hearts and moon and star.

"Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile." - Elizabeth Browning ....


Moon and star cosmic geometry necklace....

Wes Anderson's new movie,  Moonrise Kingdom as an etsy treasury....


new handmades in my "other" shop....
all here: thatyountvillegirl

angora sweater heart and Key !

girl you know it's true......

Ice white angora leaves, red cashmere little mitts....

....vintage Key, jade heart, faux suede....

Hearts and Love...

Big heart, little black dress....

so happy together....

Bruce rainbow love.....

and if it doesn't work out....well....

sunny winter day

sparkles on the water....tug moving logs around

vintage indigo selvedge denim scored in the wilds and will be turned into some of these utility aprons, and some of it will become a tote bag or 2 or 3. ..and new projects ....denim, military canvas, and feed bag tote bags.

old Navy (ha ha) military shirt, old WWII denim duffle bag, and some of the vintage selvedge denim....cut up, add straps, and snaps and buttons, line with quirky fabric = utility fabulousnesssss

and from old denim, some Fender guitar strap braid, is a little pouch with a vintage button....perfect size for an iPhone....

Home is where the art is

when I wasn't being sick over the xmas weeks, I was cleaning out my house. I pity my poor kids...if I died tomorrow, they would have to sift thru 55 years of crap valuable things to list on ebay.
One of the home projects I've decided to complete after laying dormant for only 14 months...my dining chair seats! I've completed one ! I only have one left to do!
 here's the after....and then the before....and then the easy-peasy step by step...

(before) 

 Choose a sturdy fabric like...upholstery fabric or duck or sailcloth or denim.

1st, Unscrew the seat cushion (turn the chair upside down, and look underneath at the 4 corners for the screws), remove the wood and foam and fabric sandwich from the chair frame and disassemble. Toss the old fabric away. I reused my foam, but if yours is flat after years of butt, go buy new. Like at Joann's or a local foam shop. It's in the yellow pages, ie...411. or ask Google or Siri. 
Then lay the foam on your new fabric, and cut your chair fabric about 3 - 4 inches larger than the foam and wood seat. Yes, save and reuse the wood under the foam. (don't lose those screws!)

2nd ... Be sure to lay the foam on the Wrong Side of the fabric first, evenly with 3 -4 inches all around. Lay the board on top of that, fold an edge of fabric about an inch and gently pull it up to the wood ...start on any edge of the wood, about 1.5" in....and staple. Put a staple about every 2".  I love my new yellow Staple Gun!

3rd...Go all the way around the seat. Start on one side...go to the other side, then the 3rd side, and finish the fourth side. Pull and smooth as you go. You want the foam slightly compressed....but not tight, or the staples will pull out when you sit down. Bad. You can always pull the staples out and start over if you aren't happy when you turn it over and check it.

4th.... the corners are a bit tricky. Pinch the fabric together and artfully fold the corners flat and staple. It is OK to chop a bit of fabric away....but be careful! don't take too much. Be sure you have about 3 - 4 inches to fold over and staple. This is tricky, but you can do it!

Check it out !!
lastly, put it back on the chair, and screw the screws back into the 4 corners underneath the chair. You may have to unscrew the screws a bit so they don't poke you when you sit down. As long as they bite and go thru the wood under the seat, you'll be fine.

elvis

My first 2 wheel bike* was an old 50s model with fat tires, fenders, a big saddle seat, and a wire basket. I got it in 4th grade, in 1963, just after I turned 9. Tom Roe painted it green, sparkle green, in his Auto Body Shop in Yountville, down Washington St, near the Catholic Church. As a special treat, my dad let me choose the color and I asked him to ask Tom to paint "Elvis" on the front fender.
Yeah, that's right.
I do love Elvis but not in the mindless white trash way. That's my Elvis tapestry, that's my Elvis tshirt Annie gave me (awesome!), and that's my Elvis watch. No really, I love  Elvis, but not like that....
Happy Birthday !
*first full size 2 wheeler,that is.
similar to this:

Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8, 1935 and is a cultural icon.
Last weekend Mark and I went to dinner with his dad and Sally to celebrate Dick's 70th birthday! As we passed the theater in the mega-mega-huge Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn (which is an acid trip without the drugs)...an Elvis impersonator, Steve Sogura, was singing.

