Posts Written On December 2014

Embroidered Christmas Stocking — Woodland Animals

by on ·Other Needlework

I decided to take my own advice and make a stocking using Lois Lenski’s illustrations from Christmas Stories. One tree design and a few other elements were used for the embroidery; the animals and the name were tinted with colored pencils. I just noticed in the photo that my squirrel looks like he’s leaning backwards — oh well. The main fabric is an old khaki twill skirt of mine, and it’s lined with a vintage postage stamp cheater print. The vintage candy striped  binding just arrived in the mail as a bonus with several other items I ordered from the Etsy shop of my friend, Patty (she always throws in a bunch of extra goodies for me), and I think it’s the perfect finishing touch for Aaron’s stocking. Thank you, Patty!

Embroidered-Christmas-Stocking

 

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December Apron Winner

by on ·Uncategorized

Thank you so much for all your nice comments on the December apron giveaway. The winner this month is commenter #15, Sharrie.

december-apron-winner

Next month I’m going to make a more subdued apron. I recently saw this photo on ebay, and it reminded me of my husband. Gordon is a wonderful cook, and does almost all of the cooking (my feeble efforts usually involve defrosting a pot of something he has made earlier). I feel a little guilty that he always ends up having to wear the girly aprons I make, even though he does look pretty cute in them.

men-in-aprons

So, I will attempt to make a more manly apron for Gordon for Christmas, and  a gender neutral apron for the January giveaway. This is going to be a challenge!

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Antique Embroidery Designs — Poinsettias and Holly

by on ·Embroidery Patterns

Newspaper patterns from the early 1900s were usually designed to be stitched on linens and garments that nobody uses anymore, but I still love finding and restoring these old patterns. The designs themselves are beautiful, and I feel they can look modern in the right setting. Sometimes I’ll stitch a whole pattern, but when I need something small, I just copy one element from a larger design. As usual, click images to enlarge.

Holly Centerpiece
E.F. Washington, 1910
Holly-Centerpiece

Holly Cushion for Brother
Mary V. Fox, 1910
Holly-Cushion

Poinsettia Design for Tray Cloth
Eleanor Norris, 1912
Poinsettia_Design_for_Tray-Cloth

Poinsettia in Outline
E.J. Buckman, 1912
1/4 of pattern
Poinsettia-in-Outline

Holly Sprays and Corner Design
Sara Hale Hunter, 1908
Holly-Branches

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December Apron Giveaway

by on ·Aprons

Today is the six year anniversary of my blog, so it’s fitting that there should be a giveaway. This month I’m offering an apron for those of you who celebrate Christmas. I am very fond of the “apron with an apron” style, and for this hostess apron I used a piece of vintage ornament fabric as the scalloped overskirt and a red dot Michael Miller print for the skirt.

Please let me know in a comment below if you are interested in entering the giveaway. I will use a random number generator to pick a winner on Wednesday, December 10. And finally, a huge thank you to all the commenters who have kept me going these past six years!

Vintage-Apron-December-1

Vintage-Apron-December-2

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