Maroon Dr in Elgin Illinois from 9-4 with 8am being early admission.  There is a fee to enter.

Happy treasure hunting!