VTT - National Handcraft Garden Medley Apron

I have seen many postcards showing craft kits from National Handcraft Institute of Des Moines, Iowa. There is quite a bit of unused stock in the hands of postcard collectors and dealers. Until recently I assumed that these postcards were made to be mailed as advertisements. Now I think that most (possibly all) were made to be placed in the corresponding kit to show the completed product.

Some of the complete unused kits are also available on eBay and elsewhere, and most of pictures of the kits I have seen include the postcard. The front of the Garden Medley Apron kit postcard is shown above. The description below is from the postcard back. I find the descriptions on the postcards very amusing--the copywriters really got carried away.

Below is a picture of the complete unassembled apron kit and a scan of the first page of the directions (with even more of their amusing copy). These are "Copyright 1971, Fad-of-the-Month Club, Div. of NATIONAL HANDCRAFT INSTITUTE, INC., Des Moines, Iowa."

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - Halloween and Apples

Today I am showing a couple of modern Halloween postcards sold by Hallmark about twenty years ago and a couple of my more "frightful" sets of apple salt and pepper shakers. The wormy apple set is made up two pieces that fit together--an apple salt shaker and a worm pepper shaker.

You can see more of my modern Halloween postcards on the Vintage Postcard Forum here.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

VTT - Kitchen Decor & Apple Pottery

Today's postcard advertises Du Pont "Duco" Enamel paint, which explains why everything is painted bright green. This advertising postcard was mailed in 1955, and is a 1950s interpretation of the Early American style. The woman in the picture appears to be demonstrating how easy Duco Enamel is to clean. On the back of the card it says: "Your kitchen will always be fresh and beautiful, like this one, if it's painted with Du Pont "Duco" Enamel! That's because "Duco" is tough and durable, resists hard knocks, and is as easy to clean as a china dish."

Below is a picture of a sturdy Early American style chair I found at a thrift shop yesterday. The chair is marked "Heywood-Wakefield HW Est. 1826" on the bottom of the seat. Heywood-Wakefield wooden furniture was manufactured in Gardner, Massachusetts in a factory that closed in 1979. The name "Heywood-Wakefield" is being used today by a company that acquired the rights in 1994. This is what the Heywood-Wakefield website says about the Colonial and Early American furniture:

The old Heywood-Wakefield company had several lines that could be classified as Colonial or Early American, and from time to time pieces from these groups appear in used furniture stores, estate and garage sales, auctions, thrift stores, etc. … Our best guess is that whatever you paid for an item is what it's worth, and that it is probably a mistake to buy this furniture with the idea of selling it for a profit.

On the chair are some of my apple kitchen thingies. The apple cookie jar was the start of my apple collection. My mother had a different apple cookie jar. This is the first one I found when I decided I wanted an apple cookie jar too. My jar is very common. It is usually attributed to Hull. The only marking mine has is a small green number eight on the bottom. I originally thought I would collect cookie jars, but I decided instead to collect smaller apple things like salt & pepper shakers.

My chrysanthemums are so beautiful and prolific this year that I wanted to include them in the picture. Usually they don't start blooming until mid-September, but this year they started in mid-July and still have many new stems and buds.

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

SS - Mader's German Restaurant, Milwaukee. WI

Mader's "Milwaukee's Nationally Famous German Restaurant" has been in business since 1902. It seems to as popular as ever, and even has a website and Facebook page. Over the years, Mader's has published many different postcards--so many that you could have a sizable collection of just their postcards.

The above postcard explains one of their German specialties Kalbshaxen in a comic manner. The English translation of Kalbshaxen is "Roast Veal Shank." This postcard encourages people to "Take me home or send me to a friend" on the front, and the stamp box on the back says "We will gladly Affix Stamp--Address and hand to Waiter." The back also has a P.S.: "Next time you come to Mader's ask for one of their large Schnitzelank Chart--They're FREE."

Mader's also had postcards showing a Schnitzelbank Chart. These charts were used in singing the Schnitzelbank Song--a German drinking (or friendship) song. On the back of the card below, a 21"x34" Wall Chart is offered FREE for the asking. The instructions in the stamp box mention "cashier or waitress" instead of "waiter."

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

VTT - Quick Meal Range & Old Mother's Recipes

Above is an antique postcard advertising the Quick Meal Range. The scene on the postcard also shows many of the other things found in an early twentieth century kitchen.

Below are the cover and some pages of a small Cook Book published for the Culinary Arts Institute in 1942. The title is "Dishes Mother Used to Make." The edge of an old fashioned range, similar to the one on the postcard, can be seen on the left side of the cover.

Below are some recipes from the cook book that I thought looked interesting. First are some for cooking game, including ones for hassenpfeffer (rabbit) and roast pheasant.

Next are some recipes for some cookies and puddings. The Scotch Shortbread that was made in piepans and the Indian pudding with apples looked especially good to me. The notes on these pages say "The Scottish mother made a rich delicacy for the New Year which she called shortbread" and "When the cosy old cookstove was used to heat the kitchen an apple Indian pudding was likely to be in the oven."

I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

SS - Beau Brummel Restaurant, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Beau Brummel Restaurant was located at 3100 Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you had visited the restaurant in 1951 as the sender of this restaurant did, you could have had a smörgåsbord or a table d'hote dinner.

Sometime in its history, this establishment was transformed into the Glaus Bakery whose website says "since 1935." Apparently the restaurant is long gone. The bakery has a Facebook page where it calls itself "Glaus French Pastry Shoppe/Beau Brummel Bakery" and offers this description: "Glaus French Pastry Shoppe has been in business for over 50 years. We are best known for our Chocolate Rum with Pineapple cakes but once you try our danish, eclairs, and brownies you're hooked!!"

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

PFF - The Flintstones and Bedrock City, Custer, SD

The Flinstones is an animated television show bout a working class Stone Age family and their friends who lived in Bedrock. The show originated in 1960, and September 30, 2010 was the show's 50th anniversary of the show. The original show was called The Flintstones (1960-1966). There were a number of other shows about the Flinstones in later years (Wikipedia has a list of shows).

Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota is a Flintstones theme park and campground. It is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. This postcard shows "Fred and Barney" visiting their counterparts in front of Fred's and his wife Wilma's house. There is another Bedrock City in Arizona.

For Flinstones show trivia, see The Flintstones' 50th anniversary: 15 things you don't know.