The other day, I turned my office upside down in an effort to find a note I'd misplaced, and in the process, I discovered this totally cool vintage wall-paper pack that I won from REDiNSTEAD's blog give-away back in, um, do I dare say, October! I am so embarrassed. It was so generous of Jen to send me a present all the way from Australia and I owe her a long over-due THANK YOU. . I LOVE it!

Speaking of vintage papers, I was happily surprised to find all this in the mailbox recently from blog pal Toni. She picked up this lot at a rummage sale, thinking of me and my growing "hobby" a.k.a. PatternBee.
I was thrilled to get this fabulous bundle and found in here amongst the old treasures, what I believe to be an original Ingall's transfer. It's the one on top with the blue smears. These particular transfers were produced in England in the late 1800's, and were perforated with tiny holes along the lines. A blue powder was purchased and pounced into the holes in a stencil-like fashion, as a means of transferring the pattern to cloth. Since I've been attempting to reproduce some of these really old designs, it helps to know what the originals looked like, their size and details. Thank goodness for modern methods!
I've also been keeping in touch with my friend Missy and her family since their move back to northern Michigan, and she tells me they're all settled into their new home and enjoying some real snow. She is busy stocking her shelves and just re-opened her shop, which is good news if you're in the market for some wonderful handmade soap. Her fiber-wrapped bars are wonderful---I posted all about them here.