Vintage Thingies Thursday: An Old Book

There was a link to "a recipe for roast beef" on a great new-to-me blog called Bookmark Collector and I HAD to click it. (I'll click most anything to do with a recipe and/or food.) That led me to this post on my new favorite blog, Forgotten Bookmarks. The recipe had turned up in a book by Louisa May Alcott called "Eight Cousins." It looked like the one I have, except the color on the spine and cover was green and mine is orange-y. That reminded me it had been a long time since I did a post for Vintage Thingies Thursday so I thought I'd share my copy of "Eight Cousins" today.


"Eight Cousins" is one of the books in a set that my mom gave me in 1974. (Or was it 1975?) (And, boy was my handwriting sloppy when I was 11 or what?) The set includes "Little Women" and "Little Men." After the Little House series from Laura Ingalls Wilder, they were my favorite books when I was a kid.



I remember being fascinated by the color illustration before the title page of each book. (You can click the image to see a larger version.)




Visit Suzanne over at Coloradolady to see who else is sharing their vintage treasures this week.

Bookmark Collector is full of links to bookmarks you can buy, ones you can make, to bookmark contests and collections, so go take a look if you have a thing for bookmarks.

And, be sure to check out my new favorite blog Forgotten Bookmarks for more random ephemera (postcards, post-it notes, credit card receipts, etc) found in old books by someone who works in a used and rare bookstore.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Girl Scouts

Yesterday, I posted a picture of two of my friends and me in our Brownie uniforms from when we were 9 years old in 1972. I really enjoyed the comments I received so I thought for Vintage Thingies Thursday, I would share a few of the things from Girl Scouts that I've held on to all these years (and not old pictures of my mom's family as originally planned).

Like my time in Brownies, I don't remember much about being a Girl Scout. I think I only lasted one year wearing the green uniform, and once again, no s'mores were ever made. My troop didn't sell cookies but we did sell calendars. My memory is really hazy but I think there was some kind of event held at the Anaheim Convention Center to celebrate our sales and the sales of a zillion other Girl Scouts in the county. I could be wrong but I think that's where I picked up these patches. It's funny because as soon as I dug the Scout Sampler '74 one out of the shoebox where I keep this stuff, my first thought was "I could totally make that!" because of the satin stitch and cross stitch on it. (You can click the pictures to get a larger version.)



Karen mentioned having a sash for her Girl Scout badges. We did too but for some reason, my badges never were sewn on to mine. I get what the GS one stands for but what does the cup of coffee mean? I keep thinking we did some kind of cooking project to earn a badge but maybe we just learned how to make cappuccino (yes, it's the barista badge*). As you can see, we had to make our own soccer badge. If only I knew how to embroider back then. I could have made a nicer version with some black and white floss.

I no longer have my Brownie purse but hello, I still have the Genuine Cowhide Girl Scout green one. You can't tell from the scan but the Girl Scout logo is still a nice shiny gold.

And, what's inside the little purse? An identification card which cracks me up. Employed by? No one. Sex? Girl. Blood type? Red. The humor of a ten year old. (Who told me my hair was frosted?)



Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from my days as a Girl Scout. but here's one more from Brownies. In case any of these girls decides to Google herself one day, that's Nicole Royer, Leslie Talley, Shelly Adler, Shelly Monroe, Cristi Bondra and me.



*The cup of coffee badge was for Hospitality. The Vintage Girl Scout Online Museum has photos of tons of badges and I found the coffee one on the page for Junior badges 1963-1980. The one I drew the soccer ball on is called Our Own Troop. Look at all the nifty purses on this page and the hankies and aprons and needlework. Who knew?

Next week, I'll post my Girl Scout pins. Thanks for visiting my blog! To see who else is sharing their Vintage Thingies today, check Colorado Lady's blog.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Valentines

For Vintage Thingies Thursday, I thought I'd share some valentines. (My scanning techniques still need some work.)

