Hats Off To Hat Wearers...........

Last night I couldn't find anything to watch on TV and not having planned ahead by going to see if there was anything good to rent, I went scouring for some of our old movies that we have around here. One of them I found was "Out Of Africa". It is not one of my favorites, but I was glad that it won the awards that it did, because I thought it was deserving of them. Especially the Award for "Best Costume Design". I love all of the outfits and hats that Meryl Streep wears in this movie. I love the wedding outfit with this hat!

And this hat.

And this one.

And especially these two!

My husband might remember our first days of dating, and me wearing hats. They were usually the inexpensive straw ones with the wide floppy brims, but I would be a "hat wearer"
if I were a wealthy woman and had occasions to wear them. I wonder if they will ever come back in style for all of the average people. I know some people still wear them, but in my circle of the world they don't.

I also love this movie because of this beautiful veranda.

Oh...found one more I like.

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My new hobby...........

My latest thing to become obsessed with has been ....all things related to American History, with a special attention being paid to First Ladies. When I was being educated back in the olden days, History was very boring. Boring stories..most not even all that accurate

...by today's standards and having to memorize lots of dates...yada yada yada. Why is that when I became a half century old myself, I became very interested in most things involving the past? There was something about turning that age that caused me to want to know more about my own family genealogy and I think that was when it all came to life for me.

The photo above is of all of the library books I have been renewing for the past...I don't know how long. Why I had to be so greedy and check out 7 books thinking I could read them all in 2 weeks is beyond me. The lady who checked me out said.."Well, they will either sit on our shelve... or yours, and as long as no one requests them, it may as well be yours. "

I decided to take a photo of them, just in case I take them back before I get to finish them all. That way I can order them off of Amazon or maybe just get a Kindle for Christmas and read them that way. This house is overrun with books and no where to go with them. Good thing someone came up with the idea of electronic book reading...I may have to resort to reading that way.

I just finished reading "The Lost Symbol", Dan Brown's latest book. It was pretty good, I thought. He packs a little too much in each book, for my taste. I would have preferred for him to take the five books he wrote and stretch them into 10. Just too much information to absorb in my opinion.

Don't think I am trying to impress anyone with this post about my new knowledge of History. I am so far behind the average person, it will take me a very long time to hold my own in a conversation with anyone about it. Back to my studies..........

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Vivien Leigh

I have a web page I visit sometimes that tells me when famous people are having a birthday. This morning when I went there I realized it was Vivien Leigh's birthday today.... one of my favorite female movie stars. I remember seeing her for the first time when I was in the 8th grade, so maybe I was about 13 years old. My history class went to the Ambassador Theater downtown St. Louis to see "Gone With The Wind". I thought she was probably one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I remember wishing I was as pretty as she was. At 13, I don't think most of us feel very pretty. When I was in my early 20's I read whatever books I could find about her life. One thing I read that still stands out for me is that she had said that Clark Gable had terrible bad breath and after reading that I could not look at their love scenes without thinking how much she must have disliked those scenes. I read that she smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day while they were filming the movie, so I wondered with all the smoke around both of them, how bad his breath must have been to stand out amongst the smell of cigarettes.

I loved the scene where she was back home at Tara with Melanie upstairs recovering, when an intruder came in the house. I think she had on an outfit similar to the one in the photo above. Her famous right eyebrow arched up as she looked at the intruder square in the eye and fired the gun. That was the most violent thing I had seen in my young life. Gone With The Wind was full of emotions. It was so strange for me to witness all my fellow classmates, laughing and crying throughout this movie.

I don't watch a whole lot of TV or movies at this time in my life, but I do have several favorites from my younger years. Vivien Leigh is one of my all time favorites.

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Crayon Case

Just wanted to post something crafty. I made this crayon case for Maddie the other day. You can make it in just a couple of hours and I will tell you how.

Cut 2 pieces of fabric 5 x 16 1/2 inches for the outside and inside. Then cut 1 contrasting fabric 6 inches x 16 1/2 inches. Fold this piece in half and iron. Cut a piece of fusible interface 5 x 16 1/2 inches. Iron the interfacing to the wrong side of the 5 x 16 1/2 in. fabric for the inside.

Line up bottom edges of the folded piece with interfacing and pin together. Sew parallel lines with edge starting at 1 1/4 inches. Space 1 inch apart after the first 1 1/4 inch. Pin rick rack along edge. Use 30 inch ribbon for tie. Fold ribbon in half and sew in middle on edge. Pin remaining piece right side together. Sew around edge with 1/4 inch seam. Leave about 3 inches across bottom for turning. Stitch opening after turning and pressing.

I hope she likes it. She enjoys taking things out and putting them back in purses or bags, so I think she will like this.

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V

I watched the new TV show "V" last night. It was a Sci-Fi/comedy. It was holding my interest off and on while I knitted the baby afghan I have been working on here and there. I now have 3 blocks done, and started on the fourth one. The show was entertaining until the main alien told the Americans they would promise them Universal Health Care. That line cracked me up. Don't know where they are going with this one. I mainly wanted to watch it because Juliet from "Lost" is one of the main characters. I haven't gotten to see "Flashforward" yet, but noticed that a few of the cast from "Lost" are on that show. "Lost" is suppose to answer all of our questions from the precious 5 seasons...starting this January. I read that it may be delayed until March because of the Olympics. That will be okay with me. It will take me that long to watch some reruns of the past few years and try and put together my long list of questions I want an answer to. My daughter and I are the only ones in my family that are hooked on Lost...so get your list ready Katy!

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