Sunday Morning Traditions

Usually our Sunday morning tradition is sleeping as long as possible then ironing clothes, lining up at the only bathroom door and trying not to be late for church.  Store bought donuts have long been a staple of convenience in our household until the kids actually started complaining... hard to believe.  However, for universal popularity, cinnamon toast is the crowd favorite.  In the day, it would be easy to go through a loaf of bread and two sticks of butter, but now it takes only five or six slices to satisfy the last of the declining population in our household (one kid left).

 

Butter right to the edges.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar - not too much, not too little.

Place under the broiler... not too close to the flame, this goes fast.

Wait 'til the sugar starts to bubble.  Yum.

Happy Keaton.
Now get in the shower --- we're late for church!

Vintage Generations

I used to make clothes out of vintage fabrics back in the 90s.  Area stores would sell them on commission.  I still have a room full of vintage textiles... and buttons... and trims... and lace... and ribbon... Anyway, I was smart enough to take a picture of everything I created. Good thing, because just now when I was looking through the pictures, I hardly remembered making some of these.

The buyer for the store never let this little cropped shirt (back side pictured here) even get on the rack.  It was made from an old abandoned embroidery project dating back to somewhere around 1920. The collar was leather with beaded trim.  I wouldn't usually cut things up unless they were damaged - at least I sure wouldn't now.

This was a cute little school girl style dress made from some vintage yardage - just a lightweight cotton.  I like the contrasting belt and neck ruffle from the rose fabric.

I had forgotten all about this one.  The fabric was kind of like a shantung - a little shiny with horizontal slubs.  I think it started out as a bedspread.  Love that 60s look.

Hard to tell, but this was a high waisted slip of a dress with criss-cross straps in the back made out of an old rayon that was as strong as the day it was loomed - probably in the 40s judging from the very narrow width of the fabric.

The name of my business was "Vintage Generations."  I used to sew every afternoon while my baby slept (Yep, Chelsea-the same one that just left for college).  Sometimes my mom would come over and we'd gab and sew and gab some more.

This long vest was made out of several doilies stitched together with crocheted flowers with vintage buttons in the centers on the lapel.  I think it could still go today... don't you think?

Oh yes, and I wouldn't have been worth my vintage salt if I didn't make a bunch of stuff out of old barkcloth draperies.  By the way, they're not called drapes.  Indeed, I can still hear my English accented interior Design 101 teacher, Mrs. Riggs, my freshman year:  "Never say drapes.  Drape is a verb.  The things you hang on your windows are drapeRIES!"

Fairytale Lovers?

I've had these two beautiful, richly color prints for a long time and I am preparing them to sell in my Etsy shop.  These fairy tale couples caught my fancy about 20 years ago in a barn sale.  They are actually pages from a book printed in the 1890s.  That's about all I know.  When I first purchased them, I looked up the names on the internet.  There was very little information available at the time.

There are now thousands of internet listings for the fairy tale, Prince Cherry.  Here he is accepting the magic ring from the fairy, Candide. Sent by Prince Cherry's father, the ring has amazing powers to keep our poor, stupid prince in line... kind of like a CTR ring with consequences.  Unfortunately, Prince Cherry has to learn the hard way to be good and kind and faithful, but he does... eventually. Kinda like the rest of us, I guess.

Now, I can understand not finding anything about these two on the internet years ago when I looked them up, but I was surprised to still find absolutely nothing again just a few days ago.  There was one listing on Google.  It was the same picture -- but no story!  Will I ever know the story of Graciosa & Piercinet?  Why is Piercinet on his knee with his hat off?  Is he proposing?  Is Graciosa holding up her hand in refusal?  Why are they in a secluded wood?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Daughters and Daisies

My daughter left for her freshman year at college a few weeks ago.  (That's one of the reasons I have time to start a blog, but we won't go there right now.)  The last few weeks before leaving, she sorted through all her belongings right down to her overflowing "memory box" and although she left her bedroom somewhat clean, it still looked like a strong wind had blown through leaving various broken jewelry, papers and other discarded "debris" in it's wake.  Anyway, since she left I've been in her room a few times to straighten up and subject myself to the emotions that grab at a mom's heart after a kid moves out.  She is my one daughter.

I remember when we painted little daisies all over the walls of her small bedroom.  She wanted cobalt blue for the background and I was amazed how good that looked next to the old prairie style shellac woodwork with the orange undertones.  

The daisies were only about an inch across and nothing spectacular with pink, green, purple and yellow centers.  It took a long time to get the daisies placed correctly and involved hanging diagonal lines of string and lots of measuring (measure twice, paint once) so they were properly spaced and didn't disappear into the ceiling as the eye followed them around the room.  

There was a lot of trial and error and one wall had to be completely repainted.  As with all things, it was a lot harder than it looked.  

 
When she wanted to change her room to black and hot pink with musical notes only a few years later, I put her off.  No way.  Didn't she remember how hard it was to do the daisies?  Well now she's gone to college 1500 miles away and the daisies are still here.  They remind me that there were times when it was very hard to raise a teenage daughter, a lot of trial and error was involved... but like the daisies, the end result was worth it.  Miss you Chelsea.

New Boundaries

 

We have a school board meeting tonight.  We are in the process of determining new boundaries between our four elementary schools because of declining populations in some schools and increasing populations in others.  This is the first time we have had to make any attendance area changes in the ten years since I've been on the board, but I know this will be an emotional issue.  We parents and kids (and teachers) love our elementary schools and we get very attached to them! 

The "Shrugero"

It's not really a shrug and not really a bolero, so let's call it a shrugero. For the last few days I made a shrugero for a friend who needed to get a little more coverage than her wedding dress offered. The top layer is organza and the underlayer and lining are taffeta. She really wanted ruffles on the sleeves -- let's call them sleevelets since they don't even extend to the entire armhole. Hey, I think I'm inventing a whole new sewing vocabulary!

By the way, I call them "rumba ruffles." Figuring out how to add these and crop the regular sleeves to these little caps was an adventure in inventiveness. Anyway, these little cuties doubled the time it took to make the whole shrugero... but they were worth it. The bride loved them. They also echoed the organza ruffles at the hem of the wedding dress. The big day is next Saturday and Rachel will look beautiful in her shrugero with the rumba ruffles on the sleevelets.

Ya have to start somewhere

Hi everybody!

It's always fun to do something new... so here I am trying my hand at blogging and setting up an Etsy shop. Please stay tuned as I get it all together.