It's 6:15 in the morning and instead of getting ready for work and cleaning my messy room in preparation for my most favorite person in the entire world to visit me this weekend - I'm procrastinating. But, I think this is an acceptable form of procrastination as it comes in the form of beautiful scans from The Velveteen Rabbit. The University of Connecticut sent us 4 carts of wonderful books - and this is the first of a few I plan on sharing! I know this book holds a special place in my childhood (my heart almost exploded when I saw it on the list of books they were sending!!) and I'm sure it does for many others - so I'll stop the yappings and get to the pictures (so I can also get to the tidying!)
This is more or less how I spent my snowy Sunday. Important things like grocery shopping, buying a bunch of white ranunculus, cooking with kale, dusting out the cobwebs, stitching up my old tattered quilts, and of course ... re-arranging. It seems like every weekend I end up fussing with my bedroom, I think I'm finally getting there though - I've realized the more stuff I cram in - the cozier I feel. This weekend was sort of a big deal though since I'm clearing out all my things from my extra room/closet and moving it all into my teeny tiny bedroom. I feel like I'm living in some sort of fun world right now. There's just floor to ceiling stuff and a little three foot path that goes through my room (this extends for approximately 14 feet).
There are little fragile dresses hanging all around and I've got all sorts of pretty books stacked up and organized by color. My wooden thread collection is complete and spreads itself out perfectly across my windows. I've yet to add my wall hangings - but, I'm trying to save some things for me and Alice's shared studio space (by studio space I mean the spare room in our house that's only down the hall about 12 feet) I'm excited to see how the room will work itself out. We hope to make a few nice spots to take pictures by and hopefully we'll have the ultimate shipping table for our Forest Bound and Thirteen Eighty-Five endeavors. I'm sure one of us will share photos when the room is complete - but for now - here are the newest photos of my room and the chaos that it is:
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It's funny - I don't know if you can tell from those pictures that it's all one tiny room! The claustrophobic ... *ahem - I mean cozy feeling doesn't really come across as well as it does in real life.
Today was another snowy day and Alice was sweet enough to help me with some etsy photos - it was nice to have a clean room as the backdrop! Much cozier to be inside then outside in the white fluff!!
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Now I'm off to bed - I've been sick for the past two weeks and I feel a relapse coming on - the dreaded 'hard to swallow soar throat' business!! I hope I wake up feeling better in the morning!!!
I totally realize this has turned into an out of print-Children's book illustration blog as of late - but I am happy to share something a little more fashion related! The Wellesley Legenda. Inspiration from the ladies who made up Wellesley College in the good 'ol days (and we're talking pre-Mona Lisa Smile here)
In case anyone was wondering, I work for the Internet Archive and we've scanned so many Wellesley Legenda's that its too much to look at! I'm going to go through them slowly because there's too many awesome little bits and pieces to miss!
So, here's a little highlight from 1914 and 1916. I'm sure there will be more posts to come! (And hopefully some actual clothing posts too - I'm going to San Francisco for a long weekend next week and I'm really excited!!)
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Out of all the years I've thumbed through, Eda has been my favorite. She's just so striking! Her fussy high neck collar is perfectly balanced out by her HUGE hair, and by huge I mean completely amazing.
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Archery sort of scares me to pieces, but there's something about a nice cowl neck cardigan that makes it all better! Especially the girl on the far left bottom row! She looks so sweet and perfectly askew and careless - if I were at Wellesley in 1918 I think we'd be pals. I also think I'm going to star scouring the antique stores around Wellesley for one of these cardigans!
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The ladies of Harmony and Rythm are lookin' all too perfect for Spring. It's getting me excited for the upcoming months!
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Goodness gracious, there's just too many lovely hairstyles and pretty lace blouses with bow ties to even shake a stick at - so you'll have to go flip through for yourselves!!!
