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big vintage book post

I've been sort of collecting up all my good recent book finds to do one big post about. I've been to garage sales, V.V's, a notable large high school rummage sale, and all of them usually provide me with a lovely book or six. So if you are not interested in awesome old kids books, crazy vintage knitting patterns and beautifully illustrated end papers, today's post is not for you. But I know a lot of you by now, and I'm thinking there are at least a couple of you who are going to find this right up your alley.  First, a lovely bunch of Little Golden Books. I was especially pleased to find the copy of "Mr. Bell's Fixit Shop" as one of you dear readers recommended it to me, and I've been on the look out for it ever since. I love it when I actually find something second-hand that I was looking for. That's the best. 

And then, a lovely trio of Richard Scarry books. You know what Richard Scarry fan I am. I was especially stoked to get the "Best Story Book Ever". It has such a great variety of stuff in it. We had a doctor's appointment, the Little Dude and I, and this was the only book we had to bring. It got us through the whole hour long wait quite easily. 

I actually had the "About Animals" book when I was little, I remember the cover quite well. Though now that I look at it as an adult, I feel like the illustrations are a little weird. Don't get me wrong, I still love the quality of them. I just think its... odd that the animals dressed as people are going to the zoo to look at animals who are not like people. You know what I mean. There is an odd sort of post modern quality about it that just always make me go "hunh".

"The Bunny Book" though, is just plain adorable.

Seriously, would you look at that! 

And its nice that Scarry acknowledges the paradox of clothed rabbits versus plain rabbit-rabbits here. That's helpful. 

I think that this might be one of my favourite Richard Scarry illustrations of all time. So lovely.

Picked this one up at a garage sale for the kitsch factor, assuming it would be of the slightly racist cowboys and indians genre, but it may actually be a reasonably good book. I haven't read it yet, so the jury is still out. 

Beautiful end papers though, I will say that. 

These 'Annuals', anthologies of stories and such, used to be extremely popular. I don't think anyone makes them anymore, but I find then from time to time. This one is in good condition, but more importantly...

...has awesome artwork.

Giant snakes and guns! Whew. 

I always like to pick up this kind of very specific cookbook. There is something so mid-century about a cook book devoted to the subject of meat. 

Also, the illustration captions are fantastic. 

I was pretty excited to pick this up for a dollar at a garage sale. 

Its got lots of great pictures, including these crazy squirrels...

and this terrifying wolverine. Its funny, I ran into one of my neighbors just after I picked this up. She's originally from Britain (though she's lived here for ages), and she said in her inimitable British way. "Oh that looks lovely. One does get rawther tired of all his birds." For some reason, it just killed me and I'm always going to think of that when I look at this book now. How tired I am of Audubon's birds.

Then of course, I've been picking up knitting patterns and such here there and everywhere. This lovely bunch are all from the high school rummage sale.

And this pile, as you can tell by the stickers, is from the Value Village. There is a lot I like about the V.V. but one thing I hate is these wretched stickers. They don't come off AT ALL. They tear, and then they rip the paper underneath and if by some miracle you can get them off (in many little pieces) they leave a sticky residue that makes the patterns stick to each other and rip some more. They are THE WORST!

I don't often bother with knitting patterns from the 80's (not quite vintage enough for me, plus, I was alive then, so they don't have the exotic waft of yesteryear that I'm so drawn to). But I had to pick this one up, just for the awesomeness of that cover model. She's workin' the hell out of that double breasted cable knit jacket! So much attitude.

And this is one of the patterns in that little Beehive for Kid's booklet. I'm totally making that little squirrel sweater for The Baby next fall. I'm thinking a nice beige/fawn colour with dark brown squirrels. It'd look so sweet on him. Plus also, squirrels!

And I want to make that boys pullover in a size big enough for me, and in different colours. Grey and yellow maybe. So cute. 

How awesome are these? Halters are indeed Tops (just like lamb chops apparently). I love how they show alternate styling/wardrobe options. Knitted halters; going from the Boardwalk to the Boardroom. Ah, seventies optimism, how I love you.

