Shoe Drool... Not So Random

It's a quiet night here in BHC... I'm too lazy to change the foot on the sewing machine to tackle the zipper I decided I had to have a couple of hours ago... The new little addition is sleeping quietly at my feet and Big Furry Dog is snoozing in the entrance to the office. I'm not sure there's anything on the boob tube I need to watch right now, and thus, am reduced to surfing the Internets.

Invariably the Internet surfing turns to two things, shoes and patterns. Occasionally underwear. Tonight it was shoes and more shoes...

First there are these, by cute quirky company Penny Loves Kenny. I think they are on sale at Mod Cloth. The only thing i like on that site are the shoes.. Seriously... And boy do I like these. So cute.

So I bopped over to Zappos to see if I could find the PLK shoes there, maybe a little cheaper or in another color (read: black).. No such luck, and I found that while Zappo's brand list is now even HUGE-R then it was, they don't have some of the brands they used to.. Poop..



These were cute though, and made by STEVEN. The grown-up Steve Madden line. I have a pair of STEVEN shoes I bought for $30 on Amazon a few years ago. I love them. They are my favorite pin-up shoes.. As a result, I almost never wear them, for fear they will crumble off my feet and disappear the minute I look away.

Then it was over to old stand by, Forever 21.. I actually ventured into the one here in the mall the other night. The store was a disheveled mess. Seriously, it looked like a pack of teenagers had gone buck wild in the place. They pretty much had and the staff looked a little run over and run down as well. Some time, when it's not 30 minutes until they close, and I have money, I'll go back. In the mean time, I'll keep staring at the website.

These were cute. I found them in another store, but with a lower heel and more of an 80s look. These are higher and look hot in person...
And these:

MEOW! I Oh so hot! And yes, I will go back and get them, because they are so cute. And them come in solid black. I don't care that I never make it out of the house. I will wear them to wash the dishes in.

And last but not least...

By Remix Vintage shoes.. Available at their site and at Anthropologie stores. Dear after Christmas sale, where is the 75% mark down that I need.. That would make them... about $60.00... And yes, they are yellow... And I want them any way..

The Noir Goddess or the School Marm...

It's a tough call.. 

Once I got my new patterns in my grubby little paws, I could think of little else and so I immediately started working on the 1937 Simplicity Pattern... 

This one: 

So of course I made up a test version: 

With a zipper closure on the right side and four fabric covered buttons on the front. 

It's not perfect... The welts on the pockets made me a little crazy, 

From a distance they look okay, but up close, meh... 

Face on it's not so bad: 

But it's not really me.. the first thing I thought when I saw it on the dress maker's dummy was "Victorian school marm"... It's not what I was going for. I haven't finished the hem on it, I did put the zipper in and now it's back on the pile of "needs hand stitching". 

I did manage to get a zipper in one high waisted skirt and then button holes in the other one.  I'm not really sure that I like either one of them. The pattern is cheap and wonky and really requires a lot more drafting to make it fit well. I don't feel like putting that much work into it. I think I'd rather just go back to cranking out pencil skirts. 

I'm in the process of moving and re-organizing all of my Retro-Fitted photos from the PC to the laptop. I've lost a ton of images and the organization of a lot more and i'm reduced to trying to reorganize them via mouse sized thumbnails. ARGG. 

On top of that, the new laptop has NO PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE... I had gotten so spoiled by Photoscape. They don't make a MAC friendly version, so it's GONE! I looked at iPhoto but it's not downloaded to this one and tells me I need a new version of quick time before it can download. Maybe I'll do that today... I really need a better way to view and store stuff, not to mention crop and edit photos. 

Narf! 

* Garments listed and promptly (mostly) sold on Etsy.com... Check.

* Timing belt on car changed.. Check...

* Oil leak on car as a result of faulty timing belt part, fixed.... Check.

* Coming to the conclusion that I should really consider buying a new(er) car, even though I love my little Honda... Begrudging.... Check...

* Call NMSU to talk to their wonderful advisor about transferring to their BA program. Check..

* Find out 24hrs after sending in transcript that Dean and Department head have done away with program in it's current form. However a new program will be started.. NARF.

