Cabin getaway & recent finds

Thanks for all the replies and commiseration on my vintage hair funk post! It certainly sounds like it's going around. Spring fever, perhaps. What I have now is sort of grown out of the middy-like haircut I got in November, but it's definitely due for something. I still haven't decided on what I'm going to go for, but it will probably be just a shorter version of what I have (or what's grown out, rather). My best hair wishes to those of you who were also expressing frustration in your own hair conundrums!

♥ ♥

'Tis the season! Road trip season, that is. Mel and I love to take little road trips to Wisconsin, and spring usually starts road trip season (although in the case of last year, we got there even earlier in the year).

We spent the weekend in a cabin in southwestern Wisconsin with a small group of friends. Other than the overcast, chilly and drizzly weather, it was a fabulous weekend. Lots of fires in the wood-burning stove, food and drinks, games, walks in the woods, and I'm not sure I ever stopped laughing the entire time.

Here was the view from down the road of our cabin. Isn't it picturesque?  (That's our friends' dog Joey, who accompanied us on the trip.)

We spent awhile trying to identify the games hung up on the wall. Investigation led me to discover they are carrom and crokinole game boards, two games none of us had ever heard of.

I loved this bookcase in the cabin. If I had a cabin myself to decorate, I'd want pieces like this, I think...

There were cupcakes for our friend's birthday...

Which then turned into this.

A neat old shed...

Hunting for walking sticks, one slightly more Gandalf-esque than the other...

A great old tractor with over 4,000 miles on it...

We all took a turns. Pretending, that is.

Our friend's Jolene tea towel, I love this thing.

I got to do a good amount of knitting on the road and at the cabin (though the photo below is once we were at home, on our new IKEA shag rug for the den). These are the two sleeves for the pullover I started the last day in February, So Neat and Sweet from A Stitch in Time vol. 2. I made great progress on it until we moved, and then didn't pick up my knitting needles for over a month! Finally, I'm knitting again. I'd love to get this done quickly so I can start one of the thousand short-sleeved sweaters I have swimming in my head. (And hopefully sewing again will follow soon, too.)

It was a great weekend.

On our way home, Mel and I stopped at an antique mall outside of Madison to do a little hunting. I found a lovely scarf and two very inexpensive Bakelite spacer bangles that were tucked in amongst some boring-looking costume jewelry. Yay for the sniff test, taught to me awhile back by a local purveyor of vintage goods. (Unsure of the best on-the-go way to identify Bakelite? Check out Brittany's recent post on Va-Voom Vintage.)

I was happy with those little finds, and then we found The Lamp. You all know how we decided to go with vintage Southwestern as the overall theme in our den. Of course I've been daydreaming about all the rooms in our house, but particularly this one as it's already proven to be the room we spend the most time in. (The fact that our living room only recently got a sofa, still doesn't have the furniture arranged probably and is currently home to all the boxes of our patio furniture probably has something to do with that.)

In my head, I made up a lamp that I thought would be perfect in the room. It was white ceramic, with some kind of nubbly texture to it in some places, with colors that evoked the Southwest, and a fiberglass lampshade. I mean really, dear readers, I made this up in my head out of thin air.

And then we found this.

It took us about .05 seconds to decide it was ours.

I mean, c'mon! White ceramic! Textured sections in shades of brown, coral, and sky blue! A two-tiered fiberglass shade spattered with brown, white and turquoise!

And then when we saw this coral-colored working Westinghouse clock radio in the same booth, and we knew the room didn't have a clock anyway, well... the rest is clearly history.

And while this won't necessarily be the final arrangement on this particular end table (what you can't see is the ugly modern telephone base behind the clock radio), it's getting there.

A trio destined to be together, don't you think? Sofa, lamp, clock radio.

While we were leaning in that direction already, the lamp and clock radio pretty much cemented that a light turquoise or sky blue must be the wall color. Incidentally, that was the overall favorite amongst readers who chimed in.

Huzzah for when vintage decorating starts to come together!

