New Patterns: 24 December 2010

We're doing Christmas at New Year's when my brother and sister-in-law are in town. There are no children in the family so nobody really cares if it's on the right day or not.

Mom and I always forget that Christmas Eve is Christmas Eve and end up going out shopping. We just barely remembered not to go to J.C. Penney's to get Dad some new pants to wear out to dinner tonight. Can you imagine Penney's on Christmas Eve?? Madness! And we'd have to go to the mall to get there, which is practically suicidal.

We went to the antique malls and the model train store instead. Those were surprisingly quiet. The model train shop guy says he's there ten hours a day, seven days a week. I'm guessing he's single.

Anyway . . .

I got these the other week when I got the cats, but couldn't get a picture until I recharged my camera battery. Mexican silver filigree earrings. They're really only about an inch long, excluding the ear wires, but they're lovely. (No, I still haven't gotten my ears pierced. It's on the list of things to do in 2011.)

I like those homemade-looking ear wires, especially if they have catches in the back.

When we came out of the first mall, there was a DeLorean DMC-12 staring us down.

I'm of Back to the Future vintage, so I've always sort of loved these, even though they were total lemons even when they were new. They look so old-fashioned now: No modern sports car would be that square. But they're so flat! They're like manta rays with wheels.

The second antique mall--there are two within about a mile and a half of each other, on the same road--had several boxes of patterns. I got the fabric and the two 1970's Simplicity patterns there a couple of weeks ago.

Most of them were in pretty sad shape, and a lot of them are 1960's, which is probably my least favorite decade. Nevertheless, I found a nice double-breasted coat-dress in my size. I love that checked summer version on the left. Of course, I also love the dark, lined, version on the right. I don't actually think I'm chic enough to pull off a dress like this but maybe it would be a good influence on me.

The missing dress is red and has three-quarter sleeves.

And I found this fake Frankoma cat. Frankoma made a puma figurine that looks very similar, and the green-on-brown glaze is another Frankoma trademark, but usually in matte or satin finish (this one is shiny). The bottom is cheaply finished. Still, it's a pretty nice art-pottery cat.

They also had the doe that goes with my Brad Keeler fawn but she was $65. Yeah. I'm praying for a sale. (The Rio Hondo beagle/spaniel next to the fawn came from this same mall. They have good stuff.)

We're going out to dinner with friends tonight. I swore I'd get a salad but I checked the menu online and I'm already eyeing the catfish plate, which comes with crawfish, scallops (I love scallops), and vegetables.