Homemade Christmas Gifts

My house felt like a Christmas workshop up until Christmas Eve. The carols were playing, sewing machine whirring and the house was filled with the smell of warm cookies, beeswax and herbs.
All my homemade gifts were done on time. Cotton pillow slips and floursack towels were embroidered, washed and ironed. Beeswax votives came out clean and sweet, their wicks straight and trim. The rosebud and lavender drawer sachets smelled like my summer garden and so did the lavender soap. My daughter’s painting was finished, framed and varnished.
The last of the baking, apricot pastries, went quickly so I had time to try out a new recipe. I saw these Almond Bars on Everyday Cheer and I knew they would be delicious and easy… they were!
Christmas Eve was rainy and chilly but it didn’t matter. We had a fire crackling away, a delicious dinner and everyone was filled with a happy, expectant feeling.

Vintage <3

Easy vintage iron transfers

I love vintage patterns! I feel like I found a treasure when I come across a great, clean tablecloth or fabric at a flea market. When I was a kid, I used to go to Woolworths with my Grandmother. They had drawers full of iron on patterns. We would pick out the one we wanted and then choose the colors we needed for our design. I had a little blue embroidery hoop and my own sewing basket. Such great memories! Lots of fabric stores still sell the iron on patterns. There are a lot of really cute vintage designs. They are so inexpensive, and the embroidery floss and the hoops are too. I add my own vintage touches to my pillowcases, hand towels and flour sac towels.  Just iron on the design, stitch in the embroidery and it’s done!  Very quick and easy to do!  This was shared at Share Your Cup Thursday!