zippypops

home again!

the best thing about visiting my grandma (other than my grandma) is being able to look through all the old family photos. I found a few that I'd never seen before from a summer 1978 visit to her house. (I would have just turned 8)

my grandpa, sister, and me enjoying a picnic of what looks like hot dogs, pickle-lilly (don't ask...yuck), bananas, pringles and punch. mmmmm....

the fam on our way out the door to drive back home (me on the left). a rare photo of my dad smoking his pipe, a bad and stinky habit, yes, but it does have a certain style and flair to it. I much prefer pipe smoking to cigarette smoking. and by the way, I never really noticed this before, but, my mom is a stunner!

now we are out the door and making our way to that GIGANTIC station wagon. you could throw a party in that thing!

better than these photos, however, was the gift of this quilt.

I am almost speechless.
my great-grandmother made it. and it is a stunner.

before we headed out of town, we stopped by the Viking Trader, a Skandinavian shop, to pick up a few straw Christmas tree ornaments and a julbock

and this crazy, natty Santa with the pierced ears and friendly helper pig!

blog-aversary!

hey! it's my one year blog-aversary!

I have really enjoyed the past blogging year and will definitely add it, along with all the super-fab people I have met, to the list of things I am thankful for on Thursday.  tomorrow we're hitting the highway to  spend Thanksgiving with my grandma.

doll dresses. I managed to yell at my boys loud and long enough so's they left me alone to sew for a couple hours.
finished.

inside.

almost finished.

I am obsessed with enclosing all seams. no unraveling edges for me. nope. and no sergers either. it makes work time twice as long as it probably should be, but, I think it's worth it.

la souris

our kitchen has been overrun with mice for about... (thinking) a year.
I won't trap them. and Bob won't trap them.
we like mice. we have pet mice.
they're cute.

that attitude changed recently when the unwelcome mice figured out how to climb to the third shelf of the metal storage rack, unscrew the top of the giant, economy-size peanut butter jar, take a bath in the stuff and then prance about getting peanut butter paw prints on everything. that freaked me OUT.

so, last week Bob went out and bought a 'Havaheart' trap in an attempt to bring the chaos to an end. I predicted that we would trap 10 mice. Bob predicted one, whom he had already named Jojo (after the pet raccoon in Flaherty's Louisiana Story')

within 3 hours of setting the trap, we caught Jojo... and Jojo's girlfriend. over the course of the next 7 days, we caught an additional 7 mice and they are all living snug in a little 10 gallon aquarium we happened to have lying around.
(Jojo and girlfriend)

Bob has fallen in love with Jojo and family. he has provided them with a nice little wheel to run on and lots of good food. Bob's been hinting that he would like to keep them. he fears for their safety out into the cold, harsh world. for once I have to be the voice of reason and point out that if we kept them, they would multiply and we would probably have 100 mice by spring. no way.

so, he has scouted out a nice wooded area nearby, built them a little nest box in which to transport and  leave at the location. hopefully this will get done tomorrow, because they are starting to stink!

the sad thing is, we watched "Ratatouille" for the first time tonight, and there were just too many obvious little parallels. *sniff*

so, when the boys are busy liberating the mice, I plan on getting a bit of sewing done tomorrow.
this past week I worked on a costume for loopy-Loo to wear in his drama club production... cape, vest, pants. (my favorite is the beer cap medals he made!)
voici... le Marquis duScum!!

anniversary

we snuck off and got married one year ago (the 9th) at the Edward Gorey House.

books and chooks!

uh.
I am trying to gather my thoughts to write a post but Loo is in the next room with his ipod singing at the top of his lungs '99 Red Balloons' (the 7 Seconds version and the Nena english version) I am kind of annoyed, but at the same time, it's kind of funny, so.... (geez, how did he get that song on his ipod anyway?)

I have been busy busy.
been trying to find dolly dress reference. found this Lenci doll on ebay and, well, WOW. this dress is great. no way could I afford to buy her, but, I can look, no?

this weekend visited the museum affiliated with the art institute I studied at (almost 20 years ago!) as they were having a large mid-20th century american-artist show. I was all "meh." Bob liked it.
the only artist that really grabbed me was George Luks. actually, he's great. I gravitate toward figural art and portraits, so, he's right up my alley. here's some examples of his work, none of which were in the show I saw, but, you get the idea...

we took the long, meandering way home from the museum, (cows! dilapidated old houses!) and stumbled upon the best second-hand book shop. actually... book barn. three stories of crazy old dusty books, most of them priced $1. the proprietress was a delightful older woman, with a charming older cat named Buster (after Keaton) and some gorgeous chickens (chooks!!)  found some great books.

Better Homes and Gardens Stitchery and Crafts 1966
I bought this book because of the orange sections design.

A Sunset Book. How to make Soft Toys and Dolls 1977
life size portrait dolls! and a hippy bunny puppet.

A Child's Comfort. Baby and Doll Quilts in American Folk Art 1977
an Amish quilt from around 1904.

Collecting American Country 1983
I usually avoid these types of books because they are all sort of 80s corniness, but this one was pretty good, and had lots of fur-less old bears. in clothes. my favourite!

and the excellent Pollock's Dictionary of English Dolls 1982
I love long legged dollies in black stockings.