Vacation Shots and Shopping

Don't you hate it when a perfectly good sewing day is lost due to lack to mojo? And then on top of that, I'm having a bit of writer's block. Trust me, I was going to write the most interesting and profound post ever for today. I swear! Okay, maybe it wasn't going to be brilliant, but it was going to be something. But instead I spent half an hour staring at the computer screen . . . before remembering that I still have some vacation shots to show you. Hurrah! Won't you indulge me?

So the picture above is me at the Culinary Institute, which we visited on our first day of vacation. It's so cool; I couldn't help thinking it was like Hogwarts but for cooking. All the students were milling about in chef's uniforms and whipping up amazing-looking dishes in the classrooms. I wore my Lemon Tree dress (blogged here), which is quickly becoming my "compliment dress." People always comment on it! It's a good confidence booster, especially since I don't think of it as my most flattering dress and I tend to have second thoughts about wearing it sometimes.

Anyway. Here's a shot of Jeff taken before lunch. Cute, huh?

Later that day we stopped in Gardiner, New York for a little shopping at the HiHo Market. Such a cool place! I found this pretty vintage choker for $15.

We checked into Maplestone Inn, and I was ecstatic when I saw the tub.

A claw foot from 1928. Several happy hours were spent in it. My bathtub reading was Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro, which started out promising, but ended up being a bit of a dud in my opinion. But I know a lot of people liked it, so I left it in the room. Hopefully it will be more to the next bath-taker's taste than mine!

The next day we went for a hike (wearing the infamous red gingham get-up) then did a bit of antiquing in New Paltz. I found two sewing treasures! This fantastic "Atomic" needle book, still filled with the original needles:

And a sewing book that has a quote by Proust in the front matter - I couldn't resist!

"I never doubted that the garments of these ladies of fashion were peculiar to themselves, as plumage is peculiar to a bird, and which as well as being a heightening of its beauty, is an extension of its body." - Marcel Proust, The Guermantes Way

The next day there was a tremendous off-and-on storm that made us decide to do a little more boutiquing and such rather than risk being caught out in the state park. We took a drive up to Rhinebeck, where I stopped in a fantastic little lingerie store called Joovay. My spoils:

This is a lovely teddy by Mary Green.

And some retro undies by the same designer. (Are we at the point where I can show you my delicates? I think so.)

I want to duplicate both of these pieces, especially since they are both showing some seam slippage already - that's what happens when a delicate fabric tears away from the seam at a stress point. I've recently read that this can be avoided by stabilizing your seams with a stay tape. It's a shame, because both of these pieces are so well constructed otherwise - French seams and everything!

And that's it! Hopefully we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.