This card cost me a dollar at the local antique store. I had discovered a box of valentines in one of the booths, and went through them, hoping to find some with puppies or dogs. This little lion king is not a puppy but I thought he was really cute and had to get him. His happy face reminds me of some of the bears from vintage embroidery transfers.
On the back, it has "from Charles Millslagle James." I wonder if the person who received this card from Charles thought it was as adorable as I do. I guess it could also be from a trio of brothers, but then the middle one's name would be Millslagle and what kind of parent would do that to their son?

I had to get this one because of the three doggies. It also came from the same shop as the lion king and was left unsigned. The little hearts around the middle dog (let's call him Millslagle for now) are glittered and the larger hearts have glitter borders. And, unlike the glitter of today, none of it is flaking off.

This large card was part of a lot of ephemera that I picked up on eBay a few years ago. I specifically bid on the auction just to win this one. The puppies ears are made of felt and the card doesn't open, but there's a piece of heavy paper on the back that I thought might have functioned as a stand at one time. I played around with it and figured out how it works.

Here it is standing up. In small print on the back is "A Hallmark Card" and also "Hall Brothers, Inc." with a copyright of 1946. You can see how big the card is compared to the lion king next to it.

Thanks for looking at my vintage valentines! (I wish I had more to show.) You can find out who else is joining in on the Vintage Thingies fun over at Colorado Lady.

P.S. This week, both Suzanne and Elizabeth are sharing vintage valentines too, so go check them out!

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Ornaments

I was just going to a quickie drive-by post and share two embroidery links, but then I realized it was Vintage Thingies Thursday so I'm going to post pictures of two older ornaments that I had hot glued on to a wreath because we had so many of them and not much room left on the tree.

But, first, let me share this link I found on the Sublime Stitching page on Facebook some website I never ever visit. Anyone who's worried about embroidery being a dying art needs to go see the photos in the Children's Embroidery pool on Flickr. I love that little kids are stitching. And, check out this post on Boing Boing (also originally linked on that site I never ever visit). I love that she embroidered the elephant while her parents were out for the evening. How sweet.

On to Vintage Thingies Thursday: this gingerbread man is made of styrofoam and has to be as old as I am (45 years). Notice how he looks like he had a lobotomy. There was a straight pin stuck into his head that held the string to hang him by and it was always coming out. I guess sometimes part of his brains came out as well. Either than or the dog got a hold of him.

The pixie head has got to be close to my age too. His noggin is attached to a stick so I don't know if his back story involved decapitation or they ran out of bodies for him at the factory. I never realized this ornament was kind of creepy until now. It's funny, I see the bear on the rocking horse and consider him to be a newer ornament but I bet he's over 20 years old by now. I'll have to check to see if there are any markings on any of these decorations when we eventually get around to putting up this year's tree. No, it's not up yet and no, it's not because I am too busy on Facebook to do it.

Thanks for visiting my blog and taking a look at my vintage thingies. For more VTT fun, check out Colorado Lady's blog and see who else is joining in this week.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Animal Planters

For Vintage Thingies Thursday, I wanted to share the rest of my animal planters. In case you missed it, I posted the blue dog one on Monday.

I used to spend hours on eBay searching on vintage dog just to see what would come up. That's how I ended up with these planters.

This is the first one I bought. It was described as a Poodle by the seller, which is why I wanted it, but apparently it's really a lamb. Whatever it is, it's still really cute. It's made by Relpo and numbered 5966 on the bottom. I've seen other 5966's for sale with blue or pink daisies, instead of yellow ones.




This green doggie has C-9591 stamped on it but nothing about the manufacturer or any clue about how old it is.




These are my two favorites. The dog with the hat on the left has a Relpo sticker on the bottom along with "made in Japan." And, SamsonImportCo 1961 and what looks like 5238B are printed on it. The only marking on the planter on the right says it was made in Taiwan.




Thanks for visiting my blog for Vintage Thingies Thursday! If you want to see who else is joining us this week, check out this post on Confessions of an Apron Queen. It's fun to look at all the vintage goodies plus it's a great way to discover new blogs.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Piggy Banks

I'm cheating a little with this week's Vintage Thingies Thursday because I've posted both pictures before. But that was over a year ago when no one was reading my blog but me so it doesn't count.

