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A little cake stand is a good way to collect a lot of tiny things in one spot.
This little witch always makes me laugh. Who hasn't felt like her from time to time?
I never much cared for the skeletons until I found a home for them on the mirror.
Plus, it's just kind of fun to look in the mirror and see that word over your face.
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My little paper party favor always makes me think one thing: I really was born in the wrong era.
Have a happy, not too haunted October weekend!
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Wondering what to do with your stash of feedsacks? Are you suddenly interested in budget fashion?
Maybe this little booklet can help. It's a book of patterns for clothing based on feedsacks. As a completely irrelevant aside, I need to point to the name in pencil in the upper right corner. This book belonged to my fourth-grade teacher before she got married. The area where I grew up is so small, so rural, that of course I would I know the maiden name of my fourth-grade teacher. When I saw her at the auction at her family's farm, she hugged me, called me Barby, and we hung out for a while. I love going home.
Some valuable information on feedsacks.
My daughter just started high school. Maybe she'd like a pattern for "an accessory ensemble that makes every costume LOOK important."
The apron patterns are my favorite.
Maybe you can help me out with a question about this fabric. I'm a feedsack rookie, so anything you can tell me will help. The feedsack fabric I bought at that auction a few weeks ago was a kind of coarse, loosely woven cotton. It's not like this fabric at all, which is a finely woven cotton. But check out the stitching lines on the left ...
and the imprint of this label - the big letters say Doughboy Fe(ed?) So feedsack can be finely woven, too? And I've always wondered about the border-print feedsacks that could be made into pillowcases. I wouldn't want to sleep on the feedsack fabric I got a few weeks ago, but this kind of feedsack seems much more pillowcase-ish.
This booklet was published toward the end of World War II, but the first sentence seems as relevant today: "The war has taught us that it isn't how much we have that counts but how well we use what we have." A good thing to remember in uncertain times.
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I woke up this morning with mixed feelings. I have a fun outing planned with my husband and hooky-playing son later today. Unfortunately, before I went on the fun outing, I had a dentist's appointment scheduled.
My dentist's office is very good about tracking its patients down the day before to remind them of their appointment (and, in my case, ensure that my sleep will be wracked with disturbing dreams about giant drills and anesthesia gone bad.)
When I didn't get a call yesterday, I figured my no-good, hooky-playing son or equally unreliable daughter forgot to pass along the message. To be on the safe side, I called the dentist's office this morning just to double-check the time.
And, in fact, I do not have a dentist's appointment today! Oh, the feeling! I have an appointment in a couple of weeks, but we're not going to think about right now. (Nor am I thinking about where it is that I'm supposed to be at 10:20 today, because I wrote that down on the calendar for some reason...) I'm just going to revel in this sense of liberation. And show you one of my new favorite things.
And ask you this question:
Is this not the cutest tea towel you've ever seen? (And on the subject of tea, have you visited Susan's new tea shop? Talk about cute.) I considered selling the towel on eBay (part of today's fun outing may include a college visit, and when I'm not having anxiety dreams about the dentist, I'm having anxiety dreams about college tuition), but I'm not sure I can part with it. I'm going to sell some other towels instead.
Like this one. Really, really, really cute, but I'm not from New Jersey. Some of you have been nice enough to ask for a link to my eBay stuff. If you want to take a peek (at what's not selling this week - curse this worldwide economic crisis!) just click on the little sidebar image up top, or here, or search by my seller name, kremisclub.
In the meantime, I urge you to randomly pick a time and day somewhere in the future and make a notation for a dentist appointment. When the day comes, and you discover you don't have a dentist appointment, you will be very happy. I guarantee it.
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Ready to look inside the hatboxes?
Can you imagine how great the woman who owned these must have looked every time she went out?
Some of them still had a price tag attached; apparently they had never been worn.
She must have had a bit of a thing for flowery hats.
Which is understandable, I think.
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I'm wondering if it's such a good idea to go to an auction when I'm changing the house around.
I start thinking things like, "Why don't I have a child-sized, pumpkin-colored tea set? I really need one."
I wonder why I don't have a sugar bowl with orange flowers on it.
Or the matching creamer.
I think about how perfect it would be to serve pie on a set of little plates with orange rims and tiny fruit motifs. Of course, I'm not troubled by these issues any longer, because I brought all of this home. And more. It was a pretty good auction.
