Long Time, No Blog and Christmas Projects

I feel sooooo bad that I haven't been blogging lately, it's just that I've been soooooo busy with life.  Christmas is coming and all through this Advent season I've been trying to set aside more time for reading devotions and prayer (which isn't always easy).  Also, I get to have Christmas Dinner at my house this year!!  I'm very excited about that, because I love to entertain (even though our house is the size of a Cracker Jack box).  Therefore, I haven't had time to load photos, and write blogs....I wonder if anyone else starts to feel a bit "overwhelmed" about the whole blogging thing, especially at this time of year?

 

But I do have a minute or 40 to spare so I thought I'd catch everyone up on just ONE or TWO of the projects I've been working on these last couple of weeks.  

I've been making cookies.

Lots of cookies....about 130 total.

They are whipped up from scratch using my Grandmother's recipe. 

 

 

I feel I've finally figured out how to use Wilton's Royal Icing recipe, which you can find HERE.  And I have found that the consistency of the icing is key to having no jagged edges and pointed dots.

 

First, I outline the cookies.

 

 

Then I flood the cookies.  The outline acts as a wall, helping to keep the flooding frosting where it is suppose to be.  You can see the flooded cookies on the left. 

 

  Finally I pipe white frosting details (after the base frosting cools).

 

 

It's really quite a process and if I had to guess, I'd say I probably handle each cookie for around 5 or 6 minutes.  But it's SO MUCH FUN!!!  I love making and decorating cookies!

And, not that anyone cares, but I listened to a lot of 60s music while making these.  I really have no idea why.  A little Simon and Garfunkle, some of The Youngbloods, The Byrds, and Jefferson Airplane.  A little of the Fifth Dimention, David Cassidy (don't laugh), and some Peter Paul and Mary.  Good stuff!

 

I did manage to buy a little vintage "looking" tree at Hobby Lobby for my vintage ornaments!

 

There's no baby Jesus yet, we have to wait until Christmas.

For now the tree sits in my little "library".

 

 

That's just the start of my projects.  I'm not going to share anything else until after Christmas because so many of my projects lately are Christmas Gifts and I don't want to spoil any surprises!  Haha!

 

So, I'll post again after Christmas so stay tuned! 

And have a super fun Christmas!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage Kitty Embroidery Transfers from 1958

This past summer I found these super cool envelopes at Vintage City's fifty-cent sale!  I love love love them and want to share one of them with you today.

The top two envelopes are from February 1958.  The bottom one from March of 1977.
The first one is addressed to Mrs. Oscar H Anderson of Voltaire.  I found nothing about her on the internet.  The next is addressed to Mrs. Jennie Wasson of Velva ND.  The last envelope is addressed to Glenna Evashenko of Rural Velva ND.  I found out quite a bit about Glenna including the fact that Jennie Wasson was her mother.  You can read about Glenna by clicking HERE.  It sounds like she was quite a crafty gal, involved in many things including homemakers.  She was also a bit of a record keeper of events.  It would be interesting to visit the Velva Library to find her collections.  Glenna died in 2007. 

 

I just love vintage envelopes.  I especially enjoy looking up peoples' names and addresses haha.

Let's open the top envelope today.  These patterns are from Grit magazine, a family magazine.  I'm thinking they must have advertised embroidery patterns in their magazine and woman could send away for them.  (I wonder if magazines do that anymore, with everything being online now.)  I imagine it was probably pretty exciting to send away for things and have them show up in your mailbox, a little cheer to break up the monotony of the February winters here in ND.  Glenna might have even taken these transfers to her homemakers meeting that winter.  Maybe she loaned them to her friends as well. 
 

 

It's a Pussy Cat Design!

And the transfers are in silver!

 

 

I was able to scan them and here are the transfers.

I apologize if the quality isn't very good.  In order to flip it (because everything is reversed in a transfer) I had to create a new jpeg in my scrapbooking program.  It turned out kind of gray, because I'm not very computer savvy.

 

 

  

 

 



 

 

 

 

That's all for today!  Until another time have a happy stitching day!

 



Vintage Christmas Ornaments

A few weeks ago, I spotted these at the local flea market.