And I had to include these three shots from the Bernat knitting book (late sixties I'm thinking) just to illustrate the inequity in modeling from the time period. Beauty standards change a lot, and modeling for a home knitwear instructional guide is probably not the creme de la creme of modeling gigs. But still, in what world is this guy a model?  I'm sure his mother loves him, but seriously, that is a face for radio, as they say. 

And in what world is he married to this woman?

Honestly. Also, there are like, five or six different very attractive ladies featured throughout this book and just this one dude, and frankly he looks like he's suffered from one too many rugby related facial injuries. I'm guessing he was related to one of the photographers or something, and they just pulled him into the shoot in a pinch. Just sayin'.

fabric and geekery

The Value Village had its half price sale this week, and my very kind Mom dropped by my house during the middle of her very busy day and fed my kids lunch so I could whip out to the store and check out the sales. I knew I had 15 minutes to get there, and 15 minutes to get back, so that left me with a scant half hour to ransack the place, minus standing-in-line time. So this could be no leisurely wander through the store, leaving no stone unturned, and no shelf unexamined. Oh no, I was a woman on a mission. And that mission was (hopefully) to get Star Wars sheets. I am getting dangerously low, and I need to make more bibs and stuff, so with the possibility of half-priced vintage sci-fi bed linnens hanging tangibly in the air, I headed into the store with great hope. 

Now, it was noon. On half-price day, so I tried not to get my expectations too high as many, many had trod those aisles before me. An early bird I was not. I'd planned my path like this: Household Linnens, Men's Shirts, Toys (not that we need any, but just in case) Baby clothes (ditto) and then a quick look over the housewares for pyrex/mugs/awesomeness and a micro scan of the Jewelry. Oh, and formal dresses, because you never know. 

Toys, Jewelry, and Formal Wear were all a bust, which is fine. Got a few useful but non-photo-worthy items in housewares, (baskets, jars, little glasses for little hands) but as usual, Household Linens and Men's Wear was where I did most of my damage.  Three nice shirts. Love a good plaid, and that peachy coloured one is just the nicest heavy/soft brushed cotton ever. Gonna be so good in a quilt. And there in the middle is a Liberty for Target shirt.  I love Liberty, and its so funny because I actually bought this shirt new from Target when their Liberty line came out. But I got an XS and have plans to alter/wear it, and one day cut it up for quilting. But now I have two, and let me tell you, this one was way cheaper than the other. 

Then I found these nice sheets. I love how well they look together. Could be nice as a summer dress with one for trim. 

Couple of nice heavy weight cotton pillowcases, both stripey and orange. 

And another one of those lovely Irish Linnen tea towels. With a very groovy Saint Fiacre on it. 

I can see why this one never got used. It is really awesome. 

I might just hang it on the wall in my kitchen. It'd work with the nice orange-y wood '70's vibe that's already going on there. 

But all this was nothing compared to what you'll see next. Wait for it....

Oh My Gosh TRANSFORMERS! (it's not quite Star Wars, but really, almost the next best thing. Aside from Doctor Who. I'd kill to get my hands on some Doctor Who sheets). I have such fond Transformer memories from my childhood, most of them via my brother of course, who the actual Transformers in our house belonged to, but I can remember playing with them with him, and his excitement at saving up his money to buy Optimus Prime. 

Though my fond memories did fail me when it came to most of their names. The Little Dude was very 'insestred' in this, naturally. And quized me mercilessly about "what dat guy called? Dat Racecar guy? What his NAME!" etc. At which point I had to tell him I didn't know, and he told me that it was ok, "but we'll hafta look it on the computer." Yes, yes we will. (if you are reading this Uncle Lemur Boy, leave the names in the comments wouldya? It'll save me some time, and I know you can recite them all like it was yesterday)

Aw Yeah, 1987. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. I'm going to show L.D. this picture tomorrow and it is going to blow. his. mind. 
Sadly, there is a fair amount of paint splatter on this old sheet. Honestly. These people must have been Barbarians to use their Transformer sheets as a drop cloth. Sheesh. I shake my head at their ignorance. But still, there is a lot that is useable, and bibs and blankies will be made, I promise you.

And speaking of adorable little geeks, here's what I found L.D. and his Daddy bonding over at bedtime the other day. Apparently three and eleven/twelfths is just the right age to bust out the Star Wars (Where Science Meets Imagination) and start indoctrinating them. 

