Bluebird and sparrow embroidery projects

Some time ago I came across these pretty vintage bluebird patterns here. My mother, who passed away in January 2010,  loved bluebirds, and for my aunt (her sister) I thought a bluebird dish towel would be a nice reminder. So I stitched one of these designs on a flour sack towel.

(design on flour sack towel with crocheted pot holder)(design on flour sack towel with crocheted dish cloth)

I had also found one time in my mother's fabric stash a length of linen dish towel fabric. There was just enough fabric to make 3 dish towels. I thought it would be meaningful to stitch one each with a bluebird design for my two daughters and myself. Last spring I completed one of these:

And for Christmas I finished a second one:

I have the fabric all hemmed for mine but have yet to stitch the design.

There were a few people I wanted to make embroidered pillowcases for this year. I had noticed that in the bluebird pattern directions, they suggested the designs could be used without the day of the week for other things such as linens. So I decided to stitch a bluebird pillowcase (which I neglected to take a picture of) for my mother-in-law who enjoys birds. I used the bluebird and rose design.

While doing that, I got an idea. For our other friends I'd wanted to make a set of pillowcases for, I wondered if I could change the bluebird design to brown and tan to resemble a sparrow (we are not talking ornithologically correct here) and then add the words "His eye is on the sparrow". I thought our friends would really like that. So I tried it.

The design came out really well. To do the lettering, I printed out the words "His eye is on the sparrow" in the Papyrus font, point size 64, to get the size I wanted for the stitching, then transferred it to the pillowcase with dressmaker's tracing paper (which is also what I used to transfer the bird designs. This is the first time I had ever tried printing out a saying from the computer and using it for embroidery, but it wont be the last!). I was very pleased with the results -- so pleased that I went on to make another set of these for our daughter and son-in-law out West.

I had tried other methods of transferring the bird designs to the dish towels I made last spring, but I highly recommend using the dressmaker's tracing paper. One can just print out the design, trim if necessary and pin to the fabric, then slip the tracing paper (colored side down) between the design and fabric. Then, trace over every part of the printed design using a pen. When you remove the design and tracing paper, voila! There is the design on your fabric, ready to embroider. You do have to be careful while stitching that your hands or the hoop don't rub off the design, but it will be fine if you pay attention to that. I wouldn't try this with a really complicated or large design, but it worked beautifully for my purposes.

Now to get around to stitching my own dish towel one of these days!

What handmade items did you give for Christmas or other occasions this year? Please share -- I'm always looking for inspiration!

More handmade gifts: Little Library Totes

(Julia unfolding her tote at Christmas.)

Here are some of the little library totes I made for the grandchildren for Christmas.

It all started with my two oldest granddaughters asking me to make them some little tote bags for church -- just large enough to hold their Bibles and their books for Patch the Pirate Club, plus a few other incidentals like a pen, lip balm, etc. I found a great pattern using a dish towel to make a little tote bag. This is the pattern:Little Library Totes and it's so easy!

Here are the first two I made:
(These two are actually the same size, but one looks much larger because it is closer up.)
I was somewhat surprised how hard it was to find cute dishtowels at a reasonable price, but I found these at a kitchen store in a set of 3 for around $4, I believe.

Later, I had an inspiration. My other grandchildren visit the library regularly. Why not make each of them a tote and give it to them for Christmas, along with a book?

By this point I was finding fairly suitable dishtowels at the dollar store. I found these around the Fourth of July. Wish I had spotted them sooner!

Here's another tote:

And another:

And another:

The only thing I have noticed is that the dollar store dish towels tend to be quite a bit smaller. That means the totes come out smaller, and often kids' library books tend to be large. So use your own judgment on where you buy the dish towels, if you try this.

Here is the tag I designed to attach to the totes so the kiddos (and moms) would know what they were intended for.
You can find more handmade gifts in the archives here and also on my Christmas blog,
Mrs. T's Christmas Kitchen.

