Storytime Challenge

 

My Storytime Stitches posts were popular a few years ago.  So I thought you might enjoy knowing about the Cherrywood Fabrics challenge for 2026.

The rules and explaination of the challenge can be found here at the Cherrywood website.

Unfortunately, I doubt I will be able to participate.  I'm so behind now.  I have a memory quilt to do, a baby quilt and a quilt for my brother..not to mention whatever I can make for the guild craft show.  

Would you consider participating?  What was your favorite childhood story?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: July 18, 2025

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Thankfully, Sue sent some photos for this week.  I'm unable to download my photos right now.  Thank you Sue!

Gladiola:

Bee Balm:

Double Road (Or Ditch) Lily:

Phlox and Lily:

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Wayback Wednesday: Spool Knitting

 

When I was a kid, I received a knitting spool for Christmas.  Do you know what I mean?

It was called a wide range of names including Knitting Nancy, Knitting Bob, and Dolly Bobbin to name a few.  The knitting spool was one of many crafts my mother bought that was intended to keep me busy.  Ironically, I had to learn from the instructions because my mother did not spool or knit.

A long chain comes out the bottom as you weave or knit the top of the spool.

My problem was that I wasn't sure what to do with the cording I made.  Eventually it disappeared like a lot of other toys that did not occupy us.

But apparently, this form of knitting was very popular in Canada and the USA.  Children learned it at school and partipated in school competitions:

Saskatchewan, Canada:  1938

Children often wrote to the local newspaper about their hobbies and spool knitting was among those interests.  But it wasn't just children who did spool knitting.  One of the surprising articles I found was a Nancy Page ad published in 1935:

It wasn't a craft that just fizzled out and died.  In 1969, an article was syndicated throughout the country about a teenager who spool knit as she recovered from spinal surgery:

 Ooh, look!  A Mickey Mouse one!

You can still buy brand knew knitting spools.  My question is did you have one as a child (or now).  Did you use it or like it?

Have a safe and happy day!

Humpback Highway

 

During the covid lockdown , I used to watch a youtube series that John Krasinski created.  It was called "Some Good News" and was wonderful for that dark and scarey time.  

We sure could use some of that now!

So how about this--Whales migrate towards warmer waters.  Right now along the Australian coast, about 40,000 whales are headed towards Queenland and better feeeding areas.

In Australia, commuter boat traffic stops for the whales.  The folks there appear to really cherish the "Humpback Highway" as it is called.  You can read an article about this phenomenon here .

Here is a map of different humpback highways around the world!

What is your favorite sea creature?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: July 11, 2025

 

I'm praying for those that have been impacted by the dangerous flash floods.  I hope you are all doing well and are safe.

Sue said that not much beauty in her garden right now with all the rain we've been getting but here are some lovelies she did capture:

Morning Glory:

Gladiola:

Bee Balm:

My gladiola is also blooming but it is orange:

Out back, most of the hydrangeas are blooming:

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Reminder

 

Tomorrow is Flower Friday!  Email me photos if you want to participate!  

Have a safe and happy day!

Wayback Wednesday: Handmade Rugs

 

Wayback Wednesday this week is looking at handmade rugs.  I recently watched a British video about hooked rugs.  The lecturer mentioned that in Britain, people used what they had.  In contrast, she suggested that in the U.S. folks used kits instead.

I know that some printed rug backings were sold.  Some of them you can see hanging up in this old photo of a local drygoods store:

I don't know about the rest of the country, but I know in my state women didn't just rely on kits.  Many were designed by the makers and possibly because it was a more frugal way to create.  On this blog post at the Silly BooDilly, there are many rugs featured that weren't kits and women used what they had or drew things themselves.

I don't know if my great-grandmother made hooked rugs or if her own mother did.  But she sure did make braided ones.  Grandma was always making something and I remember watching her braid.  My mother has three of these pieces at her house.  Here are two I took photos of:

There's a lot of gray and dark green tones in these rugs from Grandpa's clothing.  One of the reds was an old coat of one of my great aunt's.  

