What's on the hi fi?

Last night was a perfect night for some Judy Garland...

Alone is Judy's 1957 album with Gordon Jenkins and is, in my opinion, one of her best studio albums.

Here's a version of the first track from this album, By Myself, from Judy's 1963-1964 television show:

Am I doing this right?

I'm sure it's not proper needlepoint form, but I find it much easier to do bargello laying on the couch with my legs crossed.

My leg keeps the extra canvas out of the way, leaving me to use my two hands to move the needle back and forth through piece. Yeah, it would be easier to just buy a standing frame, but what's the fun in that... :)

New Bargello Project

Sunday I was very happy to find that Jo Ann Fabrics now has more canvas options available in their needlework section. So, I picked up a big role of 12 canvas, and I'm now venturing into mitered bargello for my next pillow project. This is another pattern out of my 1974, Margaret Boyles, Bargello: An Explosion in Color book.

It took me about five tries to set up the first blue line because I kept miscounting the tiny stitches on the mitered line. There are also random stitches that cover five spaces rather than four, so I have to watch the pattern closely. I'm really enjoying the project so far, though. Hopefully things go well when I rotate the canvas and move onto the first mitered section.

There's a Riot Going On...

...and it's in my ears. You haven't heard Sly and the Family Stone's, There's a Riot Going On until you hear it on vinyl. My tube amplifier has both an analog and component input, so I can easily compare vinyl to my iPhone. I rip all of my music at 320 kbps, so I have a pretty high quality version of the album on my phone. Listening side-by-side through the same amp, though, the vinyl absolutely blows the digital version away. So warm and so much THICK bass. You can feel it right in your chest. To most vinyl-addicts, this is pretty obvious, but I just absolutely love it.

Here's a stripped-down version of probably the most well known song from this album, Family Affair.

Needlepoint as a sedative.

The last few days have been very hard. My dog, Sherlock, who was just a few weeks from his 15th birthday became sick very quickly and, ultimately, had to be put down on Friday. This is a photo from just a few weeks ago when we visited my family in Wisconsin.

For most of the day Thursday and Friday, between visits to the vets, Sherlock and I just sat out on the sunporch. His favorite thing was to be home with me laying around and relaxing. Needlepoint was the perfect distraction during this terrible period. The counting requires just enough thinking to occupy your mind, but it also can be somewhat mindless once you get going.

I finished my bargello pillow the day after Sherlock died. In the last few hours that we were sitting together on the couch, it came to me that it would be nice to add a little tribute to my favorite little dog to the pillow. My grandmother would always use a tent stitch in all of her pieces to add her initials. Inspired by this, I tent stitched Sherlock's initials (SH=Sherlock Hemlock) into the bottom left-hand corner of the pillow that was not yet completed. After getting home from the vet that evening after having to make the difficult decision to put Sherlock down, I decided to add my initials and my partner's initials around Sherlock's name, as he always loved to be either sitting or sleeping between us.

This is the final pillow:

Sherlock was a wonderful dog and never any trouble. I adopted him from a rescue group eight years ago. He was seven at that time. From the first night at my house he always slept next to me on the bed and always followed me around wherever I went. He would much prefer to be with people than other dogs. We were fortunate to have just taken a very nice road trip with Sherlock to visit my family in Wisconsin. I feel so lucky to have had that extra time with him, plus the ability to take Thursday and Friday off of work, so I could take care of him in his last hours. I'll miss him so much, but I have so many wonderful memories and I'm so fortunate to have had so much time with him. That said, our house feels completely empty without him around. Rest in peace, Sherlock Hemlock. You were much loved.

Bargello progress continues.

Progress on my bargello pillow continues.

That's as far down as I'm going, I need to now just fill in the rest of the pattern in the lower right-hand corner. Then it's just a matter of extending the left-hand side 12 more stitches and filling in the rest of that side. Getting close to being done! I'm already thinking about the next pattern I want to do - I think I want to venture into mitered (four-way) bargello next.

What's on the hi fi?

The Everly Brothers - Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (1957)

Actually, I think this album would be more aptly named, "Depressing Songs Our Daddy Taught Us." I love the Everly Brothers and this album of appalachian folk songs must have been pretty risky to release when they were at their peak as rock and rollers. Their harmonies are pure and beautiful, the arrangements sparse. It's beautiful, but dang if the songs aren't sad - Barbara Allen, I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail, Rocking Alone (In An Old Rocking Chair). I just can't picture teeny bopper girls from the late-50s getting into it. My favorite songs are Kentucky and That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine (which Simon and Garfunkel often covered in concert).

