Kitchen Curtain Re-do...Again

A few weeks ago, I decided to re-do my kitchen curtains (again).  I didn't like that there was not much of a ruffle at the top. 
Here is what they have looked like for the past year or so.

As I was searching through some photos from a few years ago, I came across this cute little valance that I had captured on camera while visiting a local shop.  This valance was more like what I was going for when I made the curtains above.

I like that this valance has a bit of a ruffle at the very top.

So down came the curtains.  I turned them upside down, sewed a seam through the wider red checked border and used a seam ripper to open each end to allow a curtain rod through it.  Then I removed the seam that used to be the top (the wrinkled part). 

At this point, the curtains were a little too long to be valances and would need to be shortened.  I completely removed the small red strip at the bottom, trimmed the cloth and re-sewed the red strip back onto the curtain.

The above photo shows how far I have gotten with this project.  I've always wanted to do some red work on my valances and this seemed to be the perfect time to do so.  The small, white strip of cloth at the bottom needs to be hemmed...the bottom valance has that part pinned, but not sewn as of yet.
I can't wait to finish them and hang them!  I will snap a photo or two of the finished project to share with you all!
Oh!  If you are wondering where I found the adorable fruit patterns for the red work, they are from this WONDERFUL flickr group, "Vintage Embroidery Patterns".  Click here to visit their home page! Click here for the page with the actual "fruit" motifs.

Until another day,
Have a happy stitching day!!

Bingo! Yes! Exactly!

Yup, this 50s Gal from over at Apron Revolution has said exactly what I've been feeling the last few years.  I can't say enough good things about her blog.  She doesn't just "live" vintage she ponders the difficult topics of our country today.  Today's post was great and I just have to share its link! 

http://my50syear.blogspot.com/2013/03/13-march-1950-lessons-for-today-from.html#more

Throughout this post I found myself saying "yes" and "exactly".  It was nice to read such a well though-out post on what many of us have been thinking.
Thank you Apron Revolution 50s gal!
I am inspired!

Until tomorrow,
Have a happy "vintage" day!

Long and Short Stitch Pansy Finished!

The long and short stitch pansy that I've been working on for practice is finally finished!  Here is how it turned out.

One lesson learned is that longer stitches tend to blend better than rows of smaller stitches.  Towards the end I wasn't afraid to make longer stitches.  I still need lots of practice, but am making progress and am excited to start another "practice" project soon.

Until another day, have a happy, stitching day!

Cutest Kitchen

These pictures are a few years old but I thought I'd share them with you.  This little kitchen is from the Flickertail Museum in Stanley ND.  It is a small kitchen, but so very cute and cheerful with it's flowered wall paper and yellow wainscoting.

I simply adore the Hoosier cabinet in the corner and the white, ruffled curtains that are almost TOO pretty to be in this country kitchen.  Notice the tins on top of the cabinet?  They have strawberry decals on them!

There is a darling set of Anchor Hocking "Tulip" salt and pepper shakers above the stove.

On the other side of the little country-kitchen table stands a china hutch.  Not too big, just big enough to house the everyday china and maybe some fancy china too.  I imagine storage might have been a problem when this kitchen was used in "real life".  I just want to peek in the drawers and open up the bottom to see what treasures are hiding!

Would you like to see some more of the house?  Well then, do come in.

This house was small but not THAT small, and I think a person could live in it even today if they didn't have a lot of stuff.  A person could even raise a family in this cute little house and many did!  I imagine they were a close knit family.  Sisters most likely shared one half of the upstairs and brothers the other half.  And I imagine they talked to each other way more than we talk to our families present day. There were no video games, computers or TVs.  There were, however, newspapers, radios, magazines and books.  Maybe Mom chatted with the neighbors, had a clothesline and a garden.  I imagine she baked homemade birthday cakes for her children (no Planet Pizza or Chuck E. Cheeze birthday parties back then).  Maybe they didn't have much, but they had each other (like the Waltons).
Eh, then again, maybe not.  Maybe the family couldn't wait to purchase a bigger home.  Maybe the water from the well was horrible, the grass in the yard grew in clumps, and the neighbors were disagreeable.  
I know we sometimes look back at the past with "rose colored glasses", but I still like to look back on it that way.  Even if it wasn't ideal, I still think we've lost sight of some of the SIMPLE things in life,  like a small china hutch with our most precious dishes in them.  I have a fairly small house, but a large enough kitchen.  As I sit here writing I count that we have 13 cupboards and 7 drawers in our kitchen and they are crammed full of utensils and stuff I hardly ever use.   I haven't used my blender in almost three years.   Do we really NEED all that we have?  People did just fine without all of the stuff we have now:  Fancy bread machines, waffle irons, pizzele irons, griddles, mixers, blenders, fancy coffee machines with fancy little cups of coffee juice.  People of the past did just fine without them!  They borrowed from the neighbors or did without. 
Excuse me a moment while I step up on this box and zip up my flame suit...
What's interesting is, through what little research and reading I've done...I've discovered that housewives in years past had more to do each day but did it with less equipment.  (And truth be told...they probably felt more full filled with the routine of their everyday lives than we do today with our 9-5's.)    When they baked, they used their arm muscles to mix the dough.  They used a bowl and a big spoon.  No fancy mixer with special attachments (well, some maybe did, but they were a luxury for many around here) and no fancy bread machines.  Coffee was boiled!  On the stove, in enamel coffee pots, or peculates, there were no fancy Keurig machines with there little "K-cups" taking up precious counter space.
I see these monster washer and dryers people have been getting now-a-days.  They take up half a room!
              