I cannot tell you how much L.D. enjoyed paging through this book with his Daddy. They just went through pointing at pictures and Hubs telling him about what was there to be seen (space ships, explosions, robots, the harsh climates of inhospitable planets and their theoretical indigenous creatures...) you know, the basics.

It was a lovely moment. But of course, the real fun started the moment the book was closed and the lights turned off. And then, little mister chatterbox started going a mile a minute about all the wonders he'd just seen, and had a hundred questions and suggestions for potential story lines. "And then, and then there could be a HUNDRED Darth Vaders and they could all go for a ride in a big, big truck together and then when they all got out they could get in a space ship and go somewhere and then....."

Twenty minutes of non-stop chatter later, this was looking less and less like a good idea. But finally, he agreed to keep enjoying his thoughts, but not out loud, just in his head, and off he went to have pleasant dreams about a galaxy far, far away....

thrifting: the fabric post

Ok, there has been a LOT of good thrifting going on around here lately. I keep meaning to take it all home and take pictures of it and post it right away, but you know how it goes, there always something else to do. Lunch has to be made and consumed and promptly excreted. And somehow I just don't get around to it. Anyhow, after two good garage sale days and an impromptu visit to the V.V. I have more stuff to blog about then will comfortably fit in one post. So I'm going to do a fabric post, a book post and a other stuff post. Anyhow, yesterday I did a HUGE pile of laundry. The kind of laundry that I like: lots of lovely new/old bedsheets. We finally had a bit of sun, so I hastened to get them all out on the line. Isn't that the happiest little laundry hanger you've ever seen? Just look past the ridiculous long grass and dandelions every where and the gardens that look like their sole purpose is to grow weeds. Just ignore that. Focus on the lovely, bright, happy, clean sheets airing on the line. 

I had a feeling that day when I pulled into the parking lot of the V.V. that I might find something good. I was hoping it was Star Wars sheets, because you know, those are kind of my bread and butter. But I could not be happier when it turned out to be these Richard Scarry sheets instead. 

If you don't know who Richard Scarry is you should go and look him up right now. Because he's awesome. He is a children's book illustrator of course, whose forte is anthropomorphic animals who live in a delightful little place called Busytown. We love his books and read them over and over again. I just love the detail of his work. Seriously, a gas station that looks like a gas can? I mean, come on.

And there is actually Latin on the library. I know it makes me some sort of Ivory Tower snob for liking that, but so be it. Its just that usually kids stuff is so dumbed down. Its refreshing to see the opposite.

And its funny, someone just requested a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bib the other day and I had to say "sorry, I don't have any of that fabric." But now I do. I love it when that happens. 

And I could not pass up this bit of 70's text based awesomeness. You should see it. The repeat is HUGE so there is a lot of variety of density and waves. I kind of love it. 

At first glance this seemed not so special, so I just bought one pillowcase instead of two. But now that I see it in a photograph, I feel like I should have bought more. It's going to be awesome in quilts.

Standard pretty, soft blue floral. The best thing about it is the fabric texture though. Like freakin' butter.

And look! A pink one just like that blue set I got awhile back. Same nice heavy weight cotton. I love getting patterns in multiple colourways. 

Stripes. Because I can never pass up a good stripe. They just come in so handy. This is actually a duvet cover from Ikea and its HUGE. I'll probably use it for a quilt back.

And this nice little thing (though excuse the wrinkles) is some sort of tablecloth or lightweight throw. But I'm going to cut it in half and make a scarf out of it for myself. I love these colours and I totally want to wear them.

Also, I've been finding a lot of these lately. They're these souvenir type towels from Ireland. Always proudly marked 100% Irish Linen and almost never, ever used.
Seriously. Almost every time I find one its in pristine condition with the original out-of-the-package crease marks. I think every little old lady in the world has one of these in a drawer that she recieved as a gift and is 'just too nice to use'. Well screw that. Their day has come. I'm using 'em. 

Because really, they work SO WELL. I love a good linen dish towel. You wouldn't think they'd be that absorbent, but they totally are. And very cute to boot.

