The Golden Age of Blogging...Arising Again?

Cloudy days are rare here, and they usually place me into an introspective mood. I was thinking about blogging, how it was in the early days, how there seems (I hope) to be a resurgence, and then more thinking about Facebook versus blogging. I'll save that last thought for another post.

One of the fun things in the early days of blogs was the giveaways. They added so much excitement to the community. During the time blogs were really hoppin', there were giveaways in abundance. Sometimes they were held to encourage commenting, and sometimes just to reward faithful readers, and sometimes just  because the blogger was so generous-natured. 

I am noticing that on Facebook, in some of the groups, there are giveaways happening. I think the "Groups" are following along a track similar to what happened in blogs, but I will boast here that I do not think Groups will ever equal the true community of blogging. 

I was happy to see a giveaway on a BLOG the other day! It made me smile, thinking of the heyday and how fun those times were, and how strongly blogging is rebounding.

I like to comment on blogs (one childhood nickname was "Loud Mouth Lime" due to my spouting off constantly) - just to add in my little bit of knowledge, chit-chat, or support. But a comment left did enter me into a giveaway, and I won, over at Acorn Hollow! What a wonderful bounty: Hooked pillow that is an absolute heirloom, hooked heart box with delicious chocolates (even shared with hubby), let me add here all wrapped so beautifully, fuzzy socks I put on immediately, and fussy-cut vintage Valentines. As someone obssesed with paper items, I can't tell you what a thrill the Valentines gave me! It is all so lovely.

Just take a look:

Lovely Valentine's red wrapping

BUNNY ALERT: An heirloom of my house now, in pride of place on the mantel

Two of the dear Valentines

Thank you, Cathy, of Acorn Hollow! Charming name for a very charming blog! If you admire hooked rugs and love sweet blogs like I do, please visit Acorn Hollow. Her work is beautiful, and just wait until you see her new workroom devoted to her rugs. 

It truly is delightful, for me, to follow the blogs I do, and read and see their posts. Some may think that their days or their gardens or their thoughts or crafts aren't "interesting" enough for a blog or worthy of a post, but I assure you, I read them with great interest and learn many things, am reminded of many things (my mind will go a mile a minute on the memories I recall), and take joy in the "small things" written about, photographed, and shared. And I am hardly alone! There is a whole army of us out there, who really enjoy the special sharing done on blogs. And once again, our ranks are growing!

Wild Strawberries and Passing Years

I finished my second Spring Bees counted cross stitch chart, "Bee and Bunny Frolic," and sewed it into a pinkeep yesterday, and have it out on the nature table. I have to watch my little "lamb" dog, Sophie: She is very smart and wants to get the pin keeps / pillow tucks down and play with them. 

Click here for link to my Etsy shoppe

When I first taught, I was very surprised that the students, without appearing to, watched my EVERY move. It came very much in handy: If I called out, "Where did I put my coffee?" all the kids would call out, point, even excitedly jump up and go immediately to wherever it was. No more lost keys, cups, grading, etc. Sophie is like that. She doesn't appear to be watching, but she is. Always! 

The new design has some little strawberries in it. The house where I was born had 3 acres around it, a small hill, and a beautiful clear creek. All along the slope of the hill down to the creek, wild strawberries grew by the hundreds, perhaps even thousands. The berries were so tiny, but the flavor was out of this world. Their bigger cousins cannot compare. Wild garlic also grew on that slope, in the sunnier areas, and the bulbs sent up tens of thousands of stems topped with delicate pale purple flowers. At first they had no scent, but within a few days, they reeked. I loved them. Tigerlilies and amaryllis grew wild there, too, with native plums, maypops (passionflower vines), and muscadine grapes all through the pine woods.

 I warned of this on my old blog: Do not go to Google Maps and look at the "street view" of long-ago places unless you can take a shock. I decided to go look at my old home after stitching the strawberries. All I can say is, 50 years is a long time to be gone from a place. Evidently the acreage was subdivided, and the hill razed, and the creek diverted or stopped somehow. There are houses encroaching on the house my father built, and the flora is gone. My mother's incredible gardens, gone. The house is still beautiful, but it is no longer sitting in splendor, surrounded by trees. Now untidy houses are right up to the setbacks. Have you ever gotten a shock from the changes the years have wrought on a favorite place?

