Sunday, February 22, 2015

Humor in Our Front Yard!


Can there really be more snow???


Saturday, February 14, 2015

History of the American Valentine




"On this day...
 ...in 1849, the first American-made valentines were sold in Worcester. They were designed and made by Esther Howland, the daughter of a local stationer. After graduating from Mt. Holyoke College, she returned to Worcester and began making valentines modeled on a fancy one she had received from an English friend. Her brother took the samples on a sales trip and came home with an astonishing $5,000 worth of orders. Howland began by hiring her friends to assemble the valentines; within a few years, she built her business into a $100,000 a year enterprise, a notable success for any entrepreneur but a truly remarkable accomplishment for a nineteenth-century woman."

This the intro of the very fascinating tidbit of Massachusetts history from massmoments.orgClick here to read the entire interesting story about Esther Howland- "the mother of the American Valentine" & the New England Valentine Company

Enjoy the read!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

~Valentine's Day Desserts~


The day when we enjoy showing the special people in our lives that we appreciate & love them is rapidly approaching!  Valentine's Day!!!  A day filled with shades of reds and pinks!  It can also be a day for special desserts.  Now, these delicious special desserts can also be easy to prepare!

My heart word cloud below contains family favorite desserts that we enjoy- a lot! Place your cursor over a dessert name & it becomes larger.  Click on the bolded large name & like magic the post on my blog appears.  For me the choice is not easy for Valentine's Day!  What would you choose???

Enjoy!
Yummy!


Happy Valentine's Day!!! 

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

~A Sunny Day~


It's great to see the sun shining today!  It feels so good to sit & enjoy the view from our front window.  Looking upward there is some dripping action going on.  Another scene from our snowy frigid winter!

Could this be a view from your home, too?

 

   

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Love Those Hearts

Just love those guest towels! It's February & the heart guest towel makes its appearance here.  Just like clockwork! Best part about this guest towel is that it's totally FuN to make, if you have a sewing machine & enjoy sewing, like I do!  It's usually paired with my "Starry Night" guest towel (which reminds me of van Gogh).  I'm building up a collection.  And yes, definitely they are used!

They're easy to make!  To start, purchase good quality hand towels.  Then, either go to your stash pile or visit your fabric store & purchase some whimsical seasonal fabric.  Both items are purchased either on sale or using a coupon (of course)!

My heart towel was created using the decorative stitches on my Janome sewing machine.  I was learning how to use that feature.  To learn, one needs a project!  These decorative stitches are another option rather than use a piece of whimsical fabric!

***When & if using the decorative stitch design, use a much larger piece of fabric than neededAfter the design is stitched, then cut out the carefully measured strip to sew onto the hand towel.  A little more planning is needed here, but it's a great result! 

Follow my easy directions (click here) & before you know it your decorative hand towels will be ready!  It's a FuN project!

***I always wash & dry any fabric before sewing.  There is a shrinkage issue that does not occur when I take the extra time to wash/dry the fabric.  Yes, this does include the new hand towels.

Enjoy!
Happy Sewing!