Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A free design for you - and a January Challenge!!!

Two posts in one day?!
Well I had a lot to share. ;-)

I have a lovely friend in Canada, Darcey, and she holds a mother/daughter stitching night about once a month in her home. I've loved hearing about what the girls are making, and the plans for each get together. The other night the four girls made beautiful bags and stayed up until 2.30 in the morning to finish them! Now that is commitment!
I offered to design a simple tea towel for the girls to make on one of their sewing nights, and Darcey accepted, so last night I was a woman on a mission and I made this...
You see, I had bought a lot of tea towels after Christmas, in bundles of 3 for only $4, so it was time to make use of them.
My plan is to pretty them up with stitcheries or applique, so it seemed a good project to offer to Darcey and her girls.
Of course, once I'd finished it I thought perhaps I should share with all of you!
You can stitch it up in a night - all you need is a tea towel, scraps of fabrics, some thread for the blanket stitch, a length of ric-rac and a few buttons.
You can download the pattern HERE.
~~~~~
I baked a beautiful loaf of Carrot and Sultana Bread this morning and it looked so homely and cosy wrapped in my newly finished tea towel, don't you think?
 
 It didn't stay wrapped for long, though!
Blossom came along with the knife...
 ...and then added a dressing of butter and cheese for her lunch.
 
It looked so good I had her make me a plate too. :-)
~~~~~
THE JANUARY CHALLENGE!
We didn't have a Challenge in December, so hopefully you'll all be motivated to do one with me this month?!

It's really a simple Challenge. Truly.

Make something useful out of a tea towel.
Now, have some fun with this, and spread the word on your blogs. I'm going to have a giveaway on February 1st and to enter you'll need to make something useful with a tea towel, put a photo on your blog, then leave a comment on this blog post to tell me about it.
I'll come and have a look, then add your name to my list on the sidebar. 
Every different useful item you make from a tea towel will give you an entry. If you make 5 items you get 5 entries. Ok? 
(you won't get 5 entries for 5 of the same item - they must all be different items)
If you don't have a blog you can still enter by emailing me a photo of your useful tea towel item.  

Here is what you'll win if you're the lucky one...

...a book of 200 Cath Kidston stickers and labels, PLUS a pack of die-cut shabby chic fabric hearts, ready to be appliqued!
Now, what are you waiting for? ;-)

Hugs
Jenny
xxx

32 comments:

Myra said...

That loaf looks scrumptious Jenny! Yum!
Darling tea-towel applique... Looks nice. 8-)
Happy stitchings busy lady!

Cattinka said...

Thank you very much for the recepie and the design... you never run out of ideas, thats so nice!
KATRIN W.

Anne-Lise at Rag, Tag, Bobtail said...

Sweet tea-towel! The bread looks tasty! Going to check out the recipe. Thanks!

Betsy said...

Great towel Jenny.

Rosaluz said...

Oi, moro no Brasil e amo se blog.
Será que você poderia por um tradutor?
Adoraria poder entender o que está escrito nas suas postagens,beijos.

Hazel said...

Cute tea towel ,we love home made bread , I'm going to try your recipe today .

Allie said...

Oh Jenny how darling is that applique! What a lovely thing to do for Darcey, and for us. Thank you!
That bread looks so good, it's making me hungry! Not sure if I'm up to the challenge, we'll see!

marlene said...

God wants that the translation is the correct one, but alone I want to express that whenever I see your designs alone it inspires me to continue working, your for all those that we embroider or realize any type of work with the hands you are the Sun, are a great guide, thank you very much because of it a great kiss

Rian said...

Wow, how nice is your teatowel, like it. I can use it for a present for my best friend. She really do not like washing the dishes. She is single and mostly she washes the next day. Maybe this great towel will motivate (is this English) to do it immediately.

And I have a idea for your challenge, I only hope I have time to make it.

Greetings from a cold Holland

Rian

What Comes Next? said...

Very cute tea towel - I have some ideas for your challenge, too! and that bread looks scrumptious - going to try that recipe today, thank you!

Janice said...

You've really dressed up the tea towel. It looks great. I've got a tea towel which I had been planning on doing "something" with. I just might have to try to do it in the next couple of weeks.

Unknown said...