 

 

I've seen so many vintage ornaments on other people's blogs, oodles of them!  And other people seem to find them so easily...boxes of them!  The old Shiny Brites seem to be a little harder to come by around here.  I rarely ever see them.  And, to be honest, these ornaments aren't even that old...they are reproductions, and definitely not Shiny Brites.  The box has a bar code!  If I had to guess I would say these are from the late 80's.  But, they LOOK old and so I will use them.  I'll take what I can get when it comes to vintage ornaments.

 

Below are all of the vintage ornaments I own now.  Maybe this year I can have my little vintage Christmas tree in the library room!

 

Here is a catalog page FULL of ornaments from 1957 (I think that's the right date).  Aren't they swell!?  I just love them!  (image found on Pinterest). 

 

 

And one last picture before I go.  Who wants a picture of a vintage Christmas tree!!?  I do I do!!

The tree below is full of 1950s-60s vintage goodness! (from Kitchy Living's blog and pinterest).

 

 

I've read that one couldn't put electric lights on an aluminum Christmas tree or it would burst into flames.  Apparently the consumer safety administration didn't exist back then?  So they had something that looked like a "light drum" that would spin, and the colored light would reflect off of the metal tree.  Pretty groovy huh?  This tree is actually a little too modern for me, (I still prefer green) but it is REALLY far out.

 

Well, that's all I have for today.  Until another time, have a shiny brite kind of day!

"M" is for Monday-Part 2

Luckily, I was able to get some stitching done this week!  Much of my stitching time was used to finish the "M" is for Monday project. 

 

 

And now that the stitching is finished, I'm not sure I like it with the fabric. It's a good thing I haven't attached the fabric (haven't even cut it) because I'm not sure it's the right fabric for this letter.

 

 

But I can't put my finger on why I don't like it with the fabric.  I think it might be the color of the blue that outlined the letter M.  Had I outlined it in pink, I might feel better about it.

 

The towel still needs to be washed and ironed, but for now, it is done.  I've moved on to a couple other projects that I will blog about real soon!

 

That's all for today!  Until another time, have a happy stitching day!  And if I don't blog before Thursday, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my followers! 

Here is a hodge-podge of little pictures from past Thanksgivings in our family.

 

Last year's Thanksgiving table at my house.

And here are my Mom's little Pilgrim People wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.  They used to be cardboard wall decorations from Hallmark (Remember those?  She had some for every holiday!) Dad glued them to some ply-wood and then used the band saw to cut around each shape.  Now they will last forever!

 

Mom's pilgrim people.

One year, I had it in my head that I was going to quill everyone a place card.  I think I made a total of two.  They were so difficult!  Fun, but difficult.

 

Attempt at quilled place cards.

Blue Turtle wants Thanksgiving dinner too!

 

And finally, my Momma's cute corn bowl.  It's only for the cutest corn.  

 

 

This year, we start a new tradition in our family. Most of the family (on my Mom's side) is headed to my cousin's for Thanksgiving.  It's hard to believe how time flies, seems like just a few years ago she was graduating from High School, now she has a beautiful home and family and is hosting holidays!  Until another time, count your blessings and enjoy Thanksgiving Day 2014!

"M" is for Monday-Part 1

Another embroidery project I've been wanting to tackle for some time now is the "M" is for Monday pattern I found on pinterest a long time ago.  I had to print the pattern from the computer and I think I've seen it on Tipnut's Blog.   That's the trouble with these sites like Pinterest....people re-pin things so many times that it's difficult to know who the original credit should be given to, unless you really do some digging!

So, thanks to the person who has this in their possession (possibly Tipnut) and thanks for taking the time to post it on the vast internet.  It's a really cute pattern!

 

 

This particular towel will be a "tea towel", so it's half the size of a large dish towel.

I decided I would embellish the bottom of the towel with some of this cute fabric I found at JoAnn's.

 

 

Above I am trying to match floss to the colors of the fabric.  That green looks dark on the bobbin, but it actually looks kind of nice on the towel.

