Dropcloth slipcovers

Drop cloths are having a heyday, at least in my backyard. This weekend James and I worked together to make slip covers. Amazing what you can do with a few packages of $13 drop cloths! They are not expertly sewn, but they are so much fresher than they were.

Small Bear School

There’s no one quite like my husband. And this is only trumped by the fact that there is no one quite like his Mother. Mary is one of the most creative people I know. She’s an amazing craftswoman and her house is chock full of fantastic vignettes that I am always photographing. Oh, and there’s the Ikebana! It boggles my mind to see some of the things she has made. Lest anyone should think, boy, this gal is butterin’ up her MIL, I’ll get to the point (I’m just one of those lucky gals who loves her mother in law…I have friends who are not as lucky!). So, James recently came home with a gift that his Mom gave him when he was little. She sent it home with him on my birthday.   
I present to you: Small Bear School!

The bears all come out of their chairs and have jointed legs. They also have little black slates for their desks. The teacher’s desk has a little wooden apple. And of course the black board for up front! So cute…

A Keane, It Ain’t

So, mystery solved. After checking with Margaret Keane’s agent of sorts, I found that this lil’ painting ain’t no Keane. Oh well, it’s a cute knock off! The agent dude said lots of folks copied her work, and this is just another of those. Well, I certainly got my 5 bucks worth of intrigue. And though I had no idea who Margaret Keane was before this little adventure – now I realize my stepmother had a Keane-esque print hanging in the house when I was growing up.  Oh, the whacky 70s.       

Etsy Treasury

Ever dream of being a buyer for some ideal little shop? Well, that's what Etsy Treasury is kind of like. You just go shopping along the Etsy online aisles and pick stuff for your very own "treasury." You're the "curator" and you get to choose. Once you choose them, they're super easy to move around the order - it's drag and drop. You can only pick one item for any single shop, and you need to have a theme. I think it gets posted on the home page of Etsy if they deem it worthy. :o) It's fun! I just did one...check it out!

Yellow Bread Box Fame

I smile from ear to ear whenever I am fortunate enough to be plucked from the Etsy blogosphere into an Etsy Treasury. This time, dear Ozetta added my vintage 50s yellow plastic bread box to her Etsy Treasury: the Kitchen to Have. I was listed a while back in another Treasury, so this is my 2nd time. Weeee! It's the little things...

Big-Eyed Goodness

Maybe you've read lately about Lady Gaga mimicking the large-eyed waifs of the 60s by wearing funky contact lenses. Well, this reminded me of a little oil painting I bought for five dollars a while back at a La Jolla estate sale. Sometimes I venture into LJ to check out the sales and wander through a beautiful home or two. So, here I am in this woman's studio looking at her work for sale and although I didn't buy any of it I did notice a little painting hanging on her studio wall. It was unlike her very abstract style. When I got home, I looked it up to see if the artist was anyone in particular and didn't really find anything. I don't think I read the signature correctly the first time I looked it up, and so I found nothing. Today, as I took some shots of this little oil, prepping it for sale on Etsy (for maybe $10), I decided to look again. Glad I did! This little original oil, from all indications that I can tell, is painted by artist Margaret Keane of big-eye fame! You can read a great article about her work in the LA Times here. And another one here. A 12" x 9" oil on canvas is going for $35,000. My tiny little painting is just 3.25" x 4.75", but hey, it's a Keane! I'm so glad I bought it!

Barn Sale Fun in the Sun

I've been away a while, but not idle! There's a lot going on here in very warm San Diego. Lots of estate sale foraging (with my good friend who sells her treasures at her Etsy Shop called Betty and Dot!), and barn sale exploring. This is a picture of the barn sale I sifted through a couple weeks ago in Valley Center, CA. Boy was it hot, but boy was it worth it. This barn was chock full of good stuff, and at great prices. I went with my belle mere, Mary. We had such fun...

The sweet wire hair fox terrier, who rules the roost, is named Matilda. She has her own blog here, and from this blog there are tons of great links to other vintagey-wonderful places.



And how about this awesome old truck?





























Also in junk news, I watched this video the other day by the family who does The Junk Gypsy Company. Their life is truly an inspiration. Check out this fun video of their story. I love that it's a Mom and her two girls and they just do what they love and make some money along the way, as a family. What could be more idyllic.

Typewriter Love

Love this picture of my buddy DeDe, who lives in Tallahassee (where I lived for 10 years after going to FSU). Here she is using her Dad's Hermes 2000. Way cool.

