Some Miscellaneous Things on a Sunday Evening

Happy Sunday evening--I hope your weekend was as nice as mine: easily the most relaxed weekend I've had in maybe forever.  For instance: yesterday afternoon we had a glass of wine and sat outside with a fire in the chiminea and dozed off in the afternoon sun. Me! Dozing off in the sun! Whoa.

But sometimes The EGE does rub off on me. He works incredibly hard, but he also knows how to relax.

Here in a little bit we're going to go dancing--we haven't been in a long time, so we're going to brave the Winter Storm Warning and drive over to Odessa to dance. Brrrrr. Let's hope the s-n-o-w holds off until we get home. Yep: we're that sole white blob on the US weather map, the one place in the country forecast for a winter storm tomorrow: 5-7" predicted. I'm not even thinking about it.

Much.

Anyway--so here are some random things I wanted to show you.

 These are some velvet shoes I got from the consignment shop. The toes were beaded, but the bows weren't--so they looked stuck on and not really integrated. (I got two pair: one bronze (these) and one coal black, so I know the bows weren't just added on). I beaded the bow with bronze beads to tie in with the bronze velvet, and then I added the larger black beads to the centers to tie in with the original beading. This was one of those just-to-see-if-I-can projects. I haven't actually worn the shoes yet. I don't plan to bead the bows on the black ones--too hard on the fingers.

Stephen Porterfield of The Cat's Meow (no website--but he sells vintage clothes to top designers including Vera Wang and to celebrities as well--Annie Lenox, Barbra Streisand) has one sale a year: 50% off the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Last year I bought way too many coats, several of which I've since gotten rid of (felted in the wash or given away to good homes), so this year I was very careful. I bought a nubuck zip-front jacket that I couldn't resist. It's a men's jacket but fits perfectly and is a nice tunic-y length. And then I bought this necklace, which Stephen says is actually a religious piece. I couldn't resist--The EGE loves roses, so it will be something someday. Or I can just wear it.

 Stephen says these were souvenirs from a beach somewhere. They're cowry shells--the side you never see. At least that's what I think they are. I think they look like spooky eyeballs and will take them apart and use them for something else.

 These two like-new collars were in a bag someone gave me. This one, above, is a thick pile, just like collars I had on coats as a kid.

 The fuzzier one may be real fur. I hope not. The cats haven' hit on it, so maybe it's not (they hit on rabbit fur, and I usually give fur to them to sleep on if it makes it into the house).

 They've got button holes, and I think I may add buttons to something and play around with a fur collar. I don't know what yet, though.

 Then there's this--sorry I didn't get a photo before I began chopping things up. The coat is my current favorite--a Bryn Walker cotton fleece coat that's made really oddly but that, surprisingly, it turns out that I adore. The embroidery was on a Lucky Brand t-shirt I bought from the consignment shop--turns out I hated the way it fit. It was made cheaply and didn't hang well. Plus it attracted cat fur like crazy (the coat, on the other hand, doesn't so much, even though it's black, too). I thought about re-selling the shirt but really liked the embroidery. So I cut it off and pinned it to the coat. I turned under all the edges and am going to blind stitch it in place. There's another piece for the front, along with a Virgo embroidery from a t-shirt I had in high school. For some reason I cut it off and saved it all these (yikes!) years, and although it's not something I would normally like, the fact that it's been around so long seems to warrant making a place for it.

Total 60s, don't you think?

I spent much of the weekend altering a jacket--one of the Joy Jackets I altered a couple years ago. I need to find that post to link to (sigh) and take some photos. I hope to do that tomorrow, but I don't know--I've got a busy couple weeks coming up before The Big Week, two weeks from now, when I GET WINDOWS!! I've tried to schedule all the podcasts and interviews before then so I don't have to try to interview someone while men are here cutting holes in my wall. Good plan, what?

So, just quickly: I'm altering those four Joy Jackets (cutting them off, removing the hoods), altering a long denim skirt (added fabric to the hem and then realized it was too long and WAY too dowdy and had to cut it off and hem it. Much gritching in the land on that one, let me tell you), doing some embroidery on the long journal skirt, altering a sweater from the thrift, and one other project, I think--but I can't remember.

And now it's time to go dancing. Hope you're doing something fun, and I'll try to get some more photos soon. XO