More Stitchery

I promised months ago that I would do some more posts featuring vintage stitchery kits. Gosh, I'd nearly forgotten! Finally, here I am today with some more to show you. The gorgeous daisies below, and the roses you see at the end of the post were designed by Jean Ray Laury, and were available through Better Homes And Gardens magazine:

"Progress" stitchery kits:

Stitchery in the abstract:

This bright vase full of flowers was a kit you could buy from McCall's:

Stitchery kits from Bernat:

And a truly beautiful cat:

A lovely Erica Wilson design:

Jiffy and Sunset kits:

And last, but not least, those beautiful roses I promised:

Have you ever done a stitchery project from a kit? Or made up your very own creation? I'd love to hear about it....

Jon Whitcomb, Illustrator Extraordinare

I love doing posts about artists I admire, and today, I am featuring Jon Whitcomb. All of the images I am posting here are ones that I found in vintage issues of McCall's magazines in my own collection.
He certainly had a lovely style:

I love looking at his artwork. When I saw this next one, it brought to mind the fact that "PanAm" starts on ABC on September 25th! While I am still upset about "Brothers And Sisters", I can't wait for this one.
Lots of pretty ladies:



If you haven't seen enough - and come on, I really don't think you have - click here to see a lot more of the gorgeous images he created during his extraordinary career.

Then And Now # 81 Nestle's Chocolate (Again)

I know I have written about Nestle's brand products a number of times before, but I have a couple of reasons for doing so again today. The first one is that I found some more advertisements and recipes in my vintage magazines, and I wanted to share them. So we will travel through time with Nestle's once again, from "Then" until "Now".
Let's begin with fudge, from 1964:

"Kookie Brittle" from 1967:
Milk Chocolate Marble Squares And Chocolate Mallow-Mint Delight from 1969:

Have you ever tried their Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie? It's REALLY good!
Finally we arrive at the "Now", which happens to be the second reason for my post - a new product! I get kind of excited about new products; does that make me the ideal consumer?

I like my old stand-by Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsels just fine, thank you very much - but I will definitely be trying their new Dark Chocolate Morsels, all the same.
Because I'm a sucker for new products, a loyal Nestle fan - and a true chocolate fiend.

(See? Told you I was going to try them!)

Stuff A Bag Sale - And More

Every so often, one of our local thrift stores has a "Stuff A Bag" sale. Everything you can fit into a bag for five dollars, plus tax.
Every thing you see in the first five photos of this post were stuffed into my bag.
Frames, fabric, boxed cards, pompom fringe, a stitchery kit,etc:
Argyle sock kit, sash, brocade-like fabric, Hallmark candle holders, ribbon, place mats:
Pillow cases, finished needlepoint canvas, cards, votive holders, a floral tablecloth:

A gorgeous floral western-style shirt, like new:

Another one of my "thrifted" top and bag combinations:

And I didn't even show you everything I stuffed in there. When I got home and added up all the price tags on my items, my total would have been $52.36 (including tax). Do I know how to stuff a five dollar bag, or what?
The remainder of today's items were found at other thrift stores recently. An hand-painted egg cup from Italy, and two vintage Takahashi ceramic (or are they pottery?) items:

A truly lovely stitched pillow:
And one more wearable combo for you - so pretty in yellow and blue. I love the look of the two together:

That's all for today!

Models From The 70's - Susie Blakely

I have long intended to do a series of posts such as this one, featuring models mostly from the pages of Seventeen Magazine. So I am finally beginning today. When I was a teen myself, I LOVED Seventeen, and I think I must have spent hours reading and re-reading them. I admired so many of the models, and wished I could look like them and dress like them. So I will show you some of my favorite models, as seen in the advertisements and fashion layouts "back in the day".
I'll start with Susie Blakely, a gorgeous model who later became an actress. She has appeared in films and in numerous TV movies and series, including the mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" This first picture of her is from a Revlon ad:

And this one for Dial Soap:

Shire-Tex by Davenshire, Inc. is up next:

For Princess Gardner, of wallet fame:

Presto, you're beautiful - with Presto Electric Rollers (I think she's probably beautiful without them, too):

Another Revlon ad:

Clean Make-up from Cover Girl (which I happen to use myself):
An advertisement for Singer sewing machines - what a great gingham outfit!
And here, with Jennifer O'Neill in an ad for the Cotton Producer's Institute :
So that's it today for the beautiful Ms. Blakely, and there will be many more lovely models coming soon!