We've made things more convenient and simpler to save us time.  But I think we need to take a long, hard look at what we are doing with our time.
We go to work to make money to buy stuff we don't need.  Where will we put the stuff?  In huge houses we really can't afford, so we work overtime.  Is this living? 
Why do we buy stuff?  Do we buy the stuff to fill a void of something we've left behind...a simpler time?  A fulfilling time of family, friends, neighbors, picnics, raising the children.

Whew!  Oops, that was kind of a vent there.  But something I've been thinking a lot about these past few years.  Simpler may not be better for everyone, but it is for me. 

Until tomorrow,
Have a Happy, Simplified Day!

Practicing Long and Short Stitching

I really enjoy Trish Burr's books including this one that my darling husband bought me for Christmas.

Trish Burr can do some amazing things with a needle and thread!! But I don't think I'm quite ready for the beautiful projects inside this book yet, so I'm using a small pansy design that I found online for practice.

Here is the link to the pretty little Pansy Instructions (the PDF file is at the bottom of the link). The design and step-by-step directions are by...you guessed it...Trish Burr! She's so cool to share this project with us online, for free!

 

This little pansy seemed like the perfect project to try as my first, serious, attempt at long and short stitch.  I chose a linen hanky from a local craft store, probably not the best quality of linen, but good enough for me to practice on and within my budget.  Linen can be very expensive!  As I get better at these smaller projects I will look into purchasing some high quality linen, but for now the linen I find at my local craft store will have to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm, as you can see, I definitely need more practice.  My leaf doesn't look as smooth as the one in the printout.  But it is a fun project to do, the directions are easy to follow and the whole project is travel-friendly.  I just pack up a scissors, floss (kept in a Gerber food container) my hoop with hanky and needle, and the instructions, into a plastic baggie and I can take it anywhere I know I'm going to have to do some waiting.  I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

 

Until next time, have a happy, stitching day!!

Puppy Dog Embroidery

This will be a short post today, but I just have to show you all this cute fabric I found in the fat quarter bin at Hobby Lobby!   

The fabric has little springer spaniel puppies on it along with his little ducky friend.  (At least I think they are Springer Spaniels).
Now, I'm not a dog person, but I thought this little snippet of fabric was pretty cute.  And I knew that with the help of one of my Aunt Martha, iron-on, dog patterns, I could come up with a tea towel.

After I had already colored him with crayons, I discovered that some embroiderers are using special art pencils on their embroidery.  Within the next few weeks here, I will have to do some testing with my Prismacolors to see how they take to cloth and to multiple washings in the laundry.  Crayons tend to wash out of fabric easily and don't have the look of smoothness that pencils give.

Until then, Have a happy, stitching day!

1937 Ladies' Home Journal with a Hasselriis Cover

What struck me most about this Ladies' Home Journal issue was the cover with its beautiful colors and design.  I was intrigued by it and wondered who created such a beautiful work of art.  Luckily, right there on the title page was a write up about the man who illustrated it, Malte Hasselriis.  He was inspired by a page of illuminated manuscript that someone had brought from London.  Mr. Hasselriis, being an amateur collector of illuminated vellums himself, designed this cover for Ladies' Home Journal.  He called it a labor of love.  I can see why.  It is beautifully done.

When I researched Mr. Hasselriis on the Internet, I found very little about him (not even on Wikipedia!), except that he might be from Denmark.
The only photo I have of him is the one from the magazine.

And here are some fun advertisements from this 1937 issue!

Ritz Crackers

Campbell's Soups

Apparently Santa prefers Camels (insert raised eyebrow here).

 

Ivory Flakes.  Good for dishes and for fine laundry.

 

This issue was packed with nifty advertisements!

 

Until tomorrow,

Have a Happy Vintage Day!

 

Let's All Go to the Fleeeeeeea!

February Flea Market Finds!
Say that 10 times fast.

Another People's Book Club book entitled, In My Father's House to go along with the other People's Book Club book, This is the Life , that I'd just picked up at the antique store. 
Three Magazines including a beautiful Ladies' Home Journal from January 1937. 
And, a Woman's Home Companion from December 1947.  I'd never heard of Woman's Home Companion, so am excited to go through this one.
I also picked up a Ladies' Home Journal from December 1946 but sadly, it doesn't have a cover.

