Autumn Colours in Spring

More awful news day after day. I find it interesting that for someone who's so quick to tweet (blurt) out whatever unfiltered rubbish courses through his head, the bully been maintaining complete radio silence the past few days. Interesting, eh? Well, no role model there I guess. I mean, come on-not even a completely hollow and meaningless, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims"? 

Okay, just had to get that out of my system. 

Here, have some cake.

On to nicer things. Happy Midsummer! We make this cake every year for Danny's half-Birthday which happens to fall at Midsummer eve. He spent the first nine years living in a very small town that was settled by Swedish immigrants that came to Nebraska as homesteaders in the 1800's. The real reason we save this cake for Midsummer is because you can't get raspberries in December! It is a very special cake that takes three days to complete, and as a result isn't the sort of thing I'd want to undertake baking more than once a year. What's in it you ask that takes three days? 

Homemade raspberry jam

Raspberry puree

Chocolate buttermilk cake

Raspberry chocolate ganache

And assembly that includes a wide variety of curse words!

In the end, we have enough cake for the next week and another half for the freezer. 

Let's move on to the real reason you come here...my sparkling personality vintage clothing. 

Sigh, I like brown and rust colours. Always have. I imagine it is a matter of knowing what works for me, but it can look a bit out of place come spring and summer. That's where accessories become useful in stretching my favourite wardrobe pieces.

There isn't anything inherently summery about Western wear, but I do tend to associate it with the rodeo season which in Nebraska at least tends to be in the summertime. Confession-I like rodeos. The boys don't, but that's okay. I took Danny to a rodeo once and that was enough for him. 

I think Danny was about three when we took him to the Ashland rodeo (I can't remember when he stopped using a sippy cup). I couldn't bribe him to wear a cowboy hat and Western shirt these days. That's a pity as I find some really great stuff in the thrifts. All well, kids need to grow up and find their own interests. 

Anyway, accessories can drag an autumn skirt into summer as I've done with the addition of these open-toed sling-back heels. A hand-tooled leather bag always feels summery to me. I recently purchased one in dark green leather with a tan and rust rose motif in the centre. It would have worked with the colours of the skirt but I was afraid it would end up getting lost with the print of the fabric. "More is more" is a great rule of thumb, but shocking as it might sound hearing me say it, sometimes you've gotta hold back. I know, there there, the shock must be terrible. You should probably go have a lie down.

Outfit Particulars:

Blouse-K Mart a few years ago

1970's skirt-Thrift World

Vintage Belt-New Life Thrift

Vintage hand tooled Mexican purse-New Life Thrift

Vintage root beer Bakelite earrings-Can't remember

Shoes-Goodwill

Fragrance-Fleur de Cabotine (cactus flower felt like the right note here)

How about another?

This nylon dress and matching jacket would be too flimsy to wear in our autumn weather, but the colours do suggest changing leaves. To help lighten this outfit up, I added a new-to-me Hobe  necklace and bracelet set. 

 I can appreciate why people collect Hobe-the pieces are substantial. My wrist was sore by the end of the day! Sort of like a fashionable wrist-weight.

 Outfit Particulars:
1970's nylon dress and jacket-Thrift World
Vintage Hobe necklace and bracelet-Thrift World (under three bucks. Really).
Vintage handbag-Thrift World
Brooch-Etsy shop, Nomads With Baggage
Vintage Gaymode shoes-Thrift World
Belt-Goodwill
Fragrance-Nahema

 If you like the brooch, there's another still available in silver.

What about you? Do you save certain colours for specific seasons, or do you wear what you like when you like? 

Giddyup pardner.