Hollyhocks

Very Thankful and Loving JoAnn Etc. again

As we get ready to go to the hospital to see my stepdad this Thanksgiving Day, I am reminded of the many blessings in my life. I woke up today in a warm house, surrounded by love. I have wonderful parents, a near perfect husband and a perfect dog. Our brothers and sisters are safe and warm...

I have a career that I love, doing work that is very meaningful to me...

I received this bracelet, made from actual cranberries, from one of my students. It, along with my other fine jewelry, is being stored in the refrigerator until we leave for dinner.

Another student came by my office on Tuesday and shyly presented me with this kit, which he thought I could put together as a decoration for my "Sewing Room"/Office. I marvel at the thoughtfulness of children who have seen very little warmth shown to them in their young lives... These kids truly illustrate the triumph of the human spirit over all...

On a lighter note, I mentioned before that I thought Jo-Ann's was getting some better quality fabric and here to illustrate...

I thought this soft, brushed cotton had sort of a Hanna Andersson/Oilily feel to it.

This ribbon speaks for itself...part of my current all-things-Nordic-looking obsession

Adorable cotton flannel sewn up into the quickest gift your family and friends will just love. Get a 17" by 12" piece of flannel, fold it longways good sides facing, sew one short side and the other long side, turn it right side out, fill with a few cups of rice, a couple of drops of lavender oil (optional) fold in a bit and sew up the end and make a tag that says "For heat, warm in microwave for 2-3 minutes, for cold, cool in freezer for 1-2 hours". If you really want to get fancy, scan the fabric, type the instructions in and print it onto label paper. I'm telling you, I gave these a few years ago, everybody uses them, they last forever and I still get requests for more.

...and...some awfully cute, sparkly little ornaments...

Loving JoAnn's again!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am picturing all of you at a tiny feast, inside my computer... I am thankful for all of you, new friends all over the world. Thanks for visiting hollyhocks.

Do You Have a Minute?

I know you're busy, but I just made a cup of cocoa and I needed to tell someone about my weekend... First things first, a "leading consumer magazine" rated this Hershey's Cocoa tops. Well, I agree and don't agree. It's good, but it's a strange taste. Sort of like mixing spiced tea with cocoa. Godiva and Ghiradelli are still my all-time favorites, unless it's the white hot chocolate made by Spot Coffee, a local treasure. That is amazing stuff. The cup is part of a set of 4 that I assembled from Ebay years ago when my Cadbury was just a puppy. Now, about my weekend...grab a hanky...it's a bit of a pity party...

 

On Friday I teamed up with another staffer to attempt to close one of the windows in my office. To say it sticks is an understatement...I felt my back pull, but hoped for the best. Saturday morning on the way to the massage therapist (nice treat from DH), my back really started to hurt. Today it REALLY hurts. Then, the Massage therapist found a bump that she wants me to get checked...all this as we are in the midst of another procedure that I can't really talk about (except to a few hundred of my nearest and dearest!). I have been limping around the house, feeling sorry for myself and thinking about my carefree life 36 hours ago...back pain can do that to a person! well, pour on the sympathy and virtual hugs. I'm ready. Meanwhile...

Here's the cupcake recipe from last week... Go make some. It'll make me feel better...

2 cups Flour

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup half and half (half cream and half milk)

3 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of vanilla

3 eggs

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl together and mix at medium speed until combined and then high for 3 minutes. Fill the paper cups only 1/2 full and bake at 350 degrees for 19-21 minutes.

Icing

1 stick (1/4 pound) of butter, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream or half and half, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 3 cups of confectioner's (powdered) sugar. Beat the butter, cream and vanilla together and add the sugar. Whip for a few minutes to dissolve the sugar fully.

No substitutions. Every calorie plays an important role!

Yummy vanilla-y easy cupcakes!

 

Lots of people have asked about the scotty fabric. I got it at JoAnns. Has anyone else noticed that JoAnn's is getting some better quality fabrics lately? I'll post a pretty new one that I found this weekend soon.

Pretty fabric always cheers me up. Well folks, thanks for listening. It's time to put a new heat wrap on...thanks for visiting hollyhocks!

 

Seeing Red

A little something that arrived in the mail this week has me seeing red!

