Grocery Shopping Yesterday..

Ahhh.. but first a little stop at the Good Will thrift store at the other end of town..

With the 40% off coupon.. my bag of goodies came to $7.19.. which I don't feel too bad about spending in these tough times.

Two sweaters (I do like Tommy Hilfiger) and some beads.. a Little Golden Book "Lassie".. which I already had in my collection but this one is in wonderful condition.. much better than the one I had..
..and a little white pitcher. And oh. I very pretty piece of green vintage solid cotton.. nice and crisp. It doesn't take a whole lot to brighten the day.

There are a lot of places cropping up where you can help with the bush fires in Australia. I've been reading Pip's blog over at Meet Me At Mike's.. she gives a lot of information there.

I'm off to work on my Tea Swap the rest of the day.. it is springlike weather here in Ohio.. yippee!

B&W ..and a Little Story

I'll post this over on Jackie's blog too, but here is a peek at my beginnings of the Black and White Quilt. I'm going to try and make two - the first one using a pattern from this old leaflet..

My rotary cutter has been busy.. I think I'm almost done with this part. Just waiting for the mail.. I have a friend who is contributing a print that I don't have yet.. can't wait!

And I was TRULY going to refrain from EVER posting any pictures of the cold and ice.. we are all seeing enough of it I am sure. But I couldn't help it this morning.. the icicles hanging off the back awning...

Ok. You can stop here. Or you can go on and read a story. This was one of my favorite books as a little girl. I could put myself right in these pages, even though I did not have an older sister.. I had three older brothers. (And I do have a cousin Jane!) Made many a row of paper dolls.. complete with wardrobes. It is the inspiration for my blog banner. And now I am never for want of someone to play with. ☺

Vintage Thingies Thursday Raggedy Ann

I really won't go into everything that Raggedy Ann has meant to me. A lot is all I'll say. But today I'll show you just a few of the older things in my Raggedy collection.. to fit the "VTT" meme.

These first two books are 1960 reprints of the 1940 editions. The Laughing Brook and Lucky Pennies are first editions printed in 1943 and 1932.


Marcella is my most treasured Raggedy book.. it is a first edition printed in 1929.
Here is a shelf of my oldest Raggedy Anns and Andys. The ones on the far left look pretty bad I know. They were handmade many many years ago, and came to me in this condition with nothing to wear. So I adopted them and gave them clothes and a home on the shelf. The rest of them are all authentic Johnny Gruelle dolls, ranging from the 1940's to 1976.
Here are some patterns put out by McCall's to make Raggedy Ann. These have been being made by mothers and grandmothers for years. The first two are the some of the earliest ones printed. I know there are a lot of copies made of these patterns now, and I do have some of them, but I am only showing my own authentic vintage patterns today..

The Simplicity pattern I thought was very interesting, as it is not "Raggedy Ann".. but there is no mistaking her..


Here is a doll I picked up at a flea market several years ago. I do have a few handmade Raggedy Anns that I didn't make myself, and she is one of them. I simply could not resist her. She holds in her lap my beloved teddy bear from when I was little, and sits by my dollhouse on top of the piano.
If you would like to join in with me, and a whole bunch of other who are playing Vintage Thingies Thursdays..(it is a great excuse to show your stuff..).. then go on over to Lisa's blog "Confessions of an Apron Queen". You'll find out how to sign up, or just look around at everyone else's goodies.

Spring Spruce-Up

Although this is what I should have been doing today.. working on this piece of tatted doll lace to fill an underpinnings order.. ..this is what I actually did do. Astonishing how much volume a small box of papers can be once it is shredded. But these things do need done once a year, and tax time seems to be it around here.
So between the noise of the paper shredder all morning, and the guy up on the roof working on the new gutters, I didn't really get much quilting, sewing or tatting done today. But this was one of my favorite sights. You have no idea how long I've been putting off getting these gutters done. Not something you really want to spend your money on.. but now that I did, I can't wait to have the job finished!
And one really bright and colorful spot, because I can't let you leave my blog without something pretty.. These came in the mail today. Ever since Pip over at Meet me at Mike's got us going on the vintage children's books, I just HAD to get a few more illustrated by Fern Bisel Peat.
There is one more coming as soon as my check clears. Peter Rabbit. These are the most wonderful treasures.. wish I could show you each and every page.

"Andy and the Lion"

Once again, thank you Pip for the delightful week of children's illustrations. Be sure to check out all the others who are playing at "Meet me at Mike's". I have been seeing many that bring back memories, and have had so much fun going through my own collection.

I'm not sure what day we are on, is it the last one? I think I'm a day behind most. Anyways, if there is one more day I would like to ask, does anyone have a book about a little girl who counts pockets? It was one of my very favorites when I was little, and I thought I kept it but I cannot find it anywhere. No idea the author or copyright, but it would have been from the 50's. It starts out by the little girl saying she can put her hand in her pocket. Then she meets a child on the sidewalk who brags that they have two pockets, and they have marbles in the. The next child they meet has three pockets, with more things in them. It ends up with Daddy having ten pockets, and candy for all of them. Probably no one has it, but I just thought I'd give it a try.

Here is the book I'm sharing for today. Copyright 1938.All of the pictures are on one side and the text on the other.

"It was a bright day with just enough wind to float a flag. Andy started down to the library to get a book about Lions. He took the book home and

read and read. Andy read all through supper. He read all evening. and just before bed time his grandfather told him some tall stories about hunting lions in Africa.

Andy dreamed all night long that he was in Africa hunting lions. When at last morning came

Andy woke up. The sun was looking in at the window and Prince was tugging at the bedclothes. The lions had left but Andy kept thinking about them.

Andy thought lions on the back porch and his father had to remind him to wash behind his ears."

Skipping a few pages. On his way walking to school, Andy meets up with a lion.. who we find out later had escaped from the circus. He pulls a thorn out of the lion's paw and they become friends.

Elementary Primers

Have you all heard of "Dick and Jane" readers or primers? I learned on them, and always thought they were wonderful story books to read to my children, even after they were not using them in the schools anymore. I still had mine from when I was little, and picked some up here and there from library sales along the way. Of course not all of them were about Dick and Jane.There was Ted & Sally, Jim &Judy, etc. But I think probably my favorites are the Grimm series with Tom and Betty. I thought they started with "My Little Red Story Book", "....Little Green...", "....Little Blue.." etc, then went on up to the Little White House and on.

Until one day I found this one for fifty cents at a library sale. It is in totally awesome condition, copyright 1923 (the year my mother was born so that is kinda special to me), and guess who is in there?
Yep! Tom & Betty. The illustrations are by Mabel Betsy Hill. The book was published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. I will have to read up on this a little more to see when it became Grimm. Unless someone out there knows and can enlighten me. :)
Some of you will definitely think these pictures are near creepiness... especially the talking bank. I only included the pictures with snippets of the text. But the whole story is very wonderful. If you want to read it, you can find it at the end, in my Flickr set called "books".