Finally, Buttons in Frames

After ages and ages, I'm ready to show you my best antique buttons in their frames.



I'd bought some old vintage frames at a thrift store last year, and I'd even painted them a lovely antique silver way back in the spring, but I didn't get around to putting them all together until mid-June, didn't hang them on the wall until July, and hadn't taken photos until this week-end. For shame!



I've sewed them onto handmade paper, layered with poster board, though I may re-do them at a later date with crisp, white linen.



The three matching round frames hold the mother-of-pearl and shell buttons, mostly from the Victorian era.



The long, rectangular frame has the vegetable ivory buttons, most of which are probably from the 1930's and 1940's. Gorgeous!



They make me happy every time I walk past them in the hall.

I still have a box of old glass buttons, as well as some metal ones and copious amounts (an understatement) of plastic. More projects, for another time...

On the needles at the moment is the Vixen Shawl available through KnitPicks.



I'm working it in Zauberball Lace weight in the colourway called cranberries. It's extremely vivid, but should be good and bright for those dreary winter months that are ahead. I may have to add a repeat or two of the pattern, as the pattern calls for fingering weight, not lace weight, but we shall see...

Words and Time

The boys finally returned this afternoon, after further mechanical delays that sent them to Minneapolis for an added two hours. They arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon, rather than the 10:15 last night they were suppose to arrive. We're still waiting for the luggage to get here, its had even more adventure, though I doubt its going to be talking.

While I was in Victoria on holiday with Ian, my Mum gave me her Grandmother's gold watch. This beautiful timepiece hasn't worked for quite some time - we have to blame Mum for that, she has the ability to stop time when she wears a watch.



I took it in for repair when we came home and it's working fine and dandy now. The jeweler told me it's "a very special timepiece", and that it likes to be wound at the same time everyday.

It's inscribed on the back H.E.C. - my Great Grandmother's initials - Harriett Elizabeth Crawford. She and I and Mum are all Harrietts, and I often tell Elly that if she has a daughter she'll have to name her Harriett, to which she rolls her eyes. I wonder if the watch will be an incentive? Hmmm...



One piece of jewelry I have marked for Elly is this 1930's Monocraft Brooch.



I bought this back in 1984 when I worked at a local vintage clothing store (Lorraine's Cheap Chic, owned by Timothy Hebl - does anyone else remember?). The military look was popular at the time, so I bought this fabulous brooch and use to wear it on a black linen Nehru collar jacket (I use to be such a little doll). It wasn't until years later that I realised the 1930's brooch I bought in 1984, had the same initials as my daughter born in 1987.

Kooky, yes?

Yes.

I have two old books to show and tell.



The first is Autobiography and Selected Essays from Lay Sermons by Thomas Henry Huxley. A noted British Zoologist, he was pals with Charles Darwin. This book is still in publication today, my copy is from 1910.



On one of the back endpapers someone has written a chart summing up Huxley's body of work in a few pencil marks. I wonder what he'd have to say?



Also pencilled between lines is the phrase "politely called by another name". I've read and re-read the paragraph, but I can't figure out what the interloper writer is referencing. Perhaps I don't know enough polite names?

The Chicago Evening American Cookbook probably dates to the 1920's, though it's unmarked. I find old cookbooks are often chock-a-block full of handwritten notes, this one was covered in notes, back and front.



"Paistry Pies" - calls for "one slice" of butter, and tells us to "beet vinigar with egg"



"Black Fig Wine" - calls for 111 lbs. of "raisons", though I suspect that 1 lb. would be sufficient, also tells us to "put yeast cake in at blood heat".



"Champagne" - my favourite, I would never have guessed that Champagne called for oranges and lemons, much less 4 potatoes.

You can click on the photos if you want a better look at those recipes.

Lastly, some sad news, the magazine Haute Doll is ceasing publication as of the August 2010 issue.



It's still on shelves now, go to their website if you need back issues. Hurry!

Many Returns

Return the First:

The computer tower has returned from it's extended (and rather pricey) holiday at the repair shop. I have to say, it's working far better than ever before.

So, Hoorah!

Return the Second:

Since I haven't yet posted any photos of Victoria - and we returned from that holiday FIVE WEEKS AGO!!!! - I'll do that right now.



