finger thumb

baby "I Spy" quilted wall hanging - butch version

Spent the evening finishing sewing on the binding for the first of my "I Spy" wall hangings. A hand sewn binding can be a bit of a slog, but when its done I am always so pleased that I went the extra mile and did it. Now that its finally finished I've put it in my etsy shop, where I hope it will soon be joined by the two other ones that I cut out last week. See? I think the binding just sets it off so nicely. 

I went back and forth for awhile yesterday afternoon between a red binding and this blue one. The red seemed like a good idea because there are so many red details in the imagery. But I had a hard time finding a red that did not clash with the other reds. I know I was being picky, but it just seemed annoying that I could not find the 'right' red. So I went with this nice purple-y blue (Kona's Copen) and I'm happy that I went this way instead. 

I did a simple diamond quilting pattern, because I really want the images to pop, and the diamonds sort of frame most of the faces/characters quite nicely.

I showed it to the Baby, and despite the fact that it is a quilted wall hanging and not a quilt, he decided it was the perfect place to take a break, and get a little fake shut-eye. He now knows how to 'pretend' to sleep, but does such hilariously unconvincing job of  screwing his eyes shut and grinning from ear to ear that I laugh every time. 

Anyways, back to the wall hanging, here is the reverse side.

Another vintage sheet of course. I love this one for backings, but I'm getting down to the end of it. Good thing this is a small quilt; just 35.5" x 18.5". You can see here too that I've attached four loops along the top to make it easy to hang. Just thread a long thin piece of wood through there (strapping or something like that) that is and inch shorter than the actual width and drill or nail it to the wall. Then you can't see how it is hung and it sort of floats on the wall. No ugly dowel showing or anything like that. 

The Baby really did love it. He really likes to play "I Spy" and point to all the different characters. For some reason he keep coming back to Mr. T. 

And no, he is not shooting at Han Solo (insert 'Han Shot First' joke here) but pointing to the little yellow Woodstock bird instead. He just looks like he's got the finger guns going on. Its only a matter of time before he learns to make the little Pee-uw, Pee-uw laser noises. 

Anyhow, if you are interested in this cute little number at all, its all listed it in my etsy shop and ready to go! Now I've just got to get to the other two.....

preparing...

Sorry, I have nothing for you today, (picture-wise) because tonight I spent the entire evening being the Hallowe'en equivalent of a Christmas Elf. What would that be... a Hallowe'en Ghost? A Ghoulish Helper? A Spooky Sewer? Whatever the case, I spent the evening at my sewing table because the Little Dude has decided he wants to be (sing it with me) da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN! for Hallowe'en. Which is kind of interesting because (as he doesn't yet watch television) his entire exposure to the Batman narrative has been one sheet of stickers (about which he asked many, MANY questions) and whatever second hand stuff he has gleaned from the backpacks and games of the other little boys in his Montessori junior kindergarten class. Which is enough apparently to jettison his previous plan of being "a pumpkin head monster with a skeleton body". At least we had not put very much work into that concept yet, either in the form of time or money. 

Anyhow, I pretty much have the cape figured out, and Hubs is taking care of the mask, and we have all the components for the rest of it, so we're well on our way.

I'll have picture for you tomorrow probably. 

superhero patchwork

I feel like I haven't posted about stuff I've made in aaaages. I have been busy making, I sew or knit or something like that almost every day. But when I sit down to post in the evenings, I often don't have good pictures of it, and I hate taking pictures at night. I can never get the lighting right and then everything that I worked so hard on looks like crap. But I finally remembered to take some pictures during the day, so I have some new art to show you.

This one has been in the works for a long time. 

I love LOVE doing these little hexes.

This has actually been done for a very long time. It'd been hanging out under my work table, just waiting to be stretched and finished, but it took me forever to figure out how to crop it. In fact, I had it all cropped and hemmed and had Hubs build me the stretcher and everything, and then at the last minute I felt it just wasn't right and had to re-crop it and have another stretcher made. Very annoying, but worth it in the end. 

Yeah, I'm much happier with this new crop.

This is the other one I finished. I'm very pleased with this, as it nicely marries my obsession with vintage Star Wars bed sheets and half square triangles. Also, the colours are making me very happy. 

Its hard to see in the full shot, but there's some nice little quilting in the form of arrows. Hand quilting, so much more enjoyable than machine quilting. 

