Found: Colorful Notions And Assorted Sewing & Craft Supplies

Useful and colorful things always catch my eye when I am out "thrifting".

I love it when I find vintage appliques!

 (All of these were found long before the Covid19 pandemic).
I swear, one of these days I am going to cover a denim jacket or shirt with all of the wonderful appliques I have collected over the years.

 Hand-sewing things onto heavy denim would be a difficult task for me, with my arthritic hands, which is why I haven't yet begun THAT ambitious project.
 I'd prefer a jacket rather than a shirt, and I don't want to iron or glue them on; I want them to stay PUT.
And all of this stuff, below, was given to me by a dear friend when her mother-in-law passed away:

 I think I may end up selling some of the lace in my Etsy shop...

....whenever I get around to it.

Charlotte Patera

I found a nice framed print of this poster, below, at a thrift shop a while back.
At first, when I spied it from across the room, I thought it was the crewel, but then upon closer inspection I realized it was a print.

 I remember the cashier making a comment something like "Well, that sure is a nice frame, but I don't know about the picture."
Now I ask you: what in the world is wrong with some people?
 For one thing, um ...  nobody asked her.
 I was buying it, so obviously I wanted it for some reason, right? Like gee - maybe because I LIKED it?!
 Do you think, maybe?
Oh - and the frame is nothing special at all. It's just a plain frame. Whatever, lady.
Her comment was unwanted and not at all appreciated.
Because I think it's completely fabulous.

Anyhow, when I got it, I knew nothing at all about who "Char '74" was, because my print does not have that information at the bottom, that you see, above. I guess the person who framed it had cut off the bottom to fit it into the frame.
A Stitching Exhibition?! At The Nut Tree?!
We used to LOVE going to the Nut Tree, back when were kids.
 Well, I surely do wish I'd been able to see that exhibition back in 1975; it must have really been something special.
Some time later, I found a partial photo of the poster when I was looking through my copy of "Vintage Craft Workshop", a great book authored by Cathy Callahan, who used to write a wonderful blog called "Cathy Of California", that I loved reading. The book is outstanding - you can find it on Amazon.
(I also found an article about Cathy on another blog, "While She Naps" - you can find it here.)

I kept looking up information, and I was so surprised to discover that Ms. Patera had actually lived close to where I grew up!
I'm sad to say, she passed away one year ago today.
You can read her obituary here.
 Oh, how I wish I had known she lived in Cameron Park!
Because I would have loved to have had the opportunity to meet such a talented  stitchery artist and author!
 Honestly, I would have tried to call her or something, because maybe I COULD have met her - maybe I could have even seen some of her beautiful work, in person!
I also discovered that I already owned one of her books, when I saw the cover, I recognized it immediately, and went and found it on my book shelf.
I have written before about "The Applique Book", back in this post.
(Please go back and have a look; I think you might enjoy seeing some of her fabulous designs!)
And I had even written a post about one of her designs four years ago - The Artful Artichoke (click here to go back and read about it).
She authored other books, too, including some about Mola techniques, and this one, "Cutwork Applique":

And here are some examples from that book:

 The "Sun Symbol":

 And a gorgeous dress:

 Now I want that book, too, of course!
I'll find myself a copy, you can bet on it.
You know, I am not much of a needlework person, nor a seamstress, but I so greatly admire the talented women who are, and were, and all of the beautiful items they create/created with their handiwork.
And I just wanted to write a post about Charlotte Patera, so that if you have never heard of her before, perhaps if you come across one of her books, or see a photo of  her work, you might now remember her name, as well.
What a talented lady she was.

Found: Colorful Vintage Afghans

I'll admit it - it's difficult for me to pass up a colorful vintage afghan!
Especially when it is extremely inexpensive, or, better yet - free.
That happened to be the case with the three you see here:

And besides, - they're warm....

And they're cozy...

 They're bright and pretty:

And I just plain LIKE them!

New (Vintage) Vera Neumann Finds

 It dawned on me that I hadn't done a Vera Neumann post in a while!
That's not good - let's remedy that situation right here and now!
First of all today, I have some bright cloth napkins to show you that I found at a thrift store:

Big, gorgeous flowers:

And another gorgeous set of napkins with the golden glow of the sun:

And that dear little Vera Ladybug:

 I found these two completely fabulous vintage linen tea towels, both with their original labels still present:

 Beautiful colors on each - and in paisley, no less!

