sweet suite: vintage teen-dream bedroom set

as i was randomly wandering around the internet i discovered this amazing bedroom furniture set on retro renovation (i vicariously live through that fab blog)! please click through to see more pictures, its just incredible. the flowers, the typographic details, the awesome telephone booth seat!! excuse me.. i'm having a seizure of furniture related joy.

i see these sorts of vintage things online and just about hyperventilate. australia really doesn't have treasures like this. our small population has always meant a small range of consumer goods and so teenage bedrooms of the 60s were furnished pretty traditionally. there is no way something this far-out and groovy would've been mass produced here. so three cheers for the internet for giving me a peek into the hippest, grooviest teenage room styles of the american teen!

and now, if you'll excuse me, i'll continue that furniture-joy seizure...

images via retro renovation

pilgrim's place: 'my place & yours: my wardrobe'

this weeks theme for my place & yours is about one special piece in your wardrobe. this weeks theme was devised by the very cool sandra eterovic, whose blog i found last week while i was trawling the responses to my chosen theme! she seems pretty clever and rather interesting, as soon as i saw this jumper she made, i had to add her to my reader!

anyway, about that wardrobe treasure! i choose my groovy vintage maxi dress. i like to think it represents me in dress form, but perhaps its more like ideal-me...

i have owned this dress for ten years now, and while other vintage frocks have come and gone this beauty remains. it came from a thrift store (hey remember when you could find vintage stuff like this in thrift stores, australians? alas everyone is very savvy these days and unless you like faded promotional t-shirts and dresses from seven years ago, the thrift store is not for us retro enthusiasts.) i bought it in the dying days of high school and i took it away with me to england where it was worn out to parties and clubs with my amazing (but alas, gone) faux fur coat which was the same sort of colors as in rainbow ice cream.

the dress has a label that reads "designed by young act", and is 100% nylon. its quite flattering on me and is kinda sexy and clingy but very fun - which i prefer over vampy sexy any day! the landscape pattern of the fabric has always reminded me of a cross between yellow submarine and the pastoral symphony segment of fantasia.

recently it hasn't been worn so much, mainly for lack of occasion but also because maxi dresses kind of confuse me. its too nylon/sweaty to wear in summer, but too sleeveless to wear in winter! also, being a lady of er, generous chest, its maybe a bit raunchy for day wear! i have to admit i'm tempted to hem it at knee length just so i can wear it with some bright tights and a cardigan in the day. would that be sacrilege? i feel like its bad enough to have a dress i love so dearly languishing in the back of the wardrobe.

your thoughts dearest readers?

as seen on etsy: christmas & new years

"two maids-a-milking" ornaments ✽ train box ✽ un-opened vintage gift tags ✽ new year party invitation

norwegian table runner ✽ bell wrapping paper

wise men card ✽ neon luncheon set

ornament stationary ✽ christmas is love felt wall hanging ✽ kitsch angel ✽ vintage cocktail invitations

fables & fabulous yarns part 2: columbia minerva vintage knit fashions

a couple of months back i did a post on the columbia minerva knitting book "fables and fabulous yarns". i know you wanted to see more, so here for your viewing pleasure, are some more "fables and fabulous yarns"! you might remember the book featured knitting patterns, as well as rhymes and stories to accompany each picture.

four friends of rural estate

engaged in uneven debate

with cock to preside

and calf to decide

the merits of chicken or steak

get a load of the fisherman chic, eh? the boy looks like he's the son of michael nesmith from the monkees. the wool hat is hereditary, i hear.

an escaped circus bear grew homesick

forhuman companionship. one day

he met two schoolgirls in the park and

to win their confidence and approval performed

his tricks for them/ they were so delighted

that they took him home and started a circus

from which he longed to escape.

moral: to change one's life one must first change oneself

firstly, that bear's tongue is obscene, and secondly, he really doesn't look too miserable, does he?

a giraffe sunning himself among the flower

met two children dressed for ice skating.

when they complained of the heat he asked

why they were wearing warm knits.

