WHAT are Freddy and Willy sniffing so intently?
Any guesses?
Here are some hints:
If you guessed a vintage original 1967 "Campus Queen" lunchbox -- you are CORRECT!
I am betting at least a few of you owned this lunchbox once upon a time or secretly longed for one. On the back was a board game you played with magnetic pieces (of which one was still in the box).
This was a total impulse purchase at the flea market this morning, but for $5 I couldn't resist (no thermos, of course). I can always store notions in it -- or something.
Sad news about the flea market: the entire garage (the two-level indoor flea market space spanning 24th and 25th Streets) has been purchased by Marriott -- presumably to become another "budget" hotel -- and is scheduled to close at the end of May. Where will I find my treasures?
In other news, I wasn't able to finish my mother's robe yesterday, but I had enough completed for her to try on today at lunch. The fit is good and she seems to like it. It still needs closures, facings, and a collar. It's a heavy cotton pique.
Here she is looking eerily like Aimee Semple McPherson.
I hope to finish the robe this week and there are lots of other projects in the pipeline. I know I owe you a review of my last menswear sewing class but I might combine it with a review of next Tuesday's class, since we're mainly going over things we've already learned.
Have a great day, everybody!
Any vintage lunchbox collectors out there?
Posts
Oh my GOD. Our next-door neighbors had the Campus Queen (three girls, one my age, two older - I think the lunchbox belonged to the middle girl, Molly). Even then it was so fabulous she didn't use it for lunch, but instead for her best Barbie accessories. Seeing that is like a little mental time machine.
ReplyDeleteAnd your mother's robe is going to be lovely. Just like her.
Oh that is AWFUL that your flea market is closing down! What a heartbreak! Maybe they will move somewhere else close by? I hope so for your sake! Glad your mom liked the new robe!
ReplyDeleteYour mum looks lovely. And that is truly gutting about the flea market. That's your freakin' spiritual home. Don't even know what to say...
ReplyDeleteI think Campus Queen is the perfect notions box! I had a Holly Hobbie lunch box. I always wanted the Strawberry Shortcake picnic basket shaped box, like, baaaad. As an adult I finally came across one at a thrift and I store my beads in it.
ReplyDeleteOh my! And one of my planned excursions is to the flea on May 17 when I come to NYC. Maybe the bargains will be extra special. Peter, check out my Thimble Fingers blog where I credit you for inspiration. http://csturgeo.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-internet-made-me-do-it.html?m=0
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheryl!
Deletei have a one vintage metal lunchboxes (AND thermos, tyvm), but i don't really consider myself a collector just yet, and i certainly have nothing as cool as the Campus Queen! i only have a 1970s Battlestar Galactica so far -- a terrible show, really, but 12 year old me loves it deeply.
ReplyDeleteI have a vintage Land of the Giants lunchbox.
ReplyDeleteAs for Mom - those sleeves are not ***nearly*** blousy enough for her to pass as Aimee Semple McPherson (but I am impressed at your knowledge of diverse Christian historical figures!)
Hope this works!
ReplyDeleteAimee
So jealous....so very jealous!
ReplyDeleteI had a Wild West lunchbox! Can't believe the fleamarket is closing down.. boo.....
ReplyDeleteSo much to love here; your mum, the robe, lunchbox and, of course, Freddy and Willy. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, you lost me on the Aimee Semple McPherson...
ReplyDeleteAimee Semple McPherson was the first famous Pentecostal evangelist, seeking publicity to broaden the audience for her religious message, using modern technology (including the automobile and radio) -- truly a pioneer in religious history. The Foursquare Gospel Church which she founded is now a movement with more than two million members around the world. But most people know her name mainly for an infamous kidnapping scandal.
DeleteAimee Semple McPherson disappeared in May 1926. At first Aimee Semple McPherson was presumed drowned. When she reappeared she claimed to have been kidnapped. Many questioned the kidnapping story; gossip had her "shacked up" in a romantic "love nest," though a court case was dropped for lack of evidence.
I had Campus Queen, a gift from someone who didn't know any better, because I was SUCH a tomboy. I would love it now, though I don't think I ever took it to school.
ReplyDeletethere's too much in this post for words. rollercoaster.
ReplyDeleteCampus Queen is one I currently have in my small collection, whenever I go to flea markets vintage lunchboxes are what I look for! http://instagram.com/p/Zyb0mqpj3Z/
ReplyDeleteI think I owned that Peanuts one. I definitely had a Superman.
DeleteVintage lunchboxes is, I think, a phenomenon that passed this country by. Instead, I have our old (but not so old to be vintage, I think) child cases - which is not the same thing I get when I search for it in English. They are like hat boxes, with handles and clasps, only basically suitcase-shaped. With pictures on top. So they're, actually, very similar to your lunchbox, but it's not the same thing. Ours were used to store our art supplies. They're usually made of cardboard (and ours, of course, got drawn on). Nowadays, they store my doll collection that I will put to use again one day. :P
ReplyDeleteWhen I search for it in Czech, I get many pictures, with modern images but otherwise basically the same, so they still must be widely used. (Maybe they're used as lunchboxes as well, although some of them are too large for that.)
Help. I've successfully got myself a cardboard case covet. There's a Czech company that makes them, and boxes, and hatboxes, and everything.
A lunchbox with a game is cool. Although both my inner twelve year old and my current me are a bit frowning at the pinkness and such like of it. I would have probably secretly coveted it, like I secretly coveted all the Barbies, but ultimately I'd probably prefer one featuring a game of Ludo, or something, because that sort of box would have belonged to the sort of girl I was not. :D
Interesting tangent with Aimee Semple McPherson, too. It's also rather country-specific...
Good flea-market score there. Btw, if you should ever come across a Jetsons lunchbox, I'll take it off your hands.
ReplyDelete-- stashdragon
I've followed your blog for some time. What a treat to see a photo on your blog of my sister and me with our new lunchboxes.
ReplyDeleteOMG, is this YOU?
Deletehttp://cathouseprints.blogspot.com/2011/08/campus-queen.html
My sister. She's the one with the Campus Queen lunchbox.
ReplyDelete