August ~ Hope Chest Addition

When I started this project, I was sure it would take me until winter to finish it, but once I got started with a few stitches now and then, it went rather quickly.  I chose to make a pair of embroidered pillowcases:

The pattern was very old and I was almost certain it wouldn't transfer two times, so I cut around it and took it to the copy machine for a pattern I could use to transfer to tracing paper.

To transfer, I used a light box (an old gadget used to view x-rays which the farmer acquired while teaching Physics; a case of his trash becoming my treasure).  I slipped the pattern under tracing paper and marked the design with a transfer pencil.

The design was ready to be transferred to the pillowcases I had made.  Now it was time to choose thread colors.  I have a sweet little yellow rose whose petals are tinged with pink, and although a red or bright pink would have been a bolder color, I chose the yellow and by the time I had the first one finished, I knew something had to be done to make it more colorful.  I had read about using crayons with embroidered designs so I got out my Crayolas and filled in the larger areas.

The upper pillowcase is without coloring as compared to the lower one with coloring.  There are lots of good tutorials for this, but as is typical with me, I didn't look for them until after the fact.  Most of the tutorials tell one to color first then embroider; I did the opposite, but I guess it will be o.k.  The wax in the crayons is set, using a hot iron; but if the color fades it can be colored again.  Years ago a crayon got in the dryer with a set of my sheets and there are still traces of it.

What do you think?  Did I ruin the pillowcases by using crayons to fill in the design? 

Charlotte

June Addition to the Hope Chest

The June addition to the hope chest is a set of three embroidered dishtowels.  The towels, made from 100% cotton, with loops by which to hang them,  were purchased at Wal Mart.  I used a vintage pattern for the designs.  

Three things lead me to date the pattern in the late 1950s: 1)the style of clothing worn by the lady, 2)the sticker reads Ben Franklin Stores and the price is 15 cents, 3)my maiden name is written on the envelope and I was married in 1960.   From the back of the pattern: "Old kitchen friends come to life in these gay, easy-to-follow embroidery motifs designed to make your kitchen as inviting as your living room...and will bring a smile to your face as you go about your daily tasks."  Since there were three towels to the package, I chose these motifs to embroider:

The last design is my favorite; just look at the angst in the little vegetables' faces as the saucepan says, "Come with me."

Enjoy,

Charlotte

P.S.  I hate to do this, but I have put word verification back on for now.  I was getting so many spam comments.  Why can't some people leave an old woman, who minds her own business, with peace of mind!  Maybe it won't have to stay on for too long.

Pretty in Spite of Being Stained

Eighteen years ago a pre-stamped dresser scarf came into my possession, never having been stitched, but carrying a dark pink stain.

I didn't know what type of stain it was.  If I tried to wash it first the stamping would be removed; should I go ahead and embroider it and take a chance that the stain was permanent?   This is when I turned to Kathleen (http://yesteryearembroideries.blogspot.com/2012/12/in-my-fr) who does absolutely beautiful embroidery work and had posted a recipe for removing stains from old linens.  She told me to do the stitching and see what happened when trying to remove the stains.

I worked on the scarf for two winters, finishing it a few weeks ago.  I mixed up the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and treated it.  The pink stains didn't come out, but the brown water marks did.

 

Since the scarf was folded twice, the stains are on both ends and in the center.  I believe it's a chemical stain rather than organic.  This is my idea of how it became stained: probably there was a piece of paper with red ink on a picture,  a glass with ice in it was set on the paper, and the moisture condensed on the glass and ran down onto the ink, soaking into the fabric.  Who knows?  I'm still glad I finished it, and the stains can be covered with a lamp or book or something.  However, it won't be going into the hope chest.  But, it's pretty in spite of being stained, don't you think?

 

Charlotte

Hope Chest

From Wikipedia: A hope chest, dowry chest, cedar chest, or glory box is a chest used to collect items such as clothing and household linens, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life.

I don't think I ever had a hope chest as such, but I'm sure I had a few things put back, with hopes; probably embroidered feed sack dishtowels and flour sack pillowcases.  Most chests would have been made by the girl's father or grandfather, or maybe passed down from mother or grandmother.  My daddy made chests for his five granddaughters; four were made from cedar, just regular rectangular chests, but the fifth one was made as a deacon's bench with a spindled back.

I doubt that many young women keep a hope chest now; it's easier for them to register at a store and more or less tell others what they want or need.  I'm happy to say, all my daughters learned sewing skills when they were young girls.

In 2012, I posted doll quilts, and in 2013, aprons were my projects.  For 2014 I plan to put something in a "hope chest" each month (not that I have any hope, lol).  This is my first entry, a set of embroidered, day-of-the-week dishtowels.  I ordered five yards of the toweling fabric from Nancy's Notions and the transfers came from an old copy of the little craft magazine, Workbasket, I think; they've been around so long I can't remember for sure, but they did transfer perfectly.  Then I used red floss to do the embroidery to match the border on the fabric.

wash on Monday,

iron on Tuesday,

sew on Wednesday,

shop on Thursday,

clean on Friday,

bake on Saturday,

worship on Sunday.

Did you have a hope chest, or do you have one started for a daughter or granddaughter?  I hope you'll follow me on this quest to find something new to add each month.

Charlotte

My Girls

I have three wonderful daughters, ages 50, 49, and 46.  These little crewel embroidered pictures say so much about them when they were small:

The oldest wanted to cook and I'm ashamed to admit it now, but I didn't encourage it at the time.

The middle daughter liked to sew.  Whenever they were playing with their dolls, she would rather make clothes for the dolls than mother them.

The baby girl -- well, what can I say?  She liked to play, but she pestered her sisters to death at times.  So we always told her she needed to pray.

The pictures were given to me as a kit, many, many years ago and have hung on the wall, reminding me of their different personalities and the fun they had growing up together.

Charlotte

More From the Barn

While the barn memories are fresh on my mind, I wanted to show you this picture frame.  Daddy made it for me from a board that came from the part of the barn where the cow with rabies was kept.  That was a terrible time for our family, so the frame has special meaning for me.  And don't you think it's perfect for the piggies?  The picture was a kit done in crewel embroidery.  It hangs in my kitchen.

Charlotte

This One's Finished!

Do you remember the quilt top with the embroidered primitive nursery rhymes? It's finished!! I quilted the patchwork blocks by the piece,

and quilted circles in the embroidered blocks. The backing fabric is the same design as the sashing strips, but in yellow. Even though it's set together with blue, the patchwork blocks make the quilt look soft and sweet enough for a baby girl. I like it!

Charlotte

A New Project

While I wait for fabric to make borders for the Railroad Crossing quilt top, I'm starting a new project, which is what we quilters do.

I have picked free, online embroidery patterns, primitive in style, to put in a baby quilt. The patterns are drawings of nursery rhymes and the embroidered blocks will be set together with pieced blocks made from 1930s reproduction prints from Connecting Threads. The lettering will be done in black but the drawings will be made with colored floss. Usually I have done redwork embroidery with brighter colored fabrics but the reproduction fabrics just seem to call for something other than red thread. This will be an on-going project with no set time to finish it.

The block above was scanned so the side edges are cut off in the picture; they will be 9 inches, finished. And it looks dirty, but that's shadowing.

Do you have two or more projects going at the same time?