Fabric sell off - ROUND 2..........coming!!!

Hello! Hello! I'm jetting out of town for the weekend but will be having another fabric sell off on Tuesday! There should be about 6 different fabrics to choose from! Please stop by Tuesday and see what's available! First come first serve again! thanks! Enjoy the long holiday weekend! xo - meg

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2 giveaways from me.............wrapping up!

Just a quick reminder that I have 2 giveaways ending soon! My new flickr group - Brassy Apple Projects - is well underway with photos from YOU of projects you've completed from my tutorials, ebooks, DIY kits, etc. It's a great place for sharing your creativity and to inspire others! Just upload your photo(s) TODAY and you'll be eligible to win a garden party skinny scarf from me! You only have until August 31st!

and for the DIY woman - you can win a girls "Sweet Tangerine" Shaggy Mosaic DIY kit from me by simply popping over to The Boutique Buyers blog and leaving a comment on the interview they recently did on me. A winner will be announced on Friday, August 29th! Good luck and have fun!

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"Nothing's more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof."

Is Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof living on Metropolitan ave these days?

Nope, just me playing around with my new clothesline. Hey, a girls got to do something to pretend she's got a backyard. Even if it's just balancing vintage lingerie on a rope 30 feet in the air.


My old timey Williamsburg neighbors need something to talk about, after all.

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And the head case continues...

Last winter I bought this stunning 1920's scrapbook off eBay. Peaking out from under the pasted magazine cutouts of flappers, cute babies and random fruits and vegetables are neat, old illustrations of menswear.
The actual book itself is a men's fashion catalogue of sorts from 1917 so every inch of its 60 pages are a treat. The food images are bizarrely fascinating, too.

I love this pair of beautiful horsey girls (great boots!) and the monogrammed belt buckles in the background are so wonderful.

Going through the book always gets me in flapper mode. All these beautiful girls with their simple and chic hair accessories? Hmmm... Project brewing?

A few weeks back my neighbor was getting rid of this 1960's ostrich feather hat.

Never one to let anything old be unceremoniously thrown away, I snatched it up, not thinking about how I'd make this monster less Marge Simpson and more um... cute.

I disassembled all of the pieces to see what I was working with. I tossed the netting and pillbox base but I'm sure more adventurous crafters could turn them into something very, ahem, unusual.

To make a little flapper inspired hair clip, I took the smaller of the feathers, along with a trusty bobby pin, through the shank of a vintage button. It was a tight fit, so the feather isn't going anywhere.

The button came from my grandma's stash, but any button with a shank (read: no holes on the top like a shirt button) will do.

In action...

I normal err on the side of simple, less fashiony things, but this little gem is very sweet and will be an unexpected surprise the next time I wear a boring men's shirt and high waisted jeans outfit.

(Who am I kidding? That's what I wear everyday.)

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30 weeks.......

Just thought I would share an update on my ever growing belly! :) It's been a few weeks since I have and now I am 30 weeks - YEAH - with about 8 weeks left to go??........about? I guess we'll see! There's nothing like posing in front of the tripod and snapping pictures of yourself! Ha!

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Street Fair meets Gypsy Rose Lee

Did the vintage theatrical lights of Williamsburg's St. Giglio Festival inspire my obsession with vaudevillian accessories or was it countless preteen viewings of Natalie Wood in Gypsy?

Not sure, but i did turn these vintage costume bow ties into hair bows as soon as I could exit stage left to get thread and bobby pins.

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Fabric overload!

I have too much fabric! Can you really ever have too much????........................... I guess in this case, I am saying YES!!!! My "fabric eyes were bigger than my stomach" months ago when I ordered SOOOO much and now I find I don't have the time, energy or desire to sew with what's left! ha! must be the pregnancy ;)

SO my loss, YOUR GAIN!!! I would love to ship some fabric your way at a steal of a price! Most of these fabrics will cost anywhere from $7.25 - $9.50 at the store but I would really love to ship them out quickly. (aka - cheaper price!)

