When Vintage Predicts the Future

Years ago before living in the Pacific NW was even an inkling of an idea, I collected vintage postcards with snowy mountains on them. That was my 'vintage thing' at that moment. I found this card when I was living in California and little did I know this postcard was a window into my future.

(a multi-paned, wavy glass, chippy paint vintage window but a window nonetheless)

In the past few years, I've lived in the towns on either side of the bridge shown in that picture. Across the street and a few doors down from my house is the exact spot shown on this postcard. Postmarked 1932, Vancouver WA. I moved away from Vancouver this past Spring.

If I'd known this is the way things work, I would have started collecting vintage postcards depicting chateaus in France or winning lotto numbers.

 

That's my big blackboard I made using a vintage frame and chalkboard paint. I keep my long-term to-do list written there. Every once in a while I glance up to see if anything's been crossed off.

Nope, not yet.

The tiny green cup belonged to my dad. It's kind of banged up but I like it because it was his.   It's perfect for a tiny cup of coffee.

Today's project in the doily factory.

Over Here. No wait, over there. No, I like it over here.

 

Lots of stops and starts today in my doily factory which usually results in not nearly enough of the perpetual to-do list being addressed. I was well on my way to almost getting something done when I realized a certain chair, one I have walked past possibly thousands of times without any problem whatsoever, just didn't look right where it was positioned in the room.

It had to be moved and Right Now. But in order to do that, the bookcase had to go over here and then the desk needed to be turned in this direction. Which meant pulling the rug two feet in that direction.

Where does the time go?

So much for productivity although the furniture arrangement is greatly improved.

I hope you can take a moment to pop over to Sandy's blog. She's doing a great giveaway for this sweet Garden Girl jar and if I win, I'm going to fill it with skittles. Or buttons. Sandy's blog also has a widget that counts down the days until Christmas.

It's 60. 

Seems like plenty of time, doesn't it?

Pile-up

The stacks continue to grow.

Things to sew become things to photograph which become things to list on etsy.

Hopefully they'll become things to pack and ship.

And I'm really looking forward to getting through this stack.

I subscribe to an embarrassing number of magazines although that number has dropped a bit with the demise of Domino, Country Home, Blueprint*, Mary E's Home Companion (that one really hurt, it was my favorite!) and now Gourmet. Happily, there are still those random, impulse magazine purchases that seem to make their way into my shopping cart.  I'm pretty sure that's why they're displayed at the cash register right next to my other nemesis, candy.

 

I've been hearing about this book quite a bit and recently purchased it on ebay - lots of favorite bloggers along with many new-to-me ones too.

I must have forgotten to eat or something because I signed up to sell at another holiday bazaar. Details forthcoming. Looks like there'll be some extra busy days ahead for me in my doily factory.

*A special thanks to  Domino's publishers for hitting the nail on the head when they replaced my Domino subscription with Glamour magazine. That always makes me laugh when it shows up in my mailbox.

Vintage Treasure Booth Alert

If you live in or nearby Portland OR or have always yearned to visit Portland in order to attend an awesome holiday handmade & vintage bazaar, your time has come.

This will be my second year selling at the All Saints Holiday Bazaar - last year's experience was really outstanding. There was a great mix of vendors selling vintage and handmade items along with what felt like a non-stop flow of buyers so I'm really looking forward to this year's bazaar.

I even got to hang out with Lisa, Isabel and Laurie. 

Speaking of Laurie, she'll be selling her insanely clever vintage holiday items at the All Saints Bazaar too. Hope I get a table near her so we can chit chat. And for you out-of-towners, you can always visit Laurie's etsy shop, Magpie Ethel, which is loaded with vintage goodness. She's definitely some sort of vintage superwoman.

And don't miss the *Vintage Treasure Booth* which for me is like a little heart attack waiting to happen. The good kind I mean. Hope to see you there. 

Saturday, November 7, 2009,   9 am-5 pm
3847 NE Glisan Street, Portland OR 97232

Miracle at the Salvation Army

This probably sounds like it's going to be an inspirational Christmas story (it's not). Unless a good day at the thrift store is like Christmas morning (it is).

I live an hour east of civilization and the thrift store options nearby are few and far between. If I travel east another 20 miles, I reach a town I like to think of as 'The Promised Land of Thrifting' and yesterday's excursion was no exception.

I did all of my boring errands first (get a snow shovel, hairball stuff*, blahblahblah at Home Depot) with the idea I would reward** myself with a trip to My Favorite Salvation Army Store Ever. (Yes, I have a favorite Salvation Army store. Everyone does, right? I've been to some that were consistently awful, this one is always amazing. I love it).

Completely oblivious to the time of day, I was in the store for 10 minutes when they announced they were closing. (note to self - when driving 20 miles to shop, watch the clock) Fortunately, in that short amount of time I was able to grab a vintage chenille bedspread, some wonderful VAT PRINTS vintage fabric and 2 pretty milk glass dishes.

But wait, there's more!

The line at the cash register was moving slowly so I poked around the sweater racks and found a vintage black beaded sweater in perfect condition. In my size.

Thrilling, I tell you.

And so now I'm back to my regularly scheduled Christmas sewing.

*Just to be clear, this is for Vintage Cat

**My self-reward system also applies to dental appointments,

Christmas shopping & bathing suit purchases

Other People's Stuff

One of my two etsy shops, PeppermintBark, is filled with vintage things I find. In addition to the 30's and 40's, seems the 60's and 70's are on my radar currently.

 

I continue to be pleasantly surprised at my thrifting and yard sale scores out this way - I guess there are more people getting rid of vintage stuff than there are people shopping for it.  I don't know how else to explain it when obvious treasure like these gold plastic birds are passed over by other shoppers.

They're headed straight to my etsy shop.

Of course, there's still those occasional duds like the yard sale that thinks it's an antique store. A store that might be called Dirty, Broken & Overpriced Things. Or that other kind of yard sale, More Clothes Than The Duggars Can Use. I have to wonder when I see those mountains of onesies and little overalls how a three year old already has more clothes than I've had in my whole life?

Have a great weekend. Hope you find some good stuff out there. 

Meet the Staff

This is my sidekick, Vintage Cat.

 

Duties include Vintage Fabric Inspection

and Product Photo Disruption.

Prefers to use the computer keyboard as pillow which leads to a lot of this:

zzzxxcccccvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Slurps coffee from your cup when she thinks no one's looking.

Good girl.

I recently moved to a small town where there's no home mail delivery service so it's a requirement to have a p.o. box in order to receive mail. What this means is once a day I have to remove my pajamas, put on 'real' clothes and go into the post office.

Some days the trip just isn't worth the effort, my tiny p.o. box stuffed with random coupons for local businesses ("Get your tractor a tune-up and we'll oil your chainsaw for free") or endless credit card applications with my name misspelled ('Any' when it should be 'Amy') or worse yet, no mail at all.

Every once in a while there's a little treasure hunt waiting for me. I unlock my p.o. box to find an official-looking, numbered key to yet another, larger p.o. box, this box big enough to hold parcels.

Not too long ago, that larger p.o. box held a package from blogger Lisa at A Thing For Roses. We met several years ago at the Portland Antique Expo where she and Isabel were selling their vintage finds.

Lisa knows I sew with vintage tablecloths and tea towels and ticking stripes and she sent me the prettiest package of vintage fabrics, all tied up with a rayon seam binding bow and a lovely note on a pink rose card. (Because of her thing for roses).

Makes getting out of my pajamas so worth it. Thanks Lisa! I love the fabrics and I'll do my best to sew you proud. -amy