I am seriously addicted to these little cuties.

In fact, I think I have another one on the way.  

These cuties come all the way from Japan and are the work of Sawako Hayakawa and her shop is Allejuja.

 

The fence in my garden was barely hanging on.

It was here when I moved in 8 years ago and was well worn then.

Let's just say, it had "patina".

Look, that terrier puts herself in every picture.

There were spots where she could stick her little terrier head right through and bark at every dog walking by.

Well, not anymore :->

Now it is terrier proof and quite handsome.  I gave my contractors a bit of a challenge with the design but they pulled it off.

There's that terrier again.  Such a ham.

 

Today's yard sale scores yielded  a huge bag of vintage sewing patterns for the grand sum of $1.  Awesome right?

I love old sewing patterns, especially from the 60's and 70's.  I especially love it when I come across patterns that I made for myself.  I made a lot of my own clothes when I was 11 and 12.  Yup, sure did.  Mostly polyester, of course.

But in 1976 I was 16 and I wasn't sewing garments much then at all.  I didn't return to that until I was in my 20's and by then it was the 80's and shoulder pads were in charge.

If I had been perusing the pattern books in 1976 then I would certainly remember these "stretch knits only" (polyester) onesie patterns.

The jumpsuit pattern.  Only 4 pattern pieces and look how many possibilities.

But this gem is "The Infinite Dress".  Only ONE pattern piece.  A marvel of engineering.  

Well, I didn't make these garments then, but I have the patterns now.  Hmmmm........

 

I love the simple styling of this vintage Kenmore Model 87.

Made in Japan for Sears in 1963.  Straight stitch.

Just a beauty!

 

I picked up the vintage Visetti that Steve custom restored just for me this weekend.

My wonderful old Singer sewing table does not accomodate a built in machine but rather a tabletop.  I took the box from my old Riccar machine and customized it with a bit of old wallpaper to make it fit to house the pink dream Visetti.

We are just getting acquainted but I should be sewing like a streak pretty soon.

 

Just because.

 

I replaced a rusting bird feeder the other day with a really sweet one that I found on Etsy.

This bright yellow feeder is the design of Bill over at Old Barn Identity.  Bill calls this the "Ultimate Bird Feeder" because the design is not only wind proof but it only allows the birds to get a beak full of seed at a time so very little of it gets dropped and wasted.

You can see the birds have taken to it already.  Bill says the little song birds especially like his feeders because they can scoot right through the tubes and escape from those annoying bully birds (that would be you grackles).

I am extremely pleased with this feeder and I recommend it to all you bird lovers out there too.

 

Steve sent more progress pictures on the Visetti custom restoration this morning.

He said he will have her purring like a kitten for me by the end of the week.

 

Just got an update on the custom restoration that Steve is doing on this vintage Visetti machine.

Gorgeous!