Item of the Week

Sometimes a great print and great design come together for a fun little dress. This one is one of my faves, appealing to my inner artist AND my inner vintie!
It features a strutting peacock in a woodblock style print. The front looks like a fairly standard wiggle dress, but the back has a little added gathering of fabric, so you can shake your tailfeathers, too!
Find this nifty bit in our 50s section at http://www.hatfeathersvintage.com

The Green Girl

Hatfeathers Vintage tries to operate as "green" as we can. While we realize no one person is going to save the world, we like to do our part. Our new blog section "The Green Girl" is our little place to share bits about how we do our best to be nice to the planet.

Our first topic...PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS!

Ok, we're as guilty as the rest. If you don't have a huge collection of these bags hanging on the wall or a doorknob somewhere, then you are amongst the minority. Yeah, they're great when you need to clean out the litter box, but who's cat goes THAT much?

I recently got 4 cloth bags at WalMart (I know, I have issues with them, too, but!) and absolutely love them! I can get a lot of stuff in them, and they hold their shape well. My stuff comes home in better shape than with the 10 or so plastic bags these 4 cloth bags have replaced. That's 10 bags every 4 or 5 days! Better yet, I am slowly regaining the wall to my laundry room; the home to my vast collection of plastic bags.

I've used them for other stuff, too, such as trips to the post office, gym, and our little one likes them for carrying sleep over stuff to Grandma's house.
There are loads of great bags out there for purchase, I've seen a lot on ebay, in stores like WalMart and Target, and through online retailers. Give them a try, help save the world one grocery trip at a time.

Here's a link to the Sierra Club's page on plastic bags http://www.sierraclub.org/bags/

Item of the Week

Martha's "Strike and Spare" Bowling Shirt

This shirt is just one of those fun, novelty-type things that I enjoy finding.
The chocolate brown fabric is loaded with a unique, heavy chain stitched logo, plus the bowler's name at the front, "Martha".
It may not be the height of fashion, but I think it's a real hoot!

Find it and other nifty things at http://www.hatfeathersvintage.com

The Happy Housewife

The Happy Housewife knows your family is on a budget....so why spend a lot on over-processed, packaged foods, when good, simple, and quick will do? This dish goes great with simple meals like burgers from the grill, or fancier meals like roasted chicken. This also travels well, so it's great for pot-luck dinners. Try this one with your family today!


Baked Rice
1 cup regular rice (the cheap by-the-bag stuff, not Minute Rice)
1 regular can chicken broth (or veggie broth)
1 small can of sliced mushrooms and their juice
About ½ Stick butter or margarine, sliced and dropped in by the chunk, use as much or little as you like

Put all the ingredients into a loaf pan or lidded casserole, cover with lid or aluminum foil. Bake at 300-350 for about an hour. Keep the lid on the whole time, don’t peek!
Picky kids? Leave out the shrooms, but add in more water, about 1/3 of the broth can will do the trick.