Here comes Summer

Well anyone who lives where I live (in the cold wastelands of Minnesota) learns to really appreciate summer.  Also being a teacher well for obvious reasons it becomes my favorite time of year.  Today I thought I would share with you some pictures from my yard as I got it all mowed up. Planting has been going on for the last 3 weeks so I thought it was the perfect as it gets here, warm but not too humid and the mosquitoes well they are out but mostly you get attacked when the sun goes down.

I just finish planing this herb garden and well I don't think any garden is complete with out flamingos and gnomes.

 Lily of the valley looked like it was hitting its stride today.

These smell so good.

 I like to make my own flower pot designs

Again not complete with out flamingos and gnomes.

Hope you all have lovely weather you are getting to enjoy too.
Land O Lakes Gal

Vintage Appliances

Hello loyal followers, yes I know long time no post.  I  decided I needed to give myself a challenge to help motivate me to post so I am starting with an A-Z vintage posting challenge.  Today is the letter A
Which I am going to focus on Appliances.  I love vintage appliances!!!!

How awesome is this pink appliance kitchen not only does this have a matching fridge, stove and dishwasher but it also has a matching washer and dryer.

Craigslist is a great place to find vintage appliances.  My husband and I have wanted to switch out or modern stove for a vintage one for the last few years.  Last summer we purchased 2.  One is a small apartment sized stove (only 17 inches with 3 burners).  It is electric we bought it to put in our vintage GMC bus sorry I don't have any pictures of it but I am sure as we make progress this summer on our bus remodel project I will be posting them.  The other is a vintage Tappan gas stove as seen above in the adds and pictures.  We found it on Craigslist and got it for a steal.  The women that sold it to us asked for $20.00 (her sister was really mad she wanted 200 they were closing down their moms house).  We did have to disconnect it and haul it out of the basement (not easy).  It has been sitting safe in our garage ever since.  We don't have a gas line into our kitchen and we will have to shift some cabinets.  This winter we started debating putting it in as we would like to move to Hawaii and I have been watching how crazy some of the house shoppers get about how modern the appliances look in the kitchen.  I honestly can't stand the granite counters and stainless appliances.  Unfortunately we bought our house from a flipper and he redid our kitchen with stainless appliances and new cabinets he only skimped on the granite.  So do we put it in and not worry about the future sales when we are finally ready to move to a more temperate climate?

Do any of you have vintage appliances in your homes?

Happy Halloween

Hello All

If you haven't guessed life has been frantically busy for me this fall hopefully it will slow down some and I will be able to return to blogging.  In the mean time happy Halloween to you all.

Susan

Confessions of a Pinaholic: Sew This (pattern)

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Hello hope you are enjoying the end of your summer.  I know I was trying to milk the most out of mine as I go back to work on Monday and am soon to be too busy to enjoy it as much as I have been.  It has been a while since I have posted and I have lots of drafts of post I just haven't bothered to finish (I know bad blogger).  Today I thought I would finish this post.  One of my favorite boards on pinterest is my Sew This (pattern) board.  When I first started pinning it was a catch all for all my sewing interest but as it got fuller I started to separate out tutorials and needle work.  I can't promise you won't still find some of those items on this board but I can tell you it is full of lovely patterns from the past.    Above is lovely Hollywood pattern for a 1940s dress.

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I love this 1950's wiggle dress with the side swag cummerbund.

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I have bee thinking of making myself a 1930's evening dress. I found out the local history museum is having speak easy night on my birthday so I thought a 30s evening wear would be a good choice s my husband will want to wear a tux.  I have no evening dresses as I have always been more of a day dress/ cocktail dress kind of gal.

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 1930's Simplicity Dress Pattern

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 Ann Adams 50's Shelf Bust Pattern,  I love Mail order patterns they are just too cute.

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Separates are a big part of my wardrobe.

If you want to see more here is a link to my pinterest board, Land'O'Lakes Gal: Sew This (patterns)
Notice I changed my pinterest name for the sake of privacy as I teach high school and well I like to have some privacy from my students.

thats all folk, Susan

confessions of a pinaholic Flamingos

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Happy August Everyone, so my pinterest boards just hit 1000 followers.  I thought I would celebrate by sharing this board with you.

