What's Penny Wearing? #41 Vintage Sweaters To Keep You Warm

Today Penny is modeling some more of my "I've-Had-Them-Packed-Away-For-Years" fashions. Sweaters, this time - from the 70's and 80's, I believe. This first one is my favorite, a peachy cable-knit with little flower buds:
Soft plum-purple with pearl buttons on one shoulder:

Black with a cool abstract sort of floral design knitted in:
"Tweedy" blue V-neck pullover:
Pretty argyle design:
And a simple and classic red turtleneck:

The better to keep you warm , my dear.

Vintage Illustrations Of Japan by Marguerite Davis

I wanted to share these sweet illustrations by Marguerite Davis today, from a vintage book Lori found last year at a thrift shop. (Published in 1934, the title is "Growth In English".)
These little girls admiring a doll collection:
A Japanese garden:

A Japanese home:
"Jinrikisha"
Shopping:
And here is the poem "A Japanese Garden" by Janet Gargan that accompanied the illustration:
Aren't they sweet? I love her illustrations.

VW's - Part Of The Family

I've been wanting for along time to write a post about Volkswagens and how they were such a part of the family for us during our growing-up years. I haven't been able to get together as many photos as I'd have liked, so I decided to just go ahead with what I've got, and maybe do another post later and/or fill in the details with some help from my sisters.
Daddy could and did buy bodies, chassis, parts and pieces and then fix up or put together an entire car. I have always thought that was remarkable. Here are the three of us Gold Country Girls - that's Lori, Tina and me from left to right:
And this is Tina and me:
Me, a Bug, and our beagle Yankee:

And this is me with my 1967 Beetle - yes, I provided the dents:
Another shot:
My caricature that was drawn at Disneyland in the 70's:
And I'll close with this , found at a yard sale last year:

Hopefully, we will have more pictures and/or posts to come in the future - Lori had a VW Bug, Mother had a 1971 Super Beetle and then two different Vans/Campers, Tina and her ex-husband had VW's, Tina had more than one Karmann Ghia- I could go on and on, but I think that's it for today.
(Except for comments from my sisters? Right, gals?)

Plants I Know and Love #12: Nasturtiums

It's the dead of winter, it was 34 degrees outside when I got out of bed, but that is an improvement from the 20 degrees it was on the weekend. The oaks and maples are bare of leaves, the amaryllis belladonna leaves are popping through the red soil, the deer are cropping the new growth of green that covers the yard. It is a crisp sparkly day, so what is the matter with me? I think I have S.A.D. Seasonal Affective Disorder, I think it means. It means I need to get out in the sun. It means I want my summer garden back!

This time of year mostly what you can do in the garden is sit and look at garden catalogs and seed packets and dream and plan for spring...

I am going to tell you today about nasturtiums. These bright glowing annuals are my favorite flowers. I am a Leo, and the nasturtium comes in all Leo colors: orange, yellow, red. Just my cup of tea...
When I was a young and pregnant with my son, living in Southern California, we lived in a little back house with a small side yard. Under a sparse rose bush was a lovely little patch of deep green round leaves which produced one fiery orange flower that was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. What was it? A little research and I found out it was a nasturtium. Oh happy day!

From then on I was in love with nasturtiums. Once I had noticed them, I saw them everywhere, since they love the coast of California. They grew in the beach side gardens of bungalows, along the cliffs of surfing beaches, crawling down the wild steep hills below the mansions perched above the shore of the Pacific. I don't know how I missed them before.

I have grown nasturtiums since, sometimes with good results, sometimes they are stringy and desultory, complaining of too much heat, too little good soil. But I persist. The vase above is filled with nasturtiums I grew in Diamond Springs during a good year.

These two little flowers were growing smack dab in the middle of San Francisco, brightening up a cement wall in front of an old townhouse that had seen better days. The best batch of nasturtiums I ever grew were in the front yard of a duplex where I lived in Elk Grove, California. They were on the north side of the house but got pretty good sun for most of the day. They became a giant thicket, with flowers everywhere, even hidden deep in the leaves. What lovely bouquets I could pick from my yard! What a welcome to friends stopping by.

This batch of determined flowers, including fuchsias, was growing high on a hill in San Francisco, close to a cable car stop, and along and over one of the city's covered water storage reservoirs. The flowers were everywhere! If they are happy with their growing conditions, and don't meet freezing temperatures, nasturtiums will act like perennials and just grow and grow. The leaves can get as big as dinner plates.

These little tangerine lovelies are in the front garden at my Aunt's home in Pleasant Valley. By the end of the summer a few seeds have grown into a lively ground cover. Nasturtiums will happily reseed themselves if they are pleased with the soil and conditions. These are on the West side of her home, and shaded from the late afternoon's hot summer sun by the house.

