Holidays

I hope everyone had/is having a wonderful holiday. I am absolutely exhausted but am finally getting a bit of a chance to slow down. Christmas was great, however I was doing the Christmas dinner this year and went a bit over the top. I only had 3 days to prep after moving back home, and in that 3 days I decorated the entire house including the tree, wrapped most of the presents, and made 19 different dishes (from scratch) for Christmas dinner. Luckily everything turned out wonderfully, and now that it is actually over I have a chance to sleep and unpack!

Catsy sleeping on the tree skirt

I got a lot of great gifts including a massive DVD box set of Buster Keaton films and another one of Harold Lloyd films. Other highlights include 5 boxes of violet creams (my favourite chocolate which are impossible to find!), some magazines about farming/permaculture, and an insanely heavy cast iron baking tray.

When we went visiting the other side of the family on Boxing day I wore my new blouse (made from a 1940's pattern). I added a vintage headscarf and a pair of jeans for a casual 1940's inspired look. (Ok the jeans were because all my other pants were still packed in boxes. Personally I find wide legged trousers much more comfortable than jeans!)

I was pretty bad about taking photos this year and didn't get any pictures of the many presents I made. The only picture I did get was of Britt in the chunky knit scarf + matching gloves I knit her. Speaking of knitting I have been doing a heck of a lot lately. I am almost finished a 1920's sweater which I am very excited to show you all. I am also working on a blanket. Each square of the blanket is named after a mystery novel. I'm knitting it in cream and grey, although it may be a long time before I finish it. If you are on Ravelry add me!

That's all.

Winter Fashions 1880

Just a few Victorian winter fashions for you. What are you planning on wearing for the holidays? 

Christmas Music

I'm still exam writing but I have written (failed...) 3 so far and only have 2 left! Which means any "free" time has been spent getting the last of my Christmas gifts together and doing what prep I can. While making Christmas gifts I decided I needed some music. Normally I just listen to 40's and 50's Christmas music, such as the standard Bing Crosby tunes. However I thought I would try and see if I could find some earlier stuff. Turns out there isn't much. Most classic Christmas songs weren't written until at least the 1940's and there just wasn't much Christmas music before then.

Luckily I was able to find some tunes and have complied a list of my favourites for you. These are a mix of 10's/20's/30's recordings, which a bit of a focus on the earlier decades. I forgot to save the links but all these songs are on archive.org, you might just have to do a bit of hunting to find them.
(Ok some of these are technically just "winter" songs but I thought they should be included)

1. Winter - Billy Murray
2. Jingle Bells - Charles Dornberger Orchestra (This is by far my all time favourite version of this song!!!)
3. Winter Wonderland - Lew Stone
4. Snowflakes - Harry Resser
5. Will you love me in December as you do in May? - Elysian Singers
6. We've got our love to keep us warm - Paul Whiteman
7. If Winter Comes - Atlantic Dance Orchestra
8. Christmas Bells at Eventide - Gracie Fields
9. Savoy Christmas Medley - Lloyd Shakespeare's New Piccadilly Band
10. The Fairy on the Christmas Tree - Gracie Fields

There are also a few good songs (and rather odd novelty recordings) in the Voices from Christmas Past collection.

What is your favourite holiday song?

Poinsettia's 

Any Early Christmas Present for You!

Hello everyone. I'm still here. I've just been drowning in school work. I shouldn't really be typing this now but I just had to blog something!

I had planned on adding some vintage-themed printables to my Etsy shop but just haven't had enough time to do so. So I've decided to offer one of my designs free to all of you as an early Christmas gift! This was a trial run for a bookplate using an image from a 1930's magazine. It is of a lower image quality than I would like but it looks fine when printed. Just print it on label paper in your desired size and put in your books! (If anyone needs help doing this just write me a comment and I will give you some help if I can.)

Isn't it cute? Perfect if you lend out any books. I am always worried by babies won't get back to me but a bookplate is a gentle reminder of the books owner (and proof if anyone tries to steal your book... I'm a bit possessive of my books haha)

That's All.