HISTORY: Preserved

I just had to share what I found at my favorite used book store, Wonder Book!


I already have a copy of this reprint of the Sears & Robuck 1900s catalog, but I had cut it up as a teenager to use for crafts... What was I thinking?! I've always felt guilty about it ever since. This book is totally out of print, so when I saw it on the shelf (and we had a coupon for everything buy one get one free!), I felt I needed to get it to ease my guilt over the years. Now I'll actually have a complete copy to study. Whew!

I've been wanting a copy of the Boston Cooking School Cookbook, and I was thrilled to find a 1922 edition. There is even a little goody tucked inside as a bookmark of an envelope with a stamp and the postal mark from 1943! Score!

The last book is on a topic I have been wondering about - how did the government get Americans to "do their bit" for the war effort and to reliquish so much control to the government? I guess it's understandable for the Briti…

Last night I went out with my friend Amber to Hagerstown, MD. We were on a trip to Wonder Book, an amazing used bookstore with used and antique books alike for awesome prices. It's so nice to have a kindred spirit of old and used books! I found some pretty sweet stuff!

Our second destination in Hagerstown was what my friend said is an old establishment all the locals go to: Krumpe's Do-Nuts. She had been raving about how absolutely amazing these donuts were - she claimed that Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts has nothing on these guys - so of course I had to check it out. This donut shop has a pretty interesting history- going back to the World Wars and a German sailor whose ship sank in the Chesapeake just outside Baltimore and was one of a few survivors. Lucky for him... and lucky us!

The shop was on a dark back street near downtown Hagerstown, appropriately named "DoNut Alley" - spelled with the capital N. The unique thing about this shop is that it's open …

Oooh, don't you just love a good mystery? Right now I'm reading Rhys Bowen's latest Molly Murphy mystery and I'm loving it! It's set in the early 1900s and she writes the series very well. In fact, all of her books helped keep my sanity when I was nursing my slow-drinking baby girl 3 years ago. :-)

Speaking of mysteries... I've had this interesting "vintage" garment for a long time. I don't even remember where I got it. The thing is, is that I don't know from what era this garment comes and while it was sold as "vintage" I strongly suspect that it's actually an antique. I finally decided to try and solve this little mystery. You know, there's something about the length and the construction that doesn't strike me as any later than the 1940s.

Let's check it out:






The pictures below capture more of the true color of the garment. The ones above are a tad too yellow!
Isn't the garment a gorgeous-colored cream?





So after …

I finally finished hand-sewing my Regency chemise last week. Yippee! What a relief! It really wasn't that difficult. It was just time consuming, and I feel pretty darn proud of myself for entirely hand-sewing it!






I don't think I technically can stick it with this Historical Sew Fortnightly challenge, but I will anyway. :-)


The Challenge: Peasants & Pioneers Fabric: white 50/50 linen-cotton blend
Pattern: Sensibility Patterns Year:early 19th century - Regency Notions: cotton thread, twisted cotton cording How historically accurate is it? Not sure. I think it's pretty close. 95% maybe?  Hours to complete: 12-14 hours? I'm not exactly sure, but it definitely took a long time! First worn: Not yet. Total cost: Maybe about $20 for fabric, thread, and cording

My next chemise or two will be out of 100% cotton. But I liked the feel of the linen and was happy with how it turned out.

I am absolutely in love with this book by Marguerite Patten! I was getting a few books from my wishlist a few weeks back and this was one of them. It sat on my shelf awhile until I finally picked it up over the weekend. It is totally awesome! I love Margurite Patten and wish I could sit down with her for tea sometime and chat about food rationing in Britain during WWII. Since that's probably not going to happen, this book is the next best thing! It's actually three of her books in one: The Victory Cookbook, We'll Eat Again, andPost-War Kitchen and it has her commentary sprinkled throughout.

What I love the most is that she explains how there was different terminology back then and the recipes have been updated to show the most recent lingo on measurements and oven temps. This makes it much easier for even Americans to use today - she puts in the Fahrenheit degrees! Yippee! Most of the ingredients are measured by weight, so if you have a kitchen scale, that shouldn't b…