A Peek Inside - The Next Kitchen Set

This is the first fabric I purchased for the hope chest. I love these colors together. Miss Abigail isn't loving florals right now. She thinks they are a little old fashioned. For some reason Abigail is loving leopard print and rhinestones!  I grew up with avocado shag carpet in a kitchen with gold appliances and I hated avocado green. Funny thing that I like it now and will admit that my mom had a great sense of design. I'm hoping that Abigail's mind will change at least enough to include flowers in what she eventually loves.

So I have been working in a round-about way on this set since the beginning. I'm always on the lookout for things to match it and have quite a few things finished. I've decided that the time has come to deliberately finish it up and show the pictures. The hope chest is beginning to be full! This is good news, but too many of these random items need to be placed in a finished set, wrapped up and off my mind! So my goal for January is to finish up this pretty Floral set. The first peek inside is a set of four embroidered dishtowels.

A Peek Inside - Sharon's Sterling Gift

Miss Abigail has been the beneficiary of a number of wonderful gifts for her hope chest. Once people find out about our project, so many want to contribute something. Our good friend Sharon gave Abigail these two pieces of sterling silver. Sharon told me that she had registered for silver as a bride many years ago and was gifted just these two pieces. Recognizing that modern style is more mixed up and eclectic, Sharon hoped that Abigail might be able to use these utensils. They are so elegant! I immediately thought of wonderful holiday cheese balls and lovely dessert sauces and went looking for the small antique pressed glass dessert stand in the back of my cupboard. I think this makes a nice holiday serving set. What wonderful friends we have!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

A Peek Inside - Christmas Cross-Stitch Table Runner

My very talented mother-in-law embroidered this pretty table runner. Our family has received many of these precious gifts from her over the years. I use it when I have a chance to entertain and keep it in Miss Abigail's hope chest. I think she will enjoy using it in her home some day.

A Peek Inside - Primitive Christmas Star Dishtowels

I've been trying to make a kitchen set for some of the major holidays - so far I have only the Thanksgiving set completely finished, but I'm working on two different Christmas sets, and set for Easter, Valentines and the Fourth of July. I finished these embroidered dishtowels for one Christmas set. You have previously seen the crocheted star dishcloths, the filet crochet hand towels, and the homespun dishtowels in this set. I "tea dyed" these towels to better match the color of the crochet in the other items. The design is one of the primitive series from Aunt Martha- "Bless Our Home" #4010.

Stenciled Snowflake Dishtowel

Just thought I would show you my recent, very last minute gift idea. I needed wrapping for a gift for a cook.  I had purchased a specialty snowflake cake pan but wanted to add a handmade touch as well. I thought a stenciled dishtowel would fit both requirements nicely. I always have blank dishtowels handy! I first used Tulip spray fabric paint to spritz a blue blizzard in the background. Then I used a thin plastic snowflake stencil and  a couple of different colors of Tulip soft fabric paint to stenciled several snowflakes around the edges and in the corners of the dishtowel. This fabric paint dries very quickly and I was able to wrap the gift after just four hours. Now I think I want to do a snowflake set for the hope chest!