• Coming Back To The Blog •

 Greetings, after such a long time!!  If you’re still around and reading this, let me start off with saying “thank you!”  It’s been a long time, between the whirlwind of marriage, having kids, and running a home.  The shifts in the online community have greatly affected my dedication to this space as well, where it feels like blogging is a thing of the past, falling in the shadow of the constant blur that is social media.  But my husband and I are implementing some changes in our home around less screen time (to prevent the constant display of less-than-wholesome content in our kids’ faces), and with that I will be stepping away from Instagram very soon, and stepping back into more blogging again!

In September of 2022, I reopened my vintage Etsy shop, Northern Shore Vintage, with the original intention of selling handmade antique quilt coats, antique quilts, and vintage clothing.  That soon morphed into selling a broader range of antique home decor and the like, and I was excited and motivated to build my Instagram following and have a successful Instagram business and Etsy shop.  All of that was, and still is, a great thing to aspire to, however the realities of raising children (of any age, but especially these first years) make it impossible to devote the level of time necessary to grow my Instagram business in a successful manner.  I love the idea of having my little business, but I also love my children, my husband, and my home, and I cannot and will not sacrifice being present with and invested in them to grow a business, which falls outside of my true calling - that of a wife and mama.  

All that being said, I have no plans to stop selling antiques, making quilt coats, vests, etc, but by stepping away from Instagram, it will remove that constant pressure of "I really should be making a reel right now," or knowing in the back of my mind that it’s been sooo many days since I last posted.  I don’t need or want that type of pressure in my life!  I’ll continue to source lovely antique finds that make me happy, list them on Etsy where I find the time or inclination, and thereby serve both my little hobby that I love, as well as my family that I’m so beyond blessed to have!!  

Another huge reason I found to step away from Instagram entirely, is the way that it breeds constant comparison, dissatisfaction, and “lust” (as in the desire of products/items/neat things that you do not need, but now want because you’ve seen them!).  And can we talk about the waste of time and productivity?  I know it will be a huge adjustment, but I’m so ready to make this move and be more present with my babies, have more time for the needed housework, as well as sewing and crafting - the hobbies that I’ve always loved.  

So!  If you’ve made it through all of that, once again I am thankful!!  :)  I hope each one of you is well, and that the new year has you excited for the ways in which you can better yourself, your home, and your environment!  New Years’ resolutions are not my jam, but I am excited to embrace life changes that will positively impact our family for years to come.

Another change we’ve recently implemented was to move to low-tox products in our home.  We struggled with sickness for months this fall and early winter, and between that and hormonal issues ever since having our second, I was at my wits' end to find a solution.  I always resisted the idea of “going low-tox” in the past; I enjoy a natural remedy, I enjoy gardening a bit, but in my heart I really just want to microwave some mac ‘n’ cheese, light a candle, and eat Oreos.  I have no desire to be a homesteader, a low-tox mama, or any of those stereotypes!!  That being said, once I started to really look into some specific products (I had recently started using a wax burner with scented wax melts every single day, something I’d never done before, and was having new and relentless symptoms), I couldn’t ignore the facts about how truly, literally toxic these products are!  So we’ve switched the majority of our products in our home to better choices, and without much more cost than the previous toxic products that we were accustomed to using. 

I’m still using bleach when washing my towels, and as needed for other things around the house (quite infrequent for the latter application), toilet cleaner, and ammonia for the occasional super-deep cleaning of the bathroom and washing floors.  But we’ve switched out shampoos, soaps, lotions, hair products, cleaners, and laundry products and with good results! 

If anyone is interested, here are the low-tox items we’ve started using.  Click the photo to view each item on Amazon.  (These are affiliate links, and I receive a very small compensation if a purchase is made using them)

Laundry soap:                            

Dish soap:

Shampoo/body wash (for the whole family!): 

Deodorant:

Toothpaste (adults):

Toothpaste (training):

Hair pomade (guys):

Lip balm:

Baby lotion:

Clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils to make this DIY Thieves Cleaner

This Castile soap concentrate to make foaming hand soap (simply dilute approximately 6 parts water to 1 part Castile soap in a foaming soap dispenser such as these)

I’m still on the hunt for low-tox makeup (something that provides decent coverage without clogging pores or breaking the bank!), and a few other products like face cream and hairspray.  But we have already seen huge improvements in our health and the look/feel of our skin, just since making the switch a short time ago.  So if you’re on the fence about whether to switch or not, I would highly encourage you to give it a try!  Start small, and start with products that have the biggest impact (such as lotion, dish soap, laundry products that are on your skin or breathed in frequently).  

