Hello Winter---Goodbye 2024

 

Brew me a cup for a winter's night.

For the wind howls loud, and the furies fight;

Spice it with love and stir it with care,

And I'll toast your bright eyes, my sweetheart fair.

Minna Thomas Antrim, "A Night Cap," A Book of Toasts, 1902

Winter has come and the end of the year is almost here.  I hope with the coming new year I will have many projects stitched and finished.  

Here's wishing  you a very merry Christmas and a very peaceful new year!

blessings, always, Kathleen

"When you do something beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. 

For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet, most of the audience still sleeps."

                                                                         John Lennon

 

Thread crochet and crochet edging

 

I have quite a few wonderful vintage crochet booklets covering patterns for crochet edgings. Through the years I have been selecting a pattern to crochet a length of edging and place it into a box with the pattern name, page number, and the date when I crocheted it.  This is a great reference if  I should want to place crocheted edging on a project of linen.

The above photo is from a 1941 booklet and I thought the Hibiscus pattern looked so pretty.

I started crocheting and instantly liked this pattern and made a short length of it.

This is fairly wide and would be lovely for the edge of a tablecloth or curtain.

So tell me.......what are your hands busy creating? I would love to hear!

Happy Thanksgiving

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation

 is not to utter words but to live by them. 

                                      John F. Kennedy, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1963

 

Happy Halloween!

Gnome and elf and fairy,

Witch and ghost make merry

On this last of dear October's days.

Lettie C. Van Derveer, Halloween Happenings, 1921

 

Let your worries slip away with every  stitch.

                                    

 

For Giving.....

 

Whenever someone comes to visit......be it friends or family, 

I like to open my "linen drawer" that is in a space in an old Hoosier cabinet

in my kitchen and offer them an embroidered dishtowel and matching crochet dishcloth

that I have made to take back home with them. 

I have let my stash of give aways dwindle down and now I am in the process of making more applique, embroidered, and crocheted items to be able to give away.

I decided to make a simple applique towel with a teacup design

and then added some embroidered vine and an appliqued small "broderie perse " 

flower spray.

I added some embroidery to the teacups 

and stitched a simple edging to the towel and then crocheted a matching dishcloth.

I also like to add a cookbook for a special occasion.

I have added some pretty fabric on some of the dish towels.  I plan to 

embroider something in the middle of each. 

 I never have a steady flow of visitors, which gives me time to get a stash accumulated. 

Since covid....I have noticed that the giving of handmade gifts has grown  ........yet

some do not like to offer handmade........and some do not like receiving handmade .

I am thrilled with a handmade gift.  For me, it says, the gift came from the heart.

How about you?  What are your thoughts of giving or receiving handmade gifts?

I would love to hear!