New Blog

I admit, I'm crazy to start a new blog BUT. I do want to try to document my "adventure" as the new owner of a vintage car...my Dad's '52 Henry J, inherited last year when he passed away. Its been in storage for a while now and with the new house, I will have a place to keep it so will be getting some work finished on it and having it brought down here within a month or so! So begins the learning. Follow along on my new blog, DAD'S HENRY J. Thanks!

~Ang

One Year.

Dad died as I sat helplessly by his side one year ago today. The sun was setting and my Mom had left to take my sister home, we'd been there all day with him as the hospice workers administered morphine to help ease the pain and get him some much needed rest. They had just come in to freshen up the bedding and adjust things and he was asleep....I dimmed the lights and sat there with him, just us, in the gathering darkness.

I told him I loved him, told him it was ok to go....to let go and be free from the pain. And then he left.

I never knew what it was like to be with someone you love when their soul leaves the body. I had never known the pain I felt in that moment. The desperation, the emptiness, the anger, the fear....wishing I could take back telling him to go, wishing I could beg him to stay. But knowing that that would be selfish, and the pain was so tremendous that his release was a blessing. My head knew that but my heart was shattering into a million pieces and the little girl in me was screaming for her Dad not to go, bewildered by the loss and overwhelmed by the grief.

The grown up me had to handle arrangements, utterly clueless as to how to go about such a thing in such shock (thank you, Mom, for the strength you gave me during that time...I know you loved him too, despite how things ended up between you). And the grown up me has had to work through a lot of the grown up stuff that goes with the loss of a parent. Probably a blessing in and of itself for the distraction it provides.

But the little girl me watched the sun set tonight and remembers. Remembers everything, brutal and cruel and terrifying, everything about what cancer did to her Dad....how cancer stole her Dad long before he should have left this earth. Watching the sun set. Crying. Remembering. Alone.

And then as dusk swelled above the sliver of light left from the sun of today, one single bright star appeared.

Thanks, Dad. I love you too.

~Ang

The Revolutionary Costume for Today...New Hat from SugarLids

I made another hat! I'm fascinated by the Beales of Grey Gardens and had an inspiration this morning while thinking about Little Edie's headgear in the film (can't wait to see the upcoming remake, partly because I have clothing from my website in it but because I love the documentary and can't wait to see Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore portray these women!). So I give you the first in what will be a series of headpieces inspired by Little Edie (and maybe one day I'll get ambitious enough to find a big floppy hat to work into a Big Edie look!).

I used a tattered men's wool/mohair blend cardigan sweater and did some sculpting, ruching and manipulating to get it into hat shape (slightly 30s inspired, actually) and left the sleeve to wrap about the neck. Added a brooch a la Little Edie and a hat was born!

~Ang

Introducing....SugarLids!

I'm not spread quiiiite thin enough with the shop, site, Momming and buying a house so I decided to start my own vintage upcycled/vintage inspired hat line....SugarLids! I have tons of vintage millinery supplies (feathers, bases, flowers, lots of netting) from collecting and selling vintage over the years, as well as loads of fabric, ribbons and the like. I've always been enamored by vintage hats (hence 4 pages of hats on the WEBSITE), and after handling them for years I felt fairly comfortable with understanding their construction. I'll be honing my sewing skills and creating a studio within my office once I get moved, but to kick it off I made my first hat today and listed it on etsy, accessible via the website SUGARLIDS.COM.

This first hat is constructed on a modern ring base with vintage ostrich plumes, vintage netting, vintage starched crinoline pieces and a vintage satin rosette. Tilt style inspired by 40s tilt & toy hats, it has an elastic decorative ribbon to go under the hair and hold in place while tilted forward or can be bobby pinned into hair. All hand sewn and designed by me! Watch for more to come!

Yay hats!!

~Ang