It's Good to Be Cross Stitching Again!

Energy, time, and inspiration all in one place -- rare for me! I too often let myself be weighed down by, well, weighty matters. The concerns are real, but sometimes I can break out of the Worry Dome and feel free enough to breathe, to create, without guilt. 

I have been having a wonderful time the past few nights, stitching away to please myself, creating a little series I call "Strawberry Bunnies." I probably will put the charts up on Etsy, but frankly I don't care if they sell or not. Maybe that's why I'm having such a great time with them! 

I had years and years of having to produce saleable stories and designs when I was a writer and a graphic designer, before I tried my hand at teaching. It took all the joy out of art for me, and I'm only just now recovering the fun of creating without an anxious eye out as to what others will think. My husband tells me there is a saying in Spanish, "Los que derán." It means, "What will they say? What will they THINK?" but the saying is to rebuke those kinds of thoughts. It's to give confidence and take away the power of that worry. 

So, I'm having a ball with my bunnies that have somehow crossed with strawberries! I hope your day is filled with fun and whimsy, too. Hope you like the Sneak Peek. I hold my cloth scrunched up and don't use a hoop, usually. So, wrinkles! I am adding much more to this design, whatever catches my fancy. Fun!

Kind regards,

Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Finished Wall Garland from Cardboard Scrap for Valentine's Day

I finished my little cardboard hearts garland (blog post HERE about sewing cardboard hearts). It is very quick to do. I deconstructed some inexpensive trim from Hobby Lobby and used the flat ribbon part of the trim to glue the hearts on, and the frizzled threads to further embellish the hearts. It's very quick if you use hot glue. I always have my trusty magnifying glass (second picture) nearby. I can't remember if it came from Hobby Lobby, too, or Michaels, or Tuesday Morning. It is metal with chippy, creamy paint, prim-looking.

Glue the hearts along the ribbon or string by using two points on the back of each heart, near the top but just slightly below the notch of the heart. That way, the ribbon or string will not show between the upper humps of each heart, but will still lie nicely against the wall.

I use map pins on my walls, each painted with a bit of acrylic paint to exactly match the wall colors. That way, they almost disappear when viewed.

Inspiration and time finally coalesced and I am busy cross-stitching a little series of what I call "Strawberry Bunnies." Sometimes, I have to give myself permission to create without worrying about what others will think of my ideas! Tomorrow I'll post a sneak peek of the first chart as it's being stitched. It is such a lift to be cross stitching again. I can barely wait until "stitchin' time" each evening after the chores are done.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Two Little Words: Remember Me

I have a small collection of autograph books from long ago, five in all, and that includes one from my childhood, a gift from a kind aunt. I have an early Scholastic paperback with verses to copy, too. In the 1960s, autograph books were having their last hurrah. These weren't books for collecting signatures of the famous; they were sweet little books signed by neighbors, school friends, teachers, and others who were part of a child's world. 

Sometimes someone would just sign their name, but usually, there was a sentiment or brief poem penned onto the page. In viewing some of the thoughts, it strikes me how very rigorous the upper primary grades and junior high grades were. Mixed in with the humorous verses are lofty, elegant thoughts with elevated vocabulary. 

It also reminds me how popular puns were, and how poems in general were more a part of life. 

The lovely "Forget-me-not" plant is featured on many pages, and in many forms. I love the blue of that little harbinger of spring! A hand-drawn bloom graces a page in 1943 that also includes a jesting insult ("You have a shape like the B-19" - a particularly rotund bomber).

One issue of the old "Reminisce" magazine had an article about autograph books. There was a haunting verse written by a young man before he left for World War II, not to return alive. It read:

"You ask me to write;

What shall it be?

Two little words:

Remember Me."

I do my best to remember those I love who have passed. And of course, God remembers us always!

Washing Tinfoil, Using Margarine Tubs as "Tupperware," and Sewing Pretty Cardboard

I still do many of the make-do type of things my grandmother did. If "tinfoil," which I guess we now know as aluminum foil, is not very soiled after use -- for example, if it was just used to shield some baked squash from getting too brown -- I wash it and put it into the warm oven to finish drying. 