I'm not completely sure what to do about titles though. The tentative title for this one is "Darth Patchwork" and the one with the hexes is called "Hexagon Power". Maybe. I'm really not firm on those, as they seem a bit silly. I know the work seems light hearted, but really, I wanted to look at the iconography of male childhood and see what happens when it is mixed with traditional women's craft mediums. I want to do a few more of these and see where they go, and lucky for me, one of the kind members of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild which I attend, (thank you Sheila from Lost and Found) found a nice pice of super-hero sheets for me, Batman and Spiderman and more Darth Vader etc. So I have some good material to work with. I'll show you more when I make more. Though that may be rather far down the line with Christmas looming and all. I haven't even thought about my big sewing push that always accompanies the fall. Gotta get to that soon. 

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....

mother's day

Or rather, the day after Mother's Day, as I mostly blog last thing at night so I know that most of you are reading this the day after I write it. But today was Mother's Day. Sigh. I know I've only been at this mothering thing for about four years, but I figured out awhile ago that Mother's Day is a real rip off. I thought it was going to be a day about mothers, you know, honouring all our hard work, showering us with gifts and thanks. I imagined I'd be shooed off into an easy chair whilst my adoring husband made meals and dealt with potty breaks while I sipped some sort of fruity drink and paged through the latest issue of Vogue. 

Yeah, those of you who have been mothers for awhile now are laughing as you read that. Because YOU know that mothers get SCREWED on Mother's Day (and I'm don't mean that in the good way). It mostly ends up being a day like all the rest, but possibly with more elaborate food prep. (On a related note, read Anne Lamott's Why I Hate Mother's Day. She's one of my favourite authors, and makes some very good points here. Thanks to my girl Sara for passing this one on).

Though to be fair, I cannot complain too much this year. (I wasn't expecting much, so that helps). We all got up in the morning together as usual, with Hubs heading out to the kitchen to start the oatmeal for breakfast. I went and got the Baby for his morning breast feed. And we had a lovely time, relaxing in the big bed for the 10 minutes that it takes him to eat, and then lolling around for another few minutes smiling and laughing and poking each other in the belly buttons. It was sweet. And then when I headed out to the kitchen I was met with flowers and a little present made by Hubs (a stainless steel ring he'd fashioned from a bit of pipe at work. Really, its nicer than is sounds and fits my middle finger perfectly).

Then L.D. and I were off to church, and after that there was a big family get together at my mom's house. But I actually was not there for most of it. I ran off to act in a play; a small informal workshop/community type theatre thing in a town nearby. Which was really nice actually. Its good to put that Theatre degree to work after all those years. And after an afternoon of pretending to be someone else, I returned home to the lovely smells and happy noises of a family having fun at my Mom's house. And the food! Oh, the food. I haven't got words for how good that home cooked deliciousness is, especially when you are not the one that cooked it. So really, my Mom was the mom who got the shortest end of the stick today, as she for sure did the most work. The ribs were to die for, I'm telling you, and I know that food does not get that tasty by accident. 

Anyhow, after a day in the sun with all the fun of cousins and ATV's and then a massive dinner, we packed two VERY tired kids into the car and after some much needed baths they were tucked into bed. Though L.D. did not go so willingly into that good night. Not without a bit of fussing along the way, but it was understandable after so much excitement. (another related side link, read dooce's description of how she knew her daughter was a three year old and laugh. your. ass. off. She so nails it. No one writes about parenting funnier then that)

So, what was my point? Oh yeah, it was mother's day. And though I did not get to sleep in, or lounge around, it was still really lovely. And as I tucked my boys into bed tonight watching sleep lay its soft, sweet mantle over them, it seemed like a pretty good day. 

And then I was poking about on the youtube and I found The. Most. Fantastic. Clip. EVER. And perfect for Mother's day. Behold:

 

This video makes me wish that I was a parent in the 70's. Or rather, it makes me wish I lived on Sesame Street in the 70's. Because then Buffy Sainte Marie could be my neighbour and we could hang out with Big Bird and nurse our babies together. Seriously, how awesome is this! Best line: "and I get to hug him when I do it, see." Awwwwwww! The only thing that makes me sad about this is that it could never, ever be on TV now. People would LOSE THEIR MINDS about a grown woman breast feeding her child on national television these days, much less on a children's show. 

