The Homemaker's Leisure Time

Tea Cup Snack Set

from Victorian Trading Company

This is one of the tea cup sets I recently acquired. When I have a tea buffet, and guests are going to refill their own tea cups and snack plates, I noticed how hard it was for them to handle the tea cup with saucer, and a plate with food besides. This little set solves the problem perfectly, for it holds both the tea cup in its own neat little place, and the snack in another place. Below is another one from Victorian Trading Company.

Myths about homemaking have always abounded, and one of them is that they do not need any rest or leisure time. Sometimes even religious people are guilty of oppressing the homemaker by suggesting that she keep busy every moment doing something productive.  However, it is important and necessary to have re-creation time, to avoid being overwhelmed.

Since preferences differ from woman to woman, not everyone will have the same interests, but everyone should have something they love to do when they are not washing dishes, preparing food, or cleaning house.  In years past, our mothers would get their work done as efficiently as possible so that they could work on their quilts or pamper their flower beds; personal interests that gave them pleasure and relaxation.

Art work of various types is an option for some, as well as crafts and needlework. Others might enjoy working with paper, and still others will have a passion for sewing or knitting.  Whatever the leisure time activity is, it should always be something that renews the spirit and the body, and not taxing or stressful. It should be something  the homemaker looks forward to and enjoys.

For those who like paper crafts, I have made a new envelope template and a sample of what you could do with it. You will notice that the flaps are not typical. It is designed so that it can be used two ways: vertical or horizontal.

First, select some paper (not cardstock and not heavy paper) from your paper collection, old calendar pages, magazine pictures, or whatever you have on hand. Your printer paper or children's construction paper works well for this envelope and letter paper project. This is thin scrapbook paper which is white on the other side, from K & C Company, an English scrapbook paper company which is available in various stores here.

Cut a template of cardstock or cardboard from the pattern I'm giving you, and trace around it with pencil. If you use quilters plastic template material, you can see through it and be able to see the design of the paper and center it wherever you wish.

On another area of the paper, trace your writing paper from the template and cut it out.

This is what it will look like after you cut it out, before you fold the flaps down.

 Crease the fold lines over the edge of a ruler or straight cardboard.

 

Put a strip of glue on each side of one of the flaps and press up.

The letter paper and envelope above is made from brown paper, rubber stamped and colored with crayon.

Here are the  yellow envelopes folded both vertically (left) and horizontally, and here are the templates:

To print, click on for larger view and then click "print." If you are unable to print things, take apart an envelope that you already have and paste it to a piece of cardboard. Cut it out and trace around it on various colors of paper and you'll never lack for envelopes.

If you have 8 and a half by 11 inch printer paper, you do not really need to print out this template. Just cut a piece of paper in half the long way and you'll get the right size for this envelope. Make a little stack of these for a hostess gift or a party favor, a birthday gift, or any other occasion. People sometimes find it hard to find really pretty stationery at an affordable price, and a gift like this would be appreciated. 

I have been enjoying some evening leisure time in fair weather in my clothes-pinned sheet tent, similar to the one I made last year. In it is a fold-away cot made into a couch by covering it with an old quilt and adding cushions.

You can easily make tents like this for children, by pinning a fitted sheet onto tree branches to make the ceiling, and putting the flat sheets on the sides for walls. I used an old rug for the floor. It takes about 24 clothespins to pin the sheets to the branches and to fasten the sides. Pinch in the ceiling sheet from the top, with more clothespins, connecting it to branches. The fitted sheets create a more billowing, canopy effect which is very pretty from the inside.

 Use bricks or large rocks to anchor the hem of the sheets to the carpet. If you use a cot, you can tuck the lower part of the sheet beneath the stands on both ends.

 Children love these hideaways and it is something anyone can do. If you do not have trees, you can use clotheslines to make something similar. They are great for making a shady place  to read, write or rest. Reading has been a favorite past time of homemakers, and a stack of books would be quite appealing in this setting.

Creative activities or leisure should be a regular part of a homemaker's day. I like to sit out here and listen to the distant train whistle in the late summer evening, and all the sounds that come with the end of the day.

(This one is similar to last year's effort.)

Clothespins, sheets or fabric, and an old rug is all you need. These are easily cleaned up and stored away, and you can add old quilts and cushions during the day. Remove blankets or cushions at night if your climate tends to be damp. That white iron gate is an old child's bed spring used as a morning glory climbing fence.

I cannot forget to show a pink one, made with clothespins, tablecloths, sheets and quilts:

 Here is a distant photo of the tent village. I'm going to make a dining room tomorrow if it does not rain.

Now for the "dining room":

The fitted sheet is used as a ceiling because it fits around tree branches and prevents the leaves from dropping all over the table or couch. The flat sheets or table cloths are hung as walls, with clothespins. I still have to add the side "walls" to this little scene.

If you really want to seem some great outdoor enclosures, watch the updates at Aiken House and Gardens,  (see my blog roll) on Prince Edward Island. It is a wonder that Victoria Magazine does not do a story on this pretty home and gardens!

Go here for more Sheet Tent ideas!

Leisure Arts - Fleece Decorative Cake

This is a little play-cake for a child's kitchen, made of fleece and poly-fiber-fill stuffing.  If you are familiar with sewing with felt, you can make the same things using fleece. Polar fleece is a little more flexible than felt and has a softer look, but the choice is yours.

