Monday, March 29, 2010

Mrs. Rabbit's Apron


Mrs. Rabbit's Apron is what initially inspired Story Time Stitches for me.  The picture of Mrs. Rabbit standing at her stove in that cheery green and white apron caught my imagination every time I saw it, and I knew that one day I would reproduce that sweet apron.  Finally here it is just in the nick of time as the month of March is fading and Story Time Stitches is coming to a close for this year.  

Victorea is my model today and a fine job she did.  I'm really pleased with how this apron turned out.  I always have grand plans in my head, but they don't always translate into the final product as well as this one did. 

I've opened a new etsy shop, RainyDayCafe, and this apron is now available there as well as several vintage aprons that I've run across in my travels. 

May you all be blessed with Story Time Sweetness!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Adrienne's Super Hero Underpants


Ricky Rocotta has made his debut on Story Time Stitches with Adrienne's Super Hero Underpants. What little boy wouldn't do his best work saving the world from evil wearing these fantastic whitie-tighties? I love Adrienne's idea and think that every little man should have a pair. Captain Underpants was a favorite character at our house when Dustin was a little man, and Ricky Rocotta is brought to us by the same author. I'm not familiar with Ricky, but know three little boys who will be needing his books come Christmas time. Check - onto the list they go.
Thank you, Adrienne, for such a funny and wonderful submission to Story Time Stiches!

Remember that it's not to late to join in. I,m loving what everyone has come up with. This has been so fun for me, and I hope for you guys as well. Thanks so much for playing along!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Sara's Sock Thing

Sara created the cutest ever Sock Thing inspired by a Kipper story.  I just love it!  So darn cute, he just makes me grin.  Sara made Sock Thing a couple of years ago for her little girl, Valerie, and as she was reading the story to her little Andrew, she remembered Sock Thing hidden away.  She pulled him out and has submitted him for our viewing pleasure to Story Time Stitches.  Yeah!  Thanks so much, Sara.  I'm so glad you joined in and I know that everyone else will have a  fabulous time meeting Sock Thing as well. He's exactly the right kind of inspiration that I was thinking of when Story Time Stitches was born.  Exactly the right kind.

To see more story inspired goodies, either just scroll down or check out the links in the sidebar.  Stop in and say Hi to the participants. They would love that!Happy reading.  Hope you all are inspired to create something fun from a story this month.  There is still a couple of weeks left to join in....with a fun story-inspired gift for one lucky particpant at the end of our Story Time journey.  

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Paula's Blackberry Pie

"Put on your mittens, you silly kittens
and you shall have some pie."

My Blackberry Pie was inspired for Story Time Stitches from the nursery rhyme "The Three Little Kittens" and also by the over-abundance of blackberry brambles that grow around our home.  I used up the end of the blackberries that I had frozen from last fall and the pie was absolutely delicious.  I wish you could have shared it with us, but like those silly little kittens, we gobbled it all up, along with Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream of course.

Paula's Blackberry Pie

Pie Crust Recipe of your choice
3 or 4 pints of ripe Blackberries, fresh or frozen
1-1/2 cups Sugar
1/4 cup Cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated Lemon Zest
2 tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons Milk

Pre-heat oven to 425 degree's.  Prepare a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray and your bottom pie crust.

Toss together the blackberries, sugar, cornstarch, zest, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.  Pour into the crust, mounding in the middle and dot with the cut up butter.

Cover with your top pie crust, folding the overhand under and sealing and crimping with your fingers.  Cut slits or decorative holes (I use a small cookie cutter) to let the steam escape while cooking.  Brush the crust with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and beautiful.

Serve warm with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Yummy!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do~

Don't forget to pop back in and see more Story Time Stitches creations this month, or join in yourself.  A good story is a wonderful thing...



Saturday, March 13, 2010

Luci's Paper Bag Princess Dress

Luci made a Paper Bag Princess costume for a reading event for kids and it also worked perfectly for Storytime Stitches!  Such a fantastic costume made from a story line inspiration.  I just love it and Luci looks adorable in her costume!  I'm not familiar with the Paper Bag Princess so will certainly have to find a copy and check it out.  It's a story about a princess, a dragon and a prince.  Sounds like something I would like.  Pop over to Creative Tails by Luci and read all about her creating and her day at the reading event. 