Once upon a time, I collected pigs. When people find out you collect something, they often buy you one when they come across it. As a result, I had pig slippers, pig clocks, pig socks, stuffed pigs, piggy banks, pig Xmas ornaments, pig pajamas, pig postcards and a pig purse. It was really sweet that my friends, family and co-workers would think of me when they saw a pig and I loved every pig they gave me (well, except a few ugly cartoon-y ones) but my favorites were and still are the ones I picked up myself.

This piggy bank came from a trip with my mom to an antique store in Dana Point (the next town over) years ago. Usually, I would think the flowers were a little too much but I really like her. The only marking on her is N-117, whatever that is. My sister knocked this piggy bank off a plant stand a couple of years ago -- my fault for practically putting the plant stand in the doorway of the bathroom -- and the pig broke into several large pieces but my mom was able to glue her back together. Thanks, Mom!



Even though I stopped collecting pigs, or maybe I just told everybody that I did so I wouldn't get any more ugly cartoon-y ones, I still found a few on eBay, including this pink cutie. She doesn't have any markings on her, just some scribbles in pen & pencil on the bottoms of her feet, so I have no idea how old she is but I'm guessing it was way before PETA arrived on the scene. I think she would make a fun embroidery pattern.



Thanks for coming to see my Vintage Thingie! You can see who else is joining in on Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Confessions of an Apron Queen.

Vintage Thingies Thursday Wiggy Wags

This afternoon, I was putting my can of crayons back on the shelf in my bedroom closet and noticed some illustrations that I had picked up at the local antique store a couple of years ago because they were all of cute dogs and I was going through a dog phase. They were leaning up against something else and still in sealed plastic sleeves. I opened this one up.

I know I bought it because I thought the puppy dog and little boy were so adorable. Based on the text, it's from a book about a dog called Wiggy Wags and someone named Tips.



I flipped it over to find another illustration on the other side. In this one, Wiggy Wags is not very happy because he has to spend the rest of the night with Susie the kitty in the baggage car. Notice the signature in the bottom righthand corner: Ruth E. Newton. Of course, I immediately had to google it.

Thanks to Google, I now know more about the book that this page came from. It's called "Let's Play Train" by Ruth E. Newton, Mabel Horn and Betty Carter. According to Biblio.com, it's "A large adorable collectible picture book featuring 2 little children, doll & dog running to catch a train. It includes a little Black boy who is the porter." That must be Tips. The one they have for sale was first printed in 1936 on linen-like paper. I don't know if my page is from a first edition but the paper is pretty cool. You can see the texture in this photo.



Ruth E. Newton (1884-1972) illustrated more then 40 books and designed rubber squeak toys for the Sun Rubber Company. Her images were also used for greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles and paper dolls. I found a Wiggy Wags paper doll in this album on Webshots that I had actually seen before when I was in my dog paperdoll phase. (Obsess much?)



And, there's a Japanese site selling two placemats with embroidered cats from a Ruth Newton pattern.

My plan for this afternoon was to dust and vacuum my bedroom and then clean my bathroom. Instead, I spent a several hours going through Google results for Ruth E. Newton. I have three other prints of dogs still in their plastic sleeves that I could open and check for information on their illustrators but then I'd be here for another nine hours. I'll save that for a night when I'm stuck for something to blog about.

For the past two Thursdays, I have had so much fun checking out other Vintage Thingies. Go to Confessions of an Apron Queen and see who else is joining in this week.

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom! I'm way behind with answering my email and my blog reading so I'm going to take a break from blogging for a few days. Enjoy the weekend! [Hits publish and runs off to check other dog illustrations]

Vintage Thingies Thursday X-Stitch Apron

For today's Vintage Thingies Thursday, I thought I'd share another one of my mom's aprons from when she was little. Her mother brought the apron back from a trip to California to visit her father during World War II. My grandmother and my grandfather's cousin had taken the train out from Philadelphia to visit my grandfather who was recovering in a San Diego naval hospital after being wounded on Iwo Jima. After my grandfather got out of the hospital, they all took a trip to Tijuana where this apron was apparently bought from a man with a donkey pulling a cart.