I did not make a pattern for this because I used a teacup saucer to trace the circle, and then cut a fourth section out of the fabric circle to make the cake look like it had been cut. I measured the other pieces as I sewed, and also made a slice of cake, which is not shown here. You can get directions for a slice here.

Since I host a Ladies Tea once a week in my home, I like to have an interesting centerpiece each time, and this cake will be just the thing. Little leisure-art bits like this are great for gifts for those who like them. After the tea, someone might go home with the centerpiece of the week, or I may send it by mail to someone who likes it.

Leisure Sewing: Pretty Egg (Fabric Decorative Ornament)

Eggs in the Country

by Victor Gabriel Gilbert  (France, 1847-1933)

You've probably seen the egg-shaped decorated cakes in bakeries and grocery stores around the country. This dainty little sewing project is a replica of these egg-cakes, and only takes a small of amount of time to make.

It is made of polar fleece but any fabric can be used. This one is a pink egg shape, stuffed with polyester fiberfill,  trimmed in rucking, and topped with a rose and leaves that look just like the icing in the real cakes. Here is how to make one:

With a pencil and double layer of fabric, draw around the cardboard egg pattern which is included in this post and then cut out the fabric.  Machine or hand-stitch a small seam around the edges, leaving a gap big enough to insert stuffing.

When filled sufficiently to your preference, stitch up the opening, and then cut a long strip of fabric about 3/4 to one inch wide. Make the strip two times the circumference of the egg by wrapping it around the outer seam twice to get the right measurement.  This is called ruching, which is a simple kind of ruffle.  To make it, knot a long piece of thread and sew a running stitch , using long stitches down the middle of the strip of fabric, pulling it to gather slightly as you go.

Check to see if it fits the egg, wrapping it around the seam line once, before you knot the other end. Loosen or tighten the gathers as needed and then tie off.

Attach the ruching trim to the egg by sewing through the middle of the ruching again, through the seam of the egg, covering the seam, all the way around.  It should look a little like piped icing.

Using another piece of strip, approximately 3 inches long, (or use the pattern provided) sew a gathering stitch at the lower end.

Gather up the piece like this,

and pull up the thread and tie off.

Then, roll the gathered piece so that it looks like a rose, 

and stitch the lower edges together.

Lay the rosebud on some felt leaves from the pattern. Put gathering stitches down the middle of the leaves before attaching the rose, and pull up the threads slightly to give the leaves some shape, and to make them look like icing. Or, take a stitch in the back of each leave to give it a puckered look.

Imagine what a white bowl filled with these eggs in lemon yellow, mint green, baby blue or white would look like!

Print the pattern out on card stock, or trace around an egg-shaped card for your guide.

Part of the enjoyment of making something like this is the cost: just a few cents if you use little bits of fabric and trims you already have. You can scent them by spraying some vanilla cologne (available at Dollar Tree) into the fiberfill before you stitch up the seam.  It is tempting to make a lot of these, but one of them will make a nice package topper or little gift to include in a package for someone.

Have a look at Pink Saturday to see projects others are making.

The fabric eggs you see below are sold in a popular catalog online:

These velvet eggs are from Victorian Trading Company  - The trims are made of wool and chenille trim. I tried to figure out how they were made but ended up just inventing my own, as you see in the above demonstration!  These are about 6 inches long by 5 inches wide, and my eggs are almost as big. So you see, if you make these cloth eggs, you are making something that sells for about $12.00 apiece online!!  Make some of my fleece piped-icing eggs  for your etsy shop and sell them for your nest-egg!!   Check out my chicken pattern here.

You might enjoy this sweet blog.

Sparkle Cards and Tags

Evening Snow

by David Doss

This is an easy activity for a child (or for some of the rest of us). You can also use it for a card, if you place the outside of the mitten on the folded edge.  Just use the pattern I have provided, and paint the cuff with glitter glue, and then sprinkle some glitter on it. I used pink, here, but you can use whatever colour cardstock you wish, and add your choice of glitter colour, or use mica flakes for a special effect.

Cut these snowflakes from regular paper and paint with glitter glue, adding extra glitter if you like. This is crystal glitter, but it would look great in other colours. One is plain, and another is plain with glitter; the third one is a lacy snowflake.

Fold your paper into fourths, and cut out one of the fourths. Then square it, and fold into triangles three times.

This is how you make a square (above) by folding the point of the paper up to the edge and cutting off the excess.

You can see the 4 steps to make your snowflake here, folding the triangle smaller each time. Lay the pattern on the smallest triangle and trace it. Cut along the lines you drew and open up your pretty snowflake.  One pattern is for a plain snowflake, and another one has the holes cut out so it will have a lace effect.

I have included a few other patterns to fill up the paper. One is a hat box gift tag or ornament or card. Just leave off the fold-down portion of the lid if you do not want a card.  Decorate and glitter, as you wish.  Another is a gift shaped card or ornament, and can be coloured or painted or used with glitter paints, such as polymer.

Those smaller pieces are the snowflake patterns, which have to be placed on the folded edges of your triangles. The one on the right is the plain one, with no holes.

As usual, some people say they have trouble getting my patterns to print. If this does not respond to "print", try highlighting and pasting, as I explained in the previous post.

Greetings to you all and blessings abundant!