Embroidery Absence

Well, I feel kind of bad that I haven't been posting anything about embroidery lately.  Sometimes I go through phases where embroidery is far from my mind and something else occupies my time.  Honestly, I haven't embroidered since our trip to Minneapolis in early July.  Part of the reason is I packed-up much of my crafting/sewing/embroidery items into boxes, anticipating a move that is no longer going to happen.  So now it's just a matter of getting the boxes back out of storage and unpacking them, and getting every little thing back into place.  Then I'll get back into the embroidery groove!

But until then I can spend some time working on my Dresden quilt!  The little flower petals are quite portable, I can take them anywhere to work on them.

There are now seven whole flowers and a few halves that I've put together and two of those seven are on muslin backing.

 



EMBROIDERY GOALS and PROJECTS
I'd like to embroider a table cloth at some point this fall or winter.  Something similar to this one.

I saw the one above on Etsy way back in June. 

And this one that is on Etsy right now!  How cute is this?!  I love that they both have crochet edges and I'd really like to learn how add crochet around the edges like these above.  I know how to crochet a little bit so I think I could learn how fairly easily.

I would also like to make some napkins for spring or summer next year.  Just some ordinary, napkins for everyday use, with a little embroidery on them of course.

Along with a table cloth and napkins, I'd like to do something with a Scottie dog motif.  But we'll talk about that later...I bought some really cute Scottie dog glasses and gingham napkins, but haven't been able to photograph them yet.  So, my new found love for Scottie dogs is something to blog about real soon!
Until then, enjoy the Autumn days ahead and have a happy, vintage day!

 

Flowers From My Mom

These Cosmos are just so beautiful I have to share them. 

They are from my folks' garden.  I haven't been up to their place to see their gardens this year, so it was nice of Mom to bring me a little piece of her garden.  They really brighten up the kitchen and make me feel better (I'm still fighting this awful cold!)

Here's a photo from the garden that I took in 2011.

That's all for today, so until next time, enjoy the beautiful day and enjoy the season!

Vintage Ads Wednesday 2

Here are some vintage ads found in my July 1950 Woman's Day. 
Today we continue with this adorable car game for children, drawn by Richard Scary!  (you may remember him as the creator of the "Busy Town" books and books like Cars and Trucks and Things That Go!  He also illustrated a number of My Little Golden Books).

 

 



The game is a pretty good idea, especially for back in the days before ipods, ipads, and portable DVD players.  Do kids even look out the windows anymore as the car drives down the highway?  There is so much countryside to see!  Of course if you are sitting in the back seat, it's more like a blur of trees, the occasional car or mailbox and telephone poles with their wires dipping down and then up, then down, then up....until your stomach decides it no longer wants the Happy Meal you ate 30 minutes ago.  I suffered from motion sickness as a kid. 

And how about a set of knives?  For only 25 cents and a box top from any size lipton tea, a person could get these nifty little knives!  I've always thought premiums were interesting.

 

And I just love the little cartoon conversations between these woman friends. 

 

 

And here is another advertising premium and if I had a neighborhood friend I'd be sure and tell her about these nifty little sandwich toasters from Swift's Premium Canned Meats!  It looks like Swift Premium was a bit like SPAM.  One could make yummy little meat and cheese sandwiches in this handy little toaster, to be ready for the kids, as they walk home from school, through the cold and snow for a quick, hot lunch!  I would've just added some wholesome, Campbell's soup as a side dish and that would've made a warm, nutritious meal.

 

Last week I left off with a Brillo advertisement, so I thought that we could leave off with an SOS ad.

Funny, they look a little like hamburgers don't they?

That's all for today, until next time, have a happy vintage day!

Royledge Shelving Paper

Today I want to talk a bit about Royledge shelving paper and edging.  For woman who spent a large amount of time in the kitchen, Royledge added a bit of brightness and color to the space. 

This Royledge Ad came from my October 1950 Woman's Day.  That's 63 years ago! 

When the Mr. and I were checking out houses (mostly online) we noticed a trend towards the dark and modern when it came to kitchens.  Many of the quaint old homes of the teens, twenties, and thirties had been ruined by the flood of 2011.  Many of these homes were saved and renovated in a very modern way.  That's just the way the trend has been going.  Less white, and bright, more stone, tile and dark woods.  I suppose the average buyer probably doesn't have a wife who thinks a 1940's kitchen is a dream come true.

So we've gone from this...

Lots of opportunity to add colors and....I'm sorry, are those dancing vegetables on that wallpaper boarder?  I'll bet if we opened those cabinets, we'd find bright and cheerful shelf paper!

to this....

and this...

I'm just saying, the new "modern" kitchen doesn't seem like a very cheerful place to be.  Then again, with instant, microwave ready meals nowadays, some don't spend much time in the kitchen anyway ha!  We don't spend half the time in the kitchen as our grandmother's did.