And look at this interesting thing. It was in the 'tablecloth' section, but I'm not sure it is a tablecloth. I know that its African, as I searched the text and it is in Swahili in fact. It says "Mother and her son does not envy". At least that's what Google Translator tells me. Since it is in Swahili it could be from Kenya, Tanzania or Mozambique, or possible Uganda, Malawi or Rwanda. I vaguely remember a presentation on these sort of textiles from my art school days, but I really need to go out and do some more research. Either way, its quite lovely. I'm so glad that I handwashed it though, and didn't just chuck it in with the brights, as it bled a ton of pink/red ink. Probably purchased as a souvenir and was never washed before. 

Anyhow, just as we were finishing lunch the day I washed these, it started to get very ominously dark. My Dad phoned to tell me to get my laundry off the line (as my Mom was also doing laundry too, and had run out to get hers in) So I quickly popped the Baby out of his high chair and went about getting him a little sweater and finding some shoes. And just as I walked out the door it started to rain. So I dashed out and started tearing things off the line. The Baby, having a bit of good sense apparently, stayed under the deck, watching me run about like a madwoman. I finally got it all in, turned around and ran back under the deck to see.... The Baby very much enjoying himself a little snack. I ran over to him, jammed my finger into his mouth...

..AND PULLED OUT A WORM!

Not much about parenting grosses me out, but that sure did. He thought it was quite funny. When I told hubs later he asked if it was a live worm or a dried up dead worm. I wasn't quite sure, but really, I'm don't think one was preferable to the other. 

Anyhow, they say you eat 8 spiders in your sleep over the course of a lifetime, and a pound of dirt over the course of your childhood, but they never said anything about worms. 

sesame street quilt

Finished the Sesame Street quilt I've been working on for the last week or so today. It's made from a vintage bedsheet, natch, and one that I'd cut to smithereens already for bibs and such. It finally had no more good places to cut the aforementioned bibs out of, since they require a big-ish weird shape, with a good image in the middle, that often cuts into adjacent imagery. Its hard to explain. But there were lots of good little bits and pieces left that though not big enough for bibs, would make a lovely quilt if I cut it cleverly enough. 

It was very much a fussy-cutting project, which is, as you know, how I like them. Appeals to all my obsessive and crazy-hoarder tendencies in just the right way. Anyhow, here it is: I cut all these cute 'windows' out and then repieced them to look like windows within a wall. I found this awesome background fabric at my local sewing shop, and then just used some grey Kona for the sills.  As you can see in this photo, a good third of the cut outs were in need of some creative patching in order to fit in the 'window' area that I was sewing. Look along the left hand side there, and you can see where I've Frankensteined the image together along the black balcony railing. Its not perfect, but I had very limited fabric, so I just made the best of it. It was kind of fun too. Lots of puzzle piecing and hand sewing. 

Here's a shot of the backing fabric. Another old bedsheet. Though it looks like it was made to match practically. 

Here it is all folded in a pile. 

And here's a shot to show you the way I finished the edges. Its my quick and dirty sew, turn and topstitch. I'm growing quite fond of this method. 

Oh, and here's a lovely baby, showing us what little quilts are for. I'm sorry, but the rest of this post is just going to be a zillion pictures of my baby on the quilt. He was such a good and patient little model. He has this great trick, where he likes to lay his head down to cuddle soft things (pillows, teddy bears, blankets, etc.) So all I had to do was say "awww, saaaawft..." in a sing songy voice and he'd gamely lay his little head down and cuddle against the quilt. 

Seriously. I can't get enough of those big eyes of his. 

And that toothy little grin.

I was mostly taking these shots so that I could post this quilt on etsy. I always love a good 'product in use' shot, especially with baby stuff. 

These ones would work better for etsy, because they are less about a specific baby, and more about 'whatever baby you would like to imagine, using this quilt'.

Baby toes are always good too.