* Steam clean carpets to remove built-up smell of dogs/cats/smokers and day to day life.. Check and double check.


It's been a busy month, what can I say. I'm sewing full bore an will have new pictures up soon. I've gotten these two patterns recently.... Not sure which to make first...

I saw something tonight that was very old. At least in a contemporary kinda way. For a minute it made me really home sick. I wanted to be that again, just for a second.
The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I was happy that it was the past. Happy to have been a small insignificant part of it, and happier still to know where I am today and where so many other people are today.
And that given the choice, I don't really want it back. Not a bit of it. I'm glad for it's happening, I wish none of it away (well almost none) and I wish never to go back to it again.

Cryptic enough for ya?

In other news... I have been feverishly sewing and working on my new little site over at pinuplifestyle.com.. Mostly I've been sewing. And sewing and sewing...
Observe...

More of these:


These:



And this:


It's leopard print fleece and oh so snugly soft and warm... Mmm... warm...

Patterns:

It's either very late 1930s or very early 1940s, I can't tell yet from the picture. I can tell you that it is NOT from the 1950s, which is what it was listed under. I'm still waiting for it to come in the mail box. Happy Belated Birthday to Me..


late 1940s. The hem line falls a LOT father then I think it should. It's ankle length, almost. I think it getting shortened to just below the knee. A girl only needs SO MUCH drape. Eef...

And I've been dreaming about red chili and mi casa in Deco Dirt City...
It's almost Dia De Los Muertos, and I have no plans. No beautiful parade to attend. No one other then best boy to go eat dinner with. No beautiful costume to wear.. Sigh....

Six Degrees of Separation

It's 1988 (give or take a year) in a small college town in the heart of coal country. There's not a lot to do. This one horse town has one two main streets, one named for a TV star and one named for it's place in the towns geography. In between the two mains streets run a few side streets. The biggest of which houses the town's only club. The club will under go many names in it's history but today it's in it's original incarnation. Named for Harriet Tubman's famous trail. The club hosts heavies in the underground music scene, as well as local performers. A local band, naming themselves after a character in a popular TV show hangs out there. Along with the lead singer's younger brother, and a recent high school graduate, among many others. They listen to lots of music, drink under age, and generally cause mayhem.


Flash forward to 2001. A young woman finds herself in the same town at a Christmas party, brought down from a dying industrial city 800 miles to the north by the guy she's been dating for a year or more. She meets a dark grumpy punk rocker at the party, along with his very sweet girlfriend. They become fast friends. They take her to the same club, it's latest incarnation, this time named only for the street address it occupies.


Flash again to 2004, in a desert town in a dusty valley surrounded by mountains and mesa(s), a short lived marriage is about to fall apart. The girl's burlesque troupe is holding a meeting to meet and greet their newest member, a puppet master and ventriloquist who happens to love both Burlesque and Vaudeville. The girl's troupe takes him on immediately. Over many conversations and meetings the girl finds out the puppet master lived in the college town in coal country for a little while. She mentions that her now ex-husband hailed from there as well. They compare notes and realize that her ex would have been far too young to have known the puppet master. Life goes on.

2008.. Over morning coffee and email. The girl reads her email from the puppet master, who is now living far away. The email brings news that his wife is pregnant with their first child. She mentions this to her boyfriend, the dark haired punk rock boy that she met at the Christmas party so long ago. She mentions too, that the puppet master and the boy's brother are about the same age. Give or take a year. She mentions the puppet master's "real" name.

I know him, says her boyfriend, I know that I do.... She dashes off an email..And in the late evening the reply.... Yes, her boyfriend is right... He did know the puppet master. The puppet master knew his brother, they hung out at the club for a summer and caused various amounts of insanity. How odd... That they should all cross paths so differently...

Ahhh....

That was a sigh of relief. Tomorrow I box this up an send it Bettie's Sister and her boyfriend, so they can award, raffle and otherwise do with as they need to.

Monday NIght

One of two nights off from the grocery store this week. This weekend is ACL. If you've got a stupid amount of money that you'd like to blow on a bunch of mainstream bands and be surrounded by a few thousand of your closest friends, come on down.
Since all my younger co-workers have decided they just HAVE to BE THERE! I'll be working more then half of my 32 weekly hours between 7am Saturday and 11pm Sunday.