Anyways, I've gotten off track and really it's a matter of, "to each their own". 

But, back to Royledge. 
The packages of shelf edging look a lot like bulletin board trim!  Here is an example which has already been sold on Etsy but that also came with color coordinating thumb tacks!

Such cute edging for Spring and Summer...or during those long winter months when there is not a flower in sight. 

The thumbtacks were used to tack the edging to the cupboard.  It would be interesting to see an old cupboard, to see if there are any tack marks in it still from days gone by.

Then, there was a kind of Royale shelf paper with the decorative edging attached!  How clever!  This one has also been sold on Etsy, but I'm glad they left the photo up because it is a good example of this type of Royledge.

And I just HAVE to share with you T-Cozy's blog and how she used shelf liners to dress up her pie chest. How Cute IS THIS!!  And good news, she also has an ETSY shop!  Yea! 

And I just LOVE those cute little dishes, they are so unique!

Here is one more ad for Royledge from 1954.

That's all for today.  I'm fighting a nasty cold and hope to be back up and around soon.  Until Wednesday, Have a happy, vintage day!

Vintage Ads Wednesday

I'm going to try something new for my blog.  I'm going to try and do a Vintage Ads Wednesday!
Today's Ads come from my July 1950 Women's Day.

Only 5 cents!

Apparently there was Hi-C "Orange-Ade" back in 1950.  I find it funny that the caption says "Children Love its fresh orange TANG you will too!"  Later....there actually became a drink called "Tang". 

This clipping was a really long and skinny ad, so I photographed it in two parts. 



Clorox...great for laundry.  Love that the baby is there in a playpen. 

...And great for disinfecting!  She's wearing an adorable apron tied around her nauseatingly skinny little waist.

77 treats from one mix!  This is a very colorful ad for Swift'ning shortening.

 



 

One of the things I love about vintage advertising is the use of little characters, usually in an illustrated or cartoon form.  Like the woman below knocking out tough grease and residue on her kitchen pans. 

And after all of that baking and cooking, you can scrub your pans to a beautiful shine with Brillo Soap Pads! 

 

That's all for today!  Have a Happy Vintage Wednesday!

Locomotive By Brian Floca

This past week my husband surprised me with Brian Floca's new book Locomotive.   Apparently he does pay attention as I'd been going on and on about it's upcoming release for over a week.  He looks forward to Blu ray releases...I look forward to book releases.
Once in a blue moon, a children's book comes out that is SO GOOD I have to write about it as soon as possible.  And sometimes that children's book is SO GOOD that I find it difficult to come up with the right words to describe it.  To say that it is brilliant, awesome, unique, and Caldecott worthy are just a few ways to describe Locomotive by Brian Floca. To fully convey how wonderful this book really is, I might have to show you a couple of pictures.

My family can tell if I truly love a book because I keep saying things like "Wow!  Look at this page!" or "Awesome, it's like you're standing right there, inside the train!" or "Honey, you gotta see what this guy did!  He designed a whole different cover for under the dust jacket!"
I can't imagine the hours Mr. Floca put into his research for this project,  not to mention the sketching, drawing, painting, and all else that comes with making a book of this quality.  Each page (and there are many) is done in such accurate detail.  And the story flows like poetry.  I'll just quote the first line.

"Here is a road
made for crossing the country,
a new road of rails
made for people to ride."

It just glides off the tongue, and catches your attention, doesn't it!?
And I love Floca's use of text fonts that are sprinkled throughout the book.  The only way to describe it is to show you...

There are "noisy" fonts and "western" fonts and "shaky" fonts as the train drives carefully over an old wooden trestle.  The special fonts aren't used so much that they are "over done", Floca uses them at just the right times and places...which is nice.
And there is quite a bit of humor mixed into Brian Floca's books that make them...how do I describe it...very real, very child friendly.  It's as if he, on occasion, thinks as a child would think and asks the questions a child might ask, such as, "Were there bathrooms on the lightship, inside Apollo 11, on the train?"  You'll have to pick up the books to find out.  *wink*  I found myself giggling at quite a few things...like chicken tasting strangely like prairie dog, or a runaway horse that is not used to the noise of the train. 
Every time I look at the book I see something I hadn't noticed before, such as a hobo hiding out with his cat in the rail yard, or the woman praying as the train goes over the rickety trestle (I'd have been praying too).  I LOVE children's books that do that, they never get old, they never become boring.

Now, even though, earlier this spring, I declared The Dark as my favorite to win the Caldecott...and even though I still think The Dark  is a very well done picture book (some people love it, some dislike it)...I must say, Locomotive is now my pick for the Caldecott Medal.  Speaking of medals, does anyone else think that Floca's Moonshot should have AT LEAST picked up an honor medal back in 2009?  Maybe this year will be Brian Floca's year.  I guess time will tell.
Until another day,
Happy Reading Everybody

Barnes and Noble Guide to Children's Books

My new toy!!
Okay, it's not really a toy, it's a book.
But it's a book ABOUT books and that is just plain old wonderful!

