Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Another Dick and Jane Lunch box

I loved my lunch box. Each year I would pick out a new one. I would thoughtfully pick them out as carefully as I would pick out a puppy from the pound.

When I was in the third grade, this wonderful lunch box carried more than its share of bologna sandwiches, cookies and bananas. I collected pretty rocks in this box as I zig-zagged my way home from school. It also housed school papers and artwork and was a shield from the Boriolo brothers that warm afternoon when they decided to bombard Terry and I with cherries from their aunt's front yard tree.

And who can forget the stink that would rise up from the blackened banana peel left inside the box over the weekend. Nor the sour smell from the thermos. My mom would fill it up with soap and hot water and let it sit overnight on top of our kitchen counter before filling it with Kool-Aid's Tropical Punch.

So you can imagine my pleasure when I was asked to design the second Dick and Jane lunch box for Michael Miller Fabrics. You might recall the first one I did looked like this:

It's a double-honor since I also designed all the Dick and Jane fabric. Inside this lunch box, there's enough fabric to make a lovely soft book.

This newest Dick and Jane lunch box contains a pattern and enough fabric to make a really cute Easy Breey Backsack by Lizzy B Creative and should be available in various quilt shops near you.


10 comments:

Rayne said...

Oh, wow! You have your old lunchbox! That is so cool! I don't think I ever had a lunch box, I was a hot lunch kid. Which is probably why I can no longer consume normal food.
I love the new design. Beautiful and clever as always.
That backpack is sooo cute!

danny said...

wow good job on the lunch boxes! and your old one brings back memories,
I had a Lost in Space lunch box, and I can still taste the baloney sandwiches.
:o)

doodlegirl said...

Ya know rayne, that does not surprise me that you were a "hot lunch kid". That woulda been so cool! The closest I ever came to "hot lunch" was once a month we'd have hotdog day at school and every monday, my friend Annette had a hamburger, fries and a coke for lunch. Her dad was a barber and had Mondays off. She would often times trade me a ho-ho for half her fries. Sometimes she shared her whole lunch with me. I still remember and nearly drool.

Dan. I know that Lost in Space box! I also had a Bozo lunchbox and even a Bonanza lunchbox. Do you remember those? Later I went to brown-bagging it.

Olias said...

Wonderful blog here shawn! I had a Man From U.N.C.L.E. lunchbox, but one day I was riding to school and it slipped off the handlebar and it hit the ground and broke open. The lid came off and the thermous broke, but I was able to salvage the sandwich...it took a while until I got another one. Until then it was brown bags.

Olias said...

By the way, I remember you from Illustration Friday...I haven't been on there in awhile, but your stuff was great on there!

Doodlestreet said...

Oh man! That is the coolest old lunchbox!! That's neat that you kept that! What a treasure...
I never had the neat metal lunchbox...we had the brown sack. Or...the 10 cents when I was on the 'poor kid lunch program'. I was suppose to spend it on a hot lunch, but many times I held out for an ice cream sandwich. ;o)

I remember that photo of you and Terry you posted some time back. She must have been your little buddy growing up, eh?

Michele said...

Okay, no wonder why I adore you.

violetismycolor said...

I just love these D/J lunchboxes. One of my favorite parts of back-to-school was picking out a lunchbox, too.

doodlegirl said...

Olias! What a tumble your lunchbox must've had to break open and even burst your thermos! Don't you wish you had that classic lunchbox now?

Doodlestreet: Yes! Terry was my bestest friend! She and I will still say, "remember when you fell back on your back and kicked your legs out straight and laughed in histerics in our sideyard?" And I would say, "I sure do!" We remember every single moment of our childhood. I hope one day we can write a book about it. It really was THAT wonderful!

I adore you, too, michele.

Violet... you and i are so much alike in so many ways. I hope one day we meet.

HayLaura said...

This blog brought back memories.... Buying a lunch box for school was always so exciting. I loved shopping for new school supplies. I try to remember all the different lunch boxes I had and I have to laugh because the one that I remember most is that I had a Soupy Sales LB. How weird is that. But today, I have two Popples Lunch Boxes and one Bold and the Beautiful. ;)