An Update

We are back from our Memorial Day weekend away. We had a great time, did lots of fun stuff, but now it's time to "get busy!" I have less than two weeks til Farm Chicks and can you believe this? Isabel and I are doing a garage sale this weekend with some of our antique dealer friends. We cleaned out our booth and are getting rid of our junk that has been sitting around. I am also going to pull things out of the garage pile that I know I will never get around to fixing up. I am either ambitious or crazy, can't decide which one. The upside of doing the sale this weekend is that hopefully I will make some money to take with me to Spokane.

Here is a picture of my thrifting finds from last week. I had a really good day. Hit my usual thrift stores. Most of these will go to FC with me. Click on picture for a close up. My favorite finds of the day were the desk, pink clock (I'm keeping it!), little oak three drawer chest and the bassinet. The little metal rack on the top of the chest is perfect for holding test tubes which I am filling with vintage buttons. I got this idea from Joy.

On Thursday I went to my good friend Debbie's house where she helped me with a project. I had this laundry basket/cart for a long time. Got it at a garage sale ages ago. It had a nasty vinyl liner in it which we cut up to use for a pattern. I am super happy with the end result and I owe Debbie a huge thank you. She did 99.9% of the sewing on this project. She is a way better seamstress than I will ever be. So Deb, thanks so much! I still owe you lunch at PB.

We headed over to central Oregon on Friday to spend the weekend with my honey's folks. It was a very busy and fun weekend. We played golf, visited an antique mall (only found a couple things), went to see the new Indiana Jones movie (fun and good), went to church, and on Monday morning we went over to Black Butte ranch for a little trail ride.

Here is the view from the stable office. Kind of a cloudy day, but at least it didn't rain.

My favorite people in the whole wide world. Ready to ride.

My horse "Boots."

Here we are. Ready to go!

Patricia at Vintage Linen Treasures was sweet enough to tag me to do the things about me thing. I have been tagged a few times for this and I always have a hard time coming up with interesting or weird things to tell. So, if you are newish to my blog and want to know more about me, you can read about it here.

I am going to take a little blogging break for awhile, but will be back after Farm Chicks with lots of great pictures and hopefully some good stories for you.

Until then I will leave you with a picture I just got from my Dad of his long waited for new toy. Too cute!

Busy Bee Me!

Today I got up and got straight to work. Made this shopping cart liner for a shopping cart I bought at an estate sale not too long ago. I love this cart as it is an older one and has cool teal green wheels. Whenever I find a cart with colored wheels, I always try to match the fabric I use for the liner with the color of the wheels. I have used this fabric before on another cart, but had quite a bit left over and thought the color was perfect for this cart.

After finishing the cart I decided I had just enough time to do a little ironing before my lunch date (more on that later), so I decided to iron these sweet vintage aprons to take to Farm Chicks. I have a few more to add to the pile, but they need a little tlc (oxy soak) before they can join the party.

My lunch date today was with one of my high school friends, Michelle. Isn't she adorable? (I look weird of course) It has been ages since we have seen each other. She only lives about 15 minutes away from me, but she is a very busy single mom and we have let our busy lives get in the way of seeing each other. Michelle was my locker partner all through high school (maybe even part of jr. high, I forget, getting old) and we used to call each other "fave" as in favorite person. We have lots of shared memories of our teen years and it was so fun to get together and talk about people and what they are doing as well as get caught up on our lives today. We just recently found out that we are having a 25th class reunion this summer so that of course was a big topic of conversation. There is just something so special about friends who have known you for a really long time. They know all the embarrassing stories, many that you have conveniently forgotten. The best thing about Michelle though, is her sense of humor. We used to laugh at everything. I miss that. Hopefully now that we have reconnected there will be lots more laughter and new memories for the two of us. Wow, does that sound as corny as I think it does? ha ha

After I got home I decided to tackle the mess that was a shopping cart liner gone wrong. I worked on this one at Joy's last week and I either measured wrong or cut it out wrong, but it just didn't work. So I took it apart, cut a new piece for the inside front, sewed it back together and voila.

Not too shabby! It looks better on the outside. It's a little baggy on the inside, but hopefully whoever buys it won't mind. I really wanted this one to work for this cart as it has orange wheels and this was the only fabric I had that had orange in it. There I go again with my matchy, matchyness. I dug into my stash and found this sweet little rose fabric I bought in Paris two years ago to use for the ties. Again, trying my best to use my best stuff and not just hoard it. This is another really old cart and unlike the others, it doesn't fold up. I sold another similar one awhile back that I had made a quilted liner for.