I love the vintage seed packets that were carefully stored by early twentieth century gardeners. These are from Carthage, Missouri, and could have been used by my great grandmother in her kitchen garden in nearby Avilla. A kitchen garden? Yes, because nasturtiums are edible in all forms, seeds, flowers and leaves. They liven up a salad with a watercress-like spiciness. The seeds can take the place of capers.

This is an advertising postcard that would have been sent out in January. The recipient could respond and order a garden catalog, and dream of picking her own bouquet by late spring and early summer.

Will spring ever come? The promise of better weather and abundant gardens is written all over the beauties on this vintage Roanoke, Virginia seed packet.

Another advertising postcard. How could an avid gardener, suffering with S.A.D., resist ordering a catalog?

The lovely art on an old Mandeville and King Co. seed box. Nasturtiums have a lovely scent. It is sweet without being cloying, with a bit of spiciness added.

Last night I sat in front of our wood fire nice and toasty in my bathrobe and sheepskin slippers, paging through a garden catalog selling spring bulbs. In my mind I grew a large bulb garden filled with peonies, iris, begonias, lilies and gladiolas. But interspersed between were all shades of nasturtiums running rampant along the ground. It may have been my imagination, but it brightened up a cold winter's evening.

If you haven't ordered a few garden catalogs yet, get busy! Go online and look up some of the better known companies such as Burpee, and send in an order. Gather up the bright books when they come and pour yourself a cup of tea and allow yourself to dream of spring. You will perk right up!

Get yourself some nasturtium seeds and plant them in the late spring, after threat of frost is over. Enjoy what could become your favorite flower if you don't watch out!

Oh, Brother!

Lori loaned me her sewing machine months ago - and there it sat. I had finally tucked it away, much too intimidated to even attempt anything. You see, I don't sew. AT all. I've got fabrics and notions and trims and trappings and ideas - oh, I'm full of THOSE. Yep, but I really don't sew. I used to have limited knowledge and ability - about a million years ago. Kind of like playing the piano - too many years have passed and I've pretty much forgotten everything I knew.
Well - Lori came over for a visit after Christmas, and with her help - and, I mean - literally, EVERY step of the way - she would show me how, and then I would do it. And I had to be shown how to thread and use her machine, too, of course:

So, with all of her patient assistance, I managed to make a simple little pillow! Fashioned from a pretty vintage floral pillow case and some eyelet I had left over from a waitress uniform about 25 years ago.

It may not be perfect...

....but it's perfectly mine, and I am happy with it.
And I MAY even attempt to do another, similar project now - on my own.
Because she had to go back home.
And I hope I can remember how to do it.

Three Little Pigs

I would imagine you are all familiar with the story of The Three Little Pigs. Pictured above is the Disney Little Golden Book from my collection. Below are cards from a little deck of game cards I have. Piper Pig, Fiddler Pig, and Practical Pig - they all sang "Who's Afraid of The Big, Bad Wolf?".


When I was working at the post office as a rural carrier, I used to half-tease my friends about how, if/when they were messing around, I, on the other hand was working hard and fast, trying every single day to get the mail out to customers as swiftly and accurately as I possibly could. This might make me sound like kind of a brat - and maybe I was- but it irked me to see people who didn't appear to care as much as I always did. The Piper Pig said:
"I build my house of straw;
I build my house of hay.
I toot my flute; I don't give a hoot
and play around all day!"
Yes, well - his house didn't last long when the Big Bad Wolf came around.
The Fiddler Pig said:
"I build my house of sticks;
I build my house of twigs.
With a hey-diddle-diddle I play on the fiddle and dance all kinds of jigs!"
We all know how that worked out for him:
But the Practical Pig? Well, he worked harder and spent more time - better to be safe than sorry!
After the work is done - THEN was the time to play and sing and dance!
I took my WalkMan and speakers to work one day so I could play the song for them all!
I may have been somewhat annoying, it's true. But I was also a great record-keeper, an on-the-job instructor, and I could remember the names and addresses on all of the routes I had worked as a substitute like nobody's business, so I was often the one they came to when they had questions about things.
I'm just going to come right out and say it - I was VERY good at my job.
Yes, I was like Practical Pig, and proud of it.

Stitchery Kits From The Past

Stitchery kits today - most of these were out of McCall's Needlework and Crafts magazines from the 1970's, with a focus today mostly on crewel work. I know Tina will like this first one - beautiful nasturtiums!
Erica Wilson designs:
I love this Hearts And Flowers design, below:

More pretty flowers from LeeWards:

And Bucilla designs:
These, below, are all absolutely gorgeous! I wish I had every single one of these! From Better Homes And Gardens, circa 1968:
And one more page from McCall's:

A pretty pair, indeed.
I believe this will be the first in a series of posts featuring vintage needlework such as these, simply because I enjoy sharing them with you!

(Old) New Year Greetings For You

One hundred years ago today, these cards were first sent on their way...

Like those I shared on Christmas Day, these sentiments are here to say...

...with love to all my Blog Friends dear, great wishes for a
Glad
New
Year!