Nights off mean recipe adventures. Tonights was Wasabi Crusted Salmon with Crab Rangoon. The Wasabi needs to be stronger in the next go round. But over all the effect was good. And to get me home from the market? Pumpkin spice bark..Which is like Almond Bark or Chocolate Bark, only it's orange and tastes like a cross between pumpkin pie and chai latte..

Mmmm...
Now off to fall in a food coma...

Ahh... A Day Off....

It's in the low 70s, the windows are open, the plants have been watered, there's a slight breeze blowing through the house. Big Furry Dog is watching CNN... And I'm doing what I love to do best..

Sewing!! ta da!! That's part of Sushi Apron. It's a Raffle Prize/Auction Item for the benefit in my previous post. It's from a 1950s pattern. I love it. I'm gonna have hard time parting with it.
These have been a great way to use up old novelty print cotton that i've horded for years.

See the other one? It's pink poodles! I bought a retarded amount of that material about five years ago. Made myself a tote bag and a skirt, used both exactly once and came to my senses. I sold the tote and skirt to Buffalo as quick as i could and I buried the rest of the material in my drawers. But it makes a great apron.

The leopard print thing over it is a wiggle dress. I'm going to actually model that one today. Best boy is being recruited to photograph for me and I'm going to try modeling some of my creations. I've sold two items in the past week and I'm thinking that the dress maker's dummy helps but a person in them would help more. So, I'll shave and put on some make-up and set my hair.. You know not look like a train wreck..

And since I sold two pieces:



It's called "Make Do and Mend" it's from the war years. It's got oodles of great photos and PATTERNS in it! Woot!
And this....


Heck yes! I've wanted to learn to sew naughty bits for a while now. I've played around with a few patterns over the years and I've gotten good at making some costume related pieces but nothing that you could wear every day really. So I found this!

Ooh oh oh... Random SHOE DROOL...


I did NOT buy these as I have no money in the show fund and I'm not sure that I like the actual heel. It seems too narrow for me. But aren't they cute?!

People Who Pick Up the Reins Rock

The weekend after his club's annual car show, one of my close friends was roofing a house. When he went to go down the ladder to get more supplies, the ladder slipped and he went business end over tea kettle down 15 feet. He told me he rolled over just in time to see the ladder coming at him. It promptly knocked him unconscious.

When he woke up he had one broken wrist, one badly sprained wrist, two black eyes, a bloody nose and a cracked rib. And one hell of a headache.

Like too many people in Deco Dirty City, my friend was with out good health insurance. While he did eventually get Medicaid, and that will pay for some of the bills, he was still out of work for three months while his arm was in a cast and he healed up.

Rumors of a benefit show circled a few times, and at one point it sounded like one might happen. At the last minute that car show fell apart, rumors are ramped but real reasons are still unclear.
Two of our other friends stepped up and organized the event that you see advertised above.

I'm not sure what I'll donate to the raffle yet. But it will be something. It makes me really happy to see people pick up the reins when shit happens to their friends and help those people out. It's almost enough to restore my faith in humanity.

If you read this and you're in the Deco Dirt City area, go drop $5.00 in the bin at the door, check out some cute neo-pin-up girls and listen to some music for the night and know that your helping out some one who needs it.

Behold the Power of .....Shoes...

I know. More frivolous blogging about shoes. But really, what do you want from me? My daily exploits are hardly blog worthy, so I have to compensate some how.... And what better way then yammering at you with my various finds.

Anyway... On to the shoes. I've noticed (in the little that i pay attention to high fashion) that there's a distinct 30s feel to shoes right now. Fashion in general seems to be taking a nod at the 20s/30s right now and the 80s/70s... Which might sound odd, and I guess it kinda is. But if you look at the 80s there was kinda a nod in that direction the first time any way. I've got some killer textbooks on fashion and fabric from the 80s. Don't make me scan them to prove my point. Although the 80s did have a distinctly 40s and 50s feel to certain parts of them.... In a scary way that was only possible in 80s.
Sorry, I digress.