Normally, I'm always the one to complain about New England's dreary winter and frigid temperatures - but for some reason, I haven't been minding it as much this year. The temperatures have been unusually warm though lately and it's got me confused about Winter and Spring. I'd really love a few more snow storms - but at the same time I can't wait until the grey and black piles of snow sludge are gone and the grass is warm enough to stick your toes into.
I am a pack rat. There's no two ways about it, I just love being surrounded in a little rat's nest of junk. I decided I should start documenting things a little better - so here we have the start to a little series showcasing all my 'ol stuff!
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It's the raggly and scraggly humble old friends that people once formed their childhoods around and they steal my heart each and every time! I have them scattered about - sitting on suitcases and hiding in book shelves - I try to keep them spread out as it's best not to lump this collection all together - at 22 you might be mistaken for having pre-cat lady symptoms.
I did however get the the gang together for a family portrait of sorts. It should be the first and last - but there's no promising!
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I buy most of my stuffings at flea markets and antique stores. I rarely find the nice oldies in thrift stores. I've had the best luck at flea markets but sometimes people ask for outlandish amounts of money - I try not to pay anymore than $5 - but once in a while there are some you don't mind forkin' over a few extra doll hairs for ... I think these two pals were the priciest.. Each alone could be a new pretty dress - but we all have our vices.
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This little one eyed bandit was a gift - and I think he hails from Western MA and he just might have been the catalyst for the collection...
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This fancy cat was a gift from the always lovely Rhiannon He's so long and lanky and I really adore his blue bow-tie!
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Lion Dog was also a gift and comes from one of the most beautiful antique stores I've ever been to in my entire life. His two tone tail is my favorite part!
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The next few were all found in flea markets and are some of the very best!
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I bought this zebra at the Bizarre Bazaar - I really love zebras, because they're awesome and also because my last name starts with a Z. The lovely girl who makes them lives in Boston and has a wonderful etsy shop. You have no idea how much I want this and this!
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Sadly, I have more - a lot more - but I'll only share one last one! Alice bought this for me for Christmas. It's a little wind up lion and it's probably the most perfect thing I own. His little red tongue and exposed spring tail is really too perfect!! They're both very dear to my heart!
I really like reading books out loud. I call them read alouds, and my boyfriend is usually my only audience. Right now we're reading Uncle Wiggly's Adventures and I think it's one of my favorites. There's too many silly characters to count, and they each get their own voice!
The book chronicles the travels of dear old Uncle Wiggily - a rabbit with one crutch, a big 'ol Mary Poppins-esque satchel and a nasty case of rheumatism. The narrator has a peculiar sense of humor too and touches upon Uncle Wiggily's near death encounters with very, very hungry animals. There's also his meet up with Fido Flip-Flop, the ex-circus poodle dog who does tricks for his supper and turns even the meanest of foxes dizzy at his sight.... Surprise parties hosted by Arabella Chick in her humble chicken coop with games like, "Please don't sit on my hat, and I won't sit on yours." ..And there's other stories I haven't gotten to yet, like those of paper boats, mud pies, and hundreds of ants teaming together to carry a glass of water to Uncle Wiggily. As if this wasn't great enough - the illustrations are strange in the most wonderful way!
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I promise - if you read one, you won't be able to stop!
I really think that those years between 1860 and the 1890's are the best time for printed matter of any kind (books, advertising...). I think it has something to do with the typography and handwriting styles, but I can't exactly pinpoint it. My love affair first started a few years ago when I watched this really low budget documentary on quilt making. There were so many images of beautiful factory advertisements from that period and I've been obsessed ever since. I've recently spent a lot of time with lots and lots of Bee Keeping books, from the 1860's to the early 1920's and of course - the ones from the later part of the 19th century are best!
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Okay, okay - so a few snuck in from the early part of the 20th century - but I'm telling you, after that - the pretty images and fancy font goes away!
The second best thing about these bee journals? They have great photographs and funny little illustrations!!!