Musings on a wintry walk

I just got back from my morning walk. It was a chilly one -- not sure of the temps now, but it was 5º when I got up this morning -- but I was well bundled up and didn't mind the cold too much. It actually felt sort of invigorating. I really want to jot down my thoughts because I saw some beautiful things on this walk and didn't have a camera with me -- not that any photo I took could have done them justice. My thoughts are likely to ramble a bit, so bear with me...

As I started down the little street where I like to walk, one of the first things I noticed was the music of chickadees. Am I the only one who thinks their winter song has a chiming quality, almost like small faraway jingle bells?

It had been quite some time since I went out for a walk, prior to this week. I think it was Saturday when my hubby and I walked down the little street and noticed how nicely our neighbors had decorated for Christmas. At one house, a small lighted tree was displayed on a treehouse platform, and lighted twig deer browsed in the garden. At another house, the lamp posts were twined with lights and had Santa hats perched rakishly on top. Another house had a gorgeous wreath on the front door, featuring a large bow in an unusual but lovely shade of green. On the garage a large twig star was festooned with ribbon in the same green. So pretty! And the last house -- which is a perfect-looking little cottage, straight out of Better Homes & Gardens -- there were tasteful matching wreaths on the front door and the open gate, two Christmas trees on the porch and a small lighted tree at a side entry. At the time, I commented to my hubby that we ought to find time to walk down that street after dark so we could see everything lit up. Alas, we didn't find the time.

This morning, as I came to the last house, I noticed they had already removed the wreaths from the gate, and that got me thinking about how once the glitter and sparkle of Christmas gets put away, we often tend to feel that our surroundings are sort of dull and flat.

Having said that, this doesn't usually happen at our house.

We tend to keep the Christmas decorations up until mid-January, and then we switch over to winter decorations. I have snowflakes and icicles already in place on my evergreen garland over the picture window, and they will stay after the stockings come down. (Though come to think of it, what could be more appropriate than a nice warm boot sock trimmed with snowflake buttons?)

and small glittery houses on the hutch.

Those will be joined soon by snowmen of all sorts once the Christmas items are put away. My point is that there is still plenty of glitter and sparkle going on in winter -- especially up here in cold northern New England!

As if to confirm my thoughts, God showed me something beautiful as I neared the end of my walk. There's a vacant lot and it's usually not much to look at. But today was far different. I noticed first a few small twiggy bushes. Every twig was coated with frost, and it was sparkling in the sun as if encrusted with diamonds! I looked further, at the dull, dry winter grasses poking through the snow. Every stem of grass was also frost coated and had the same glistening beauty! How thankful I was that I had chosen that particular time to go for a walk! And even as I thought about that, I was reminded that God was the One who had inclined me to go for a walk right then. The sun is sort of sporadic today, and I could easily have been walking at a moment when it wasn't shining brightly. But God saw to it that I went out at just the right time to be reminded of His power and creativity in nature... which, interestingly enough, was something I'd been mulling over in my devotions this morning.

As I reluctantly moved on, God brought another thought to mind. I'd been somewhat disappointed when I saw that our neighbors had begun taking down their lovely displays before we had a chance to view them after dark. But God reminded me that true beauty comes from Him and not from anything manmade. It was a good reminder never to turn to the things of the world but to know that God is the only source of what is truly worth having. I am truly thankful that He showed me some of His beauty today in a very special way.

Pork Roast and other recipes from Christmas dinner 2010

I thought I would share a few links to recipes from our Christmas dinner. For the main course, I prepared a wonderful pork roast from Taste of Home.

(Photo from Taste of Home.)

I've made this for several years and we really enjoy it. It's very flavorful. Just be careful not to overcook it, as I nearly did! I also roasted a chicken. Here's the pork recipe:
Rosemary Pork Roast.

My daughter Carrie brought Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes, a favorite recipe in our family. You can access the mashed potato recipe here.