 

 

Here are some of the colors I chose for the project.  As always, there is one color I am wanting (a darker turquoise you can see on the outside of one of the butterflies) that I don't have in my floss box!  Off to Hobby Lobby or JoAnn's I will have to go.  But before I get there I will use the rest of the floss to start the project.  I'll keep you updated as to my progress throughout this week.

Until then, have a happy stitching day!

 

 

Embroidering Again!

This week I folded up my quilting supplies and neatly tucked them away for a little while.  I'm taking a little vacation away from quilting until the holidays are over.  Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas are such busy times for our family, I'd rather take the time to work on some little projects. 

 

So, I took out my embroidery supplies and stared at them for a day or so, then I browsed my computer file full of embroidery patters.  I visited Bits of Stitching's blog for motivation and then browsed pinterest for embroidery inspiration.  It all worked because now I am embroidering again after a very long time away from it.

 

I'm starting with one of my favorite patterns, a vintage kitty carrying a bag of groceries.  The pattern had been transferred so many times that it would no longer transfer.  I had to put it on my light box and trace it.

 

 This will be a tea towel, so I am only using one half of a large dish towel.
I plan to add this fabric to the bottom of the towel.  It is a Diane Zimmerman pattern from her "Sweetheart" line of fabric that I bought from Quiltin' Gals.com. 

Here is the kitty finished.  Now, I just need to sew on the piece of decorative fabric and maybe a strip of rick-rack. 
The box in the kitty's grocery bag is suppose to be Rice Krispies.  But it looks like Rice Pies. Haha!

 That's all for today, I've got more stitching to do!  Until another time, have a happy stitching day!
 

The Busy Little Squirrel

Sometimes I wish my neighborhood had a squirrel, but we don't have any trees.  Well, we have trees, they just aren't very big.  They're not "squirrel" trees.

 

Our one and only tree this fall.

This week in Daycare we've been talking a lot about winter preparations such as getting our snow shovels out and the snow blowers gassed up and ready to work.  We've also talked about the geese flying south to warmer weather and the busy squirrels gathering food for the long winter.  This book, The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri is perfect for this kind of lesson.

Plus, the illustrations are really cute!!

 

The busy little squirrel can't stop to play, he has work to be done. 

Images from Amazon.

If you would like to see more of this book it is available HERE at Amazon.com. 

 

Another fun fall-time book that we've enjoyed at story time is We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger and Illustrated by Miki Sakamoto.  Also available at Amazon HERE.

 

 

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt has been a popular request all week long.  And you can even sing it to the "Going on a Bear Hunt" song, and have the children repeat the song as you sing it.  It's a hoot!

Unfortunately, we don't have enough leaves around here to make a leaf hunt worth our time.  I should have a bag trucked in from Vermont.  Haha!

 

That's all for today!  Until another time, have a happy reading day!

 

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in 1940

With Thanksgiving just around the corner (and because Thanksgiving is slowly being squeezed out by Christmas), I'd like to do some Thanksgiving posts.  Yea!! 

 

 

As I've mentioned before, in previous blog posts, Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday.  Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings, enjoy the company of family and friends, without all of the greed and stress that comes with the Christmas Season.  Not that I don't like the Christmas Season.  I do love the Christmas story, going to candlelight service, listening to Gene Autry's Christmas CD and hanging out with family.  But let's face it folks...Christmas ain't what it used to be.  It has become SO commercialized and over-the-top.  Whatever happened to children getting one or two gifts from the Sears Wish Book.  Whatever happened to an orange at the toe of a stocking being a treat!?  (heck, with the price of oranges being what it is up here where I live, they are still a treat *wink*)  Anyway...back to Thanksgiving.

 

 

This first post is actually about a Youtube video of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1940.  The balloons are most interesting!

Take a minute to watch (it's only 2.5 minutes long).

 

I find the clown balloon a tad creepy and the Superman balloon looks mighty serious, but I'll bet the kids LOVED them!  Apparently Superman had just come into being in 1938, so it's pretty impressive that he had a balloon already.

And of course, at the end, we see a Santa balloon and Santa in his sleigh!

 

The blog "The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit" did a neat article about the Superman Balloon HERE.
 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy vintage day!