I am now working on design #3 for the Spring Bees series. I think I will leave it at three. And I think this next pinkeep will be stuffed with lavender, and work as a sachet/pincushion.

Simple Decor for Easter, and Fabric-Wrapped Eggs

This year I am keeping Easter very spare, in terms of decorating. I am not buying anything new, and I will not put out very much of my existing decorations. In fact, I have a box of pretty decorations that are going to the thrift store that supports one of the main animal rescues here. I did the same with Valentine's day decor, a few weeks ago. Sometimes I get a "pang" when parting with something. But honestly, after I give things away, I often cannot quite recall them later. 

I did take a few plastic eggs and glue some strips of black-and-tan checked homespun onto them, while watching the Weather Channel's coverage of Winter Storm Roland, and their predictions about Winter Storm Shirley. Valentine's Day is giving the U.S. a very cold shoulder this year. 

The eggs are easy to do. I have seen eggs finished much more neatly for sale, but I don't mind my less-perfect creations. I tried two different ways I found on the internet, and I like the way that uses strips best, not the way that wraps the egg and just has some slits to overlap. Aleene's Fast Grab Glue worked very well on these. The egg underneath is one of a dozen "chalkboard" finish eggs that I got last year at Walmart, for just pennies after Easter. 

I mix my primitive items with sparkly ones, new ones, vintage mid-century, whatever. I like a mix. Some are purists, and that is fine, too! I put several nests and eggs in a big tin "tart" on a pedestal, and that is by my front door, at a window that looks directly at the courtyard. 

I know how to make Ukrainian eggs, known as "pysanky." I don't know if I will make any this year. I would need to order new dyes. A very kind Ukrainian mathematician taught me how to make them, and gave me a "kistka," the tool that draws wax onto the eggshell, decades ago now. I have so many little projects going that I am not able to get to them all! But with these winter storms coming, it might be best to have some distractions on hand. I think there might be quite a few power outages and certainly it is going to be hard to get around in many areas. Do you have enough yarn, fabric, paint, and trim to tide you over the coming winter storms?

Mint to Be

I know in other areas mint can be very invasive. Here, I can keep it in its place through watering. Where I do not water, it does not grow. I call it "water edging." Even with ample water, I must implore it to grow. This is my new mint. This one is called "Chocolate Mint," in honor of the famed peppermint patty confection. I think some dollar weed has emerged to keep it company. The juniper branches placed on the area to protect it did a good job, but the weeds, of course, saw their chance to grow, too.

The mint is disagreeing with the groundhog's assessment as to how long winter will last, and thinks it's safe to poke up its fragrant head and begin spring. It's clearly a foolhardy plant; brave, but unwise. It is the plant equivalent of a chihuahua. 

I brushed my hand across the sprigs to gather their scent, then picked up my rosary. Now, I have it on the nightstand, and I can smell it from here. 

The Superbowl is on in the other room, but I am watching another battle: Which will win, my newest cross stitch chart, or my ability to count properly? I have "frogged" so much it's like a rainforest in here. Usually, when I butt heads with a chart, I put that chart down and pick up another one for awhile, except when mulishness sets in. I want it done, and on display, starting tomorrow. This will be too long ago for most of you, but does anyone recall "Francis the Talking Mule?" Well, we have "Holly the Stitching Mule" now. But I am wanting a basket of spring-themed pinkeeps on my nature table, and I'm going to have it, by golly!

DIY Vintage-Style Ceramic Jar Knobs, and...CANDLEMAS

It is Candlemas! Groundhog Day and Candlemas fall on the same day. Today we had a blessing of candles at church. Before Mass, there was a sudden rustling of bags and parishioners flooded to the front to place them before the altar, but respectfully to the side a bit. Then the priest, warning that few churches do this anymore, blessed them. He ran through a quick list of many "-mas" events, with Christmas being the best known, of course. He mentioned Candlemas, Michaelmas, Martinmas, and Lammas. I had not heard of Lammas and am going to research it. 