If you liked this you should also check out Buffy Gives Cody a Bath, which is all KINDS of adorable, and has the catchiest little impromptu bathing the baby song you will ever hear. You'll be humming it all day, yup yup. Though I have to say again, this would never make it onto TV now. Because people are crazy now, and think that children seeing naked babies will destroy the very fabric of society. Oh, 70's idealism, where have you gone?

 

what is wrong with people

Hubs and I had a rare chance to go out for a movie the other day. The stars aligned, my parents could babysit, we had free passes, and were not too tired. So we headed off to the local googoplex to see what we could see. We decided on Haywire, an action flick, which normally would not have been my first choice, but I'd heard that this was an spy movie which had a woman in the lead role, so naturally my curiosity was piqued. Also, rumor had it she was an actual woman who could really fight, and not a supermodel/stick figure with big boobs. I had high hopes.

And I'll tell you what, I was not disappointed. The lead, Gina Carano, is a Mixed Martial Arts fighter in real life, and that woman can kick some ass. And she has the muscle mass to make it believable. And sure, she was still a very atractive person, but I was so pleased to see that the movie did not give us so many of the femme fatale/female action hero movie cliches. For example, at no point did she run really far and fast wearing high heel boots. I'm telling you, I HATE that in movies. I don't care if you are Wonder Woman, it sucks to run in heels, and you would definitely not be able to outrun someone in flats. Also, there was no gratuitous scene where she a) showers for our the viewers benefit b) gets dressed, from the lingerie up for the viewers benefit c) undergoes a makeover d) pulls a gun out of her garter belt/nether regions e) seduces someone to 'gather intel' f) acts like a silly helpless woman in order to get past some guards or something. Sigh. I could go on. There are so many annoying spy woman cliches. But I'm happy to say that the character Mallory Kane, did not do any of these things. Yes, there was a scene where she had to dress up while she was undercover, and she looked really nice, but they did not make a big deal out of it, or show her getting dressed, which was a nice change. 

But make no mistake about it, this was a violent movie. And of course, even though I knew that the main character was a woman (which is why I went, after all) it was still shocking to see her first fight scene, because its weird to see a woman and a man in a real fight. I winced to see her get hit, because it looked so real. Stephen Soderbergh was the director, and he went for an interesting sort of 60/70's spy flick feel, with a lot of the fight scenes shot so your could seen both actors and their whole bodies the whole time. Which made it both less sensationalistic, and more real. There were not a lot of cuts in those scenes, or close ups, or sound effects. So it was less gory and theatrical, but also more distressing in that you didn't distance yourself from it in the way that a more cartoon-y fight would. 

Anyhow, I say all this to set up the fact that... guess who was sitting next to me at this movie. Wait for it. An eight year old. AN EIGHT YEAR OLD. And her ten year old brother. With their parents of course. There were hardly any empty seats in the theater by the time we got there, so we didn't have much choice, but I certainly hadn't anticipated sharing my movie going experience with Cindy-Lou Who. Serioulsy, what is WRONG with people? That is so not a family movie. Let alone a kids movie. It made me feel really annoyed with the parents. I didn't say anything to them because its not illegal to bring your kids to a violent movie (just stupid) and saying something wouldn't have made a difference. I'm figuring that if you are the type of parent to bring their kids to a movie that has been rated 14A, you are probably not going to be shamed into a better perspective by a stranger's opinion. 

Anyhow, it did put a bit of a damper on my movie going experience. And then the next day I saw this. 

                          Its a documentary about the representaion women in popular culture and the media. It was very, very compelling. A friend of mine posted this trailer on facebook, but I went and found that you can watch the entire documentary online here. Totally worth it. Very well done and informative. I'm not going to go on about it too much here, because you can just watch it for yourself and see how you feel. It gave me a good pinch as it were, because you do get so used to seeing the way that women are portrayed all the time, that you forget that its not, well, normal.

Anyways, I didn't come here today to preach (just complain really, a slight difference). But its just these things have been on my mind, and its good to think about important things once in awhile. Also, I just finished reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the new Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein, (a really good read by the way, and important for parents of both daughters and sons. I know its made me rethink some of my parenting and I have boys, not princess obsessed little girls). So I'm in feeling very informed on the whole feminist angle. And you know, whatever is swirling around in my head usually ends up on this blog. I know I usually post cute kids stories or recipes and quilts, but I thought I'd change it up for a worth while cause.  But don't worry, I'll see you back here tomorrow with a thrifting post. 

