February Thrifting Haul—Part One

A thousand apologies, Gentle Readers, for how long it’s taken me to post this. Like the man said, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. I’m currently involved in a musical written by one of Mom’s piano students, a talented young lady who recently passed her tenth birthday. I’m also ploughing through the huge bundle of sewing piled on my head, as it’s become a bit of an obsession and is starting to affect my health. :-O Of course, it didn’t help that my hip (the same one I tweaked when I fell on the ice last year) decided to go on the fritz three weeks ago—and is still a long way from recovery—nor was that allergic reaction I had two weeks ago exactly conducive to blogging. (For the record: The reaction was brought on by stress and the mold spores still lurking in all our books, which we couldn’t bear to leave in California…and no doubt aided and abetted by all the refined sugar I’ve been eating since my birthday. *Innocent whistle*)

Anyhoo, I am finally able to share with y’all the wonderful wardrobe pick-me-ups God provided during my Birthday Celebration on the 1^st and 2^nd (of February, that is). We’ll begin with my “loot” brought home after my Birthday Outing with Kellie and Tasha….

I spotted this adorable western-style blouse (by Wrangler, to boot!) at the CdA St. Vincent de Paul, on our way to the back of the store (the girls like to work their way up to the front):

It’s so rare—in my experience, at least—to find women’s blouses with feminine details like gathered sleeves, I simply had to get it. The girls both agreed it was *me* (Kellie said if she’d seen it without my being present, she’d think of me), so that decided it. We poked about the dishes and tins and figurines for a while, browsed the books and videos, and perused the linens, where Kellie scored some lovely finds. As we made our way through the men’s and “Funky, Western and Vintage” clothing, we stopped to paw through their dollar bins of hats and whatnot, where this little number jumped out and declared, “I’m for Tom!”

Y’all remember Wesley the Weasel? No? Well, no matter; it was a long time ago I mentioned him. In a nutshell, I eventually decided that piece of fake coyote fur wasn’t my color, so methought white would be better. And I guess the Good Lord wants me to go ahead with the idea—why else would He have the perfect white “mink” fur waiting for me at St. Vinnie’s? For a dollar, too! *Grin* I must admit, it was a little tempting to keep it as a hat and play Russian Princess…until I tried it on and the thing went down to my eyes. :-P

 Our visit to the Goodwill turned out to be quite profitable, as each of us found some really cute things that seemed to have our names written on them, or that were on our lists. I’ll let the girls speak for themselves, but as for this little wench, I found four things that will fill out my wardrobe nicely:

This fun little number obviously needs a snap or two in the front placket to make it modest (it’s a bit too big, too), but it’s cute and Summery—and turquoise! I have practically nothing in this color, which is one of my best, so it was a real blessing to find it.

I almost left this little sky-blue gingham on the rack, but it simply begged me to take it home! And it reminded me of my aquamarine gingham shirtwaist (purchased last Summer)—which has become one of my favorite blouses—so I gave in. Good thing, too, because it fits perfectly and only needed an extra snap in the placket. My favorite kind of alteration—simple!

This sweater is obviously too big, but the color blends beautifully with a turtleneck I bought last Fall (which has been very hard to match). I suspect it of dating back to the 1980s, when tops were oversized and shoulders were wide. *Snort* I have some ideas on how to alter it more to my liking…but that’s another story. ;-)

I’ve been wanting a pair of black velvet jeans for a while now, for the really cold weather up here that goes right through my black twill trousers. And miracle of miracles, these ones fit like they were tailor-made for me (apart from the slight gap in the back waistband)—even the length of the legs (I like my trousers above the ankle) and the height of the “rise.” Being kinda “tall in the saddle,” if you follow me, it’s sometimes difficult to find even regular pants that actually come up to my natural waist…let alone above it.

And you’ve already seen the copy of Jane Eyre I picked up at Wiggett’s Antiques. So there you have it—my thrifting haul from my Birthday proper. Part Two will detail the goodies Mom and I found on the 2^nd.

Until then, Gentle Readers,

God bless,

~“Tom”~

♥

 

“Prest-logs Roasting in a Kuma Fire....”

WOW. The Lord has certainly blessed us of late!

It all started about a month ago, when one of the elders at our church walked up to my brother and told him to start looking for firewood because “we're going to give you a woodstove”! The church was going to pay for the piping and what-not, and he and his sons would install it. And not just any woodstove, mind you—a Kuma! From what I've heard, Kumas are very efficient—they actually burn the smoke!—and keep a place toasty on less wood than other stoves. Mr. F, I should mention, developed them and owns the company, therefore he was able to just give us one. :-D

Cozy....

Last Friday when Peter brought me home, there it was, sitting in the corner of the living room all cozy and home-y. The place looks...I dunno...more complete with a wood stove in it. Guess I'm a country gal after all! ;-) But then, we grew up with woodstoves.

Lemme tell ya, that little stove keeps our house roasty-toasty; in fact, it went from freezing (despite the thermostat being set at 65°F) to almost too hot! But it's all good, as we can now open the windows (or even the door!) in the Winter (when it's not blowing or snowing or raining) and still be toasty-warm! Whoo!