If you peek in my fridge, you'll think I eat an awful lot of margarine and am afraid of running out. There are little tubs of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" sitting on every shelf. The real tub of margarine is always kept in the little butter area on the door! Everything else is holding bacon grease, leftover black olives, baby carrots floating in chicken broth (for the plump doggies to snack on) and so on. 

Maybe this was common in the 1960s only where I grew up, but we had wallets, coasters, collapsing coin holders, and recipe-holders sewn from pretty cardboard. Many department stores placed blouses, shirts, and so forth in lightweight cardboard boxes, usually printed with the store name or initials. Others had fancier boxes with all-over patterns, and the five-and-dime had stationery boxes that were just divine. I remember some gorgeous shoe-boxes as well, back when all shoes were expensive. 

My grandmother would desconstruct the printed cardboard boxes and cut out pieces for useful items, then sew them. Many times, she would sew through a double-thickness of cardboard, with two different patterns, so that the item was "lined." But for some items, it was just a single thickness with the pretty side of the cardboard "out." Sometimes she'd rub beeswax onto the cardboard to "seal" it and make it more durable. Sometimes she used crochet to connect the pieces. Until it fell to dust, I had a sweet basket she had crocheted from the fronts of Christmas cards.

In keeping with that tradition, I have been making both flat and stuffed hearts to make into a garland for the wall. I used part of a lovely old cardboard gift bag that a friend from India gave me years ago. Coral and blue aren't the usual Valentine colors, but they go very well with my Southwest home, and in my stash of collage materials I had paper flowers in all the right hues. Most of all, I just love make-do's. My mind is so happy and engaged, full of memories of my grandmother, when I'm doing the same handiwork she did so long ago. 

I wonder if anyone else has unusual and extremely thrifty little ways that were handed down to them or that they discovered?

Saluting Homemakers of Yesteryear and Today

Oh, I know that those rose-colored glasses we sometimes wear when viewing the world in hindsight do not give us 20-20 vision, but I think there were some beautiful and worthy aspects of the past that have been lost. I'd like to see some features of olden days return. Not all! 

I am not very interested in Facebook, but the small amount I was on during the past two political dust-ups cemented my determination to never bring politics into my blogging! So this is just a peek at the past, not a hidden message as to political leanings. 

Maybe I will retype the creed and add "I Believe...homemaking should include cross-stitch, embroidery, crocheting, or other needlework each day." Ha!

Computer Goes Kaput, And Portable Sachet Making

It started with a funny little noise, a noise of the disk whirring when there was no reason for it. Then the whirring added a tick-tick-tick sound, and the screen would freeze, and a disk error would pop up and require the computer to go through lengthy "checks" which always ended with the funny noise and the tick-tick-tick sound.

And then, the computer was no more...at least for now.

Luckily, I have an external hard drive I keep updated. But it is very difficult for me to do techie tasks and set up a new computer (as in "new old" computer). I had on hand three of the same kind of all-in-one computer that were the choice of a school where I taught a few years ago. I saw the abuse and bumbling the machines withstood, and got these three when another school district upgraded. Unfortunately, of the three, the one I was using is no more, but this "new" one might, just might, also last a couple of years. The other one is set up for my husband. For $50 each, I am happy with them. I have spent 10 times that on fancy computers that didn't last three years, and I'm not doing that anymore! I don't mind being behind the times computer-wise.

But it is working well enough! So now I get the treat of going to various blogs and seeing all the news and musings!

My husband had his first cataract surgery three days ago (on his birthday, no less). He really didn't want to do it, but now he is extremely pleased. I feel it will help him be more involved in life. He was getting very shut down...While waiting at various doctors' offices and the surgery center, I had plenty of time to do some stitching. 

I also made two little hand-quilted coasters out of cotton fabric scraps and cotton batting (shown under the sachets), and another scrap bag heart sachet, this one with beading. Then I started on some little sachets made from velvet ribbon. I just cut a length of ribbon, remove the wiring, fold and stitch. I'm stuffing them with lavender. I use culinary lavender, both to make sure it has no nasty chemicals and because I've noticed the culinary lavender seems stronger.

I like to chew a bit of it to keep my breath fresh. I use clove and fennel the same way.

Hoping everyone had a good week (and a non-kaput computer).