Anyway.. I love the 30s fashions. I don't look good a lot of them. Too hippy and busty, and a little too short to really carry them off. But, I love 'em and I love the shoes.
So tonight when I saw these on my favorite cheap shoe site. I got excited!!


Don't look at me like that! Now... See.. Sans the goofy buckle across the toe and with slight difference in the platform, these look kinda like they are from the 30s/40s... Kinda. They are remixed to be sure. But they still look freakishly like some of the shoes in the pattern illustrations I've got from the late 30s.

Plenty of people don't know this, but the platform wedge first became popular in the 30s and then into the 40s and let me tell you right now, not all of those bad boys were the nice little low shoes that we think of;


Like this babies. Which are in fact vintage. Aren't they pretty?

See I went looking for Couture 30s shoes to find pictures and the name of the ultra famous shoe designer from that time. But I couldn't find anything right away and then I got distracted with these:


Eep! I've seen 'em in person. BHC has a really cute shop that's got 'em paired up with an adorable little black and white dress.


These, which i haven't seen in person, and the link to them was busted! DRAT! Any idea who makes them? They are great knock offs of some 40s style ones.

And these:


Again. I have yet to lay eyes on them in person. But I kinda want them. In yellow even. Although, to quote a customer from years ago "Yellow is such a commitment"... Sing it sister.


All of this sadly got me hugely distracted from my initial task at hand. Finding some 30s couture platforms to match those up with. And then deciding if I can A) remove that goofy ass belt with out totaling the shoe. B) make myself a 30s dress and find some place to wear it.

Best boy took me out for Sushi! It was a date! Squeal!! I shaved, got dressed and put on my big girl shoes. We hadn't been on a date in ages. Shit we've eaten out twice in the last two weeks. At the most. Lots of home cookin' round these parts.

Which has been cool, we've tried new recipes and I'm very happy with my little regime of baked ziti and a glass of ice tea after work. But Sushi and a date with my boy?! Come on! How could I say no?

So now I'm fat and happy on Sushi and staring at...what else? Shoes.... Well, and vintage patterns, and since we saw a really neat apartment complex with sculpture garden in it in a neighborhood we liked, that too..

And what did I find?


Well, over all I've found that the only real draw back to working from home is that I can't justify shoes any more. At least not the way I once could..... That being said:



They come in black too.. I don't know what it is about them really, but I like them. I probably buy them in black, but the detail was lost in the photo of the black ones. And they are under $30.. That's cool, right?

What? I want to be a candy striper when I grow up. At least now I know where to get the dress.

Oooh, and wait I can be a Geisha, a Sheik or a Witch for Halloween.


It was just too odd an assortment of pattern ideas in one envelope to not at least make a note of it. Can't you see the folks at butterick sitting around in the late 50s, wondering how many ways they could make a robe work? Heh....

What can i say I was feeling whimsical tonight. It must be the sushi... ; )

I'm Feeling Lazy....

So I'm not sewing tonight. Even though I probably should be. I've gotten down to the pile of "needs a zipper" and "needs a hem".... I don't feel like pinning hems right now. It's boring work.

Instead I'm cruising around on the Internet looking at various places to live in Little Hipster Town. Now, it's been, oh, I don't know, just over seven years since I left LHT. It's cute, it's quaint, it's got loads of boys and girls waiting tables and waiting for their next big break as Rock Royalty to show up. And some of the people in my life that I love very dearly I met in LHT. A few of them still live near it. Most have moved on to other parts of the world.

So... anyway.. looking at places to live around there and trying to figure out how my old shit hole apartments are renting for now... And I found this.

I was in 103C. When I lived there a well known band lived below me and next to me and some creepy pervert lived in one unit downstairs. We never really saw him more then twice, but he had a camera trained on the front entrance, which we knew because we could see the glow the red lens in the window at night. I had some good times in that apartment, and a lot of house mates. In nine months I had no fewer then four different people living there. Many of them at the same time. Logic being, the couch sleeps two (it was huge) and there are two bedrooms.
Eventually the already crumbling building's plumbing info structure went the way of the dodo and we had to move on. I moved to a double wide in Small Hick Town for a little while and the rest of the folks scattered.

