Vintage Thursday Thingie: Hannukah

This brass Hannukah menorah or Chanukiah was my grandparents on my Dad's side. You can see that its been well used ...its a little wonky and leans a bit to right. Not sure of the date-this is a traditional style so its hard to date. This is an illustation from a children's book of Jewish holidays that was my mother's. It was published in 1928 and she received it as a gift in 1933 (by the inscription) from her father.

The illustrations are by the Jerusalem Bezalel artist: Ze'ev Raban. It is a wonderful book!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday and New Year! (in case I don't make it back before 2010-I seem to be more hit and miss than I used to be :)

For more vintage treasures, please go to Coloradolady...she holds the key to wonderful vintage goodies!

Vintage Thursday Thingie: That '70's Patchwork Book

According to the author, Rachel Martens," Here are authentic old patterns for quilt blocks which appeared in FARM JOURNAL from the Twenties".

Well...

I confess. I had a jacket with fringe.

Too cool for school

Cowl neck sweater, ironed hair?

Remember, in Fashion one decade you're in and the next-you're out!

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Vintage Thursday Thingie: Chenille Bedspread

I love using this ‘30s Chenille spread in our guest room-it makes it springtime no matter what date it is on the calendar. This spread has been well loved and is, in fact, “balding” in the center (but then, bald is good :).


Scroll down to my last post to see my reproduction of a vintage quilt: the Poppy quilt by Marie Webster.

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Vintage Thursday Thingie: Jewel Tea Company Cook Booklet

Vintage Thursday Thingies: Jewel Tea Company Cook Booklet

Since Lynn shared her vintage goodie from the Jewel Tea Company last week, I thought I’d show my Cook Booklet from the same company this week.

The Jewel Tea Company began home delivery of groceries in about 1901, and continued home delivery of groceries until 1981. Actually, home delivery is I think the wrong expression, I think you could choose your groceries right then and there. They became well known for their premiums (like Green Stamps or today, frequent flier miles).

Here’s their Homemakers Institute Kitchen.

I like the way all the recipes say things like: ¼ teaspoon Jewel Pepper or Jewel peanut butter or Jewel Vanilla Extract.
Mary Dunbar was a combination of spokesperson and dietician and like so many others in the 1930s, Mary Dunbar was not her real name. It was Leone Rutledge Carroll. I don’t why this fake name thing was so popular in the 1930s but it was (in food there was Ann Page (A&P) and of course, Betty Crocker and in quilting Aunt Martha and Grandma Dexter and many more too.)

The back of the booklet has lots of interesting information on everything from removing stains, to Beauty Culture: “Cleanliness is the first secret of beauty.”! to Table Setting and Rules for Serving. All featuring Jewel Tea Company products of course.

I wish the Jewel Tea Company car could come to my house.

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Vintage Thursday Thingie: Thread Caddy

Today I'm truly showing a vintage thingamabob. Its a rotating thread holder and pin cushion with holes for thimbles. The base is cast iron and stamped "The Louise Economy" on the underside. The outside is chrome plated.

The thimble is not vintage (circa 1992) but the threads are and they are Clarks and Star, two longtime companies still in business. The front spool with the blue thread is a Clarks Boilfast I love that name-you could confindently wash anything sewn with that thread.

I've added my Mom's needle book from the l950's

and I thought it fun to show the inside. You can see you used almost all the needles except for one corner which is actually torn off the packet. (It probably got lost in the fondly remembered jumble of Mom's nightstand drawer) The other two needle packs were my Grandfather's. He was a tailor and don't those needle packs look more serious. They're both English needles but I haven't heard of them (Schul-sons, since 1751 and Leo Lammertz, London 1862).

While I would really like to this thingamabob for holding thread when I'm doing hand applique, I've put it on the shelf. Its been well used; the nap is off the velvet (like the bloom off her face), the fabric is splitting (crow's feet showing) and its tilted and a little wobbly. (Sigh) One can sympathize.

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Vintage Log Cabin Quilt Blocks

I bought the 16 vintage log cabin blocks in this top at a quilt show in Oakland, CA a few years ago that I was lucky to catch while visiting my sister in Petaluma. Their bright colorfullness caught my eye and heart. I set them with the blue sashing and border using a reproduction fabric that I always think of as Dodger blue. I think the blocks date from the 1940's.

Whenever I see a vintage top or blocks that I like, I always wonder why wasn't the project finished. Was it lack of time, loss of interest or some problem that cropped up? (Ok, those are the usual reasons for my UFOs).

These blocks certainly had some problems: some were a little bit too big and some a little bit too small. That's one of the reasons I chose to use the sashing, an unusual choice for a log cabin but I have seen pictures of 1930s-40s log cabins with sashing and the sashing helped with the size problems.

I had to add a "fourth log" to one side of two too small blocks. For one I was able to trim a piece

of fabric from one too big block and use that -the red polka dot fabric on the left side is the added piece .

For the other, I had to go to my "stash" of vintage fabrics (which would fit in a sandwich bag) and I found a suitable piece! -the bottom blue and yellow print.

One of the nice things about having a vintage top or blocks is that you can turn them over and see how they were made. These were foundation pieced and were hand sewn to the foundation. I wish my camera was better (I'm getting a new one in December!) . I love the little piece of fabric caught in the seam.

I hope the unknown maker is pleased with what I have done with her blocks. I do plan to quilt this top; I'm thinking of quilting only in the sashing and border leaving the vintage blocks as they are.

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Vintage Thursdays Quilt

This is my first Vintage Thursdays post and it is a Tumbling Blocks quilt.

Stylistically this quilt looks like a 1930’s quilt with overall fan quilting and the way the tumbling blocks were sewn together makes me think it was a Mountain Mist pattern.

But it has a polyester batt which makes it no earlier than the 1960s. I have made up a story in my head that this quilt was made by a long-time quilter who had her favorite patterns, this being one of them, that she just kept making. One day, her daughter or perhaps the saleswoman at the shop where she bought batting said to her “Why don’t you try this new polyester batting?” And she did.

Unfortunately the polyester batting has not been kind to her quilt. At both ends of the quilt, the quilting stitches have been rubbed out by the polyester batting and once the quilting was gone, the batt began to rub thin the backing fabric.

When I got this quilt, the bottom was open with the batting sticking out. I decided that I had to do something to save this quilt. I noticed that the binding was pulled to the back of the quilt for a knife-edge finish. I decided to add a new binding to both ends of the quilt (not just the open end) but make the binding so wide that it would cover and protect the worn thin backing fabric.
You can see in this picture the wide piece I added and the original binding (it also shows the fan quilting very nicely.

I really like this quilt and have learnt alot from it. I have not used a polyester batt since I got this quilt (there is one still in the closet) and I now know an easy way to sew a knife-edge finish when I don’t want the binding to show. It also sparked my interest in 6-pointed star quilts.

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