Victory! ...rolls

This week I've had my dear friend Joyous to visit from Toronto, Canada. We tromped around every single antique store in the area, including one that isn't listed... because it's somebody's barn. We found lots of little treasures!

Joyous found a beaded coin purse, a sweet apron, a teacup and saucer, and several sets of cameo stud earrings. I had my eye on bigger quarry (as I do not have to lug it back to the north country) and came home with a lamp-slash-endtable, a teak letter-and-key holder, a small wooden recipe box, an embroidered table runner and a fabulous Pendleton Knockabouts jacket, complete with leather-patch elbows!

This week has been no less than victorious, not only in great vintage finds in our small town, but also in more hair experiments! First we thought we'd do pin curls for a mandolin concert this week, but time flew by and left us with too few hours to put it together. Instead - Victory Rolls!

As you can see, we made the most of it. We both have very straight hair, which I thought would prove more challenging than it actually did. Joy has lots of hair that's very fine, and I have thick hair but not as much of it. Soon I hope to post a video tutorial of how to do this particular hairstyle, but until then, here's what we did:

1. If you start with wet hair, throw in some mousse and blow dry. If you start with dry hair, hairspray the heck out of it and then brush it.
2. Take two vertical sections of hair from each side of your head and throw the rest in a ponytail.
3. Backcomb each of the four sections on the back side, using hairspray as necessary (we used quite a lot).
4. Use a 1"-barrel curling iron to curl one section towards the back. When it's sufficiently curled, use your hands to roll the section away from your face into the long rolls you see in our pictures.
5. Use two bobby pins to secure the roll at the top and the bottom. You can play with the roll to make it looser or tighter, depending on how much volume you want.
6. Do this for each of the four sections, pulling your bangs aside if you have them.
7. For those with said fringe, hold them straight up from your head, spray them, and curl them in a large curl towards the front. Leave it to cool, then backcomb the back side and roll them into a standing pin curl off to one side. Secure with a bobby pin.
8. Undo the ponytail you put up earlier. Curl the hair in sections - use hairspray to make sure the ends don't fall out immediately (it's not terribly important that they stay really curly).
9. Brush the curls and put your hair up in a high ponytail again. Split the hair on the top to make a pocket just above the elastic band, loosening the ponytail, and tuck the hair into it. Leave the last few inches of the ponytail untucked.
10. Curl the last few inches of the ponytail around the pocket of stuffed hair to hide it, and pin it with a bobby pin.
11. Spray, spray, spray! We took on wind and rain with this style, and nary a hair was out of place when we returned.

Cheers!
Marjorie

I'm a little teapot

I have been looking for the perfect teapot for years. Years. And just a few months ago, I found it - well, her. She was sitting on a corner table at the back of a newly-discovered antique store, and she commanded my full attention.

It's difficult to say what is so special about this perfect little teapot. Perhaps I just know deep down that if I were a teapot, I would be this little teapot. Maybe I saw her in a dream, or met one of her matching cups and saucers at an antique shop in my past. One thing I do know is that she spoke to me, and one should always buy, if one is able, the items that speak to one's soul.

This little teapot is named Angela for a cat-loving friend of mine who, when I think of her, always makes me want to curl up with my kitty and a cup of tea. My teapot does much the same thing, and it doesn't hurt that she has quite recently been clothed with a tea cozy of delicate design and delightful colors, making her all the more inviting. Many thanks to my wonderful Oma for the gift!

Another recent acquisition was this fanciful embroidered table runner, found for a few cents at an estate sale. Birdie and I have decided she needs a bosom, so I think I will attempt something innocently come-hitherish using my library embroidery books soon. I love her shoes, and I can only dream of bloomers with flounces like that!

Here are a few details of my lovely embroidered belle. Enjoy!