Rhinestone Armadillo

Matching Hippy Patchwork Dresses

Violet is enjoying the Amelie Soundtrack during lunch.

Hello, Mister Ant!  I wish you weren't in my kitchen, but you're very cute.

He was doing this odd thing where he stood on his hind legs, then squeegeed his antennas with his front 2 legs. I guess his antennas got wet.  It was really cute.

Did I mention I've been sewing a lot?  A LOT?

I made matching Mother/Daughter patchwork hippy dresses.  I'm trying to make things I can wear now and post-baby. If I can find a yellow onesie, I'll make one for Baby #2, also.

I have tons of scraps I like that weren't large enough to sew a whole project with.

These needlepoint roses were on an old seventies prom dress.

It took a while to sew this sucker, since I sewed every single little piece on each row.

The fabric range from new to scraps from the 1940s.  Detailed patchwork stuff keeps Violet busy, especially when we have to wait somewhere.  She likes to play 'Find the Whatever"....I say, find the blue bird or find the bear holding a bowl or find the lady under an orange tree. 

I still have a ton of these scraps left.  Does anyone want them?

Moon Addiction

I adore all things 'moon'.....you?

"A Carnvial Evening" by Henri Rousseau.

Fun idea----I don't know where this came from.  I'll be happy to credit it if you know.

From Apartment Therapy.  I think one would be enough, don't you?  It seems to lose the moon-ish impact with more than one.

I'm crazy about old paper moon studio props.  I will make one for my studio when the building is finished.  Get ready, everyone who knows me---when you visit, you will be required to take a moon photo.

Girls' Night

I got the chance to meet three old friends in Fort Worth for a Girls' Night.  We tried to catch up--as much as you can in a few hours, anyway.

We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast called the Hattie May Inn. 

I'd highly recommend it if you're traveling to the Fort Worth area.  It's in a quiet neighborhood, but very close to downtown.  The prices were reasonable, especially if you're splitting a room with friends, and breakfast is included.  It's also a mile from Magnolia Street, where there is a long strip of interesting stores and restaurants.

The owner left us a nice bottle of wine and we all brought a few snacks to enjoy on the turret. (Cranberry juice and club soda for me, due to baby #2.)

The beds were comfy, and there were all sorts of fun things to look at.  If I'd been alone, I'd have enjoyed browsing their book collection.  We had a great breakfast of bacon (oh, how I love you, bacon), pancakes, yogurt, fruit, coffee and juice.  Why does breakfast always taste so much better when someone else makes it?

(photo from HilaryInspired.com)

We ate at Spiral Diner, a fun vegan restaurant on Magnolia Street.  It's a fun place with a relaxed, kind of hippie vibe.  It's like a quirky 50s diner with tasty, healthy food--the menu is huge.  It took us forever to decide what to get.   They had a bunch of fun natural sodas made with agave syrup.....watermelon, ginger ale that was almost hot, grapefruit, grape, root beer....and a coconut limeade I never got around to trying.

I wish I lived closer to these women!  Oh, well...at least we get to look forward to getting together.

Heidi dress inspiration

Regarding the post below (about mixing pattern pieces to make a dress)...I'm envisioning a Heidi-type dress.  I want to get all the girly dresses out of my system before Violet decides she's a tomboy or something.

I like the style of the Heidi illustrations from Jessie Wilcox Smith.  They're so full of fabric, but made of nice, light cottons.

Here's a nice understated style by Gustaf Tenggren.

I like vintage boho Jessica McClintock gowns and prairie dresses. (from VioletFolklore)

Gunne Sax always had such nice lines and details.  The clothes were so uber-feminine, too.
(from GreenMarketVintage on Etsy)

I want to make Violet something like the Von Trapp children would wear for a bicycle outing.

The Sound of Music is one of my mother's favorite movies.  I grew up watching lots of musicals.  Maybe that explains a lot.  

Throw this into the mix, too.

I have great double-sided calico-ish fabric I've been saving.  It's in autumny shades of orange, brown, and soft smoky lavender.  Ooooh----I'm getting excited about sewing!  Don't you like really looking forward to a project?  Those usually turn out better, in my experience.

