A Peek Inside: Aunt Bertha's Kitchen Set

Will there be items in her hope chest that Miss Abigail will never use? Probably.

I have a large and loving family. There were six aunts that lived close by as I grew up. These aunts were wonderful models of homemaking skills and I learned a lot from each of them. Three of the aunts are still living and are very elderly. Around the time of my birthday, a few years ago now, I picked up a package in the mail. It was from my Aunt Bertha. Inside the package were these wonderful hotpads and the embellished dishtowel, along with a note that told me how much she loved me and appreciated all of our shared experiences.

My Aunt Bertha is a very talented woman and I've never been able to use the gift as she intended that I should. I will perhaps one day, but in the meantime, I just like to get them out and look at them and remember my lovely aunt. There are a couple of things that I made for my own hope chest that I never used. I get as much pleasure out of their prettiness and the effort it took to make them as I would in using them. But even as I say that, I hope that Miss Abigail will use the things I am making. I'm making LOTS, just to ensure that she will have enough to use. There are enough that some could be gifted as my sweet aunt did, and some leftover for grandchildren. I'm sure that there will be things that Abigail will only bring out for special occasions and maybe one of two that she will just save to look at. But I hope she will use and reuse and wear out most of her hope chest.

One of my favorite activities, on a lazy afternoon, is to go to antique stores and poke around. I am always drawn to the linens. There are piles of wonderful hand crafted linens to sort through. I always wonder about why they were made and love to guess whether the crafter made them for a hope chest. I like to see signs of them being used. I think it sad when I come upon a perfect, unused pair of pillowcases or tablecloth or monogrammed napkins. There is such a lot of work involved to have the item remain unused and stored away in the dark of a chest or drawer.

Do any of you have items that you acquired for your home and yet have never used? Do you think it a shame, as I do? When do we reach the point of allowing ourselves to use our beautiful things? I really do try and hope you do as well.

BTW, the dishtowel is embellished with a simple fabric border along with the pretty peaches iron-on transfer. My aunt also used the ever-popular single-crochet diagonal pattern for the hot pads. Just google it (single-crochet diagonal hot pads) for lots of directions and tutorials.

Stenciled Dish Towel

You see a lot of stenciling on the blog because it is so easy and quick to do and I think the results are so fun! I made a set of dishtowels recently to include in a wedding gift and I thought I would show you how I did it. Miss Abigail wrote a more basic tutorial on stenciling for beginners, if you need to see the actual technique.

Start by washing and drying the dishtowel. This removes any sizing or starch from the towel and allows the paint to penetrate into the fibers of the cloth. If you skip this step, the paint will likely fade much faster. Place a piece of cardboard or tin foil beneath the dishtowel, to prevent the paint from soaking through to the table. I use the Tulip soft fabric paint and whatever stencil strikes my fancy.

Use a just barely damp sea sponge and dab it lightly into green fabric paint. Lightly dab the sponge onto the towel to create a foliage background for the flowers that will come on top.

Add just a tiny bit of darker green to give the background some dimension. Use just a tiny bit!

Use the stencil to add flowers and leaves in a design across the foliage background. I blended two tints of the same shade while the paint was still wet to give the flowers a little dimension as well. I also added just a few dabs of a purple color between the flowers. Let this much dry. The directions for the fabric paint will give you the proper length of time.

After the flowers were dry, I stenciled smaller flower "centers" on top of the main flowers. I also used the end of the paintbrush, dipped in the paint and a very tiny brush to add further details and highlights to the flowers. Finally, I used another stencil with two colors to add the word.

Stenciling is really not hard to do and it makes me feel so artistic! So many projects for the hope chest can be stenciled. Dishtowels, of course, and pillowcases -you just need to be creative.

Project Photos of Zig-Zag Edging

I wanted to show you some pictures of recent projects where I've used the crocheted zig-zag edging. This edging is so versatile and it looks lovely on just about anything, including the edge of a blouse or the hem of a skirt!

