Insomniac's Attic Easter Nests

Inspired by Insomniac's Attic post about her mother's 1960 recipe for Easter nests, I decided to make some for my Easter baskets.

 Instead of jelly beans, I used Mini Eggs, but used exactly 2 of each as she did.

A too-busy photo of the finished baskets. As the nests had to travel, I wrapped them in plastic.

New Fabric - Again

New Fabric - Again - Sorry Mindless!

On the left is fabric from Michael Levine. It was ALWAYS by favourite fabric store when I lived in LA. Sometimes I have nightmares that I'm on Maple St, and they're closing in 5 minutes and I just can't get to the front door in time. From them I bought skeleton toile, osteology in black and some dia di los muertos fabric.

On the right is some Ghastlies fabric, Michael Miller Nevermore in black and some super silly pink elephant fabric. It reminds me of the Pink Elephant Car Wash in Seattle.

On the left is flocked wool from fabric.com. The picture was awful on their site, I could not tell what those ladies looked like. But thankfully they are all vintage-y and sweet! On the right is assorted fabric from Jo-Anns, some Halloween, some for 1940's blouses. The beige & black lace is from MOOD, by boss brought it back from NY for me!

 On the left are some just some black & grays I bought for trimming & accents. The one with the spider on it is beautiful & I wish I would have bought more! Max is helping me with fabrics in the middle photo. On the right are some Tula Pink fabrics, and although they are not really in my color scheme, I still like them. The one on the bottom is called "Sea Of Tears".

Osteology Dress & Cyborg Cat

Above is my new dress, made with Alexander Henry Osteology fabric. The dress is a mix of patterns - Simplicity 1699 for the skirt, Simplicity 1651 for the bodice and McCalls 6278 for the modified sleeves. Simplicity 1651 is a new pattern and while it looked smooth and nice, it was not so. The shoulder seams were so out of whack! They might fit if my shoulders were 3 inches higher and sloped upwards towards my ears! The front sweetheart neckline was also way too wide, thank goodness I cut the bodice in lining first! You can't see, but there are self covered buttons with skulls on the sleeves.

 Max went to the vet to get his last round of boosters today. When I adopted his 2 years ago he weighed 10 pounds and he now weighs 12.5! When I was waiting for his I inquired about getting him micro chipped.after I heard some scary stats about missing kitties on tv. To my surprise it was only $40!

When I got home my boyfriend insisted on talking to him like a robot, now that he's a cyborg. Then he "forced" me to sing the theme song from Small Wonder to Max, which for some reason I know all the lyrics to...

Monthly Homework Assignment: Spring!

 Well, you would never know it's Spring here in the Pacific Northwest. It hailed, rained and stormed all day. My poor kitty went in and out so many times he was practically a blur in the doorway!
When I was a kid, my mum and I attended a huge family Easter party. Regardless of my age, I was always in charge of hiding the candy all over the backyard. I think this was because I was the least likely to indulge! To me Spring and Easter mean chocolate - and lots of it! In my family I am in charge of filling Easter baskets for everyone.

My stash so far:

CorpGoth Status Report - March Forward!

 I am fortunate enough to wear whatever shoes I want to work. My boss is a shoe fanatic who is constantly ordering from Nordstrom, and being an office job I can wear heels without killing myself standing on them all day. These are some of my non-boot related shoes that I wear to work.I have a penchant for flats or Victorian/Flapper-ish oxfords.

Outfit Post - Stretch Black Satin Dress With Mourning Pin

I bought this dress a year ago to wear to D-Day Ohio, and then promptly forgot about it! When all your clothes are double or triple hung, sometimes you lose something for a while... Yesterday I found it again! I'm wearing it with my new Victorian-era mourning pin. I've bid on a few in the past but they all went too pricey for me. Finally I got one! I know it's from a child's funeral, but how would they wear it? I picture it on a black armband. As much as I want to wear it that way, I don't think it'd be appropriate for work!

 LOVE IT!

Re-Upholstered Skull Print Sewing Chair

I've been looking for a new chair for my sewing room for a while now. I already had this fabric and knew how I wanted to use it. I finally came across this chair in a church based thrift store. I was looking it over and explaining to my boyfriend what I wanted to do with it "I want to centre the skull here" etc... when one of the women working there (who had been following me around the store) came over and tried to take the chair from me - saying it was not for sale. I asked her why and she could not come up with an answer. But what she didn't see is that my boyfriend had taken the tag to the register, paid for it and them came back and took the chair out of her grip. When she started o protest, the manager came over and asked her what was wrong with her and she needed to get in the back. It was all SO stupid!
Anyway,  I LOVE how it came out & it is the right height for my sewing table. I also made matching curtains as well.

Charles Williams Store Catalog Fall/Winter 1925

Up next in my catalog scans is the Charles Williams Store Catalog Fall/Winter for 1925. I bought this catalog on Ebay about 10 years ago.

 

 I love the addition of fur at the hem of some of the coats.

 

Love that bottomblack and red dress on the right.

 

 

RIP Stompin' Tom Conners

 Stompin' Tom Conner died tonight. at age 77. I was fortunate enough to see him in concert 2 years ago, which my mum and I agreed was one of the best shows we've ever seen. And we've seen 1000 shows or more. He was so pro-Canadian in such an honest, sweet way - and he had a song for everything! One of the highlights of the Vancouver show was his song about the Second Narrows Bridge Collapse - "The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down". But my favourite as to be "Sudbury Saturday Night" from 1973 at the Horseshoe Tavern. I have a bootleg of the entire show. When I first saw it on tv as a child I was riveted and searched for it for years.
 And as a hockey fan, the game would not be the same without his "Hockey Song". They even played it at a Fresno hockey game I went to last year, people around me were staring as I sang ever word as loud as I could. I will miss you Stompin' Tom!

Sophistique Noir Monthy Theme - Purple

To my amazement, when I looked through my closet today, I have NO purple clothing! I have three packed closets and no purple. And, after looking at all the lovely posts today, I definitely need to remedy this situation! Such beautiful shades of purple! Smokey gray,  eggplant, almost black purples...

The only purple I could find were socks - 10 pairs of them! Also pictures are my new marie melli undies. I have just discovered this brand, they fit so smooth!