Ari's Birthday Bed and a Sale in the Shop

My lovely friend Shawn was the one who recommended that I showcase my wares at the Ross Marketplace about a month ago.  As she was instrumental in putting this charity event together, she stopped by my booth to say hello.  I was so happy to see her!  About a week later she sent me a text asking me to make the bedding for her daughter's birthday present.  She comes to pick it up today.  I put it on my bed so that she can see it and approve before she leaves with it.  

Although we do not see each other very frequently, she is a very special person to me and I am grateful for her friendship.  

I made a queen duvet cover and two euro shams.  White linen with the mini raw edge ruffle.

 I think that my favorite part, aside from the way the material is rumpled looking when it is right out of the wash, is that we decided to secure it with 1" wide grosgrain ribbon as opposed to buttons.  This is the under side.

I placed the bows far down enough though that if she wanted to turn it down they did not show.

I am really excited for her to come get it.  I hope she loves it as much as I do.

She also ordered one of my princess shams as an accent.  

To celebrate my 100th sale at Maison de Michele, I am offering a 10% off coupon good on any item or items in inventory.  

Have a great weekend everybody!

Michele


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French Flea Market at the Lovely Chateau Sonoma

I had a wonderful few days off this past weekend.  It was quite indulgent.  I read a 500 page book, took a nap one afternoon, shopped a bit, and attended two flea markets.  Honestly, it doesn't get much better.  I did not take the camera to the French Flea Market on Saturday at Chateau Sonoma and I regret it.  It was awesome!  I did take a few photos on my phone though.  

This booth is William's Antiks.  He always has many treasures and is happy to teach me a few words in french that would be useful if I ever actually get to a brocante or marche aux puces :)

Of course, French music

This is Marina's booth from Over the Ocean Antiques.  It was stunning!

  In an effort to exercise some semblance of restraint, I did not buy the pitcher and am still kicking myself.

This is from inside the shop, which is absolutely jaw dropping.  

Don't you just want to move in?

I can almost guarantee that if you read my blog you would love this shop.  It is an old house and each room has countless treasures that Sara has brought back from France.  

Another great part of the day was that I got to meet Maria from Dreamy Whites.  She is just as lovely and talented as you would imagine from reading her blog.  Her merchandise is even more beautiful in person than in her pictures....imagine that.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I could not get one photo of her booth because it was so packed with people every time I visited it.  I know that she did great!  And I am happy for her since she told me if was her first show. 

I did leave with a couple of wonderful items. 

Look at the detail.....

I am happy to say that I learned from my mistake and brought the camera to the flea the following day.  I will post those soon.  It was on a goat farm!

Have a great week!

Michele

A Few Days of Rest

Good morning and happy Friday!  I am so glad to say that I am taking a vacation day today.  I have a full time job, two kids, and my Etsy store.  And I notice as I get older that I need to take better care of myself in order to keep up with everything.  I plan to sleep, exercise and watch movies and read for three full days.  How great does that sound?  

I thought that I would add a few pics of the florals around my house.  The one above is absolutely one of my favorites. I think the balls are called snowballs 

The one below is from a while ago.  I had a tough time getting the daisies to stand up in the vase.  

So instead of cutting them down, I added a starfish in an effort to anchor them.  It worked well.

I found these at the flea a few weeks ago.  I love them beside our front door welcoming people.

I kept them and the snowballs in the first photo in a bucket after I got home.  My favorite part is the "mess" they make.  I love how it decorates the water.

It's almost like nature's confetti.

 I almost forgot.  I have vowed to do no sewing, little cleaning, and no following up on invoices or quotes.  (Not entirely sure I can stick to the sewing part.  I love it and find it to be very therapeutic.  But I did so much of it into the wee hours of the night preparing for last week's show that a little break might be a good thing).

The other thing that I do plan to do is to visit a few fleas that will be in town this weekend!

Enjoy your weekend!

xo

Michele

My First Show

Hi all.  I participated in my first marketplace on Saturday.  So, first off,  I apologize for the poor iPhone photos.  I didn't want to take the good camera with me.  I have a new appreciation for the folks who do this on a regular basis.  It is hard work.  But I had a little helper, my 9 year old daughter.  Thank goodness for her.  We had fun! 

