Blushing Blouse - Finis!

My dressed up and more romantic take on the same peasant blouse pattern I used for the vintage gingham - peasant top is finally finished. I blogged about this blouse back in May and never thought it would take me this long to complete. I live a full life - what can I say? Ha ha! I do love that one pattern produced two lovely tops with completely different looks. Now that's value! Adding to that value, the two fabrics I used were dirt cheap. The green and white jumbo gingham check was thrifted and the beautiful blush crepe was red-tagged at Joanne's - a steal. Will I be packing this little gem for my September Las Vegas trip - you betcha!

How are you stretching your fashion budget during this recession/ near depression?

Windsong and White Shoulders

Today's momentary passion is a memory - a memory my nose remembers best. Windsong perfume, by Prince Matchebelli and White Shoulders, by Evyan of New York city, are two signature fragrances worn by my late mother, Caroline. When a girl of 19 loses her mother she has but her memories to carry her a lifetime. It's amazing how the mind, body and senses work together to ensure we do not forget those who go before us. I had not thought about these fragrances in a long time but something in this hot summer day clicked and there I was digging around the WWW doing a little research. When I happened upon an image of the very regal "crown" bottle of Windsong there was surprise and instant recall of this bottle on a dresser top from my childhood. It might even be my grandmother's dresser top. Of course most folks my age remember that ...Windsong stays on your mind. Commercial from the early 70's drilled that into us. :-)

The fact is although I have memories of both fragrances, White Shoulders is what I think of most when I think of mom in the summertime. Never overpowering, lightly floral with a fresh bathed crispness and a bit of sexy base notes. LOL! Readers should be warned I haven't a clue how to describe fragrances - it's hard enough to try to keep up with my wine snob friends and their descriptions. Others in bloggy-land are more experienced in the history of fragrances and I will hook you up here to a fabulous post by Amelia about this truly American perfume over at The Vintage Perfume Vault.

Created in 1940 this perfume is considered to be one of the most desired and successful of all American perfumes. It was war time and Americans wanted to spend their money on things made here at home. Hmmm - something sounds familiar.

I'm simply going to have to smell some White Shoulders fragrance today - somewhere. I will search out a Sephora if I have to; it's hard to explain, but I may even need to buy some White Shoulders today. If you think about how fashions come back in style it is not a stretch to imagine that the accompanying fragrances regain popularity as well especially when they remind of of better times.

P.S. The formatting of this post has been a battle today - for no apparent reason. Ug!

Evil Eye on the 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all my bloggy friends! This is a big day here in the U.S.A. and one we love to celebrate outdoors with family or friends. Soon we will head over to a nearby friends yard for some BBQ ribs . I can smell them from here! Actually the day has been very low key but it's hard to party hearty on a Monday - tomorrow work beckons. Plus - it's so hot outside this weekend. Whew!

Yesterday Hubby, Lo and I ventured to the Alameda Point Antique Faire where I made a fun necklace purchase. There were rows and rows of fabulous things at this once-a-month affair; but even there by the water, with a clear view of San Francisco, the heat got us and we didn't stay long.

Almost at once my attention was caught by a stall with a great gob of jewelry - stones of every color catching the morning sun - run by an old mother in a pink straw hat and her adult son. Nothing was tagged with a price and so each thing that interested you was put before the Mama and she inspected it and offered you her price. The second necklace I put forth for "pricing" was this cute $15 glass bead fish necklace that just screamed summer to me. I was a bit hesitant when she surprised me by sliding in her little, "It's a Turkish evil eye necklace", comment. I swallowed hard. I mean who needs to invite trouble, right? Thankfully she jumped right back with, "It wards off evil from the wearer - keeps it at bay". I said, "Oh, great - of course. I'll take it for $13"! Sold.

So don't mess with me - I have Mama's Evil Eye necklace on this Independence Day. Ha!

Everything Is Coming Up Roses

Here are some pictures of my roses as they emerged from slumber this Spring. I meant to post them sooner but life got in the way. :-)

I shot them in morning light with just my handy iPhone 4 camera but apparently their beauty won't be denied. These roses came with the house a couple of years back when we moved in so I don't know their exact names. I also have a yellow rose that is very fragrant but was not performing on this particular morning.

I L O V E roses!

Mid-Century fashion love

I have been smitten by fashion since I can ever remember. My mother was a beautiful woman with fabulous taste in clothes. As a youngster there were always Glamour magazines around the house and when it came late summer my mother always bought Seventeen - the college issue as well as Glamour, Mademoiselle (is that even around any longer?) and of course the biggie - Vogue Fall issue. In fact checking I find Mademoiselle left us in 2001. Truth is all the women in my family knew how to put a terrific outfit together including my aunt and grandmother. They were not wealthy people but they had great taste and knew when to add the pearls, a rhinestone broach, a patent leather belt or a smart alligator bag. I have amazing memories of these days - particularly the 60's and early 70's.

