On Today's Vintage Shopping Adventure

We now interrupt this blog’s regular style of writing for a brief account of my visit to an antique shop…

Today I visited a lovely vintage shop where, in addition to getting to see a great deal of really neat antiques, I made some wonderful vintage sewing finds, which I’m quite excited about! The place I went to had things crammed in absolutely everywhere, so both items I found took quite a bit of digging, but they were definitely worth the search.

The first thing I found was a book called Cutting Out & Making Up of Garments (formerly entitled Cutting Out For Student Teachers according to the front inside cover) written by Amy K. Smith.  It was located in a back corner, underneath a mannequin (wearing a rather annoying outfit that kept getting in the way, I might add), in a large bucket of sewing supplies,  behind what I believe was pedestal-stand candy dish filled with bias tape and various rick-rack, and several 1960’s patterns. And how, one might ask, did I notice it underneath and behind all these things? By seeing the cute little heart on the top corner sticking out and having to know what book it belonged to!

Isn't it pretty?

It was printed in London and covers all manners of things such as knickerbockers, pinafores, and sleeping suits, so I shall now feel quite prepared should I ever happen to make any of these.

The second thing I found after rummaging about in a trunk containing a variety of table cloths, scarves, and linens was a small bundle of fabric scraps. I spotted the blue flowered and pink striped piece and for some reason instantly fell in love with it. My first thought was that it would be perfect for curtains, but as I don’t have a small window to make curtains for, I might just make a bag out of it.

My three pretty fabrics

All in all, it was a fun shopping excursion and I will definitely be going back again to look for more treasures!

And now back to the regular blogging style…please stay tuned for the next blog post on ladybirds!♥

On Alice in Wonderland Day

Today marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Alice Liddell, the real Alice for who the story of Wonderland was originally written. Born in 1852, Alice Pleasance Liddell was the fourth child of Henry and Lorina Liddell, became the wife of Reginald Hargreaves in 1880, and was the mother of three children. Today in Llandudno a celebration in honor of her birthday included jam tart eating and dressing as characters from the book, among other things.

So, while the day is coming to a close, hopefully you have found some time to have a caucus-race, attend a mad tea-party, to eat a tart, to play croquet with your pet hedgehog and flamingo, or to maybe to have just sat down and read Lewis Carroll’s wonderful book, which takes place on May 4th. Happy Alice in Wonderland Day! ♥

On Things That Are Green

There are a great many things in this world that are green, among which can be found plants, bugs, eggs and ham, houses, frogs, and jackets worn by little men as they go trooping up the mountains and through glens.

With spring having begun last week, let us look at the first two items listed; both which we will be seeing more of in the coming weeks. Plants, which make up the majority of green things, can lead an individual to happiness or distress. If you find yourself surrounded by them in a garden it can be most pleasant and provide you with a relaxing afternoon or they may make up that tasty salad you had for lunch. In contrast, an encounter with poison ivy will most likely lead to a great deal of itching and most likely the wish that you had paid more attention to the plants you had touched. Bugs, unlike plants, usually bring about thoughts of disgust or of horror and more often than not appear on an individual seemingly out of nowhere to bring one to a sudden state of shrieking in attempt to be rid of them. While this is not the case for all green bugs, few would probably be glad to find themselves the unsuspecting transportation for a grasshopper or caterpillar.

And with that, as you go about your week consider all the lovely green things around you and try not to go near plants that will make you itch! ♥

On The Valuableness Of Tape

Of all the office supplies there are few that are as valuable and yet as problematically sticky as tape. For example, tape can be used to repair a wide variety of papers and objects ranging from books to dropped hems. Tape can keep up a picture or poster and if you have dropped your hole-punch on the floor or scattered some other small thing, it can be used to pick up all those little pieces that are now decorating your floor. In addition, if you have a small furry friend several pieces of tape can be used to swiftly remove their fur from your clothing, so that you do not take on the appearance of that friend.

On the downside, there are those unpleasantly sticky situations where the tape decides it must stick to everything except for the object you desire it on. By the time you get it off what it has stuck itself to, such as your hair, fingers, clothing, or surface you are working on, you find it has become perfectly useless by either having lost its stick or having become a small sticky wad. From here you can only hope that the next piece will be more successfully stuck.

So as can be seen from these few examples, tape proves valuable for many uses and the sticky situations that can result from tape are endless.♥