Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Monday, December 30, 2019

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.

Friday, December 27, 2019

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").

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Monday, December 23, 2019

Vintage Holidays - A Cowboy Christmas


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

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Friday, December 20, 2019

Quote Of The Day


An owl is mostly air. ~ Ursula Le Guin

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

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?

Monday, December 16, 2019

More Vintage Christmas Stuff


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

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Friday, December 13, 2019

Quote Of The Day



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

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

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. 

Monday, December 9, 2019

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Holiday Crafts - Pomander Balls


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

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Friday, November 29, 2019

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Lunch


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

This kestrel had other ideas.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

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.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

On The Road Again


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

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Friday, November 8, 2019

Quote Of The Day


Impulse manages all things badly. ~ Latin proverb

Thursday, November 7, 2019

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.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

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." 

Monday, October 28, 2019

Happy Hallowe'en


New Yorker cover by the one and only Charles Addams.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Friday, October 18, 2019

Quote Of The Day


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

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Monday, October 14, 2019

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.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

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.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Friday, October 11, 2019

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).

Monday, October 7, 2019

Vintage Images - Butterflies



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

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Friday, October 4, 2019

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

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

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).

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Friday, September 27, 2019

Quote Of The Day

image from the Graphics Fairy

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

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Hunchbread Of Notre Dame


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

Monday, September 23, 2019

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. 

Friday, September 20, 2019

Quote Of The Day


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