Vintage Tea Towel Tuesday

As much as I love kitschy souvenir tea towels

(and I do love them. Alot. In fact, they make up the bulk of my vintage tea towel collection)

they are not my most favoutite tea towel genre (ooh! fancy!) My favourite tea towels look alot like this one:

100% cotton, fast colours, Made in China

pretty, but not too pretty, if you know what I mean...

need I say more?

x



Tea Towel(s) Tuesday

That's right, I have two vintage tea towels for your consideration today.

(I'm playing it safe and covering all bases)

They are both cute. Have a look and let me know which one you prefer.

Do you like:

Exhibit A

(this one's for all you crazy cat people out there)

of which (and I apologise for this) I'm not.

Or

Exhibit B

( this one's, you guessed it, my dog-gone favourite)

I actually like both tea towels really. They are both made of lovely Irish linen and their colours in the flesh are alot brighter than they appear in these pics. I know the doggy one dates from the 70's because I spoke to its old owner when I bought it (at a Swap Meet) and my guess is (evil) pussy cat does too.

Before I go walkies with our loyal hound, I just want to make a little disclaimer:

I like all animals. Apart from most birds (due to an unfortunate incident in a chook pen when I was a kid). And while I'm not fond of cats I don't really hate them, they're just not my cup of tea. o.k.

Now I feel better.

It's time to walk the dog. See ya x

p.s. thanks for all your interesting comments on my anal cleaning tendencies. Glad I'm not the only crazy Virgo (or otherwise) out there.

This is dedicated to the ones I love...

Robin Annual 1970

two, not so little girls, who simply hate helping their Mummy do the house work. Or keeping their bedrooms tidy!

btw, I know this is not going to elicit any sort of positive reaction from A and A (as far as cleaning goes) but I thought it was sweet and funny and that you might think so too...

In my quest to fill this little shelf with vintage Ladybirds I have also found some gorgeous vintage childrens annuals, too cute to leave behind getting even mustier in the oppie. I love the hilarious little stories and cunning anecdotes meant to encourage young readers to be good girls and boys. Hmmm, I wonder how successful they were...

It's those stories, the ones that don't intend to be funny, just like Shelia's Super Sweeper, that I think, are the funniest of all.

Things have changed alot since 1970. Well durr! (or even durr-Fred, which I've just remembered saying all the time when I was a kid... did you?) I don't think too many kiddos today would attack the carpets with the same zest and zeal as Shelia does, even if they were lucky enough to have a carpet sweeper of their own, do you? (and what's a carpet sweeper anyway? these days it would probably be a tiny little Dyson! A working one!)

Mine, even as toddlers, would have lost interest very quickly...it is a major coup, here at our house, if they pull their doona's up over otherwise unmade beds once or twice a week!

I know this is my fault really, but I grew up in a house where cleanliness was next to Godliness (hospital corners were de rigueur) and I didn't want to inflict the same agony and torture (this is 10 year old me speaking) on my own children. What I realize now, is that if I'd adopted a more balanced attitude to chores ( doesn't that word conjur up images of Little House on the Prairie) and cleaning when my girls were little, there'd be waaay less cleaning for me to do now. And less screaming too.

btw, I'm a Virgo, I am completely o.t.t. when it comes to cleaning. I really don't care if your house is messy (truly) but I like mine to be sparkling. If I had a cleaner, I would clean the house before she arrived! That's how crazy I am. Sooooo, it's probably a good thing  my girls have messy bedrooms, right?

Gosh, I've gone way to far with this. It's definetely time to stop. And I'm about to, but not before I thank Nelly for sending me these little darlings...

vintage Ladybirds!

Hooray! My little collection has grown!

I am so appreciative of your kindness and generosity Nelly.

And here's a particularly appropriate page from the Five Little Kittens to end

x

Tea Towel Tuesday

I know it's Valentines Day and that there is nothing romantic about a tea towel

(if by chance, the love of your life decided a tea towel would be the perfect way to say "I love you" all I can say is I'm sorry. Unless of course you love them as much as me and it was a really, really, gorgeous vintage one. Then I'd say lucky you!

I suppose receiving a tea towel on V Day, would be a bit like finding a vacuum cleaner underneath the tree on Christmas morning really, wouldn't it...)

but, Valentines Day or not...it's Tuesday. And not just any old Tuesday either. From now on, here on Lucy Violet it's Tea Towel Tuesday! (I'm a sucker for a catchy corny title) and, rather abruptly, I know, (but I'm tired) here's today's...

I'm not sure how old this one is, it has been handprinted and the colous are fresh and vibrant (just as you see them on your screen) so it's tricky to be sure. 80's, I think. What intrigued me about it is the illustration of the Honey House Motel in the background...want to see what it really looks like? (yep there really is one! I couldn't quite believe there would be, here in Australia, or anywhere else in the world, for that matter)

Just like the tea towel!

image source

The Honey House was established in Kuranda, North Queensland in 1959, the adjoining motel was built in 1968. I love that naive looking bee on the sign, it's still there too btw. More info and recent pics here.