Vintage show finds

I've been meaning to post this all week! Last Saturday, we went out to the 'burbs for a huge annual vintage clothing, jewelry and textiles show. We missed last year (though I can't recall why), so I was particularly excited about it this year. I was literally talking about it for days leading up to it. I took some photos of my finds, but mind you nothing has been ironed and I just threw them on, so forgive the lackluster appearance.

I got two dresses, one of which is a housedress with a hidden front zipper, so I will probably dare to actually wear it out into the world. It was so wrinkled that even the photo looked terrible, so I'll give you a taste of the fabric. It's a neat light beige checkerboard print with antique scrollwork type of designs all over. The buttons are really cute, too, and I love the attention to the lap over the zipper.

Next was a blue dress in an amazing almost deco print. I'm not sure what the fabric is, but it's slightly stiff and sheer but very smooth, and rather unlike anything I've ever felt. Anyone hazard a guess?

I love the rhinestone buttons. The self-face belt is tied off with sky blue organza (or something similar), which is also used around the buttonholes. That is some serious attention to detail!

I also found a great skirt, sold by the guys who run Knee Deep Vintage, a vintage clothing store across town that we've never been to. They were really friendly and are having an anniversary sale at their shop next Friday that we're seriously considering going to. Randomly in conversation last night with a friend, we found out they're apparently good friends with another friend of ours. Small world. They had a lot of killer dresses that were right up my alley but way too big, sadly. The skirt I got from them is pleated all the way around, giving it a nice full skirt feel without the need for a crinoline (because if you're starting to get to know me, you might have guessed I'm not all that fussy of a gal...). It's really, really making me want a pair of green shoes to go with it. Or espadrilles. I'm not sure how my wardrobe doesn't have a pair of espadrilles.

I then found a great cowboy shirt, which I am always on the lookout for and they are rather rare! I didn't model it because, well, it's a shirt. You get the idea. I love the texture of the fabric in this.

The buttons are really interesting. At first they look like pearl snaps, but are actually buttons with a front and back part, inserted through a second set of buttonholes. I'm not sure I've ever seen a closure quite like it. At first I thought perhaps it was a way for the band to be reversible, making it a unisex shirt, but the shirt is clearly for a woman, so I'm really not sure.

I also got a carved butterscotch Bakelite bangle to add to my collection...

And then there's the pièce de résistance. Towards the end of our tour through the event, we headed into a great booth, where I spied a Mexican circle skirt. Now, I love these as much as the next girl, but as you probably know, they can be ridiculously expensive. I have one that I was lucky enough to get from my mom, from probably a couple of decades ago when she thrifted several vintage pieces that are now highly collectible. It's one of my most cherished pieces.

Anyway, I saw several Mexican skirts at the vintage show, all with the price tags I'm accustomed to seeing on eBay and Etsy. I seem to recall $95 was on the low end of the scale and $325 (I kid you not) on the high end. Then I spotted this one in the booth, and looked at the price tag. And it was cheap. And marked "as is". I noted a few light stains, but nothing I couldn't live with, especially at that price.  I am certainly not above wearing gently "whoops"-ed garments, especially if I can get a good deal. It adds a bit of history and intrigue for me, allowing me to play a bit of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett version, only) with my garments. What fun did the owner have in this skirt? What cocktail or kitschy appetizer did she spill on it? On the other hand, it makes me crazy when I see people selling items on eBay for high collector prices and then they proceed to show you a series of photos of rips, tears, holes and/or stains.

So behold, my new skirt. (Don't mind the poorly tucked-in shirt, I was rushing.)

I talked to the woman who ran the booth for several minutes about it. She was super sweet and friendly (and obviously a very honest seller!), and runs an Etsy shop with several yummy items, Bombshell Shocked. My only regret was that I was too tired at that point to give the rest of her booth the attention it deserved, because I could tell she had some goodies in there!

When I was interested in the skirt, she said I looked like a woman who could wear a sombrero, referring of course to the skirt. Well, I was dressed in this jacket, so no wonder.

