Dime Store Chic

Fab Four and Nine Patches

Hello, My Friends!~~~

I'm taking a little break from the sewing machine to post about what I'm doing this week. Craft show (I'm doing 2 this holiday season--gasp!) and the holiday season will be here before I know it. I have been sewing up a storm for the craft shows and for my etsy shop! Lately, I have been using squares of fabric and my vintage coloring book collection for inspiration. I just love using lots of color and pattern together.

I have spent many hours cutting squares of fabric and then piecing them together into a simple 9-patch for the tote where I sewed a fabric-printed coloring book cover. Here are a few completed and a stack waiting for interfacing and completion, all of these are being guarded by the Fab Four!

It's kind of like the early Beatles are stepping into the later-psychadelic Beatles. Yeah yeah yeah!~~~Well, enough break time and back to sewing!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

Post Irene Book-O-Rama

Hello, My Friends!~~

Irene was kind to us, leaving only a scattering of oak leaves, sticks, and acorns in our yard.

The winds were 40 mph to 60 mph gusts so we decided to hunker down in the basement in case one of the tall oaks in the back yard decided to come down on our house. Here is my studio all ready for the hurricane...

That's hubby under a blanket and pillow on top of a sleeping bag and air mattress, and Sheila doggie on her bed. Here is my cot...

Looks cozy but I have to admit that it is not that comfortable. Our son ended up here at 1:30 a.m. and I ended up on the futon on another part of our basement. At 2:00 a.m. I looked out and saw the blue-green flashes of exploding transformers. The height of the storm was here between 2 and 5 a.m.

The normally docile creek in the park at the end of the street was quite active, but nothing like the folks in Southern Vermont faced. My heart goes out to all who suffered catastrophy during the hurricane. Wow, Irene was nasty to so many!

Before Irene, I intended to list a whole bunch of really (IMHO) fun vintage books in Dime Store Chic, but I decided that getting ready for the storm was priority, you know, stocking up on chocolate and Pop Tarts take time.

I did list a whole bunch of books today and there maybe something you might find interesting. I love vintage textbooks, don't you?

Or cute little story books...

I adore the "Mother Goose"lettering on the inside of this sweet book...

Or the "furry" font of this cute kitty cat book...

And I adore the many little colorful illustrations of a children's dictionary...

But my favorite book is this adorable parakeet book from the 1950's...

I love parakeets! They are just as cute as can be!

Maybe you will find a book you like. No charge for browsing :)~~~Have a great day, and I hope you are not in a place where cleaning up after Irene is daunting!~~~XXOO, beth

We're Ready for You, Miss Irene!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

OK, we've had an earthquake now a hurrican is bearing down on us. I fully expect locusts or hail that turns to fire next week.

Here in the Washington, DC area we are in the moderate impact zone, but that is nothing compared to my friends right on Virginia's coast and in (gasp!) New York City who are in the high impact zone! Please be safe!

However, we will get high wind and a lot of rain and around here that plainly translates into power outages. Ugh! But we are prepared. We have lots of D-cell batteries (actualy they are left over from this past winter's snow/ice storm), fabulous non-perishable snacks I picked up at Whole Foods yesterday (including organic strawberry pop-tarts), I-pods and I-pads are charged (I have several movies on my I-pad plus and extra 10 hour exterior battery pack), paper plates and plasticware, charcoal for cooking on the grill, a radio, and camp lanterns. The only good thing about a power outage in August is that you can hang around outside and grill (can't do that comfortably in a snowstorm).

I also prepared some things to make that don't require electricity, ie. handwork...

  a lot picking up
Here are pin cushion "bodies" ready to be filled and embellished. After I sew the fabric bodies on the machine, the rest is all handwork. I can also make wreaths which require no sewing. If we have power out for so long that I finish all of these projects, I can cut out tote bags. But I have a feeling I'll be in the yard alot picking up sticks and branches (I hope that's all I have to deal with after the storm!).