Betty Crocker

Look what I got at our library's used book sale this weekend. WHAT a score. I love old cookbooks, and I love old illustration and I love old kids books so this is like a trifecta for goodness. It was on the 'Premium Books' table, where they put the really new/old/expensive stuff and yet they were only asking $2 for it! So awesome.

The copyright date in 1957, though I know this copy is from 1964, because the inside front cover is inscribed "From Ann Laitin, Birthday - Oct. 3 - 1964" 

I love these 'home tester' portraits. And yes, there actually is a girl named Bette Anne. So very 'Mad Men'. 

The illustrations as so great. They were done by Gloria Kamen. I especially like the eyebrows. Almost all the kids in this book have major eyebrows.

I want to go to this party.

The recipes themselves are, naturally quite dated. And the typically lurid full-colour 50's quality photos do them no favours. Toothpicks are required for many of the recipes, and maraschino cherries abound. And of course, lots of food looks like people or at least has faces. Though really, does that work? I mean, can you get a kid to eat something they normally would not eat if it has a face on it? Anyone had any luck with that? I'm doubtful. (though here's my parenting tip of the day: cookie cutters. The Little Dude will eat any kind of sandwich at all as long as he's allowed to cut shapes out of it with cookie cutters.)

The Little Dude was looking over my shoulder as I perused this book for the first time and was quite captivated by these cookies. "Why are those cookies MAD?" he asked. I can't say I know, though the heavy eyebrows don't help their mood much. Interestingly enough these are called "Good Kid Cookies". Because they are good for kids? Or only for good kids? Somewhat confusing and judgmental if you ask me. L.D. said they should be called Mad Kid Cookies. 

And of course, since it was the 50's, sexism rears its ugly head. Of the 26 kids in the baking and refreshments section, there is only 1 boy actively making something (though 4 boys are shown exclaiming appreciatively as they are presented with cakes, baked by the girls, natch.) Here's the one baking boy.  I'm assuming he's actually going to make this egg nog himself. And by the way, anybody ever made their own eggnog? Is it good, or gross? I'm tempted, as I love eggnog, but feel kind of underwhelmed by the idea of eating raw eggs. Though this reminds me of my dad telling us that he'd come home from school sometimes and as a treat be allowed to beat an egg white with sugar until it was stiff, and eat it as a snack. I get that, meringue is awesome, and a good source of protein I guess. (side note to any of my relatives reading this: If any of you ever sees those old fashioned hand-crank beaters at a second hand store please pick them up for me. The Little Dude would love them beyond measure)

Oh, and of the 12 kids pictured in the campfire cooking section, only two are girls. Sigh.

Though boys do show up taking a more active roll in preparing food in the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner sections. Thank goodness. (though they are still outnumbered by girls) I guess boys gotta eat too, despite the fact that baking is considered a feminine frill. 

These are my favourite pages in the whole book. Such great little definition pictures. And I love the colour choices. I want this to be the colour scheme for my next quilt. 

And should I be embarrassed to admit that I learned something from this children's cookbook?Before reading this I honestly did not know the difference between 'supper' and 'dinner'. As my friend in Quebec used to say "tonight I go to bed less stupid". (that sounds less harsh in French)

And another sheepish admission. I have officially been shamed by the Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls into better dinner presentation. I was in fact reading this while we were at the table, and looked up to see the saddest looking schmozzle of plates and dishes and condiment bottles and facecloths and total disarray. According to Betty Crocker, even a child could be encouraged to take pride in the family meal by decorating with a centerpiece. So today, I looked around the house for what was at hand and whipped this up. 

I'm very pleased with it, and the Little Dude was enchanted by it. So go, throw some random stuff in a bowl (lemons, stones, weeds, whatever) and make yourself a nice lil' centerpiece. Our dinner did indeed feel more festive tonight due to its presence. You won't regret it. 

Oh, and I'm totally going to try that "Make Dinner a Fun Time, Table Topics" tip too. Great for this little talker stage. And I want to enjoy it before they hit the "whatever, screw you" phase. I'm going to savour their willingness to be involved in family conversation while it lasts. 

why the 70's were awesome

Because they made stuff like this: Wow. Just amazing. I totally want this dress. Look at the pleats! The sleeves! The cuffs! But mostly, look at that fabric. Theoretically I could almost have this dress because its in this magazine.
It comes with a big ole' pattern sheet, and while I've not examined it too closely, chances are that dress is in there. Also, lucky for me, it comes with the English supplement. Phew. Cause my German is nicht zo gut. See what I mean. But the problem is where, or where would I ever find that fabric. Because you know that fabric is the clincher for me.

