Im really happy with the way this coat came out. This one is dedicated to my grandmother. Grossie. She was a milliner for Mr Blackwell. I don’t know which years she worked for him. I think in the fifties and sixties. She ended up with a lot of very fun trim from Blackwell. Then I ended up with a lot of very fun trim from Grossie.
I am finally starting to incorporate her trims into my coats. On this coat, the beautiful bright green fabric is hers along with some of the black braiding.
My grandmother use to make a lot of our clothing when we were kids. She dressed me in the more pastel colors and my sister in the richer darker colors. So funny. I always remember her long fingernails pinching my skin as she was fitting our clothing. It hurt like the dickens. Her response was always a “Well, if you stood still, I wouldn’t stick you with pins.” Funny, she never stuck us with pins, but those long nails….. man… they were something to be feared.
She taught me to knit and to do hand sewing. I think it was my mother that taught me to sew with a machine. We had an antique Adler that my father had bought her years ago. My Mom made the best Braidy Bunch outfits for us. Does any one remember poorboys? The early girlie version of wife beaters? And why these awful names for them? My Mom found us colorful striped poorboy tank tops and sewed coordinating a-line skirts. They had wide stripes in fushia, mustard, blue and orange. All the good colors of the day. Wish I had photos of my sister and I decked out. We must have looked fab.

DingleBerry of Death! Oh the horror..........

My cat is racing in and out of the cat door with a dingle berry attached to his ass. I cant catch him and he is going to have a heart attack if I don't get it off him.
I dont know why he is so terrified of them. The last time this happened I managed to corner him, get a kitty valium down his screaming gullet and waited twenty minutes. He calmed down enough and I was able to remove the offending piece of decorative fecal matter.
What a nut.
This time he is in hysterics and spinning around the courtyard like a crazed banshie. I can hear him whipping through the bushes out side my window.
I have no clue as to what is going on in his fuzzy little head. I suppose he thinks some thing is chasing him and trying to crawl up his ass. Its attached by a piece of grass or something. Its swinging back and forth slapping his ass cheeks like a set of nineteen seventies Klick-Klaks.
I wish he would take a lighter view of this. He could do yo-yo tricks with it and impress the other cats.
Oh well. I cant catch him. Its either going to fall of or he is going to die. I hope he catches it on a branch the next time he makes a pass through the bushes.
What a dope. I hope we all get some sleep tonight.

Retro Pillows.

I remember making pillows for a craft sale back in the seventies when I was teenager attending Area H Alternative school. I had made a batch of rainbow pillows. A popular theme in 1974. Here I am in 2009 using similar themes but better techniques and talents. The fun part is in the designing and applique. As you can see I have yet to actually finish them. All fun projects have to be set aside for coat production.
This batch was started three years ago with the best of intentions. My new years resolution is to get them finished up and on my couch where people can see them and cats can lay on them.
I love the whole retro sixties seventies look for home furnishings. Cost Plus is selling those thin capiz shell curtains in Like Totally Cool Turquoise. It all reeks of Akron. That wonderful store that was hipper than hip way back when.