Visible in a jean dress

Being visible with Patti, et al. at Notdeadyetstyle.  This Attention thrifted jean dress was a good purchase for Casual Friday.  I call my hairstyle Updo with Mullet (yes, it is the lastest trend).  The lanyard was also thrifted, the multi-colored beads stood out against the dark blue material.  

I am right on target with my quilting projects, having finished this Christmas lap quilt with angel tie for our work group's gift basket that will be raffled off next month. 

Believe it or not, this 4'x4' simple quilt took me at least 10 hours to complete.  

Thrifting produced a bag of thread for $4 and some Christmas fabric remnants (one being the newly created angel tie).  

Pattern of the Day from 1968 features a version of the coat dress.  

Pre-Hallow's Eve thrifting and baby doll mugshots

Trying to find vintage clothing just prior to Halloween is a tough go.  All of the unique stock has been pulled and priced up for the costume crowd. 

Post Halloween is a delight because everything is half off (or more) and that is when I look for wigs and accessories. 

It has been awhile since I have highlighted a few of the inmates on shopgoodwill.com.  These baby doll mugshots intrigue me - faces from the past that have been loved, discarded and now recycled via the internet. 

 

 

I have started queuing up my Countdown to Christmas, celebrating kitsch posts - that holiday will be here before we know it!

 

Blogga what?

Just stumbled onto this blurb about me - what a delight! 

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-sacramento-fashion-blogs/


Blogging is a weird forum.  I liken it to hollering into a tunnel and getting no response.  

I am not the kind of blogger that receives many comments (Admittedly, I forget to read those few that do take time to comment).  On the flip side, I have no haters.  I know some that have been going along with their blogs and their interests and whammo, a hater appears with ugly comments and all. 

If you tell people you write a blog, you sometimes get this facial expression ...


Some don't even know what a blog is.  This Flo commercial encapsulates what seems to be the perception of fashion bloggers.



Anyhoo, I love what I do - this blogga what? 

Thrift shop finds and a Christmas quilt

October has been a challenging month. The mom has been in and out of the hospital.  Selfies and such are scarce for me right now.  I have always been one to believe my readers would rather have quality rather than quantity.  My goal is to always convey a spirit of fun (at least as much as possible).   

This fine piece of colorful brightness was offered at Goodwill.

The choir of angels began to sing when I realized that someone my size had recently donated to the hospice thrift.

In addition to the Jackson china serving plate (cool star pattern), my clothes finds included a 1970s maxi with gathered waistband, a Carole Little floral print sun dress and a NWT Attention shirtdress.

I have read somewhere that thrifters are always on the search for something missing from their past.  If that is true, then my 10+ year search for this Princess House lamp is complete.  To be honest, I have one of these lamps at a relative's house but not one at mine. The $7.50 price tag meant this little lamp has now joined my collection.  

Current quilt project is a Christmas lap quilt for a gift basket that will be raffled off.  As a state employee, we have to fund our own Christmas parties, so the baskets offset the cost of the lunch.  This poinsettia print was a thrift shop find at year's end.  I added the gold sashing and borders.  The gold piece of material pinned to the front is to note where the top of the quilt is. 

I know how much I value handmade items.  I think a holiday themed lap quilt could be loved by someone.  Sewing calms me and keeps my mind off of worrying about my ailing aged mother.  

Pattern of the day is a 1969 McCall's.  

Finally, some sage advice from a 1949 Singer Sewing Manual.

I wander, wander who

My regular readers know I visit the North Coast of California quite often.  I believe one of the attractions is the wonder of the ocean.  It can be still or calm and other times it can churn with a violence and fury.  

Continuing on with write31days and the #CY365 photo prompt of "wander."  It feeds to soul to wander along an ocean shore.  I suggest it as therapy for anyone and everyone. 

Trying to compose posts in Blogger lately is like trying to find a match to a missing sock - nearly impossible!

Etsy update

Continuing on with 31days of writing and having begun my online business as a vintage reseller with Etsy, here is what I have learned. CY365 photo of the day is "One to One."  This here information is highly confidential - one to one.  *grins*

Your profile icon and your shop icon are two different things.  

MinkAndPearls

Microsoft Edge is the best performing browser with Etsy.  Google Chrome is a disaster with this site.  Pictures won't load and the message "working on it" appears.  

I created a calculated shipping profile so it would be pretty much a flat rate.  I plan on shipping the clothing in tyvek mailers.  

You can offer buyers discounts, which I figured was an option.

There are two apps for your iPhone, one to shop on Etsy and one to sell on Etsy.  A neat feature in the Etsy seller's app shows activities of Etsy sellers at local events.  

Touting the benefits of blog challenges, I found an Etsy seller makeryspace.com who has devoted her 31 Days challenge topic to Etsy seller Q&As.  This gal is a pro at that site, definitely worth a looksee. 

Listen to your elders

#CY365 prompt for the day is "listen."  Another odd prompt to capture as an image.  Of course, none of us plan on aging, it just happens to us.  I count myself lucky to be alive and well with each passing year. 

I have decided to highlight a few interesting sites.  The first is www.helpage.org which recently hosted the International Day of Older Persons on October 1st.  

Age discrimination and ageism are still tolerated across the world and urgent action is needed to stop it.