I also made a sweet potato-apple bake (recipe to follow later) and this salad: Merry Berry Salad. This is a marvelous salad recipe from an older Quick Cooking magazine. The homemade cranberry vinaigrette is just wonderful! (I ran out of time while preparing the salad last-minute, so this time I used store-bought raspberry vinaigrette instead. The salad was great, but it's hard to beat that cranberry dressing.

(Photo from Taste of Home.)

Carrie also brought her famous Honey Rolls. They are always a hit at any festive dinner. Despite the name, they are not overly sweet to serve with dinner. Just right, in our family's opinion. Here is the recipe she uses: Honey Rolls.


Dessert was simple and served a couple of hours later, after present opening -- Christmas cookies and other sweets brought by guests.

New Year goals for 2011

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do like to set some goals at the start of a new year. When I thought about setting goals for this year, I went back and looked at last year’s goals, as I usually do. This year I also worked through some questions I had found on someone’s blog last year but hadn't taken time to consider. Although I have made progress on many of last year’s goals, all of these areas still need work, and I’ve added a few new ones. So...

Here are some of my goals for the coming year. Many are them are the exact same goals as last year. They are in no particular order, and I'm sure I will think of more later, but for now:

1. To go to bed earlier than I do now.

2. To exercise and drink plenty of water every day; to eat more healthfully and get more sunshine and fresh air.

3. To make my daily quiet time with God ever more meaningful.

4. To grow in the areas of perseverance, self-control and unselfishness.

5. To continue to grow in the practical skills of homemaking, money management, and time management. One specific goal in this area is to spend less money on groceries in the coming year, remembering the principle that money not spent is money saved.

6. To get back to and then stick with the housekeeping routines that work for me and to declutter the entire house.

7. To continue to grow spiritually and to use my talents and my spiritual gifts for God's glory. To spend more time in Bible study in the coming year, and to apply what I learn to my daily life. One goal is a study of Psalm 119.

8. To use my God-given interests and abilities to help bring in some household income.

9. To be more of a help to my husband; to make our home more of a refuge from the world for both of us; to nurture our relationship with little getaways and regular dates.

10. To learn and profit from the lessons that God has for me so I that I won’t have to learn them more than once.

11. To stay in closer touch with my friends and to be a better friend and encourager.

12. To do something creative, no matter how small, every day.

Happy New Year!

I hope that all of my friends and readers will have a happy, healthy 2011 and that it will be a year of spiritual growth and blessing for each one of you!

A hand-crafted birthday banner

Here is one of the handmade gifts I made for Christmas this year. I made two of these "Happy Birthday" banners for my daughters and their families. Since they each have more than one child, it wasn't practical to add a child's name at the end of the banner as the pattern was designed. So I made a separate small banner for each child's name. These could be tied onto the end of the "Happy Birthday" banner if desired, or hung beneath it.

I found the pattern in the book Stitched in Time, by Alicia Paulson. This is a lovely book, with many interesting projects with the potential to become family heirlooms. I bought mine on Amazon with a gift card I'd received for Mother's Day.

(Note: I have just added this book to my A-Store, "My Kitchen Table Collection" which you can access with the button to the right. If you are interested, Stitched in Time can be found and/or purchased on page 6.)

I did just a couple of things differently from what the pattern directed. I used muslin to back the parts of the banner, rather than matching fabric as suggested. This saved the decorative fabric and enabled me to make a number of banners with the fabric I had purchased. I think that in most cases the banners I made will be hung against a wall or above a door, so really the back side will rarely be seen. The other thing I did was not to make hanging loops at each end of the large banner, because I wanted to leave the recipients the option of tying a separate name banner to one end. I just left 8 to 10 inches at each end of the bias tape, feeling that would be enough to tie or tack up where needed.

This was my first attempt at using a font from my computer for a fabric craft. I used Georgia at the 250-point size as recommended, and loved the way it turned out. It was also my first attempt at freezer-paper stenciling, which I undertook with fear and trembling, but it turned out fairly well.

All in all, it was a fun project which I hope will become an heirloom in my daughters' families. I gave the banners along with birthday candles, birthday napkins, and a couple of fun kids' books from Gooseberry Patch.