All Good Things...

As the old saying goes, "All good things come to those who wait."

It must have been Breaking Dawn part I.  Yes - the timing would be right - November 2011.  A group of us had made it a date to go to the midnight premieres of the Twilight saga movies.   A fun girl thing.  

On this particular premiere night, we had a little time to kill and met at my house where the group gained access to my sewing room whereupon was spied some of the clothing I was trying to create and accumulate for the opening of my clothing-made-from-vintage-fabric Etsy shop.  

Those of you who have been readers of this blog (both of you - you know who you are... ha ha), know that I have struggled with time/focus/perfectionism to get it all going in my Etsy endeavors.  Anyway, at that time, I had decided to repeat what I did with my 90s business, Vintage Generations - only online.  So, it was ever-present in my mind that I HAD to get a dozen or so garments ready in order for my shop to have enough inventory, right?

And this was taking me for-ev-ver!

Enter my friend, Karen, on premiere night.  When she laid eyes on a little yellow eyelet shirt, apparently she was smitten.  With me, I always think people are just being nice and complimentary, so I wasn't sure.  For both you past readers, you may remember me blogging about the history and creation of said shirt and the post about how I would wear it.

Well, Karen - a woman of action, grabbed the hanger, disappeared for a moment, and returned wearing the shirt and belt much to the oohs and ahhs of all.  She looked great in it and it looked great on her.  Much better than it would have looked on 16-year-old Kathy in the 70s!  She wanted to buy it on the spot and asked me to name my price, any price.

Oh how I regret hemming and hawing and hawing and hemming.  Yes, it went on for awhile... in fact years!  I needed inventory to start my stupid shop!  Karen got pregnant.  I hemmed and hawed.  (What is hawing, by the way?)  Karen got pregnant again.  I hemmed and hawed.  By this time, I had decided to just GIVE her the shirt since my aforementioned time/focus/perfectionism was starting to steer me in another direction for the shop, but Karen got pregnant yet again!  Holy moly!  She was building a dynasty of beautiful little girls!

Well, as I said before, all good things come to those who wait and for those who have waited for this blog post to end, you will soon be rewarded as Karen FINALLY was about two weeks ago when I actually let her pry that shirt from my cold dead hands.  Ha - no I'm not Charleton Heston, I just finally gave it to her!

(Cue Hallelujah Chorus)

And she looks mighty fine in it.  Meant to be.

Sorry I was such a slug about it, Karen.

And thanks for the gorgeous DLB Gemstone necklace!

(You didn't have to, but I'm glad you did!)

A River Runs Through It

Last December Shannon from Oregon purchased this 

sturdy vintage cotton canvas sportsman fabric from my Etsy shop. 

She's got a big heart and wanted to surprise her dad with

something special that would spark memories of his pre-stroke,

younger days of fly fishing and elk hunting in Montana.

Look at this gorgeous messenger bag she custom made

to fit his wheelchair!

Complete with camouflage khaki lining and a deep

pocket for his latest Field and Stream magazine.

This gentleman is blessed to have such a thoughtful daughter.

Thanks for sharing, Shannon.

Rag Quilt

Of course I didn't finish my baby gift until the day I left for Scotland!

I guess it's just my style.

 

I was inspired by one of my contacts on Flickr (Nesha's Vintage Niche)

and decided to try a rag quilt of vintage chenille.

 

 You know the old saying, "Measure twice, cut once."

Well, laying it out helps me visualize before I start cutting.

And a lot of cutting there was!

I cut my squares 5" to get finished squares of 4".

In retrospect, I should have made them more like 6" or 8".

Smaller squares = more work!

 

My backing was a soft flannel.

Put the squares back-to-back and sewed my X.

Even inserted strips along the border to give my edges

similar thickness to the rest of the seams.

 

Once all the Xs were sewn

(and don't underestimate how long that wee little step takes 99 times),

I laid them out to make sure the pattern was what I wanted.

 

Finally, assembling the squares!

And breaking needles on those thicknesses!

Better have sharp scissors to snip these seams!

  

 Before washing. 

Especially if you make this out of chenille, be ready for FLUFF EVERYWHERE! 

 

Then you wash/dry, wash/dry, wash/dry!

