Happy Mew Year

A re-run but worth it.   

When He Hands It To You On A Silver Platter

He (walks into the room waving a catalog): Do you know what my problem is?

Me: Don't get me started.

Quote Of The Day

To me there is no dishonor in being wrong and learning.  There is dishonor in willful ignorance and there is dishonor in disrespect.  ~ James Hatch

(this is from an excellent essay somewhat deceptively titled "My Semester With The Snowflakes").

Grrrsday

And To All A Good Night

Vintage Holidays - A Cowboy Christmas

The cover off a pulp Western (that I now cannot find).  Merry Christmas anyway, pardners!

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

An owl is mostly air. ~ Ursula Le Guin

Vintage Toys - A French Reindeer From 1950

From Modes et Travaux, 1950, some stuffed toys for mamans to make.  The only pattern given is for the reindeer in the upper right corner, and you can find it about three-quarters of the way down the page on Beni's website.  No English instructions given, but cute, non?

More Vintage Christmas Stuff

A Christmas kitten from  thegraphicsfairy.com, where there are a lot of very nice old images, many of them free.

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

The two most common things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. ~ Harlan Ellison

Aunt Martha's Workbasket, July 1937

This month's issue has only two patterns - a fancy Dresden Plate quilt, and a crocheted bedspread.  Readers are offered a titillating glimpse of issues to come, though.  

A free download is available from the Antique Pattern Library. 

Vintage Images - Edwardian Christmas

Copyright-free, from Dover.

Caturday!

Grrrsday

Holiday Crafts - Pomander Balls

From The Old Farmer's Almanac, instructions on how to make pomander balls in time to give for Christmas.

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

Grrrsday

There Ought To Be A Box To Check

Grrrsday

Lunch

He wrapped the forsythia in burlap so the little songbirds had a place to shelter from the wind.

This kestrel had other ideas.

Aunt Martha's Workbasket, June,1937

I seem to have fallen a couple of days behind ever since I got back from Dorian.  Here's an attempt to catch up.

 Nothing on this month's cover is actually in the booklet - there is an offer for a baffling racial mix of tea-towel transfers (Scots, French, Danish, Portuguese and the usual cringe-inducing "Dinah and Rastus"), instructions on how to make a garden decoration, a Star Flower quilt, crocheted lace gloves, a pixy cap to either knit or crochet, and two crocheted handbags.

There are also the directions for the "clever coat" promised in May but that was a snare and a delusion - you cut out the coat from muslin or feed sacks, using any coat pattern of the "most becoming length" and then candlewick it.  The instructions are strictly for the candlewicking process but  Aunt Martha's editors promise the end result will look just like the new rage in Hollywood.

The PDF to download (free) is from the Antique Pattern Library.

It's Going To Be A Long Day

On The Road Again

Headed for DC - three training days at National.  Blogging is suspended until Thursday.

Happy Birthday, Marines

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

Impulse manages all things badly. ~ Latin proverb

Grrrsday

EDITED TO ADD: and in other news, Little Man stood up and put his paws on the dining room table while I was eating lunch yesterday. It was a baloney samich.

Aunt Martha's Workbasket - May 1937

Another issue of Workbasket magazine - this has what I would say is the epitome of "between the wars" quilt on the cover, the "Basket of Daisies" pattern to piece and applique inside.

There are the usual pattern offers, instructions (with no illustration) on how to make organdy carnations, and a crochet table mat project.  There's a teaser about the next month's Workbasket that will include "Hollywood's Latest - A lightweight coat that breathes cleverness and last minute style." 

Happy Hallowe'en

New Yorker cover by the one and only Charles Addams.

Caturday!

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. ~ Oscar Wilde

Grrrsday

Vintage Advertising - Grape Nuts

From Woman's Home Companion, January 1922.  I can't quite tell if that signature on the bottom right of the painting is Norman Rockwell or not.

Kitnapped!

We went to the U-Can-Pick apple orchard two counties over yesterday.  Evidently the management has a problem with small children trying to smuggle kittens into the car without Mom or Dad noticing.

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

War may be fought with weapons but they are won by men. ~ George S Patton

(Francis Currey, one of the last three MOH winners from WWII, has died).

Vintage Images - Butterflies

Copyright-free, from Dover.  Our butterfly bush is gamely hanging on but the customer numbers are starting to dwindle.

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

Living in a bookshop is like living in a warehouse of explosives.  Those shelves are ranked with the most furious combustibles in the world - the brains of men. ~ Christopher Morley

Grrrsday

Chick Magnet

We were on the way to obedience class this evening and pulled up next to a car full of teenage girls at a stoplight.

(Cue the chorus of squeals).

Aunt Martha's Workbasket - April, 1937

Not much in this month's issue - lots of transfers to write for, but the actual projects are two crochet (one dress, one vanity set) and a quilt pattern for Grandmother's Tulip that looks more like a trumpet vine, but maybe that's just me.

Free download at the Antique Pattern Library.

Caturday!

Quote Of The Day

image from the Graphics Fairy

In every orchard Autumn stands
With apples in his golden hands. ~ Alexander Smith

The Hunchbread Of Notre Dame

This is what happens when you doze off during the second rising.

Women Are From Venus, Men Are From Someplace Really, Really Gross

He:  How was your day??

She:  Little Man threw up on the porch.

He:  (matter-of-factly) So that's why his breath smelled like puke when he was licking my face. 

Quote Of The Day

The real measure of a day's heat is the length of a sleeping cat.  ~ Charles Brady