The Latest Greatest Thrifted Vintage Loot

I went out thrifting the other day as I do a couple of times a week to find goods to eBay (and feed my sewing addiction), and I found some really neat vintage stuff. I rooted through the knitting pamphlets, which I usually am not interested in doing, and found some great old pattern books I intend to send to family members who knit. Check out these styles... sorry about the blur.

Plaid mini with knee-high boots! Perfect!

White nail polish! How posh!

These two are just too cute!

Nice sweater, guy.

Those two are from 1965 and 1966. Here is a real find- a pattern book from '54!

Ooh la la! Love the bolero!

Imagine the undergarments required to do that to your waist!
"Quick! Get the shot before I pass out!"

The Bernat book is a bit wrinkly, but for 25 cents it was worth buying just to share the great photos. 

Next, I meandered over to the place where the sewing books are usually kept. Here I found more treasures.

From 1940 and in fabulous condition!

This info on cuffs reminded me of the article on Chanel's cuff variation in the recent issue of Threads  

Inside the orange book, I found a recipe tear out from Better Homes and Gardens dated 1947 and a tape measure marked Compliments of the Fashion Department- Woman's Home Companion. The monthly magazine was published until 1957. 

I also found a McCall's sewing book from 1965.

Heaven knows I could use help styling my wardrobe!

 All of the paper finds were very cool, and like I said, they were a quarter each! Even the sewing guides! So, needless to say, I left the store feeling particularly satisfied that I had scored some more goodies to hoard. Then, at the next shop, I found these- the whole lot of them- for 75 cents!

Too cute, right?! Okay, enough gloating for one day! I found a couple of other things, but lest you think I am a total pack rat, I am keeping them to myself!

Falling Hard for Pumpkins and Apples

Pumpkins and apples are in at Osage Farms, and I went a little overboard today on the shopping. I told B that we could consider all of the pumpkins edible fall decorations. Don't you think he should be thrilled to have such a practical wife? We did, in fact, eat a sugar pie pumpkin for dinner tonight along with quinoa, fresh steamed turnips, and apples baked in my clay baker.
  It's like my kind of Christmas when they get pumpkins at the stand. I get so excited about the options and the variety! I mean, check these out:

There are warty ones

There are Long Island Cheese

There's another kind of cheese... :)

There are pretty white pumpkins

Striped ones...

Watermelon-ish pumpkins...

Cinderellas, which are among my favorites

Some cool green ones that must be good! 

Delicious petite sugar pies

I bought one of these green beauties!

Carvers aplenty!

A nice man offered to get our family photo in the pumpkin patch:

"Back in the old days," he said "we had to take our film in to have it developed! I didn't hear it click..."

There you go ol' man! Way to work the iPhone!

I'm sure there will be even more in the weeks to come, because I did not see any Vif de Temps pumkins, and they have always had them in previous years. 

Then, there are the many types of squash. Here are a couple favorites:

Hubbard squash is soooooo good. Mmmm.

There were more winter squash inside that I forgot to photograph, but you know them well- butternut, acorn...I didn't see any spaghetti yet. I did see tons of lovely decorative gourds though:

A cute gourd and an even cuter pumkin!

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better...Apples!

  These aren't those enormous picture perfect, shiny (waxed), red apples. These are ugly and delicious!

  So, if you can't tell, autumn is my favorite season of the year. Here we get to see the leaves change and fall (they have already begun), the weather gets mellow and dry, some of the summer tourists go home. Western North Carolina is exceptionally beautiful all of the time, but this is particularly true in autumn when the mountains are awash in the yellows, oranges, browns and golds of dying leaves. 

  Okay, okay! Enough about autumn- 

Ugh! B! You are not eating that apple without washing it, are you?

More Farm Minutiae

I cannot believe it is September already! The last few days we have had highs of 80 or so, and lows in the fifties. The air is off, and the windows are open, and this is why we love the mountains of North Carolina. 

B's dad and stepmom came for a visit, and we enjoyed having four extra baby carrying arms around the farm. We also enjoyed their wonderful company, of course! 

Two days ago, B and his dad went down to pull a frame out of our beehive, and B says we have a super (the wooden box the honey frames are kept in) absolutely full off honey. Our bees made about 75 lbs. of honey last year, and we were hoping for a good haul this year too. Here is a photo of B and his dad with the frame they pulled:

Note the socks! Nerf herdery is hereditary!

They harvested the honey just in time to use it as a topping for the fresh yogurt I have made with my thrifted Salton yogurt maker. 

Action shot of me pouring hot milk! Exciting process! 

  Yes, we used a salad spinner to remove the honey from the comb. Sometimes, you have to improvise. The fresh yogurt with our own honey is so tangy-sweet and delicious. I have never had yogurt this good- but that is almost always the case with food made at home from high quality ingredients. I burned the milk slightly on the first batch I tried to make, but I turned it into yogurt anyway. Our chickens are totally spoiled, and I have read that yogurt helps them clear their crops. 

