Vintage Thursday Thingie: Baseball Book

This wonderful vintage biography of the great baseball player Lou Gehrig is from 1942, a year after his death from ALS-still commonly called Lou Gehrig Disease.It has a wonderful photo of Lou Gehrig and a forward by Bill Dickey, catcher, Yankee teammate and good friend.
Did you notice the caption on the photo? "Larruping Lou-the Iron Man". I grew up in a house that was a Yankee house...with lots of stories of my Dad going to games and seeing the Iron Man, The Yankee Clipper (Joe DiMaggio) and of course, the Sultan of Swat (Babe Ruth)! I always loved the colorful nicknames!

At the back of the book are stat tables-after all this is a baseball book. Here are the 2 full pages of the American League Home Run Leaders from 1901 to 1941. Now Babe Ruth sort of took control of this statistic from 1918 until 1931 when he shared it with Lou Gehrig. Gehrig was also the Homer leader in 1934 and 1936.

Sadly the old Yankee Stadium that rang with the bat and saw the wonderful skills and heartfelt fans farewell to Lou Gehrig is gone. This year there is a new stadium...but it is in the Bronx so the Bronx Bombers nickname for the Yanks still stands.

Just so you really understand what a Yankee family I grew up in-this book was not my father's. It was my uncle's. He died in the Pacific in WWII and my mother always kept the book for a future grandson. In 1995, she gave it to DS the elder ( a huge baseball fan).

I have a confession to make: today I am not a Yankees fan...I say "Go Phillies!"

Join in the fun, visit Coloradolady and see what other vintage treasures are being shared this week.

Some thoughts (and links) off the top of my head

1. How do you spell dilemma/dilemna? Check out these discussions ( here and here) if you've ever wondered about this. I mentioned this to DH..."Hey this is a technical word in my world," said the retired Philsophy professor, "its dilemma. Check Spinoza."



2. Have you visited Needlework News? Its a great site with lots of fun and instructional projects-sort of a clearinghouse of links to what's happening in the on-line needle world. I found it through Patty at Pip Stitch (also a great place for fun crafty projects and links).

3. Have you ever wanted to work at a fashion magazine? Yearned to compose a fashion photo collage with shoes, pants, jacket and even sunglasses? Well, check out this fun site, Polyvore. You don't need to be a member-just get started making your collage using the items on the right! (You do need to join to save or send your collage.) Check out the blog to view other peoples collages and for contests, etc.

4. Polyvore gives alot of the same fun as dressing paper dolls and for paper dolls--check out the Dover Books page for a great collection of paper dolls. There's everything from Shirley Temple paper dolls to Pride and Prejudice paper dolls to Brides from Around the World...what fun!

Well, I think that exhausts my brain for today. Have fun!

Vintage Sewing Booklets

I'm sharing today two vintage sewing booklets. The first one is from 1934 and is really quite small, only 8 pages. If you knew nothing about quilts and rugs, it would give you a general understanding of how they are made but there are no patterns. It was published by the University of New Hampshire Extension Service under the Acts of Congress of May and June 30, 1914...interestingly the next booklet also sites this law. This is one of the things I love about collecting vintage thingies-you learn things you never would have known. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 established the cooperative extension divisions of land-grant universities. The idea was to publish and disseminate information on agriculture and home economics...and that's why these booklets exist!

Check out the wonderful quilting on this Tennessee Snowball quilt.

There are only two photos in this little booklet-the cover picture and this one of a hooked rug. I think the oval-like medallion style of this rug is so typical for the 1930s. Check out your vintage tablecloths ladies and I bet you have some with an oval medallion center.

This next booklet too was made possible by the Smith Lever Act. This booklet is from 1951 and as you can see it is about making slip covers...guess I had it in mind for a while. I bought this a few years ago at a used book store.

Did you notice her wrist pin cushion? Check out her dress in the next picture...oh just what I wore when I made my slipcover :) I would love to have that jacket-classic 50s tailoring!

Hope you enjoyed my booklets! Join in the fun of Vintage Thursday Thingie and visit Suzanne at Coloradolady. She holds the key that opens the door to wonderful vintage treasures.

String Quilt Surprise

Remember these? I couldn't decide which setting I liked best and judging by your comments, neither could alot of you. Well, I decided to let my son decide, since it will be his quilt. Which did he choose? He looked and looked and he couldn't decide either. Then he said, "Wait a minute.

What if we turn this one like this, and this one like this..."

And there you have it! Straight furrows! I hadn't even thought of this setting. Mind you, this is the child who grew up with a quilting Mom-seems something rubbed off!

One of things I like about this string quilt block is that you can use it with any log cabin/half square triangle setting...you just have to remember them all!

The top is all sewn together-great to get back into the sewing room-now it just needs to be quilted. I'm hoping to baste it up this week and get started.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Vintage Thursday Thingie: Silver Cake Servers

This week I'm sharing two more pieces from my silver collection. I think that these are both cake servers although this first one may be a tomato server. Yes, there is such a thing! It has lovely Art Nouveau style open work and a very traditional pattern at the tip of the handle. This second one is a hinged cake server and also has some open work as well as a very sweet floral vine surrounding cross hatching. I love this piece...it makes me feel like it is time for tea whenever I look at it.

For more vintage treasures, make sure to visit Coloradolady!

I Made Slipcovers!

Before the allergies struck and before the guests arrived, I decided that our sofa was looking very sad and needed a facelift...so I decided to make slipcovers. I've never done anything like this ever but I saw other bloggers writing about making slipcovers and theirs looked pretty good so I thought I'd give it a go.

I made a paper pattern and using the floor as my work table, pinned the pieces to the fabric and cut. (This is the only pix as I was working...I really got into it and forgot about the camera).
Here's the finish! Pretty good! (OK, I was very smart or lucky and all the wonky iffy spots are covered by the seat cushions!)

I really like it-I like the relaxed (wrinkly) look of it. The throw pillows show the original upholstered fabric (which we are planning to change-DH is going to the US soon and will return with new fabric and then we'll have the sofa professionally reupholstered but I may still use my slipcover during the summer months-I really like it!).

So if you have a chair or sofa that needs a new look...try slipcovers. If I could do it, so can you!

Vintage Thursday Thingie: Silver Serving Spoons

I'm so glad to be back participating in Vintage Thursday Thingie hosted by Suzanne. This week I thought I'd share some family heirloom silver serving pieces from my mother's side of the family. These are truly beautiful Art Deco pieces.



These are a pair of serving spoons...notice the wonderful flowers engraved in the bowl of the spoons...



and the angled leaves on the handles.

Here's the mark but I don't really know what it means.

This is a little gravy ladle...it is really exquisite and the photographs just don't do it justice.

The bowl is fluted and the handle is curved so that it would fit nicely in the gravy bowl. Enlarge the photos to see the wonderful bird engraved on the front of the handle...

and the wheat stalks engraved on the back. (The dark is not tarnish-just a shadow caused by the curvature of the handle.)

Enlarge to read the mark on this little gem...why, of course, it reads Tiffany and Co.!

Hop on over to Suzanne's...that's at Coloradolady to see more vintage treasures.

Olive and Mango trees blooming

I'm feeling much better-the shot really worked! No more tears! Thought you might like a peek at the culprits of all my woe! :)

This is a flowering olive tree...beautiful isn't it?
Its in this olive grove right across from our house. Yes, that's our entryway and picket fence...that's only a little bit of the grove (its long and thin only about 4 trees deep).

Here's a view of Migdal and the large orchards in the valley...our house is on a hill so we look down on the orchards. The dark green in neat rows are new mango trees...not much to trouble me this year...the reddish color is from the mango trees in bloom and the dusky green are the olive trees.

This is a mango tree in full bloom...its from the orchard across from our house at the back of the house-not as close as the olives but alot closer than the trees in the valley.

I'm torn every year by the beauty of the flowering trees and the havoc they wreck on me. My favorite are the little yellow flowers of the olive trees that are now starting to fall like snow-so tiny, delicate and lovely.

I'm feeling so much better that I think I can actually sew something!

Allergies???

No allergies for me this year! No tears running down my face, no sneezing 16 times in a row, no allergy triggered asthma-no, not for me!

APRIL FOOLS!

I wish it was true but instead I went to the doctor this morning and she's given me a shot of steroids (does this mean I can hit a baseball farther than anyone else?) and she's increased the dosage of the antihistamine I take. Lets hope this works and I can get my life back. I haven't even visited my blogging friends because I can't really read through my "veil of tears".

The guests are still coming...DH made a lovely roast lamb dinner last night and tonight we all went out to a restaurant. At least I can enjoy the good company and conversation of friends, even if they keep calling "Poor dear!".

Wishing everyone a Happy Passover, Happy Easter or Happy Spring.