Thanksgiving in Astoria

This year my family gathered in Astoria Oregon for the Thanksgiving holiday. The boys cooked the bird, and everyone brought a little something for the meal, I brought the bread and rolls. I didn't have any containers big enough to transport them, so last minute I lined a vintage picnic basket with a little tablecloth and viola! Way prettier than a large plastic bowl.
We had a great lunch, and afterward watched Elf (because Christmas pretty much starts the minute you finish eating), and worked on quilt squares for an awesome family made quilt. Everyone is designing a square out of felt pieces, mine has hats on it :)
It was a wonderful holiday, great to be out in a beautiful setting with family!

Oh, I suppose I should mention that this is the cardigan I've been working on! I'm very happy with the way it turned out, especially since there was no size on the pattern, hehe. I used this free pattern, found after months of searching for a pattern similar to one that was worn in The Edge of Love. I just shortened the length by a few inches, I prefer sweaters to hit at the waist. I used this yarn in the color "turmeric", which seems to sell out very quickly, easy to see why, I love it! And the vintage buttons are from a huge collection I inherited from my great grandmother Lois, they matched perfectly.
You can find more free 1940s patterns here

Cardigan-Made by me using this pattern

Skirt-Urban Eccentric Vintage

Blouse-Camas Antiques

Shoes-Buffalo Exchange San Diego

Hat-Estate sale in Ohio

Bakelite bird pin-A gift from Sam

Great Grandma Lois

This is a photobooth picture of my great grandma Lois sometime during the 1930s. Her blouse is similar to my 1930s blouse, but oh how I love that scarf. She was a master seamstress so I wouldn't be surprised if she made the blouse herself. By hand of course, she didn't have a sewing machine until she was older (I just inherited one of them, can't wait to use it!).

My grandma in the 1950s and then some

Taken in 1949, look at that romper! And those shoes!

Grandma and some friends in the slammer

Here she is with her friend, I love their outfits, especially my grandmas jeans.


My grandma told me that this was taken on the way back from the Seattle worlds fair, at Multnomah Falls. I love this photo so much because she's wearing red keds, to match her red dress, and a darling red headband. I am now on a mission to recreate the look, just need all of the above!

Hope you enjoyed these photos, you can see my first post on my grandma with more photos here. Next time I do a family photo post it will be of photos from the 1930s of various family members, there's some really cute ones!

My grandma in the 1940s and 1950s.

Woodlake School 8th grade photo, 1949. My grandma is the third from the right at the bottom row.

Notice how she's hoeing dirt in a skirt AND saddle shoes.

Here she is with her little brothers, she said her hair was so curly and thick she could barely get a brush through it.

One of my favorite pictures of her, and look at that cute dress!

My grandma and mother, sometime in the late 50s.

All grown up complete with pearls.

I wish more people had taken photos of their room set ups, it's great to see how people actually decorated their living rooms, and not just what magazines tell us. This was my grandmas living room, and she said that the couch and chair set was bright red! *swoon*

Recently my great grandfather passed away, and my grandma and her siblings have been working for months going through his and my great grandmas belongings (she passed away about 13 years ago). Among many, many, many other things are of course family photos! So today I'd like to share photos of my grandma in the 40s and 50s. She was born an Okie in 1936, and grew up in california. My great grandmother was a master seamstress, so most of her clothing was handmade by my great grandma. As you can see most instances in her youth required casual clothing, her style is a huge influence on my own.

I'd love to share more family photos if you enjoy these. There's some really cute outfits in lots of them!

Sam's first tattoo

Yesterday my uncle Mav welcomed Sam into the family by giving him his first tattoo. Isn't it fantastic?

Sam handled it like a pro, and couldn't have had a better artist. My uncle Mav is one of the coolest people I know, and his work simply the best. He's a rare kind of man who wears slacks and button up shirts on a daily basis. I've only seen him wear blue jeans a few times in my life, and that was of course only to do yard work or paint the house, and they were always cuffed.
So it was a lot of fun to spend time with him in his shop, Deluxe Tattoo. Seriously, if you are in the Portland area and looking to get a top rate tattoo, thats the place to go. Say hi to my uncle Mav for me.

Crazy chairs and kitty pizza (No not like that! ..sickos...)

Today after going to Portland with Twila Jean, I met up with my aunt and her girls, and we went to The Salmon Creek Farmers Market, for some fresh berries, and cupcakes!

Afterward we stopped at a park, that had a weird spinning chair, it would never stop spinning once I got on it! Giggles ensued.

And in the evening we made pizza, which I of course made in the shape of a kitty face. Meow!

4th of July

Yesterday family and friends headed to my brothers house for an all day backyard bbq picnic. There was of course, food, drink, good company, and lots of kiddies running around. Even Twila Jean and Coedith were there! I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Photos by me, Twila, and Ruth

Dress and hat-Urban Eccentric Vintage

Shoes-Buffalo Exchange

Bakelite bird brooch-A gift from Sam, from Gilt

Cakes, pies, and tattoos.

Saturday my aunt invited me over to make a big batch of pie crusts with her and my cousins. Since it was going to be fathers day the next day, Pearl (the one in the black shirt) made her papa a Boston cream pie, and Ruth (the oldest) made a chocolate meringue pie, both turned out beautifully. As you can see baby Dottie also helped out :)
After we finished everyone piled into the car with the Boston cream pie, and we headed to Portland to surprise my uncle at work at Deluxe Tattoo. The girls always get temporary tattoos, and this time they colored them in, which was pretty cute. You can see more on that subject in a post I did here. Hope everyone had a nice weekend!