Photo from purevintagechicago.com

Pretty funny! (A woman asked to take my photo, so this is from her blog. The big white spot on the jacket is just a lens flare.) Even funnier, I saw two almost exactly just like it for sale there. I got sooo many compliments on this jacket at the event, I kept telling people there were other versions of it there if they wanted one too . :)

This weekend our plans aren't nearly as glamorous. House cleaning, a few errands and I'm hoping to get in some sewing and knitting time. I have a skirt 99% complete and it's just awaiting a closure. I'm thinking I may use a large vintage button, instead of hook and eyes on the inside. What do you think?

I'm really pleased with how the skirt came out, and will post about it soon (still have to photograph my Swing Dress anyway, lighting has been the pits in our home lately). My topstitching still needs some work, but overall I'm really happy with it, and the pleats make a spectacular shape with the somewhat heavier cotton I used. At first when I started it, I thought great, I've barely started my handmade vintage wardrobe challenge and I'm already violating my color palette. This is a cute cotton from my stash and it has a lovely novelty print, and I was itching to turn it into something. That's all I was focused on. But then I realized hey...many of those castles and turrets are butterscotch yellow!

 Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday outing

Last night we decided to brave the labyrinth of snow walls that now make up our city to go out. Did you know some people here "save" parking spaces once they uncover their car from the snow? Really, it's a pretty hot issue! Fortunately we don't have to worry about it since we don't have a car parked outside. The guy in the car in the right of this photo saw me taking the picture and joked that we should go sit down in the chairs, but agreed it was a little cold for that...

I was trying for some good outfits photos before we left, but failed rather miserably. This was the best one of the lot and didn't even show my accessories, an ivory beaded cardigan and matching purse.

At least I was able to get a little bracelet bling...

Some Bakelite and a chunky maroon vintage bracelet of unknown plastic that I bought at an antique mall in the middle of nowhere in central Illinois. When the woman took it out of the cabinet she said, "It's not Bakelite" in a way that clearly meant "40 people before you have asked this question, so don't bother asking". I loved it anyway and it was reasonably priced, so I told her I'd buy it to save her the trouble of ever having to say that again. ;) Besides, it looks great mixed in with my other bangles!
 
When I was haphazardly playing with my hair I did some small victory rolls, which I didn't think would work since I've had a hard time with them the longer my hair has gotten, but it turned out pretty good. Knowing I'd never get them to work again (because my hair is just ornery like that), I pinned them and called it a day, and did a little curl with my bangs. I knew it would be dark and no one would notice my hair was a little frizzy. Later I discovered I had bean dip splashed on the bottom of my overalls from a recent party at our friends' house when Elaine accidentally dropped a fresh-from-the-oven bowl of bean dip and it broke all over their kitchen floor.

Yes, let's recap that. I went out to a show with bean dip on my pants and frizzy hair. How uncouth can you get!

I wore my ubiquitous Freddie's of Pinewoods overalls and navy Keds. I love those overalls so much. That's also the only photo that shows the cute little dot print on my shirt. It's a sheer light peach vintage Ship n' Shore blouse with rows of tiny little white polka dots and flirty, bias cut sleeves. I seriously wish I had one in every color. In fact, I bought a much larger printed polka dot white cotton voile so that I could attempt to sew something similar. (When I ever finish my birdie blouse.)

Unfortunately, the show itself was kind of a bust. It's a monthly rockabilly jam with several bands. It doesn't start until pretty late for a weeknight for old timers like us, so we usually only stay about an hour and get to see the first couple of bands. It started later than normal, probably due to the weather and it still being relatively difficult to get around the city, and then the opening band played blues. Now I have some seriously eclectic taste in music, but blues isn't high up on the list of things I like. And since it all started late, they were the only band we got to see. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. At least it was fun venturing out in the snow!

When we got home I did something that I never do: I took a photo of myself after taking off my makeup and undoing my hair. And I'm posting it. Can you believe it? Would you dare do the same? I must have lost my mind. No makeup, no glasses, just took my hair down and about to pop into bed after I change clothes (you can see in the background Pia beat us to bed). Stray hairs, tired eyes, zits and all. My ears were still red from the cold. I actually took this photo to show myself how I did my bangs, since it was something new I tried and I wasn't sure I could repeat it in the future. I thought they looked better after I took my hair down than when we went out!

And now that I've bared my soul (okay, really just my skin), I wish you all a good weekend. Anyone have any fun plans?