And the stars in their slowness took us by surprise.

Jon brought home the Calexico album "Carried to Dust" a long time ago, but I just started playing it recently.

This evening as I was winding up an incredibly narrow, steep highway towards Mount Evens with Jon this song and it's beautiful lyrics caught my attention in a way that it hasn't ever before.

"Slowness" by Calexico is the perfect mountain driving song, particularly for tonight's drive home through the mountains at night with the lights of Denver below you and the steady stars above.

What a Day for a Matinee

JR and I were headed to the Sunday afternoon symphony matinee, but we ended up arriving late so we decided to abandon that plan and walk around in the sunlight downtown.

We stumbled upon an art fair, ate at JR's favorite Denver Thai place, and wound our way back to the car.

Poor JR broke his collarbone while cycling so he's stuck in a sling for the next six to eight weeks.

When we got to the car we noticed a car that matched my outfit perfectly was parked there so I couldn't resist taking pictures!

I filtered the photos a wee bit because I wanted to make them look like old car advertisements.

(I was having skirt + wind trouble in that last one but I loved how it turned out anyways.)

He lost his keys.

Thrifted silk 1960's wedding dress and the sunset over the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Adorn Vintage: My New Etsy Shop

What do you do when your closet goes from almost empty, to cluttered, to downright crowded? If you're like me and can't resist buying vintage clothes - any vintage piece, whether it fits you or not - you open an etsy shop!

For years I've been purchasing clothes on the assumption I'd find the perfect occasion to wear it, or I would tailor it to fit me, or I would hang it up on the wall as art. It's finally time to make my thrifting and antiquing a self sustaining hobby, and I've decided to sell my vintage surplus on etsy.

(yes, I am selling the 1940's dress from last week's photo shoot!)

Please check out my new shop, Adorn Vintage - I'm putting new things up every day this week. You'll find lots of clothing, little domestic items, and some vintage sewing and craft supplies.

Also, stay tuned for my very first giveaway coming up next week to celebrate it.

The sun is also setting.

Once in a very great while you get light that makes the world magical.

While driving on the eastern plains on country highways I hit the golden hour.

The tiny house faced west, the sun beaming into its broken windows and tattered door.

And before you tell me to go get back to my homework, let me tell you - this is my homework.

In which the chair changes it's hair:

I have a chair that I thrifted for a few bucks. It's a great midcentury mod chair, solid and sturdy in only the way quality vintage furniture is. The only thing wrong with it was that its covering was shredded.

So, being the crafty person I am, I purchased a staple gun, thrifted some fabric and went at it.

Said chair ended up looking like this:

(Sorry I don't have a better chair picture for you...)

I wasn't thrilled with the cover. It kept the stuffing in (crumbling green foam...) but didn't do much for astetics and the "country kitch" look didn't match our house. We don't really do country kitch. Don't ask me what I was thinking when I went with that fabric.

Recently, a store called Mama Said Sew opened in town. They have all sorts of interesting fabrics, strange little sewing notions, old buttons, and sweet little patterns. I've been heading in there about once a week to check it out and see how the place is evolving - it's been a treat!

I hadn't purchased anything because I don't have any sewing stuff in Colorado and I am on an unpurposed craft supply moratorium, but suddenly an idea struck me - I don't need to sew, I can just cover a chair! I went in there to pick something out and came out with this very thick japanese linen, with the most adorable bird print.

It was thick enough that I could wrap right over the blue and red fabric (so I didn't have to risk getting dried out green foam dust everywhere again!) and staple gun it down.

Now the sad mid-mod chair looks a whole lot happier and matches our house!

My first doll in years.

This week's featured thrift find is a rather large china doll...she is stuffed with sawdust, has a heavy cotton body, and is in remarkably good condition! I am by no means a doll collector - this one joins just one other in my house - but it will be fun to sew in a tiny scale again. I haven't done that since I was first learning to sew.

I've done a little digging (all on the internet, of course) and have seen examples of dolls exactly like her from the 1880's to about 1915. Her hairstyle is called a "lowbrow" because of the curls falling forward onto her face. She has little dancing slippers, not boots, which makes me presume that she's probably a later model, ca 1905, as anything earlier is usually wearing boots and has a shorter porcelain leg. She has a straight body, as well, which matches pictures of originals I've seen - usually the dolls from the 1880's have straight bodies, then they become very curved hour glass bodies for a few decades, and then they become straight again.