But I put it to a vote on facebook and this was the photo that most agreed would best sell the quilt. Along with four other straight up product shots on white backgrounds. And then after all that, one of my facebook friends went and spoke for it before it even went up on etsy. So it turns out that its good that my little product shoot turned into a 'document the Baby at this age' shoot. Totally worth it. 

oh, and my big-boy-baby got in on the act a bit too. Such a big kid by comparison, but you know what they say, you always still see your baby. 

my dad goes thrifting

He's a good man, that Dad of mine. He and my Mom were out having lunch in some other city recently when he spied a Value Village across the parking lot. And so, since he reads my blog he knows I shop there for sheet fabric a lot, and he decided to do a little shopping for me. Despite the fact that we don't exactly have the same taste and he's not what I'd call a fabric enthusiast, he went in, rolled up his sleeves and hit the housewares section for me. And you know, he did a pretty good job. Of the eight things he picked out, there were only three I didn't have any use for. And the icing on the cake was that the three I didn't like could be retuned to the store and exchanged for something else, and that gave me an excuse to go to the v.v. and do some shopping. Ahem. So really, its a win-win. 

These are the four that my Dad picked. A nice variety of florals with good variation in scale. I could even see using these four together in the same quilt.

These are the two I'm especially fond of. That one on the right is really great, I should have taken a bigger picture, but it has a lovely palette, and the colours are sort of slightly faded and yet bright. I know that sounds contradictory, but I don't know how else to describe it. 

Anyhow, then I went back to the V.V. and got a lot of other stuff. Like this Care Bear bedsheet. I already have this one, and for some reason, when I make bibs out of it, they just don't sell. But whatever, I know one day the Care Bear fabric resources will dry up, and then I'll wish I'd have bought this if I didn't. You know what I mean. All the hoarders are nodding their heads with me on this one. The sane people are confused, but whatever.

And I'm really stoked about this one. Miffy! Hubs called her "the poor man's Hello Kitty", but I totally disagree with him. If you don't know about Dick Bruna, you're obviously not Dutch, and you should go and google him right now. Such great illustrations, and a fond memory from my childhood.

Though is it just me, or is that little rabbit on the right throwing up a gang sign. Hm.

That stripe on top is a pillowcase and the dot on the bottom is another one of the Dad-finds. Its not sheeting, but a nicer mid-weight chuck of yardage from the random fabric section. I really like it a lot. 

And how 'bout this great sheet? I don't think I'll cut this one up. I'm tempted to use it to make a whole cloth quilt, and just quilt along the lines of the pattern. I just love the colours and the pattern and the sort of weird Frank Stella-y-ness of it. 

Yep, that was bound to happen. I swear, toddlers are basically hyperactive cats. 

I was very responsible in the men's shirt section and only bought two. Though you'll note that they are both courtesy of Mr. Hilfiger again. Can't beat the lovely bold plaids. I wish these were my size because I'd wear them both. I'm going to have to learn to tailor shirts one of these days.

Also, I'm a sucker for any purse or wallet with a frog clasp like this. And this little quilted one is just screaming out to me to applique or embellish it in some way. Yep, only a matter of time.

Quite pleased to find this good quality little pair of shoes for the Baby. They'll probably fit him by the end of the summer. They're the kind of shoe that's $45 when new in the stores, but I got them for $1.99. Score!

A little glass for my Little Dude. Nice and heavy bottomed, the better not to spill. 

And isn't this just the sweetest little pitcher? Look at that spout! So graceful and verging on the anthropomorphic. I feel like he's going to start talking to me any minute.

Here's the bottom. I collect this stuff, and used to find tons of it, but now its' getting scarce.

A last minute standing in line purchase. The Little Dude has recently been enamoured of these little animal toys, I believe they are called "The Littlest Petshop". His cousin gave him a few from her old collection and he's been loving them. Anything tiny, you know. They're cute and a little weird so I'm on board with that. And there, by the checkout was a whole bag of the for, you guessed it, $1.99. I've put them in the surprise cupboard and am doling them out one at a time when we need a diversion. So he can feel like he's 'collecting' them too.

And feast your eyes on the most amazing earrings ever. I don't normally wear gold, but in the case of '80s neo-deco/southwestern style phoenixes, I'll make an exception.

I love the Value Village. And I love my Dad.

 

book sale score

The local library book sale was on this Saturday. I love the book sale. It combines two of my greatest loves: books and things that are cheap. We (the Little Dude and I) got a ton of great stuff, both fun and practical, but I'm just going to share the vintage gems with you. 

