And On My Very First Day

 I tripped over the curb at the War Memorial in Lerwick and fell flat on my face. 

History repeats itself.

Someone Doesn't Want Me To Go

 

And The Horse They Rode In On

Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.

Socialism is what they called public power.  Socialism is what they called social security.

Socialism is what they called farm price supports.

Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.

Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people ~ Harry Truman.

Caturday!

 

Grrrsday

 

Stranger Danger

 

When Baldur the Wonder Dog and I finished at the library tonight, we were followed out to the parking lot by five little girls (and I mean little, the ramrod of the outfit was probably about nine).  I explained that it was time to take the doggie home, opened the back door of the Blazer, and gave the command LOAD.  Baldur jumped in.

So did five little girls.  

(I had to bribe them with bookmarks to get them out).

 

Ten Days And A Wakeup

 

I will be attending with one of the ladies that I met on my last knitting trip to Scotland in 2018 - let us hope there will not be a repeat of this incident.

Vintage Sewing - A Summer Dress from Burda

 

This diagram for this summer dress ("Cut without fear") from a 1950's Burda sewing magazine is pretty self-explanatory - just remember to translate the measurements from metric to US.

Webkante - selvage
Seitenaht - side seam
Vordere Mitte - center front
Rueckwaertige Mitte - center back.

Depending on where you live, there should be enough warm days left to enjoy this. Cut it short for littler girls, it's completely adjustable.

(You can always get a head start on your Christmas sewing and make it as a nightie or a maternity jumper for a loved one who is expecting).

Happy International Chocolate Day

 

from McCall's magazine, December 1962

A holiday we can all get behind. 

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

While philosophers were looking for a characteristic to distingush man from other animals, inconsistency ought not to have been forgotten. ~ Richard Duppe

Grrrsday

 

Children's Crafts: Seashell Jewelry from 1950

From Crafts for Everyone, by Louis Newkirk, 1950.  A way to use some of the souvenirs you brought home from the beach.

This book is available as a one-hour borrow from the Internet Archive. 
 

Happy Labor Day

 

photo by Lewis Wickes Hine, MOMA

They Aren't Even Pretending Anymore

 From Heather Cox Richardson:  "On Friday, the White House debuted computer games on the official White House website.  The 'games' are ripoffs of older games like Snake, this one with a white man in a suit picking up Black, Asian and Latino men and putting them in orange jumpsuits." 

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. ~ John Adams

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Tatting - A Doily Edging from 1952

 

From my collection of old Workbasket magazines, the December, 1952 issue offering a "Wild Rose" doily edging.  Left-click to enlarge.

Vintage Magazine - Cowboy Stories, March 1927

 

That tomato can is plumb ventilated.

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

Find out who you are and do it on purpose. And do it with purpose. ~ Dolly Parton

Happy National Dog Day

 

Vintage Crochet - a Glass Jacket from 1961

 

A useful summer project from Workbasket magazine, June 1961.  Knit Cro Sheen is still available at Michael's, and this may save your porch furniture from those unpleasant rings that glasses of iced tea can make. The rest of the magazine is available at the Internet Archive.

Lore of the Corps - The Battle of Bladensburg

On this day in 1814, 103 Marines and "flotillamen" from the Washington Navy Yard held off a numerically superior British force long enough to help save the Declaration of Independence.

"It was an unmitigated military disaster, save for a small band of US Marines whose desperate defense of the nation's capital allowed for the Declaration of Independence - and the President - to be whisked away to safety."  Claire Barret, Military Times.

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

High noon in August! over all the land
The very air is palpitant withheat;
While stretching far, the fields of ripening wheat
Unrippled lie as plains of yellow sand. ~ Henry Sylvester Cornwell

Grrrsday

 

Knitting - A Leaf Edging From 1952

 From Workbasket magazine, February 19152, an attractive and not too complicated edging.  This would have looked much better after blocking, IMHO. Left click to enlarge.

Holidays We Don't Celebrate Nearly Enough - Happy National Thrift Shop Day

 

Spare & Share Shoppe, Gridley, Illinois

Also, Brian's least favorite holiday.

Caturday!

 

Quote Of The Day

 

Morning Wake Up by Pascal Campion

Sometimes I think that dogs must have been created especially in order to improve our morale and to give us a good opinion of ourselves when we are most in need of encouragement.

(Google attributes this quote variously to Antoine St-Exupery, James Herriot, and Sigmund Freud.  I can no longer locate the book where I actually found it).

No Power But We Still Have Internet

 

Grrrsday

 

Other Crafts - A Leather Shopping Bag from 1950

 

A shopping bag to make from leather scraps (with very little tweaking, you could turn this into a clutch or a wallet - just line it so small items don't fall out).  From Crafts for Everyone, by Louis V. Newkirk, 1950.  This can be read for free online at the Hathi Trust site, but you will need a library or school account to download it.

Chicago, Chicago, That Toddlin' Town

 

Off to stuff myself with culture for four days - Cendrillon and Carmen at the Chicago Summer Opera series, and then the Willem de Kooning exhibit at the art institute.

Whether this trip will include visits to two of my favorite Loop restaurants (Bereket and the Dearborn) remains to be seen.

Knitting - A Scrap Yarn Rug from 1950

 

From Workbasket magazine, September of 1950, and is another iteration on the theme of strip-knitted rugs.  This issue is my own, and is not yet up at the Antique Pattern Library site.

Left click to enlarge.

 

Annus Mirabilis

 

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

A fence lasts three years, a dog lasts three fences, a horse lasts three dogs; and a man lasts three horses.  ~  German proverb.

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Sewing - A Handbag to Match Your Suit from 1943

 From Woman and Home, February, 1943.  Another way to "make do" on the UK home front. Left-click to enlarge.

Vintage Advertising - Grape Nuts Cereal

 

Maybe we should send a carload to Congress.  From Blue Book Magazine, April 1918.

Caturday!

 

Quote of the Day

 

copyright-free image from the Graphics Fairy

A moon-flooded prairie; a straying
Of leal-hearted lovers; a baying
Of far-away watching dogs; a dreaming
Of brown-fisted farmers; a gleaming
Of fireflies eddying nigh - 
And that is July! ~ James N. Matthews

Grrrsday

 

Vintage Crafting - A Hot Mat from 1951

 This ... interesting little craft from the February, 1951 issue of Workbasket magazine falls in the category of "we can't do it anymore."  Separate rubber canning rings haven't been a thing for at least forty years, if not longer.  I wonder what you could substitute?

Brothers And Sisters, I Bid You Beware Of Giving Your Heart To A Dog To Tear

 

He was fifteen years old, which is a good long life for a German Shepherd.  Just not long enough.

Grrrsday

 

(#2, especially this weekend.  It is just too damned hot).

Quote Of The Day

 

I'm afraid I found this unbearably accurate last month.