We are going to a wedding in North Queensland at the end of the year so a visit to the Honey House could be on the cards. I would love to know if you've ever had the pleasure. Please drop me a line if you have.

Here's an old brochure to help you plan your trip

Every unit has a fan!



See oddities of nature galore!

source

Actually, when you stop to think about it, tea towels can be quite romantic, in their own way really, can't they...

x

p.s. if you're desperate for love, here's a link to last year's Valentines Day post. I had only just started blogging, so it's a lonely little post, not a single comment!

   

Touched by Angels

Last night Anth and I hit the big smoke to watch the Australian premiere of the magical Place des Anges, a free aerial show, where "angels" suspended 120 metres above the streets of Perth "flew" through the night sky and showered the audience below with feathers...two tonnes of feathers to be precise. It was awesome. Magical and moving. I am so glad we went, if you get the opportunity promise me you'll go too.

I am such a silly duffer! It wasn't until we were about to park the car that I discovered that the battery in our camera needed charging. Insert swear word here. The photos I'm about to show you were taken with Anthony's very cheap/basic/crappy mobile. One or two are surprisingly good. Although I don't think photos do the performance justice really, even the professional ones I've seen fail to capture just how spectacular the angels looked against Perth's beautiful modernist Council House

had to show you a pic

I love this building.

image source

`or the reaction of the crowd to the spectacle above and, by the end of the performance, all around them. Talk about seeing things through the eyes of a child...for 30 minutes I felt like I was six years old! Forty years younger, waaaaay better than any face lift!

Anyway, here are Anthony's pics

Angel flying through the sky, feathers in tow

They're feathers btw, not fireworks or an exploding building!

 As you can see we were very close to the action, this angel was descending from the sky and landed (ever so lightly) on the ground in front of us. The large white shape in the foreground is an enormous "balloon" angel which floated and bobbed among the crowd. I think this photo is rather special...don't you?

A blurry photo but another look at the balloon,

that's St Georges Cathedral in the background.

Another beautiful angel on her way down from heaven

The next photo is not one of ours, it was taken in Buenos Aries (2010), but I wanted to show you a pic of the aftermath and what it was like to be among all those feathers.

Joy!

 And here I am feathers, not flowers in my hair...

not the greatest photo of me, but what the heck! I'm including it...I'm still finding feathers in the strangest places! It took me ages to get them out of my hair, there's probably a few still there!

x

Love letters...

sweet aren't they...

(things I'm head-over-heels for at the mo)

This little shelf

surreptitiously picked up from the verge when I droppped off my daughter at a friend's...she would've been mortified if said friend had seen me.  Ha-ha! 

It was, however, a risk I was willing to take.

Honestly, would you have driven past and left it behind (for someone else to nab?) I. Don't. Think. So.

Anyway, the phrase "Mum, you're soooooooo embarrassing!" is frequently uttered round these parts. I'm used to it. Water off a duck's back etc. I can think of worse ways to be embarrassed by your Mum, can't you?

Vintage Ladybirds...

One day I would like my new little shelf to be crammed with lovely Ladybirds and nothing else. This could take some time though as these little books are tricky to find here. Its taken me over a year just to find the ones you see!

Yesterday I was thrilled to find Cub Scouts and Do You Know? at our local Vinnies, so they're out there, somewhere...I just have to hunt them down!

Pilates, me hearties

Joseph Pilates (1880-1967) with coloratura soprano Roberta Peters, February 1951. Image via.

image via

I started Pilates almost a month ago and although I do NOT look as glamorous as Roberta (far from it in fact!) I do love it.

p.s. I want a leotard just like Roberta's.

     With a frill.

I'm also loving this pile of books from the library

and

my NEW SPECS

so I can read them without squinting!

Truly eye-opening!

(can't believe I put it off for so long!)

Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum')

especially when you've been told "nothing will grow in that spot!" ummmmmm, Hello???

Chihuahuas...

real

and otherwise

illustration from Wonders of Nature, 1974.

I also think it's a wonder of nature that this blog has one hundred and sixty nine followers! A wonder, and wonderful.

Thank you to you all.

x

Not all wolves are big and bad,

Illustration by Les Gray

from Little Red Riding Hood

vintage Little Golden Book, published in 1972.

(and I'd kill Grandma too, for lashes like that!) * 

sometimes they're tiny and good, just like my friend Nadine (a.k.a. Woolfy)

Woolfy has just opened a teeny-tiny little shop she calls tinyWOOLF. In it you will find beautiful, little treasures, hand-made by Woolfy herself, all so petite you'd think only a fairy could make them.

To remind yourself that good things do come in small packages, click here and here to check it out. Woolfy would be very happy to meet you, she's lovely, nothing at all like this scary chap...

Promise.

* not really!