reasons to be cheerful...

1: little olive did not run away yesterday, unlike the day before. just thinking of a little pesky daxie out in the 'wooded' world beyond our acre of moss made monday afternoon a little fretful

2: Miss Lou Dearie's parcel of retro fabrics turned up on Mossy Shed's doorstep, winging it's way from old blighty. after putting them on a stool and admiring their retro goodness, i could contain myself no longer and had to rifle through them

3: a spiffy pair of retro curtains found within Miss Lou Dearies pile now adds the prefect granny chic charm to our lounge

4: Mr Sun has his hat on for the first time in quite the while. 'tis still a bit nippy in the air, however i may go outside in a bit and stand like a sunflower in the middle of the yard. pesky little olive may come too, if she promises to behave

5: a little japanese wooden doll found me on friday night upon the shelves of despair. she was not on the usual 'forsaken souls' shelf but stuffed rather undignified amongst the 'wooden finds'. i pulled her carefully out from under a wooden platter, she smiled shyly and i was smitten. took her home and gave her a little string scarf of granny knicker pink.

6: apparently there is no school tomorrow, therefore the 6:30am alarm will be switched off. that alone is cause for cheer in the shed.

7: one week today, my folks arrive from across the pond, the excitement within the shed is building to fever pitch.

8: the outline for my book is coming together, therefore Janine has given me the nod to continue along the book path. i have four key words written above my desk, 'gathering, writing, making, doing' in an attempt to ward off any unwelcome advances from Mr Procrastinator

even with a day off school, she is cheerfully hoping for a gleeful 'how-to' on friday, ~ Tif

dottie angel do's... part two

truth be told, i like to 'snippity snip' fabrics into pieces and then spend many happy moments patching them all back together in a random fashion. however for the dottie angel tea towels, i did not allow myself a pair of scissors, other than for cutting threads. my plan being, to see if just using two oversized tea towels, one could make several gifts in a very short space of time. therefore being contenders for

'gifts to make and give this gleeful season'.

both the laundry bag and the cushions are very basic in their construction, if you can sew a straight running stitch on a sewing machine you can make these easily. having done so myself yesterday, i am thinking a length of lace on the pillow envelope closure and a few little fabric tags on the laundry bag seam would give them a little extra. i would also go as far as to suggest one real life vintage doily appliqued on, amongst the printed ones might look quite peachy...

"how exotic" i hear you cry, "i know!" says i

laundry bag ingredients

* one pair of oversized dottie angel tea towels

* around 3 to 4 yds of twill tape

(or something similar for drawstrings)

place tea towels right sides together and pin

leaving a three inch gap before you start sewing,

sew down one side, along bottom and up the other side

once again leaving a three inch gap at the top

whilst bag is still inside out,

pinch your two corners flat

and stitch down creating a nice bottom for your bag

now turn your attention to the bag opening.

still with bag inside out

fold back the top of both tea towels 1.5"

sew along edge being sure to leave a nice wide gap

for your draw strings to run through.

turn bag right sides out

and press nice bottom with Mr Iron,

next, admire your nice bottom

taking your twill tape, cut into two even lengths,

thread one piece through the top of bag

(may need to use a safety pin for threading)

and back through the other side

knotting the two ends together

repeat in the opposite direction with other draw string.

i must admit the top of the bag does look a little iffy

before you put in the drawstrings,

but when they are threaded in,

everything appears to fall into place nicely

and voila! a simple laundry bag perfectly perfect

for hanging around

cushion cover ingredients

* an over sized pair of dottie angel tea towels

* two cushion inserts

(i used sizes 14" x 14" and 12" x 16")

with design facing upwards

fold the bottom and top of tea towel inwards

to the right size for your cushion,

this example is for the 14" square cover

pin along the right and left side

again in this example it is 14"

sew your two pinned sides

turn cushion cover right sides out,

carefully making sure corners are pushed out fully

press with your Mr Iron

and fill with cushion pad

Voila!

the dottie angel do's and the doilies design fitted both these 'how-tos' rather well, plus the cotton they are printed on is very soft even before washing and like i said before, adding a few extra details would give them a more handcrafted look. i know for me it was a struggle not to 'snippity snip' the rules up and patch them together with vintage fabrics but i think for quick and easy gleeful gifts or 'anytime of the year' gifts, they are perfectly perfect just the way they are.

she is back to her 'snippity snipping' ways today, whilst keeping a beady eye on pesky little olive ~ Tif

footynote: silly, silly me! i thought something was missing, has been one of those mornings :)

i am missing a cushion! so just a little footnote to say, using the other tea towel with the doilies, i made another simple cushion cover to match the dottie angel do's one, that being the size 12" x 16" i mentioned earlier. i am pleased to report they are most happy spending quality time in a chair together

dottie angel do's... part one

some days when Mr Sun won't shine

and Mr Blah seems all around,

i am thinking it quite nice

to have a reminder of how to 'perky up' the day.

now some may say

"how Tif, could a tea towel possibly perky up my day?"

and usually i would be inclined to agree,

although saying that,

there are so many tea towels

out in 'tea towel world' doing a grand job at cheering up a nest or two.

however this perfectly peachy pair

of over sized tea towels are tres clever,

not only do they have the ability to 'perky up'

a corner of your kitchen with their pretty looks.

but they are also handy dandy

at reminding us of how to live the 'dottie angel' way

yes indeedy, several months ago

whilst rummaging around some boxes in our garage

i came across my granny's old exercise book.

this chance encounter resulted in a 'ta da' moment of the utmost kind.

the results of my 'ta da' moment being the

dottie angel do's

1. do have high hopes

2. do follow the righteous and goodly

path of thriftiness

3. do think you are most peachy perfect

4. do feel a little crafty at least twice a day

5. do wear your slip peeking out from

below your skirt

6. do embrace all that is granny chic

and give it a forever home

this pair of sweeties would be perfectly at home doing the dishes,

hanging around on a wall looking pretty

or being used to make a cushion or bag.

they do not mind which you do,

they are just happy if you are.

all this grand tea towel fabbiness

was made possible by two spiffy folks.

folk #1. my soul sister Debbie and partner in businessy things such as this

(yes 'tis true, we are now 'ltd')

she wore her little 'business cap', the result being,

these lovely quality tea towels are printed in Old Blighty

and wrapped nicely in yarn,

ready for their new homes.

and

folk #2. my long time cyber buddy Francesca Iannaccone

from Mrs Eliot Books,

who so kindly saw what was inside of my head

and made the design appear!

i am a mega fan of Fran's lovely work

and was totally delighted when she agreed

to collaborate with Debbie and myself.

lots of other nitty gritty stuff about the tea towels

can be found in the description of them in my little shop.

i must tell you, i am pretty delighted

with the results of our first 'dottie angel ltd' product

and in thrilling 'part two' if i maybe so bold,

even bolder than today

i will be sharing a little 'how two'

for making this peachy pair into cushions and a laundry bag.

i know this to be bold,

because as i tippity type,

i have yet to actually make them into cushions and bags...

she has high hopes, she has not counted her chickens before they hatched ~ Tif