More Granny Square Love, Part One

Just doing my part to spread a little vintage Granny Square love for you today, from a Woman's Day publication straight out of the 1970's.
A variety of colorful "squares":

A cute little jacket:

 A brightly colored floppy hat:

 A long vest:

 Matching scarf and cap:

 And a handbag:

Part two coming soon.....

Patterns From The Past: Simplicity 9580 - Knit Separates

Today, we have the beautiful actress and model Susie Blakely on the cover of Simplicity Fashion News from September 1971, wearing pattern number 9580 sewn up in a  solid pink knit paired with a patterned skirt :

And on the cover of the actual pattern shown below, we have Shelley Hack, also an actress and model, who's modeling the zippered top in stripes instead, but with pants, this time - and suspenders:

Thank you ladies, you both look fabulous!

An Assortment Of Finds

And a Cock-A-Doodle-Do to you! Today,
 I have some of my favorite recent finds. I'm loving this painted rooster from Portugal:

And these vintage napkin rings are by Fitz And Floyd. I cannot even tell you how tickled I was to find these. I had added a set of four exactly like this to my Etsy Favorites, hoping to buy them some day - and then I found this set of eight at a thrift store!
(One is hidden in the back)

At another thrift shop here in town, I found this enameled daisy pin and earrings set to add to my collection:

And I also found a couple of sweet butterfly stitchery pictures; these will probably be going in to the shop:

And this cool enameled steamer pot is already up at the shop:

One last thing - this cast iron trivet with a citrus-patterned tile insert, made by Holt Howard:

That's all I've got for today!

Thumbelina Pops Up

I think pop-up books are pretty cool. Occasionally, I find them at thrift shops.
Thumbelina, printed by Hallmark, was just too cute to pass up:

So tiny that she can sit inside of a flower:

Or atop a lily pad:

She meets a little mouse family:

Soars over fields on a swallow's back:

And finds some new friends!

I could not find a date at all inside of this beautiful book.

(Story retold by Dean Walley, Design by Frances Yamashita, Paper Mechanics by Bruce Baker. You did an outstanding job, gentlemen!)

Crewel Sunflowers

I was searching and shopping on Etsy (as I am wont to do), and I came across this gorgeous crewel stitchery picture for sale by seller "BubblyCreek":

I recognized it, because I had just seen an advertisement for the very same item on the back of one of my vintage magazines!
"An exclusive offer for Woman's Day Readers".
I think it is beautiful and fabulous:

 Such a lovely design, based on one of Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings.
 It doesn't say who designed the stitchery piece, but they certainly did a wonderful job with it!
Wonder how long it takes to complete a "masterpiece" like that?

A Vintage Suitcase Earns It's Stripes

I found this small vintage suitcase or overnight case at a thrift store:

I have a couple of these old cases, but I'd never seen one with stripes before. I like the angled pocket on the front, too.
Unfortunately, the lining inside was torn, as you can see in the photo below - but the price was right and I really liked it, so home with me it traveled:

I found these striped strips of fabric the same day at another thrift:
(Striped strips, striped strips, striped strips - try to say that real fast five times!)

I like the contrast of the different stripes, with enough of the same hues to coordinate nicely. And the bonus was that I didn't have to go shop at a fabric store to try and find something that went with it.
 So, I decided I would try to make the fabric strip remnants into a lining to replace the torn vinyl inside the top of the case.

I sewed three strips together,  hemmed the unfinished edges, tucked it inside and glued it down.  I made sure not to cover over the original little "Youth Park" label inside because I wanted to keep that!

You can see the new striped lining that is now inside when you unzip the pocket on the front of the little suitcase:

And that, my friends, is how the vintage suitcase earned it's stripes!

Lounge Chair Road Trip No 1: Highway 50 California

Good morning. Tina here. Up late today, slept in until 7:30 am, not very common for me, with three cuddly kitties all snuggled up beside me. Discovered it was raining lightly, let the dog out, back in, watched in surprise as muddy footprints formed across the kitchen floor. It is going to be one of those days... 

Reheated the coffee hubby made at 4:30 am, settled into the comfy chair in the living room, turned on Good Day Sacramento, and realized it was my day to do a blog post. Hmmm.

I have been wanting to go on a drive. Just a short sight-seeing road trip. I doubt if that will happen soon, hubby is getting an arthritic hip replaced next week, we will be at home for a while. So I think we will be going on some Lounge Chair Road Trips.  I am going to take a short one today and see how I like them.

We will be going up Highway 50, there are a lot of destinations along the way, between Placerville and Lake Tahoe. We can stop a while at a few, picnic, and walk around. Today I will check out a couple of possible spots.

Camp Sacramento. We have driven past the gate many times. It has always looked inviting, but not being from Sacramento, we have never been inside. It is snowy here today and the gate is padlocked. On with the snowshoes so we can walk in.

Not too inviting in the snow for camping, and I can't find the firepit, it is buried, but the views are amazing! We will have to come back in the summer for a swim. Plus, I hear the food is wonderful.

We dig our way out and decide to head to the other side of Highway 50 and check out Echo Lake, since we are so close.

A beautiful chalet with a steep roof and native rock walls, and more incredible views await us.

How about some fishing? Hubby has a little boat that he is yet to use, and a trolling motor. Maybe we could catch some rainbow trout? This may be an armchair trip but we still need to eat!

Back on our way, we slowly make our way up to Echo Summit. The drought is not over, but finally we have some snow.

The most wonderful part of a Highway 50 road trip, for me, is finally reaching Echo Summit, rounding the corner, and taking in the vista before us of Lake Tahoe, majestic in its own crater, owning the mountains.

I am kicking back, putting my feet up, and now that I have arrived (and finished the blog) contemplating a nap. Have a lazy day!

(Mostly Vintage) Vera Finds

I wanted to share some more Vera Neumann lovelies with you today.
First up, my most recent find is this pretty "thrifted " scarf:

I found a bright new kitchen towel at TJ Maxx:

I also found a set of vintage cloth napkins. Unfortunately, they're faded and they also have some stains that the wonderful ladies at the thrift store managed to hide by folding them up so that you couldn't see them, and then packaging them for sale in such a way that you were not allowed to check them out first.
(Isn't that nice? Aarrgghhh.)

I still like them, though, and I will try to get the stains out....

I found a large butterfly tablecloth with ball fringe, too:

See her little "Vera" signature there?

"More to come", she added, hopefully, "as I am always on the hunt for vintage Vera."

Patterns From The Past: Simplicity 9401 - A Pantdress

Today's pattern from the past offers you the option of one pattern to create in a variety of ways,
with with three of them shown here on the cover of this issue of Simplicity Fashion News from June 1971.
This one features the lovely, laughing Colleen Corby there in the middle:

Make it with or without the short sleeves,
mini-length or longer, with trimmings of ribbon or rickrack ,
or even with a border fabric as seen on the right above and in view 3 on the pattern front below:

Add a belt, and/or a scarf - or not:

Whichever way you make it, this dress looks like a nice, easy-to-wear style for spring, and one that will carry you right on into summer.

A crisp, cool, and comfortable, culotte-style "pantdress" (that's what Simplicity called it).
One of "your best bets for summertime sewing" back in the summer of  '71.

From The Counterpoint Collection

This little mushroom plaque is one of my latest thrift finds for my vintage Counterpoint collection:

And I also got another set of my colorful boxes recently:

 The hexagonal shaped ones! I think I had only two of these left from my own original set I have owned since the late sixties. I was VERY happy to find this set!

 One more find (I don't think I have shown you this one yet?)

And I have already shown you these little beauties before, but they look so great all grouped together like this:

 I didn't show you this little butterfly guy yet, though - he's a clip:

The owl hook rack below is actually not from Counterpoint even though he looks like he would be, but the little key chains dangling from his hooks are (except for the plastic butterfly):

I've told you before, (and I'll most likely tell you again), I LOVE Counterpoint!
I have one more thing to share, but I haven't received it yet, so I will save that for another post.