Funny thing about the hearth they put in—apparently it was a discontinued color...one which matches our new countertops and our living room carpet perfectly! Is God in the details, or what?

Mr. F gave us a box of pallet-scraps to burn, and they lasted through Sunday night. Monday morning Mom and I took off in search of more wood, as it got cold very quickly after the fire died down. We bought 25 of those Prest-logs for a buck apiece at a place in Post Falls, and then Mom noticed some pallets in front of a pallet factory a little ways down the road. The pallets she saw weren't for sale, but the friendly forklift operator we talked to (the owner was off that day) pulled out a big metal bin on wheels from under one of their cutting machines, all full of trimmings, and said we could take whatever we wanted! So now we have enough to get us at least through the next week, maybe two. PTL! Hopefully there isn't much more cold weather left, anyway.

This stove has been such a blessing already—I'd forgotten what it was like to be warm—actually warm, not just tolerable un-cold, if you follow me. :-P It's meant some adjustments to our routine, sure, but it's worth it. And the best part? At present, I'm wearing a cotton blouse and NO SOCKS! and I'm not the least bit cold! Hurrah for Bare Feet!

Speaking of clothes, here are the promised photos of the alterations I made to “Jubilee” last week:

Underarm/side seam gusset

Second Underarm gusset--much smaller. Don't know how that happened!

Shoulder extension

I had to mark where the seams are because this fabric eats them alive! A good thing, too, as that'll help keep it from looking slap-dash. :-P

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do anything more on it, as I found out I needed a zipper that wasn't black, purple, aqua or lime green! Those were the only invisible zippers we had, and while the whole purpose of an invisible zip is not to be seen, I still felt a blue zipper would be best with a blue dress. So Thursday Mom and I went out to Wal*Mart in search of one—no dice. But on the way home, Mom “just had a feeling” we should pop into the Hospice thrift store where I volunteer...and there, in the zipper-box in the fabric area, was a blue invisible zipper! A bit longer than I really need, but I wasn't going to kick a gift-bear in the mouth*...especially since the sale for that day was sewing notions 25% off. :-D Is that a God thing, or what?

...but I'm always nervous about putting in zippers (shoot, I'm nervous about the whole process!), so I've kinda put it off. Bad Tom! And then Mom and I ended up going to CdA today, so needless to say I didn't get any sewing done today, either. 

* Kick a gift-bear in the mouth: Complain about something received or purchased that was obtained through somewhat miraculous circumstances.

Reference: Taken from a line of the F Troop episode, “Too Many Cooks Spoil the Troop,” where Captain Wilton Parmenter, in frustration with a rank-pulling situation, kicks the bearskin rug given him by Chief Wild Eagle of the Hikawi Indians, and gets his foot stuck in its mouth. While helping him to extract his foot, Corporal Randolf Agarn remarks, “There's an old Hikawi saying: Never kick a gift-bear in the mouth.”

The phrase was then turned into a family saying in the early 2000s.

~Tom's Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

I did, however, snag this loverly letter-knife at an estate sale/antique store in Hayden. They'd lost their lease and had to get everything out of the store by March 15^th. Now, the Lord has put a nice wad of cash in my purse of late, and I've been needing a letter-knife (left mine in California! D'oh!), so I bravely asked the nice lady how much she wanted for this one. Quoth she, “How about fifty cents?” Sold! (And here I was, fully expecting to pay ten or twenty bucks!) The knife is the same on both sides and quite beautiful. I don't know what the symbol on the handle is, but I figure I can always epoxy a nice metal stamping over it—I'm thinking a rose-blossom to match the tiny ones in the handle. ;-)

Quotes of the Week:

Peter: (regarding the cheesy patch-job on Mom's bedroom sub-floor): “Well, this is bonkers sauce.”

(During a family discussion about some nasty shrew lady who chewed Mom out on the telephone...)

Mom: I've half a mind to call her back....

Peter: Don't call her back. Don't feed the Trolls.

Leave it to my brother to lighten up a tense situation! <3

Until next time, Gentle Readers (when hopefully I'll have made better use of my time),

God bless,

~“Tom”~

Re-evaluating Blog, and Little Blessings

I realized recently that I seem to have forgotten why I started this blog in the first place: To document my various projects and share my progress with anyone who cares to read about it. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite ready (no pix!) when I signed up with Blogger, so I started doing Blog Parties in the meantime, and other randomness that had nothing to do with sewing or crafts. Not that these things are bad; they're just not the main focus of this blog. I still feel badly that I didn't have pictures of “Wood Violet” in its finished state, nor of any of the other things I've made recently. I do still intend to take some, but it all depends on the weather and all. :-P

So as not to get too gloomy, I shall now focus on the little blessings God has given me this past week or so....

As a reward for all the hard work I've put in preparing for the “Big Day” at the bank—making new necklaces and earrings, figuring out a pricing list with tax, printing stuff, etc.—Mom gave me these two dolls...which she actually bought before Christmas. :-P

Introducing Raphaela and Columbine—and angel and a pincushion lady, respectively. Raphaela's head and hands are made of some kind of resin or very hard plastic, can't tell exactly what.  