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Handsewn Scrapbag Heart

I can't face a house with no decorations when the Christmas decorations come down. It looks too empty and lonely, but I don't like to go full-Valentines too soon, either. So I go with what I call "early Winter" decor, which is natural and pastel tones on hearts and sachets mixed with cold-blooming florals like snowdrops. I also have some solar-powered "fairy lights" in jars (see end of post) I sit around the house. I was surprised that my husband is very fond of the jar I put where he can see it at night. He says it cheers him to see it if he awakens.

I like these scrap-bag hearts because they give me a chance to paw through my little snippets of materials and strange little bits of trim, beads, and trinkets. I find things I had forgotten completely!

These are very quick to stitch and they don't take much stuffing or lavender to fill out nicely. If you back them with a calico or with Valentines colors, you can flip them over and get double-duty from them. Use any small heart shape for a template. I think the naive style makes them so enjoyable to create. Wobbles and wiggles just add to the simple charm.

One of the solar-powered fairy jars: 

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

Prepare for Twelfth Night! And Some Broom Lore

Twelfth Night is celebrated on the Eve of the Epiphany. There is argument among countries as to when to start counting down "the twelve days of Christmas." Some countries count Christmas Day as Day One. Some begin the count the day after Christmas. So there's a difference about when exactly is the 12th night.

We always used January 6th as Epiphany, with Twelfth Night celebrated on the evening of January 5th as it turned to the 6th. In New Orleans, Epiphany was also called "Three Kings' Day," and it was the first day of the Carnival season. Epiphany was the day the first King Cakes were served, and kept being served, until Mardi Gras.

So, in my former neck of the woods, Twelfth Night is celebrated the evening of January 5th, in preparation for marking the Epiphany. 

Most of my little celebrations are just me and the pets, as husband is usually resting or asleep. Back when most of my family and friends were alive, and my first husband was in graduate school, we had many friends, and Twelfth Night was loads of fun, with loads of company. With COVID now, many still blessed with friends and families aren't able to meet, either.

But don't let the lack of comrades stop your enjoyment of holidays or events! Enjoy them yourselves. Draw memories of good times to yourself, and enjoy.

For Twelfth Night, lay in a goodly supply of nuts to crack, especially walnuts, and make a batch of spiced cider or wassail. 

If you have the money, get some little pots of ivy to place around the den, or get any houseplants, really.

GET A NEW BROOM if you want to get extra luck for the year! Keep reading to find out where the new broom comes in.

NOTE: If you can't manage Twelfth Night, don't worry: CANDLEMAS is another very olde celebration. It has you taking down all decorations by February 2nd, and runs much the same way as Twelfth Night, but with even more plants to be placed around in anticipation of spring. So, if you are running late, just plan on Candlemas.

And, if you have no way to burn the items mentioned later on in this post, don't worry. Just remove them from inside your house and you're good! Out they can go, to the compost pile, the garden recycling bin, or the trash.

Back to the celebration:

All greenery and natural materials decorated with for Christmas need to be out of the house by midnight! Preferably, burned. But at least out! The swags and the wreaths and the popcorn strings and the buckets of fir branches and spruce and cedar and so forth, OUT. (I'm not talking the strung gourds or artificial materials or bird nests, just the trimmed greenery as is traditional).

(I now have to wonder here if maybe this was actually a fire-preventing measure dressed up as a fest.)

If you can, have a smorgasbord: Cheese, meats, crackers, boiled eggs, carrot sticks, dip, jams.

If you have a fireplace or stove, have a fire. Have it burning brightly once it's dark out. Twelfth Night is a LONG party - it goes to past midnight. If you have no fireplace, and you can SAFELY do so, have some candles lighted. If you are having a bonfire, get it ready. If you have no access to actual fire, play one of the fireplace videos!

During the evening, well before the stroke of midnight, feed the old greenery, twigs, cinnamon sticks, etc. from Christmas into the fireplace or bonfire, while snacking and talking. If you have a bonfire, I'd suggest throwing it all on at once, and get back inside and get warm. If you are lucky enough to have some teens at your fest, they will probably be "firebugs" and love to keep going outside and throwing things onto the bonfire.

If you are inside and have access to a pot-bellied stove or fireplace, it's fun to throw the things into the fire a bit at a time. My favorite thing to throw in is a pinecone. If I bought cinnamon cones before Christmas, I toss them in, too, since the scent's gone. Don't burn your cinnamon brooms, however; they are useful for the whole year.