  I have been working on my sew along pattern in Swedish tracing paper. It needed a good deal of alteration, as I bought a size 39 bust for my 36 inch self. I took my trench in on the sides and center back, and I lengthened the bust dart and moved the apex. I also shortened the waist, and I still need to shorten the arms as well as add some room for broad shoulders. Then I think we will be in business. I know it is a "sew along," but I always like to get a head start on a big project.  I was planning on sewing a navy trench, but the lady at the fabric store confused me with a nice, medium weight khaki twill. I was plagued by horrible indecision until I realized that I can always sew both colors! I went back to the fabric store yesterday and bought 4 yards of khaki stretch jacquard. It is feminine and has interest, but is still simple and classic. I tried to post a photo several different ways, but for some reason it is not working. Here is the link to the whole photo pool, and I am Abbymomma. I am really excited about this sew along!

  Well, I've been trying to post this for a couple days, but the internet has been fudgy, so here goes. We planted our small fall garden; I will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about that soon! 

Freedom is a Back Carry! Insane Corn! Other Unrelated Bits!

How do you get anything done with a 5 month old?

  Hells yeah! I finally got it! I got Arabel safely on my back, and, as you can see, I am doing something with corn! It is amazing! I don't quite know how to handle this new freedom. Arabel loves to be up high looking over my shoulders while I fudge around the house. I could carry her in the sling before, but she was always in front of or beside me, so that made cooking, cleaning, and other tasks virtually impossible. Now I have no more excuses for not getting crap done! Well, I still have a few saved up. I mean, I can't just leave her up there all of the time. 

  By the way, that corn...that corn was...that corn was so...wow. I have never felt this way about corn before. I mean, I have always loved corn. I have just never had any that was this good. This is the BEST CORN IN THE WORLD! Yes, I said it. And I have eaten a lot of corn as a New England lobster baker, steamer type person. I have also eaten a  lot of potato salad, but that is another subject entirely. The Silver Queen corn at Osage Farms is ecstasy on the cob. You may think that I am being dramatic, or that I have just run out of things to take interest in because we live in a podunk town. That's fine. More corn for me. We scalded 8 ears and set them aside in the freezer using our handy dandy vacuum sealer. We also froze a couple of jars of pasta sauce yesterday from the 25 lbs. of tomatoes we bought. We got a bag of the first fall apples that is almost gone (delicious!). I bought another bag of peaches to do round two on the peach jam. Oh, and B got some okra for pickling, cause it is the shizzle.
  All of this fall eating and fooding around is really one of the best things about where we live. You come eat here, and you are spoiled for life! You would never again buy those big, shiny- red, grainy apples from the grocery store. I like mine ugly and misshapen; hold the wax please... and a little flavor if you don't mind. And it is the same way with all of the other goodies you buy. I am most excited for the pumpkins, which I was told at the farm stand would be along in a couple of weeks. They get an amazing selection of sizes, shapes, and colors. I will take pictures when we get over to buy some.
  In the wonderful world of chickens, B had to corral the birds and lock them up, as they were taking the liberty of laying eggs all over creation. It's a little weird to open your back door and find your chicken nested up on your porch furniture. Your first thought is, "Oh! Excuse me! Am I interrupting something?" And then you remember it's a chicken, and it's laying an egg in your chair, and you have to scare it away with a squirt bottle. That's what I do anyway. They were also laying on the workbench in the shed, and we have a feeling that there is a large nest hidden somewhere in the yard. We don't pay them to lay eggs for possums. So, it's jail time for the chips.  
   So, that's about it. We are busy, busy, busy with a whole lot of nothing. That's how we like it. As it gets cooler, like it was yesterday, it gets so much easier to get work done around here. We are looking for some visitors in the near future, and then we are on the countdown to Thanksgiving. Well, now that I have written all about the trivial little nothings going on around here, I'd better get going. I'll post again when I actually have something to write about. Until then....  

East Meets West for Her- Another Vintage Sewing Project

I wanted to drop a quick post with some photos of a vintage wrap shirt I just finished up. I sewed Butterick 2853 from the early sixties in a soft black knit jersey. Due to the finished length (short, short, short!) this would either be more of a shrug, or would need to be worn with a tank. That is, unless you wear extremely high waisted pants or a skirt to meet the hem on it's own territory! I think the tucks are beautiful, and I intend to alter the pattern some for a second go. It will need about four inches added to the length to meet the lower waisted jeans we wear in 2010, and I did remove about an inch of fabric on the top seam of each sleeve; they were far too baggy. Overall though, this was a pretty easy sew, and the knit fabric, though kind of a pain as knits always are, hid all of my little mistakes quite nicely! Here are some shots:

I think this is a beautiful pattern, and will make some cozy fall blouses in a slightly heavier knit. I found one for 50 cents at the thrift store the other day that I intend to use for the next sew up of this shirt. Now, it's time for bed!