Merry Boxing Day! *lol*

A little late to be posting my Merry Christmas to y'all, so Boxing Day will have to do! :)

There are terrific sales going on everywhere - even on-line - so sharpen the elbows, people, and get on out there! Chaaaaarrrrrge it!!

Now, I tend to do a fair amount of shopping over on a little site called etsy. It gives me the sense of purchasing items from smaller sellers (as opposed to big-box stores), and fills my little heart with joy. I have a few fave shops of my own that I'd like to share, if you don't mind (and I really hope my linking efforts work):

Adeline's Attic. If you're in need of authentic vintage from the 1910's right on up, this is the place to be. Jill is a knowledgeable and terrific seller, especially regarding the 1920's and 1930's fashions. Her prices may seem a little high to the average shopper, but they are very fair, and you know that you are buying the authentic item. She's a sweet gal to boot, and runs a blog called "Tea With the Vintage Baroness" - and just had a gorgeous haircut (so jealous! *LOL*). Oh, and she's got a second etsy shop which will also become a "bricks and mortar" place called "Moon River Mercantile" in Edmonton! Yay! Someone please purchase that lovely red checked dress at the Mercantile before I do...can't afford it, but it is WONDERFUL!

Another shop that I peruse is called "One More Cup of Tea" run by the lovely and talented Jennifer in Maryland, U.S.A. Plenty of vintage patterns to drool over, and this lady knows her stuff! :) She has got some incredible McCalls patterns posted for sale that I think are really interesting and unique - they are what I personally call "Action" drawings patterns, as the patterns feature some amazing artwork on the front of the sewing pattern "in action" (e.g. these lovely ladies travelling in their freshly made clothes from this pattern look like they're having a terrific time, non?) To me, these illustrated patterns are very unique and should be considered collectables - but they're at such a fabulous price that you should be sure to snap them up while you can! ;)

Now there's "Miss Betty's Attic". This seller is an absolute peach to deal with! Right now she has a whopping 75% off sale going on in her shop! Yes, you read that right, 75% off! She carries sewing patterns from many eras, and one secret I hope to find out eventually - they never have any sort of scent to them! How does she do it?? You know that sometimes you purchase a pattern that's been poorly stored (VERY rarely is it the sellers fault, they usually purchase these things from estate auctions and such) and can smell a little musty, or downright rangy, but any pattern I've ever purchased from this lady must be vacuum sealed in a baking soda environment (or something silly like that) because I've never picked up any kind of scent. In any case, if you're looking for a terrific pattern from almost any era (mainly the 1940's through to the 1980s or even 1990s), this is the place to shop. Did I neglect to mention the 75% off sale that's on right now?? *lol*


I have many other sellers I deal with, but I didn't want to bore the heck outta you by listing each and every one. I've found over time that many of the folks that sell on that site a really nice, and usually very knowledgeable - and if they don't know, they are honest enough to admit it. And that's something I can really appreciate. After all, both the site and the sellers there have a reputation to maintain, and if too many folks were not entirely honest in their dealings, word gets out fast. If you do decide to sign up (free) and shop there, be sure to read the feedback on the sellers. There are also many "clubs" at etsy (e.g. "The etsy Sellers Club" - no link, sorry) where you can learn a little more about pretty much anything, so feel free to look around while you're there.


Well, that was long-winded compared to my usual entries. I do have some pics of Toronto's ice-storm that we chipped our way out of (we were one of the really lucky ones that had power and managed to keep it through the whole thing). We had a terrific Christmas...well any Christmas with the family is terrific, right? Back to work on Friday, off for the weekend, then back for 1 & 1/2 days, off for New Year's Day, then back at it again. When working in an office environment it's always so confusing this time of year - I'm never sure when I'm working or not working, and when working, I sure do miss my nap-times! *LOL*

May you all have had the loveliest of Christmases!

TTFN

P.S. Sad, but always a favourite of mine - a final chance to say goodbye...

4, 5...Still alive...

Just a quick note to say that I'm still here, just super busy no that my co-worker has left the hive (office) for a while - eeek! *lol* So many promises to fulfill - while she make it, or fall flat on her face? Stay tuned to this page to find out...

:)

TTFN

Has it really been this long???

Wow, did time ever fly away on me!

Quick update - lotsa stuff happening at work (October is fiscal year end, any of you office types know what I mean *groan*)

Personal life is in a state of flux - so what's new about that? - but it's all good. Hell, any day I wake up and don't smell candles and flowers is a good day (think about it, you'll get the joke).

