You can get the brushes here....

Here is a link that might be useful: brush

And you can get those great towels here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Towels

You can get the clothes pins at Walmart near the laundry baskets, ironing boards, etc.

I don't use them to hang clothes except when camping but they are great to close food bags, chips etc.

Linda

Try Fuller Brush for the vegetable brush. I don't even know if they are around any longer. They used to give these brushes away to customers.

Try Crate and Barrel for white flour sack dish towels. Flour sack towels are the best. They have an online site, so maybe you can find them there. I am seeing these more and more lately.

Miss having a clothes line in the backyard. No backyard anymore. Use clothespins for closing bags, etc.

I wish I could find aprons made from terrycloth.... Haven't found any in years.

If you want a smaller package of old-time spring clothespins, try your local Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, etc. The WM packages are HUGE! I don't have a clothesline either (sigh) but use the pins to close chip and cracker bags. I found some cute miniature clothespins this year, and hung all my cards from the KT card exchange (thanks so much, friends) on a ribbon clothesline on the mantel. Looked great!

I miss the cloth you could get from buying chicken feed in those calico cloth sacks...remember those?

Or flour in the sacks...great for making the backs for a quilt of using the flour sacks in the pattern for the top of a quilt.

I remember those wood cloth pins...I miss them too!

Deb

Don't bother with those skimpy, thin "kitchen towels" they sell with matching potholders. Just get bathroom hand towels. Lots of color choices. Great absorbancy. Cheap.

Oh, never ever buy bathroom hand towels--even if you need them for the bathroom. Buy an extra bath towel, cut it in 4ths and hem--MUCH cheaper than buying hand towels--they're about the biggest rip-off out there, IMO--they only charge a dollar or 2 less than the full-sized bath towels and there's not that much fabric to them.

I was missing the great old-fashioned metal ice cube trays--the ones with the handle you pull up to release the ice. Then I found some in a catalogue. They freeze so much faster than plastic, and are so much easier to remove the ice. LOVE using them.

There's a store near me ,it's called a Variety Store. They have everything from lawn furniture to kitchen gadgets to toys. They prominently display their ice cube trays-yes, the old-fashion metal ones with the handle down the middle. If anyone wants some, email me.

I miss the sheets made in USA. Even Martha Steward ones made in Pakaskin, and they looks cheesy!!!

Oh, Jannie--you're so lucky. We used to have an independent 5 & 10 in the town where I grew up (I only moved about 3 miles away when I got married). Little old place--they sold EVERYTHING. Clothes, toys, yarn, household items, fabric, holiday decorations. It was the place to go when you couldn't find something. You'd go to the store, look around--maybe you'd find the item, maybe you wouldn't. If you didn't see it, you asked the owner if he had any. Sure enough, he'd always say, "I think I have some down in the basement". He'd disappear downstairs for 5 minutes or so, and he'd always come back with the thing you needed, no matter how obscure it was. They closed a few years back. I sure miss that place. It was almost a museum to wander through it, and the best place to find stuff that no one else carried.

Azzalea, did your 5 &10 have a candy counter and warm roasted nuts? Ours did and I can still smell that to this day when I remember that store.

Crisp cotton sheets! I hate the slimy feel of sheets today. Whatever happen to could old fashioned crisp white sheets? Even the cheapest muslin sheets of yesteryear were better than todays expensive "pre-softened" sheets.

I miss blue jeans that were made of real heavyweight denim. The ones today are mostly just dyed to resemble denim.

I also miss brand new clothes that people wore-in themselves. Most of the things in the stores look like they came out of a dumpster. I've shopped vintage on eBay that looks newer.

I want knit tops to be thick enough to wear without layering.

I want sweatshirts to end at the hips,not at the top of my waist and I want raglon sleeves on them so I don't look like a walking box.

I want jackets and hoodies cut to actually fit over other clothes. They're supposed to be outerwear!

I am with you WildChild on all of yours.

I have some "flour sack" towels for drying dishes. My aunt embroidered on them. I hope they never wear out.

i want wal mart to bring back the plain tees in women's sizes that had some weight to them...everything is so thin now...and not one long sleeve...

We went to an auction of 2 spinster sisters and I bid on a box of sheets/pillowcases...figuring that I could use them in/on the backs of quilts. When I got home, there were 3 sets of full sized sheets STILL IN PACKAGES! I washed everything twice in hot water...they didn't smell real fresh before. They are the NICEST sheets I have seen/used in years!!!!! Deans bed is a full size, and every time I change them I am sooooo jealous!!! If only we could find more like those.

Vermont country store has a lot of hard to find things. They have sheets made in USA also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vermont country store

You know, I think I have one of those vegetable brushes stashed somewhere, and you can have it if I can find it. Have to look.

Wildchild-- I second everything you've written, especially the line about tops that are thin and tight-fitting. It makes me so mad that manufacturers have forced us to wear layers, which I find very uncomfortable, not to mention, more expensive. And yes, someone please tell me where to find CRISP sheets!!!! I sleep so much better on those.

Lindsey ca, Oh, for some of those Terry Cloth aprons! I wear an apron any time I'm in the kitchen, not because I'm neat, but because I'm messy.

When my last TC apron finally had to go to the ragbag, my DGD made me one on her other grandmother's sewing machine. She was 13 at the time, now she is 37, and I'm still using it, even though it is falling apart at the seams, and the lace she trimmed it with is just hanging on by a few threads.

