Happy Halloween!

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

from Mcbeth

by William Shakespeare

Facebook Contest

I am having a contest over on my Facebook page. I will be giving away copies of all 7 of my Lovely Ladies Doilies pdf patterns to one lucky winner. The winner will also receive the gift patterns that come with each one, so that makes a total of 14 patterns.
To enter, visit my Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BellaCrochet/195106893710 and leave a comment at the end of the post that starts: "Wow, I have over 1000 fans!"
I will choose a winner at random on Friday morning. I hope to see you on Facebook, and good luck!

Rescuing a Dream

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about a tablecloth I made, and how it was stolen during a move. Since I wrote that post, I have been thinking a lot about my tablecloth. It makes me sad that I no longer have it, and I must face the fact that I will probably never take the time to make another one. I actually thought about paying someone to crochet me another one from the pattern, but it just would not be the same. But after lots of reflecting on the tablecloth, and what it meant to me, I have come up with an idea.
My main feeling about my lost tablecloth is that I hope it somehow ended up with someone who appreciates it, who uses it on special occasions and takes pride in it.  And I am sure that everyone who spends so much time working on a big project feels the same way about theirs.
So here is my plan:  I am going to buy a vintage tablecloth off of Ebay. My thought is that I will be rescuing someone else's  dream. I know that for every tablecloth made, someone spent hours and hours, months, even years creating it, all the while dreaming about the holiday dinners that would be served on it, and planning whom they would leave it to when they no longer needed it. Perhaps it was made as a wedding gift for a loved one, or even to be placed in a hope chest. Every tablecloth has it's own special story. I am sure the crocheter never dreamed their beautiful creation would end up on Ebay (or that there would ever be such a thing!)
As I search through the listings, I notice many come from estate sales. But some are listed as "made by my grandmother" which makes me so sad I could cry; don't these people realize what they are selling?  I want to send them a message, telling them they are selling a heirloom, but I mind my own business. Maybe one of these tablecloths will be the one I decide to buy.
I don't have any certain style I am looking for, although I do love filet, and if it has roses in the design so much the better. But I also like the pineapple designs and the ones made from thousands of little motifs.
One thing that bugs me is the number of items listed as "hand crocheted" which are not crocheted at all, but machine made lace. But I am sure the person listing it has no idea what it really is, and 'crochet' is as close a discription they can get.
Anyway, it is great fun to search the listings, and imagine who made all these lovely items, every single one someone's dream.  I will let you know when I find and purchase the perfect one; but then again, I might not be able to stop at just one.
Wouldn't it be great to have a tablecloth collection?

Workbasket

 I love looking at old Workbaskets from the 40's and 50's. In addition to some really cool old crochet patterns, there are articles on growing geraniums and African violets, and recipes for things like 'peanut butter and bacon canapes' and 'grapefruit coffeecake'.
But what is really the most interesting, at least to me, are the advertisements. They  give one quite an interesting glimpse into the past.

 There are lots of ads for items designed to make crocheting easier. "Croch-Aid"; how's that for a clever name for a product? Though I am not quite sure what is supposed to do; does it just hold your thread or is there something I am missing? 

 And who knew Betty White was a crocheter? I would like to try one of her rings, though.

As you can see, women have always been interested in trying to stay slim and beautiful.

Just think, you only have to wear this for 15 minutes a day! I can just imagine David's reaction if he saw me wearing this contraption. I am sure it would be quite Thrilling!

I remember looking at these ads for dolls when I was little; I loved dolls (and I still do! ) I actually convinced my mother to order me the dolls in the "Real Dolls 1 Penny Each" ad. I was so excited; imagine, a hundred dolls! My mother warned me they would probably be too small to really play with, but I was absolutely certain they were going to be wonderful. "Just look," I pointed out to my mother, "most of them are almost as big as the girl in the picture!" I raced to the mail box every day for months, but the package never arrived. And maybe that is just as well. I am sure the 'real dolls' would never have lived up to the dolls in my dreams!

At least I didn't beg Mama to order me a pet through the mail!

At first this ad made me laugh, then I started to worry how many little dogs died while being shipped. Surely this was illegal, but maybe not. I wonder what my friend Pamela, aka Crochethuahua, would think of giving dogs away in order to sell copies of pictures. Her little "miniature dog" Ginger is her baby!

Anyway, that's all for today, except to say if Blogger doesn't do something to make it easier to post pictures I will  be moving the blog to a new location soon. It takes a couple of hours to do a simple post with pictures anymore!