Happy 90th (!) Birthday To Dick Van Dyke

I just want to wish a VERY happy birthday to Dick Van Dyke today.

 He's one of my all-time favorites.

 I have been a huge fan of his for as far back as I can remember - truly!

 Hard to believe he celebrates his 90th birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Dick!
Thank you for enough laughs to last a lifetime.
Love 'ya!

Pendleton: Classic, Stylish - And Warm

It's getting colder even here in our neck of the woods!
Nice warm Pendleton woolens will keep you warm, whether vintage or new. (Personally, I love both!)
But today, we'll just have a look at some vintage Pendleton.
"A very merry Pendleton to you" - stylish even to this day, the classic 49er jacket in a red plaid that's perfect for the Christmas season, here:

Or perhaps you would prefer to dress the family up in matching (!) gorgeous blue plaid separates and take a trip to Disneyland!?
You'll probably want to save wearing the wool for the evening, though:

How about a cardigan and a "Turnabout" skirt shown here in an advertisement from 1959:

Or any one of these fabulous separates, below:

I found this red wool Pendleton shirt at a thrift store recently:

"High Grade Western Wear" - it had some damage, but still looked pretty darned nice.

I priced it low and it sold within hours of me hanging it up in the shop!
I think it will keep the gentleman who bought it nice and warm.
And how perfect is that red?
Santa would look good in it, too - don't you think?

Patterns From The Past : Simplicity 6554 - A Cute Shirt Dress

Today's pattern from the past is a cute little red number that would be perfect for Christmas.
It's shown below in a picture from an issue of Simplicity Fashion News, circa 1974:

I absolutely love this look with the hat!
She looks like she could be waiting at the train station in 1940 - ready for an Agatha Christie film on PBS or something.
Here is the same dress on the front of the pattern:

And the pattern front, itself:

And the back of the pattern:

You could sew this dress up in so many different fabric choices.
 I'd love to see it in a nice wool  with a Christmas fabric on the contrasting collar and French cuffs.
The version she is wearing in the top photo would be a very happy Christmas dress as it is, in fact.
But I truly believe that hat is what makes the outfit!
(Oh - and if anyone knows the name of the model, please let me know and I will add it here. I think it might be Sunny Redmond, but  I'm not sure this time. )

Two More Lovely Ladies

Over the last month or so, I've managed to find two more of these fabulous vintage wall pocket lovelies to add to my collection:

Most of the others I have are decorated with flowers, but these two have stripes on the body, as you can see.
Their faces are beautiful:

Here's the other little beauty:

And a close-up on her face .....

And a side-by-side shot of the pair of them:

Yes, I really am out of room, but their charms reel me in every time, and I seem unable to resist them.

Once Upon a Time in Placerville No. 20: Snows Road and Old Homes

Good morning. Tina here, with another Once Upon a Time. We are not far from the home I showed you last week. These photos are from Snows Road, which runs between Camino (Carson Road) and Newtown Road. 

Once there was extensive Hydraulic Mining in the area, and you can still see high bluffs left from the destructive practice. There is a quarry on Snows Road which is purported to still have lots of gold abounding within its soil.

Above is an old postcard of the Snow Brothers hydraulic mining operation.

The Snows had an old home which was torn down long ago. The pictures below and the explanations come from the book "I Remember" by Betty Yohalem.

The home above stood basically where the gate to the Puerto del Sol housing development stands.

That is it for now, I hope you enjoy getting a look at old homes we have lost over the years.

Two Discoveries From Out There In The Big, Crewel World

I have found two more big - and pretty fabulous crewel creations at my local thrift stores in the past couple of weeks.
This lovely, colorful floral concoction measures 16&1/2 by 22 inches:

And some mushrooms in the wild, measuring 15 by 23 inches:

 A couple of "big catches"!
I don't find a lot of them, really, so when I do I feel pretty lucky!

Back To "The Drawing Board"

I wrote about stationery and cards from "The Drawing Board" back in this post, but I came across another cute vintage advertisement and some more cards to show you today.

Oh, how I love all of this cute stationery!

The advertisement is from Seventeen Magazine, and so is this stationery (from 1972):

 Just one week ago, I was delighted to find the next three vintage invitations I'm sharing at a thrift store. I love the design and the colors on the first one.
 I mean - how's this one for a down-home party invitation?
"Y'all Come!":

 Santa invites you to "Drop In For The Party!":

 And these Christmas Party invitations make it appear as though there will be a number of treats in store:

This darling calico kitty and her mouse friend on these cards, below, ask you to "Keep This Date Open!" for their gathering:

And here's just one more - this is such an adorable Christmas card from 1987, featuring the sweetest depiction of Tiny Tim by artist Gyo Fujikawa:

There is just something about the artwork on the vintage cards, invitations and stationery from this company that I find incredibly appealing!
And I hope you enjoyed seeing more of them here today.