Here's a version of Silver Haired Daddy from 1970 on the Johnny Cash Show:

I highly recommend the album, just make sure you're in a good state of mind first. :)

Record Rack

I've been listening heavily to my record collection lately now that I've set up a Hi Fi console in my living room (more about this later). Because I store my records in a different room, though, I always end up with a big pile of lps sitting in a pile on top of the console unit. In search of a solution to this problem, I decided to venture out yesterday to one of my favorite antique stores, the Cambridge Antique Market, to find either a record or magazine rack that would work for lp storage preferably from the 1950s-60s era. I ended up finding four different possibilities, but many were either too pricey, too antique-ey, or too bamboo-ey.

My favorite of the offerings was this vintage magazine rack that was cheap, but needed some work.

While the black was nice, I thought that gold seemed like a more mid-century appropriate color choice. One stop at Home Depot and three coats of Rust-Oleum later, I think it turned out pretty nice.

With constant estate sale record finds, I just need to now get my whole record collection, which I store in my basement den, in order. I think I'll put it on my to-do list for the 4th of July holiday.

Clear as mud...

From the Cambridge Antique Market:

So how can I try the chair if I can't sit on it? Is this a trick?

Estate Sale Treasure Trove of Vintage Country LPs

Found a treasure trove of classic country albums at an estate sale in Beverly, Massachusetts today. Here are three of my favorite finds:

I never see old Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton or George Jones & Tammy Wynette albums in record stores around Boston, so this was quite a score for me. That's to say nothing for a George Jones & Melba Montgomery album. I haven't see those anywhere!

Inside each lp is an index card with notes on the album. I'm wondering if the previous owner was a DJ at some point. Most of the notes say "up country", "slow", etc. Some are quite touching, though, such as the card in a Hank Snow album with notes next to certain songs saying "Annv. Tape."

That's the hard thing about estate sales. Deep down you know that the owners of the house have either passed away or can no longer care for themselves. It's always a bit sad to be rifling through their belongings. At the same time, the previous owner of these records was clearly meticulous with them and, I'm hoping, would be happy to see them going to someone who will take care of, play, and appreciate them. I hope that's the case anyway, as I came home with seventeen of his lps!

What's on the hi fi?

Tonight's post-dinner music was Stan Kenton's, Kenton's West Side Story.

Stan Kenton's arrangements can often be quite bombastic, but I think his version of West Side Story is superb and really swings. Here's a clip of "Cool":

Now it's time for bed...

While I'm on the subject of needlepoint, it was unbelievably exciting for me to find this Erica Wilson book at an antique store recently when I was visiting my family in Wisconsin. I can't imagine they sell many needlepoint books to 30-something males...

Needlepoint

When I was young my grandmother was always doing needlepoint. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I really appreciate the her skill and the intricate work that went into each piece. My grandmother passed away in 1993, but I now have two of her pieces in my house, a stool that she made for me when I was an infant, and a piece that she designed and stitched to copy a Joan Miro painting.

I've always loved the Miro needlepoint and my mom gave it to me a few years ago. Each segment of the piece is made with a different stitch and I think it's absolutely beautiful.

Fast forward to a few months ago and one of my favorite blogs, Retro Renovation, had a feature on Erica Wilson, the 1970s queen of needlepoint. Specifically, they highlighted bargello needlepoint, a quite old florentine style of flame stitch that was popular in the 1970s and looks beautiful on pillows. The designer Jonathan Adler has been producing his own modern twist on bargello, but his pillows are quite expensive. 

So, inspired by my grandmother, I decided to pick up a few vintage books on bargello needlepoint and teach myself how to do it. With Margaret Boyles' Bargello: An Explosion In Color and The Margaret Boyles Bargello Workbook in hand, I decided to set out on my first needlepoint adventure.

Here's my progress so far. I think it looks pretty good. I'll keep you updated as I move along. I'm hoping to make at least four pillows. I need to procure a sewing machine from an estate sale, but that shouldn't take long. Hopefully I can keep up my motivation.

An Introduction.

I'm Chris from Boston and I've decided to start a blog. Mostly just to post things that I think people probably get tired of seeing on Facebook. Content will probably mostly be photos of stuff I find at estate sales, projects I'm working on (I've recently taken up bargello needlepoint), and basically whatever else I feel I want to share with the internet. I guess that's kind of like Pinterest, but I guess I feel too manly for that. :) I love the look and quality of vintage 1950s, '60s, and '70s furniture, decor, and crafts. So there will probably be a lot of that. Also some music I enjoy. Hopefully there will be others out there who find these things enjoyable. Chris