Here's a few instructions before we get started:

1. must order in whole yard increments only
2. payment only by paypal
3. I can fit up to 7 yards in a flat rate priority envelope for cheaper shipping. (we all love that don't we)
4. when it's gone............it's gone!
5. email me if interested: brassymeg@gmail.com
please include:
name of fabric and yardage you want
your paypal address so I can invoice you
(if other than USA please specify where)
Payment is due within 24 hours please

Once I recieve your request - first come first serve - I will invoice you with shipping cost. Once I receive a cleared payment I will ship it out with 1-2 business days. Sound good?
--------------------------------------

Here's what I have available:
POD POSEY - border (michael miller)
price: $5.25 a yard
8 yards available













PINK CORIANDER - (Amy Butler Belle collection)
price: $5.25 a yard
0 yards available - SOLD OUT














OLIVE ACANTHUS - (Amy Butler Belle Collection)
price: $5.25 a yard
0 yards available - SOLD OUT









these are some of my favorite fabrics and colors but I'd rather ship them off to a "good home" then have them sit here un-used and "unloved" any longer............ ;)

I will try my best to keep the yardage available on each fabric updated. Happy shopping!

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Any "Boutique-rs" out there?

I had the lovely chance to be asked for an interview and featured on the Boutique Buyers blog. The interview is now up with photos and of course a GIVEAWAY!!!! Pop in the check out their blog, leave a comment on their site under my interview for a chance to win! You only have one week to be eligible! Have fun! Maybe you'll learn something new about me that you didn't know!

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The New Status Symbol in Silicon Valley: Multiple Computer Screens

Story by Richard Hart (ABC 7)

Programmers and people in the financial industry have used more than one monitor for years
It's the new status symbol in Silicon Valley: multiple computer screens.

Size doesn't matter anymore; it's how many you have. It's the phenomenon of three, and even four computer monitors per person.

Programmers and people in the financial industry have used more than one monitor for years. But lately, it's becoming common for the rest of us. Rhoda Alexander is one of growing number of people who use more than one computer monitor at the same time.

"It helps me tremendously, because typically, in your average day, I might have 15 different files open at the same time." Rhoda is Director of monitor research for analyst firm iSuppli.

"There's a certain amount of jealousy that gets into it," she jokes. "I do have office mates who come by and say, 'Wow! I want your setup!'"

Two developments are driving the boom in multiple-monitors. The first is the arrival of plug-n-play connectors that make it easy to daisy-chain as many as 8 displays at once. One company, DisplayLink, expects the sales of "extra" monitors to grow by 25% this year.

That's largely due to the rise of portable computing. In the coming year, we will buy more notebooks than desktops for the first time. Rhoda Alexander notes that, "35 percent, 38percentof consumers buy a monitor at the time they buy the notebook computer."

We like the portability, but not the small screen.

"I can work on the road in the kind of work that I do. But, oh, what a sigh of relief when I get back to where I have a lot of monitors to spread it out on."

Why not use a single humongous monitor? Ergonomics. Experts say it's not a good idea to keep looking up and down so much, and it's easier on the eyes to have the screens folded in on you. So, you want more than a single monitor. Don't you?

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Kid's collars

When I found this dress in my favorite New Hampshire antique store for just $5, i cursed myself for not being a 4 year old girl anymore. I adore everything about it, the double collar, black glass buttons in sets of 3, the Alice in Wonderland color scheme.

So i just bought it and figured if none of my friends have little girls, I'll just tack it up on my office wall for a bit of daily jealousy that I am too big (and old) to wear something so precious.

And speaking of cute kid's collars, this Victorian scrapbook page has a sweet striped sailor collar, being worn by an oddly proportioned little sailor himself.

This page is going up in my bathroom as soon as i can find a good frame to keep it safe from shower steam. I love when clothing inspiration translates to home inspiration. Makes life that much easier.

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Hydrangeas

I can't stop day dreaming about old fashioned, ladylike flowers. I want, no, need them spilling out of ever corner of my apartment.

These were picked by a sweet boy out of his grandmother's garden and delivered from Westchester County to Brooklyn just for me. I think I'm just about the luckiest girl in the world.

I love how these whites have smaller flowers and heads. They look so much more feminine and delicate to me than the run of the mill corner store varitey. My aunt grew them in our Elmwood garden and I promptly snipped several bouquets worth.

These blue beauties were selfishly tucked away on my Elmwood bedside table.

The best and happiest vacation alarm clock ever conceived.

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Powering down......

As some of you may have noticed my web store is no longer there! This is a good thing. We are in the final stages of getting my new website ready to debut! The store has been powered down while the sewing machine has been heating up! I hope to have most of my new products ready by the time the website is ready to go as well.

My blog might be quiet for a few days as well. We've had a family emergency this week and need to head out of town until about the middle part of next week. Enjoy the weekend, pop into the Brassy Apple Flickr group and see what's new or add a photo of your own and soak in a few days of August sunshine and heat!

(of course I have to post a photo! It's a peek of whats to come!)

