Boots, Fabric And Breakables. Or, What I Brought Back From Texas

Aside from the realization that I am truly getting old, I brought back several mementos of our trip(we're talking a car full, as in, we had stuff packed in the floorboards by our feet and almost obstructing our views out the back window of the Terrain), along with a bunch of craft supplies, since I was generously given the opportunity to raid my Granny's craft stash. And, as I am sure many of you already know, Granny craft stashes are THE BEST.

I tried not to be greedy in my raiding. Despite my trying, I still felt like I took a lot of stuff. Until I made my way all around her "junk room", that is, and realized that I really hadn't even begun to make a dent in the enormous amount of boxes full up with fabric, patterns and findings.

SO. MUCH. FABRIC. Waiting to be turned into dresses, skirts, bracelets, totes and necklaces.

This stuff will come in so handy as I make special occasion dresses for The Kid and collage bracelets.

Vintage patterns are just the best. Modern clothes are often poorly shaped and made of icky, cheap fabrics. Vintage patterns allow you to get those classic silhouettes in whatever fabric you choose. I am partial to cottons, myself.

While rummaging through her craft stash, I also came across a stash of crocheted baby blankets, pre-made so that when a new baby in the family comes along, she doesn't have to scramble to make a blanket. I claimed this one as my own, heh heh. In fact, it is sitting on my lap under my laptop as I type this!

The colors remind me of a watermelon in the summer. I just love it!

 

She also had a few things she had been saving for me. A pile of jewelry to upcycle, a vintage Dough Boy cookie jar and a jadite colored, vintage liquor bottle with Asian flair.

I love to make jewelry for benefit auctions, myself and for gifts. Most of it never makes it to my etsy shop, haha!

This cutie is from 1988. Almost as old as me. And we both like cookies in our bellies...

I set this above my kitchen cabinets, in amongst my pitcher collection. For some reason it blends in really well, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. It helps carry that beautiful Jadite tone through that corner of the kitchen.

We also went thrifting while in Texas. Thrifting is one of my favorite ways to spend time when traveling, because you can find some of the most unique things that make far better souvenirs than anything you could get at a truck stop or tourist trap, and you pay a lot less money for them. Thrifting is also very earth friendly, too, of course. My favorite items I picked up while thrifting in Texas include a pink piggie bank from Mexico, a Siamese cat needlepoint piece that The Husband initially showed to me as a joke, and a cute little Texas A&M Aggies shirt for The Kid.

I am thinking about painting his nose, because he reminds me a little too much of Hitler...

The Husband showed this to me as a joke, but I fell in love with the little 50 cent sweetie. I don't know why, but I love it. Somebody spent a lot of time putting these guys together! And now they grace a space between my living room windows.

Our big ticket purchases for this trip(aside from GAS of course) was Nascar tickets(my first race!) and matching pairs of cowboy boots purchased at a Western store just outside of Livingston, Texas. We didn't really set out to get matching boots, or spend so much money on boots, we just happened to fall in love with the same style while browsing through our respective sex's section of the store.

I told The Husband that we have to learn to square dance now, so that we can wear matching outfits with our matching boots, just like the cute little old couples at seniors square dances do. Seriously, these were my favorite purchase of the whole trip. I mean, what could be a more perfect memento of Texas than a pair of boots?!

Mine read, "Lady Luck", and I think they must work, because I wore them to the Nascar race(that's why they are dirty) and my driver took third place. Which, if you are following Mark Martin's career, you know that third place is about as good as it can get for him. And I mean that in the most loving way possible!

There were also a massive amount of shells we picked off the beach at High Island, a cool vegan leather purse with a Texas star that I bought at my cousin's cute little retail/resale shop, a couple of Nascar items purchased from the vendor trailers before the race(Mark Martin is my driver;) and a butt load of books picked up at various thrift shops, but goodness gracious me, I just don't have the time necessary to fully flesh out this post as I am still attempting to edit the 800 photos I took during the trip, and condense them down into one reasonably sized photojournalism post to share with you all.

Also, my house is insanely disorganized right now as we unpack and I slowly sort through my etsy shop's inventory to reactivate listings and figure out which items still need to be photographed and have listings created for them. And I am just now catching up on laundry. Gah, there is just never enough time in each day!

Some of the things we brought back from Texas have already been absorbed into the blob and will likely never be seen again...

I am thinking that at this point, as I sit here surrounded by piles of fabric that needs washing, clothes that need to be put away and buttons that need to be sorted, that I just may allow myself to be absorbed as well.

But first, I need a bowl of ice cream to accompany me.

*sheds a tear because Blue Bell ice cream cannot be found in Iowa*