So, two shopping carts, a little ironing, lunch with my good friend. Not a bad day at all. I am, however, thinking of changing my blog name from "A Thing for Roses" to "A Thing for Shopping Cart Liners." Just kidding!

A Sprinkling of This, a Dash of That

Today was my official last day of the school year substitute lunch lady job. I am so glad. As much as I enjoy my buddies at the schools, I so look forward to the summer. And this summer is shaping up to be one of the busiest and craziest ever. I have been painting, and sewing and diddling up a storm, trying to get things ready for Farm Chicks. It will be here in less than three weeks and I am so not ready. The last minute scramble is usually when I get the most stuff done and I am almost always glad I made the effort.

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post. After re-reading it, it sounded like a real bummer of a post. For that I apologize. I will try to do better. ha ha

Isabel and I went to Monticello last weekend. I took this cute cabinet/dresser that I found at a garage sale the day before. Luckily it was already painted. All I had to do was distress it a little and add some wallpaper to the door. I had so much fun with my screen project and I had some leftover smaller pieces, I just thought, "why not?" I think it turned out very cute. It is an older cabinet and it has a label on the back that says, "Lullaby, Children's Furnishings." Very sweet. If I had the room, I would definitely be keeping it.

While we were walking around the mall doing a little shopping, a very sweet lady approached me and said, "I think I know you from your blog." Her name was Cindy and she told us how much she loves reading our blogs. She wasn't sure she should say anything, but I told her that I'm so glad she did. So, Cindy, if you are reading this, it was so nice meeting you. Thanks for stopping us to say hi and for your kind words of support for our blogs.

On our way home a funny/strange thing happened. We got pulled over by a motorcycle policeman who told us we had to wait. Apparently Borac Obama and his entourage were coming up the freeway and they had to clear it. I tried to get a picture of the bus he was traveling in, but it was going too fast.

On Saturday I delivered a shopping cart to my friend Kate. She was very happy with it as was I. So for you, Karla, here is a picture of Kate's cart.

A couple posts back someone asked what I do with the vintage baby dresses I buy. How do I display them? Well, here is an older picture of my collection of vintage baby dresses. I have since added the two new (old) ones I recently bought. I just love them and never get tired of seeing them hanging in my bedroom window.

On this post, I shared with you the goodies I received from Rachel, a sweet reader of my blog. I just got word from her yesterday that she received my package so now it is safe to show you what I sent to her.

vintage hanger with decal and ribbon, decals, flowers, vintage barkcloth, wallpaper, vintage card, linens

rick rack, hankies, vintage fabric, lavender sachet, tiny shelf, picture frame, calling card, ribbon

Now that I'm done with my LL job I will have more time to work on projects. Unfortunately I got called for jury duty on Friday. This is a first for me. Apparently I am suppose to call on Thursday to see if they need me to show up. I certainly don't mind doing jury duty, but the timing kind of stinks. This weekend we are heading over to central Oregon to see my in-laws for Memorial Day weekend and my MIL's birthday. We will be golfing, horseback riding and maybe we will try to squeeze a little thrifting in as well. Should be a fun weekend.

Where did the week go?

Wow, the week just flew by. I can't believe I haven't posted since Sunday, but really there hasn't been a lot to post about. I worked on Monday and Friday, went thrifting on Wednesday, (I forget what I did on Tuesday) did some sewing at Joy's on Thursday. My sweet boy was gone Tuesday through Friday at Outdoor School. I really missed him and am so glad he is home safe and sound.

It has been so hot here the last few days. In the 90's! Feels like we just jumped from winter to summer and skipped right over spring. It's suppose to cool down a bit, I hope.

Here's what I got the other day while out thrifting.

I hit the usual stores near my house and found the white shelf with drawers, vintage wallpaper, kids cowboy boots (for Farm Chicks), a tackle box, a tool box, vintage child's cup, brass and glass towel holder, several vintage crochet hangers and a piece of black calico with pink roses, of course.

I also found this fabulous vintage slip. I don't know why, but I have been finding a lot of really cool slips lately.

Love the detail on this one. Lots of ruching (sp) around the top. Just lovely.

I also found a sweet cotton and lace night gown, but my coolest find of the day was this oldish (70's) print on old boards. It's pretty big, but I think the lady is so sweet. I can totally picture this in a shabby/Victorian style home. It's going to Monticello tomorrow to wait for it's new owner.