I always wondered what happened to the place, because the landlord told me it would be condemned when we moved out. And here it is, for $199,000.00. OUCH! 820 square feet for that? Eef..

I found these. When I lived in them, they had wood paneled walls and shag carpeting. Oh, and glitter tile on the ceilings. Ick. Oh and Roach population that was so bad they toted off your food if you weren't watching. Charming, I know.


I should really hem something or do something productive. This is after all, one of two nights I have free.

Back from Deco Dirt City

Registration on Car Renewed: CHECK
New Driver's License Obtained: CHECK
Meet with Best Realtor Ever to talk about Chicano Greaser and his girl buying La Casita; CHECK
Restrain self from look at La Margarita because I really wanted to? Sadly, CHECK.

Spend way way too much to get exhaust in car fixed so it passes emissions: Regrettably, CHECK.

Absorb lots of cool desert air which makes me loathe the three digit heat and accompanying three digit power bill: CHECK.

Register for class at Deco Dirt College: CHECK

All in all, it was a good trip. We didn't get to spend enough time with friends, but that couldn't be helped. We did get to see most everyone for a couple of minutes. Except Bettie's Cousin and her boyfriend. I'm sorry doll, I'll track you down.


I've come to the conclusion that there is too much nothing between BHC and DDC. 13hrs worth of nothing to be exact.

And I'm ready to live in a place with seasons again. We don't have those in BHC, just varying shades of hot. Ick...

Oh, and I want this, because I saw it on my friend and she looked so good with it she made me covet one of my own:



It's like the perfect mix of Retro/Rockabilly and Modern and it's Black, so of course it's perfect. Duh.

And this:

Because it matches perfectly, doesn't it? Of course I would have to live someplace COLD to make it worth owning this.


And this one. It goes with the black purse at least.

Will I be purchasing any of these? No.. I won't.. The repairs to the car have cashed out the "sweater, purse, shoe" fund. C'est la vie. I'll sit and drool.

Shoe Drool

Because I haven't in a while....

I think someone needs these.. I think I even know who.

Mmmm..Shoes.....

Available at Newport-News for less then $40.00. What a deal.

Right Church, Wrong Pew.....

Or is it?

In anticipation of our up coming visit to Deco Dirt City, I was looking around the MLS to see what the market is doing in my neighborhood. Not that I want to sell La Casita. I have friends looking right now, and I was more or less looking for things in my neighborhood that they might like.

Then I started looking for things that Best Boy and I would like. We know we can't afford to buy in Big Hipster City. The property taxes alone would require additional house hold members to make them and any property that's not in a flood zone is far beyond our reach in terms of price. Big Hipster City is home to 800 square foot shaks that go for $275K because you can see the right building from them. It's sad, really, it is. And aggravating to say the least.

And today, I found this:

Excuse the photo quality.
This is a 5 bedrooms, a two car work shop, a court yard and a guest house with courtyard, with a half acre behind it. It's located in a small town about 20 miles from Deco Dirt City, in the Rio Grande River Valley. And it's about a mile from the local light rail system that will run to Deco Dirt City and on to Artist's Heaven in 2009.

Here is the court yard

And here is more courtyard.




There are 15 pictures on the listing. I won't post them all. But it is everything that we wanted in a house. The size is more then we could have ever dreamed of. It is adobe, old thick walls, with stone and brick flooring in it. Vigas in the living rooms and kitchens and at least one fire place. Plus the all important Hacienda style court yard. The two car garage/work shop with 220 outlet already in place. (For the welder)

It is old, probably from the 1940s at least. Judging from the interior pictures it's probably only had a couple of owners, and has an elderly owner now. Or did.

It looks so nice and inviting. Best Boy asked me to stop showing him pictures because it was too perfect.

Except that it was in Deco Dirt City... Or close to it.


Why is this a bad thing you ask? DimeADance, you own La Castia. What would be wrong with own La Margarita? Nothing. Nothing at all. At least not right now. Not from this angle. Heck I'd call Chicano Greaser tomorrow and tell him to lay hard wood in La Casita and repaint the walls to a neutral color if I thought we could get all of it into La Margarita that quickly.