My first Elvis album was Acapulco. I still know all the words by heart to "No Room to Rhumba in Sports car"...



Oh No! Elvis joins the Army ! He entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1958, because Selective Service told him to do so....




Army clothes! yes. Love the clothes hate the war. I am a flower child after all.

The AAF, The Army Air Forces began on June 20, 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor.
>U.S. Army personnel have traditionally been assigned to branches and so
air services were in the Army long before that and their names changed over time.
1907 - Aeronautical Section of the Signal Corps.
1914 - Aviation Section (Signal Corps).
1918 - United States Army Air Service
1926 - United States Army Air Corps
1941 - United States Army Air Forces
1947 - United States Air Force ....left the Army and became their own service branch.

and the ladies? yes, Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jacqueline Cochran, one of the most well-known aviators of that time, tried to interest the Army Air Corps in women pilots who would be trained to fly military aircraft within the United States. On Sept. 10, 1942, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of the U.S. Air Transport Command, organized 25 women pilots into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).
The purpose of the WAFS was to deliver planes from the factory to military bases. On Aug. 5, 1943, the WAFS and WFTD (Women’s Flying Training Detachment ) merged into the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). The history of the WASP

Early 40s Army Air Force shirt, AAF patch on the shoulder soldier.
Dark Olive wool officer uniform shirt is early 40s, World War Two, with a felt embroidered AAF patch.
The AAF patch dates to 1942, and the felt is the first in the series of these patches issued.

40s WWII US Army HBT Trousers

WWII Planes B17 B29 with Nose Art casual print Mens Shirt
What a great tribute to the fighting men and women of World War II  !

Fun print of many Boeing planes..B17 Flying Fortress, B29 Superfortress, B25 Mitchell, B24 Liberator, B26 Marauder.

50s Field Trousers M 1951 Olive Drab US Army HBT

There's certainly many wonderful sad and evocative songs from the Big Band era, and the years of World War 2....but this one by Vera Lynn never fails to make me tear up....just a bit...after all these years...every time I hear it....Lynn's song in the final scene of Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, and was also used in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television serial The Singing Detective....and I love that series and Michael Gambon. oh yes. Songs by the Ink Spots were in it too...songs of my little childhood.

It's Over !

the Christ-mas calendar says it's over.....which is only partly true. for me, the year begins at the winter solstice and not in a nature-religion kind of way....it just is what's the real thing. The Earth. The Moon ...and the stars.
A West coast girl I've always been, and a West coast girl I will always be.
There's always changes going on...Once the kids grew up, I knew I'd be leaving Washington state...the  good thing I can say about Washington is that I-5 goes south.

I've been looking for a motorhome ....an RV. I  know what I want ...so I just have to find it. At first I thought, for the last 42 years, I wanted a trailer to pull behind a truck. But.. Knowing that all dreams, plans and  journeys are not always pleasant.....

I have always wished for a big decrepit house on an acre or so. That's all. Nothing special. Now, I know that will never happen. The world has changed so much in the last 5 years and it won't be set right again in my lifetime. All the hard work done by my parents and grandparents, The New Deal, has been destroyed.

The whole reason we can even buy a RV and drive it around, is because people pay taxes and build roads, parks, fund Highway Patrol/Police so we can feel safe...So that we don't become Mexico with 100% corrupt politicians and police, and drug-infested cartels that roam the cities and country and murder hundreds of people a month...and don't forget. Poverty. So thanks for voting for the very people, the Republicans, and their failure in letting "the market" control goodness, those that hate community and the Social Contract, and everything good about America. Except profit.

So....on to the search for the right RV. I'll come back to the RV chat many times. So much to know! Looking for one and I'll know it when I see it !

an RV in tiny versions....a  tootsie toy

...Here's some sweet pics from around the interwebs of inspiring rvs and nice interiors. It's important to know what I don't want....no cutesy, no Marilyn/Betty Boop/words of Inspiration decals/no Coca-cola/no Diner....So Done..Done! Also, I love authentic vintage decor....but I don't want that.....day after day after day after day.....