So, I'm starting to feel like I do the same stuff over and over, work, buy the same stuff, make the same stuff. I feel like my posts are all the same. This is what I made, this is what I bought, blah blah blah. I mean really, how many shopping carts with liners do you really want to see? ha ha I did just finish the one for my friend that I told you about. It turned out very pretty, but I didn't take a picture of it yet.

Okay, here's something new. Yesterday was my lunch lady friend Tanya's 50th birthday. The big joke is that I am always subbing when it's someone's birthday so I always end up getting cake. Yum! For Tanya's birthday, my crazy friend Debbie had us all wear black and she made these silly hats for us to wear with pictures of Tanya on them. We got some pretty funny looks from the kids. Tanya refused to wear her hat until Debbie agreed to let her draw a mustache on her with a marker. Debbie is such a nut. Gotta love those lunch ladies!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

We actually celebrated Mother's Day yesterday by going out for breakfast. My husband did some honey-do's for me and then went to visit his Mom who lives about 3 hours away. He wanted to take his Mom to church and then both of his parents to Sunday brunch. Didn't I marry a good guy? I really did! He'll be home sometime this evening.


Last night the kids and I got together with my Mom at my brother's house and had a barbeque. It was fun to see everyone. I don't get to see my brother and his family much even though they live only 30 minutes away in Portland. Usually only family birthdays, so it was fun to visit with them.


Yesterday I was tickled pink to find a package in the mail for me. A little over a month ago, Rachel, who doesn't have a blog, but is a fellow rose lover, contacted me about doing a swap. This is what I saw when I opened her package.

Look at all of these goodies! Hello? All of my favorite things, wallpaper, vintage trim and lots more!













Here is a better view, but I apologize for the bad lighting. It was a sort of clowdy day yesterday.











Love this little hand painted rose photo album.

I already have a project in mind for this sweet wallpaper.

Rachel, thank you so much for your sweet gift. I am sending your package tomorrow. Hope you like the goodies I gathered together for you.

Backing up to Thursday when I did my weekly run over to the antique mall to restock and clean up. As per usual, I had to stop at my favorite thrift stores along the way and can I say, I'm so glad I did. Here are the goodies I found. Again, bad picture, but if you click on it, much better detail. Love the white trunk, yellow shelf, giant hand painted roses vase, bingo cards, wire baskets, lamps, vintage clock, jewelry box, table cloth, wallpaper book, bag of fabric including funky quilt top, bab of vintage sewing supplies including boxes of rit dye, black scrolly hangers and I'm sure I'm leaving something out.


I also stopped at a cute little shop and found these sweet things for myself. The sweet little dresses have the most adorable detail of pink roses of course. This little clock is similar to one I already have, just a smaller version. Love the tiny little suitcase too. It will make a sweet little display piece.

Going to do a little sewing and some weeding for my Mom today. I finally finished her barkcloth/denim jacket (forgot to take a picture though) so I will take that over for her as well.

Hope all of the Mom's out there are having a truly wonderful day! Do something fun for yourself if you can. TTFN!

Fun Thrifty Day and a New Project

Yesterday my sweet guy took the day off from work to spend it with me thrifting. We hit quite a few stores, met up with Joy for lunch and did a little more thrifting. We had so much fun! Here are the goodies I found.

A little cosmetic suitcase, little white stool, white metal bread box, white lap desk, folding yard stick, linens, rusty metal box and quilt pieces.












But my favorite find of the day was this light aqua table. When we walked into the thrift store that I found it at, the workers there said, "75% off on all kitchen tables." Well, I wasn't really thinking I would find a cute kitchen table there, but when I rounded a corner and saw this, I got really excited! They almost paid me to take it, that's how good a deal I got on this table. All it really needs is a good scrubbing and a price tag and it's good to go!








Now for the project part of this post. Awhile back I found this cool folding screen on craigslist. (Did I mention, I love craigslist? Oh yeah, I did.) I knew I would cover the existing ugly wallpaper with some of my cool vintage wallpaper. Then a lightbulb went off and I thought, hey, I'll do a patchworky thing with lots of my cool vintage wallpaper.













Here is the end result. Now, before you say, "wow, what a great idea!" I have to tell you that I didn't come up with it myself. I borrowed this idea from this amazing artist, who got the idea from this other amazing artist.