Now, Twelfth Night is not for the faint of heart. It's a time for telling ghost tales and odd happenings. In olden days, so was Christmas Eve. Remember, in the Christmas song, “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” the stanza “There'll be parties for hosting / Marshmallows for toasting / And caroling out in the snow. /There'll be scary ghost stories / And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.” In olden times, frightening tales were popular features of get-togethers. So let your tongue run freely as to strange sights and old strange stories (I have a million such), and if the feeling moves you, tell some new tales that pop into your mind. The key is to tell tales of wondrous happenings without being gruesome or awful - kind of like the "Sleepy Hollow" story.

As midnight nears, continue to crack open the nuts and eat them, throwing the shells into the fire. Pop popcorn and salt it well for luck. Talk of the year ahead, and sing old songs. Remember old times and old friends and don't let the fire go out before midnight.

Now, about your new broom: Well, get it ready. Get your OLD broom ready, too. At midnight, you are going to THROW that old broom out your back door, bristles first. That broom is now your "yard broom" and its indoor days are over. It took last year's regrets and errors with it. Out they went. Take your NEW broom and draw it thrice across the front door threshold, drawing in luck.

I often stay up most of the night, just dozing on the couch. I will have a small bonfire tomorrow, if the wind isn't blowing.

I hope you enjoy Twelfth Night, wherever you be!

    

    Kind regards,

    

    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

2021: A Blogging Renaissance

I don't know about others, but I have been hoping for a resurgence of blogging and the blog world. I blogged during The Golden Age of blogging, way back in 2004 until the Rise of Facebook and the later platforms such as Instagram. 

I followed many interesting blogs, and attempted to follow my favorite "original" bloggers as they transferred their attention to Facebook and abandoned their blogs. It was a bittersweet experience; of the former bloggers I "kept up with" on Facebook, only two people seemed to post anything authentic. One of them, luckily, also generously keeps up her blog. And some of my favorite blogs morphed into commercial ventures so heavy with ads that I couldn't find the posts sometimes, and some former favorite bloggers began posting nothing but memes and sales (with no real content, ever). 

I fared a bit better with Facebook "groups." But I have seen so much bullying, and so much of it seems to be "Look at this, but look quickly, because this is going to disappear into oblivion very quickly" due to the speed of "feeds." Hundreds of posts and thousands of comments in the space of a day is too rapid and too shallow for me.

Now, I'm not judging. No one owes me anything, least of all heartfelt posts, interesting information, a slower pace, or real glimpses into their real lives. But I missed it.

When I decided to begin blogging again, I encountered a bit of pushback from some of the people I know. It was as if I had declared I wanted to go back in time or go join some Luddite commune. One person told me, "Blogging isn't even a thing anymore." I got warned not to mention blogging during any job interviews (ageism and COVID ate my job): "It makes you seem old." Well, I am old. So what? 

I think blogging is indeed a "thing," an important thing. A chance to share, to capture moments in time, to build a community, to keep crafting alive, to serve the idea of inclusion in a fragmented world, and to offer encouragement. It doesn't have to be any of those things, but it can be. And it can also just be anything a blogger wants it to be.

I didn't get (or need) gifts this Christmas. But I gave myself a gift -- permission to enjoy and value blogs, to take the time for old-timey hopping from blog to blog, and I'm already discovering little gems of beauty or humor or knowledge that brighten my days. In The Time of COVID, I think blogging is MORE important than ever! 

May 2021 prove to be a revival of blogs and blogging. The world is brighter because of simple blogs!

Sweet DIY Sewn Paper Hearts to Brighten Winter

Many years ago, on my old blog, I made a post about sewn paper hearts made from loose pages of old books. It's a good way to make something creative out of books that are falling apart. 

Much of the country is having bad weather. These might be fun to make, tucked up snug and warm inside! Here in the desert Southwest, the skies were very pretty today and it was warm enough to go out without a sweater. But a cold front arrives tomorrow, they predict. I will be making more!

I've picked most of the wording up from the old Penniwigs blog, but all of the photos that follow are new --- of some little hearts I made today.

TIPS: When sewing the hearts, DON'T PULL on the thread, because the paper will tear. Be very gentle when snugging up the blanket stitches. I also made one with a plain running stitch, to see how that looked. If the paper does tear a bit, don't worry. Just dab some glue on it and put some glitter over it.

