Tuesday Talks: Treasury of Vintage Homemaking Skills

Hi everybody! Sorry we've been MIA lately, we've been very busy and struggling with internet issues. Today I'm reviewing a wonderful book, "Treasury of Vintage Homemaking Skills."
It's not really a book you would sit and read straight through, it's a resource. Have you ever heard of a "Homemaking Journal" or "Homekeeping Notebook?" My mother researched it once and was going to build one to keep track of everything that she needed to get done in the home, but she never found the time to do so. It's understandable, especially since she's running a home with six children, four dogs, a garden and a cat!

Well, voila! The Treasury of Vintage Homemaking Skills comes to the rescue! This is laid out very similarly to a homemaking journal - only better! The Treasury of Homemaking skills has so many more housewifely things listed and organized in it that I would never have thought of!

For example, here's the table of contents:

Homekeeping

Cleaning

Scrubbing

Bedding and Linens

Laundry

Ironing

Hospitality

The Hostess

Preparing Hearth and Home

The Fare

Our Merry Guests

Home Duties

Reflections

Daily Duties

Duty Ever at Hand

Children's Duty to Parents

Snippets and Clippings

First Aid in the Home

Medicinal Cupboard

Emergency Care

Burns and Wounds

Home Remedies

Family Medical History

Resources

Gardening

Garden Basics

Vegetable Gardens

Herbs

Planting Records

Garden Sketches

Old-Fashioned Flowers

Harvest Bounty

Resources

Cooking and Baking

Meal Times

The Pantry

Kitchen Tools

In the Kitchen

Well-Planned Menus

Measuring

Butcher, Baker, and Homemaker

Family Recipes

Reserves for the Family

Preparing for Emergency

Home Canning

Dehydration

Freezing

Recipes for Preserving

Reserve Records and Recipes

Handiwork

Sewing Basket

Basic Skills

Embroidery

Tatting

Stitching Projects

Quilting

Crocheting

Knitting

Patterns

Business of the Home

Simple Home Repairs

Documents and Necessary Papers

Home Inventory

Frugality

Family Records

Sacred Union

Genealogies

Births

Marriages

Deaths

Family Crest

Family Creed

Mementos

There are blank pages, blank schedules, and blank lines for you to fill in to help organize your homekeeping. And, all the pages are decorated with lovely little vintage illustrations. It's just adorable!

Here's the description on the back of the book:

Reminiscent of the old-timey home journals kept by homekeepers of the past, this treasury is to be passed from mother to daughter. This will be a treasured album of homekeeping skills, something fast becoming a lost art in our day. Filled with inspiration for the homekeeper, with plenty of room to paste snippets and clippings and to journal in your own handwriting, keeping the way "Mother always did it" from becoming forgotten in this ever-changing world.

I have a copy of this book in my hope chest, and my mother has a copy as well. It's very helpful and I highly recommend it. You can purchase it from our Amazon Astore (in the sidebar).

Do you have a review you'd like to share? Leave your link below!

The Hand that Rocks the cradle...

If you're like me, you'll be inspired by this post.

Scheduling

A wonderful way for a stay-at-home daughter to serve her family is to create and maintain the family schedule! This week I surveyed everyone in my home about what they wanted to get accomplished during the week and compiled a list.

Following the example in the Maxwell's book, "Managers of Their Homes," I gave everyone a color and built a master schedule, from 6:00am, through the entire day until 11:00pm. Listing mine, and all the children's school hours, piano practice, chores, reading, and free time.


Scheduling really makes all the difference in our house. When we have nothing to govern our day by, the children are wild and unproductive, often resulting in punishment. When we have the schedule, they are productive and self-disciplined. They can't wait to rush to the schedule to see what they are supposed to be doing.


We re-do the schedule every few months to keep things new and interesting. It's like getting new school supplies, you'd be amazed at how enthusiastic a child can get about getting his or her work done efficiently!


Of course, we don't always get everything done, and there is a lot of room for flexibility. If Nana calls and asks us to meet her for lunch, we are free to do it - especially if everyone has gotten their things done up until that point. It's truly a blessing, and a wonderful thing for a stay-at-home daughter to work on for her mother, also very good practice for when she is a wife and mother herself!


I'd love to hear about your schedule or scheduling plans, please leave a comment!

God Bless,
Flibby

Tuesday Talks: Recipe Books

Sorry to be late with this! Today I wanted to review one of my family's favorite recipe books. It's called "Hallelujah Simple Weekly Meal Plans."