I did this one three times and I'm sure it will continue

to lose threads when washing and drying in the future!

Clean the fluff from your washer, your sink, and your lint trap!

 

But it does turn out to be a soft, sweet fluffy blanky.

For a soft, sweet bunny baby.

Miss her sooo much!

Stocking Up

I'm a big believer in creating traditions!  My family members can attest to that.  When my kids leave home, I want them to remember all the fun they had growing up here participating in Valentine treasure hunts to Halloween songs.

One tradition (perhaps my first) was started sort of by accident and long before any of them was even a twinkle in somebody's eye -- a yearly Christmas stocking for my husband.  Here's how it started.  In order to ensnare my candy-loving boyfriend, I made him a stocking way-back-when in (oh my gosh this seems so long ago) 1976.  Gasp.  My diabolical plan worked!  I delivered the handmade sugar packed treasure on Christmas eve and sure enough he planted that first kiss on me the next day - Christmas!

Made from a McCall's pattern, it was a felt track shoe with one of his high school nicknames on one side and track team number on the other.  Little did I know that stocking would be the first in a long line of candy-filled creations that have inadvertently summarized our life.  I didn't plan to do it... but the next year I made another and another after that.

 Then he served a mission in Tokyo and I had to make one to send to him there.

Well, then we got married.

These stockings are simple: felt, puffy paint, glitter glue -- 

never taking much more than an hour to create.

Always celebrating milestones in my husband's life.

Like graduating from college

or the birth of a baby daughter.

Or a year jam-packed with buying a house, having a baby,

getting a master's degree and holding an extra part-time job.  Yikes.

 And we can't forget the Packers!

 Or the big Y2K scare...

 In 2000, Larry researched his deceased father's prisoner of

war experience and wrote a book about it for family members.

And then 911 happened.

 In 2006, my husband wrote a book about all the president's inaugural addresses

and their faith related comments.  Check it out here on Amazon.

 Here's the year Larry had very serious neck surgery in January

and visited Mt. Rushmore in August.  Notice George's cervical collar.

You may remember two summers ago when all my kids

came home to roost for a couple of months between semesters.

This is a take off on the old woman who lived in a shoe...

And this is the latest stocking edition... from 2011.  There was a lot of political turmoil in our state last year and teachers... well, I don't want to get into it.  But this stocking illustrates how it was stated that some teachers live high on the hog... so I made light of it by planting a picture of Larry in his '99 Ford Escort waving a fist full of money.  Perhaps a bit sarcastic... 'nuff said.

What will be the subject of this year's stocking?

I'm starting to think about it.

Several things happened this year...

a cross-country trip to drop Chelsea at college,

s son who performed at Summerfest,

the death of a beloved brother, 

knee surgery,

Keaton's Band Revue...

Well, whatever it is, it will be the 37th edition of the annual stocking!

Merry Christmas!

May all your traditions be meaningful and fun.

Simplicity Fashion News

Finding some old pattern advertisements in a box of notions that I recently purchased was a fun discovery.  I remember piles of these laying on the cutting counters when I worked at Mary Lester Fabrics in Milwaukee.   Here's one by Simplicity from July 1968 when patterns were still 65¢ and 75¢! (click to enlarge)

 Very Twiggy-esque...

By the way, Twiggy is 63 now.

 These dresses look like they're made of polyester double knit...

 I must say that I love the shoes...

 ...but the hair-dos are another story.  Can you say "beehive?"

Love the quintessential yellow floral.
The second gal to the left is very early Carol Brady.
That show must have started very close to '68.

 Solid jewel-tone colors with touches of white are "cool" in 1968.

 Nice colors.  Nice socks.
Ok, maybe I do want knee socks to come back...
but not the sheer, cut-off-your-circulation-under-the-knee-cap kind.

I remember wearing dresses like these...

and pig-tail girl is having a little too much fun... 

and her dress is short.  

That's why we used to sing such taunts as, 

"I see London.  I see France.  I see (fill in the name)'s underpants!"

Oh, and the baby blue sport set on dad is, is, is... no words.

 A ruffle tutorial.

The "Answer Dress.
What's the question?

Gotta love the Don Ho "TV Spectacular" advertisement.

"Tiny bubbles..."