A Birthday/Christmas gift from my English blog buddy Fred. As most of you know, Fred and I "met" when he was the first to link to my fledgling blog back in July. Fred has quite a following...and deservedly so...and when he linked to my blog from his, lots of folks from all over the world stopped by Hollyhocks to say hello. I sent Fred a thank you package and we have been blog buddies ever since. I've also had the pleasure of "meeting"  Fred's wife Hayley and their adorable dog (who guest posts on Hayley's blog from time to time.) So, after a very long day (stepdad in hospital, 13 hour day at work teaching teachers to make tote bags) I arrived home to find a package from Fred in the front hall...this is what was inside...

Vintage wooden ornaments...as you know, I am crazy about diminutive wooden people, animals and trees, a vintage tape measure, French letter cards spelling out my name, Cath Kidston oilcloth...and the wonderful vintage French Saucepan...

Having this saucepan in my house is such an inspiration that I want to throw out everything I own that isn't red and white and start over.

I want more red dotty fabric, red buttons...

...and maybe some black if it's in the form of scotty buttons...

To go with this scotty fabric which one of my "teacher-students" brought for the tote bag class. I shamelessly ran right out and bought some. Yesterday this arrived...

Beautiful, festive, I-don't-care-if-I-don't-read-French...Marie Claire Idees...and I found...

More red and white, in the form of a simple, beautiful piece of embroidery

and another... what a charming welcome sign!

Thank you again Fred and Hayley. It's amazing that you picked out such perfectly thoughtful gifts and we only met in July when I found you living in my computer...

Well folks...

Now it's Christmas...bring on the red and white. Thank you for visiting Hollyhocks...

Making Stuff

Just a quick post to show you some stuff I've been making. The tote and zippered bag are the models for the "Teacher Tote Bag Class". I just guessed at the size and ended up lopping off 3" of width and about 5" of length. Otherwise, it would have been a duffel bag!

Little linen and cotton birds from the Joelle Hoverson/Purl Soho book and a gingerbread house from this tutorial. The door needs a knob and I want to experiment with smaller houses...and shorter chimneys...

...and a pencil roll from the Last Minute Patchwork Gifts Book...I am just crazy about this project. A couple of my students even want to tackle it. Once you have the pieces cut out, the sewing goes pretty quickly. Luckily, I cut enough pieces for 3 initially. The project is made out of natural linen with seam binding ties...I hope this finds you sewing up a storm. Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks...

Good Morning Sunshine!

As I write this, the sun is streaming in through the sunporch window. It is a great start to the second day of a 3 day weekend. Tomorrow is Veterans Day in the US. I think sometimes I am so busy smelling roses, or dog's paws, or cookies baking that I forget the stuff I should be doing. Is there a sampler that says "Stop smelling the roses and get to work!"? I have been in-blog-nito this week because I have been doing stuff.

I found this lovely vintage chenille pocketbook at an estate sale yesterday for $2. It's in pristine condition, inside and out.

...and who could resist this guy for the santa collection. He was photographed in dim light because he needs a good bath. When you wind him up, he rings his bell.

This neat old basket/tray was 50 cents. Is it weird when you see something and think about how nice it would look in another blogger's house? When I saw it, I thought...Hmmm, Kim would paint it black, tie a black and white gingham bow on it and fill it with red things... I know, too much time looking at blogs!

A big giant roll of cheesecloth...I am thinking homemade mulling spices, bouquet garni, Kool-Aid dyeing...now, how to wash it to get that "someone else's house" feeling out of it.

A dresser scarf and rose hanky...

Vintage sheet music to make things out of and...the most wonderful find of the day...

A huge cache of vintage silk embroidery floss, as vibrant and strong as the day it was spun. Silk floss, made by the Richardson Silk Co., was considered to be the most luxurious fiber a lady could use for her fine embroidery. From what I can tell, the company made most of its floss in the very early 1900s. I may bundle a few skeins into packages and sell them. Although, things like this are always hard to part with...

I should also tell you that a close family member was indicted this week on charges of grand theft chocolate...

Don't let that innocent face fool you...for the first time since he was a puppy (7 years ago), Cadbury scarfed up a small (thank goodness) piece of chocolate left on a table. I suppose it's partly our fault...we did name him Cadbury after all...although the chocolate he took was Lindt... milk chocolate no less, how pedestrian. I would think he would at least have held out for the 60% Cacao... The DH came home for lunch to find him resting under the piano, gold foil by his nose...He immediately placed himself in time-out under the dining room table and was quickly forgiven...Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks.

