tania howells

from the vault....

 

 

I have worked at my job for almost ten years and had never seen this book!  Someone had pulled it out for some research or other and I was in love.  It is so "of an era", not that I would know exactly, but it is so campy and super!  You can't go wrong with a barn dance!  Now that my days are numbered, I am much more carefully noticing the treasures in our collection.  It is a goldmine of awesomeness.

(sorry, this blog template cuts things off at the right, it also makes all my very old posts totally pixelated, back from when I had a low res camera...)

deluxe canary starter set!

hartz Christmas ad, 1967.


Check it out!
My brother has started a design blog-

first snow

I love the first snow. It is crisp, sunny and freezing out. I always feel so grateful these days for freezing cold, fearing a time when maybe my beloved winters will be history?? I so very much hope not. The cold always makes me feel ...sort of...tough or something. I love being from the north and surviving winters! Stomping around in my sleeping bag of a coat all toasty and thinking about the reward- a cup of tea!

This was the night before- my view from the streetcar window on the way home- rainy and horrible but didn't the steamy windows and lights look pretty?




On a designy note, I came across this cereal ad from 1961 while searching for a picture of a stick of dynamite in the explosions file. This was on the back of something. I love the leaf motif. Very Orla!

history of howells

This is my dad and his mum on the streets of Barry ( Cardiff? ), Wales around 1948. I love this shot- it is so candid, almost like a paparazzi picture!
My mum is moving and clearing out stuff so I received a pile of old photos from my dads side of the family. How amazing! Some, my dad had written descrpitions on and some were blank. Some still my mum was able to identify. The rest shall remain a mystery because no one on my father's side is still living.
On this group shot, my dad had written - "Granfather, Grandma Howells with Cissy, Jack and a friend C. 1908, in garden in Jenkin st. (?), Barry, Wales. Where Jack was born." My great great grandfather and mother... So I can imagine that the little girl in the tomatoe greenhouse ( what an operation! So many tomatoes! ) was Cissy? Perhaps my great Aunt? I love this shot too.

I love ....

...old Maison Francaise magazines. These pages are from 1971-1973. Super groovy! All the sorts of stuff we hunt for today while thrifting. (click for bigger images!)

Krissy is blogging again! Yay, I love reading what she is up to AND I am even meeting her for lunch in an hour and a half.

My mums birthday! Happy Birthday mum- we will celebrate on the 12 when my brother and sister in law are here visiting from England. Yay!

A lovely birthday dinner for my co-workers 60th last night. She is one of my favorite people and we all raised a glass to her at her best friend's house who happens to be lovely as well and is a master quilter! I got to look in her studio at the jars of buttons, boxes of color coded fabrics and see three spectacular finished quilts. It was classic, the men were in the background discussing politics of the day and the women ( and my Paul, bless ) were gathered around the quilts gasping at how amazing they were. What a great night.

Le weekend. It felt like an extra long week somehow and am looking forward to a little lie in. Have a great weekend!

from the vault wednesdays

This little gem is a knitting book from 1917. The styles are surprisingly adaptable to today's fashions though and I love this one. It seems like it might be fairly easy to knit up once you figure out which yarn might work and if the size is right for you. View this photo Here is the pattern, if you click it should be big enough to read I hope. I am exited because there is a knitting night planned at my neighbors house two doors down. They seem like super nice people who moved in just after we did in the summer and I have been looking forward to getting to know them. I have my sock to work on and will bring a bottle of vino.

from the vault wednesdays

I do a lot of filing at work, and when I get to putting away a picture of Deborah Messing, I get the treat and absolute joy of finding this picture again. I always forget about it and when I see it I laugh myself silly. This is Shep Messing. Behold. Isn't it precious? The hair, the smile, the soccer ball, the NAME. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Oh dear. I just googled him and found that there are indeed nude pictures of him. Why does that not surprise me? Luckily I have to pay to see them, and I am not that curious. He was a goalkeep in the 70's.
He just brings to mind that whole Slap shot, old time hockey, reckless 70's vibe that delights me. Slapshot by the way, is an awesome movie if you have a hankering for some old fashioned mullets and hockey scraps. Where else can you see a young paul newman in an all leather suit? OH! And check it out! The wives, knitting!

from the vault Wednesdays

Rascal! A story about a boy and his racoon, from the Nippon Animation company, 1977. Isn't he cute? Apparently, the boy builds a canoe and then, after a year of good times, the racoon leaves to meet a lady friend in the woods. We have had some amazing rain this past day or two and I think finally, it is cooling down a bit. Fingers crossed!

from the vault Wednesdays

Typography book from Switzerland, 1957.

These pictures don't do it justice ofcourse. It is a really beautiful book with lots of empty space and neat 1950's style design.

from the vault Wednesdays

Opera News - January 16, 1960. I love the trees on this!

Paul had been waiting and waiting for a book he bought on EBAY. It had been nearly a whole month ( the book was only coming from the states somewhere) and finally yesterday it arrived - with the above stamp on it!! Can you believe that? That is SO FAR away! How could it have been so completely re-routed? It almost seems like a cartoon joke.

From the vault Wednesdays

Just in case your barbies were cold...

This is from 1963 and all outfits are styled by Hilde! I wonder where Hilde is today, or if she is still alive.
It would be neat to have had a profitable career creating doll clothes knitting books in the 60's... I wonder if she did it part time while looking after kids or if she had an office full of wool...

I'm done the hat!! My first real hat!! I even figured out how to make a little niblet on top. Of course, this one is a little too LONG, but I just turned up the rim. The rim was the dog's breakfast part, but it doesn't really look too bad. I started it out ribbed, but I kept forgetting which stitch I last did, so I purled the rest. I am most exited about the niblet. I am aware that it is "spring", but I may still need a hat for a bit. I hate cold ears. Plus this matches my new springy coat! Here is a cute little ad I found at work yesterday in the "Easter" file. It has some eggs or something on the front - it is from Women's World Magazine, April 1960. There are so many gems buried in the library where I work. Check out the exited pup!

I love my job

At my library, we have files and files of pictures. Since the 1950's, someone has been clipping magazines, and there are so many gems like this one! How can something be so wierdly cute and smooshy faced??