Sara and I took in the pre-Code film Jewel Robbery, which was part of the Hollywood Babylon series. Before the film, this helpful graphic was displayed.
You can see the picture includes all of the “shalt nots.”
We counted quite a few shalt-nots in our movie. Jewel Robbery was fun, though a very brief 68 minutes that has me wishing the tickets were slightly discounted.
Somewhere in our travels, I came across this much appreciated sign in a gender neutral bathroom.
I’m completely for gender neutral bathrooms, especially when the bathroom has just one toilet and one sink. However, my experience has been that it’s quite common to walk in and have to kick the seat down. Drives me crazy.
And here we are at the gate. The museum is Betsy Warren’s private collection of thousands of women’s clothing and accessories from the 1920s to the 1980s.
First off, the brides’ room. It included this fantastic over-the-top wedding dress that appeared at the Bins (Goodwill’s last-chance stop before items head to the trash.) It’s an incredible dress, and I’m guessing something didn’t go well with the marriage for it to be discarded as it was. The curator is hoping to eventually find out more about this dress.
Upstairs, I enjoyed this busty item of furniture.
A favorite dress. The info card reads: Suzy Perette (1950s) Wasn’t the name of anyone, but the name of a dress manufacturing company that made affordable versions of Parisian designs in the 1950s.
Two more great black dresses. The one on the right is Cheryle Kaye and is from the 1980s. The one on the left is Carlyle, based in Illinois from the 1950s.
I liked this display of gloves, hats, and purses.
All three of these dresses are quite fun! The strawberry one would be especially fun for a summer party.
Both Sara and I were surprised that the bubble skirt was popular before the 80s, but there were a few dresses on display that proved that to be true, like this one.
We posed in front of the swimming costumes.
And in a mirror.
This was a fun tour, and if you like fashion, it’s well worth your time to make reservations.
I was supposed to meet a former coworker for tea, but she forgot. That meant I had a great solo tea experience at Bardo tea. It gave me time to dive into one of my books for my Hollywood Movie Musicals Project: A Song in the Dark.
The red pillowcases I use are wearing out. The material is thin with holes and the seams are coming unraveled. As someone with time on my hands, I figured I would mend them with big patches. The size of the patch indicates just how decrepit this pillowcase has become.
I finished one corner, then noticed a few more holes, so I needed to add a patch.
You can see the technique. Cut the patch, draw a swoopy line, then tack the patch to the pillowcase, then big running stitch.
And you can see how much of the pillowcase is becoming a patch.
I used variegated perle cotton thread, and also a blanket stitch for the edges.
The seams needed a lot of assistance, so they got this cavalcade of stitches.
Close inspection of the other pillowcase found similar problems. It was at this point that I looked up the cost of new sheets, decided I could afford them, and discarded this project.
That’s one of the best thing to come with my middle age. When I cry uncle, I get rid of the project. It doesn’t need to be hanging around reminding me I haven’t finished it.
As I type the postcard’s words into the title, I see that an apostrophe has gone missing from the card.
Sara calls out the same thing that was my first thought: only sportsMEN?
Sara has gone back to Coeur d’Alene because her father died, and so this Idaho postcard comes to me. She said that the weather was chilly enough to have a fire and for her sister to make potato leek soup, both nice things.
Kanopy, the library’s free streaming service, gives me access to the Great Courses. I’m planning a Hollywood Movie Musicals project, so I thought I would start with a film appreciation course. Today, I completed it.
Eric R. Williams was my teacher, and he taught the 24 lectures with the glee of a learned film fan and the enthusiasm of an overexcited dad. There were times that his antics were cringeworthy, but his full-hearted love of film overcome those moments.
Not overcomable was the use of really bad computer generated versions of movie scenes. I’m sure they had to use them for copyright reasons, but I had to look away while they were playing, rendering their use moot.
Another fun thing was that his set was full of fun Easter eggs, like the license plates above the window. I got THX 138 first (George Lucas’s first movie), and eventually the 007 clued me into James Bond’s license plate.
I had to look up the other two. CNH 320 is the Dukes of Hazzard license plate. I can’t find the specific meaning of the 125 PCE plate, but I have learned that 0-499 PCE is reserved for California license plates that are used in film and movies.
This course gave me a solid start to my movie project, and I’m hoping to refer to my notes often. Thanks to Mr. Williams, the Multnomah County Library, and Kanopy for this free resource.
Here are two more Zentangles. Because May is mental health month, they are having a tangle along. They are using their triangular tiles. I don’t have those, so I’m using triangular-type shapes on the artist cards.
I’m also experimenting with a new way to add my initials to my tiles.
I started “walking” the Camino on December 23, 2024, and here I am having finished my walk in May.
That’s significantly longer than most people take to actually walk the Camino, but since my walk was based on steps, there you have it.
I now start the longest expedition: the Appalachian Trail. As the number of kilometers is longer than 2,000, I don’t expect to finish this walk for a very long time.
It’s the time of finishing many things, including this sampler. This is the third of three Dropcloth Samplers I bought in October 2020 with an Etsy gift card from Linda Johnston. Here is the first one, and here is the second one.
I think this is the sampler that has a tutorial on Creativebug. I couldn’t find information about a few of the stitches, so I did all of the sampler but those stitches, then signed up for the free trial and learned those stitches, then watched the tutorial for the schoolhouse sampler.
This sampler came with printed color, which was a fun addition. I’m pleased with how it came together.
Some favorite things: the shag carpet look of the turkey work, how great the brown and red look against the yellow background, and that I was patient enough to even stitch over the printing with the name on it. You can see that I wasn’t really into the close herringbone.
Also fun? I ordered the wrong color of DMC floss, and so I had this hot pink salmon kicking around. It made a great frame using split stitch. I also enjoyed the Cretan stitch. I was not a fan of the Japanese darning stitch. I had to draw guiding lines on the sampler.
