A Birthday to Come

Today was Lois' 9 month birthday! That's a big one for the under 1 year birthday monthlies. I put her in a pretty white ruffly dress for her photo shoot, but she got really dirty before I had a chance to take the pictures. A mixture of dog sludge and her mushy turkey and veggie lunch did the trick and canceled the photo shoot for the day. I was at my sister's house, and the only other clothes I brought over there were dirty too, so her official birthday shoot will be in the next few days. Or maybe I'll wait until we get to the beach. In any case, they're coming soon. To hold you over, here's a shot with the iPhone--Lois in her glam baby sunglasses kickin' it in the backyard with her cousins earlier this week. Life is good. Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from my sister's house. I'm so excited to show you those.

Vintage For Baby

Lately I've found some really cute vintage clothes for Lois. Some things she's already too big for, and some she's not big enough for yet, so I thought I'd hang some of those things in her room. How adorable is this little clown top (which has matching bloomers that you can't see here)? I found it at Chloe's Closet. It's a consignment store for children's clothes--mostly gently worn baby Gap and the like, but they also carry some vintage clothes as well. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this one hanging there. If Lois can fit in it when she turns 1, it might be her first birthday outfit.
At Chloe's Closet, I also got two dresses that looked like they were made from tea towels or some other kind of linens. They're shown below on the right and left. My friend Alex gave me the cutest dress for Lois that has a tea towel apron front, so I've been on the lookout for some similar dresses. Before we left for our trip I took down the little outfits that were hanging above Lois' crib and replaced them with the three dresses shown below.

This one in the center is from Vintage Touch on etsy. She makes the cutest clothes out of great vintage prints. I love these two fabrics together, and they look perfect in the little one's room.

And this week, while shopping at the Goodwill with my mom, I found an adorable vintage jumper that I'll have to post later. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but it's so cute. I will show you soon.

Patch Work

I just realized I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'm back in Atlanta now, and I'm so excited I can't sleep and woke up and the crack of dawn. YAY!! We're having a family vacation again this year in Edisto Beach in South Carolina, but first I'll be in Atlanta with my mom and sister and nephews and friends for 2 whole weeks, and then we'll go to the beach. It wouldn't be a vacation without a few fun craft projects, so I brought some patterns with me to sew some things with my mom and sister. Two of the things I want to make are Alicia's patchwork pillow and her Jane market bag. Before I left, I made a mess of my fabric stash to pick out fabrics for the pillows. Shown here are a bunch of 4 x 4 inch patches I cut for two different pillows. This first brown, green, and blue fabrics are for my sister's pillow. I think she'll like what I chose for her. The colors in her house are neutral--lots of linen and pale greenish-gray walls. I think the color is actually called putty. Below, up close, is a picture of one of my top favorite fabrics, ever. I look at it all the time and love it so much. I brought more of it for the Jane market bag. My mom found that fabric and gave some to me a few years ago.

And here are some squares cut for a yellow, red, and blue patch pillow. I want to make it for Lois' room, even though I don't think her room needs any more pillows. Can you have too many pillows, though?

I can't wait to make these. I hope they turn out! I will be sure to let you know and post a picture when we're done. I'm sooooo excited to be here. Last night, after I got to my mom's, a big storm came in. It was pouring sheets and sheets of rain, and along with it was thunder and lightening! I went out on the front porch and called Andrew so he could hear it (he's not coming until next week). A thunder storm might not be exciting for people who experience them often, but in San Francisco we don't get thunder storms, and I miss them so much. San Francisco really only gets rain in the winter and spring. The first summer we lived there, after moving there in May, it rained once in July (the first rain since before we moved there), and it was the top story on the news. At the time I thought it was the strangest thing in the world that rain in summer could be the top news story, but having lived there 3 years now, I understand. It just doesn't rain in summer there. In the southeast, though, if it doesn't rain for for more than 2 weeks, everything and everyone is parched and scorching and just waiting for the next storm. Well, it was a great one last night. All the flowers are perky and happy--like me!

Oh, and I wanted to mention that I took off my blogroll because it was getting a little out of control. I've added a lot of blogs to my reader, which you can see under my profile in the blogs I'm following section. I have more to add, but it's a start.

A Daydream

The NY Times has two articles that I just read that made want to head to a flea market then a thrift store on the way home. I'm going to clean our apartment and daydream about it instead. Andrew's off today and planning to take Lois out on a walk for a while so I can clean and have mommy alone time, which makes me almost as excited as going to a flea market or thrift store. The first article is from a Paris flea market, which you can read here. I wish there were more pictures, but the article is good. (When I need a French flea market picture fix, I pull out this cute little book and think back to my memory of being at one, sans pictures.) The second is from the style section--a little cottage decorated with thrifty treasures on a tight budget. It's so cute. You can see it here. Happy daydreaming to you.

Holy Ferragamo!

I've mentioned before that I'm a Ferragamo magnet lately, and yesterday brought me some of the best Ferragamo finds, ever. If you're a thrifty shoe person, you might want to get out your smelling salts because you might faint from excitement like I almost did when I saw them. My sassy grandma schooled me on Ferragamo's when I was a wee one. I don't remember when I first heard of them from her, maybe in middle school. But to me, the modern equivalent might be something like Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin. Ferragamos are still made and still beautiful, but I think their heyday has past. It's the vintage ones I really like, especially when they fit me! Yesterday I wasn't planning a thrift stop, but Lois had a check-up and fell asleep in the stroller right when we left. She hadn't taken her afternoon nap yet, so I didn't want to wake her up, so I decided to go for a walk and pop into the Salvation Army. It was a great shoe n' sheet day, let me tell you! Where was my truck when I needed it? Ha!

Here are my 2 pairs of Ferragamos! I especially like the pair with the gunmetal metal heel--that's right, a METAL heel, not plastic meant to look like metal. Ah, I love them! But first the patent wedges, which are also great.



Sparkle and spin, the great name of a cute book, and what I'll do in these! Ha, either my foot looks tiny or my ankle huge! Bad angle I guess.

I did find a few other things--a dress and skirt, and a bundle of great sheets to use for dress making.


I didn't get this brown floral sheet, but I liked it.

This is just a huge piece of jersey knit. It has thin stripes and some wide stripes. I don't know what it will become, but I liked it.

Here are the shoes in their natural habitat. I spotted the glistening Ferragamo logo from a few isles over. They both needed some cleaning up, and now they really shine.


My heart is still a-flutter from my 30 minute detour. It was 50% off day to make it even better. Can't wait to go back!