We've tried almost every recipe in this book, and all of them rank in our favorites! The best part is that the book gives meal plans for an entire month, which is very helpful! And, everything is very healthy. Perfect for those trying to eat healthier, but need some meal ideas.

Here's the website's description of the book:

Simple Weekly Meal Plans By Marilyn Polk, is a handy month-long meal planner that will help everyone on the Hallelujah Diet & LifestyleSM – from newcomers to seasoned followers! Offering four weeks worth of menus, shopping lists, and recipes, this book is an excellent resource to help you transition to The Hallelujah Diet®, or add new recipes to your repertoire. And with the menus and recipes for holidays and special occasions, you can make every day a Hallelujah day!

We have lots of recipe books, but this one is our very favorite!! You can purchase it from the Hallelujah Acres website.

Do you have a review you'd like to share? Leave your link below!

Rules and information on Tuesday Talks can be found in the sidebar.

Tutorial: Sewing a tag blanket!

My baby brother loves to rub tags. Whenever we give him a stuffed animal, he immediately goes for the tag and he's been known to reach inside clothes to find the tags! So, I made him a "taggie" blanket like this one:
It's very easy to make and it makes a great gift! I made up this pattern as I went, but I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you?

So anyway, here's how I did it.

Step 1:
We're making this for hugging and playing with, not for covering with so you can make it pretty small. I used one yard of fabric for two blankets. This is a charming polka-dot flannel. :)

Before you start, you'll want to wash and iron your fabric.

First, I folded it twice and cut across the seams to get four same size pieces of fabric.

Step 2:
Next, I took some satin blanket binding and measured it around the fabric loosely, you want some extra when you cut it, just in case.

Step 3:
Now, since we're putting tags in-between the fabric pieces I cut down the crease of the blanket binding so I could use it for both sides of the blanket.
Step 4:
Take one piece of blanket binding and one piece of your fabric and line them up for sewing. I wanted a pretty skinny edge so I let a lot hang off, you can adjust it to fit your preferences. Sew all the way down to the corner.I didn't use pins for this particular project, I prefer to "eyeball it" by pulling it tight to see if it's straight. Feel free to use pins if you'd like.Step 5:
When you get to the end stop and spread out the fabric and binding. I'm going to show you how I fold the corners.Bunch up the fabric and turn it so it lays straight across the next edge.
Like so:
Sew straight up the seam to hold it in place.Step 6:
Continue sewing and doing the corners just like that until you reach the end. Then, just fold the remaining binding under and sew it like the other corners. Cut the excess off.Step 7:
Voila!
Now make another one just like that for the other side.

Step 8:
Set out your tags and place them around the edging in the proper places and work out the spacing until you're happy. I used various types of ribbon and ric-rac for the "tags," you only need two inches or so of each kind.Step 9:
Once you're happy with the placement of the tags, turn both sides of the blanket inward (good sides together) and pin the tags in place. You'll want the loop of the tags facing inward.
Leave a little space (about 5 inches) un-pinned so that you can turn it right side out before you sew, just to check and makes sure everything looks right. This is where you'll need to adjust things like how far the tags stick out, making sure they're all flush.

Step 10:
Flip it back to it's inside-out state and sew right about where you placed your pins. Watch the seam that you made when you attached the binding to make sure your binding is the right width and your seam is straight. Don't forget to leave a space open for turning it right-side out!

Step 11:
Flip it right side out. To close the open edge, fold the fabric and binding inward so that it lines up with the rest of the blanket. Sew straight across (adding any extra tags in) and continue to sew a line all the way around the edge to finish it!

It's done!

You want to be careful ironing it, because satin binding and some types of ribbon will melt very easily. ;)

I hope this has been informative! I'm not the best at sewing, and I usually make up my own techniques, but I love it!

I'd love to hear about your sewing projects, leave a comment!

Tuesday Talks: Knifty Knitting

It is Tuesday Talks once more here at Stay-At-Home Daughters!



As always, we would love for you to participate by leaving your link in the Mr. Linky below!

I am reviewing the Knifty Knitters by Provo Craft.



These are the neatest little looms! I have made several little hats with the round looms and I am currently working on a pretty blue scarf on the long purple loom.

The incredible, lightweight looms are perfect for any age! My little sister Jessica (who is 10), is in the middle of a project right now as well. I have found that I can knit a project much quicker than traditional knitting (with needles), and that the projects are things that you can actually use!

There are several books and looms that you can purchase for very little.

I was impressed greatly by this particular book:


It has lots of patterns in it- I am going to try the hooded chick blanket in there next!

I know that you will love using this! If you would like to know more about it, Provo Craft has a site filled with info and patterns.

