Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Magic Paint Book
Paint With Water
Whitman Publishing Co., 1949

Since I finished the Water Drop quilt top one day ahead of schedule, I managed to sneak in one more gift which I thought of in the middle of the night.  This goth-ish Christmas apron is a little extra gift for my son’s girlfriend.  The apron is made from a black sheet, and the 8 skeletons with bow ties are fused on with Steam-A-Seam 2.  The skeleton template is from one of those tiny stencil books by Dover, which are super cheap and great for all kinds of crafts besides stenciling (which I don’t do).  Now I’m really done with present making, and I need to get busy wrapping, cooking, doing laundry, cleaning the house — basically all the things I have not been doing at all for the past 2 weeks.

The Water Drop quilt top is finally finished, and I think it looks pretty good.  I just had a couple of problems.  Although I really like the shading in my background fabric, I wasn’t thinking about how the organisms were going to look as I moved up to the lighter area.  I had to rip out the white hairy edging on the large organism on the top left, because there just wasn’t enough contrast.  I replaced the white with a light blue, which I think shows up better, but it bugs me a little because it’s different than the original illustration.  Also, I should have been more careful about motif placement, because as I began to attach the outline of the drop, I realized that they were a little “off” at the top.   To fill in the space, I extended the flagella on the top organism.

I haven’t worked on anything else this week, and I’m glad this top is finally done.  I’m excited to get started on the quilting after Christmas.

I hope my nephew is going to like it.

The original illustration from The Giant Golden Book of Biology, 1961.

This is supposed to be my next-to-last made gift, although you never can tell with me.  My plan is to spend the rest of this week working on the Water Drop quilt top. Then I’ll have Christmas week to bake and wrap.

This is the end of the fabric I used last Christmas to make my sister’s giant table runner. It was an amazing purchase of 4 yards of darling holly pixie fabric, and I’ve managed to use every inch of it.  I’ve never made a matching tablecloth and apron before, but I think it’s kind of fun for entertaining.  The 38″ topper is backed with a vintage sheet, with just a little green holly design quilting to keep it together (the quilting shows up way better in person than in these photos).  The red striped fabric on the apron is also vintage — probably from the 50s.

Here are my three other favorite short films from this program. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it . . . it’s my nature to try and force others to read, watch and make things that I like.

My Christmas (1:38)
An entry in the diary of Teddy Roosevelt, age 11
Read by Dean Wareham

December 25, 1914 (8:05)
A letter from the Western Front by Captain Sir Edward Hulse
Read by David Jones

The Great Frost (14:45 in two parts)
Based on a passage from the novel “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf
Narrated by Hermione Gingold

Gordon and I first watched this PBS program in 1977, a year after we were married.  We loved these wonderful animated shorts, and never forgot them.  PBS at some point produced a VHS copy of this program, but unfortunately it was not broadcast again (to my knowledge) and has never been released on DVD.  Last year I managed to locate a VHS copy which I transferred to DVD and gave to everyone in my extended family.

I have happily discovered that all 6 segments have been uploaded to YouTube by kmcleod31721. This is one of my favorite Christmas videos of all time, right up there with “A Christmas Memory” (the 1966 Geraldine Page original, narrated by Truman Capote), which is also out of print, but available on YouTube in 6 segments, beginning here.

Take a few minutes to watch the Simple Gifts prologue by Maurice Sendack, along with “A Memory of Christmas,” a short film based on a story of a childhood Christmas Eve written by the American playwright, Moss Hart, and narrated by José Ferrer.

As promised, I have scanned a few of my green Depression fabrics. Some of these tend a little more blueish, while others are more yellow, but none of them are very Christmasy looking. Even so, they’re pretty great.

Brenda just asked me how many of the prints are feedsacks, so I thought I would add that none of them are feedsacks. They are all tightly woven dress-weight cottons. My camera is capturing a 2″ square of each print.

It’s been a long time since I’ve photographed any of my vintage fabric.  In honor of Christmas, here are some little samples (2″ x 2″ sections) of vintage Depression dress fabrics in red.  Tomorrow. . . .green.

Old Workbasket magazines had a sheet of embroidery transfers (red ink on craft paper) folded and stapled inside the pages.  On one side of the staples was a large sheet of transfers; on the other side was a little section (2 1/2″ x 8″) that had its own unique designs.  I’ve always loved these little bits, so I scanned all the ones I could find with a Christmas theme.

These are so small that you could easily stitch up a few before Christmas.  Click on each image for the actual size.

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This little throw is made with vintage blocks purchased from Barbara at Oodles.  The blocks were probably from a stamped quilt kit, and they have been stitched with green and a combination of variegated and plain pink floss.  Many times in these old sets the background fabrics are yellowed or stained, but these were in perfect condition.

The tulip border and the solid green are both vintage glazed chintz fabrics from my stash.  I bought the tulip blocks thinking they would look good with the border print, and I think they do.

Because I’m in a huge rush and my carpal tunnel has flared up, the hand quilting isn’t the best I’ve ever done.  Most of the stitching was done while I was wearing my brace, which is a bit tricky.  Anyway, I’m okay with the way it turned out, since it’s just a little utility throw and not some heirloom project.

Cross-Stitched Tulip Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2011
hand embroidered (unknown quilter)
machine pieced, hand quilted
54″ x 54″