We stayed at the Surf Motel, a 1960's era motel right on the ocean front. It wasn't quite what you'd call posh (I suspect Nigel would have been horrified to have stayed there), but I thought it was very cool. Quite a few of the fixtures were original to the build, including a killer pink bathroom suite, an original '60's stove and the oldest range fan I've ever seen (took me a while to figure out what it was, in fact). All the rooms face the front of the building, so all have an ocean view with floor to ceiling sliding glass doors onto small balconies, facing the Juan de Fuca Strait.

See:



Stunning. We left the door open all night long, enjoying the cold air and ocean sounds - a novelty coming from the Prairie summer.

I'm afraid I didn't take any other photos. I dragged the camera everywhere to all our family visits, but didn't remember to take it out of the bag, not once.

I know, shocking.

More shocking, is that I've done this frequently over the years, so I tend to rely on my sister, Jane, to send me photos of my own parents.

Let's move on to things I never fail to photograph...

I finished the vintage cardi I was working on...



deep olive tweed, with two white angora stripes on a circular, ribbed yoke. Bracelet length sleeves, too! I can't wait for Autumn!

Return the Third:

Well, no return yet... Ian and Nigel have been holidaying in the US, and were due to return this evening, but they've had mechanical problems with the plane on the way home and have been put up in a hotel in Chicago an extra night, so tomorrow morning, they should be back.

They went to Lollapalooza (in Chicago) and then on to New York (Ian's first visit) for a stay at the Waldorf Astoria. Did you know that the Waldorf has a dress code? It's true, I had to buy Ian a whole bunch of new clothes just so he could walk through the lobby. Definitely not the Surf Motel.

I'm looking forward to hearing all about their adventures while away - I'll pass them along if they're appropriate. During a phone call home, Nigel mentioned a good line from Ian. Apparently, on entering one of the luxury accommodations Nigel had booked for them, Ian said, "Tsk, only two bathrooms?"

Mm-hmm...

I had many plans for finishing loose ends around the house while the boys were away, but I'm afraid it was too, too, hot, and I ended up accomplishing next to nothing.

I did get around to painting an old dresser.



This dresser was Jane's as a baby and it's had MANY coats of paint over the years. It's red now...and full to the brim with embroidery supplies. It makes me very happy to look at it. I wonder if the boys will notice?

Not that I'm happy, but that it's now red.

There are more things I still want to share, so I'm planning something shocking.

TWO POSTS ON CONSECUTIVE DAYS.

I know, I know. Stay tuned... I shall return...

Another, Quicker Hello

We've heard back (at last!) about our computer tower. It's had to have a new motherboard and fan installed, and all of our files and photos are presently being returned to their rightful places. I've been told it might be ready tomorrow.

As soon as it's up and running I'll post soon photos of my recently finished cardigan.

Ooooo.... exciting!

A Quick Hello

Just stopping in to say a quick hello, our main computer tower is down - actually 'down and out' of the house completely, being repaired by professionals. I'm updating the blog on the MacBook, and I still haven't learned how to link on this thing, so sadly, no videos or photos.

Our trip to Victoria was quite lovely, though the weather was unusually hot. I seem to have bad luck that way, I head out somewhere that's suppose to be temperate, and it happens to be going through some sort of worst-in-30-years heat wave (Scotland was the same) - the Prairie heat seems to follow me. Victoria had other perks though, we visited with family and friends and ate far too many fine meals. There was a particularly memorable meal at Mum's one night, when she was serving some very beautiful salad greens from the pesticide free market she favours. After the greens had been rinsed thoroughly, spun through the salad spinner and served onto plates, Ian speared a leaf and on lifting it up found a great big slug sitting on the plate staring up at him. Ian screamed, Mum was horrified and Dad scooped it up and set it out in the garden, while I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Does this make me a bad mother or a bad daughter? Maybe a little of both. (hee hee hee)

We also did some walking along the beach, finding some mermaid's tears (beach glass) and driftwood. so a good time despite the heat and the slug. Once the computer is up and running again I'll post photos.

It's been a fairly lazy summer, I haven't finished any projects I've started, and the weeds have completely taken over the garden. The mosquitoes like the tall weeds, and the dragonflies like the mosquitoes, so we're inundated. I'm just gazing out over our back garden and there must be thirty or forty dragonflies buzzing around, I don't think I've ever seen as many as I have this year. I really should weed that garden...

Published, Powerful, Pending

There's a new knitting book available, 1000 Fabulous Knit Hats by Annie Modesitt. It's a collection of photos of 1000 knitted hats, along with 10 patterns that Annie considers her top picks, hat-wise. The author contacted a number of people through Ravelry, and asked to use their photos in the book - and well, guess who one of those number was?

Yes..