Thank you so much, Luci, for your submission to Storytime Stitches!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Story Time Stitches Has Begun

It's March and time for Story Time Stitches!   Stacey is the first one to post her Story Time project with this incredibly cute strawberry basket inspired by Hansel and Gretel.  I absolutely love it!  A perfect project for Story Time Stitches!

Have you started your project yet?  Give us a hint of what it's going to be and don't forget to let me know when you have completed and posted it, so that I can link you here and we can all oooohhh and aaaaaahhh over your sweetness.  (Also don't forget that at the end of the month I will be drawing a name from all the participants to win a special Story Time Stitches prize.)  Your project can be as complicated as you like or as simple as baking a loaf of bread inspired by the Little Red Hen or a pie inspired by the Three Little Kittens.  You decide, I just hope that you decide to join us.

Here are a couple of idea's that I have:

A sweater from Jan Brett's Annie and the Wild Animals


Raggedy Ann's Scarf and Market Bag


Mrs. Rabbit's Apron and a cup of Chammomile Tea

The fabric for Mrs. Rabbit's Apron is sitting on my ironing board, just waiting to be cut out.  Tomorrow night...as long as my plans can remain intact.

I can't wait for you to join us and to see what wonderful Story Time Creations you come up with! 

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Digging Up Clams



Ocean tides pull waves away~
People skitter like crabs,
Filling bags with razor clams.











Monday, March 01, 2010

Turn the Page....Tuesday


'It was a lazy summer afternoon as Beata Wittgenstein strolled along the shores of Lake Geneva with her parents.  The sun was hot and the air still, and as she walked pensively behind them, the birds and insects were making a tremendous racket.  Beata and her younger sister Brigitte had come to Geneva with their mother for the summer.  Beata had just turned twenty, and her sister was three years younger.  It had been thirteen months since the Great War had begun the previous summer, and this year her father had wanted them out of Germany for their holiday.  It was late August 1915, and he had just spent a month there with was them.  Both of her brothers were in the army and had managed to get leave to join them for a week.  Horst was twenty-three and a lieutenant at divisional headquarters in Munich.  Ulm was a captain in the 105th Infantry Regiment, part of the Thirtieth Division, attached to the Fourth Army.  He had just turned twenty-seven during the week he spent with them in Geneva.'
First paragraph of Echoes by Danielle Steele

This month the Turn the Page Tuesday challenge was to read a book that had been reviewed by one of the other participants.  I cheated a little bit and read EchoesMary had reviewed it at one point, but not as part of Turn the Page Tuesday, though she has participated before. 

I haven't read a Danielle Steel book for ever and a day, but this one sounded interesting.  I love history and seem to have a morbid fascination for the Great War era.  What people went through is just incredible.  Echoes tells the story of Beata, a Jewish German girl who, in the first chapter of the story, meets and falls in love with Antoine, a very handsome Frenchman.  Beata and Antoine defy both of their families to marry, becoming outcasts.  Beata's father goes as far as sitting Shiva for her, the ceremony for the dead, and writing her name down in the family bible under deceased.  The young couple lives in Sweden with cousins of Antoine's until the war is over, then chooses to move back into Germany where Antoine takes a job as a trainer on a horse ranch.  As the years pass, Adolf Hitler comes into power and horrible things start to happen to Jewish families.  Beata has glimpsed her family on the streets now and again, but they turn from her the second they see her.  It is heartbreaking, but her love for her husband and young daughter makes it worth the cost. 
I don't want to give to much of the story away, in case any of you want to read it, but it really is a pretty good read with some very heartbreaking history involved, including some mention of the Kindertransport, the train that  took some Jewish childern out of the country to live with British foster families for the duration of the war. 

I choose this book because I had just watched a documentary that I found on Netflix called Into the Arms of Strangers, that was about the Kindertransport.  It was fascinating and heartbreaking, focusing on a few of the childern that were still alive at the time of the filiming to tell their stories.  Really really good and if you are interested in history, I would highly recommend this film, but watch it with your box of tissues close by. 

Don't forget to pop over to Adrienne's Some of a Kind to see what others are reading for Turn the Page Tuesday.  What's on your nightstand?  I've started another historical novel called A Candle in the Darkness about the civil war.  Come to think of it,  Mary sent me that one too....Thanks Mary!!