So if you didn't already know this about me I love flamingos. I mean I really do so much in fact that not only is my yard decorated with them but so is my kitchen.  My flamingo pinterest board has over 200 pins.  They range from photographs of real flamingos to plastic pink flamingos and everything in between.

It was really hard to choose just a few to share with you but I did it so here they are.  If you want to see more here is a link to the board. flamingo board

 I love chenille bedspreads and well this one would be my top choice!!!

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OK this dress I pinned myself from etsy (it is still for sale at a measly $60) I would buy it but would have nope hope of ever fitting into it.  So pretty!!!!!

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OK how cute is this fascinator!!!

 I am a total sucker for these mid-century ceramic flamingo figurines.

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Don Featherstone the creator of the pink plastic yard flamingo.  I was reading something recently about his wife.  Apparently she sews him fun flamingo shirts and makes herself something to match.  How cute is that!!!!  Way to go Mrs Featherstone!!

Taking your Measure(ments)

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OK so I thought I would post this really cute video made for Able Grable clothing staring the adorable Miss Amanda Lee. I don't think I could do anything close to this so if you saw my last post and you are not sure how to take your measurements watch this ( or watch it because it is well done and cute).

I hope that helps (yes Jenny I am talking to you).
Kind Regards, Susan

Taking Measure

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OK ladies I had something really surprise me this week.  I was getting ready to sell some of my vintage possessions at a festival (my house is busting at the seams) next weekend.  I was talking with a girl friend and she asked me if I would have anything fabulous she would love.  I said if she gave me her measurements I would let her know as I went through some of my dresses.  I was shocked that she didn't know her measurements.  Why was I shocked?  Well this lady has some great vintage dresses but she said she only buys them at vintage stores and events.

Why is it important to know your measurements?

1. You can find some great deals on vintage shopping on etsy, ebay, or even on vintage groups on face book but you won't know how it would fit unless you take your measurements.
2. Reproduction clothing can be fabulous too. Unless you live in California or New York you may not be able to find them locally in stores. How do you know it will fit? Well you could go off your size but really I find sizes can be inaccurate.  One companies six could be another companies eight.  This is where knowing your measurements comes in handy.  You will have a pretty accurate idea of fit if you know your measurements.  
3. Buying clothing in other countries.  American sizing, European sizing and British Sizing are all different.  How will you know it will fit and save yourself a pricey return overseas.  Again most companies have a size chart on their website that will tell you in inches how their clothes will fit you.  So know your measurements and check the size chart.
4. Even buying vintage locally knowing your measurements can help. I like to measure before I even try on I would have to rip a beautiful dress that has survived the last 50 or more years.  I like to measure before I ever step into a dressing  many vintage stores and sellers will even put the measurements on the clothes on display.

So ladies measure yourselves and shop vintage and reproduction with confidence.

Kind Regards, Susan

Garage Sales Finds

I have been a fan of garage sales since I was a kid and realized I got lots more toys when my parents found them at garage sales and they didn't have to pay full price for them.  Today my own son wanted to go to some garage sales.  I have been avoiding garage sales this summer for two reasons.
 Reason 1 I have been broke and even though garage sales are cheap I have been trying really hard not to spend.
Reason 2  My house is busting at the seams I need to clear out not add on.

But I promised my son, so we drove around our area looking for some signs (I did not look anything up on craigslist sometimes I like to be surprised).  I found two great vintage garage sales and spend a grand total of $16.  Not out that much money.  But well more stuff.  Oh well you can't win them all.

Pyrex Bowl

 Ceramic Art Vases

 Hand Embroidered and Cross Stitched Dresser Scarves, Vintage Gloves, Vintage Scarves

Alaska metal souvenir tray and small round table cloth.

Rhinestone Dress clips and confetti Lucite earrings with shells and a pin.

And finally this cute clear umbrella with pink and white polka dots.

There are also 2 sets of Asian figurines that I didn't get a close up picture of but they were a steal for $2 a set.

Best score of the day for me was the dress clips.  I have have been really wanting a nice pair and these are lovely and well you can't beat the price 50 cents.