 Lori gave me this pretty scarf for my birthday last fall:

And most recently, I found a vintage leather belt and a butterfly bath towel:

I believe that's it for today.
I'll always write more posts as I come across more great vintage Vera items to share - it just might take me a while!

Found: Random Cool And Colorful Stuff

Just popping in again with some more random finds from the thrift shops.
The thrill of the hunt surely does result in some pretty great finds, I must say!
I have never found any of this great vintage Dennison crepe paper before:

"Psychedelic Streamers"; I LOVE the bright colors on these!

Groovy, spiky, colorful package bows from American Greetings:

 A vintage tray and a gorgeous painted cookie jar, which isn't marked but I believe is most likely a Ransburg piece:

An adorable pair of vintage ladybug salt and pepper shakers in a nearly fluorescent orange, made by Holt Howard:

(I have never, ever seen anything like those before!)

This enameled copper plaque, below, is pretty cool, too:

And last of all today - Magic Mosaic, a vintage puzzle game:

Colorful vintage finds always make me smile!

What's Penny Wearing? #151 Aprons!

Penny wanted to model some of the aprons I've found recently, so while it did take some time to dress her up and get photos, I did finally get it done!
This one is my favorite:

Vintage flower power at it's finest:

With a cute pocket, to boot...

This next one is awfully pretty, too, in bright red ..

... and it has a rather glorious pocket on the front, as well, in a Pennsylvania Dutch floral design:

Here's a cute one - with anthropomorphic kitchen utensils, rather a happy-looking lot, too, I might add:

And they want to know, "What's Cookin'?"

Here'a a simple one trimmed with yellow rick-rack:

I do love a nice floral print on a black background:

Here's one that seems rather nice for spring:

Gingham with a cross-stitched design in aqua and black:

And my last one is a great, utilitarian apron in a fabulous green paisley print:

I like the pockets in the front.

Yep, this one's a keeper; I'm going to use it.

I just need to fashion another tie for it, as one of them is missing.
I think I can handle that.
That's it for today  - and both Penny and I hope you enjoyed seeing "our" aprons!

"Plant Stand" A Sunset Stitchery Picture

Today's post is about this particular vintage Sunset Stitchery kit, "Plant Stand":

I found a framed version of this particular crewel stitchery at a thrift store a while back.
I probably posted a picture of it in a previous post.
What I find interesting is that the person who stitched it changed it up a bit.
I like that they "did their own thing"; I simply haven't particularly noticed that having been the case on any others I've come across.

You can see quite a few differences in the flowers, the plant stand, the pots, etc.
Here again, the picture on the front of the kit (which dates from 1977):

The person who did mine did not WANT pink flowers, apparently. And they didn't want to do the fern fronds, either.
Hey, I don't have any problem with that!
Here are the yarn colors that were provided with the kit at the time:

 OH! And I was pretty tickled to see this very same stitchery hanging on the wall on the set of "That 70's Show", when I was watching a couple of episodes last week! I thought that was kind of cool, actually!
 I was like "Hey - that's my stitchery I was going to write about!".
 It was in Kitty and Red's bedroom, as I recall.
 I was unable to find a single picture online of it in the TV show.
And believe me, I tried!

I happen to love the idea of taking a kit and just completely going crazy with color changes, as a matter of fact!
But I haven't done any crewel stitchery in a very, very long time.
(If I do any, I'll let you know, okay?  Yes with photos for proof, LOL!)
Right now I'm more focused on trying to get the vintage kits I have stored away ready for sale!
 I do not happen to have this one to sell, by the way - only the framed example shown in the second photo, which is hanging in my home and very likely to stay there.

Yet Another Turn At "The Drawing Board"

I've got more fabulous and colorful stationery items from "The Drawing Board" to show you.
(I've written about this great company's items three times before - click here if you'd like to see my previous posts.)
I'll start with these wonderful flower power party invitations:

Precisely the kind of vintage artwork that I completely adore;
here they are in the original package, and a view of the inside:

And this little owl card is from The Drawing Board, too - how cool is HE?!

The next few are not ones that I own , but only wish I did - more  invitations with colorful flowers:

And invitations for a Bon Voyage Party:

A groovy mushroom stationery tablet:

And a lovely fluttering butterfly invitation:

I'd add every single one to my little collection, if that were possible!
Because I love them all.