A Quickie

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to get out your teeny tiny fiddle and play me a dirge, as it is inventory time again in the bead store:

This is perhaps a third of the store, and all those strands have to be counted, and all those trays get new tags, and counted. There are 63 pages of single spaced-lines of inventory. And yes, we do weight count a lot of it, but you can’t do it with strands, and you can’t do it with oddly-shaped beads, and it isn’t worth doing for 10 or so, but they still need counted. Whoever came up with needing inventory was a complete masochist. Lots of folks think it would be really fun to play with the beads all day, but it wears off rapidly. Your back and your knees tell you it is not so fun. I am just telling you all that, so you know why today’s post is a little short! You get a twofer, and some this and that.

Let’s just get this out of the way:

I might forgive them the bear out of felt. Could be a puppet and could be for a kid. Not that the giant orange heart on the tummy is fabulous, but we should probably talk about the elephant in the room. Why were nylons deemed a necessity for this project? They could have just made it out of felt and done just fine, but no, they had to make him seem like he drew the short straw and had to drive the getaway car. He got shortchanged on the mask and this was the best they could do! Apparently, they also only had petite nylons, as that head is a bit on the smallish side too. Like that is the most heinous thing about this.

Maybe I should toss this out there too, and get it over with:

I, personally, was totally horrified by this. I don’t know which question to ask first. Let’s start with why a pitcher? I don’t believe Reagan’s nose was overly large, and honestly, he didn’t spend a whole lot of time sticking it where it didn’t belong. He was never my favorite president, but even so, do you think even Nancy would have allowed this in the White House? I think there is finite limit on unconditional love, and it might stop at ceramic caricatures. Thank goodness they didn’t think to paint it. Imagine how much worse it could have been. At a whopping $65 bucks, I think it will be there for a good long while. Hope no one comes along and proves me wrong. Unless it is one of those places you get to go and smash ceramics for an hour. (I sort of want to do that!) [Deb here. Our editor recognized this as a Spitting Image Ronald Reagan teapot from the 1980s.]

It gets better from here, I promise. Here is a twofer:

I mostly wanted to share the tiny little McCall’s dolly pattern, but I needed to contrast it with something else just to show how small it is compared to regular patterns. We will get to that in a minute. I have never seen these little patterns before. This one is marked as a sample, so I wonder if it was a giveaway for a new fabric store, or something McCall’s sent to folks who asked for it? It’s perfect and uncut, and cute as can be,

On the other hand, how outrageous is the ’60s caftan pattern? It’s so mod and wowza. I adore the models’ poses on this. I grabbed the pattern with the idea that it could be an awesome Barbie one, and I wouldn’t think it would be too hard.to make it dolly size. If I get it done, I will be sure and share it with everyone, but I do insist that if you make it, all your dolls pose just like these groovy ladies. Maybe Deb and I will take up stopping every so often in our shopping adventures and striking just such a pose! The summer intern will never be seen with us again.

One more fun one:

Sorry, trying to be a little artistic, and it came out a bit blurrier than I intended, but you get the gist. I spotted the Victorian spool holder at ARC a couple of weeks ago in the hands of another shopper. She was busy chatting to a friend and looking it all over. I was going absolutely nuts mentally trying to get her to “put it down, put it down”. Finally she did and moved along, and I swooped in. I know why she put it down, as it was priced at $39.99, but Victorian sewing items are pretty pricey little gems, and while not paying it happily, I did pay it. Probably dates to the late 1800s, We are having an argument on the age of the spools, as I think they are older than my vintage sewing machine group thinks they are, but I don’t really care one way or the other. The little flower in front is a silk bag made out of old kimonos. I have been making these bags in a fit of insanity. This is probably the last one for a while, as it about made me lose my mind. And of course my sweet little featherweight sewing machine has to pose all the time. I should try the photo again with a better camera. One of these days, in my copious free time.

Last up, a pretty set of china:

Marked cheap at a yard sale last fall. The sugar bowl lid is broken, but someone cared enough to glue it back together. If nothing else that teapot would be worth it, if I didn’t already have half a dozen teapots and no one ever comes for tea. I have been known to make a pot of tea, but it is pretty rare, as the microwave and a mug is a bit quicker. Maybe once I get done counting beads!