Help us make "Tuesday Talks" a success! Leave your link below!



~*~Courtney~*~

Open Discussion: Managing Finances

I thought today would be a great day for an open discussion! I'm always interested in learning more about budgeting and managing money and I'd like to hear what our readers have to say about this. So, here are a few questions to get you started.

How were you taught to manage your finances wisely?
What are some ways a daughter can help her family in this area?
Does your family live frugally?
What are some ways a stay at home daughter can earn money from home?

I'd love to hear some of your experiences and thoughts on this matter! Later we'll chime in with our thoughts, but we'd like to give our readers a headstart! Leave a comment!

Also, if you have a topic you'd like discussed or a question, click in the sidebar and email us!

A Few Brief Thoughts on Hospitality

Many people I have come into contact with believe that the best place for a women to use her talents is out on the mission field. What they don't realize is how effective a girl can be in sharing the gospel from her home! This is why hospitality is so important for a stay at home daughter, as well as a stay at home wife and mother.

Being hospitable is not just the outward actions of entertaining guests and strangers, but it's also a matter of the heart. The home reflects the actions and attitudes of it's inhabitants. If you are cross and unfriendly, no one will find your home warm or inviting! If your house is God-centered, your home will be warm and comfortable to outsiders. This is one of the best ways a young girl can minister to the lost! It's also an indispensable tool for discipleship. Your home is not a place to hide away and block out the world. If you act like someone is imposing on your time or space, you will have lost your opportunity!

"Use hospitality one to another without grudging." 1 Peter 4:9

I've had many wonderful chats with friends and neighbors about our lifestyle and such at various parties and gatherings. If you are shy, or nervous about answering difficult questions the best way to become more at ease is to practice! Don't worry about what others think of you. Simply speak from your heart and rely on the Lord.

When done with the whole heart, homemaking is an art form! Cooking, cleaning, and decorating either for guests, or just your family can be a pleasure if you choose to see it as such! Sometimes, hospitality is simply helping with these things rather than actually interacting with the guests.

Hospitality is not always done from the home. The ministry of your home can also be doing things like cooking for invalids or new mothers or helping at your church. It's not necessary to be confined to your house, just as long as your family is centered from your home, which is centered on God.

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Hebrews 13:2

Do you have anything to add? Leave your thoughts in a comment below!

Image from Allposters.com

Happy Birthday Flibby!

Today is Flibby's birthday!

I have known Flibby for several years now, and look up to her as a great example of Godly daughterhood. She is always serving others and ministering to people- I can't wait to see how God uses her this coming year!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

A Time for Everything

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. "

Happy Birthday Flibby!
~*~Courtney~*~

Tuesday Talks: "Home Comforts" by Cheryl Mendelson

Today I'm going to review a wonderful book that is quite a valuable resource for keepers at home and stay at home daughters. It's called, "Home Comforts" by Cheryl Mendelson.

This book is more of a reference book and isn't exactly meant to be read from cover to cover. It's filled with 884 pages of practical tips on the keeping of the home.

Here is the book's description:

The classic bestselling resource for every American home. Choosing fabrics, cleaning china, keeping the piano in tune, making a good fire, folding a fitted sheet, setting the dining room table, keeping surfaces free of food pathogens, watering plants, removing stains -- Home Comforts addresses the meanings as well as the methods of hands -- on housekeeping to help you manage everyday chores, find creative solutions to modern domestic dilemmas, and enhance the experience of life at home.

Further topics include: Making up a bed with hospital corners, Expert recommendations for safe food storage, Reading care labels (and sometimes carefully disregarding them), Keeping your home free of dust mites and other allergens, Home safety and security, A summary of laws applicable to the home, including privacy, accident liability, contracts, and domestic employees and more in this practical, good-humored, historic, philosophical, even romantic, guidebook to the art of household management.

The general chapters are:

-Food
-Cloth (includes ways to get tough stains out of various fabrics)
-Cleanliness
-Daily Life (with chapters like "fireplaces","images and recordings", and "pets")
-Sleep (with ways to make beds and care for different types of bedding)
-Safe Shelter (ways to make your home safe and hazard-free)
-Formalities

I refer to this book quite often and re-read chapters from time to time. I believe it's a must have for any young woman! It's also a great book for a hope chest! I highly recommend it.

You can buy it from our Astore or your local bookstore.

--Flibby

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Valentine's Day for Stay-At-Home Daughters

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite times of the year! Even though it's emphasized as a holiday for couples, we always make it a wonderfully fun day for everyone in our house! Each year we make our own home-made Valentines and pass them out to everyone in the family... it's become quite a fun tradition! We try to 'out do' last year's Valentines with new fresh ideas!