Older people experience discrimination and violation of their rights at family, community and institutional level. They remain invisible in existing human rights law which means their rights are not sufficiently protected.

Age is just a number reporting on whats-new-in-ageing-and-aged-care. 
 

The next site is seniorplanet.org - aging with attitude.  

  “It is as though the aged were an alien race to which the young will never belong. Indeed, there is a distinct discrimination against the old…. It is not just cruelty and indifference that underscore the obsolescence of the old. It is also the nature of modern western culture.” —Time magazine, August 1970.  

What was new for seniors 45 years ago?

• Ageism in the workplace. Forty percent of the unemployed were over 45, which was older then than it is now, life expectancy-wise. (We’ve seen some improvement: a little less than 38 percent of workers 45 and up were unemployed in the last quarter of 2012.)
• Senior poverty. One in four seniors lived at or below the poverty line. According to Time 45 years ago, “Most are bewildered and bitter nouveau pauvres, their savings and fixed incomes devoured by spiraling property taxes and other forms of inflation” — the ’70 version of market crash. (Fifteen percent of seniors lived below the poverty line in 2013.)
• Stereotyping. The idea that sickness is an inevitable part of aging, that older people are cognitively slower, that only young people are interested in sex  — Time challenged these 45 years ago. They still haunt us now.
• Single-generation housing. The “amazing phenomenon” of older Americans, treated like outsiders, clustering together in new towns that exclude those under 65: retirement communities with their shuffleboard, bowling and clubs. (Today, the Villages in Florida is the fastest growing town in the U.S.)

Repairing vintage patchwork

This poor piece of patchwork could or should have been thrown out.  In fact, I found it laying at the end of the parking lot at the hospice thrift shop.  The photo prompt for #CY365 is "reflect."  I believe this image fits that prompt reflecting on what we discard. 

Tore up with seams coming undone.  Quilter extraordinaire to the rescue!  

First, I laundered the item with the torn binding still attached.  I didn't want the patchwork strips to fray any worse than they had. I then removed the binding, backing and batting. I cut out the appliques to cover where seams had come undone.

I cut the sashes and borders and sewed them on *whirr*

Each applique piece covers where the original patchwork had frayed.  It was not a masterpiece to begin with but I have grown to love it.

Post update - I finished this small project at the end of November.  

In the meantime, quilter eye candy -

Mariner's Compass

Moving write along with the 31 days challenge.  

Pink Saturday

This Madame Alexander joined my collection as a $10 thrift shop find (retail tag attached lists at $95).  I have fallen in love with her no matter.  My photo prompt is "memorized" (what an odd prompt) and I will remember her - my little Madame.

Time for some pinks for Beverly's Pink Saturday at howsweetthesound.

A Wilton Cake

Magnolias from a 1968 book on Japanese flower arranging

 

1969 Simplicity Book of Sewing

Thrift shop finds produced a vintage hat (to be styled later), ten birthday cards, and this adorable Viola print shirt, all for $11.  Thankfully, cuter garments come through thrift than what I remember as a kid.  It satisfies my desire to wear something new-to-me.  

 What pinks do you have in your life?

Doing the Delta and celebrating Plaidurday

Continuing with the month long write31days challenge and a photography prompt of "local surroundings," here are some images of the Sacramento Delta. 

These are the Cross Channel Gates, completed in 1951.  When open, they allow fresh water from the Sacramento River to combat salt water intrusion in the Delta, to dilute local pollution and to improve the quality of irrigation supplies in the Central Valley.  When the gates are closed, it is to prevent endangered fish species from being drawn into the interior Delta. The radial gates weigh a total of 243 tons. They were meant to only open and close twice a year, now, a more frequent schedule is being considered. 

Link to an in-depth explanation of the Delta from mavensnotebook.com
Understanding-californias-bay-delta-in-63-photos

Switching gears ... October 2nd on Facebook is celebrated as Plaidurday.

1972 Simplicity Pattern of the Day is a celebration of plaid!

Links to my previous plaid posts ~
Counting-down-being-visible
Posing-in-Pendleton

No crawdads were harmed

I am beginning the 31 Day challenge series this month over at write31days.com and combining it with a photograph prompt list from captureyour365.com.

Prompt one is "Where I Work" which is Sacramento, California. One of the missions where I work is to protect the Sacramento Delta. Since I know very little about this complex ecosystem, I went on an educational science-based tour.  One of our stops was Locke.

 

 

Locke is the largest, most complete example of a rural, agricultural Chinese American community in the U.S.  After a fire destroyed the Chinese community in Walnut Grove, several Chinese businessmen decided to start a new community one mile to the North.  

 

 

 

The Chinese community thrived and the town eventually grew to 15 acres.   

 

 

By 1920, Locke was a popular location for Prohibition-era speakeasies due to the lack of police presence and provided recreation for the agricultural workforce and Caucasians from nearly cities.  

While the town population averaged about 600 people, it could swell to 1,500 during the growing season and on weekends. 

 

After World War II, many of the second generation of Locke residents began to leave the town for cities, in search of better economic opportunities.  

 

 

In 1990, Locke was designated a National Historic Landmark and Sacramento County continues to preserve the many original buildings in the historic district.  

 

I never knew this historic little town existed.  Oh, and the crawdad shown at the beginning of this post - he was released back into the Delta.  

On Day 2 I will feature a few more images from the region.