Happy Halloween!

(That's me and my little Lego Mindstorm Robot ...)

It's D-O-N-E!

Drumroll ... I finished the tablecloth today! I couldn't get a good shot of it this evening because Daisy seems to need to give it a little more love before it goes away (but good news, Daisy ... Hillary said we can share it!)

I was doing a little calculating ... there are over 1,570 inches of ruffles on this tablecloth! I promise to post a really good photo when it's on the display table in 2 weeks! I'm not one to toot my own horn often, but this piece is GORGEOUS!

Posted a lot of one-of-a-kind paper goodies to the store today ... check it out! www.thepaperfleamarket.com

Charming fashion beauties

Just posted a bunch of these little paper fashion digests. These rekindle fond memories of trips to the fabric store with my mom when I was little ... love them (and her, too!) www.thepaperfleamarket.com

Nifty finds

Took a break from the tablecloth today to go to one of my favorite annual rummage sales! To give you an idea of scale, I was there from 10 til 2:30 and still felt a bit rushed! So here are a few of my finds ... Love the box of shiny red anagrams

A vintage Brenda Starr hardback ... look at the endpapers ... shwish-shwoo, Brenda!

And 2 things that won't be posted on the store, but I'm so giddy over finding them that I just had to share ...

This fabulous "Rij-o-matic" wooden ironing board (it will go great with a little old i'rn, as the checkout dude prounounced it, I found a few weeks ago) ... Daisy's thinking, what is this thing?!

And this perfectly rusted out old what-I-think-once-was-a-cooler ... it's oversized and will be perfect to store rolls of vintage wallpaper ;)

Taking shape ...

Can you get an idea where I'm going with the tablecloth? Did I mention it's for a 46" x 111" tabletop?! I'm starting to understand what it must be like to work on a wedding dress. Still having a ball going thru my stash of remnants and turning them into something beautiful. See the chenille coverlet? And some shiny upholstery fabric? L-O-V-E!!!

Tablecloth progress report

I started with a huge piece of muslin and cut it to size, then marked where I want certain pieces to go with a pencil (this involved laying the whole piece out on the floor and working with a yardstick, a looooong retractable metal measuring tape and a pencil). Then I started cutting and stitching together my odds-n-ends fabrics to make strips. I put the whole thing on the guest room bed earlier today ... look who found it this evening :) My biggest concern now is that the muslin will not be able to support the weight of the fabric panels I'm attaching. I talked to my mom and she gave me a few ideas ... all I can do is try. I'm still so excited about this project! I think it's going to be beautiful!

Current obsession

My current obsession (aside from the on-going love affair with vintage wallpaper) is a huge tablecloth I'm making for my friend Hillary of Chick's Picks (www.chickspicksbyhillary.com) See this pile of vintage fabrics, bedspreads and scraps? This is the starting off point ... I can hardly wait to dive in and cut and start stitching ... I'll post photos as I make progress ... I'm so excited about this project!

A real horror story ...

When it comes to vintage treasures, the worst words I ever thought I could hear were "Oh, I just threw out a bunch of those last week." Until today. I've made a new friend who is supplying me with all the beautiful vintage wallpaper I've started posting. I'm very excited that I'll be working with her to get a lot more (so if you're a wallpaper junkie like me, stayed tuned!) Anyway, today we were talking and she told me her aunt, who has a wood-burning stove, was taking some of the old rolls (that she figured nobody would ever want) and BURNING them! Oh my gosh, my heart almost stopped! I'm grateful for the rolls I've gotten that are not charred! So anybody out there who thinks nobody will ever want that old paper junk you've got ... give me a call!

Pictured above is how I'm using some of the scraps in my journal ...

Book bundles

I've got so many little books in need of good homes, so I'm posting "Book Bundles" on the store today. These little orphans have no covers and the titles vary. Most are pretty beat up, but are perfect for any number of projects in which a great piece of old paper is needed (I even like to use some of my pages for wrapping paper). So if you'd like to give an old book a good home, hop on over to http://www.thepaperfleamarket.com/