The Other Experiment

Last week I mentioned that for my Jane Eyre slow stitch project I need to figure out a way to transfer an image onto cloth without using chalk, pencils or any sort marking. My solution was to laser print the image onto gift tissue paper and sew through it. To see if it would work, I made a trial run of the idea using scrap muslin and some silk thread.

It worked. The paper was thin enough to stitch through easily, and following the lines of the image worked well, too. I used a variety of stitches to get a feel for what would happen to them when I tore away the tissue at the end. To my surprise the bigger stitches stayed in place, while the smaller did get yanked up a bit (I was able to tug them back into place by carefully prodding the thread from the back.)

This will save me a lot of time that I'd usually spend tracing, and give me a crisper, more accurate image transfer.

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Make It Yourself

As we head into December, here are ten ideas for easy handmade gifts: Cookie Exchange: If you live close to your friends invite them over for a cookie exchange. Basically everyone bakes a set amount of their favorite cookies, and these are exchanged at the gathering by lottery, sharing a little from each batch with everyone, or however you want to do it. You can also exchange recipes, too. My neighbor did this once and it was wonderful. Favorite Recipe Cookbook : For my favorite person I found a copy of my favorite cookbook from a vintage bookseller (yes, I am that old) and went through it making notes on all the recipes I used, how I tweaked them, etc. Ornament: There are probably a million free tutorials on how to make your own holiday ornaments, so do some research online. I like to make hanging pomanders , which smell heavenly and are biodegradable after the holidays. Mug Rugs: If you sew, making up a set of mug rugs is simple and easy; I add these every year to my ...

Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

In the Kitchen Garden

Our strawberries are taking over the kitchen garden, but I don't mind. This week I want to make some strawberry banana nice cream (a vegan version of ice cream) and maybe a chocolate cake with berries and cream for the topping. There's thyme in the garden now, too, which I'll dry and jar for cooking along with the chives and the oregano. Next we'll plant cucumbers, as I use a ton of those in our salads and for snacks.

Rayen

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