Up next: the contents of these hatboxes, revealed!
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Three words describe my vintage apron collection.
Out of control. I don't know how many aprons are in this suitcase. I'm a little afraid to find out. The aprons are in the suitcase (which is almost too heavy to lift) because from time to time I've done talks on them or displayed them at an event, and the suitcase is a handy way to tote them around. I show up looking like an itinerant salesman.
Because I've got more than enough aprons, I try to be pretty careful about accumulating more. (They're so abundant! They're so affordable! It's so hard to show restraint!) I did get this one in a box lot at an auction Saturday, and I'm pretty charmed by it. Most of the embroidered aprons I have are gingham.
Here's a fun little apron that's a perfect half-circle and full as can be.
Even its pocket is cute - a little gathered circle.
Handkerchief aprons cover two of my collecting passions - aprons and handkerchiefs.
It's the details that make the difference - the way the hanky goes so well with the fabric, the little touch of rickrack.
More pretty fabric and rickrack - this is the edge of a fancy hostess apron.
Another sweet detail - smocking to gather in a bodice.
This apron is a favorite not because it's fancy, but because it's humble. Each of those little squares of fabric was too precious to waste.
One of the fascinations for me with aprons is looking at how they're made. It was only after I started collecting aprons that my mom mentioned that my great-grandmother was the neighborhood apron-maker. If you needed a few aprons sewn in a hurry, my Nanny was the one to call. Must be something in our genes, this thing with aprons.
Even if I run out of room for more aprons ...
I can always find space for more patterns and books.
Many thanks to Cindy for hosting this week's Show and Tell Sunday. Visit her blog to see who else is showing aprons this week!
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The leaves are changing, which means it's time to change the shelf arrangement in the kitchen.
I found this rectangular dish at a yard sale this summer. I don't think it's really Jadeite, but it's close enough for me.
The accidental pumpkin patch yielded 24 little pumpkins, and some big ones that are still turning orange. I must remember to not plant pumpkins every year.
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Nothing beats buying a box of fabric scraps. Especially one with scraps of feedsack. Especially now that I have a better idea of what they look like.
None of these are full-sized feedsacks, but good-sized pieces. If you want to see some really cute prints, pop on over and visit Suzy and Beth. If you want to see a wild outfit made out of a feedsack, go see what Jenny found. And look at this gorgeous feedsack quilt that Nanette made.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this one, whether it's a feedsack or just some yardage. It's kind of an odd-sized, large piece, with just one selvage. Any thoughts? No stitching lines, but the fabric is kind of that loosely woven cotton. Is there a secret to knowing for sure? Whatever it is - it sure is a sweet print.
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The limited space in my kitchen is the only thing that's kept me from collecting juice pitchers. They're so colorful and pretty and occasionally useful. This orange juice carafe is coming in handy right now, because I have been tagged, most recently by Emily at Livin' Vintage and Connie at Magnolia Street Style, and it's going to illustrate one of the seven random things about me.
#1. I had been under the impression for about 15 years that I was allergic to orange juice. Turns out I'm not. Now I can't get enough of it.
#2. I'm terrified of movies about asteroids hitting the earth. If my husband or son is watching one, I can't even walk through the room while it's on. I suppose this means I'm terrified at the prospect of an asteroid actually hitting the earth, but it's not something I think about a lot.
#3. I have almost no sense of direction. When I get where I'm going, I'm amazed.
#4. I have almost no fear of spiders. I kind of like them. I probably wouldn't like giant, scary, poisonous spiders, but we don't have that kind here.
#5. I'm a political junkie. Cannot get enough political news. Cannot wait for the Thursday night VP debate. Cannot say any more because I don't want to tangle politically with anyone on my blog. We're all friends here.
#6. As a very young child, I could recite the alphabet backwards as easily as forwards.
#7. I'm excellent under deadline pressure; unfortunately, it has resulted in me being able to do things only under deadline pressure. It's one of the reasons I'm fairly hopeless at tags and awards. I procrastinate, and I never pass them along despite my best intentions. Three people have been nice enough to send me an award, and now the two tags, and this means that I've got to come up with something like 35 people to tag or award. Hence, the beauty of procrastination: No one can reasonably expect me to come up with 35 people. (Can they?) So - if you'd like to share seven random facts about yourself, go for it! Consider yourself tagged. As for awards - I'd give one to everyone.
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