Vintage Quilling Kit

I received an email from a crafter in Russia last week. She is young and commented on my 70s vintage quilling. So I decided to look in my box of vintage kits.

I opened this Quill-It kit dated 1976; the photo is very faded. There are two shades of red paper plus many enclosures. The geranium flowers aren't something I would make. 

Also inside was an actual size pattern to slide under "wax paper". A full sheet of quilling information for beginners. Two large pages of green paper for leaves and sheets of black and red cardstock for the flower pot. A booklet, sort of a mini catalog, to order supplies. I am blown away at the $1.75 lap board. I still have mine and the soft board is indestructible -- the best ever made. 

And my favorite item, the corsage pin. This is what I learned to quill with and every kit contained one.

I decided to start making a friend the red snowflakes I promised about three years ago. Her Christmas tree is solid red ornaments and she requested red. The 1/4" wide vintage paper is very thick and easy to work with. 

Just a reminder it's not too early to start making snowflakes. This is a basic 20 piece snowflake design. The 3" center, 3" ribbon holder and six pieces of three different shapes.

Many other patterns are here:  Snowflakes

Thanks for stopping by!
-Molly xo

Stepping Back in Time

Happy September!

A long time ago when I started quilling, I could only find kits by Quill It, Inc. (1974) owned by Barbara B. Maddox. They were sold at a Fort Worth, Ben Franklin Craft Store. From the information included in the kits, I could soon order via mail by catalog. Later in the 80s, the kits were sold at MJDesigns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (the M stood for Michael, as in the Michaels Stores, Inc. started in Texas.)*

Most of the kits included printed card stock to cut out and use for leaves and other motifs. They also included a printed saying to use as the background. I bought as many kits as I could find and still have several unopened. I continue to collect and buy the original Quill It kits on eBay when I can find them.

As you can see, my mat cutting skills were horrendous! LOL I collected strawberries in my kitchen for about a year, but didn't like how the reds never matched and seemed to clash. The fact that I had bright yellow and brown (70s) wallpaper in the kitchen didn't help with the decor.

I cannot remember the reason for doing this, but I always covered the backs with coordinating paper, probably gift wrapping paper.

Bright colors have always been my favorite. I collected parrots in the 80s so this is one of my favorites. (I am a huge Jimmy Buffet fan, an original parakeet.) In today's quilling standards, I believe these cut-out leaves would be quilled, along with the beak. The same with the sun below.

You guessed it! I also collected rainbows. Back when these kits were sold you couldn't purchase individual packages of quilling paper. So I saved every piece quilling strip leftovers. I did break into other kits to use the paper when I started quilling my own little pieces. I regret that now.

These three projects are in poor shape from not being stored properly and kept in a hot Texas garage for all these years. I clean my old, dusty quilling pieces with a can of air and an old, soft shaving brush. I'd like to think some of the age spots show character :)

Thanks for going down memory lane with me.
Have fun quilling!

-Molly

*Michael's dad, James Dupey, bought the Ben Franklin craft stores. I taught quilling at MJDesigns in 2002. They filed for bankruptcy 10 days before Christmas and I never got paid for teaching the classes. I was devastated, but looking back I am glad for the experience (it gave me much needed confidence) and the teacher discount was nice.