I have looked for good TC, but it is not to be found, like so many of the good things we use to have.

Sue

I usually hang out at the GW quilting forum and the Cacti and Succulents forum, but happened to drop by here. I hope it's OK to join in suddenly like this. The topic struck a nerve.

Yes! I make as many of my own clothes as I can, but do buy "tops" to go with my suits or summer skirts with matching loose jackets, and when I look around in the clothing depts. am often amazed to see things looking so sleazy and wrinkled. It also annoys me greatly that here in So. Cal. so many of the tops have great gaping necklines. Does everything have to show cleavage?

I sure miss those grain sacks, too, with their varied colorful flower prints. I had a number of gathered skirts made from them when I was young. I loved their rough weave. We used to cut them in large squares and fringe the edges for small tablecloths, too. Now I make quilts and find it hard to resist prints that remind me of the old feed bags. The people that designed them were thinking of recycling, way back then!

This is just a hate, not so much nostalgia, but I detest the sleeveless summer tops and light-weight cardigans I have bought from catalogs, when their bottoms thin out and roll up as soon as I wash them. They never go back to being flat. Their colors often fade, too.

DH and I love the Vermont Country Store and always get their catalog, as we are far from Vermont, but I am originally a New Englander.

I've bought good clothespins at Menard's. It's a DIY center, a smaller version of Lowe's or Home Depot and I would imagine they'd have them too. I occasionally see the brushes. I had forgotten all about them. There's another place to buy good, heavy terrycloth "bar towels" cheap, when they're on sale.

I love the tea-towels (dish-towels) and dishcloths from Costco.

If you are near a Beddington, they have the most wonderful white crisp cotton sheets. They feel SO good! They're prices are amazing on beddings. We have a king size bed and buy all our bedding there.

Oh, thank you all for the sources for good value, useful things! I feel better now, knowing that others miss some sturdy, useable and lasting things, too. By the way, I am using the cotton sheets my mother had--they get dried on the line (properly pegged with strong wooden clothespins!) and may just last forever.

Does somebody still make regular towels? They used to be about 21"x38" or thereabouts. What now are handtowels used to be guest towels to sit somewhere in the bathrooms when people came over for a couple of hours and look pretty.

All wool blankets are hard to find. I went looking for a new one and was surprised Penney's not only doesn't carry them anymore but the young clerk had never heard of them :)

I'm also searching for one of those door snakes that keep drafts out. They used to be everywhere, in cute snake designs, but are gone (despite our very cold Minnesota winter and bad economy). I suppose I could make one but it is too cold around here at the moment to go digging in the closet for the sewing machine. . .

susanif: try K-mart for long sleeved T's. Steve in Baltimore County

I am a old stuff junkey so have several food mills, 7 baby food mills, 2 pressure canners, 8 water bath canners, hankies, doilies, embroidered tea towels, and just about any old time thing that you are looking for, I probably have it. I started collecting when I was 16 years old, hitting anitique sales and garage sales. Now most everone in my family may say that it is junk, but it is precious to me.

Stacie
who has lots of stuff

Maybe you should start collecting pepper grinders, too. I haven't found any small pepper grinders on store shelves for the past 2 years. All I Found is the plastic throw-away grinders on the tops of large bottles of pepper corns.

WMart has the tea towels. They were roughly $5 for a package of 4 or 5. We use them for everything, including drying dishes :-)

a mattress pad made of COTTON: cotton batting (not that nearly paper stuff) & cotton fabric

are army blankets still all wool? if so, maybe the army/navy surplus store for wool blanket

another source for wool blankets

Here is a link that might be useful: majorsurplus

I miss the old dish towels too. I must have at least half dozen different towels and none of them dry the dishes very well.

I was just saying to DH yesterday how it use to be Women's fashions were different from Teen's. I just went shopping for Women's tops and they look just like what is in style for younger girls but bigger. I don't like that maternity top look with tight bodice and low neckline. It doesn't look good on a mature well rounded Woman. OK, rant over

Clare

I used to use only the flour sack dish towels. However, I've discovered that the new microfiber dish towels (although smaller) are even more absorbant. You might try one to see for yourself.

Marita, if you want a door snake, order a double one that is advertised on TV. They work really well.

I miss quality construction... used to be you could buy a lawn mower, TV, kitchen blender, vaccume cleaner etc... and it would last for years and years and years. Things are so poorly made now days.

marita, etsy has some cute ones too. Search on draft snake or door snake (or prob'ly draft dodger).

Here is a link that might be useful: Etsy

I miss good ol' cloth shops. When I was raising my girls there were several in our small town. They have all gone out of business and now Wally World does not sell cloth either. I travel a pretty good ways to another town just to buy sewing materials. I don't like to buy cloth online, so that is out. Does anyone sew anymore? :(

marita40, I've seen them at Menard's. But I saw one advertised on TV that looked interesting. It had one that went on the front and the back of the door, and the two "snakes" were fastened together and the cloth ran under the door. That way you wouldn't set it aside when you open the door and have to put it back, it moved with the door and stayed in place all the time. I think it'd be easy to make. Couple chunks of the round pipe insulation and some kind of stiff fabric but if the price was right it could be worth a try.

You can still buy flour sack towels at places like Target and probably Walmart and others as well. Target is where I've picked them up. I've never liked terry cloth for drying dishes and those fancy towel sets made of who knows what are even worse.

Door snakes - also called (I think) draft dodgers. We bought one at Menards just this past fall. And it is working great!