Six of the 1000 photos are mine!

One of them even made it to the cover:



that's the back of Elly's head. She appears again later in the book, here:



I was sent an e-mail telling me how to "sell" my friends and family on the book, but I'm truly useless at that sort of thing, so instead I'll just tell you what I like;

I like that the people in the book aren't "model perfect", just ordinary people, sometimes making goofy faces (#471), sometimes trying to strike their very best poses (#373), people happy to be photographed (#726), some not so much(#486)...

I like that the choices of designs range from classic (#016) to inventive (#123) to hilarious (#406)...

I like that the book showcases how people take photographs, some like action shots (#831), some like portraits (#534), some like a bit of the majestic (#164), and others like the utilitarian "just the hats, Ma'am" (that's most of them, mine included)...

I like that the book captures how knitter's knit, and that's with colour, colour, colour - purple, orange, blue, green, pink - all grouped together page after page.

If you want to see which photos belong to which numbers you'll have to buy the book.

- best pitch ever? -

I tried my hand at making iced coffee yesterday.



The recipe is very simple, basically take one pound of coffee and soak in 10 cups of cold water for 12 hours, then strain.



I didn't have a full pound of coffee, but there was one quarter pound in the freezer, which I mixed with two and a half cups of water (the math worked). I'd bought this coffee a while back, but found it too strong, so I stashed it in the freezer until I decided what to do with it - iced coffee seemed a good project.



It's very dark, but this morning I mixed about a third of what I'd made with ice, cream and sugar and gave it a try,

then I added more sugar.



I was about half finished when I started to feel my heart race - really, really race - and I remembered that the coffee from the freezer was espresso...

there were a few moments during the day when I thought my heart was going to give out completely. I made a few phone calls (thankfully, only to Nigel and Elly) where I sounded extremely animated/agitated/unhinged, and I had a very difficult time typing Winnipeg with only two n's.

I'm better now, and wiser too. No more quadruple espressos for me!

Project Alert, Project Alert

I haven't shown you a Friday Find for a while, and I'll be traveling tomorrow, so I thought it was time to show this:



An old Singer in it's original "coffin" case. I've wanted one of these for years



It's a model 128, with vibrating shuttle (instead of a regular bobbin), built in 1948. I've heard that this model was nicknamed "The Farmer's Wife", I suspect because it was a no frills, standard issue (not that I'm knocking Farmers' wives).

The motor and electrics all work fine, but it needs a thorough cleaning, which I plan to do on my return.

Ooooo .... excitement!

Exterior Shot

The new stucco and painting are all done now. I think the place looks fabulous - though the back garden looks a state, and, between the stucco-ers and the painters, all the plants all the way around the house are thoroughly trampled. The stucco colour is called "Sagebrush" and it's a yellow-green colour. Nigel keeps eyeing it and asking if I'm "sure" it's really green, which I am. At the moment the house colour is competing with the grass and trees, making it look more like tan, but once the snow is on the ground it's going to look very obviously green. I'm absolutely certain that this is a perfect colour, it's going to be a colour that changes with the light and season. The trim colour is by Benjamin Moore, called "Ivory White", another ideal shade. Prairie light is very strong and yellow, so plain white paint can look both stark and dirty if it's tinted with blues or grays, a good prairie white always has yellow, green or red as a tint.

So there.

We had the dormers painted a medium gray to blend in with the roof - another good call, I think.

Later this summer we'll be having a deck built in the back, and a small bit of landscaping done, and then next year will be the year for some exterior "finishing touches" - seeing which perennials have survived and maybe planting a tree or some shrubs in the front.

My wee lemon tree is doing well (despite the terrible weather).



We still have three lemons, the largest is here. I wonder how long they take to ripen? Perhaps more sunshine and less rain would do them some good. We've had lots more blossoms, but I haven't seen any new fruit, probably too much rain and wind. still, I'm very pleased with it's progress!

I've also made loads of progress on my vintage cardigan; finished the back and one and a half fronts. I'm loving the greeny-olive "sludge" colour, but it just doesn't photograph well, so I haven't been taking pictures. I might alter the pattern and add some colour at the yoke, we'll see...

Here's a video to make up for my lack of blogging lately...



The music piped onto that old clip is by Daft Punk, check out the link to their video, they don't allow their videos to be embedded into blogs.

Wow! I sent this off to publish and forgot to tell everyone Happy Canada Day, and also to wish my youngest a Happy 14th Birthday.

Happy Canada/Birthday Day!!!!!