The flour sack in the background is a Holly Sugar sack that I just had to have because my mom's name is Holly.   The Fire King bird cup is just like the ones my Grandma and Grandpa used to have.  And finally, the little Sears Roebuck Sales Catalog is from 1957!  There are some beautiful dresses in that one!!

Where shall we start tomorrow?  How about the Ladies' Home Journal from January of 1937.
Until Tomorrow,
Have a Happy, Vintage Day!

Bluebird Tote

One cold, dreary, January afternoon Shannan called to tell me that he'd ordered me a little something that would be arriving via UPS that afternoon.  It was a "just because" gift and a "cheer you up on a dreary day" gift.  Some women like jewelry, some like flowers....I like crafts, and my husband knows this.

He'd bought me a Martha Stewart Bluebird Tote bag to embroider!  It matches my little, bluebird purse that I had embroidered in the car on vacation last year and I love it!  The kit comes with everything you need to embroider the front including a needle, directions and a good amount of thread.  I kept my left over thread and might use it for other projects down the road.

I worked on it the first week in February and finished it in time for the first flea market of the new year.  It will also make a great library bag.

 



Tomorrow, I will show you all of the treasures this little bag held as I perused last weekend's flea market.
Until tomorrow, Have a Happy Day!

A Visit to Dakota Antiques in Minot

I was going through a bit of "flea market withdrawal" in early February (it had been November since I had been to a flea).  So, to cure this withdrawal, I popped into my favorite antique store in town, Dakota Antiques.  The couple who run the store are so friendly and always have good music playing in the background.  They also happen to run the flea market here in town.
Like a kid in a candy store, I browsed for a good 45 minutes to an hour, spending most of my time looking through their stacks and stacks of vintage magazines, something I could do for hours.  It was hard to choose only two, but I managed.
I left with these four treasures.

A Life Magazine from January 27th 1947 (which had basically just turned 66 years old), a Saturday Evening Post from March 22, 1952, a very old can of Bon Ami and a book entitled, This is the Life.  I've looked through the magazines and can't wait to share the contents with you.  I've looked at the book but have yet to start it.  The cover art is what drew me in with it's pleasant main street scene.  I'm hoping the stories inside will be just as pleasant.

And here is the can of Bon Ami which has been on my antiquing wish list for a long time (yes, I have an antiquing wish list).
I'm not sure how old it is, but it has some pretty dated illustrations on its sides.  I know it's NOT from the 50s, and the illustrations were updated to a more modern "housewife lady" in the 1940's---so my guess would be early 40's down to the mid 20's.  Mine is most likely from the 1930s and only has one of the top holes punctured at the top.  Maybe the person bought it in the 30s when money was tight and only punched one hole in the top so as not to waste any more powder than what was needed.  Oh, if only this little can could talk!

 

 

Until tomorrow,

Have a Happy Vintage-loving Day!



 



January Stitching

It's been so long since I've blogged!!  January turned out to be quite a busy month for us.  But I was able to get some stitching done and even completed a few projects.

The lilac dish towel above was a gift to my mother's friend, who, on occasion, gave us lilacs from her beautiful yard. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the finished project!  
For the lilacs I used DMC 208, 209, 210 and 211.  A mixture of DMC 704 and 702 was used for the leaves.

While working on the lilacs, I had to have a "back-up" project.  I can never do just ONE project at a time...there have to have a few different projects going at once.  Any more than two days working on a single project and I get antsy for something new.  I think it's a form of crafter's ADD.   So I stamped this little bird wearing a raincoat and stitched him along with the lilacs.  I used my metallic threads for the first time (on the puddle and rain drops) and while struggling this beautiful thread, I learned some very important lessons.   (By the way...I'm not sure this metallic thread is even made for hand embroidery.  It's most likely made for machines.  However, it should surprise no one that I didn't let that little factoid stop me from trying it on hand embroidery.) 

Lesson #1 
It is best to work with this thread in a room absent of little ears.  No matter how calm and even-tempered you may be, this stuff will make you curse like a sailor.  Okay, maybe it's not quite THAT bad, but it IS a pain in the #$%^&*.
Lesson #2
In an effort to preserve my sanity I will never again try to use the metallic thread by itself.  I found it difficult to work with when used alone (especially if trying to use two strands).
After much trial and error, I find that it is best to use one strand of DMC cotton floss and one strand of the metallic thread.  The combination works like a charm...although still a bit more difficult than just DMC floss would be.
Lesson #3
In the words of Yoda, "Challenged you will be.  Patience, you must have".  Much patience is needed when working with this type of metallic thread.  But it is worth it!  The results are really cool and you'll receive oooos and aaahhs of envy from your stitching friends.....  

Skeptical Kitteh says, "Really?  I don't think so."

....Okay, maybe not.  But the results ARE pretty cool.

The little birdie towel isn't quite done in the picture above, but I do plan on finishing him.

Until Tomorrow,
Have a happy stitchy day!!