I found a mislabeled box today that I had not opened since our move of over a year ago. I opened it up, and there were several items inside that I had been missing. Not the vintage Pyrex I'm missing -- boo! -- but some other cute things.

What I'd like to know is why it didn't bother me, and why I didn't notice, a rather large cardboard box sitting against the wall of the den for over a year. The cats like to sleep on it. So there was the raggedy box, with a ginger cat (both are gingers), always a-snooze atop it. 

But inside was this little Mason jar lid with a ceramic knob added.

When the knobs at Hobby Lobby are half off, I often pick up a few. They reside in the "junk drawer" until needed. I seem to use up a lot of them. In fact, I have none left.

Do you see that feather in the photos? I'm pretty sure that's an owl feather.

 

To add a knob to a metal jar lid, you can drill a hole in the top of the lid just slightly larger than the diameter of the screw portion of the knob. Obviously, the lid will no longer be airtight, but it's not meant to be. It's more for storage of non-edibles or a little "terrarium-style" decor item. If you do not have a drill, or a hand-drill, then you can use a biggish nail and turn the lid upside down (so you don't dent it), and carefully tap a hole.

The problem with most decorative knobs is the length of the screw that sticks out. You're going to have to cut it shorter, with a hacksaw. I sometimes just wrap a rag on a loose blade and use it, but that's naughty.

BEFORE you cut the screw shorter (way shorter), you need to thread a nut on it. They come with a nut on them, usually, and sometimes two, and sometimes they also come with a washer. Anyway, this is important: THREAD the nut on it, snug it up, and cut BELOW the nut. Then, when you work the nut off, it will rethread the threads that were damaged when you cut them off with the hacksaw. That way you can then get the nut off and on easily, which is important because you will need to be able to thread that nut back on there and snug it up once you stick the screw end of the knob through the hole in the lid.

My explanation is way too wordy, but as you actually do this project, it will all be obvious.

So you will end up placing the knob's end (the shortened screw part) through the hole you made in the lid. Then add the washer if you want, and definitely add the nut. Tighten up that nut but don't be too rough. Now you can put the lid on a jar. 

The workaround for those of us who don't have a drill or just don't want to deal with punching through metal is to get one of those metal lids that already has a hole for a straw. You will DEFINITELY need to add a sizeable washer with a small hole under the lid if you plan on using one of these lids, so that the knob is held securely and doesn't wobble.

Do you remember that song by Barbara Mandrell? "I Was Country, When Country Wasn't Cool." Well, I was a canning jar fanatic before they were popular. They can be "out" now for all I care, but I will always love them and decorate with them!

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

DIY Beaded Easter Egg, Some Pretty Roses, and Free Printable Valentine's Tags

From The Merry Olde Dame's Almanac:

Forecast for February 1 - 7, 2021: Wishes for a peaceful week ahead, with scattered bursts of laughter and sprinkles of delight, followed by strong gusts of good fortune and contentment.

The roses above are from a birthday bouquet. After admiring them, I drove from church to church in our parish and laid a bloom at the feet of each statue of my Queen of Heaven. What a delightful drive!

I am mingling Valentine's decor with Easter decor now...I made this egg by simply glueing on, with a "fast-grab" white glue, seeds beads onto a papier mache egg. I do a small section at a time, placing some glue down, picking up one bead at a time with a toothpick (I blunt the end) that was dipped in glue or beeswax. While the glue is wet, you can slide the beads around a bit and get them into position with the toothpick's other end.

It is therapeutic, methodical work, but very easy, so that it can be done while listening to music, podcasts, or television. I am going to try to depict a pansy next. I love their little whisker-faced blooms! I planted their little cousins, Johnny Jump-ups, earlier. Just scattered the seeds and am hoping they will come up.

Here are some free printable tags featuring the wonderful artists of yesteryear. They might be cute for decorating. As usual, use this Google Drive LINK <--- for this large file, so that it isn't compressed and so it will print out the right size.

Anyone else decorating or crafting this week? 

Bee Mine Cross Stitch is Finished! And...Free Valentine's Day Images!