(look at grandma vacuum!) photo from


More like the way I decorate in my home.....

Winnebago RV made in Iowa.

Even Barbie likes to RV it !







so the huge plaids and dirty orange carpets will be the first to get tossed out. Also, say bye bye to the built-in dinette benches and fold up half-table. Out!  A real couch, and a real table with real chairs. Add in a composting toilet, then the propane oven and the stove top will go too...Only a heater will remain...to run on propane maybe. Very little cooking will happen in my portable home. I'll use a camp stove...or cook outside.  ....And solar panels will be added to be able to boondock more, rather than always be tied to an RV park...tho I've got nothing against them at all. I love them!!

I've been doing a lot of research.
folks who RV full-time seem to break down into 4 groups:
1)A lot of Christians/Mormons. Jesus wants you to live in mobile home.
2)Bums. Homeless. The Slabs.
3)Retired old people. Retired young people. (yuppies who have kicked the corporate job/or fired with a nice package)
4)Hippies. Weirdos. The Self-employed.

For seeing how the middle class and yuppie types in general do the trailer thing,
.....you can go here: Tin Can cottage Blog
for a jumping off spot to see the cutesy wootsey kind of campers and trailers and generally man-repeller design. As cute as my Xmas cards.

Here's a cute trailer...Light on over-decoration.....Darcy and Paul's Shasta. yes, a man lives here too! 

So while the vintage Trailer bunch is growing in popularity, and is quite huge with trailer meets and such............the vintage RV group is more sedate and more male. ....but, it is growing ....More people are finding the vintage RV's and motorhomes and fixing them up, and beginning to attract a younger crowd, and more folks with kids. I think the extra  room and the ideal of living in them full time is a big draw.
Even the websites......are vintage 1997!
Dedicated to classic Winnies and vintage RVs

Great RV forum

so our last camping trip was the best ! and including the car camping trip to California last September.
tho the tent...is comfy but now that we're getting older, we want a unit that's self-contained. We want to  pull up to a spot and have it all at hand. No more setting up the tent, unpacking, blowing up the bed, getting out the camp stove, the ice chest, the folding table and chairs......I do love my tent, and my pretty bed....

the inside is always cute and cozy......just the way I like it !

Best Costume for the Day

there's a lot one can say about getting dressed....Warmth, not getting arrested for indecent exposure, comfort, and function. Lots of women dress (or undress) for attracting a mate, a date, or Mr. Right Now.

and well,  Matt Dillon. hubba hubba.
I have mostly dressed for function, and then, Imagination!

I start with a theme in mind, and choose colors and a style to fit whatever dream, movie, object, nightmare...I woke up feeling like ....

 the violet of the night sky....

the Moon........the sunflower..........
whatev'

Allow me to explain.
Once, I wanted to be the sky. Oh sure, dress in Light Blue, you say. done and done.
It's not that easy, Jeff.
With me, I made a pair of pants from rainbow stripe fabric, and then topped it with a white fluffy angora sweater. so yeah...... fluffy white cloud...and a rainbow. True. Story.

I mostly dress like a mash-up of Miss Havisham/Morticia/Laura Ashley/a boy. works for me.

 With this dress, clearly, some spider earrings, a pair of tall black boots and a little handknit 80s cardigan in black angora.

Other days....oh you know. Amelia Earhart.
Sailor.
Elf.

Beach bum.
English professor.

 Tank Girl's mom.

So, I'm only a bit ashamed/proud to be an out and out follower of Disneybound tumbler and on Pinterest.
They do exactly what I do, and have done as far back as I remember...that is, I dress my mood and I don't give a flip what's in or out of style. I stopped following anything in a fashion magazine one day when I found out that wearing Cover Girl make-up and Yardley's Twiggy Slicker  lipstick, did not turn me into Penelope Tree or Twiggy ..(what is up with the English naming people for objects? I like it !!)

 photo from Dedicated Follower...


Here's some of my current faves from Disney Bound !

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Storm Trooper from Star Wars

Sam the Snowman from one of the Best Christmas cartoons ever made !