Couch!

This is our new thrift store couch. So comfy. There may be a slipcover and some cushion recovering in its future, though, despite my being kind of in love with its big ol' ugly floral self.

A place for my sandwiches

I went on a bit of a lunch bag kick. I think it was inspired by my reusable grocery bags. Suddenly, I must have bags designated for all my food-carrying needs.

The above bag is oilcloth and from this pattern.

The below bag is home deco weight cotton and from this pattern.



Both bags have carried my lunch admirably.

Also, I'd like to share my small thrifting victory, my exciting coral colored Russel Wright Residential teacup + saucer:



If you want to be upset at people and their bad ideas, visit the Russel Wright Hall of Shame.

one lump or two?

I noticed recently that I have enough supplies to hold several concurrent tea parties and not have to do any dishes. This somehow happens, that I collect things without a clear plan until one day I open the cupboard and say to myself, "Self, how did we come to have so many turquoise ceramic gravy boats?"

I seem to have a particular fondness for cream and sugar sets - apparently if it features both a handle and a spout, I'm interested. Standing in the thrift store, I must tell myself that it is a good, sound, practical purchase (like a deviled egg plate or a potato ricer) - as though I have so many appointments for high tea that it would actually matter whether the sugar lumps were served from persimmon fiestaware or chartreuse melmac.

All this, and I still drink my tea straight up out of a large milk glass.














edited to add: after I posted this I opened a cabinet and found another, undocumented, cream & sugar set. Will it never end?

feather in your cap

Admittedly, this has nothing to do with tea towels or the scantily-clad women who adorn them, but it was a pleasant way to spend an evening with a bag of feathers, a pair of vintage clip-on earrings, and a tube of very strong craft adhesive.

Yes, it is a bit on the Kenley Collins side of things, but I'm going to try to ignore that, because I was much more inspired by the ladies at ban.do. Their work is beautiful and full of whimsy, especially to me since I am exactly the sort of girl who thinks putting big fake flowers in her hair is a very fun thing to do.


For anyone that wants to try this, I started by gluing an appropriately sized piece of wool to each of my barrettes and then layering feathers until a.) I ran out of pretty feathers and b.) it looked "done."
I think next time I'll be a little more mindful of of where the feather fuzz ends up. Perhaps the little black and white number could benefit from a bit less fuzz, but then, this was a trial run, right?



A re-purposed earring.



and it's twin.

the brownie

I have a long-standing and unbridled love of outdated technology, as evidenced by my continued use of fifty year old metal ice trays even though my finger tips stick to them when I pull them out of the freezer.
I realized recently though, with a tinge of sadness, that I used to go to greater, more stubborn lengths to do things the hard way. I bought this Kodak Brownie at an estate sale years ago. The model was discontinued in 1958. They no longer manufacture the 620 film this camera needs, but I found out it is possible to respool currently manufactured 120 film onto an old 620 spool and fit it into the brownie. I diligently searched antique shops and estate sales for a stray 620 spool, eventually buying an entire second camera to cannibalize. I was a photo student at the time and I patiently sat in a pitch black room and fumbled the film from one spool to another, put it in the camera and went out into daylight. Later, when I went to develop the film, I found out that it was unusable. All the photos had overlapped one another in a long continuous line. The 120 film was not marked for the brownie, so there was no clear way to know when it had advanced safely from one shot to another.
I suppose I'll try again though, I'm nothing if not a mule.

be a deer

Yes, folks, this is what $3 will get you on ebay these days. It arrived in the mail today and frankly, I love it. I don't know if it's a deer or a donkey, and I don't care. The strange pose, the tongue sticking out, the sheer fact that someone thought to manufacture this thing - fantastic.

whiskey tango foxtrot

An Open Letter to the Proprietor of the "Estate" Sale I Attended Earlier Today

Dear sir,

I can only assume that it was you who placed the "Estate Sale - Victorian house and contents" ad in the classified section of our local paper, allowing me to foolishly draw the conclusion that you were holding an estate sale this weekend. After arriving and politely ignoring your stacks of pornography in the corner and the pervasive mildew smell emanating from the many questionable boxes and plastic bags piled all over the house, you can imagine my surprise when you were reluctant, some would say completely unwilling, to sell many of the items included in your sale. This is a curious new tactic in sales that I was not previously familiar with. In retrospect, I think you may also be the same gentleman I encountered at a community yard sale earlier this summer who tried to convince me that a strange off-brand mixing bowl was "practically the same thing" as Texas Ware and thus warranted the hefty $20 price tag that you had affixed to it. In the future, I think it would be best if you and I are never in the same place again. So, thanks for the seedy morning and I think I'll go wash my hands.

Sincerely,

Jennie Lynn