I loved creating and stitching this. It's that durned charting that gets me. I have a new charting program and it's smarter than I am. The learning curve for this olde grey mare is very steep indeed. I have the chart up in my Etsy shop <---Link 

Now I'm working on charting up some little Free Bees charts (freebies, ha ha) that make cute Petite Pinkeeps or Tiny Tucks. I just binge watch on an old phone or listen to Christmas music (I know, I know, it's weird to love to listen to Christmas music all year) and stitch the "littles" up.

In the meantime, here are a few "single" Valentine's images to save, free, gratis, no strings attached. Why single tags? Well, it's all email now, texting, WhatsApp, Zoom, etc. Maybe someone has a friend, child, or grandchild who would like a digital Valentine. In years past, I sold many digital printable Valentines. With COVID, nothing sold this year. Classroom Valentines are just not happening this year! So, I'm thinking some free Valentines for viewing on a phone or screen might be just the ticket for our strange times.

I'll put up a few antique images, vintage images, and modern images below.

Right-click to save! 

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

I don't like clowns but the Victorian "jester" kids were cute...Clowns proper make me scream, run away, and just feel very anxious...I had a colleague (teacher) who taught kindergarten, and she would dress up as a blankety-blank CLOWN for the first day of school. I was astounded. As if the first day was not bad enough...but a very hefty lady in a garish outfit, huge red shoes, and badly applied clown makeup scarred some of those wee ones for life...

Oh gosh the boy doggie doesn't look happy...he doesn't like "mushy" stuff...

This one is pretty...love Lily of the Valley...

For the Crazy Cat Lady (CCL) we all know (yes, yes, I'm one)...would also be good for your weird artist friend (we ALL have a weird artist friend, admit it)...

For the Horsey Set. I was "horse crazy" at age 10...would have loved this Valentine...

Another one for the CCL set...or those who are "just PLANE crazy."

Kokeshi style...

LOVE the puns on the old classroom Valentines...

So cute, you can see where to bend her and she would stand up...

Cute hangtag...

Prim crow getting in on the act...

Baby penguin...And I'll leave it at that. NOTHING can successfully come after a BABY PENGUIN.

Also Known As "Noodles" and A Call for "Keeper" Blogs

I'm showing my age, talking of "noodles." Actually, why did I even type that? I don't care that I'm no longer young. Others sometimes seem to have a problem with it, but I just don't care. I feel lucky to be alive. I don't like that my health is so poor and my arthritis is so bad, but as for aging, it's part of the circle of life. Satchel Paige said, "How old would you be, if you didn't know how old you is?" Sometimes you'll see that quote "cleaned up" grammatically, which is totally insulting, if you ask me. Satchel Paige knew what he wanted to say, and the droll way he wanted to say it. 

I saw on another blog a good recipe for pasta. Of course I cannot find it again, but maybe someone will have posted it or seen it, too. I am always on the lookout for good recipes. I never heard of pasta until I was grown, because we called pasta "noodles." Spaghetti, egg, orzo, fettuccini, whatever shape or ingredient, they were all "noodles." A dish I served often as a young bride was boiled spaghetti noodles with canned Chicken a la King over them, and "toast points" balancing on the side of each bowl to make it more filling. Ah, those old days. A "green salad" would accompany the meal, if it was near a paycheck. The "salad" was torn up iceberg lettuce doused with an oil-and-vinegar/salt-and-pepper mix.

I was amazed when grown when I found some people used the noodles we knew as "sliders" in their "chicken and dumplings." Our dumplings were a steamed biscuit-like dough "settin' on top the chicken stew part." These strange dishes called for SLIDER NOODLES in place of the dumplings. They had to be FISHED OUT of the chicken stew part. I marvelled at it, but I could not deny the sliders were great in that dish.

I often eat noodles as shown above: Boiled, and then with anything "to hand" mixed in them. Usually, that means margarine, and then some protein (usually peanuts or pecans), and spices like lemon pepper or salt-and-pepper. When I am in luck, it means cherry tomatoes and an avocado in there, too, or boiled yellow squash. For awhile there at the beginning and middle of the pandemic, cherry tomatoes completely disappeared from our area. Gone! So I'm making up for lost time with them.