Poor dear has no feet—just foam-wrapped legs—so I plan to make her some out of polymer clay (which I have a nice supply of thanks to Uncle Dave :-D). I haven't decided if I want to make her a jointed body out of clay—as I plan to do with most of my other “miniature” dolls—and alter her dress so she can change it for another, or just to leave her as-is and have her be purely decorative. I'm in the same quandary with her friend Seraphina (pictured below), who was a Christmas present from “Aunt” Patty.

As for Columbine, she's porcelain from head to waist, although you can't see it because of all that lace. And I'm not taking it off until I can make her a polymer clay chemisette (an old-fashioned dickey) and a fan, because the neckline on her bodice is decidedly indecent. :-O 

Again, it's a toss-up between leaving her as a pincushion lady or making her a jointed (lower) body so she'd be more like a real doll.

Last Saturday, Mom and I dropped by her school's yard sale, and someone (the lady who played the tone-chimes with us at the concert last month, actually) pointed out this tiny violin in a case. 

I suspect it was made by the American Girl Company for their 18” dolls. It's very well-made—almost like a real violin. Actually, if the strings and bow-hairs were proper ones, it would be a real violin! Hmmm...1/32 size? ;-) 

The case is amazingly detailed—it has real latches, a handle, and even little brass feet on the back! The little nub in the lid that the bow goes over has a tiny piece that rotates to hold the bow secure, and the whole thing is lined with red velveteen—this thing is a real violin case! 

Since I have no American Girl doll (or anything similar) to play it, I'm thinking of CAREFULLY converting it into a cello for my 8-10” dolls...once I get them made. >Whistles innocently<

And yesterday Mom and I went out to do a little shopping, and as we were out anyway, we stopped by a few thrift stores to see if they had any weights over 20 pounds for my brother. They didn't (we ended up getting a set at Wal-Mart for $19!), but they did have some binders and tabbed folders for Mom to organize her music in, plus these....

(Please excuse the funky colors in this picture; it was the only way to get the dress looking close to its true color on my computer.)

I've been wanting a purple dress for the Summer, but didn't think I could afford more fabric (plus I have material coming out my ears already!!!), but apparently God had other plans, because I found this one (christened “Lady Violet”) at St. Vinnie's, and in my size! The neckline is a wee bit low (and will be a wee bit lower once I remove those horrid shoulder-pads)—not obscene, just uncomfortable—but thankfully there's enough fabric in these—erm—interesting ties to make an insert (or I could just “unstuff” one of the shoulder-pads and use that).

Another thing I found there was this gorgeous turquoise tunic/jacket: 

 It's actually a wee bit more green than in the photo; my camera turns things blue for some reason. :-P It's a size 8P, which means it was meant for someone smaller than I am, but it fits perfectly as a top, and the color is great. And I have a weakness for embroidery. ;-) All it needs is to have the buttons and loops removed and replaced with snaps. That way I can wear a necklace with it and not have it clanking against the buttons or hanging crooked.

This skirt (found at Real Life Ministries) mayn't look like much on the hanger, but it is in fact a very full tiered skirt of navy-blue rayon. The little whitish dots are actually pewter buttons...which I'm not hip on, but they're easily removed. It will blend with all my blues pretty well, and it was a lot less brain-pickling* to buy this ready-made skirt than to try and noodle around with my 60x62” fabric that none of my patterns fit on. :-P Plus I have a weakness for “Gypsy” skirts, too. >Halo<

* Brain-pickling: Implies that the task to be done is so complicated that the brain has to work harder to figure it out, and therefore works up a sweat. And since sweat is salty, and salt is an ingredient used in pickling vegetables, it is logical to assume that a skull full of brain-sweat will eventually pickle said brain.

~Tom's Dictionary of Whacked-out Terms and Old Family Sayings

I needed some navy lace to fill in the neckline of a dress Mom bought me on my birthday, and what do you know? RLM had a bag of it, plus all this other stuff! (Not counting The Menagerie, LOL. Ack! I cut off Peanut Butter's head!!!)

Some pretty green lace and some Battenburg lace, dyed a bluish-grey. Not hip on the color, so may try some Color Remover to get it white again...or dye it some other color.

A hand-dyed doily with Battengurg lace edges and dainty embroidery....

The navy lace, which will eventually become part of my “Midnight Lace” dress (pictures to come!). There's a LOT of this stuff; Lord willing there's enough left over, I might put it on my new navy skirt!

And I don't have a picture of it, but I also found Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John. Mom and I were headed to the check-out, and I >happened< ;-) to glance at the book-rack—and there it was! For 50¢! Jordan lent me her copy last year, and I loved it, so I was one happy little wench to find my own copy. :-D I found Hans Brinker at the Humane Society thrift store a little while back, too. It's such a blessing to find my favorite books at the thrift store, as their prices beat the pants off Amazon (much as I love Amazon). And I'll never forget the day I found Pride and Prejudice at St. Vinnie's! :-D

It's often “little things” like these that prove to me that God cares about my interests...and about me.

And now, Gentle Readers, I must bid you adieu for now.

God bless,

~“Tom”~