Wayback Wednesday: August 13, 2025

 

It's time for a musical version of Wayback Wednesday!

Teeny bopper adoration of pop or movie stars has been happening for years.  You could even say it's been going on for centuries (example: Franz Liszt in the 19th century).

The first time I remember this was the Great Debate of the early 1960s.   Who was cuter/better/ etc: "Herman Hermits or The Beatles?"  

Everyone usually remembers the first record they bought or requested their parents buy.  What was yours?

Remember these ads?  The Columbia Record Company gambled that members would forget to cancel subscriptions.

I usually bought 45s.  I loved Motown, Sly and The Family Stone, The Monkees, and later, Carole King.  Actually...I love them all today.

Music can awaken memories.  My brother and I will often cite that a particular record was a "summer song" that we heard at the local swimming pool.

What kind of music do you still love?

Have a safe and happy day!

August Wears a Golden Crown

 

I spent my 12th summer writing poetry and enjoying playing with words.  I did save the poems and they are packed away in the attic in one of the trunks.

I do remember one poem was called "The Last Day of August" and it is a sad adieu to summer.  The poem wasn't just about going back to school soon.  I didn't like autumn even then.

I'm looking back at the summer months and seeing that again I didn't get accomplished as much as I had planned.   Creating a quilt in summer is challenging in the heat.  Thankfully I have handwork again.  Have you gotten a lot done?

The last few days were cooler and less humid and I did accomplish a lot on the Paula quilt.  The top should be done by Wednesday.  I'd like to get my brother's quilt top done soon so I can get these to Lizzie (the machine quilter).  I only need a few baby quilts yet and then I will be caught up.

What are you doing this week?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: July 8, 2025

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Today we have some wonderful selections from Sue:

False Sunflower:

Phlox:

Morning Glory:

Hummingbird Moth on Butterfly Bush:

Sue does note that the Hummingbird Moth is from the Tomato Horn Worm but as she wrote, they are fascinating to watch!

Thank you so much Sue!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Milkweed

 

Are any of your neighbors growing Milkweed?  I'm not but am considering planting some on the side of the house.  A lot of my neighbors have a few plants in their garden.  

We know a couple who planted a whole butterfly garden while they were trying to get pregnant.  I think it was really healing for them and the amount of butterflies they saw was really remarkable.  

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you have anything to share, please email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com.

Thanks and have a great day!

Wayback Machine: Spool Pets

 

Like most kids of my generation, my brother and I were adept and using discarded things to create all kinds of things for our playtime.  I'll bet you were too!  

So anytime I see things that are upcycled for another purpose, it gives me a thrill.  Recently, I've been keeping thread spools for when my great niece visits again.  I'm hoping to make some spool pets with her.  There are a lot of vintage patterns for these that kids would have likely because it was (of course) a promotion to sell threads.  

This is the kind of thing that my brother and I would have loved and would have used alongside our animal cracker box wagon.

****

So what's a spool pet?

  

There's a variety of spool pet patterns on pinterest.

These were popular in the first half of the 1930s.  Many articles cite that children made spool pets in school and even used the spool pets as party favors.  There were a variety of ads also published promoting the spool pets and thread:

1931

 

1930

1932

Beth told me that the one designer brought this idea back years ago.  Oliver + S had a postcard with a spool dog that they included in sales.  You can read their blog post about this (and the history) here.  The Singer Featherweight Shop offers 5 bunny postcards to make a spool pet.  The cards cost $9.95 for the bundle of five.  You can look at it here.

Have you seen these before?

I wonder if you would have loved making and playing with these as a child?

Have a safe and happy day!

Tuesday's This and That: July 5, 2025

 

If you want some inspiration, I know of a few videos that may help.  Over at the "From Small Things" channel on youtube, Sue gives a tour of the "Oceans" exhibit that I discussed a few weeks ago.  You can watch it here.  

The biggest quilt festival in Europe is "The Festival Of Quilts" in Birmingham, England.  Here are some videos that you might appreciate:  

Emma of Vintage Sewing Box here.

Rachel of Stitch with Rachel here.

I like watching these things when it is too hot to be doing much.  Hope you get a chance to seem some of these outstanding quilts!

Have a great day!

Christmas in July Follow-Up

 

I didn't get as much done in July as I had hoped.  Still, I did get some projects done.  I made more of these table rounds.  Some of them are Christmas presents, some are for my guild's craft show.