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, and let me know also what you’ve been up to!  I’ve missed you all, and look forward to coming back to this platform and the simple, slow, much more enjoyable environment that it provides!  

Have a blessed week!  ❤️ 

Esther

• Very Overdue, Very Random Post •

Well now, it's only been about half a year since I last blogged.  That's not very long, is it?

It's been a whirlwind of a fall and winter, with plenty of drama, plenty of fun, and plenty of blessings.  I'm thankful for where the Lord has brought us in past months, and wouldn't change a thing.  This year is going to be a good one!

I apologize in advance for the extremely varying sizes and shapes of these photos you're about to see - they are all gathered from my phone from varying sources.  Enjoy!  :)

Back in August, we were able to attend and participate in D-Day Ohio, and that was just an amazing experience.  We sewed up day dresses for day one, and went in uniform the other two days.

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Mom was an American Red Cross Gray Lady, and I was a Pharmacist's Mate in the USN WAVES.  Emily Stringham of Emily's Vintage Visions has done an amazing job gathering a (growing) group of ladies to represent WAVES at D-Day, and her WAVES display as well as her leadership of the group is amazing.  I am so excited for this year's reenactment!

Can't forget to add this -- we welcomed two little kittens into our family in October.  They are mischievous little rascals but we love them so <3 

A dear friend had a western-themed graduation party, so I planned to make a western shirt to wear to that.  I decided to procrastinate until the night before to finish it, so I sewed the last button on at 2:30 in the morning.  Sure was fun to wear though!  :)

We attended Mississinewa 1812 once again this year, and per usual I was dying of the worst cold ever.  I felt just exactly like death, and literally that entire basket you see in the picture was filled with Kleenexes.  But we went, and we conquered.

There is a really amazing antique market that has sales once each month, and one of the amazing things we found there was this box full of vintage fabric pieces and quilt blocks.  I could sit and look at them for hours!!!

In December, we were blessed to be able to participate in a choir society's production of Handel's Messiah.  The practice sessions each week beforehand and the nights of singing were some of my favorite moments of the year.  Such wonderful fellowship and the words - the beautiful, Biblical, Christ-honoring words were and are so moving.  Lord willing, we'll be participating again later this year!  

We needed black and white outfits to wear for the concerts, so......

....I made a 1930s and a 1950s ensemble, one for each night.  Once again, I had planned to make these outfits far in advance, but ended up waiting until less than 2 weeks before the concert.  Lots of evening sewing after work, and I got them both done!  And I sewed a blouse from rayon....everyone congratulate me.  That experience once again confirmed what I already knew, which is that I really, deeply detest sewing with rayon.

1930s for me, 1940s for Mom.

1950s ensembles.

At the concert!

Here you can see both of the adorable fluffballs :)

We took a trip to Minnesota also in early winter, seeing dear loved ones along the way.  This picture was taken in my grandma's very wallpapered bathroom, wearing a blouse with a very complicated history......

It was a UFO for quite some time, and I finally decided to finish it for our MN trip.  I had just finished sewing the last button on and went downstairs to iron it so it was ready to go.  We had purchased some cheapy iron in the summer, and we knew it always ran a little on the hot side.  I turned it on to an extremely low setting, lower even than normal, and proceeded to iron the blouse.  Right as I am ironing the front of the blouse, I notice that the fabric is strangely scorched-looking.  To my horror, I realize that the iron has literally scorched two large spots on the center front of my brand-new blouse, and not just minor scorch marks, but orange-y, horrible, awful scorching.

In my great distress and anguish, I took the little old iron upstairs, informed my mother of what I was about to do, at which time she proclaimed that the garbage man was coming the next morning, but I insisted that that was not good enough.  I marched outside in my jammies in the moonlight and chucked that iron over a 15' cliff at the back of our property.

That is what happens to naughty irons at our house.

End of story.

Mom got this beautiful coat from Stephanie <3, and it looks amazing on her.  Soft, fuzzy green 1950s loveliness!  We had just arrived in our favorite place (Duluth), and were marching out to watch a ship come in the harbor.