I'll catch you on the flip side of Irene. If you are in the "hot zone" of this naughty storm, please please please stay safe!~~~XXOO, Beth

New Goodies and A SALE

Hello, My Friends!~~~

With the threat of Hurricane Irene and I am still finding things askew in the studionfrom the earthquake, I thought I would have a little sale in Beth's Bagz as well as add some new creations! The sale goods are older designs that shook all over the shelves during the earthquake! Sweet survivors that thankfully didn't take a tumble off the shelves. And neither did these NEW creations...

A cutie pie angel!

A perky and curious Scotty dog!

And a Valentine angel boy!~~~These and more one-of-a-kind creations are available in Beth's Bagz for one low shipping price to the USA no matter how many goodies you buy in one order!~~~Take care and to my friends on the East Coast in the path of Irene, please stay safe!~~~XXOO, Beth

5.9

Hello, My Friends!~~

Did you feel it???? If you live in Virginia or up and down the East Coast, you probably did!

I was standing in our kitchen talking to our son when the house started to shake and rumble. The noise was so LOUD! I first thought an airplane was falling out of the sky, then (since I live in the Washington, DC area) a possible terrorist attack, but our son said "earthquake." We then ran outside and the rumbling and shaking slowly subsided. Neighbors were outside all upset and wondering what happened. One of our neighbors who is from southern California said she had experienced this size of earthquake before. Son and I finally went back into the house.

Things on the shelves had moved. We found some of our son's action figures on the floor in his room and Hubby's baseball room had some balls and mini bats on the floor. I found this in the living room:

A pretty yellow vase given to me by my friend, Caroline. Broken and sad in the floor. Our only casualty.

The news has been on constantly here...

Buildings evacuated and the Federal Government employees being let out early. The monuments in DC all closed as well as city schools. A spire from the National Cathedral fell and some buildings losts bits and pieces. Everyone is okay, just shaken up--literally. To all of my friends in California, I now have empathy for you. This is the largest earthquake in Virginia in recorded history. Wow. What next? Oh yeah, Hurricane Irene is aiming for us this Sunday. Better go get batteries and Pop Tarts...XXOO, Beth

 

Cleaning Out

Hello, My Friends!~~~

We are spending a long weekend at the beach cottage. This weekened we decided to clean out closets and drawers. The cottage has been here since 1967 and so quite few things have piled up in closets and drawers!

I decided to have a mini-yard sale in my Dime Store Chic etsy shop with some of the things I decided after all of these years to let go. There is a whole variety of vintage goodies like this fun deck of cards:

These great wooden checkers:

Sunday school goodies:

And even a groovy wooden sign:

I have listed these and a whole bunch of other vintage goodies in Dime Store Chic today! Thanks for stopping by!~~~XXOO, Beth

Yard Crawl to Yard Swim

Hello, My Friends!~~

Yesterday we (Hubby, Son, and I) left at 5:15 a.m. (!) and headed west for the Route 11 Yard Crawl  in the lovely Shennandoah Valley of Virginia! We began in New Market after arriving about 6:45. It is the southern end for the Yard Crawl which stretches 43 miles up to Stephens City in the nothern part of the valley. The yard salers were out early and so were we and a whole lot of other folks!

Here is the Southern Kitchen Restaurant in New Market and you can some folks selling their wares in the parking lot in the background.

This is the scenery between the towns that dot the valley along the Yard Crawl Route. Horses,lots of pasture, and the Blue Ridge Mountains!

Here is Son shopping. He managed to score some fun things that only a teen age boy would find cool: a figurine from the movie Alien, a big Star Wars action figure, vintage Atari game with cartidges, a computer video game, and a dragon figurine. He was really good at bargaining too! Considering this is his first flea market shopping experience, Son is quite the expert.

Here is Hubby and Son posing at one of the various flea markets set up along the route. I found the best bargains were not from the flea market vendors, but from the individual yard sales in folk's front yards. But we, of course, had to stop at flea markets too!