But that's me. And Deco Dirt City is farther from Former Home then Big Hipster City, and it is worlds apart. To me, this does not matter. I have little love for BHC, and less love for FH. To Best Boy it does matter and it matters greatly.

Who knows though, we are going to DDC in the next week, we have already planned to talk to Best Realtor Ever to see what the new laws that passing right now will do to borrowers and lenders. We have not ruled out the possibility of a drive by.

That balcony? It's bedroom number three, I could have sewing studio with a private entrance. Ooh... The thoughts... I could sit in studio and work and look out at the river at night...

And what does La Margarita cost? Because I know you want to know... $150,000.00. that's it.
Property taxes are less then $2K annually.

Divided by two, that's $75K each. If we got Chicano Greaser and Girl in on it. That's less then $35K each. With five bedrooms in the main house and a two bedroom guest house.. Why the heck not..

Sigh... I can dream...can't I?

I've been busy..

My sewing machine wants me to go on vacation already, and bring it back and tune-up.
I want to go on vacation already and sit on the front porch of my house in Deco Dirt City and drink a Margarita and smell the Lavender in my front yard and talk to Chicano Greaser's Girlfriend and watch the world go by.
Soon... Very soon...

In the mean time, I found the most fabulous thing on Craigslist and it was still available and the girls was amazing and now it's mine. And the duct tape version is in the trash..

Now to build a backdrop fitting of my new acquisition.

Behold... What my little fingers has wrought...



Leopard silky goodness in wiggle dress form. Mmm.. Wiggle dress...
Not for me.. For sale..

One medium to large sized tropical halter dress. From a 1940s pattern in a linen print. I can't help it... Every time I see this material, I think about Maria Von Trapp and the kids outfits that she made from the curtains in her room. Maybe I'll call it "the Von Trapp Family Special"... Or Something.. Ooh, I could do a whole Sound of Music collection. I'll make the first dress the Baroness... And I'll need some really dowdy thing for Maria's dress.. Remember how even the poor didn't want that one? Okay, I digress.


I made this for me. However it wouldn't fit a small 9th grader. I had to close the dress form all the way down and get a running start to get this one closed. It's a petal busted dress... see...
Petals Down:


I know... Needs boobs...


Petals up... Again.. Needs boobs...

On a non-sewing related note. It's been one year since I made that fateful drama filled drive to come see Best Boy.... Here he is with Big Furry Dog...

Aren't they cute?

And here's his toy... I wish he hadn't bobbed the back fender. Now I can't ride with him any more.

More when I get back from Deco Dirt City....

Everything is Gonna Be Alright

It's been a stressful couple of months here in Big Hipster City.

Not all of the stress has been centralized to Big Hipster City, but some of it certainly has. Sadly the grim spector tends to be haunting these days and his grasp is effecting many... Some of them close and some not so close, but still cared for.

In addition to that, as if it weren't enough, are the daily pressures of life, including Best Boy's adventures and my own. It's enough to make us both ready for an excursion to Deco Dirt City, which will happen soon.

Tonight, though, we decided to put down the stresses of the world and simply enjoy being together. It rained tonight, hard and for most of the afternoon.. The weather was so ominous at one point that I decided against a run the grocery store, as it looked like the gates of hades were opening above downtown BHC. Eventually we did go... And when we got back and started making dinner this is what I saw out the back window..


Left side of the power lines

Over the power lines
Right side of the power lines.

I look my spinach dip and stood on the back porch snapping pictures and watching it glow and fade away and then glow again, so brightly that faint double rainbow appeared. As I watched it, I felt really calm... And I knew things would be alright.. Not right this second, but soon. In my head I could hear that little song... "everything is gonna be alright..."... ooh, how i hope so... and soon...


Dinner....

Almond Crusted Talapia on Saffron Rice with a fruit salsa (cantalope, mango, strawberry, jalapeno, and sugar). Best boy made everything but the rice from scratch. I made the rice from a bag. It was delicious! All of it! Best boy rocks!!

Random garden pictures:


Tomato plant with compost bin in the background.

Peppers, Heirloom Tomato, Basil
Sickly Basil, nursed back to health and sickly cilantro, being nursed back to health.

Look Mom! Thar be cats off the port bow!!