turkey feathers: November Flash

November is off to a busy start! I'm going in all directions. Happily so. But at times, I feel like I can't catch my breath. I'm reminded of the words spoken by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." That just about sums it up I guess. It's that enthusiasm that keeps me up and running and spinning in dizzy circles. Three cheers for enthusiasm! Hip hip hurray! Enthusiasm is key.

And speaking of enthusiasm . . this week, I received a wonderful HUGE box of vintage embroidery patterns. They were generously donated to the PatternBee archive and online vintage embroidery shop, by a sweet and generous lady from Arizona who just wanted to make sure they got a good home. And did they ever! They are all right at home on my desk, in that little room at the back of my house we call 'PatternBee Headquarters'.

I'm taking my time and carefully sorting through all these amazing works of art. Some are so brittle from age that I'm afraid to open them. Like really, really old Walker's, before they were Walker's dating them at least 75 years old! Found some other gems too that I hadn't seen before. The plan is to repair and reprint some of these after the holidays.

Actually, I haven't been adding as many new patterns to the site these past months because of all the other projects I've taken on. But I still try and do at least one "new" pattern each month. This month, it was Peasant Folk Dancers.

DANCERS_red

Just look how cute they are! Kicking up their heels and all. I can almost hear the lively fiddles and the old kitchen spoons clicking and clacking keeping time.

Moving into the kitchen . . . I promised to share the recipe for the gingerbread cookies in the last post and here it is. I'm not surprised.

The girls often make treats from this special cookie edition of Everyday Food and it's where they found the gingerbread cookie recipe they like the best. This is a few years old now, but they return to it again and again. You know a recipe book is good when it's dog-eared and spattered with ingredients, right?

Well, that's what we've got here folks. A well-worn, tried and true, family favorite. I hope you can read it to copy down if you need to. If you click on it, you might be able to print it out. They made the icing with powdered sugar thinned with water and a few drops of Watkins natural food coloring.

Enjoy!