I normally do not use VMware Shared Folders feature as it tends to be problematic from time to time as well as being slower than using Standard Network Resources Sharing implemented by the OSes without VMware Shared Folders even part of the picture. You may want to try turning off Shared Folders in the Settings for that VM and use the OSes Sharing of the same resource to see if things are better. I know that doesn't expressly fix the issue with VMware Shared Folders however it should make access the share much smother and faster.
Anyway one thing I noticed is that both Built-in-Ethernet (en0) and Airport (en1) on your computer are connecting to the Network on the same Subnet. If your connecting via Built-in-Ethernet why are you also using the AirPort? Having both enabled and on the same Subnet can be problematic. If you don't need both then disconnect/turn off one of them.
I also saw a couple of things in system.log that probably have nothing to do with your VMware issue although you may want to address them. I would look at issues that are being cause by your Epson Printer and ArcSoft Backup Software in the /var/log/system.log.
BTW VMware is spelt VMware not VMWARE 
I had issues installing my Epson scanner software, this may be what you noticed in the system log. The Arcsoft software came with an external MyBook USB drive I have. These pieces don't bother me any but as you say may need attention.
These issues are on going and persistent and suggest they be address sooner than later.
The dual network connection is just because I was using the PC and Mac side by side for a while and had only one Ethernet port handy. I used the wireless on the Mac for the time it took to clean off the PC (6 years worth of cruft) and then when I got rid of it jacked in the MAC without disabling the Airport. I left both active as I thought the OS could easily handle both interfaces, but really the bottleneck for any communications is going to be the provider side of the router
It not that the OS can't handle multiple NICs however in a multi-homed system (system with 2 or more NICs) if the NICs are both set to DHCP and are being configured by the same DHCP Server then you can/will encounter problems. I see it all the time in corporate networks and have to tell the user to turn off WiFi when they are wired and sure enought the issue they were having goes away.
I am not certain what you mean by OSes Sharing of the same resource`. Do you mean declaring a share in the Mac OS and then having the XP VM authenticate to it?
Yes and to make it convenient in Windows you can map that share to a drive letter. If you did an Windows Easy Install and said to make your home folder accessable then it was automatically mapped to Z:. I would disconnect Z: and reconnect using the Samba Share not VMware Shared Folders.
It is odd that when I was using the feature before I had no issues whatsoever.
Not odd at all considering you upgraded to Leopard and upgraded to Fusion 1.1 as I've see either one of these cause problems with existing VM's. There are plenty of posts in this forum to provide evidence of that. The bottom line is upgrading anything breaks something regularly!