I know I owe you all a knit-along post! Bad leader! Unfortunately it's not going to happen this week. I leave tomorrow for New Mexico for my emergency weekend trip. I will be seeing my family and will hopefully get to see my grandmother for what will most likely be one last time. Things have declined pretty quickly with her health. Does knitting relax you in stressful situations? It can go either way for me. ... Read more »
Viva Las Vegas round-up
As of last night, we're officially home from our trip to Las Vegas. Home, sweet home!The trip was fun, but I must admit that both Mel and I wished we'd had a better time. We both had a lot of moments when we really felt VLV had gotten bigger than the space allotted for it. And I think we've learned that whether we like it or not, it's just not how we like to spend our vacation time. But my blog isn't for complaining ... Read more »
Red ready, amber set, green let’s go!
With the exception of a few last minute items and toiletries, our bags are packed. We are ready for vacation!On the top you can see clockwise from upper left: a vintage blouse, a Nudeedudee feedsack blouse, my pool set (swimsuit and matching teatimer cover up), my handmade castles skirt, and two grocery bags containing a couple of my pairs of shoes. My elephant sweater outfit did indeed get scrapped. In its place I'll be ... Read more »
Crafty countdown to VLV
I have been running around like a crazy person in preparation for Viva Las Vegas! But my projects seem to be under control. Remember when I said I wasn't going to do any other projects specifically for VLV except for my black sleeveless sweater? Neither do I.New jean snap attached to Freddie's jeans? Check! The snap fell off awhile back and I've just been using a belt to hold it closed but finally got around to fixing ... Read more »
Tutorial: Make vintage-inspired earrings
Yes, you may be thinking wait—she's leaving for Viva Las Vegas in the week. What the heck is she doing writing up a crafty tutorial?! Well the fact of the matter is that I actually made these earrings for my trip, so I took some photos along the way to share. I love vintage earrings as much as the next gal, but as we all know, most earlier earrings are screw back or clip on styles. Not really that comfortable if you ... Read more »
Birthday weekend round-up Part 2, Instagram style
Part two of my weekend round-up, this time in Instagram photos. There's no narration for these, you already got the main round-up so you can fill in the blanks. I just love the old feel this app gives photos (when it works right). It's so much fun to tinker with! I hope to have a mini tutorial on making vintage-inspired earrings up a bit later this week, stay tuned! ... Read more »
Birthday weekend round-up Part 1
After work on Friday, we picked up two of our close friends and hit the road, heading to southwestern Wisconsin to spend a couple of nights in Dodgeville. Saturday morning we headed "downtown" (since I live in Chicago, quotation marks are definitely needed when talking about the downtown of a town of 4,000) in search of coffee, tea and breakfast goodies. I wore my Freddie's overalls (they were my weekend staple), a ... Read more »
And the winner is…
The winner of two tickets to this weekend's Modern Vintage Chicago Spring Fashion and Jewels Show is the talented Chicago blogger Liz of zilredloh.com!I hope she doesn't mind, but I had to show you guys the vintage sweater Liz just knitted up.Image from zilredloh.comIsn't it fantastic? Not only that, but she used my knit-along post about sleeve caps to re-draft her sleeves. They look great! Don't you love the collar and ... Read more »
Finished project: sleeveless blouse for VLV
First and foremost, I want to thank you all so very much for your congratulations and kind comments on my last post. It's been overwhelmingly wonderful reading all your supportive comments. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!♥ ♥ ♥I recently bought a pair of 50s capris from Bombshell Shocked. They're plaid, they're tight, they're fantastic. They're not my usual style, but they fit great and screamed "I need to be part ... Read more »
It’s official
On June 1st this year, Illinois will join 5 other states and allow civil unions. Now I don't talk about politics on my blog and I don't intend to start now. However, this is particularly meaningful to this vintage blogger.Yep, that's my engagement ring. For those of you who like details, it's a sapphire with diamonds on the top half of the band. My mom, bless her heart, said it was the color of my eyes. (If only that was ... Read more »
Briar Rose Vintage KAL: A couple of tips
Hey knit-alongers! How are you doing? It's been really fun seeing progress photos in the Flickr group! I admit, my Briar Rose is woefully still behind! That's what I get for setting too many deadlines for myself before VLV. But I can just start to see the finish line with my current vintage knit (that I have to finish before we leave, or else I need to rethink two outfits, yikes), so that means I'll be getting back to ... Read more »
Modern Vintage Chicago giveaway and interview
Awhile after the vintage show we attended in late February (I demand to know how it's already April!) I was contacted by some of the brains behind Chicago's well-known Randolph Street Market and several other local vintage and antique shows. Their next show is the Modern Vintage Chicago Spring Fashion and Jewels Show on Saturday April 16th and Sunday April 17th.Today I'm pleased to share an interview and a giveaway ... Read more »
Post-haircut photos
I am busy breaking all my previously set rules about not sewing for Viva since I suddenly found myself in desperate need of a blouse to match something, so I'm just going to quickly post a few photos post-haircut. Sorry, they're pretty anticlimactic actually. The cut went pretty much just as I expected. It's so nice to have a hair stylist who I can have a conversation with about setting my hair. I don't feel like the ... Read more »
A-choppin’ my hair will go…
...okay, not really. It'll only be a few inches. And it's certainly not chopping itself. But in about an hour and a half I'll be getting my hair cut. I snapped some pre-cut photos last night before going out to dinner with friends. This was my hair after a Hot Sticks set (that of course only lasted through the evening, and barely at that) because since I made the appointment to cut my hair, I've been too lazy to bother ... Read more »
Little outfit details
I am nearly in panic mode about my wardrobe for Viva Las Vegas. This is in part due to the fact that we did an idiotic, massive spring cleaning last year of our home and everything in it, and that's left me (actually both of us) with some ludicrous holes in my wardrobe that I've been struggling to fill ever since. Case in point: I no longer own a brown purse. Seriously. No brown purse of any kind. I know it's time for me ... Read more »
Bombshell Shocked winner!
And the winner of the Bombshell Shocked giveaway is...Kally of Kalandra Jane Millinery and Musings in the UK!Everyone should check out her blog, too, she's a very talented gal. Can you believe this is not a vintage necklace but polymer clay sculpted fruit that she made herself? Wow!!Image from http://kalandrajane.blogspot.com/So Kally, please email me at tasha {at} bygumbygolly {dot} {com} and your vintage sewing and ... Read more »