I apologize for the not-so-great photo. (You can see it better on Flickr.) I wish I had a little girl to model the apron for me. I tried doing that myself and using the bathroom mirror to take a picture but I looked like a major chubbette wearing a too small apron and it was scary.


My mom's apron
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

I thought this apron would fit in nicely with my latest posts about cross stitching on gingham. It also shows once again how ironing is not something I do often.


Apron bib
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

I like the motif on the skirt. I should reproduce that on some graph paper and post it here.


Apron skirt
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

To see more of this week's Vintage Thingies Thursday, please visit Confessions of an Apron Queen and consider joining in next time. It's a lot of fun!

Vintage Thingies Thursday Ornament

My vintage thingy for this week's Vintage Thingies Thursday has nothing to do with the kitchen but I am sharing it anyway. Recent blog posts from Twyla and Elizabeth about Christmas ornaments got me thinking about my own ornament collection. My mom still buys my sister and me an ornament every year, and most of them are from Hallmark, but my first Hallmark one came from our next-door neighbor at the time, Mrs. Rose. It's the reindeer from the Tree Treats Collection (I just found out that out). I've always liked him because he looks like a sugar cookie and I like cookies.

And, this is the back.



About ten years ago, I saw this ornament for sale at some kind of collectibles show and it was going for $100. That one was still in the original box. Out of curosity, I just checked online and found one for sale for $30 and another (out of the box) for $105.

Hmm. $105 would buy me an a bunch of embroidery patterns. And, an apron or two. And, some Bazooka.

Just kidding. I couldn't sell mine. Besides, just because someone is selling it for that much doesn't mean someone will pay that much, right?

Pop on over to Confessions of an Apron Queen for more Vintage Thingies Thursday.

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Kitchen Towel

After realizing it was time for Vintage Thingies Thursday, I went looking for this kitchen towel and was shocked and appalled to find it in the drawer, ALREADY PRESSED. [Cue Twilight Zone theme.] I tend to iron things minutes before I am going to wear it or use it so that was really bizarre. The ironing board is usually set up in my bedroom, in case I get the urge to do some pattern transferring, so maybe I've been sleep-ironing. Who knows. Anyway, my mom picked up two of these towels at an antique store years ago, one for me and one for herself, and when she no longer wanted hers, I claimed it.



For more Vintage Thingies Thursday, check out today's entry over at Confessions of an Apron Queen. And, for more information on how to be a part of Vintage Thingies Thursday, go here.

Vintage Thingies Thursday -- Shakers

Alert the media! I actually remembered to post something for Vintage Thingies Thursday!

I found these doggie salt & pepper shakers at a local antique store. There are no markings on them so I have no idea where they came from or how old they are. They both have "Japan" stamped on the bottom but I don't know how long ago they migrated to the US. They cost more than I should have paid but I was going through a dog collecting phase and they were cute. The dog on the left came with the polka dot ribbon and I left it on 'cause I liked it.

For more Vintage Thingies Thursday, check the links at Confessions of an Apron Queen.

Vintage Thingies Thursday

I was invited by The Apron Queen to join Vintage Thingies Thursday. There are still four hours left in the day so I'm participating this week. Except I don't have a vintage kitchen towel to show & tell. I mean, I have one but I don't have a picture of it and by the time I go and take one and download it and edit this post, it will be Friday already. (I really need to stop whining.) So, this week, I'm going with an apron.

Apron for Vintage Thingies Thursday
Originally uploaded by PipStitch

This apron was made for me by a blogging friend of mine after I told her how I didn't sew. She used vintage fabric and made it even more sweet by putting an old hankie in the pocket. I really love it.

Next week, I hope to post a Vintage Thingie before the sun sets.