I've enjoyed reading through this book by Kaylee Davis.  But I have to admit I found a small little error while reading about one of my favorite book series, the Betsy Tacy books.  She has Betsy listed as being one of 11 children, when it was actually Tacy who was from a large family (and had a very bossy older sister named Katie, if I remember correctly).  But this simple mistake doesn't bother me at all because the book is well organized, and has interesting little segments about different authors and illustrators along the way (including a two page spread on Sandra Boynton's books!  Woo Hoo!)  Unfortunately I didn't see much about Tedd Arnold, or Jan Brett which surprised me. 

One of the things I like about the book is its honest reviews.  Davis will be upfront about a book's subject and whether or not a parent should maybe read the book first to decide if the content is right for their child. 

 

Now, travel back in time with me to the year 2000.



This is my "travel back in time" visual

Back in 2000, I purchased the B&N Guide to Children's Books by Holly Rivlin and Michael Cavanaugh.  I loved this book to death, so was glad find a newer, updated one again!

The book above, from 2000, is actually what prompted me to start my Children's Book Binder, which is a large white binder full of information about my favorite authors, illustrators, and books that I love, some of which may not have been included in the guide book.  It's like the owners manual for my children's book collection Haha!   It helps me keep track of books I love, books I want to find (whether it be at sales or antique stores), and books Autumn and I have read.  It's like a giant BOOK REPORT and I LOVE book reports.  

Elmer the Elephant is on the cover of my children's book binder!

Here is one of three pages about Tedd Arnold.

Author pages include Tedd Arnold, Juli Kangas, Renee Graef, Maggie Kneen, Kevin Henkes, Melanie Watt, Wendy Anderson Halperin, Kay Chorao, Arthur Geisert, David Wiesner, Lisa McCue, Lorretta Krupinski, and Brian Floca.  Recent additions include Kim Lewis, Lucinda McQueen, Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham....Ann Schwenninger, Graeme Base, and Felicia Bond.  Whew!  Many of my favorites all in one book!

A page or two about Juli Kangas, one of my all-time favorite illustrators!



"Favorites" pages with reviews of each book and a photo.

There are 6 pages of favorite children's books I'd like to have if I were stranded all alone on an island.  One of these days I'll make a list for "grownup" books as well. 

Book reviews.

I used to do little book reviews of all of the children's books I found at the library that I really loved, but it got to be a lot of work.  To be honest, if I really like a book, I can usually remember it in my head.  But at the time they were fun to do and are fun to look back upon.
 

The binder also contains a few scrapbook pages with photographs from my childhood of my parents reading to me and MANY photos of Autumn through the years, including her first trip to a Barnes and Noble, trips to the library, and a local bookstore in Williston, Books on Broadway.

 

Now that Autumn is reading Chapter Books we keep a reading log in the binder where we jot down the books title, author, date published and what we thought of the book.  She reads way more books than I do, so we usually loose track.  But we always try to write a few lines about ones we've read together at bedtime. 

 

It's a fun little binder!

 

Until another day, happy reading! 

Homemade Tea Party

After attending an American Girl tea at the American Girl Store in Minneapolis, Autumn wondered if she could have a tea party for her birthday.  I love thinking of new birthday party ideas, so after we got home I went right to work!

I found these plates on sale at Hobby Lobby for 75% off!  The candle sticks I used my 40% off coupon on (went back another day to get the 2nd one).

 

 I painted the candle sticks and hot glued them onto the plates in layers.
Here is the three-tiered plate thingy with goodies on it.  (I can't believe I didn't snap a photo of it empty!)

We soon found out that Autumn's best friends, (who are sisters) would soon be moving away and wouldn't be here for her birthday...So, we threw them a little "goodbye tea" instead.  I did my best to re-create some of the delicious treats we had tried back at the American Girl Store in Minneapolis.

 

The chocolate mousse flower garden (above) was probably our favorite, along with the mini cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.  The sandwiches were easy...just regular bagels with cream cheese and cucumber slices, little buns with deli turkey and cheese and regular ham and cheese sandwiches cut into fun shapes with a cookie cutter.  Fruit kabobs on the bottom tray to start with along with mini blueberry muffins.

 

We found plastic glasses at Hobby Lobby that matched the plates used for the tea-time tray.  They were also on clearance and made great take-home keepsakes!  We fanned our the napkins (Vanity Fair ones with little shells on them) and tied the bottom of each napkin with pale turquoise ribbon that matched the paper plates.  We then stuck a little daisy stem into each tie.

The girls brought their dolls and a good time was had by all!

 

We were so glad to be able to have Autumn's "Besties" over for one last fun day before they moved.  And now that we know a tea party can be done (with much help from my loving mom...thanks Mom!)  we will once again attempt to do it all over again for Autumn's birthday!

Until another day, have a happy vintage day!