Of Cemeteries, Praying Mantis and McMullins

Good morning. Tina here. I am a day late due to computer problems. Heidi filled in for me yesterday.

A few weeks back my husband and I took a day trip to the coast as my early birthday treat. We enjoyed a leisurely drive up Highway 1 through Marin and Sonoma Counties and up into part of Mendocino County as far as Elk. We turned around in Elk and headed back down to hit the road inland to Boonville.

But first a necessary stop. A visit to the Evergreen Cemetery, on the South West corner of Highway 1 and Mountain View Road in Manchester, California.

Heidi has been here with me. There are many people buried here. Pioneers, loggers, ranchers, lighthouse keepers... It is fascinating to take a stroll along the pathway reading the story of their lives in the sculptured stone.

I have lost track of the number of times I have visited here. I always feel the pull inside to visit my "adopted" family, the McMullins. I know nothing about them, except what can be read on their gravestones.

Six little children lie here next to their parents. Carl, Irene, Lewie, Paulie, Ellie, Infant...
Carl McMullin. August 10, 1873 died September 5, 1874 age 1 year 25 days. Little tow-headed first born, chubby laughing little toddler. Gone so soon.

Lewie. Born May 1, 1875, Died June 5th, 1875. Age 1 month 4 days. So tiny still, just a little armful.

Paulie, born January 12, 1878

Ellie, born January 12, 1878, died the same day.

Paulie died January 19th, he lived a week longer than his sister. Twice blest and both lost.

Infant. 1880. I don't believe you ever got to live. Were you the little brother or the little sister? And you didn't get a name... I am sorry that you didn't get a name.

Irene. Born June 10, 1886. Died March 22, 1887. Age 9 months 12 days. She was our little angel, our shining light.

Jennie W. McMullin, wife, mother, born January 8, 1849, died August 27, 1893.
Samuel W. McMullin, husband, father, born January 24, 1831, died February 25, 1895.

Jennie and Samuel, were you a love match? She was a lot younger.

I have so many questions. Did any children survive their parents and perhaps are buried elsewhere? Did all the little children die and the parents spent their later years visiting here often until Jennie died, and then not long after Samuel followed? Who tended the graves in the years that rolled on afterwards? No one seems to take care of them now.

I have photographed these graves many times over the years, over thirty years to be exact. Sometimes the grass has been well tended. Sometimes naked ladies (amaryllis belladonna) fill many graves in the cemetery with fragrant pink lilies. Sometimes it is so foggy it is hard to make out the letters in the gray stone.

It is a bit harder now for me to get close enough to photograph the faded and moss covered lettering. My cane sinks into the soft weeds as I attempt to position my body closer to the little memorials.

I pulled myself away finally and extracted myself from seed pods and pine needles. Looking back for one last goodbye to "my family", I felt a slithering kind of prickly feeling on my left arm. Ack! Something is crawling on me, get it off!

Oops. It was a quite large (for him anyway... and for my arm) praying mantis! Here he is rather shocked after being rudely ejected from his seat. He was just fine. No praying mantis(es?) were harmed during the writing of this post.
Me? Well, skin still crawling from the sensation of big unknown bug clinging to my arm, I was so flustered from the experience, and so worn out from climbing all over weedy graves, that I did not get any other photos of my hitchhiker.

We packed it up and headed west on Mountain View Road, a very curvy drive, to Boonville. Once there we went for a bit of wine tasting at the Handley Cellars, a delightful winery with good sipping, interesting people and a lovely shady patio.

There at Handley I found this little fellow, a fun, bright piece of art work about the size of a real praying mantis, made in Zimbabwe.

He came home with us, a little birthday treat, and a memory of a visit to my McMullins.