March 2011 ~ Rudolph Day

Yesterday, the 25th, was "Rudolph Day" for March. At the Christmas craft forum I frequent, we are encouraged to plan ahead and craft for Christmas on Rudy Day, along with maybe enjoying Christmas music, holiday coffee or tea, trying a new Christmas recipe, etc.

It was a busy day for me, but I had planned ahead and bought cotton yarn in the "Mistletoe" and "Dark Pine" colors. I hoped to get a bright red too, but our local Wal*mart only had the country red, which looks pinkish to me.

I bought the yarn because I wanted to try out a pattern for square crocheted coasters a friend had told me about. I thought they would be pretty in Christmas colors. This is the result. I like it, but think I would prefer solid colors for the richer look they give. And I think maybe a picot edging might look nice, too.

I also sipped some Twining's Christmas Tea (bought on clearance after Christmas!)

and browsed through some Christmas cookbooks for inspiration:

Gooseberry Patch Farmhouse Christmas (which I was "published" in!)

and The Christmas Kitchen, by Tammy Maltby.

I couldn't resist buying this while we were off on our getaway in January. I'm enjoying it for the prose as well as for the recipes.

And, to top it off, my Christmas cactus actually celebrated by blooming on Rudy Day!

What fun!

Pattern for crocheted chocolate doughnut!

Debbie asked if I would be willing to share the pattern for the crocheted doughnut which can be seen in the post "More Fun With Felt Food". Of course I will share, but I can't take credit for the pattern. I found it at Crochetville while I was searching for a crocheted cupcake pattern. I have yet to find one of those I really like, but this doughnut is adorable. Here is the link: Crocheted Chocolate Doughnut. This is intended to be a pincushion, but I just sewed on colored beads instead since my grandkids are using these doughnuts for play food. Very easy and fun to crochet!

A few more details from vintage cards

Here are just a very few more of the vignettes and greetings from my vintage Christmas card collection:

This was the cover to a 1960s photo Christmas card. The photo was on the inside of the card.

Love this little glimpse of holly and sheet music!

Here's a cheery Christmas greeting:

And here's an even cheerier one:

Hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of a few of the details of my vintage cards!