Also, I'd like to make this. Again with the sleeves! Ack, the awesomeness is killing me!

I'll go with the one on the right. But I like the necklace on die Frau on the left. 

And if I had a little girl you can bet I'd be sewing her something like this. Such stripe-y fun with the mitered corner collar. Brilliant. 

I will NOT however, be sewing any of this for my boys. Because I love them too much to subject them to pants like this. I like stripes and pockets as much as the next lady, but you've got to know when to step away. from. the. sewing machine. 

And then of course, my favourite thing about old magazines is always the adds. Look at this lovely lingerie. 
No really, I'm not being sarcastic. I think when you look back over the recent decades the 70's were probably the best decade for boobs. The 50's is of course known for trussing up the poor girls into turbo shaped cones, and the ever since the implant culture hit in the 90's we now safeguard our breasts behind a layer of foam padding so that no one should every again know about the existence of nipples, and the whole world can pretend that boobs are round. (for real, so not round)

But look at that; breasts that, more or less look like breasts, and not like stripper breasts. Seriously, try and find a bra that does not have the slightly padded cup these days. You certainly won't find one at La Senza or Victoria's Secret. If I can find myself a time machine I'm going to go back and buy some of that nice fabric and pick myself up a half dozen bras. Yep, the 70's was a good time to be a woman.

Oh wait. Never mind. 

I think I have a problem

Its hard to know when your interests cross the line into being obsessions and when those obsessions take the leap to becoming addictions. Don't you find? Who knows, maybe you're the kind of even keeled individual who knows how to draw boundaries and set limits and is gifted with well developed will power and therefore you're not quite sure what I'm talking about. Or maybe you are up at 2:00 am reading blogs (gotcha). In which case you know what I mean. 

Anyways, if you've been reading here for awhile, you know I have a soft spot for vintage bed linens. I tend to collect/buy/use bright, high contrast florals from the 60's and 70's as well as the subtler but no less enjoyable patterns from the 50's. Also, I love striped anything from any time. But my greatest weakness comes in the form of vintage star wars bedsheets. 

(just in case you are not sure what I'm talking about, this picture is of a baby blanket that I made with the vintage Star Wars sheets.)

I'm not entirely sure even where this particular interest comes from. I didn't see the Star Wars movies as a kid. In fact, I was practically and adult and confined to bed with a rotten case of mono when I finally got around to watching them. (the original trilogy, I mean) They were good. I enjoyed them, but I was by no means obsessed.  (another quilt made of and backed with more vintage Star Wars sheets)

Then in late high school, I had a boyfriend who had a set of vintage Star Wars sheets on the pull out couch in his basement. That made an impression, but I didn't start looking for vintage sheets right then and there. 

I dunno, at some point I bought a set from a Value Village no doubt, and I just really loved the way the looked. The style of the illustration was just so painterly, and though the faces were kind of crude, the stary galaxy background was just so perfect. And then I started buying them whenever I saw them. And then I started making things out of them. And now I'm at the point where I have a very, very hard time throwing even the smallest scrap of them away. 

Case in point, look how I spent a little time the other night. I was watching a movie with Hubs and I hate to just sit and watch TV without doing a little something with my hands (actually, I think that last statement is the opening line of the Type A national anthem) and quite appropriately the movie we were watching was a documentary called The People vs George Lucas. It was very funny, and quite good. If you are at all interested in Star Wars, the phenomenon of Star Wars fan culture, or popular culture of the 70's and 80's in general its totally worth a watch. The footage they include of fan remakes of the original trilogy alone is worth it. Dogs dressed at Jabba the Hut? Badly drawn amateur animation? Lego minifig stop motion? Yep, I'm in. 

Anyhow, I spent that watching it cutting my 'too small to be made into anything else' Star Wars scrap into 1.5 inch squares so I can make a postage stamp quilt out of them.

See, how cute is that gonna be? Very. I just love the splotchy stars and planets. And when they are cut down to this miniscule level you loose the narrative illustration quality and are just left with the formal aspects of the colour, line and shape. 

