I just wanted to share a few pictures from the last couple of weeks…..you know, a little of this and a little of that…….
A couple weeks ago my girlfriends and I spent the day at our favorite flea market, called the Kane County Flea market. If you live in the Chicagoland area, it’s a definite place to go if you love antiques, treasure hunting and one-of-a-kind pieces. They always have the BEST stuff and at amazing prices. You know those ‘found objects‘ that you see in the Pottery Barn catalog? Well, this is where you can actually find those objects on your own and not pay an arm and a leg.
The flea market takes place the first weekend of each month, although I don’t think they hold it during the super-chilly and snowy months of the year. My friends and I try to go in the spring since the weather tends to be pretty nice. We lucked out a couple weeks ago because it was absolutely gorgeous!
So I didn’t get a ton of things this time, but I was really happy with my finds……..
I got the Cracker Jack lunchbox to store the kids crayons and I was also excited to find this old little school chalkboard, so expect to see that make an appearance on the blog soon.
I love this mason jar filled with old spools. I am using it as a decorative item sitting on top of a stack of books in our built in bookcases.
I can never have too many old hankies. I found some really great juvenile ones with adorable little prints.
Here is some woven vintage trim that I can’t wait to use on a pretty little dress. I got over 9 yards!
This was a table runner that I got for $3.00, but I am definitely seeing this being used as an apron on a dress or as part of a bodice. Plus I think it goes great with the trim picture above (even though I didn’t buy them from the same vendor).
See that metal frame in the two pictures above? That’s the frame I used for the Repurposed Picture Frame Tray. Another great flea market find!
I was really excited to find this chair! I wasn’t really on the hunt for a new studio chair, but I have been wanting one for several years. I have just never come across the right one. When I saw this, I knew it was it! I have to have a chair with wheels in my sewing studio so I can go from my table over to my sewing machine and over to my serger. And I also wanted something that was a little antique looking. I might make a cute little seat cushion eventually, but for right now it’s just right!
Also, we had some painting done recently. Before we had children we did most of the renovation work on our house ourselves, but with having the three little ones now, it was just much easier to hire someone to paint part of our sun room.
It’s not the best before picture since I probably should have taken it with all our furniture in there and looking nice. Oh well……you get the idea. There was a wall of knotty pine and the ceiling was off white and dark brown. This sun room is opens up with french doors off our main family room. I call it a sun room, but it’s part of the house……I think we call it that because it gets lots of light and it sounds nice, don’t you think?
We used ‘Simply White‘ by Benjamin Moore. I love this white! If you are looking for a good one, I will give this a big thumbs up. The painters started with a water-based primer, but it just wasn’t covering the wood paneling so they ended up needing to use oil-based primer (Kilz). That really did the trick and we didn’t have any of the stain bleeding through.
I am really into white right now. Many of our belongings have a lot of color, so I just love the way they pop off the white. Plus it brings a sense of freshness to our cottage. I’m not painting everything white, but it was a great choice for our sun room. I’ll have to share a picture of the room with everything put back in it’s place.
We also had our loft painted which is a much bigger space and where all The Cottage Mama pattern inventory, clothing samples and fabric bolts are stored, but I’ll save that for another post.
Also, I just wanted to share a little sneak peek of an upcoming quilt tutorial. These quilts were made by my mom (Grandma Jane) for the girls and she will be sharing how to make one of your very own plus how to create a custom quilt label on your sewing / embroidery machine.
So that’s it…..just a little of this and a little of that, that I wanted to share with you. I am trying to get my next set of sewing patterns drafted and sent off over the next few weeks, so it might be a little quiet around here……..just so you know.
Have a great week!
Lindsay Wilkes is the owner and designer behind The Cottage Mama. She creates timeless, vintage inspired sewing patterns for children’s clothes. She is also a fabric designer for Riley Black Designers / Penny Rose Fabrics, author of the book ‘Sew Classic Clothes for Girls’ and can be seen teaching nationwide and online in her video series ‘Lessons with Lindsay’ sponsored by Baby Lock Sewing and Embroidery machines.
What do you do with the old hankies? I have a bunch…and table runners and the like. I LOVE them but not sure what to do with them. At this point, I’m just a collector..lol
I love your sun room painted white. Can’t wait to hear about the rag quilt too!
You found some awesome things at the flea market! I’m never lucky enough to find such cute items….at least at a good price!
Love the jar of spools…I recently found a goldfish bowl full of antique spools, STILL FULL OF THREAD!! It’s got a place of honor on my sewing room shelf 🙂 I’m also very jealous of your hankies…I’ve been on the hunt for enough of them, in good condition, to make a quilt top. It’s one of those “someday” projects, LOL!
love the chair Lindsay! My mom has one like that in her office. And love the idea of the mason jar. I inherited a nice collection of wooden spools and need to do something with them!
I love your new sun room paint. That white is gorgeous and the colors you use will pop and look so good against it! Nice flea market items, too!
I love all your wonderful finds. My mother has a box of wooden spools I’ve been trying to steal away from her to display somehow. I just love how they look.
Your sun room looks amazing so far. LOVE all that white.
That just makes me feel happy inside looking at all that stuff! I love flea market finds!!
Love all of your thrifty finds!! Reminds me of my own little space in my workroom! I love anything antique and vintage, just makes me Happy, Happy to see these things!
You found some really neat stuff! Don’t you just love flea markets? I am so excited that the weather is gradually warming up which means more sales! Yippee!
Judy
what wonderful flea market finds! I love the chair! I have 3 machines in my studio and unfortunately I have carpet – been trying to get my hubby to rip it up and put down hardwood so I can scoot between my machines easily.