This picture made me drag out my Dad's Smith Corona Deville Deluxe. I have literally a full box of letters that he typed me on this machine. This is an image I pinched from the Interweb to show you, but mine looks 'zactly like it. It even has the perfect case, manual, and little receipt for its purchase taped to the inside of the case. I feel so blessed to have it. Typing on it, knowing my Dad typed on it so many times gives me that feeling of connection to him. I've been missing family a lot lately - my mom passed away when I was 24; my Dad, four years ago; and my step mother, just over a year ago. Only a few of us left... Life is a gift and every day is another opportunity to cherish what we have and be grateful!

Birdy Stitchery

I was talking to my niece, Izabel, the other night at our pre-St. Patty's Day dinner (we celebrated early before Maureen, Fiona's Mum, went back to England). Since there is also a niece named Robin, though she's a Robyn, we were thinking up unique names for us robins. We were laughing at one of the iterations, which was Big Robin, which I felt needed work. Um, yeah. So, besides just being Aunt Robin, I said, "Maybe, Aunt Birdy?" Though I think it makes me sound more like a 60 y/o versus the soon-to-be 50-y/o (what? really?), it does kinda go with the name Robin, the Etsy shop, and my recent stitching theme. So, I'm down with it. :o) We'll see if it sticks.

But, about this stitching. The first one of the two birds is a piece I found at an estate sale. Some lady had started it with heavy yarn, but I pulled all of that out and reworked it using embroidery floss. Well, having not done any embroidery in many years, I was using all 6 strands at first on the top bird! Whoa! Too thick. The bottom bird is much more smooth and silky, since she is done with 3 or 2 strands. I felt like in this one piece my skill progressed from the top to the bottom. Yay! To me, the top birdy is a loud, Italian man, while the bottom birdy is the more refined, quiet type. Yes, they're a couple, but oh!, such opposites! It was so much fun, and I love the idea that I finished it, and maybe somewhere the lady who started it is looking down and smiling.

Then, there's the dresser scarf! I also found this one at an estate sale with just the blue template, no stitches. Brought it home, was able to get a rusty ring out of it, and stitched it up using all red, which you crafty gals probably know is called redwork. But there is a distinction from what I understand. "Redwork embroidery" is done with red embroidery floss and outline stitches. However, "Turkey Redwork Embroidery" used thread dyed Turkey Red, one of the first colorfast red dyes, previously called India Red. Redwork was popular during the Victorian Era 1890s to about 19-teens. So, to get technical, unless the thread was dyed with Turkey Red Dye, it's not Turkey Redwork, just Redwork. A lot more on redwork here for any insomniacs out there. Another tidbit, unless it is specifically performed in an outline stitch, it is not considered Redwork. Well! Picky, picky, picky!

HOWEVER, it is now on my dresser, after an ironing with lavender water. I swear, I'm going back in time. Soon I'll be sewing up folk dress patterns and wearing a hat that ties under my chin. Well, okay, probably not since here in So-Cal it's jeans and flip-flops most of the time.

Lastly, another find that was just a blank template and ready for me to stitch: a little tea towel with my favorite subject matter. Can you guess? I bet you can. I love the blue fish, and the bow tie is my favorite part. Orange, with pink french knots! Love it. For a fantabulous tutorial on making french knots, this site is the shiz - full of wonderfully straightforward videos on almost every stitch! Such a find.

More on stitching in my next post, complete with a story that is now about 40 years old - about my Mom.

Hel-looooo Out There, It's Me

Hello folks out there in blog land!!! I have missed you. A lot has been going on. But is there a scientific answer for the absense of my posts? The best I can come up with is this: I just plopped onto the floor right after the Kitchen Poetry challenge and didn't get up! But I really was here the whole time, or stuck in a parallel universe. This can happen if you're not paying attention. :-)

So, first thing: the Craft Show! It was really fun, and fortunately we were able to avoid spontaneous combustion; just barely though because it was soooo hot that morning. By 10:30 it was like 125 degrees on the asphalt bank parking lot. Here are some pics of my booth (in the forefront) and Ms. Foziewisp's (with 2 customers eyeing the wares). We each sold almost exactly the same dollar amount of stuff. As I sat there in the sweltering heat contemplating the prospect of re-packing the car, however, I had a blue light special and slashed prices. That helped sales! :-) Most of my items were vintage goodies I'd collected over the years. I had certainly already gotten my money's worth of having them, some as long as 15 years or more, and they were old when I bought them! I felt good about off-loading the stuff. And it really was kind of fun talking to all the shoppers.

This second pic is a close-up of some of Sherri's vintage items. It's fun to look over the table and remember the estate sale that we went to together to find these things! Great memories. Next up: Saylor Meets a Skunk.