"our mother has just completed these garments

which so please us that we cannot wait until cold weather to wear them"

"silly children" replied the giraffe, "today you wish for winter and in winter you will long for summer. put away your fine clothes and enjoy them in their time."

moral: preparing for the future should not be confused with living in the future.

the funniest thing about this picture is that this isn't the first arranged marriage officiated by a giraffe. also, young man, how long does that beanie really need to be!?

a social climbing lion cultivated the company

of two stylish sisters only to learn that their

clothes were handmade for pittance and their graceful manners those of all loved children.

humbled by this lesson he gave up pretention

in favor of good company and the three became

fast friends.

moral: what one finds by chance is often superior to what one seeks.

hello tartan ensemble! please be mine? i've always wanted a tam o'shanter o'my own. meanwhile i think i've had scarves warmer than that icy blue knitted dress on the right. i think it needs another 4 foot of hem to keep out the wintry draught!!

a camel who lived in osage

aspired to succeed on the stage

she took position

as traveling musician

accepting fresh fruit as her wage.

looking at that girl's mohair cardigan just makes me itchy. no wonder the other two have moved away from her. its like a penny-whistle gang war picnic just broke out..

easter and the equinox

come hand in hand among the flowers

welcoming their woodland friends

and greeting with april showers

awwww... look! there's woodland friends! and a boy in a nautical inspired jumper! the little girl looks like she's off to a birthday party. i recall owning a lot of party outfits like that. there just aren't enough opportunities to wear jumpers and patent leather shoes anymore. sigh.

birthday bear of yellow hair

how doest thou see the morrow?

i cannot say for now's today

and time is not to borrow.

i feel sorry for the girl on the left.. she looks like she's borrowed her grandpa's clothes (beside the skirt!). now, i wasn't really into pink when i was little, but i'm pretty sure i more wasn't into beige and brown. i bet her mum made her wear her school shoes with that outfit.

there are still some more outfits not shown from this book, so if you're very well behaved i'll post some more again, soon.

pilgrim's place: 'my place & yours: quirky features'

here is my contribution for 'my place & yours'! this weeks theme is basically what quirky things does your house have. our house has a few funny little things, but i thought i'd take the opportunity to show you some of the neat features my house also has. technically it's not my house, because we're just renting it, but honestly i love it as though it were my own. as soon as we visited this house's open inspection i was in love and ready to fight tooth and nail to make it ours (if only per 12 months)!

it was built along with a lot of other properties in this area, in the late 50's, early 60's. it's a really nice floor plan, giving lots of space in the living areas, and really comfortable sized bedrooms. it has big windows that let in plenty of light and a garden just big enough to run around in. from what i understand, our owner grew up here, and her mother lived here before us. that being the case, hardly anything has changed and the features are original. the stove and the kitchen laminate are newer, and there appears to have been a partition of some kind in the lounge that was removed (i try not to think about having missed out on seeing an amazing room divider, no.. it must have just been a plain old boring wall haha.)

one of the first quirky things we saw was the bathroom. we have a nice sized bathroom, with a bath, and a basin and then next door to that there is a smaller bathroom with a shower and another basin. its certainly a peculiar use of space, what's wrong with a shower over a bath?! why all the basins? why not just have a bigger bathroom with one less basin and shower cubicle!? its a mystery for sure. here's is a diagram, just to make sure you really get the confusingness of it all...

our bedroom door appears to have originally been hung the 'wrong' way. it's since been fixed, but the light switches are now behind the door. lucky i ain't afraid of no ghosts! (on that note, i'd like to point out, having grown up in a house with kind of haunty bad ju-ju, this house welcomed me. it has such a nice vibe, i've never felt creeped out here. thank you, house).

speaking of switches, we have our fair share of switches that aren't connected to anything. i like to imagine they control something in a neighbor's house: i switch off the one in our kitchen and the people at no. 8 are plunged into darkness while i laugh maniacally, safely ensconsed in my kitchen/mastermind lair.

my favorite quirk is what is now my son's room. obviously its always been the child's bedroom, there are the faint dimples of pin marks on the re-painted walls, where once was probably a shrine to teen idols. inside the left hand wardrobe door is pinned a relic: a clipped advertisement for peter paul and mary's fourth australian tour, 1968. i find it so touching, that its still there, 41 years later.

as mentioned, there are lots of original features, let's take a look shall we? first off, our house is jewish, so in the majority of doorways there are mezuzah:

thankfully the house hasn't minded having christmas trees in it, and nothing has fallen on me when i'm cooking bacon, so it's either lapsed, or just a really forgiving house!

we have some really neat light fittings:

and our carpet has a pretty neat pattern:

i must admit the toilet wallpaper is what convinced me this house was my dream home:

hey look! our kitchen sink is a radient gem! ... whatever that means!