This is hands down my favourite purchase of the day. Even though it is a subject I have only minimal interest in, and is a book I will quiet likely never read. Yes, you guessed it. I bought this book for the cover. Because isn't it GORGE! Its such great quilt inspiration.

And this one actually might get read. The Burgess Books are always great; a charming mixture of nature facts wrapped up in a narrative about anthropomorphized animals. Its a win-win as far as I'm concerned. 

Plus also, this one has beautiful colour plates in it.

See? Such loveliness. 

And I never forget to look in the 'Other Languages' box at the library sale. Because look at this loveliness.

Aren't these colours great! Also, the text is pretty fun too.

I love it when animals have a picnic. 

This puppy is rather old, but has no publisher info inside, so I don't know how old in fact. I'd have to do more research. Its printed on the super thick paper that makes a lovely 'whoosh' sound when you flip the pages. And you can feel the depth of the print. 

The colour plates are absolutely beautiful.

And there are a number of these tonal two-colour prints as well at lots and lots of simple one-colour/black printed images as well.

I think this one is my favourite. Just look at that wicked black and white checked skirt and hat with a red cape that the fairy godmother is wearing! This image so beats the daylights out of the Disney version. Not to go on another Disney rant, bu I swear, we are so over-exposed to their version of all these stories that we almost forget what variety of the imagination can look like. 

Oh, and just a last little link here (before I go and get reunited with my lovely, newly serviced Sewing Machine. How I've missed her!) that goes well with this old book-lovin' post. Its an amazing blog called Bookshelf Porn. I've pinned the heck out of it on Pinterest already, so if you are following me there, some of the images will be familiar to you. Either way, enjoy!

star wars blanket

Finished another little project this week. I was commissioned to do a Star Wars themed blanket as a baby gift. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Its the same idea and pattern as this other one that I posted about awhile back. Its basically a simplified quilt, more of a patchwork blanket than a quilt. 

My favourite part is always the fussy cutting. I know that a lot of people don't like the fussy cutting, but for me, as the quilting is often very materially inspired, getting the nicest bits out of the fabric is often my focus.

Of course, my photography assistant is always present. 

And full of questions. Such as "Why is that guy half nay-kid?" Good question. Maybe becuase he was hot? Tatooine seemed like it had a rather warm climate.

Here you can see the backing fabric. 

I have a lot of sewing to do these days. Quite a little to-do list posted up by my desk. I feel like I'm getting behind in the etsy shop to. Its just these little people in my life, they really want to spend most of their time outside, and to be fair, I like being out there too. And my machine really needs to be serviced, but in order for that to happen it has to be in the shop for two weeks. Two weeks! How am I supposed to go without my machine for two weeks! Seriously. And its not like taking the car into the shop where they give you a loaner... 

care bears

Look what I dug out of some boxes in the back of the garage. You see, the Little Dude has this little purple Care Bear, Share Bear I believe it is, that a friend of mine gave to him when he was born, back in Montreal. Recently he pulled it out of the back of a cupboard and has become quiet enamoured of it. So yesterday we were talking about what to get for The Baby for his birthday, and L.D. suggested a Care Bear. So we went online to see what other Care Bears there were, and I could not find anywhere where you can buy them new. Apparently they have a TV show, so I'm astounded that there is not accompanying merchandise. But what I did notice was that people were selling vintage Care Bears. "Hm," I thought to myself "I know I've got a few of those kicking around in the back of the garage." So after everyone was tucked in bed I did a little digging and found six of these little plush lovelies just dying to be played with again. That is, after they all had a good wash and spent the night drying by the fire.  Friend Bear and Tender Heart Bear

You may wonder why I had so many Care Bears as a kid. Well, half of these are my brother's, and half are mine. And therefore I decided to call him up and ask him if it was ok to let the boys play with his old toys. (I wanted to avoid the great Space Lego debacle of 1999. Don't ask.) Lotsa Heart Elephant and Swift Heart Rabbit

