SC 5 and some PIPS finishes

Today is the day which meant end of school and the beginning of three whole months of Summer holidays when I went to school. My first Summer holiday started with my first wristwatch and measles.

Wagtails have returned from the South, marching busily on our lawn and catching insects.

I set myself a goal to finish the Scandinavian Christmas top by the end of May, and so I did. The hearts for the outer border were easy to applique.

The top grew so much bigger with the borders! I will use the greyish brown linen of the inner border for the binding too.

Yesterday I visited my big sister P, and now I can show you what I have been making for her new cabin. First, a tea cosy with the same fabric as in the old big tea cosy from our childhood summer place. I have the original one, and mother had given me the leftover square to make a potholder or something. It was not very big, so I used black cotton for the other side. I hope my sister will remember all the lovely summer outdoors afternoon coffees from back home when she uses this.

Her new basic apron used to be her own kitchen curtain. I made one apron to be a "staff uniform" for the Villa Cooper shop earlier this year using this same fabric,

and here is another of her fabrics I used for an apron then. P asked for covers for guest pillows used on a sofa when not needed for sleeping. Both have a hidden zipper at the back.

That was about everything from the sewing front.  All these have been waiting in my PIPS box for my mood to change so I can get them done. It feels good to see the project bags disappear from the box! I have been knitting baby things for the hospital in the evenings but there is not much to show yet.

Our apple trees are in full bloom now. This was a few days ago, now the petals are falling from the tree in front, but the bigger tree is still getting whiter. I could use the apples again, as last year there were hardly any apples. The weather is not warm now, but I have seen bees around the trees so let's hope for a good harvest. A moderate harvest, please.

Vintage Thingies Thursday 17 - Tea Cosies

This week I'm playing along again! The Coloradolady is hosting, and on her blog here you can find the links to other blogs showing their vintage finds and treasures.

This week I'll show you two of my newer tea cosies. This first one is from the 1960's, very straight edges and stripes. The fabric is heavy cotton and the insulation layer is foamy plastic. The stain may be coffee or tea; I'll need to try and wash it away.

This other one is more interesting. The covering chintz is from the 1950's. The tea cosy is very heavy. When my mother gave this one to me, she told me I could renew the insulation. I picked up the seam connecting to top fabric and the inner flannel, and guess what I found? The original wool fabric (dark red with a cream pattern, heavily damaged by burning and stains), and the original insulation. It was newspapers dated several years before my birth! I left all the original pages there, added some new news, washed the fabrics and put it all together again.

I think this fabric has a Mediterranean touch, hot summer days and laundry lines across the window. The tea cosy was used also in the garden when we had mid-morning tea and coffee ("elva-kaffe" like our grandmother used to say) or afternoon coffee with the grandparents, great aunt Saima, my parents, the kids who happened to be at home and the summer exchange students or other friends we happened to have living in the house in later years.

There was a round table, four wooden garden chairs, two benches and the lawn to sit on. Naturally, the sun was always shining, the lake was blue and the birds were singing.

In this last picture is a generous peek at the secret Tea Swap project I have been working on. I'm leaving for a little holiday trip tonight, and when I come back on Tuesday evening, I will pack this and the other two things together and send them on their long way on Wednesday.