 

 

 

 

1940s Safety in the Kitchen

I get such a kick out of these vintage "Home-Economics" type of videos on You tube.  This 8 minute video is about kitchen safety.  It's fun to see the vintage kitchens at work and the tidy way the cupboards are arranged.  There are no sippy-cup avalanches in this 1940s kitchen, just neatly stacked dishes and the cutest little toaster you ever did see! (at minute 6:48).  And I just love the little step stool she uses at 7:28.  If we are ever lucky enough to have a vintage kitchen, I will have to invest in a step stool.  

I hope you enjoy the video!   

 

I think I'll clean out one of my cupboards now.  Have a happy vintage day!

Busy With Black Work

In early September I got out my black work project book and stash of black work items and spent a couple of weeks catching up, fixing old mistakes and finishing some UFOs (Un-Finished-Objects).

 

The first bookmark had a pretty big mistake in it.  When I made the mistake back in January or February, I didn't have the patience to rip it out and fix it.  But after giving it a few months I was able to patiently fix and finish it.  I guess it just goes to show ya that sometimes you just have to walk away from a project for awhile and come back to it when you are ready again. 

This is like the fifth bookmark in this pattern that I've done and once I get going I don't need to follow a paper pattern, which is nice. 
 

 

Here is a new design I'm trying out.  It's not finished yet and I hope to have some time to work on it again soon.

 

 

 

 

There's a stray string hanging out at the bottom of the last one...oops.

 

Picking up the black work again was fun but once again it bothered my eyes.  They started twitching and "wigging out" on me just as they had last January, so I am hanging it up again for awhile.

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy stitching day!

Dresden Quilt-Color Dilemma-Yellow

The Dresden quilt is coming along!  I've been working on it all summer and fall.  The flowers have been done for some time, and I've just been waiting for the right color of yellow to come along for my frames.  (Frames?  I'm not sure that's right.  Maybe rails?  I don't know.)

 

I'm not following a pattern, so there are a lot of papers in my quilting stuff that look like the ones below.  I know what is in my head, it's just sometimes hard to transfer my ideas to paper.
 

 

I've been looking for just the right kind of yellow.

The photos below show the two shades of yellow that I have.

 

The first is a lighter yellow made by Moda.  I purchased 3 yards of the stuff at a local quilt shop thinking I had FINALLY hit the jackpot.  Now, I'm not so sure.  I think it might be too light.

 

 

The next is an older piece of fabric from Hobby Lobby.  As much as I love Hobby Lobby I have to be honest about this fabric.  It's not the best quality I'm sad to say.  When you hold it up to the light it's a little more "transparent" than the "Moda" brand of fabric. But I like the color.  It's a little darker and just looks better than the lighter color. 

 

 

Oh, and I know one of my flowers has a "rainbow" pattern to it.  That one is one that daughter set up for me.  It's a little too "happy and bright" for my taste.  I've noticed that the whole quilt has swayed from the vintage 1930s feed sack look to the reproduction, candy store, pastel look that I was trying to avoid. 

 

Here is what I mean...

The photo below is of a real feed sack quilt.  It's more of a primary colored hodge podge and there is not a whole lot of matching going on with it's bright colors and patterns. I love it.

 

Next, we have a quilt done in reproduction fabrics that is still very cute and pretty, but also very "pastel" looking.  To be honest I was going for something a bit in-between.  (both photos are from Pinterest, therefore, I have no clue who to give original credit to).

 Looking at my quilt flowers, I should have thrown more black and white, primary prints, and bigger prints into my mixes.  But like folks always say, hindsight is always 20/20.

 

I did see a BEAUTIFUL quilt, earlier this fall, while visiting my folks out west.  We went to a local quilt show and I LOVED this quilt!

 

 

The quilt was made by a gal named Ruth Olson of Williston.

I love her choice of yellow for her borders.  I have a snippet of that pattern in pink but not in yellow and can't find it online.  I wish I knew who designed and manufactured that particular yellow pattern with little white ball flowers on it.

 

 

I could stare at this quilt for an hour!  It's total eye candy.

 

 

I like the pastel look with this one.  It seems fitting.

 

Well, that's all for today.  I'm going to keep chugging along on my quilt, and I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress. Until another time, have a happy stitching day!