birds

more prints that i like: found this wonderful wrap skirt from the 1940's/1950's at the elephant's trunk flea in connecticut for $5.

gladiator

just purchased at the annual summer sale of LF stores (i am probably about 30 years over their target audience's age). a very cool leather bib necklace with coins. i have yet to figure out how to wear this and not look like an extra from spartacus.

trim

i can't stop hoarding sewing notions: ribbons, thread, buttons, trim.... this particular example is a very heavy metal trim. i used some of it in a burlap-backed bracelet, no firm plans for the rest of it yet.

dead stock in rosendale

we had a great trip to the catskills a few weeks ago. aside from a bear encounter (no joke) the highlight was a visit to a thrift store in rosendale. the owner just purchased a large lot of dead stock items from the 1970's. she let me dig through a few (very dusty) boxes that hadn't seen daylight since 1973. most of the sizes were extra small so louise has a whole new wardrobe for fall.

wayne

a brand new wayne dress with sequins, bought at yard sale for $15! sadly, I am really bad at eyeballing sizes, so the dress now belongs to louise. it will be her las vegas holiday dress.

more yellow

the reflection of our plexi kitchen shelves against the hallway door, late on a summer afternoon. yellow makes me so happy.

floral

i have never been into florals, or even prints for that matter. but this 1940's shirt with its patriotic red-white-blue pattern is fantastic. now I started looking at flea markets for more small scale florals, even laura ashley is starting to look good again.

diy #4

a leather sample book was being thrown out at work, so I brought it home. inspired by allison's leather bangles, i came up with this variation. no sewing required: the "stuffing" is a thick nylon cord (from home depot) around which the leather is glued with a glue gun and tied with waxed jute string. i tried one variation with fluorescent nylon string (again from home depot, who knew they were such a great source for craft supplies), a little trickier as nylon is slippery, but a cool contrast with the leather.

rainbow

my colleague jen qian brought this home-made rainbow cake to work, the perfect way to brighten up a gloomy friday. can't wait to try this myself, just need to stock up on some food coloring. apparently the trick is to color each batch of dough separately and then very carefully spoon each separate color into the baking pan.