Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday on a Wednesday. New Zealand Edition.

Tonight we are going to

the Flight of the Conchords. Yay!

(image via)

To mark the occasion I thought I'd show you some vintage tea towels from the land of the long white cloud, and the birth place of Bret and Jemain, New Zealand.

First up is this beauty from Wanganui "city of history and charm" and "gateway to scenic splendours"

Irish Linen. Maylin. Fast Colours.

Designed by and made expressly for the D.I.C. Wanganui

This one's got it all:

gorgeous Kiwiana border: check

fantastic, domed roof modernist building: check

(Wanganui War Memorial Hall, built in 1958, architects Geoffrey Newman, Gordon Smith and Anthony Greenhough)

image via

awesome scenic view of Wanganui City: check

chubby little Kiwi: check

Like me and wondering where in N.Z. Wanganui is located?

This vintage scarf should help you get your bearings...if you could see it properly ie! Let's just say Wanganui is on the South-West coast of the North Island

and Nelson is located on the North coast of the North Island.

Designed Exclusively for Don Thomas and Christoffersens Linen House Ltd and guaranteed to put a smile on the dial of the most miserable drier-up-er-er. Don't you think?

Apparently the sun's so bright and shiny in Nelson, even it needs sunnies! And I love that yellow "sunshine province" font(?) very much.

The next t.t. in my special Kiwi extravaganza(!) is one of my all times faves (and you know, that's saying something, don't you...) 

I thought it was waaaay too special for an Aussie girl to shove into her third drawer down and forget about, so I sent it to Max (check out her doll house craft room. It will blow you away!) who loved it as much as me. Max kindly sent me this pic (I forgot to take one myself)

Unfortunately it's impossible to truly get this hilariously funny t.t. without reading it. Basically it portrays N.Z. as being the ants pants, bees knees, numero uno, while the rest of the world - especially Australia of course, sucks.

Btw, Max and I are not the only ones who think this is an excellent t.t. Celebrity N.Z. chef Richard Till likes it too. It makes an appearance in his book Every Tea Towel Tells a Story, which Max discovered when she borrowed it from the library! How cool is that? Well it is for a t.t. tragic like me anyway...

Here's Richard with his t.ts.

My new crush?

The last vintage tea towel from N.Z. I'll show you today has already had its three minutes seconds of fame on this blog, but because that was back in the days when no-one actually read my posts, I thought I'd show it off again

worthy of a second look, right?

At the risk of confirming my status as a big fat loser, I'll end with this

I hope the boys are as funny in the flesh, I'll let you know x

 

 



Jubilee Swap Goodies

Here are the jubilicious goodies I received from Donna, my partner in Lakota's Diamond Jubilee Swap

two gorgeous vintage Royal Pictorial Souvenir booklets - I can't find a publishing date, but when they were bought new from the E. J. Brown Book Shop and Library in Bendigo (of all places!) they cost 2/6.

fascinating to see the interiors of Clarence House change over the years...

Here are some of my favourite pics from the booklet of a young Elizabeth (thought you might like them too...)

at a birthday party September 1935 (Princess Margaret, second on-the-left)

"the Princess looks well ahead on her new tricycle"

oops! How did that get there??? (you know I like a childhood photo!) It's Kylie Elizabeth, looking well ahead on hers!

Sandringham August 1943

arriving at Malta, November 1949

I love this photo. Those smiles. Happy, happy.

I love this one too, for the same reasons - not posed at all.

"Elizabeth gave this delighted smile when she was presented with a toy cooking stove for Prince Charles"

Donna also gave me some delicious Shortbread (a nod to Balmoral and all eaten!) and a vintage doll footguard complete with bearskin cap

(bearskin cap's are 45.7 cms tall and weigh 1 1/2 pounds. They are still made of real fur - no faux fur or polar fleece for these chaps!)

Here he is guarding my Ladybirds

Thanks Donna-it was a lovely parcel x

(and thank you Lakota for persevering with those spreadsheets!) 