So I get him on the phone and say, "Hey, remember your old Care Bears?" and he's all like "oh, TenderHeart, Swift Heart Rabbit and Baby Tugs?" And I was all like "Wow, I'm so impressed you know all their names, I can barely remember the names of my own, and he says "you mean, Friend Bear, Baby Hugs and Lotsa Heart Elephant?" And I was all like "DUDE, your long term memory is RIDICULOUS!" Baby Tugs and Baby Hugs

As a side note, if you are his girlfriend and you are reading this, he has no reason EVER to forget your birthday or anniversary. If he can remember the names of his toys from the 80's, he should be able to remember when you started dating. Just sayin'.   So here I am (on the far right) at some point in the mid 80's officiating at the wedding of two of my favourite Teddy Bears. Please note that I am reading the actual form for marriage out of the back of the old Psalter Hymnal. If I was going to do it, I was going to do it right. Also, see how early I was a proponent of women in church office? Some things never change. Anyhow, my point is that there are all the Care Bears (or most of them) in the audience in the living room wedding chapel. And how sweet are my mom and sister, patiently humoring me as they sit through the whole thing no doubt. 

Anyhow, early in the morning today, when it was just me and the Baby up, we went downstairs and after taking these pictures put away all but two of them. I'll save the other four for various rainy days when the Little Dude is in need of a surprise. No need to flood the market as it were.     It also appears that the Baby has made his choice. I think he might get Baby Tugs as a re-gift from his Uncle Lemur Boy at his first birthday.

I waited until after breakfast to give Friend Bear and TenderHeart to L.D. And he was absolutely delighted with them. Along with his little purple bear, they are obviously a family as far as he's concerned.  He sat them all down together, re-united at last.

Then they got sat upon chairs...

...tucked into beds...

...and perched onto ladders. 

And just generally loved up. Though the clear winner by the end of the day is Tenderheart Bear. L.D. has declared that the Baby may have Friend Bear (a clear sign of disfavour) though as I tucked him into bed tonight I noticed that all Care Bears were present and accounted for. Its so funny and nice to see him playing with something that I played with once. Kind of lovely. And I have to say they must have been pretty well made because they washed up like a dream and are as soft and cuddly as ever. 

Special thanks to Uncle Lemur Boy, my little brother, for being so generous with his toys. He always was a good sharer. And it warms my heart to see another little boy loving that little brown bear. 

birthday thrifting

I got some birthday money from far-away loved ones around the middle of the month. I love birthday money. It fills me with a childish glee at the thought of what I might spend it on. I'm probably not supposed to say that, right? It sounds a bit mercenary perhaps, but my relatives live far away, and we've all decided that buying a gift and then paying almost as much as what you spent to ship it across the country just didn't make sense. Instead we send money or magazine subscriptions. 

Anyways, I decided to spend it on thrifting. I know, that may sound odd when there is a whole mall full of brand spankin' new fashiony goodness just one town away from me. But really, if I need to explain my love of thrift shopping to you, then you just might be reading the wrong blog. I really just wanted to buy a whole lot of fabric and do a whole lot of sewing. And for me thrifting is both shopping and entertainment rolled into one. 

So here's what I got.  First of all, and adorable girl's vintage dress. 

I mean, come on. Could that be any cuter? I'm amassing quite a collection of vintage little girl's wear. And with no one to put it on I'm either going to have to start displaying it as wall art or selling it in my etsy shop. 

ok, and then it was just an amazing day for sheets. This is a very small windowpane check, perfect for backing another Star Wars quilt.

And as you see, I had an assistant/photo stylist helping out with a few essential props in the shots. 

And I was so excited about this one, because I've actually been looking for this sheet for awhile now, and trust me, it is really rare to actually find exactly what you are looking for. I used to have a sheet like this, and I love the colours and it makes such a great quilt back. I'd used up every single scrap of the one I had previously so this was on my wish list, and so fitting that I found it for my birthday!

Lovely floral. Very soft and wash-y. Will be a great back ground for some other stuff. 

This is only a pillowcase (I wish it were a full sheet) but I love it. Its so fun. Sorry about all the wrinkles, I took pictures after I washed everything, and ya'll I generally cannot be bothered to iron. Life is too short to pre-iron my fabric stash. I'm not that crazy. (Says the woman waxing poetic about old besheets. ahem)

A very 80's little pillowcase. Not sure what I'll use it for, but whatever, its cute. 

