Anti-White Christmas

My son commented that Irving Berlin was crazy. "He's in Beverly Hills for Christmas, and he is complaining?"
"I know, I'd give serious money to be bored by the pool in Beverly Hills right now."
"And all these songs about winter being the most wonderful time of the year are just pro-winter propaganda."
Question: why does no one sing of the pleasures of being in California at Christmas? I grew up there, and believe me, it is a pleasure. It is usually warm, people can barbecue, ride bikes and walk by the beach.
It was snowing on Thursday when I was at the doctor's office. I mentioned that the snow was a shock still to a warm weather California girl like me. The doctor laughed. "This is nothing!", she said. "I'm from Chicago."
And people can stop with the weather one-upmanship too.
If I whine about the ice and freezing rain here in Virginia, I can guarantee that some wiseacre will inform me in a smug tone that they are from New Hampshire/Vermont/ Wisconsin/North Dakota/Canada/North Pole and there "We'd be walking around in shorts in weather like this."

The Little Stocking that Could

I found this little pattern from 1965 in my collection of patterns from my mother's stash. (I have patterns and fabric from her, Mr. Hunting Creek's mother and Mr. Hunting Creek's aunt. It's a whole family reunion in there.) "What a cute little train!", I thought. My daughter works for Amtrak, so a train stocking was indicated, even though the back of the pattern clearly states, "For Boy's stocking..."
Why can't girls have trains on their stockings? Why do only boys get planes and trains? "Because girls were supposed to stay home and take care of babies." said Mr. Hunting Creek. Bah Humbug to that! I immediately decided to rectify this grave stocking travesty of justice and make Ms. Hunting Creek a train stocking. It's Acela blue, with stars overhead to show the train running through America under the night sky.

The wheels are shirt buttons from my button stash. The train and stars are made from felt, and the smoke from the engine is from a scrap of sequin trim. Doesn't it look cute?
After making this I visualized a whole baby quilt made with train blocks and stars, train blocks and mountains, train blocks and cities...it's amazing what a little project can do to unlock one's creativity.

Paper Dolls

My sister and I used to play with paper dolls, (and Wonder Woman comic books, and Supergirl comic books and others)to fill those long hours while we waited for our parents at the airport. (They ran a charter airline, and this was back in the days when kids could play in airports, before they were turned into a modern version of the Stanford Prison Experiment. But, I digress.)
I was so excited to find these cool paper dolls! Dior, Armani, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, and lots more. It's like a mini modern fashion lesson, in color.
Here's the description:
Along with eight paper dolls in swimsuits and underwear (two for each decade from 1960–2000), fashion historian Tom Tierney here renders 120 era-defining cutout costumes in full color. These are faithful depictions of outfits from such designers as Yves Saint-Laurent, Mary Quant, Halston, Bill Blass, Donna Karan, Bob Mackie, Laura Ashley, and 70 others
I bought one copy for myself, and a few more in case Little Hunting Creek Customers love paper dolls as much as I do. I though I'd frame some pages for my new sewing studio.
If you like modern fashion and paper dolls, find them here. But don't wait...when they're done, they're gone.

Be Warned

Don't let this happen to you:
My fellow stashers, be warned. We are in the process of changing my sewing zone from one floor to another floor. This requires all fabric to be moved from one floor to another. In my innocence, I let Mr. Hunting Creek pack up all of the fabric so he could re-arrange the former sewing cave. He started saying things like: I can't believe you have this much fabric. and You'll never sew all of these patterns in three lifetimes!
He broke out in a cold sweat. He started to freak out.
So be warned! Do not expose sewing rookies to the overwhelmingness of your awesome fabric stash. They. Can't. Take. It.
He's OK now. I talked him down.
(But it cost me a Pool Table.)

With Collar

With Collar - of course, with collar! And crisp linen, and white gloves and a hat. Perfect for cutting Don Draper down to size with cutting, teasing repartee. This dress is made for repartee.


Don't you love the witty seaming detail? The enchanting pocket flaps that have no pockets? (who wants pockets there, anyway?)
If this is your sixties fantasy, find it here. Hat, gloves and advertising executive not included.

Scary Patterns II

Any cat I have ever known would just as soon take a cold shower with a dog than wear a silly costume. What did McCall's do to get these cats to wear these costumes?
Feed them a whole can of sardines? (Laced with Valium?)


My sister's cat Matilda, famous for stalking and killing giant lizards, snakes, gophers, and even a hummingbird (!!!) scoffs at cat costumes.
If your cat loves costumes, find it here.

Studio storage ideas

Check out this pretty fabric storage solution.
My studio and office are both painted, the office is done and in use.
Now the real work begins on the studio...
Please suggest any good ideas for fabric storage, thread storage etc.,in comments.
Thanks!