You can make the hearts tiny or larger, depending on your taste and where you plan to put them.

Finally, on some, I decorated both sides. That way, I could get more looks from the same amount of hearts. I like plain ones, too. 

From the old blog:

On Pinterest, I saw a "Pin" that was very eye-catching. Someone had made hearts from the pages of an old book. They were written in a language other than English, in narrow columns. 

I don't have the same columned paper to use, so I used book paper. 

But there were no instructions on the post where the hearts were featured. I took a good look and tried to reproduce them.

They were slightly filled, and the edges were sewn with a blanket stitch after being darkened with ink or chalk. Then a little vintage cut-out was pasted to them, and what looks like "caviar" was placed around the cutouts in a heart shape. 

What's caviar? It also goes by the name "micro beads" and "micro balls" and I found it by searching for "nail caviar." It very much looks like little fish eggs!

So, to make these hearts, find a suitable book - I'd suggest an old hardback with decent paper. I unfortunately used a very silly sci-fi paperback, and the paper was as porous and lousy as the plot. Hmph!

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE PICTURES

Instructions/Tutorial

• Cut out heart shapes using a template (you can make your own, or use those below). Pull or tear out four pages, trace around the template with a pencil, cut through all four pages at once. Continue until you have enough hearts cut out. Each heart takes two pieces.
• Now ink the edges with a nice brown ink or piece of chalk. A Prismacolor colored pencil will also do the job quite nicely if you have no ink or chalk!
• Sew a blanket stitch around the edges. When you have just a little bit still open, stuff a bit of cotton fluff or a bit of tissue paper in there, then finish stitching. I used the scissors to grab the fluff and push it in.
• Print out some likely images, or get some old Valentine reproductions and cut out shapes or heart shapes
• Glue to the middle of the hearts
• Take your glue (I do like that Aleene's Fast Grab very much and Dollar Tree carries it here) and apply a thin bead where you want the caviar or glitter, and shake or spoon it over the glue very quickly. I used a small paintbrush to paint on the glue where I wanted the glitter or caviar.
• Shake off excess.

You can print out and use these images if you don't have any scrapbooking paper or old book pages. Use the links so that they print out the right size! Images are stored on Google Drive so it's safe. 


LINK<--- for the "printed page" image printable (from the cute website, The Old Design Shop) (see end of post)
LINK<--- for the Valentine motifs printable
LINK<--- for the heart shapes
































I think these look cute in a canning jar, a nest, an old bowl, etc. Anywhere! I stuffed mine with cotton batting but you could also put dried lavender inside.


Thank'ee for dropping by. 


    Kind regards,


    The Merry Olde Dame, Holly

A New Year Is Nearly Here!

These holidays are at a full gallop now, it seems to me! Christmas Eve - whoosh! Christmas Day - whoosh! Feast of the Holy Family - whoosh! And now New Year's Eve just about a day away! 

Today I planted many amazing kinds of mint in my courtyard. I usually would not plant mint in January, but a kind internet friend sent me many kinds of mint sprigs for Christmas, after my husband inadvertantly ruined my mint beds. At 86, he has good days and bad days, and on the bad days, things like dumping the water softener's super-salty water onto my flowerbeds (and thousands of salt pellets onto the driveway) happen. So, my courtyard, at ground level, has been salted and ruined.This spring I will remove the topsoil and replace it with good soil. I grow most of my plants in fire rings (similar to stock tanks, but no bottoms), so they were spared. I have a thick layer of pine straw and juniper branches over the mint, so it is tucked in tight and I believe the mint will rest easy until warmer weather. Being in the southern desert, our winters are not onerous but it does freeze.

I calmed myself by creating some tags for New Years, featuring antique designs. I love to create digital items. I love actual hand-work, too, but sometimes it feels impossible to organize and begin such work. The computer is right there, ready to go, so I hop onto it and do some creating. With nighttime (and daytime) breathing problems, I am rarely asleep during normal night hours, so the computer is good company.

Use this LINK <---- to save the full-sized file. Blogger unfortunately compresses large image files in posts and then they don't print nicely, so don't just right-click and save the image. Get the real file stored on Google Drive.

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame