Embroidery Designs From Vintage Books and Patterns

Today, we have some patterns from embroidery books I have been picking up at thrift shops.
How cute is this owl?

The following three photos are from that book, "The Basic Book Of Embroidery" by Jane Simpson:

This next book is a special favorite of mine:
 "Modern Embroidery" by Ike Rosen, with another owl on the cover!

And here are some examples from Ike's book:

I absolutely LOVE these colorful designs!

Ah, the sun - bright and beautiful:

The photo below is a small runner I found at a thrift store.
The embroidery on it struck me as being reminiscent of Mr. Rosen's designs.
 I like it a lot:

The last book is this one: "Embroidery, A Golden Hands Pattern Book":

And some lovely creations from within it's pages:

More gorgeous flowers, aren't they spectacular?

Birds and blooms and branches:

I'll take orange, hot pink and yellow- any time:

And here's an assortment of vintage patterns I have that are full of embroidery designs, some of which you may remember seeing on this blog before. One from McCall's, and the rest from Simplicity:

And the last image, below is from a Leisure Arts book of embroidery transfers. It has a lot of cute designs inside, as well!

I must say, if I keep finding more of these great vintage books, I may just have to do another post like this, because the wonderful, colorful designs are simply begging to be shared.

One For The Peter Pauper Press Collection

"Mathematical Puzzles and Pastimes", from Peter Pauper Press, dated 1957.
Whenever I find another one of these books at a thrift store, I nearly jump for joy:

That's because I don't find them very often.
At all.
It's one of my slower-growing collections.
The number now stands at nineteen.
I'll be sure to keep you "post"-ed.

"Hooked" On Rugs

I love this colorful hooked rug:

I've found quite a few examples of hooked rugs, and rug kits, whether the more traditional rugs, or the latch-hook kits, in my vintage magazines.
"Love" the one below, as well - it's from the 1970's:

Heart and Hands - this is a lovely one, too:

The more color, the better, in my book:

The smaller examples you see below were made from kits, I'm sure.
 If I ever find my flower I made back in the 60's or 70's, I'll show it to you.
I found this flower and butterfly recently:

They'd be cute made into pillows, I think:

An advertisement for Shillcraft Readicut Rugs; I think this one is from the 1950's:

And here we have Shillcraft again, a decade or two later:

Kits from Bucilla, for latch rugs and pillows:

Another advertisement for latch hook kits:

And one for a New Brunswick book:

Wall Hanging Kits from Sunset Fibres:

And Rugs-By-The-Numbers, from Columbia-Minerva:

"Now it's as easy as A,B,C", don't you see?

Pre-cut wool, a stenciled design on the backing, and your ingenious latchet hook are all you need!
Oh - and some time.
Yes, there's that......

Patterns From The Past: Simplicity 5015 - Lori's Dress For The Senior Ball

Here's a blast from the past, all right!
Lori and her boyfriend, all decked out for the Senior Ball, circa 1972:

 She made her gorgeous dress from Simplicity pattern number 5015

How cute are they?

The pattern:

And we even have a little fabric swatch, courtesy of her 4-H book:

And, lastly, the pattern back for you:

 And a good time was had by all - at "The Ball".
I was there, too!
 But I didn't make my dress.
Our high school boyfriends just happened to share the same birthday.
And that would be TODAY.
Happy 59th birthday, guys!

Smoke overload...

Not much of a post this morning. I am busy praying for all the people who have been evacuated from the King Fire, which started in Pollock Pines and has been working its way east, north and south since. Here in Kelsey we seem to be safe from the flames, but the smoke has decided to follow the 

South Fork of the American River down the canyon and we have lost our view.

Those of you who read our blog frequently may know we have a beautiful view. But not this week. We can't see the river. It is out there somewhere.

Monday morning, following a night with open windows (a big mistake, but no different than what we had done all summer) I got up from a hard night trying to sleep and breathe at the same time, and looked out upon this.

We are very lucky we only have to deal with the smoke, so I am not complaining. We have had fires closer to us before. Our terrain is less likely to sustain a huge fire like the King fire, since it has burned around us several times before and cleared off a lot of the trees and brush. Also, hubby keeps our property brushed and mowed. We got a gold star from the Cal Fire guys when they checked on us last month.

This is looking south. There is a house there. You wouldn't even know it.

Prayers for all of you out there. I hope they get a handle on it soon.

Games People Play

Today's post features a variety of vintage games I have found at the thrift stores whilst making my "rounds".
First up, we have colorful Halsam Dominoes:

 "Learning Lotto", with butterflies:

Parker Brothers "Pit":

 "Funny Bones":

A "Hi-Q Solitaire Puzzle Game":

I hadn't seen this one before:

And an "Auto Bridge" game:

 Last of all, an adorable "Match The Opposites Game" from Current finishes up my post:

Cute!