Getting ready for Christmas *lol* Yeah, getting ready...

Toodles!

Some other things...

Good day!

First, on a sad note...goodbye.

On a happier note, Happy Birthday!!! I'm an admirer of this talented lady, as well as others like Adrian and Orry-Kelly I've watched many movies that these fantastic folks have done the costume designing for and almost always marvelled at how gorgeous and glamerous the movie stars looked. For a time, it seemed that if your costuming wasn't done by one of these people, your film just wasn't a film. Kind of like what I like to call the Henry Mancini Syndrome (my own term, BTW). If your movie wasn't scored by the great Henry Mancini, you might as well not bother making the movie! *lol*

Thanks to Wikipedia and Google for all of my links - loving Google's splashpage today, some great sketches of some of Ms. Head's designs.

Please forgive me if I'm gushing a little. I realise that there are so many other talented people out there in costume design land in those eras that I'm not mentioning at all, and I hope you can forgive me for that.

More information later on the quick trip to the Creativ Fest Friday night. I even managed to remember to take a pic - really, I have GOT to get into this blogging thing a little more. I'm still learning, so thank you for your patience with me so far... :)

Have a terrific day!

Creativ Fest this weekend!!

Rather looking forward to this, as I've never been to their "Fest" before. Here's a link. I'm thinking of trying to go tonight, as their "Starlight" passes sell for only $5 this Friday night - sounds like a fantastic price to me! :) Perhaps it'll be enough to give me that toe to the booty to get me going on my black pants that I need to sew up - seriously, I've been without black slacks for about a month now, I really miss having a pair of black slacks for work that'll match with almost everything... Shame on old procrastinating me! *lol*

Hoping to see if the Toronto sewing blogges are gonna be there - I admit I've been bad about keeping in touch - Kay, if you're out there do you think you could help me?

May you all have a splendiferous weekend, and enjoy those gin and Ribenas!


Mugsy

Linky linky...

The rather wonderful lady at Adventures in Dressmaking had an interesting post regarding Martha Stewart and her comments about bloggers. Interesting in a good way.

I certainly do not claim to be an expert - the only thing I'm an expert in is being me. I blog because I enjoy other people's blogs and want to give back in some small way. I also enjoy the friendships I have developed over time this way, as well as pearls of knowledge to add to my proverbial necklace of wisdom.

I admit to some disappointment in Ms. Stewart assuming that we're all brainless enough to believe everything we read on the internet as totally honest and totally correct - even the experts out there that blog either for a living or for the fun of it can make mistakes sometimes. After all, we're only human. And while I'm the first to admit that I decry the apparent 'dumbing down" of society in general, I firmly believe that people will read thinigs out there, take the information with a grain of salt, and form their own opinions - unlike Ms. Stewart, who seems to assume that most people are "dumber than a bag of hammers" (thanks to "Oh, Brother, Where art Thou?" for that particular bonne mot) and are quick to assume that everything everyone blogs about is totally correct and without reproach.


Huh, I disappear for a bit then come back here with a rant (of sorts). Sheesh.

Anywho, may you all have a great weekend cooking, sewing, reading, housecleaning (yuck!), or just generally getting up to shenanigans of all sorts ;)

TTFN

Karma's still hanging tough...

Add to Friday:

- Broke an already short nail off to the point it bled (just a tiny bit).
- Sprained my elbow and ankle getting off of the commuter train going home.

Is it any wonder I had a couple of drinks Friday night? Vodka and Ribena mix nicely - too nicely, actually *lol*


Oh well. Today should have been better, but:

- Would have been at work on time but for the slowly creeping public transit this morning. It was so crowded that we were packed in like sardines...bad traffic plus rainy weather meant that everybody and their brother took TTC in to downtown this morning. Sheesh.

- Someone cleaned off their desk before going on vacation. Cleaned it off late Friday. Which meant there was a lot for me to deal with this Monday morning. Thank you very much.

- Somone else is cleaning off their desk as well to try and keep organised. Why couldn't this come to me bit by bit, instead of a deluge?


Thank goodness I'm still in a good mood. Hell, if I didn't keep laughing about all this sillyness, I'd cry - or get really grumpy. This guy usually makes me laugh out loud (and yep, I have all of the original books, but I'm hoping to own all of the "new" ones, too...someday...)

Image source:

http://www.berkeleybreathed.com/index.html

Oh, greeeeaaat, I can't post a picture in my blog while here at work, meanwhile others can spend most of their day on facebook...where is the justice in that? *lol* I too should be able to fritter my day away on the internet... *lmao*