Just one more pic before I hit the publish button. Here is the beautiful hand-made ring I included in Donna's parcel

cleverly made by Tam. Contact her here if you'd like one too.

p.s. you can check out more patriotic pressies here 

p.p.s. like my mammy biscuit barrel? It belonged to my Nan, Corrie Elsie (isn't that a lovely name?)

 

  

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

Fast Colours * Made in Czechoslovakia * All Pure Linen *

I was so excited about showing you this tea towel, it is really lovely in the flesh, much nicer than you'd think from this pic. I know the camera never lies, but in this case it's telling fibs (big fat ones!) and that's no lie.

Let's see if a close-up is a little more flattering...

   

Hmmmm? not really (we're of a similar vintage so I know how it feels...)

One of the special thing's about this t.t. apart from the beautiful linen it's made of (in unused condition, still with its original sheen) is that it's signed and dated. HK 1967.  I don't know who you are HK, but I love your work.

For something completely different, check out the gorgeous t.towels Donna sent me as an extra bonus with her Jubilee Swap parcel (more on those goodies another day...)

Donna likened them to 70's swap cards and I reckon she was spot-on, don't you?

Donna lives and breathes the 70's - you really should check out her blog. Her Freaky Friday posts are hilarious. So bad they're good.

In fact this hair style

reminds me of the mushrooms on those t.towels!

(I know there's a photo of me with a "do" like this somewhere, I have to hunt it down, just might submit it for Freaky Friday Donna. Now that would be F-r-e-a-k-y!)

p.s. I was only twelve, so I can blame it on my Mum!

Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

Royal Engagement by Ulster, Irish Linen, Made in Ireland

Two things on this one:

it is the most expensive tea towel I have ever bought



(and I don't even like it that much)

and

how it managed to make it past quality control

I'll never know!

I'll leave it with you...what d'ya reckon?

Sometimes, when I'm taking the dog for a walk I take it upon myself to do a bit of tip pruning for the neighbours. I'm nice like that. Ahem.

Ok, while I know and you know my actions aren't entirely altruistic, I only take "bits" that are poking through fences, growing on verges etc. Honestly. 

(I know someone who used the local war memorial rose garden as her personal flower shop. Secateurs in hand, she'd sneak out while it was still dark, and fill her vases before Home Opens when she was selling her house. That's not nice is it?)

Anyway, a few days ago I spotted this growing over someone's fence

Isn't it amazing.

If you can tell me what it is, I'll send you a prize.

In other scintilating news I've been painting this

Lucy Violet's old hall cupboard. Our new pantry. I know she wouldn't mince words regarding my colour choice(!) but I'm thrilled with how it's come up.

Anyway love it or hate it, Lucy's old cupboard has had four coats of enamel paint (which is a you-know-what to work with) so it's staying.

Look at the wallpaper Lucy V lined its shelves with 

it's staying too, in case you were wondering.

p.s. you can see the original colour of Lucy's cupboard in the top pic.

p.p.s. Galit has let me know that my pilfered flower is called Hakea laurina - native to Western Australia. Thanks Galit, now I can hunt it down and hopefully grow my own. 

Bonjour

"underpants for the man who likes a pouch"

vintage poster by Seguin 1950

(via the wonderful galerie montmartre)

I overheard my girls chatting this morning. Their conversation went something like this:

" I hate it when people add le to things "

" Yeah, me too "

" I mean, if they want to speak French, why don't they just f***ing speak French! "

Ouch!

And I thought I was so cool referring to my blog as "le blog" and throwing the word sans around! Turns out I'm just a big fat loser!

(and please excuse someone's "French" I don't know where she gets it from?!)

Have a lovely weekend x

Hi.

This is not the weather the cuckoo likes but I do.

When I came home and found our front door mat covered in leaves it made me smile...it was days before I could bring myself to sweep them up.

A few of them made their way inside. I left them there for as long as I could.   

THE END.

p.s. Just dipping my toes in...still a bit chilly round here x