Here is a sale in Mt. Jackson. I didn't find anything I could use here, but the sale was behind this "historic" building...

The Shennandoah Lanes is Virginia's oldest Bowling Alley. It is even upstairs in the building. Here is the cool sign in the front of the building...

Don't you just love this neon sign?

Wouldn't you just LOVE to live here? I know I would!

Or how about this beauty? A little paint and TLC and it would be so wonderful!

We parked behind this guy and his pick-up loaded with all sorts of great furniture. His truck was already piled high when we got to this place, but when we left he was attaching this table to the open tailgate of his truck. I hope he didn't have far to travel!

Now, I had intended to take more photos of folks selling their goods as we neared the end of the yard crawl, but Mother Nature had other plans. Black clouds rolled into the valley and unleashed a monsoon. The wind blew through with a fury. We were in the center of Woodstock in Hubby's truck, VA when this fierce wind tore through the small town tossing leaves, dust, and yard sale stuff everywhere.

In a minute we left the center of town and came upon this destruction which happened a minute before we arrived.

This thrift store lost part of its tin roof!

The rest of the roof blew across the road. There is some insulation wrapped around the street sign. You can see the dark clouds heading toward the mountains! I looked on the news and didn't see reports of any injuries. Thank goodness!

And then the rains came!

We are in Tom's Brook and the rain is relentless and moving in our direction. We knew then that at 2 p.m. our day was done. We were about 2/3 of the way along the route and had made a lot of great purchases. The day was not a complete disaster for us, but I do feel bad for the folks selling. Well, there's always next year!

Here is my Yard Crawl loot!

Lots of great vintage books, figurines, Christmas, and more!

Fun stuff!

I love the pink clock radio! It works too! In addition to these great treasures, I found a whole box of this...!

Vintage horse show ribbons! We are in Virginia horse country!

We had a great time. Even though the day began hot and humid, and ended with a monsoon, the shopping was great and the people selling are just wonderful! So friendly. I hope they did as well as me and the rain didn't dampen thier day too much!~~~Have a great day!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

Getting Ready To Crawl!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

This Saturday very very early in the morning, Hubby, Son, and I will head out west, about 1-1/2 hours from home, to the Route 11 Yard Crawl! I am so excited to hit the 43 miles of yard sales and flea markets tucked into Virginia's gorgeous Shennandoah Valley.

We went last year, just Hubby and me, and I have been looking forward to going again. It is a complete miracle that Son is going with us this year, since he prefers to hang out at home with video games and his friends. He actually told us that he has things to look for (he's into vintage video games and certain action figures).

I will be looking for fabulous vintage goodies to use in my crafts as well as fun finds for my etsy shop! I'll take lots of photos when I'm not "crawling" :) See yolu afterwards!~~~Have a wonderful weekend!~~~XXOO, Beth

Muzzled!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

Sometimes I find something unconventional and quite nifty!

Case in point...

This a wonderful rusty, crusty wire muzzle! At first I thought it must have been for a very large dog.

I found out that it is a weaning muzzle for calves. It could also have been used to keep a horse or mule from grazing. Not being a farm girl, I couldn't imagine putting this on an animal, but I know it must have been necessary for the farmer who once owned this. I think that it could have a new life as an interesting decorative piece. I have listed it along with a lot of other fresh finds in Dime Store Chic!~~~XXOO, Beth

 

Happy 100th Birthday, Lucy!

Hello, My Friends!~~~

Today marks the 100th birthday of Lucille Ball! Happy Birthday to Lucy!

Here is the marker in Jamestown, NY where Lucy was born. We visited there in 2008.

Here is the house where Lucy grew up.

Here is a fabulous mural in Jamestown of Lucy and Ethel in the "I Love Lucy" episode "Job Switching."

 
And here is Lucy's final resting place.

I love Lucy!~~~XXOO, Beth