Do you remember having handmade rugs in your world while you were growing up?

Have a safe and happy day!

Catching up

 

How was your weekend?

I took an extra day off yesterday because I had to go get bloodwork and some tests.

Our weekend was good and the weather was particularly good on Friday and Saturday.  Saturday was my gardening day.  The morning was so fresh and humid free.  I put in as much time as possible.  It felt great!

Lucky did not fare so well over the weekend.  Too many local fireworks really unglued him.  I ended up giving him Benadryl Thursday and Friday night to help take the edge off.  I always feel so bad for dogs during this time of year.  I bought this patriotic fabric a while ago but I still think it should illustrate dogs crying, howling, and shuddering...

Thankfully, that appears to have passed.

We are back to hot and very humid weather.  It's really uncomfortable in the sewing room so all I accomplished in the last few days was to cut all the pieces for Paula's quilt.  

The heat reminds me why I probably abandoned Christmas in July years ago.  It's just too dang hot to be sewing upstairs.

Fortunately I have plenty of handwork to complete in the cooler living room.  This past week I finished a number of table toppers including 2 Christmas ones.  For whatever reason, I can't get the photos to my computer.  I'll show them when I can.

So that is all for here.  Hope you are all staying cool and doing well!

.

Lucky Grooming

 

Lucky is the only dog we've had that doesn't mind grooming.  In fact he runs around like a happy mad dog when we get there.  One of the reason is that Jessa has two poodles as well...a standard and a toy.  I wish I could get a photo of all three of them together but they move too fast as they play.

I took a comic I found to Jessa.  She loved it!

Grooming day always leaves Lucky exhausted.

But the next day and for a few days later, he is very unnerved about the haircut.  Apparently he can feel things he couldn't before the cut. 

He'll be barking a lot the next few days because of the Fourth of July.  It already started on Sunday night with locals letting off fireworks.  It's an awful time of year for dogs.😒

Hope you are all having a great day!

Wayback Wednesday

 

Life has been pretty quiet on the "This and That" front.  I've always wanted to do posts on retro things---so here we go.  If you have something you think of nostalgically about, email me!  Today's odd topic:  

Children's Hangers

When I was a kid, I only had one wooden hanger but I loved it.  I was always certain this was older than me.  I loved the little girl and often wondered if she had a story.

I have a few other wooden hangers, gifted to me by a friend:

Some other charming hangers include:

The charming plastic ones.  The ones with cutwork are adorable but I doubt many of them survived:

Multiple children:

Some look homemade (and older):

Cute ones from Germany or Scandinavia...?

As much as I love all these things, I really never knew what to do with them.  But then I saw these ideas on Pinterest:

Along that line, I gave Linda a 1940s hanger that had clothes pins strung on it.  I'm sure it was to dry women's stockings but Linda uses it to dry her herbs!

The reason hangers were so important was because people had less clothing than we do now.  They had small closets (like in my house) and they needed their clothes to last as long as possible.

Do you remember any of these?

Have a safe and happy day!

Christmas in July

I'm fairly certain it's been years since I started Christmas presents in July.  When the grandkids were young, Christmas was so much fun.  I liked Christmas so much that I even listened to carols in July. 

Nearly everyone has everything they need but I thought of a few sewn things I would like to gift this year.  So far, I have mostly just ordered supplies and I'll share finished items as they happen.  

Last Christmas I gave mother a table top holder and a wide variety of small hangings to put on it.  This is one of her favorite things this year and she loves changing the hangings (I made more than one for most months).

I'm now making a similar gift for my sister-aunt Kathy.  I was hoping to get it done for her birthday in July but I'm fairly certain that won't happen. I'll shoot for Christmas.

I also want to make a lap quilt for my brother Jim.  He's the brother who lost his wife last year and then got very sick.  Anyway, he deserves another quilt.  The one I want to make this year is sports themed (the other I had made for him and Janet; it featured flowers).  Some of Jim's sports fabrics just arrived:

How do you feel about sewing for the holidays in July?

Have a safe and happy day!