Cozy Comforters in Bright Colors – Bring Solace on Drab Late Winter Days

Can anyone help? Google is failing me this morning.

This photo of a comforter in a local vintage store triggered memories of the comforters that sat on a closet shelf in our home when I was a child. My mother told me my grandmother made them years before, but I can’t recall the construction method she described for sure.

I think they were stuffed with shreds of old rags, but I’m not certain I remember correctly. They had little strings tied in the centers of the squares as in this photo, presumably to hold the layers stably together.

Online searches don’t bring up anything specific to this type of construction.

If anyone know for certain how these old comforters were put together please share your knowledge in the comments section.

However they were made, there have been a lot of days lately when all I wanted to do was curl up under one with a good book, like my latest favorite read, Overkilt, by Kaitlyn Dunnett.

Weekly Wisdom – The Penny Mason Post

Animals don’t exist in order to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what tehy teach us is what we think we know about ourselves.

– Helen Macdonald in her book: Vesper Flights

How Conifers Scent the Moist Air After a Shower

Have you ever strolled through a forest after a rain and enjoyed the fresh scent of pine? An aroma simultaneously soothing and invigorating. A smell reminiscent of vacations spent in the mountains, or evening walks through groves of conifers in a city park.

A feature in DownEast – The Magazine of Maine, recently shared how balsam, fir, hemlock, spruce, pine, cedar infuse the air with their tonic of resinous scent after storms or showers.

It seems in the fleeting fraction of a second, when the raindrops hit the ground, they flatten into pancakes and trap miniscule bubbles that rise, pulling with them the smell of the needle-strewn ground beneath the trees and then burst, bathing the area in their own perfume.

Nature’s own atomizer.

Weekly Wisdom – The Penny Mason Post

Almost anybody can write a good love story. It’s much harder and more interesting to find out what it takes to be married for 50 years.

-Diana Gabaldon on writing the Outlander books.

Beautiful Blue Wine Glasses – Great for Winter Desserts Too

Not a fan of wine? These blue works of glass artistry could show off a special dessert too. What about a parfait, a trifle, or just plain pudding or jello?

Nothing wrong with simple treats like we enjoyed back in the days of childhood – in a perhaps unconventional, but lovely, still, presentation. Something special on a wintry evening, a cooling refreshment on the warm summer days we hope will arrive before too long.

A Cup of Tea in January (2021)

It’s not yet time to hold tea parties with invited guests, but how about a cup of tea to make the moment special while enjoying a telephone visit?

Perhaps indulging in a good brew while reading a book would be nice, or while simply relaxing in a window seat, if you’re lucky enough to live in a vintage house?

It’s a drink with quite a long history, loved by those who treasure tradition; who believe in the power of its properties to heal our ills and bring civility. Two goals we much achieve in the coming year.

Weekly Wisdom – The Penny Mason Post

We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.

-Louis D. Brandeis, Associate Supreme Court Justice 1916-1939.

Bachelor Buttons Matted Within a Sky Blue Frame

January calls for lovely images of summer. This second hand store find features one of my favorite flowers, bordered with pale blue resembling a fair summer sky.

Before I know it, I will be on my back in the grass, gazing at eye level blossoms like these. Something to focus upon, to quell anxious moments when weather forecasts include snow and ice.

Here’s how to grow these flowers next summer if you’re interested. Here’s one version of how to paint them – but I created prettier ones, if I do say so myself, a few years ago when I copied a printed design from a vintage plate.

This post includes some interesting theories regarding how bachelor’s buttons, also known as cornflowers, got their name(s).