Vintage Birthday Card for Rednesday

(Please join Sue at Sue Loves Cherries for more Rednesday fun!)

 

I was kind of at a loss today for Rednesday!  

My oldest niece is graduating this Sunday (getting her PHD in Psychology, atta girl!) and her slow poke Auntie had decided to make her something and it's so very slow coming together. I sat, scratching my head all last week and couldn't think of a thing.  Finally yesterday, a thought came to me and now I have to work like a crazy person because I'm slow as molasses. 

Anyway, I remembered I had some vintage paper goodies I had found, still out on my desk --- aha! Something for Rednesday after all!

My mother was notorious for buying stuff and then forgetting where she had put it - I gather this adorable unused birthday card for my father, was one of those many things that went astray.

Aren't the illustrations cute?!  It's a Hallmark card, copyright is 1948.  Hope it brings you smiles too!

 

 

  

My Gramma's Sewing Machine

(Please visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun!)

I thought this Thursday I'd share my fraternal Grandmother's sewing machine with you.  It's very beat up but I love it!  From it, my grammy would make clothes for my Barbie dolls and I wish I knew what else.

Thankfully I was able to find my grandmother's manual and it says it's model 66-1.  From what I could ascertain through googling, it was produced during the years 1900-1910. I found a photo here at sewnuts - I'd never seen a "parlor" cabinet before.  I'm not sure if that means all 66-1 models came in a parlor cabinet?

My father had told me that it was originally a treadle machine and that my grandmother had it converted to a "portable" (which it most certainly is NOT portable, the thing weighs a TON! I could not budge it a half an inch, thank heavens for husbands!).  We did find a receipt in the compartment dated 1950 something, that must have been when it was converted (into this immovable object hahahaha!). 

Oh! I forgot to say that when we unearthed it at my parents house, it was locked and the key was never found (among the gazillions of stray keys we did find).  So my husband lugged it to the locksmith and had two new keys made for it, so that we could finally see inside.  

What a beauty she must have been in her day!

 

 (we found this box inside the little accessory compartment, 

containing lots of little metal thingies, hmmmm, not sure what they are!)

 (Grammies handwriting ... sigh ... sniffle sniffle ...)

 (Grammies obviously much used manual)

 (love the vintage illustration inside)

 

Checkmate Rednesday

(Please visit Sue at Sue Loves Cherries for more Rednesday fun!)

This Rednesday I'm sharing a chess set my mother bought about 30 years ago - she didn't know how to play chess but she adored the little hand painted chess pieces.  She had a "game table" in the living room and pictured her darling chess pieces, set up invitingly on the table.  These were the days of macrame, quilting and needlepoint and I was always going to needlepoint her a chess board, so it would be special too, like her chess set. 

They would live happily on in her curio cabinet until my father passed away last year and I brought everything home. They have been sitting in a box, waiting for me to find a home for them - which I still haven't found. WAH! 

But worse than that, I found this morning ... after thinking AHA!, something for Rednesday ... that one of the red pawns is GONE, not there!  I knew that some had lost their little pipes and one of the horses had lost an ear, but I had found all those little bits, close at hand in my mom's cabinet.  Sadly I'm 99.9% sure the missing piece wasn't found elsewhere when we were packing up things and so, won't be uncovered as we unpack the remaining boxes. 

I guess it went walkabout, searching for it's long-promised-by-me chessboard home ... not this woebegone one shown, it's a free printable I found on the internet.

Bee Gee's January 1968

I was so sad to wake up this morning to the news of Robin Gibb's passing, the Bee Gee's early music certainly was one of the soundtracks to my teenage years.

My best friend and I saw them on January 27, 1968 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.  We had both just turned fourteen and loved the Bee Gee's first single, "New York Mining Disaster".  It was their very first concert in the United States.  The line up was Vanilla Fudge, Spanky & Our Gang and the Bee Gee's.   

Vintage Golf for Vintage Thingie Thursday

 (Please visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun!)

 

This Vintage Thingie Thursday I'm sharing some of my dad's golfing stuff.  My dad loved golf more than just about anything in this whole wide world.  He played up until the last five years of his life, stopping at 87 when balance and an arthritic knee betrayed him.  He maintained his membership and  would continue to visit his club, have lunch and schmooze with his golfing buddies, many of them more than half his age.   

 

 

This was a gift to my father, I think from my brother - "The Original 19th Hole: Electromatic Putting Practice".  Over the years my father would have many contraptions for his putting his golf balls in the living room!  This one wasn't a favorite seemingly, it looks like it was never used but the one Christmas it arrived under the tree - I do see signs of my scribbling on the box, so I guess it did see some use teehee!

 

My father adored these books, the original "73 Years in a Sand Trap" from 1949 and it's follow up "89 Years in a Sand Trap" from 1965.  He thought them so amusing that they became a much sought after gift for all of his golfing buddies. 

 

The books have charming illustrations - I chose to share this one because of my father's penchant for practicing his putting in our living room.  

suzy homemaker

Thought I'd share this darling photo sent to my parents in a 1950 Christmas card.  How cute is she with her laundry and washing line?!!  

Happy Wednesday!

Spring amulets for Rednesday

(Please visit Sue at Sue Loves Cherries for more Rednesday fun!)

This Rednesday I'm sharing some darling charms my mother received from a pen pal friend many years ago to celebrate the Romanian tradition called Martisor. 

You can read about the history here on Wikipedia.  It sounds like such an interesting and fun tradition and celebration of Spring.  The tiny, fragile charms are tied on a red and a white thread, twisted together - red symbolizing good health and white, symbolizing peace and worn on March 1st.

free aspirin & tender sympathy

hahahhahhahahaha!  Isn't this a fun photo I found of my Grandma (on the left) and I think that's her youngest sister beside her.  

Free Aspirin & Tender Sympathy

Love that!  We could all use some of either or both of those, huh?! 

I was so curious about the origin of the sign that I googled it.  I could only find one that used to be on the Las Vegas Strip but it didn't match my photo - it was on a sign for a Mini Mart at a Union 76 gas station.  I suppose this could be an earlier incarnation???

I found this photo with other pictures of my grandma and her sisters, visiting Salt Lake City, Utah.  I think it was taken in the late fifties to early sixties.

I love the dead grass beneath them and the oscillating sprinkler to the left of the sign post, too funny.  And of course the S&H green stamp sign brings back loads of memories.  

Does anyone, miracle or miracles, remember this sign?

Happy Monday!

Retro crafting on Vintage Thingie Thursday

(please visit Suzanne at Colorado Lady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun!)

This Thursday I'm sharing a kitschy craft from my 1960's childhood.  It may predate the 1960's but I first saw it at my elementary school carnival in 1965 and thought it was so great.  The ones I saw were fishes, made of tulle.  Thank heavens our tastes evolve, huh?! 

I guess I must have been so ga ga about it, that my mother sent away for this craft kit.

(In case you're a young whippersnapper and don't recall this craft,  it was making decorations using  Sweetheart soap bars as your foundation.)