I always get a little nervous before I do something for the first time.  I awoke at 2am to finish preparing for it.....my first mistake.  Maybe I need to work on the perfectionistic side of my personality. :)  

 I hand stamped each price tag with a gold bee and then inventoried every item in an excel spreadsheet. And heaven forbid I rely on their supplied white tablecloth to do the job.  I had to make an 11 foot linen one with a double ruffle.  What exactly is wrong with me?

 The setting was lovely!  The one thing that was not for sale was my sign below.  I found it a few weeks ago at a flea market.  Do you know what it is?  I didn't when I purchased it.  I thought it would be a great sign for this show and would double as a business card holder.  

 About four people stopped me at the flea to make sure I knew what I had.  It is apparently a pastry board from the mid 1800's.  The lip at the bottom is made to hold a tin rolling pin.  The baker would lay it down and roll out the dough, then hang it up and place the rolling pin in the lip.  I understand that the rolling pins are pretty rare because they did not hold up well.  Don't you love to learn about old things like this and their uses?

I met a decorator who has some customers who like this style and also was commissioned to make grain sack curtains for a barn.  So, although it was a long a rather arduous day (all the schlepping back and forth) it was certainly worth it!

Have a great week

MC

Vintage French Oyster Basket and a First Communion

Good morning!  I hope that everyone had a great weekend.  I certainly did.  My daughter made her first communion.  She had her immediate family there as well as four Grandparents. It was a wonderful day. I feel so blessed!  

I found her dress at an antiques fair.  I didn't know if she would wear it.  I fell in love with it when I saw it. So I bought it and hoped for the best.

The following day I went to the same fair/flea market.  And look at what I found, amongst a few others treasures. :)

  

I have wanted to add one of these baskets to my shop for a while, but was waiting to find just the right one.  When I saw this particular basket, I knew this was it.

I am not a heart kind of girl so I rarely buy things heart shaped.  But these were so rustic and rough that I liked them.  They are made from some sort of stone/rock.

  

The basket is heavy.  I read that they are made this way in order to support the weight of the oysters.  This one is pretty rusty also, which I love.

  

It would provide great storage.  Or, how pretty would it look as a picnic basket with a baguette, some cheese, wine, and lined with an old handwoven napkin or towel?

Have a great week all!

Michele

Grain Sack Market Totes

Hi all.  Happy almost Friday!  Are you as glad as I am that it is the weekend?  I will be in my first show next weekend.  I am displaying my wares at the Ross Garden Tours Marketplace.  I am excited but also a little bit nervous.  As you can imagine, I have been sewing feverishly for the last week or so.  And will continue to do so until next weekend.  (I am taking a short break as my parents are coming up for the evening tomorrow, 6 hr drive.  Pretty great parents, huh? :)

So I thought that for the show I would make a few things that I don't normally have in my shop.  I have been concentrating on grain sack market totes.  I made one quite a while ago but it was before I had a sewing machine.  I am not exaggerating when I say that it took ten hours to complete.  These new ones are much easier, and faster to make, as you can imagine.  

I love this one.  Although my house is not currently decorated in red, I have a deep love of this color.  This particular sack is pristine, just beautiful.  Look at the texture.  Those stripes are bright tomato red!  This one is large but smaller than the next one down, which is enormous.  

I like this one because I rarely see pink and blue stripes on this fabric. I call this tote a  diaper bag because of the colors. But obviously you could use it as a beach bag, to hold groceries, etc.  It is oversized to say the least.  I edged the seams of this one with French linen ribbon.

I like this one below because it is very nubby.  I just cannot seem to enough of these fabrics! 

 I used two layers of the same ribbon imported from France for the straps.  

Each bag has approximately 4" wide side and bottom panels.

I love this one because I was able to keep the original ties intact.  I try to keep as much of the integrity of the sack as possible.  Part of the draw to these items is the history behind the fabric in my opinion.  

This fabric was never made into a grain sack.  

I love the variance in colors between the inside and outside.

Thanks for visiting.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

xo

Michele

PS these totes are available at 

Maison de Michele

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