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... ; )