Vintage Redwork and Vanilla Cupcakes

That's what I love about the ancestors...They tell it like it is. What would they think of us? complaining when we have to run down to the basement to do laundry...Try washing your undies on a ROCK youngster... The photos are of antique pillow shams. At first I wasn't sure what they were (but of course that didn't stop me from buying them) because they are only one layer but an antique dealer told me that they were placed on top of the pillow to keep the dust off.

I found this amazing quilt top at an estate sale for $10. Now this was worth waking up at dawn for! As I walked to my car with my treasures a woman caught sight of it hanging from my arm and said to her husband accusingly..."I see redwork and I am going to cry. I told you we should have left earlier". Let me show you some of the best parts of the quilt...

It looks like the owner pieced together blocks from several different sources. This block is a "penny square" from the Pan American Exposition, held in Buffalo, NY in 1901. People could buy a printed square for a penny and go home, embroider the blocks and make a Pan-Am Quilt. That would be the Holy Grail of quilt finds for me. They have one at one of our local museums.

 

The closest I have come so far is a pattern book to make my own Pan-Am Quilt...someday... Here's another block from my quilt that is included in the Pan-Am...

A Southern Belle block, also known as a Crinoline Lady. What I love about this quiltmaker is that every block is classic red and white redwork...except this one...

The last block on the quilt. Now that is a signature touch!

I think this 2 book set is just an beautiful account of redwork history. Oddly enough, the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya had the set with a Japanese cover. I have heard that the Japanese are really getting into redwork. The cloth underneath the set is a vintage mangle cloth from Germany, purchased from this wonderful dealer. If you enlarge the photo a few pictures up, you'll see the detail woven into the piece. People use these as table runners now, but I don't have the heart to expose it to that kind of danger! I drape it over the "Health Chair" of this...

My vintage Ironrite Ironer/Mangle. My mom had one of these, from my grandmother.  I thought it was magic that you could feed a damp hanky into it and it would spit out a hot, ironed hanky. But I digress, this site has great info. on redwork and its history. Here are some of the blocks I have collected...

What do you think I should do with them? Surround them with fabric and make pillows, sachets? Ideas?   I even tried my hand at making a few...with limited success...

So, as you can see, I love red and redwork. It is so simple and reachable, yet beautiful. Oh, when I wasn't taking redwork photos I made cupcakes...

The cakes are made with half and half, butter and good vanilla. I adapted the recipe to remove the Crisco (yuck!). They are iced with a vanilla buttercream (with heavy cream). I had better get these out of the house fast or the new jeans won't fit! The dog and husband give them 2 thumbs up (well, actually 1 thumb and a dew claw). If you'd like the recipe, let me know and I'll post it. It's really easy, you just pop everything into the bowl at one time. Great with a stout cup of black tea...

Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks...

Are You a Dressmaker?

Last week, better known as "the week I found the pram", I also bought the pinking shears pictured here. They were in a drawer at an estate sale, jumbled together with many other household implements. I paid 50 cents each for them. I knew that Wiss scissors were very good quality tools, so today I took them to the Sharpener. The sign outside the shop said "we sharpen anything". I was a bit skeptical about bringing my girly sewing scissors to this man though, when I saw all of the window signs advertising "saw sharpening" and "mower blade sharpening".

As I waited at the counter, I could see him back in his workshop, sharpening some scary looking tool on a huge grinding wheel. He came out to the counter and I handed him the pinking shears. That's when he gave me one of the best compliments I have ever received...He said..."Are you a dressmaker?". In the second that it took to answer, I imagined myself in a tidy loft sewing studio with huge windows and lots of natural light, surrounded by  beautiful fabric, spending my days draping silks and tafettas over linen dress forms and pinning the fabric with glass straight pins as I crafted party frock after party frock. I so wanted to say "yes, I am a dressmaker".

Tuesday I pick up my newly sharpened pinking shears, ready for their labels..."paper" and "fabric"... and maybe someday I will make a dress...

Thanks for visiting Hollyhocks. Stay tuned for a Redwork post next and visit my buddy Fred as he "Kicks off Christmas" for all of us.