Here are some of the cards I made for my family this year.

I can't wait to see what the rest of my family has come up with!!

Recently, I've been thinking about ways that a stay at home daughter can reach out to others on Valentine's Day. Last year, a good friend from my church held a Valentine's bake at her home. All of the single girls in our church got together and had a wonderful time socializing while baking cookies for the older members of our church, as well as those who were stuck at home or sick. It was wonderful fun and those cookies were such a blessing to our church members! I also love to voluteer at the local assisted living center and nursing home. The people there love to hear hymns and I love to play them on the piano. It's so much fun to spend time with older people-- they are so wise and have so much to tell!

This year, I've already been preparing and planning ways that I can glorify God on Valentine's Day as an unmarried daughter. First of all, I made Valentines and wrote lengthy letters to some of my more distant relatives telling them all about what our family is up to now and how much they mean to us. I know they'll love to receive those, especially my great-grandmother and great-aunt! I also helped my younger siblings with their letters and valentines for our relatives.

I love to serve my family by cooking and baking, and this year (shhhh, don't tell) I'm making a surprise Valentine's day dinner complete with a fancy cake. I even bought a special tablecloth to decorate our table.

Be sure to check back, I'll post pictures of the finished cake (and supper). Hopefully it will turn out well! I've already bought some frosting.... mmmm....


Another way I've helped others celebrate Valentine's Day is by babysitting for my family or the neighbors so that parents can enjoy a night out together. While their parents are gone, I help the children make special messages for their mom and dad... and leave them on their pillowcase! My parents love to receive cards and surprises from us!

These are just a few ideas for an unmarried young lady to be a blessing to others on Valentine's Day! I'd love to hear your suggestions! Leave a comment below!

Crystal from Biblical Womanhood is holding a great Valentine's Day contest for the unmarried, the deadline is tomorrow! Head on over there and take a look!

--Flibby

Room Decorations

Courtney requested that I post some pictures of my room, so here they are! It's a pretty simple room, but you might enjoy seeing it.

First, here's my room as it looks normally, without any Christmas decorations. There's a bookshelf out of this picture to the right.

I set up a nativity scene on my hope chest...

...and decorated a little tree on top of my bookshelf. It lights up, but you can't tell in this picture...

...and lastly, I interspersed some white lights on my desk!

So there you have it. I like to keep the decorating simple, although I would like to have had something on the window, I just couldn't get anything to look right up there.

Let me know what you think!

Adding a Touch of Charm to Small Spaces!

Today I'm going to share some advice on how to decorate a small space (like your bedroom) inexpensively.

This summer, my sister and I moved into a much smaller room when we were preparing for the arrival of family member number 8! We painted the room a lovely green color and then we had the task of decorating within a budget of virtually nothing. We were given some hand-me-downs from our dear friends and we didn't spend a single cent! But, I'm aware that this doesn't happen every time, so here are some tips for decorating on a budget. This is also helpful for those who'd like to make their room festive by decorating for Christmas! Often the living room, kitchen, and outside of the house get decked out for Christmas while the other spaces in the house are neglected. I love to decorate my room for Christmas! It's amazing how much Christmas spirit can be cultivated just by having your one little spot of the house decorated.

Anyway, when decorating on a budget, some of the most expensive things are the bedding and furniture. I am partial to handmade quilts as bedspreads! I don't have one, but I know that these are things that are specially made, and will last for years to come! Furniture can be provided inexpensively through garage sales and thrift stores. My family goes garage saling every Saturday and we have found most all of our furniture from these inexpensive sales. You can see many a testimony in the archives of Where the Kudzu Grows and Whiskers on Kittens. My father is great at finding things that people are throwing away near his office and he brings home some wonderful finds at times! It's a great feeling to refurbish a tired item back to its former glory. Sometimes all it takes is some repainting. It's frugal and satisfying!

Very small and subtle things can be done to any room to add some charm and beauty... cutting fresh flowers for a vase, for example. One thing I like to do is reuse the decorations that my mother has retired. The old garland and ivy branches that she's used year after year, and just can't seem to find a spot for would normally be placed back in the attic with the empty boxes until Christmas is over. But, I can use them to do my own decorating! It's so much fun to add your own style to your surroundings and it's great practice for when you are married with your own home to decorate. I like putting small decorations in my hope chest to use later in life. Another great thing to do is to make a notebook full of your ideas. I used to cut out tons of magazine pictures and save them in a binder, commenting on each aspect and what I liked about it. It was so much fun, and now I have a huge notebook that I can look back on and get some wonderful decorating ideas!