Is very nice .. too much pretty...
Hugs
Deni

Lauren Colless said...

What a lovely idea for a tea towel - too pretty to use! What a great idea, a mum and me sewing class :) Hmmm will have to give the challenge some thought :)

Maggey and Jim said...

What a great giveaway,, will post on my blog..
Maggey

Colleen said...

Cute tea towel Jenny. Blossom puts butter with her cheese I see. Do you put butter on sandwiches with meat. My mother was from Ireland and we always did that. My daughter Jenifer makes fun of me every time I use butter on my sandwiches.

Joy McD said...

Very cute teatowel :) I saw a some market down at Spotlight, but didn't have any idea of what I'd use them for.. I should have bought them anyway!! Thanks for the free design and I need to put my thinking cap on for the giveaway - I love the hearts!!!
lv,
Joy

Dawn said...

Lovely Jenny, so cute and great gift for a friend....Love the sultana loaf, so yummy....
Hugs Dawn x x x

Kate/Massachusetts said...

Jenny, I used to make baby bibs from tea towels. You fold down about 1/3 of the towel and cut a hole over the fold a little larger than the child's head - use a small plate as a template. Edge the neck hole with stretchy ribbing like you find on a sweatshirt. On the chest part of the bib, you decorate it with whatever design takes your fancy. These bibs just pulled over the child's head. I know my words are clear as mud but it really is quite simple. I am not entering your contest since I am not making any bibs in the foreseeable future but I wanted to share the idea with you!

Dawn said...

Jenny, I just made several aprons out of dishtowels for Christmas gifts. You can view them here:
http://piece-and-love.blogspot.com/2009/12/jingle-jingle.html
Piece & love!

Terri said...

Thank you for the design.....I love Tea Towels and give some out every year for Christmas gifts. Now I have another design.
That bread looks yummmmmmmmmmy!

Jeanette said...

Hey Jenny, the teatowel looks great. Does the 2 bags i made before Christmas out of teatowels count in your challenge. They are on my blog back in November sometime. Outside of bags has coffee things on them. Hugs, Jeanette

Cattinka said...

How nice of you to design this for Darcey and her sewing group. I know her and she is a really nice person, who deserves your friendship.
KATRIN W.

Graciela said...

Hi Jenny!!!!!! thanks for you design

Vickie said...

the tea towel looks to good to use...very nice,cheers Vickie

Jennifer said...

Jenny - what a lovely loaf - I am sucker for bread, I'll give that a go. I have just made some oven mitts out of christmas tea towels I received for christmas - I loved the idea of your challenge and got to work straight away - couldn't get my mind out of the kitchen so the idea was for the kitchen. I've put my instructions on my blog as well - http://csorbafamily.blogspot.com. Cheers Jennifer

Elyte said...

Hi Jenny, I have finished my piece for the January tea towel challenge. I enjoyed the challenge and will continue enjoying the result every time I have a cup of tea.

Christine M said...

Thanks for the challenge Jenny. I bought some tea towels at the Christmas sales to make some aprons. Your challenge has made me get up and make them. I've only just come across your blog. I have put photos of my aprons on my blog http://macdonaldspatch.blogspot.com
Regards, Christine M

Messy Karen said...

i just finished my January project. i hope it was o.k. to use 2 teatowels to make one thing. thanks for the lovely new design. it would look so pretty on a small teatowel bag.
http://messykaren.blogspot.com/2010/01/jennys-january-challenge.html

CreativeHands said...

Jenny - I finally finished a Tea Towel project. You can see it here on my blog: http://workinghandscreativehands.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the inspiration to be creative!!!

Mistea said...

I just made myself a very practical tote for those walking trips to the supermarket. It was a very practical teatowel - anyway you can read about over here http://misteacrafts.blogspot.com/2010/01/tea-towels-and-owl.html thanks for the incentive.

Hanna said...

I managed to make something. Here http://hannasdailywalks.blogspot.com/2010/01/january-tea-towel-challenge.html you can see two things I made. One is a bowl, where the inside is a tea towel and in the table runner I have used two tea towels. Thanks for the challenge.

Doda said...

http://dodadidit.blogspot.com/2010/01/bread-bag.html

I just came across your page, so am sending you this link. I made this before I heard of your challenge. :-) But not very long before.