These are burp cloths, made with Gerber pre-fold diapers. The nice thing about crocheting on these diapers is that I don't have to use the awl to punch holes (except in the middle, where the fabric is so thick.) The diaper fabric is woven loosely enough to allow the tiny steel hook to easily push through. This just saves some time, which I always like. The cotton thread is usually very colorfast, even with bleach, so there is no worry about transient dye in the wash.

I like to use this edging on pillowcases also. I have lots of patterns for edgings that are more complicated, but these are often put off because of time. I always seem to need a nice gift now! The one thing I love about this edging is that it is so fast - one round and I'm done. But it is still so pretty and adds just the right handmade touch to a gift. These print pillowcases were part of a sheet set given as a wedding gift. I opened the original package to get at the pillowcases and then re-wrapped the set with ribbon.  I could also have put the edging across the top sheet, but I didn't have time. I also like to give a set of plain white pillowcases along with a set of nice pillows. Everyone needs extra pillows in the house.

The zig-zag edging is so useful for embellishing all kinds of things in a hope chest or in your household. I hope you'll give it a try.

Wedding Gift - Prairie Points

I'm excited to learn a new trick for using prairie points on a dishtowel. Linda at Prairie Flower Farm has THE cutest spring embroidered tea towel pattern. I love the way she has attached prairie points in a tuck at the bottom edge of the towel. I think that is just so clever. Linda had a giveaway and, lucky for me, she is graciously sharing the pattern with those of us who didn't win the giveaway. The pattern is on her sidebar in a e-mail download link, called "Free Spring Thyme Tea Towel."

Although I didn't have time to do the embroidery on the towels for this gift, I did use her idea for the prairie points and I love the way they turned out.

The simple running stitch adds the sweetest handmade touch, I think.

The crocheted thread edging on the hand towels is really simple to do. I use this edge all the time on gifts because it is so quick, but still pretty. I'll try to make a tutorial soon for this edging. Since I picked up another wedding announcement in the mail yesterday, I should be using it on several more wedding gifts before the "season" has ended!

I love the colors in this gift set. They just seem so cheerful to me. The variegated yarn in the dishcloths and hotpads is my favorite color right now - Peaches and Cream "Gum Drops."

Wedding Gift - Black and White

I'm now gearing up for the wedding season, and have been busy making gifts. This kitchen set was made for a sweet bride who wants a black and white kitchen. Crocheting with black yarn is really not fun. My aging eyes could hardly see what I was doing. My color picks are usually much brighter and I never realized how difficult it is to stitch with a really dark yarn. Ah well, I think everything turned out well. I made the usual dishcloths and hot pads and added some hand towels and a dishtowel.

I finally had a chance to try the Moda Jelly dish towel that I have had listed on my sidebar. It was really simple and I like how it turned out. I added a step to their tutorial, however. I ran a narrow zig-zag across the edges of the fabric, before I sewed on the rick rack, because I didn't want the edges to fray after washing. Then I sewed the rick rack on with a simple straight line.

I also sewed a bit of white lace on a set of hand towels. Simple and pretty. The second set of hand towels in the top picture has a simple black thread crocheted edge. I'm not sure why I didn't take a separate picture of these. :o}

I also included a box of these color catchers in the gift, because I'm reeeeaaallllly worried about the black color in the wash. I'm pretty sure it will cause problems, but I'm hoping these will help.

"Merry Linens" Gift Set

I finished the "Merry Linens" gift set and wanted to show you all what it all looked like in the end. I crocheted a set of hot pads and a dishcloth and sewed rick-rack on two hand towels as well as embroidering the dishtowel. A recipe book, published by my ladies club, was also part of the gift. I think it all turned out really well.

I think its fun to use special linens like this for holiday cooking and baking. An apron would be nice too! If holiday linens are prepared ahead of time and placed in the hope chest, it would surely make those first holidays away from home more merry.