I have a lot of liberty with dressing her according to her era - almost 40 years of rapidly changing fashion to choose from! I'd like to work on tiny little 1880's or 1890's dresses, undergarments, coats, hats, nightgowns and bonnets for her out of my scrap bin - she's already an heirloom but if I could get a little trunk of things made for her she'd be something wonderful to pass on to any daughters I may have.

I'm terrible with naming things - do you have a suggestion for what I should name her?

Show me your closet...

Inspired by another post about a blogger's closet, I've decided to show you mine! I would link you to the post, but I've forgotten where it is...sorry!

This post was also good motivation to clean my closet.

We took the doors off of my closet (my husband's clothes are stored in the other bedroom...) to open up the room, and I have to say my closet is one of my favorite parts. I can't help it, everything lovely about life is in my closet - an old bookshelf, my shoes, the lace baskets I lusted over for months before buying, and of course the vintage hat stash in vintage hatboxes.

I admit I have a lot of clothes...However, please take note that I do NOT have a dresser! All my clothes (except for some knit shirts and my cycling lyrca) are in this closet.

I'm kind of nosy and want to have a peek inside your closets too! Will you post pictures somewhere? What do you love about it? What do you hate and want to change?

I love almost everything about mine, though I'd love it if the closet rod and shelves were higher so I could keep my jeans and long dresses off the ground. Someday I'd love to have a beautifully organized walk in closet with shoe cubes, thin flat drawers for accessories, scarves and belts, and lots of shelves for purses and bags!

Getting dressed should be a thing of pleasure every day, and I find that having an organized closet helps that very much.

Thrift Find of the Month (or year?)

While poking around at my favorite thrift store, I noticed this tag on an itty bitty shirt...twelve bucks is four times the normal price there, but I loved the fabric...



Pulling it out for further inspection I realized that it had been grossly mislabeled...



Instead of being a 1940's shirt...



It was a circa 1860's gathered bodice!



Twelve bucks for a beautiful piece of history?

Yes please!

I'm planning on shadowboxing it and hanging it somewhere in my house - it has an incredible (if fragile) fabric, with beautiful hand workmanship, including the delicate mend on the left side. Unfortunately someone felt the need to add trim to the top. It's machine tacked on, and poorly done. I'm going to leave it since the bodice is so fragile though.

I love the fabric - it's a sheer alternating with a solid, those patches of flowers are not ribbons, they are actually woven in. The fabric is quite faded but you can see the original colors in the lining and underneath tucks and folds - the sepia colored flowers are a rich chocolate brown and the blue and red stripes are quite vivid!

On the occasion of my 25th birthday...

Jon and I have a family tradition we call the Midnight Birthday. It's pretty much like new years eve, only for your birthday! We herald in the new birthday year at midnight with cake, candles, opening of presents, and general festivities.

This year, for my birthday we decided to do birthday cupcakes. I splurged at target (a whopping 10 dollars) and purchased a tiny cupcake tree. My friend J, an accomplished cook, came over and together we tackled one of the complicated cupcake and frosting recipes from the Babycakes Cookbook.

The cupcakes were excellent, which is good because we were worried - the batter was a bit bitter due to the garbanzo/fava flour. J doctored it up and the rest of the bitterness "baked out" leaving us with fudgey, coconutey chocolate cupcakes perfect for turning a quarter century old!

Birthday dresses are a big deal for me - I get a new one every year, often sewing something or allowing myself to spend a bit more than usual. It's usually something vintage inspired and this year was no exception.

I've never been much of a 1970's/1960's girl - the clothes are too colorful - but I tried this filmy, floaty number, and promptly fell in love. It's a gray day here, so I feel somewhat responsible for bringing the sunshine, too! I don't know why I have such a sour face in the picture.

Today I headed down to Denver ("the big city"). I am spending the day going to museums, window shopping (and purchasing an emergency bright blue faux-leather jacket since I left my sweaters at home!) and finally going out to dinner with JR. Not a bad way to spend the day!