My grandmother made a lot of square dance dresses - mostly before I was born - but they were still in use and filled the extra closet when I was little. I loved the colors and texture of the petticoats and the braids and rickrack trimming. I took sewing as part of Home Ec. in Junior High School and also took it as a summer class. Back in April I blogged about being inspired to sew again and I've been taking an informal class on Tuesday nights which I love.

Well I just discovered Recollection, by Irish designer Sandra Murphy through a fabulous interview on Collete Patterns written by Kirsten. Recollection is described in one phrase as: New Clothes With Old Soul. I love that! Sandra even creates all of her own prints so you won't see them elsewhere and she is making all of these garments in the U.S. which I do love. She is also feeds that trend committed to fewer, quality garments, over a closet full of masses of "cheap disposable clothes". I wish her great success. Take a moment to check out her web site where she is featuring her Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. You can click on Looks to see individual shots but don't miss the video showing of the same line - really creative. I think you will agree that these are lovely designs and quite wearable. It makes me want a job in the big city (San Francisco) again as I had in my late 20's and early 30's. Of course I'd like to be in my late 20's and early 30's again, too! I might look a little more like the stunning model Valareia Eva. I have to tell you - her hair is the greatest isn't it...I can do that. Ha ha!

Life happens!

Happy Monday,

I will return to create future posts, but for a short while life has been very busy. Please stay tuned - old friends visited from Oklahoma, my youngest graduated from college (handsome guy at left) and there was a big party to plan and execute in celebration of this. Of course there was a couple weeks of household and yard projects to prepare for the grand event. Whew!

Also - I am pleased to report that summer weather is finally here in Northern California - so there is that! Peace.

A good night's sleep

It's been told to me that you spend a third of your life in bed. Maybe I heard that on a mattress commercial rather than from some scientific study but it's right there in the front of my head - a third of your life in bed. Well if I do - its wasted time because I don't have a great track record for sleeping. Sincerely some of our greatest family stories have an element of - remember when Mom hadn't slept in days...? Anyway, our 12 year old Simmons Beautyrest pillow-top mattress had pooped out. Hubby and I agreed it was time to stop sleeping in two valleys separated by a rise that divided us in our old California King bed.
But mattress shopping is the worst thing. It's an impossible decision and an expensive purchase. We've had good success with some major purchases through QVC especially because they have that 30 day unconditional money-back satisfaction guarantee. This gave us the confidence to order the Sleep Number bed when it came on as a special value of the day. Boom! We ordered the Cal King. How easy was that? We quickly ran to the mall to try them out in the store but they never have the exact model you purchased since they make exclusive versions for different deals. No apples to apples for us - nice. Well in the 10 mins. we spent in the store it seemed like they were comfortable, customizable and that we got the best price from QVC. We waited.

The day our new Sleep Number system arrived hubby put our mattress and box springs on Craigslist for free, with photos showing - no stains. To know hubby is to know he's a bit against the prospect of anything else landing in his garage for storage - space being at a premium and all. If we don't need it - get rid of it! As soon as he hit enter the phone started ringing. We had to remove the add within 20 mins. The family drove about 80 miles to get the set and was very happy - as were we. Now to assemble this "sleep system". I can't say it was easy - kind of a pain really. There were a few hair raising moments when a hammer had to be employed (not recommended by the instruction guide btw). Hubby likes the hammer. :-) We started sleeping on the new bed that night and for 3 weeks we tried to find our personal sleep numbers. Hubby did better than I did. The two sides operate independently and if you like a soft bed the appearance of the bed when you are not in it is sloppy and low profile. It just kept feeling like a bad hotel bed to me. It had to go back - but what next?

A friend told me about a place in Berkeley, CA called European Sleep Works. I'm thinking - that can't be cheap! I called QVC to ensure I was within the 30 days to return our bed and apologized repeatedly to the customer service agent saying, "We really wanted this to work...never thought we'd have to return it..." I will tell you they are really terrific. don't hesitate to buy something from QVC - they stand behind their guarantee. Love those guys! Hubby and I spent about 90 mins at European Sleep Works last Saturday and knew immediately that this was where we'd find our bed. First of all if you know me at all you know I was already freaked out about a new bed because of the chemicals & gasses a new bed emits - all that fire retardant crap. People do get sick when they get new carpet or new mattresses. Not sure how the government is helping us there?? The mattresses at this place were made in Southern CA using parts imported from Europe. They get around the fire retardant regulation by using wool - a natural fire retardant and a very cooling material in the top layer. So we're talking coils designed and manufactured in Germany, organic wool, organic cotton, natural foam rubber, wood - no evil components made in a laboratory. Yes! If interested I've linked to their site - it would take too long to cover it all here. We were sold. Boom! That was easy.
Do you wonder what we are presently sleeping on? The UPS guy picked up the 5 boxes containing the Sleep Number system yesterday and the European Sleep Works bed is scheduled to arrive on June 7. Yeah, that was a bummer, but hey, they are making our order - kind of like In-n Out Burger. Good things are worth the wait. :-)

See photo for our temporary bedding - Queen size Aerobed carefully placed on the horizontal bed frame slats inside our Cal. King 4 poster frame. Hubby and I get in together - no false move, I'm telling you, or you could get bounced right out. Ha!