Plus also, they're purdy. But I may have a problem.

(ps: if you are a friend of mine who reads this blog and you happen to be doing a little thrifting and you come across some Star Wars bed sheets or pillowcases, please do pick them up for me, and I would be glad to pay you back for them. They are getting harder and harder to come by these days and my supply is getting dangerously low.)

some stuff I bought awhile ago, but forgot to tell you about

Like I said the other day, there's a lot of stuff going on around here, and I've got a bit of a backlog of things to post about. I thrifted some stuff a couple of weeks ago and never got around to putting it up here. I really like photographing and posting all my thrift purchases. Its like another level of collecting. Also, its the whole 'show and tell' thing that I've always enjoyed doing. And on a practical level it makes me wash and fold and put everything away, instead of just leaving it in bags in the corner of my studio.   Oh vintage bedsheets, I feel like you never let me down. I realize that for those of you who did not go to art school or don't sew, it seems like a weird thing to buy. But I just love them. I love the never ending variety of them. How I'll think I've seen it all, and then there will be this lovely floral pattern. And really, its such a specific set of items. Bedsheets. From the last 30-40 years. Mostly floral or striped. And yet the possibility of variety in that small subset can be quite amazing. I really like this yellow one. The shot above is of it drying on my line.

And this is a close-up taken inside. I love the way the whiskery black detail around the blue floral centres really takes it up a notch. 

This one is actually a curtain. And it was thrifted for me by a really nice lady who works at my local fabric shop. She knows I'm into this kind of thing because she's seen my sewing, and she volunteers at a small thrift shop, so she picks things up when she thinks they'd be up my alley. And so far, she's totally getting it right. 

Isn't that nice, the mix of floral and faux lace. Reminds me a bit of the Amy Butler, Love collection. 

But this is the one that really blew my mind. Gorgeous. I could look at this for a really, really long time. Sadly it is just one, twin sized fitted sheet, because I would love to make a whole cloth quilt out of it. The pattern is so great I don't even want to cut it. 

This is a not-very-good close-up. But you get the drift. Awesomeness. 

And then, somehow I felt compelled to buy this. You probably know by now that I'm not so into Disney. I have some issues. I hate the over-gendered-ness of everything they do, and the ubiquitous marketing sucks. 

Also, the casual racial stereotyping is not something I'm a big fan of either. Though this is vintage, so hopefully that's not still the attitude. 

But this image really brought me back. The awkward and not-so-slickness of this drawing seems so old fashioned compared to their current stuff. And I did grow up with Disney, and have a few fond memories from before I knew more about marketing and all that stuff. Back when I could look at an image like this and just think "I'd really like a hat like that someday." instead of "curse you giant multinational company who is trying to own a part of my child's mental real estate." 

I don't usually buy records, but they were on sale for a DIME at my local thrift, and I saw a fun pattern recently for making boxes out of the record covers. Anyhow, it was obviously a Disney theme day for me. The Disneyland Boys Choir. Who knew!

Love the quality of this illustration. 

Though how come Germany gets two song selections and Holland gets none? Hmph. That seems like an oversight to me. 

And this is not thrifted, but is left over from my own childhood, as you can see by the proprietary labeling. I'm a little bit torn about sharing this stuff with the Little Dude though. I've really come to resent how Disney tries to get their fingers into every kid's experience of childhood, yet at the same time I have good memories of the songs and movies from when I was a little girl. But once a child sees that yellowy-orange Winnie the Pooh, is the E.H. Shepard version gone forever? Or am I just being a Kid's Lit snob?

This makes me think we really need to thrift ourselves a record player. Because I love Doris Day. 

This is the picture off the back cover, and I love it because its so... odd. What exactly is that expression supposed to convey. That she's annoyed with the guy at the sound board? That someone was trying to direct her, and she was all like "Hey, the album cover is going to say "Doris Day", so let me make my own choices, ok?" Or is she just planning he lunch order from the studio commissary. Either way, I feel like its an odd choice and the kind of thing that would never get printed for a singer today. It'd be much more glamourous and flattering. I like how candid this feels. 

And this is just great as an example from the period. As with many images of couples of the time, the woman looks deliriously happy, and the man looks interchangeable. 

And I had to bring this little guy home. All toys were on sale for half price and he was in a 50 cent bag with a pink bunny. So really, he cost 12 and a half cents. Totally worth it.