I scored this Dale of Norway sweater on Ebay in the late fall, and it has definitely gotten plenty of wear.  It's very heavy and warm, so it was perfect for traipsing through Duluth in the chilly gales!

No visit to Duluth is complete without a picture "next to" Split Rock Lighthouse :D

While we were visiting with my grandpa, I knitted up my first rendition of this "pixie hood," based on this picture from the '40s.

I didn't do a swatch, so it came out a little bigger than intended, so I just cuffed the front edge and went with it.  It made for very good elf-walks-on-waterfall pictures.

Mom looking amazing in her '40s lumberjack-vibes ensemble.

I didn't end up making most of the planned vacation outfits, but I did get this dreamy '50s skirt done.  Back when I first got into vintage sewing, I found this fabric on Etsy and saved it for just the right project.  I pleated it up, put pockets in the side seams (they're invisible!!), and finally got it finished!  I didn't have time to make the blouse I wanted, so my amazing mom made me this beautiful red '50s number.  It is one of my favorite patterns, and you might recognize it as the same style as my "Messiah" blouse.

Since it was practically balmy on Christmas Day, we dressed accordingly......

(minus one cat that didn't want her photo taken, apparently)

We added a whole bunch of Pendleton skirts to our wardrobes this year, and I am not sorry about it!  This Christmassy number is one of my absolute favorites, and it pairs very well with my favorite red 49er.

I also found this to-die-for collegiate sweater on Ebay, and it is just tooooo perfect.

We took our usual weekend down to southern Indiana in early January, touring gorgeous Madison, IN with its beautiful historic homes and doing plenty of antiquing, as you'll see here in a minute.

We had matching sweaters here, but no one will ever know....haha!

Matching Pendleton skirts as we trekked through what I'm quite sure is THE largest antique store anywhere in the world.  It is so enormous that you become quite fatigued only a quarter of the way through it, but it's worth it.  Ohio River Valley Antiques or some such.

The haul.  Or at least, part of it.  There was more than would fit in one picture.  :D

Another Pendleton skirt, paired with my favorite new RVS boots.

We've been enjoying beautiful concerts with the FW Phil this winter, the highlight of which has been Valentina Lisitsa playing her "Love Story" themes.  I never get tired of her playing!

One of my most recent (and favorite) projects is this 1940s housecoat!  I joined the Sew A Dress Each Month challenge for 2020, so this was my January project.  It is a literal dream and I put it on pretty much every evening when I come home from work, and some mornings as well.  It's got the dreamiest ruffles on the pockets, and it is soooo comfortable yet elegant to wear.

We also started working on a feedsack repro quilt in recent weeks.  It has gotten put on the back burner recently with preparations for a reenactment, but we're still so excited to work on it.

Just living the dream in my housecoat and mom-made ruffly apron.

This is version 2 of my Pixie Hood, this one fitting much better than the first!  Now that I completed it, we're not getting any cold weather, but maybe there's still hope before Spring comes marching in....

We did get a few flakes of snow, however, so I grabbed the opportunity to get pictures of my amaaaaazzzzzing new 1940s coat.  I still can't believe I have a piece like this!  It's in absolutely perfect condition - the best blue wool with a quilted lining and fur for days.

I also wanted pictures of my freshly-completed snowflake hood!  I started to knit one by hand, but not only am I not cut out for fairisle knitting (ugh), but I also was using much too large of yarn for the size it needed.  (No swatch again, naughty naughty...)  I decided to give it a whirl on the knitting machine, which I did, and it came out fairly decently! 

I did the body of it on the knitting machine and ribbed it by hand, which went fairly quickly.

I'm hoping to knit up a bunch of these and offer them for sale this coming fall and winter....

Another one of those projects that just makes you feel good....only 8 years after remodelling my bathroom, I finally made curtains to match.  Slightly overdue, but VERY satisfying.  Found a home for this gorgeous antique pitcher, too.

Lastly....just me being "me" with my loopy braids.  Growing my hair out again, and enjoying the benefits of that!

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If you made it to this point, I'll be shocked, but if you did, thanks for reading, and I hope you are all doing well!  I post regularly on my Instagram account, so head over and follow me there if you'd like.  Have a fantastic weekend, friends!