These have been so fun to make.  I hand sew them while we have the Phillies on. 

It's a great project for leftover fabrics and scraps.

I'm not a big fan of Halloween so I'm happy to use up this fabric:

I sure have seen a lot of blog posts about people who got done a lot of work for Christmas in July.  Di at "Quilting Is Blissful" completed a number of quilts.  Check out her work here.

This is going to be a great week to work in the garden so I'm not sure how much I will post this week.  Definately doing Flower Friday though!

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: August 1, 2025

 

Hello and welcome to Flower Friday!

We had another heatwave this week so I didn't get any more done in the garden.  The weekend is predicted as being cooler and I'm hoping to get a lot of weeding done.

This week the pink salvia bloomed.  It reseeds each year and then blooms in late summer.

Another volunteer was this impatien:

The Swan Hydrangea is also blooming and big favorite here:

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

Happy World Embroidery Day!

 

Happy World Embroidery Day!

How about doing some embroidery today?

Above:  Close up of part of a South American arpillera.

Below:  Vintage embroidered textiles

I haven't embroiddered in a long while but I do have a pattern I've been wanting to prepare for embroidery.  Maybe I'll work on that today!  Hope you get a chance to slow stitch and embroider!  Stay cool!

Have a safe and happy day!

Stay Cool!

 

I won't be home today but I thought I would leave you with an image of this coverlet.

Honestly, it's so humid that I don't even want to look at a photo of a quilt right now.  The above top is circa 1955.  

Wishing you a cool and comfortable day!

Flower Friday: July 25, 2025

 

For once, the weather was perfect:  low humidity, cooler in the morning and sometimes even a nice breeze.  I spent the mornings on Monday and Tuesday out in the garden with Lucky and it was glorious!

And yes it was relaxing!

I weeded and weeded and weeded.  It was so much fun crawling around the garden that I really didn't feel that sore afterwards.

Sue sent this wonderful photo of her Turk's Cap-Lily.  I'm loving the colors on this photo!

From my garden:

Daylily:

Hydrangea and weeded out pathway:

Rudbeckia and Phlox:

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

Native Flowers

 

In my garden, I have a plant that I purchased many years ago called "Turtlehead".   As I continue to redo the gardens this year, I'm hoping to move it from the front yard to somewhere in the backyard where I can enjoy it more.

Turtlehead is a native plant and I thought about it when I read this article about using annual native plants in our gardens.  I've used a few of the plants mentioned but had forgotten about a few.  Are there any you are interested in?

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you would like to participate, please email me photos at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Thanks and have a great day!

Wayback Wednesday: Mobile Sewing

 

How many of you take sewing when you go out?  I used to always have a "roadie bag" by the front door in case I suddenly had to meet someone or take them to the hospital.  Often my portable sewing wasn't that glamorous.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that these days, I use a plastic zip-loc bag to carry my hexies or other hand sewing.

I intended to write about etuis today but I thought I would go down a few rabbit holes.  

An ETUI is a portable sewing case that held miniature sewing tools and maybe a few other things like a pen or a knife.  The etui is French meaning "to hold" or "to keep".   According to the Victoria and Albert Museum , the etuis were worn.  The antique ones I've seen sell for thousands of dollars and often were made of silver, ivory, bone, enamel, gold and other items.  They originated in the 17th century in Europe and were extremely decorative.

Some of you might be asking about the hussifs (or housewives) I wrote about a while ago (here).  The hussifs were usually made of fabric or leather and were much more utilatarian than the etuis.  The hussifs also originated later.

And if all that isn't enough, there is the chatelaine...

It was worn around the waist and held various things:

Yes, the chatelaine could have the etui hung from it but also a variety of other tools and necessities (see here).  I can't imagine the noise these things made when a woman was walking...

In the early 20th century, there were many ads for a silk ribbon chatelaine that possibly looked like this:

The chatelaine seemed to have become popular again in the 1930s.  These were pins and also decorative.  I can't say whether they were meant to be used as a sewing tool or not.  It seems like it was more for charms than sewing tools...

There are some sewists that make themselves chatelaines now.  One video I saw the crafter repurposed old jewelry to make hers.

Do you have a chatelaine?  Would you use one?

Have a great day!