When you have a small space, the most important thing is to eliminate clutter. No matter how much beautiful decorating you've done, your space will still look disorganized if there is too much clutter. Making the most of every possible area and using all unseen areas for storage are helpful tips for this. I make a point to go through my things every few months and make sure that I haven't acquired anything that I don't need. My room is still quite cluttered though! This is something that is the biggest problem in my room, and I'm having to be resourceful to find solutions. With the exception of valuable keepsakes, if I haven't used it in the past three months or so, it's usually okay to get rid of.

When decorating an area, it's so much fun to play with color combinations! I love to find things in nature and use the colors from an object when coming up with color palettes. I do this when I make graphics all the time. Nature is an amazing work of art! The Lord is truly the best Designer!

The part that is the most fun about decorating is letting my own personal tastes show through. My mother and I seem to have very similar tastes, and I love to help her with the decorating around the house!

I hope this has been a help to you as you endeavor to make your space a beautiful one and as you polish your homemaking skills!

God Bless You!

~Flibby

My Christmas Ideas

I was excited to see Flibby bring up the topic of homemade Christmas gifts! One of my favorite things to do is to craft and sew, so I have very much enjoyed getting ready for this coming Christmas!

In addition to Flibby's, here are some of my ideas (and I will share more after Christmas):

Homemade Aprons-
For my younger sisters Jessica and Emma, I made two aprons, just right for helping to cook!

Hand-Stamped Notecards/Stationary-
These are so easy and very nice! Who doesn't like personalized stationary????

Ribbon Bookmarks-
I posted a tutorial for these here These are especially nice to send through the mail, maybe to cousins or friends who live out of town?

Crocheted Dishcloths-
These go very quickly, and are very, very, useful. They work much better than store boughten ones, and can be made in a variety of colors and patterns.

Knitted Finger Puppets-
My Mom has a wonderful selection of knitted finger puppets here

Needlepointed Chunky Alphabet Letters-
These are very cute and easy to make! You can click here for the pattern.

I hope these are useful to you in your holiday planning!

Have a great day!
~*~Courtney~*~

Homemade Christmas Gifts!

Tonight I thought I would share some lovely ideas for creating special Christmas gifts at home! Homemade gifts are much more meaningful, often higher quality, and can save your family a lot of money this holiday season.

Last year, I embroidered a pillowcase for every member of my family. (Click here, here and then here.) It was a time consuming task, but it was wonderfully fun and I learned so much about the fine art of embroidery. I started the embroidery projects in August and they were finished by the end of November. Evaluating how complicated your project is, how skilled you are at the task, and how many people you intend to make gifts for will help you judge exactly how long it should take to complete the project before the big day!

This year, I had a lot of trouble trying to come up with Christmas gift ideas, so I thought it would be nice to post some suggestions.

- Bath salt

This is a wonderful and easy gift to make! It's great for jars and containers that need to be used. All you do is mix 1 cup of epsom salt, half a cup of baking soda, and a third of a cup of table salt together. For scent, add essential oils (the kind found in bath beads) and for color, add a few drops of food coloring.

- Scarf

Knitting is not as hard as it looks! Here is a website that will help you learn the different stitches. Making a scarf is fast, and can be made very simple or with a more complex design.

- Rice Socks

There are so many things that you can sew for a family member, but you can make a rice sock with very little sewing skills! You can make a little pouch yourself (out of a lovely fabric) or use an actual sock. All you have to do is fill it full of uncooked rice and sew it closed. You can get creative with these! Rice socks are perfect when heated in the microwave or put in the freezer for relieving aches and pains. They are wonderful gifts for pregnant women, and they are also loads of help when dealing with menstrual pains!

- Food!

For people outside your family, the best gifts are baked goods or other consumables! Food can be enjoyed by the whole family and it's so easy and fun to make! In the past, we've made homemade hot chocolate mix with chocolate dipped (plastic) spoons, loaves of bread with embroidered breadcloths, "bear" cakes, peppermints, and much more! The sky's the limit when it comes to food! Pretty packaging makes it a gorgeous gift!

- Redeemable "coupons"

When all else fails, your family would love to get a "coupon" from you to redeem whenever they want. My mother loves these! They can be for extra chores like cleaning out the car, or a "coupon" for something like a quiet nap (while you entertain the children). Anything you know the person will love!

These are just a few suggestions. There are so many homemade gifts you can make for your friends and family. I know Courtney will have some things to add! I'd love to hear your crafty gift ideas and past successes! Please, leave a comment below!