Not a very good picture, but this is a really nice pillowcase. Great quality fabric. Probably why its so wrinkly. Its going to be so nice to embroider on. 

I have a little ripped smidgen of this in my stash already, but was very happy to find a whole twin sheet of it. I love the weird star shaped flowers. 

I have this one already in pink and greens. I love getting the same pattern in a second colourway. I'm not sure why, but I just love it. 

Ditto for this one. I already have it in aquas and bluey greens. I'm loving this peachy pink version. 

And how fun is this? I love this sort of pattern that goes from dense and fades up to sparse. Very rare now, but quite popular in the 50's. And its that good, old cotton, you can totally feel it in the hand. 

And then, for bib making purposes, I got some lovely smurfs. I already have some smurf sheets, but there's been quite a run on the smurfy bibs in the etsy shop lately, so I feel like its always good to have more on hand. This one is in great shape, very vibrant and unfaded except some idiot has used it as a painting drop cloth. Tsk. But large portions of it are still useable, and I just plan on cutting it up anyhow. 

And look! Strawberry Shortcake! This is quite a coup, as I've been looking for her for awhile now. There were a number of requests at the Christmas craft shows for little Miss Shortcake bibs. So now I can get on that. 

And last but not least, I picked up this weird little throw pillow. Its so crazy and 70's and... hairy. Anyhow, for 99 cents I could not leave it behind. 

So thanks to all my BC relatives who remotely 'bought' me these birthday presents (and more that I didn't have time to photograph). How did you know? They're just what I wanted! 

hats!

Just the other day I was thinking "how is it we don't have a dress up box?" I'm an ex-theatre major for Pete's Sake! These kids should have been born in a dress up box. But somehow, I've just never gotten around to pulling one together. Sure we have some random pieces of clothes around the house, and myriad bits of fabric and blankets that get pulled into service as gowns delivered by fairy godmothers and capes and magic carpets. Which is awesome, because it really gets the old imagination going. But still, I think we need an actual Tickle Trunk. And if you don't know what I mean by Tickle Trunk, you obviously did not grow up in Canada, and now I'll have to send you to this Mr. Dressup video so that you can get schooled. The box where he kept his costumes was called the Tickle Trunk. And he had EVERYTHING in there. Seriously. Don't make me have to explain the Friendly Giant to you too, or maybe we can't be friends any more (unless you are American, and you have a reasonable excuse for not knowing about Mr. D and the F.G. But don't feel bad, because you had Mr. Rogers, who also is awesome. But did he have a tickle trunk? No, he did not)

Anyhow, on my birthday trip to the V.V. Hubs was the smart guy who found this nice assortment of accessories with which to start our very own Tickle Trunk.  To be fair, we already owned the John Deere cap (natch), but the others round out the collection nicely. 

This one has quickly been adopted as the favourite. And its my favourite too. Its nice to see that we have similar taste. 

Of course, the whole point of these is to aid the imagination, so we are really flexible about the professions that the hat represents. Hubs feels like this is the 'Old Timey Journalist' hat. It just needs a little card in the band that says "PRESS". I suggested that it would also do well for "Out of Work Jazz Musician" but thats a little bleak. We also suggested that he could wear it and be a business man. But of course, he out did us both and in this picture is enacting his role as a "Recycling Guy Tiger". Obviously. The socks on his hands are tiger paws. That, plus the recycling box = clearly.

Another game that is very fun to play with hats is "Caps for Sale".

It helps if you've read this book.

I've probably blogged about it before, but I can't remember for sure. Anyhow, its a well worn family favourite (I just adore the illustrations. The colours! Here's a good link to another blog and some beautiful dresses inspired the palette of this book). about a peddler whose caps get stolen by some naughty monkeys. 

It makes him very angry. But (spoiler alert) he does get the caps back in the end. The Little Dude LOVES playing this game because there is both stamping and hat throwing involved. And I get to be a monkey who says "Tsz, tsz, tsz". Awesome. 

We tried to get the Baby in on this action, but he's much more interested in taking hats off than putting them on. Very hard to get a picture of this kid in a hat.

But still, it was fun trying.