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Little "Miss Papaya"

I got the wonderful opportunity to see my best friend from school and meet her new daughter. She now lives in paradise - aka Hawaii - so actually getting to "see" her, those times are very few and far between. Her daugther is 3.5 months now and just the cutest thing!!!! Didn't help much that I'm pregnant, itching for my own kid to arrive and seeing how adorable her's is. My kids and I had lots of fun kissing, squeezing, cuddling and making little "miss papaya" (nickname) laugh.

Yep that's me with my belly and being goofy. LOL! Hard to not be alittle goofy around her since we've known each other so long and have had PLENTY of goofy moments. ;) I just have to share how adorable her baby is.

In other baby news, I have about 10-12 weeks left until my baby makes it's debut! It's coming up REALLY fast! Things are still good here and just ticking along. I'm not sure if it's "nesting" or just that I've finally kicked myself in the rear to get a few things done but I have been sewing alot this week. Nothing to prepare for the baby's arrival, so maybe it's just an urgency to get a few things done. It's all been for my new website debut though!!!! Can't wait!!!

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Bringing the out(house) in.

So one of the most quirky things about very old, mostly un renovated homes is that many have an "outhouse" or non flush toilet inside, left over from the pre-plumbing days.

Luckily Elmwood's is in the far back of the house and unlike it's horrifying relatives at state fairs across the country, it doesn't remotely smell and pretty darn cute, too.

I still prefer civilization but it's a funny novelty nonetheless.

Speaking of neat waste receptacles, visiting the Hancock town dump is one of my all time favorite New Hampshire activities. In addition to the usual recycling rigamaroll, they have a "dump shop" where people donate gently used housewares etc... and everything is free! I got all of these amazing old novels and a great, beat-up tackle box. I am always on the lookout for more storage containers!

I wish their could be a free shop containing all of New York's antique books and collectibles. I guess that's what craigslist is for.

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Girl's Club

Oh, to be a girl in a old house.

My new favorite flower, feverfew, plucked from the garden.

The flower garden in mid summer. So simple and wild, just how I like it.

The spinning wheel at the top of the stairs.

The girlhood doll.

Some treasures unearthed in a wardrobe.

Lacey bonnet, hat pins and velvet hat stands. 1880 was a good time to be a girl.

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Drawer overhaul

Ok ok, so I know drawer liners made from wallpaper isn't exactly reinvention of the wheel, but the exciting thing here is I actually followed through and finally did it.

*I think it was my new old cutlery caddy and and shiny new old silverware that were the inspiration for a kitchen drawer makeover.

Before: ICK! Ink stains, ancient dust, lord knows what else covering the bottom of my drawers.

I've had this roll of vintage wallpaper in my closet for ages. Wallpaper from the 60's onward works the best because it's pre-pasted and most likely washable. So when the drawer gets icky again (which it will), all you need is a swipe of a sponge. No paper damage!

You've just got to measure and cut a properly size piece, then completely wet the pasted side and gingerly drop it into the bottom of your drawer, smoothing out air bubbles as you go!

Yay, organized drawers! Now if I could just master the art of keeping them organized.

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Time to Strut your Stuff.............and WIN {of course!}

Feeling lucky?
It's time for you to strut your stuff in my new Flickr group - Brassy apple Projects!! It's something I've wanted to start for a long time now and decided to dive in and stop waiting!

The flickr group will be a pool of inspiration and fun for everyone! A place where you can "strut your stuff" by uploading a photo of what you've created from my tutorials, DIY kits, ebooks, photos, etc - anything you've seen on my blog! and of course coming soon my PATTERNS! yipeee!

I can't wait to see your projects and your creativity!

So stop on by and add your photo to the group today! **All photos added in the month of August will be eligible to win a Garden Party Skinny scarf from me! It's always more fun with a giveaway right???? ;)

You will always be able to find the Brassy Apple Flickr group too and see the lastest photos by viewing the flickr badge on my sidebar. See you there!...............

pssst!............... if you want to win the scarf and don't have a photo to add you still have a time to craft something up and add your photo!

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The Lady's Book.

One of my most prized possessions is a Godey's Lady's Book from 1840. The lady's book is one of the first American women's "magazines" and features poems, songs, articles and it's famous hand painted color fashion illustrations.



I just can't over the fact the each of these illustrations are hand painted.

I love seeing the small variations between things like these two sleeves and how subtle they seem but how they must have represented different personalities.

And that blue apron is so cute. Looking through these is so inspiring, it's like a recharging of my creative battery from 168 years ago.

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