... and our bathroom mirror is "a spamco product"! tee hee.. spam!

but my favorite quirky features of this house are my boyfriend and our son... its just a shame they're camera shy!

vintage children's book: shaun & the cart-horse

this week's vintage children's book is 'shaun & the cart-horse' written and illustrated by charles keeping, published in 1966 by oxford university press.

growing up reading this book i always loved the intense color, and controlled messiness of the illustrations. in the art classes i attended after school we did a lot of wax resist and water color washes so being familiar with the process gave me an added appreciation for charles keeping's illustrations and i was fascinated by the london street scenes.

the story follows shaun, who lived in london with his grandpa. next door there lived a cart pony called queen who was shaun's best friend. uncle charley peel owned queen and often let shaun ride to market with them.

one day shaun sees a stranger leading queen out of the stable yard. shaun rushed inside to ask grandpa what was happening and grandpa told shaun that uncle charley peel was selling queen because he'd been unwell and had no money as he was unable to go to market.

shaun is unhappy about queen being sold, until he comes up with an idea. he waited until grandpa fell asleep and then snuck out to the market. shaun knew the costers loved queen and would be sad she was being sold, too.

he tells peter the ice cream man, the old clothes lady, mrs corby.

then he tells the fish monger, mr codling, and old bean, the coffee seller.

they're all upset, and decide to give one day's earnings to buy queen back for uncle charley peel. shaun is certain he can find queen and runs off to find her. he sees many horses, but none are queen and just as he begins to head home, he sees his friend, scrappy tailor, the rag and bone man. scrappy hasn't seen queen but he tells shaun to go to nicky knacker's yard, as thats where all the old horses go.

shaun finds the man who led queen away, and shaun tells him the costers all want to buy queen back. the man tells shaun to go away, they wouldn't want that old horse back and he can make a much better profit from her! but grandpa and scrappy arrive and the horse dealer agrees to sell her back to them.

the next day they all have a procession back to a very happy uncle charley peel.

vintage children's book: pirouettes

today's vintage children's book is another one of mine, reclaimed from a library and loved within an inch of its life. up until recently it was hanging together by threads: now its completely fallen apart (which i admit made it easier to scan.) i think i might have to put on my book doctor hat this afternoon and get to work with some tape to preserve it for just another 20+ years. if cats have nine lives, books must have about 15 in some homes. i have a lot of inherited cookbooks that are possibly up to their 18th life!

pirouettes is a book of nonsense poems, adapted from the original text by raymond lichette, illustrated by colette de gaillarbois. published by chambers in 1974. please click the images below to see a larger version - its really worth it!

the whale

john is a purple young whale

and a friend of the small golden fish

each evening he reads the a fairy tale

while they eat onions out of a dish

the brave owl

arthur owl is never afriad

he's the bravest bird

that ever was made

he wears plastic beads

with a watch on a chain

and his toes always tingle if there's going to be rain

the angry dragon

under the stove where it is hot

lives a stripey dragon.

his nose is in a funny knot

his whiskers are undone.

prickly peacock wings

seem to stick straight out,

when great aunt jasmine said hello

he answered me with a shout.

she said 'my goodness me!'

and 'dragons are such a bore!'

the dragon said nothing

but he gave an awful roar.

penguins

the penguins at the south pole

like to listen to rock and roll.

every night they meet their friends

and dance until the music ends.

sometimes they start to feel the heat

and then there comes a special treat.

cooler than jumping into a stream

a cone of pink

fish-flavoured ice-cream.

grunge the lion

grunge is the smallest lion

you've ever seen,

his hair is yellow

and his eyes are green.

with a pussycat smile

and curls in his hair,

he sometimes yawns fiercely

and gives you a scare.

the hedgehog

the gardener is angry

the gardener is cross,

for a hedgehog steals his flowers

and puts them in his sauce.

roses and violets

delphiniums as well,

when the hedgehog is cooking

there's a beautiful flowery smell.

the hedgehog is happy

eating lilac-pansy roast,

and every night for supper

there's rose petals on toast.

amazing animation: carmen d'avino

take some time today to watch these clips and really enjoy the colors, and patterns. the clips really speak for themselves, but if you want to learn more about carmen d'avino click le link!