What's Penny Wearing? #131 - A Fabulous Warm Coat From My Friend Colleen

A very dear friend of mine named Colleen texted me out of the blue back in October to tell me she had a coat that she wanted to send me.
She lives in Washington state.
We were really good friends in elementary school, and then she moved away. I haven't seen her in over forty years.
I'm happy to say that although we had lost touch over the years, we found each other again (thank you, internet!) a number of years ago.

She sent me this absolutely gorgeous down coat from L.L. Bean.  There's a little bit of a story behind it, but I'm not going to go into it here.
The fact of the matter is, she had this coat (it's in like-new condition), she didn't need it - and she thought of me.
I wasn't even sure it was going to fit me,
but it does.

And I love it.
I love that it's purple, I love that it's long, I love that it's warm.

But mostly I love the fact that this dear old friend, whom I haven't seen in SO many (WAY too many!) years still remembers me as fondly as I do her. Childhood friends - you know? The kind of dear, close friend that you simply never, ever, could forget, because you were so close, because you loved each other that much. Although Washington may not seem that far away to me now, she may as well have moved to another continent at the time. I certainly never got to travel up there to visit her, after she moved. We wrote to each other, we talked on the phone way back when, but then - life - you know, and too many moves and address changes, and we lost touch for a very long time.
 When we spoke on the phone after we had gotten back in touch, I cried, I was just so happy to talk to her again!
Colleen, I know we will see each other again one day, and in the meantime, I have my warm memories of you and now I also have this nice, warm coat to wrap myself in, as well.
Thank you SO much.
You were such a dear to think of me, and I will never forget you.
Not ever.

A Snowman Scene From December 5th, 1963

I found this paper collage tucked away in my files.
Apparently, I made it on December 5th, 1963, because it is dated on the back.
And Mother saved it - and I'm so very glad she did.

The people who live in that little smiling house have a lot of snow, and a really big snowman - and some outgoing mail in their mailbox.
I hope the mailman can make it through!

Patterns From The Past: McCall's Robes For The Holidays

Today, we have vintage bathrobes from McCall's - Mother and Daughter are ready for Christmas morning in these pretty, matching robes:

Mom's robe is made from this pattern - number 2696:

The back of the pattern:

And the little girl's version, is pattern number 2697:

Cute!
Here's the back of that pattern:

I love how they show the three versions in matching fabrics!
So sweet, really - does anybody do that anymore?
I hope so.
I think it's completely adorable.

Baker's Coconut Cakes #9 Mr. Snowman

Today, we have  "Mr. Snowman", another cake from the vintage "Cut-Up Cakes" cookbook put out in 1956 by Baker's Coconut.
I think he's pretty cute with his little hat and his candy cane:

(The picture above is step 3 - below you will find the simple instructions for cutting and assembling him.)

Frost him, add your Baker's Angel Flake Coconut and a few decorations, and he's ready to go!
What a "Cut-Up"!

Once Upon a Time in Placerville No. 19: An Old Home on Pleasant Valley Road

Good morning, Tina here. I am sharing a photo this morning which came from a friend and fellow historian who loves old cabins, barns and buildings and grew up exploring in Newtown and Pleasant Valley, Cork Q.

This old home was located across from what is now Pleasant Valley Middle School in the Gold Oak School District. It was located on the north side of Pleasant Valley Road between what used to be a turkey farm a bit west of there, and the Pleasant Valley Grange about a half mile east. Behind stands Chrome Ridge, where there were mine shafts apparently going all the way through to the Newtown Road area. Cork says it was once part of a large ranch called the Avansino Ranch, which had a large home further west on the south side of the road (which I do not remember - and has also been torn down.) This once lovely old place was torn down in the 1960's, and as time went by you could no longer tell that a family once lived in that area.

When I was younger I sometimes rode the school bus past this great old place, and being the old house lover I was, I would imagine living there. My family also dug bottles up on the ridge just a ways west of here, across from the old gas station which still (almost) stands along the south side of Pleasant Valley Road. I always thought it strange there was a dump up a road climbing the ridge. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to, to get rid of your trash. Maybe there was a house there, but no indication of that when we dug there.

Just a little bit of Once Upon a Time. Hope you enjoyed it.

Ornament Trees At Antiques, Etc.

When I was looking at all of the photos that were on my old phone, I came across these pictures I had taken a while back.
They feature gorgeous wire trees full of ornaments at a shop on Main Street in downtown Sonora called "Antiques, Etc.".
They are all so glorious that I wanted to share them with you.
 Let's begin with pink:

Ahh - the "golden one":

Next we have red:

And the green one that was in the background:

Multiple colors and stripes (which are a particular favorite of mine) - on a different style of display tree:

And a vision in red, white, gold and green on a little faux-evergreen tree:

They're all so pretty that I just thought you might enjoy seeing them.