I'm loving how this turned out. What a tremendous difference a little vintage wallpaper can make, right? I wish I had ten more of these folding screens. This was such a fun and easy project to do. I had all the pieces cut out so all I had to do was set up a little work space out on my deck and get to work. Only took about 2 hours to complete. I was lucky that the frame was already painted white and the back of the panels are painted a soft baby blue so I didn't have to do any painting myself.

Well, I gotta run now off to work. Hope you have a fun and creative day!

Sunday at the Flea

I'm still giddy over my cool find on Saturday. Thanks for the comment love everyone and yes, Pat, those are birds on the bottom of the medallions. My picture just doesn't do it justice. I have decided that I'm going to paint the bed cream and keep it. I haven't decided if I will convert it to a queen and use it in my bedroom or leave it as a full and use it in the sewing room in place of the bed I currently have in there which I love, but maybe not as much as the new one. If I only had a vacation house then I wouldn't have to worry. There would be room enough for all of my favorite furniture.

As I mentioned in my last post, Isabel and I went to the Polk County Flea Market yesterday. We got there pretty early while a lot of the dealers were still setting up so we could get first pick at the goods. I have been going to this monthly flea market for several months now and I try really hard not to miss it as I always find some good stuff at good prices. Here's a picture of the treasures I found.

Two big suitcases, neat old frame from the forties, basket with handle, four cowboy hats, old coin purse, glass door knob, roses hanky and roses postcard. I got the little wire mannequin and hooked rug at an antique mall we stopped at on our way home.

Also at the flea, I found some vintage rick rack and a cute pottery dish,

A little wood box, a wood spool, old glass bottle, rhinestone pin, old watch and cute little mini deck of cards.

One dealer had a tin of old keys so I asked if she could make me a deal on all of them which she did. I forgot to take a picture of the hash browns and gravy, but they were delicious! Overall, it was a very fun day.

One thing that was very funny was the fact that I mentioned to Isabel that I need to do a better job at keeping my excitement in check as I'm sure I won't get as good a price for something if I'm squealing, "Oh, how cute is this?" So sure enough, I picked up the little deck of cards and said, "these are so cute!" I then quickly corrected myself and said, "oh, they're okay." Isabel and I burst out laughing. I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy. But then, Isabel pointed at this really weird doll head and we continued our laugh fest. I guess you'd have to be there, but it really was hysterical.

To finish I just wanted to share a picture of these chairs that I got from my sweet friend, Andrea. Aren't they cute? They really do need to be recovered, or slipcovered or something. Not sure what I will do. Any suggestions? You can click on the picture to see the fabric better.

Well, gotta run! Looks like it might be a really nice day weatherwise. Yesterday was gorgeous, but this is Oregon afterall.

Free is a Very Good Price

This morning on my way to my daughter's soccer game I spied something in the front yard at a neighboring house. Stop, put the car in reverse and what do I see? A really cool old metal bed with a sign taped to it that said, "Free Antique Bed." Okay, I said as I jumped out of the car and quickly threw the whole thing in my car before the owners had time to come out and change their minds.

I was so excited! I admit that I get a lot of good deals on things, but rarely do I get something, especially something this good, for free. Did I mention that I'm a lucky girl ? So, I know you are curious about this bed now that I have built it up to be really great. So, here it is!

As you can see, it is a full sized metal bed painted gold with black stuff over that to make it look antiquey I guess. At first I didn't really like the finish, but it is kind of growing on me and has that "old world" look to it. Not really my style, but one I can appreciate and admire. I have seen a lot of metal beds before, but never one exactly like this one. I think the scrolly parts are unique and kind of cool too. The fact that the original rails and wood casters are still there is something else I love about this bed.

But the thing that makes this bed really special to me, are the medallions on the mesh part of the metal. Here's a close up. Hello, roses! Not sure what I will do with this bed. The funny thing is I have another metal bed sitting in my garage that I actually paid quite a bit for thinking I would fix it up for my bed. Now, I'm not so sure. I will have to think about this one.

I also hit a couple garage sales where I found this fancy mini mannequin.

















This pottery barn lamp (looks kind of like a shabby chic space ship).

















And this cute pink roses oil cloth tote.

Tomorrow, Isabel and I are heading out early for our monthly trip to the flea market. I should be staying home to sew, clean or paint, but the temptation of finding some great bargains is just too much for me. Plus those hash browns and gravy are just calling my name.