One World One Heart 2010 Giveaway

I am participating in the One World One Heart Giveaway sponsored by Lisa Swifka again this year. It runs from today to February 15th. My giveaway this year is another handmade (by me!) pincushion. To enter just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on Feb. 15th. The purpose of the OWOH is to give the blogging community a chance to visit other blogs with the added bonus of winning something fun! Click on the badge on this post or my sidebar for more information and the how-to to participate. Good luck!

Homemaking Chest

I recently did a little redecorating on my porch ( there was a large, unusable table at that end of the room). The walls were already a sunny yellow and the two new rockers make the room more accessible. I had the beautiful burgundy bark cloth in my stash and decided to use it to recover the seat cushions and make pillows for these chairs and the other two rockers in the room. There is an electric cast iron stove in the corner which has turned a chilly room into a very inviting one. I love making things for the home and am reminded of the hope chests of the past. Of course these were started by young girls with the goal of marriage rather than just accumulating items for a beautiful, comfortable home. I would bet that if they didn't marry these things did not get used or were passed on to someone else. How sad. Even though I have lived in this house for 28 years, raised 3 boys I am giving myself the challenge this year of making items for a housekeeping chest- linens and decorative items for the average home.

I am going to divide it up by room, starting with the kitchen. These things were made recently to sell in the shop and I will have some of them for sale on etsy and our new online store when we have it up and running. The above are appliqued flour sack towels using print fabrics and batiks.

These are my crocheted potholders- both useful and decorative. I have a few of them hanging in the kitchen near the stove. By using perle cotton I can make just about any color.

The fastest and easiest things to work up are the crocheted dishcloths. These sold very well in the shop and can be done while watching TV. I use 100% cotton yarn for these.

And since I love flour sack towels I had to add some embroidered ones. I think I will do some bedroom linens next and continue throughout the year. I collect old household manuals and cookbooks and will refer to them for what was traditionally included in a household chest to offer some comparison. Nowadays, no marriage required!