Frankenstein dress

No, not like this.  However, this would be a great maternity Halloween costume, huh?  That's not going to happen this time around, since I'm due in early June.

I am always buying the cheapo patterns you see at thrift stores.  They're frequently in perfect condition (never even cut), but the styles are too old fashioned.  Old fashioned eighties or nineties styles, that is.

So...I've been looking for patterns with particular pieces I want.  I'm going to mix them all, using the same children's size.  I just hope the pattern sizes are consistent from pattern to pattern.  We'll see.

I've cut out the pieces, and hopefully the sewing will go quickly.  I dislike cutting out pattern pieces.  What's your 'yucky' part of the sewing process?  I love the actual sewing (if it's not too advanced for my skills), but my favorite is picking out and adding trims and buttons and such.

I'm going to take the body of the dress from this one.  It's nice and swingy...a great 'twirl dress'.

I'll add the short sleeves from this one. 

...and the pants from this one. (This is a new pattern, by the way.)

We'll see how it turns out.  The more pregnant I get, the less patient I get.  Not to mention mood swings.  BOY am I moody these days.  If this turns out crappy, I may just throw it out the window in a fit of rage.  Or cry for an hour while eating pumpkin muffins.  I am running out of energy earlier and earlier in the evenings, so I don't want to commit to a project that isn't going to turn out at least semi-well.  This may be more potential frustration than I want to deal with right now.  I'm going to try anyway, so wish me luck!

Rubik's Cube cake

Is there an eighties nerd in your life having a birthday soon?

Ooh....fun!  View instructions from S'Tasty here at Instructables.

Old Fashioned Soda Fountain

I was talking with a friend about old fashioned soda fountains.  Now I'm craving a silly drink while sitting on a swively stool with my husband. 

I want a cherry phosphate.  And I want a man in a silly paper hat to make it for me.

Or maybe an egg cream.  Did you know there are no EGGS in those?

Here is the Brooklyn Farmacy (yes, with an 'f') in Brooklyn, NY.

Isn't she lovely?

I want to eavesdrop on their chat, don't you?

Do you guys have a favorite old soda fountain?

What's in the Jar Wednesday-Jar#40

Jar #40 contains....

...dirt.  Yuck.

So...let's move on to something else, shall we?

Pretty skies in the morning...see the moon?

My ghost husband is walking behind the truck.  I want him to stay home.  I've been missing him extra lately.

Almost every day, Violet pretends to be a different animal.  Her recent favorite has been Little Girl Crane.  I have to be Mama Crane, and Adam is Daddy Crane.  Here she is in her 'crane nest'.

She likes to pet her little sister and talk to her.  I bet this baby is going to be more familiar with Violet's voice than mine when she arrives.

I found a great old year book at a thrift store.

It has the most unusual pink color inside and a metallic gold print.

I like the lettering.


Ins't the Art Deco style great?

Ladies' sports got one whole page.  The boys' section took up 8 or 9 pages. 

They all look so...interesting.  Faces from this period seem to have so much more character, don't you think?  These girls seem full of moxie and grit.

I was amused to see the Italian Club was made up of Italians.  I'm used to a language club being comprised of people studying the language.  I guess in 1930, you hung out with the other Italians in your club.

Look at the grumpy Germans.  Notice the fussily crossed arms on the front row.

The photos from their events seem so froo froo and elaborate.  Fun!

What's in the Jar Wednesday-Jar #39

Jar #39

Lotsa junk.

Did you roll your coins as a kid?  I remember cramming lots of pennies into these paper wrappers.

Man junk.  Thankfully, the Band-Aid tin was empty.

Little metal baby spoons!

Cocktail umbrellas, ugly magnets (check out the creepy baby pig with a bottle), and random cupcake toppers.  There are 3 obscene toppers (Vegas, maybe?...Can you find them?)

Here are oodles of gumball machine rings.  I think I told y'all, but---someday, I'll have a Mermaid and Pirates party, and all these trinkets will come in handy for treasure boxes.

What's in the Jar Wednesday-Jar #38

Jar #38...baby booties!

I've been saving this particular jar for a while.  I thought it would be a great way to tell all of you....I'm pregnant!  We're expecting a baby girl sometime in June.