Victoriana at Its Best

Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy

by Sarah Ban Breathnach

One of my favorite books!  It has lovely Victorian pictures in a month-by-month treatment of various holidays and seasonal celebrations with great recipes and ideas on how to observe these special days.  In the process, "Mrs. Sharp" manages to put forth a gentle, family-centered philosophy of life.

This is the first Sarah Ban Breathnach book I came across several years ago.  I loved it so much that I went out and got her Simple Abundance books.  Personally I prefer Mrs. Sharp over her widely popular series.


This post is part of Orange Week on the blog.  Check out the other posts:
Orangey Jar Cozy
In Love with Mandarin Oranges
Avocado & Orange Salad

Book: Solviva

Solviva: How to Grow $500,000 on One Acre, and Peace on Earth
by Anna Edey

This is a marvelous book by a woman who has developed Earth-friendly ways of growing food, running a household, and making a living. She built a home and a big greenhouse on her land in New England, which are solar-heated and have an ingenious wastewater filtering process. After growing vegetables like gang-busters in her south-facing solarium that opens into her home, she built herself an amazing greenhouse and turned it into a salad-production business. If you are interested in saving the Earth, this is the book for you!

Book: Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel

Lap Quilting with Georgia Bonesteel
by Georgia Bonesteel

Have you ever done lap quilting? It's my favorite quilting technique. It works with both hand and machine quilting, and it is wonderfully portable. Once I tried this, I became a convert--never to go back to regular quilting.

The secret is in the blocks. You sandwich together a manageable-sized block (12" square or so), including the pieced top section, batting, and backing. Then you can hold it and quilt it by hand or run it easily through your sewing machine to quilt it. When you've got all your quilted blocks done, then it's time to sew them together with a clever little top-to-top seam, butted-together batting edges, and flapped-over backing connections. Brilliant!

Here's my lap-quilted summer coverlet. You can see how the blocks fit together by looking at the back--I alternated the backing stripe directions for interest. It has six 24" square blocks, rectangular blocks around the edges, and little square blocks at the corners. I also embroidered around the pictures. What you don't see is the embroidery I've been adding to the white blocks as an afterthought... twigs and leaves. Every bit of this quilt was stitched by hand, but I could have easily used a sewing machine.

I like to use a folded-over edging on my quilts, in a fairly dark color. The edge is the part of the quilt that is most exposed to wear and tear. The dark colored edging helps hide stains, and it's easy to remove and replace when the times comes.

Recommended for This Quilt Clover Bias 1-Inch Tape Maker I use a little tool for making my own edging. This allows me to pick exactly the color and fabric that will look good with the quilt.

Book: Viking Patterns for Knitting

Viking Patterns for Knitting: Inspiration and Projects for Today's Knitter
by Elsebeth Lavold

This is one of my all-time favorite knitting books. It's a classic for those of us who love Celtic designs. Yes, I really did mean Celtic. Apparently Celtic knots came from the Vikings. Elsebeth Lavold's cable and border designs are exquisite, and not all that difficult. She also has charts for knitting runes, which are more difficult but very effective. Even if you never make the lovely sweaters and hats in the book, you will enjoy using her cables and borders.

I Love Tasha Tudor

Ever since I was a little girl, I have known about Tasha Tudor.  Back then, I knew her as a beloved children's book illustrator and author.  When my daughter was born, I carried on the tradition my mother started, by reading her wonderful books to my child.  But wait, there's more!

This incredible woman has also become famous for her lifestyle.  Up until her death in 2008, she lived a beautiful life, set in rural Vermont--in a house hand-built by her son, and following her favorite 19th-century homesteading practices.  She was an avid gardener, cook, spinner, weaver, knitter, candle-maker, and more, in addition to producing her charming artwork.

You can learn all about her in these gorgeous books:

The Private World of Tasha Tudor

by Tasha Tudor, Richard Brown

(photo above) 

Tasha Tudor's Heirloom Crafts

by Tovah Martin, Richard Brown

Tasha Tudor's Garden

by Tovah Martin, Richard Brown

 Forever Christmas

by Harry Davis, Tasha Tudor illus. 

 

My Favorite Knit & Crochet Book

From The Wise Book of Knitting and Crocheting,
that belonged to my mom, copyright 1949

The Wise Handbook of Knitting and Crocheting by Miriam Morrison Peake is my go-to knit and crochet book. It's the first one I ever looked at as a kid, and it's still the first one I crack open whenever I need help. It belonged to my mother, and since she is gone, this book takes the place of her sage advice on knitting and crocheting. It makes me happy every time I pick it up.


The many stitches that are explained there, are classic and interesting. I knitted one of the patterns for my first attempt at socks, and it was very clear. It gave me a good grounding in sock construction.