If you get a chance, visit the blogs over on my Blog Roll. I just LOVE those blogs. And, if you know of any other "keeper" blogs, please comment and tell me! Blogs are my "window on the world" lately, and such day-brighteners. Long Live Blogging!

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

A Little Love Banner Free Printable

Here is a thrifty one-sheet banner to print that spells out "LOVE." Might be cute printed out, maybe grubbed on the edges, or sweetened with mica or metallic ink, and tacked on a shelf edge or across the top of an armoire. 

I had the pink version up on my old blog, and have added a tan and black raggedy version.

Use the links to make sure you get the full, uncompressed file, stored in the Google cloud. 

I'm still working on my Strawberry Bunny cross stitch designs. I've got the second one nearly stitched. Where I slow down is translating the actual stitchery to chart form. I dread that part! I like the stitching part best. Of course, I remember when charts were made using graph paper and an old Underwood typewriter!

We had our first foggy day of the year today. It's a rare event and was very exciting to those who have lived hereabouts their whole lives.

Pink Link

Tan Link

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame

Get Ready for Valentine's Day with These Free Tags to Embellish

It's not too early to begin the Valentine's Day crafts. Not with how time flies by so quickly! It seems I barely get in gear and the holiday -- any holiday -- is upon me. 

Here are some little tags to embellish. Each sheet prints out on a regular letter-sized piece of cardstock or paper.

One set is just plain, waiting to be cut out and embellished by your scraps, buttons, and bits. Punch a hole and add some twine or ribbon. LINK!

One set is already "decorated," but certainly it could be fun to add on some lace, rhinestones, string, flowers, G L I T T E R (or mica, I have a jar of it somewhere around here), or what have you. Now I am second-guessing the glitter idea, although I have so many pretty glitters. I just recalled that some scientists think it very bad for the environment. I do hate to think of some earthworm biting down on a piece. I don't think they can spit it out. Or a plankton swallowing some. Maybe I'll just use mica from now on. LINK!

One page is old Victorian images, to be cut out and glued on with whatever you have on hand, too. I enjoy fussy-cuts but not everyone does. I found I liked them very much once I had the right scissors (slim, small ones, very sharp). Does anyone remember the awful elementary school scissors of yesteryear? Impossible! Those rounded tips, and such poor machining, with the blades wallowing around a loose rivet. They chewed the paper, not cut it. Yet we managed to create many a pretty thing with them. In fifth grade were were allowed to have the "pointed" version. Not much better, but we felt very grown up. LINK!

Use the links, please, so that you get the uncompressed files. Blogger compresses large files, and sometimes they won't print the right size. The links are stored on Google Drive, safe. Get them while they're hot, because I might pull the blank ones down after a week or so.

Thank'ee for stopping by.

    Kind regards,

    Holly, The Merry Olde Dame - Not Always Merry, but Always Olde

It's Good to Be Cross Stitching Again!

Energy, time, and inspiration all in one place -- rare for me! I too often let myself be weighed down by, well, weighty matters. The concerns are real, but sometimes I can break out of the Worry Dome and feel free enough to breathe, to create, without guilt. 

I have been having a wonderful time the past few nights, stitching away to please myself, creating a little series I call "Strawberry Bunnies." I probably will put the charts up on Etsy, but frankly I don't care if they sell or not. Maybe that's why I'm having such a great time with them! 

I had years and years of having to produce saleable stories and designs when I was a writer and a graphic designer, before I tried my hand at teaching. It took all the joy out of art for me, and I'm only just now recovering the fun of creating without an anxious eye out as to what others will think. My husband tells me there is a saying in Spanish, "Los que derán." It means, "What will they say? What will they THINK?" but the saying is to rebuke those kinds of thoughts. It's to give confidence and take away the power of that worry. 

So, I'm having a ball with my bunnies that have somehow crossed with strawberries! I hope your day is filled with fun and whimsy, too. Hope you like the Sneak Peek. I hold my cloth scrunched up and don't use a hoop, usually. So, wrinkles! I am adding much more to this design, whatever catches my fancy. Fun!

Kind regards,

Holly, The Merry Olde Dame