Do you garage sale?  What was your best score.

Happy Fusion Hat Sunday

Happy Sunday Everyone
I have been quite Busy today, I finished a bamboo edging project in the yard in the morning.

 

Then  I made Chilled Soba noodle Salad and  Fresh Spring Rolls for dinner.

 Then I had my picture taken for Fancy Hat Sunday ( notice my Asain theme). I also have on a vintage tea timer but not fully pictured.

And so did Mr Living Vintage

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend.

Kind Regards, Susan

I should make this into fabric.

I have always wanted to design some fabric and I think that spoon flower makes it really ease for the people to do.  I was really inspired by these fireworks graphics (I thought I want this but I don't want to blow it up.  I noticed this year there was a lot less Asian style of graphics at the fire works stand than in the past and a lot more military looking graphics.  My sons love this but I found it a bit sad.

 I also thought these little teapots and vintage car were too cute though not the Asian graphics still adorable.

 I know Charlotte @ Tuppence Ha'penny did a tutorial on making fabric designs here.  This vintage lady also has lots of other fantastic tutorial so you really should check out her blog.
So does anyone have any tips for making fabric on spoon flower?

Happy Independence Day

Happy July 4th all.  We up at the lake for a few days.  Mr Living Vintage and I decided to visit a nearby antique store.  Here are some the the lovelies that I saw.

 Love these chartreuse male and female head vases.

Don't these colorful glasses make you want to make a pitcher of lemonade and sit on your front porch.

 Oh Look there is the pitcher on the top shelf.

 Lots of lovely Pyrex and I love that the top one is shaped like a triangle.

Well hope you all have a fabulous Independence Day (or just a fabulous day if you are in other parts of the world).  Take Care, Susan

Fancy Hat Sunday

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Today is fancy hat Sunday via the Hometown Victory Girls so here is my contribution for this week.  My son likes to put this put on his sailor hat and cape and call himself barnacle boy and since he decided to be barnacle boy this morning I decided to just go with it.

Dreams of Skirts

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Well summer finally visited us in the Minnesota.  We had some 90 degree days that had me shuffle through my wardrobe look for some cool but classy (I was doing some workshops for my job this week).  I think every vintage loving girl needs to have an array of skirts to wear for all seasons but summer is when I really like to wear skirts.  I now have a bug to sew some skirts.  Here  are some options.

Dirndl

I love Gerties dirndl skirt above and I have a few border print fabrics I have been wanting to use so I have been looking at dirndl skirts as they work well with a border print.  There are lots of online tutorials on these skirts as your pattern is basically a rectangle at the length you want your skirt to hang plus hem.  Although one this I was wondering about with these skirts and border prints is the hem.  One tutorial I looked at recommended a 4" in hem to add weight which will help the skirt hand nicer.  With some of my border print fabrics.  I don't really have that much fabric to spare, In fact I may even have less than two inches.  Is there some way to add weight with out the excessive hem?

Oh and by the way Gertie has both an online tutorial for this skirt linked above to the source and one in her book if you have that also.

Aline

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Aline skirts were very popular in the 1940s. I like this 4 gore example above by Jitterbuggin.  I love these for work as well as pleasure they give you room to move around but don't have too with out the over abundance of fabric that sometimes can be too billowing depending on how active you need to be. Right now I feel like I have more time and fabric so I think I will do what I can to make my own this summer.

Circle Skirts

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Circle skirts are the classic skirt of the fifties.  I love the vintage Mexican circle skirts with their vibrant colors and beautiful art work.  While these can be found on ebay and etsy but they also are easy to make and you can make your own pattern easily.  

Pencil Skirts

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Pencil skirts are the ultimate in sexy skirts.  The one above is by the retro clothing company Mode Merr and if you aren't familiar with them you should definitely go check them out they do make some adorable vintage inspired clothes.  Pencil skirts seem more easily attainable as they are still popular today.  Patterns are very easy to find.  

Well that is my thought on skirts for now I know there other varieties of skirts out there but these are the ones I am the most fond of so I will stop here.  What are your favorite skirts?